Another busy day in the L’Essential, a growing restaurant chain hailing from the north popular amongst the youth lining up on the long counter Hikari and two other co-workers were stationed in, taking orders and stashing money inside the register, while the chefs behind them managed the dozens of pans set on fire. Flambé as the manager called it.

At first, Hikari was doubtful if this fast food restaurant style was going to work, but the quick-fried meals were selling like hotcakes. Mackerels, salmons, chickens, and beef both hoshikunian and skadjӧrdian style, with the most popular item currently to be the potato fries and ice cream shakes. The first light of day and they instantly sold out. Who knew this new revolutionary restaurant-type would be booming as the kids say.

I might as well quit being a garbageman if things go like this, thought Hikari, excited for his paycheck alongside the bonus he was promised by the manager for being employee of the month.

A long day’s spent and his shift had finished. Hikari was about to head out, when a fellow employee named Kanata approached him all of a sudden.

“Tsuchida-san, sorry, but can you take the night shift?” his palms clasped. “I have some urgent business this evening and I need someone to take over. Of course, I’ll cover it with my own paycheck.”

It was probably a date. No, it was most likely to be a date. Hikari had no doubt about that considering his recent outings. As a senior, Hikari ought to decline, but seeing his desperate look made him think about it. It was Tuesday, so he didn’t have any shifts in the garbage dump, and Kazuko had recently come home and would do so for the next few days due to Head Organizer of the Founding Day Festival duties. Her mere presence would set Mihiro and Keika on a studying session, so Hikari didn’t need to remind them that.

“Alright,” he said. “I’ll take your shift, but I have no need for your money. It’s—”

“Oh I know I can count on you, Tsuchida-san,” Kanata immediately left through the door without saying goodbye, leaving Hikari somewhat wounded.

Kids are so rude these days. His eyes twitched, as Hikari then proceeded to send a telegram to his house and work the next shift, which lasted all the way to eight P.M. He intended to go straight back home, but in taking a scent of himself, reeking of sweat and cooking oil, Hikari made a detour to a nearby bathhouse.

Clothes off, towels on, and Hikari submerged his body into the hot steamy bath from neck down, taking a shut eye after a long day’s work. Not long after, another guy entered. A very big guy twice his age, with graying hair and beard, yet as built as a bear. He must’ve trained every single day to maintain that impressive physique. Add the abundant of scars to the equation and the man was probably Murikami Order officer, though not anyone from the Third Division as Hikari recalled. He might be currently on leave.

“You’ve been staring an awful lot,” the man spoke all of a sudden.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to,” Hikari turned his eyes away. “It’s just … you must’ve gone through a lot, sir.”

“Call me Kengo.”

“Very well, Kengo-san. My name’s Tsuchida Hikari.”

“It is a pleasure to meet you, Tsuchida-san.”

And right when Hikari thought a conversation was about to spark, neither he nor Kengo said a word, causing an air of awkwardness to be formed around them. Well, neither of them knew each other and talking to strangers was not Hikari’s forte, but he didn’t want to leave the bathhouse just yet.

He started a conversation. “I haven’t seen you around here. Are you a traveler by chance?”

“I am.”

“Have you been doing well in Takamichi?”

“I’m doing good.”

“I hope the people here didn’t give you any trouble.”

“Not at all. Everyone has been very nice.”

“Is that so?”

Another long pause came and the awkward air around them thickened. There has to be a conversation topic somewhere! Hikari begged in his mind, unable to stand sitting next to this man, who couldn’t do basic small talk. Maybe I should just go wash up.

Hikari went to stand up, when Kengo suddenly said, “A nice physique you have there.”

“Uh … thanks?” he replied.

“You must also be quite a hard worker, Tsuchida-san, seeing those calluses on your palms. Despite your rather slim body, you’ve managed to build muscles in the right form and technique.”

Hikari had no idea how to respond to that. On one hand, it felt nice to be complimented for his efforts. On the other, it felt so creepy to have a middle-aged grandpa observing his body, though fortunately Kengo’s deep blue eyes suggested nothing of the sort.

“If there’s one thing I’d recommend, it would be to train your flexibility,” Kengo continued his objective-sounding assessment. “The joints on your legs and waist in particular are starting to go rigid and unless you want to keep doing your physical-working job, you ought to do some aerobic exercises.”

“Thanks for the advice. Although the only reason I work out is for work and, well … for the looks.”

“You have a woman you fancy?”

“My wife. She has a bit of a liking for muscular men, so I got to at least on the effort,” Hikari tried moving his body, when he suddenly felt a stiffness on his joints. “Looks like I ought to take your advice. Although I’m more impressed by how you still look as fit as if you were in your thirties. Is there a secret to your training regiment, Kengo-san?

“There are no secrets in my training, but I wouldn’t recommend you or anyone try doing it,” he said. “Unless you wish to climb Mount Torayama, I suggest you keep on with what you’re doing.”

“I think I’ll decline the offer,” Hikari wondered if Kengo was just exaggerating or not. Must be the former. There was no way anyone would dare climb the tallest mountain in Hoshikuni while navigating through its treacherous track and everlasting snow. It was just impossible!

“I see … Well, even if you ever do climb it, my services have unfortunately been paid for the foreseeable future.”

“So, you’re a mercenary. A very rare profession especially these days.”

“Yet you’re not afraid?”

“I’ve had my fair share working in the business. Not as a mercenary, but as an accountant for the now closed Exploration Guild.”

“The Exploration Guild, huh … that takes me back. I remember when one of my friends decided to rope me and another friend in as part of his explorer’s team. We used to travel all around Hoshikuni, discovering the unknown for tales and ruins as well as the joy of living freely. Those were the good times.”

“I hear you. Working at the Exploration Guild was one of the most fulfilling jobs I’ve ever had, meeting all sorts of people from Hoshikuni and at times foreigners from the other nations. I’d have taken the offer to be transferred to the Seventh Division, but setting sail to the Forbidden Ocean and navigating through those deathly black rocks isn’t really the most lucrative of jobs.”

“The Exploration Guild still exists in both Zagaron and Skadjӧrd,” said Kengo, which Hikari refused, having no interest in moving away from his family. “I see … then are you working as a government accountant?”

“I used to, but working for the government takes too much time away from my family, and the environment wasn’t the best. It’s always a competition and when I mean competition, I mean it's the win-at-any-cost type of competition. Schemes upon schemes that’ll make any worker either quit or beg to keep their jobs.”

“So, is that what happened to you?”

“Not at all. I quit two weeks right after I got hired. Didn’t give them time to try to bring me down. Now I’m employed as both a part-time restaurant worker and a garbage man, and you might think that it means more working hours, but the people were so nice that they graciously cut me some slack.”

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Kengo chuckled, “Seems to me you’re taking advantage of their kindness.”

“Doesn't everyone?”

Another chuckle came out. “You remind me of my fellow apprentice. A kind yet realist soul on a wayward path. Although it appears you’ve already found your own path.”

“Apprentice now? Are you a martial artist by any chance?”

“Indeed, I am,” he said. “It saddens me on the current state of martial arts these days. Most people, particularly those mages, tend to prefer to blow their enemies out to bits than to be engaged in frontal combat.”

“That’s just how life is. Some things become irrelevant as time passes.”

“As I thought, the two of you are really similar.”

“Me and your apprentice?” Hikari got curious.

“Technically he isn’t my apprentice. Just a boy I taught on a whim,” he said. “I initially hoped that the short lessons I gave him would prove invaluable for the coming days, but instead it all went in vain. Died in the ashes of the Great Rebellion as did a friend of mine and many others.”

“I see …”

This wasn’t the first time Hikari had listened to many tragic stories over the years. His wife’s especially. The amount of nightmares that sent her wide awake in a panic went past the amount could be counted by one’s fingers. Hikari could also say the same for his own nightmares, with Kengo having now noticed the scar on his back. This huge scar crossed over his right shoulder down to his left waist. Kengo didn’t seem to have the courage to ask, or perhaps he simply sympathized and did not want to press any horrific memories, especially on a stranger.

It wasn’t a Fukyusei rebel fighter who did this. Rather, it was done by his father, though Hikari didn’t blame him for this. After all, his father gave up his life for him. That scene where Hikari's back felt stabbing hot, while being face flat on the kitchen floor, unable to move a muscle for it was too agonizing to do so as it was confusing to discover his own father being the one to cut him down.

Then rebels barged in through the door. Hikari could hear the sound of blades clashing before coming to a stop, as one blade pierced through flesh and his father’s body fell as he did. Another stab and his agonizing writhe ended. The Fukyusei rebels then looked over at him.

“Noble’s honor my ass. He couldn’t grant death to his family, so he granted death to his youngest.”

Maybe it was due to the amount of blood seeping out that they went past Hikari, believing him to be dead. The wound was serious for the most part, but the rebels couldn’t have known his magic spellification. The moment they exited the room and the house, Hikari gathered what little magion he had into the wound. Not to heal it, for such was a feat only priests could do, but rather to create artificial skin and blood vessels in order to stop the bleeding.

It only worked on himself though and it was only a temporary measure. This wasn’t by any means a secret and Hikari’s father must’ve taken it into account, allowing him to survive the culling happening nationwide. It left with an odd feeling of not knowing whether to resent or to be grateful toward his father. Knowing his father's kindness and quick-wits, the rebels' assumptions couldn’t be far off from the truth.

Hikari didn’t know why he awakened with this type of magic when he was eleven. He didn’t even want to be a mage doctor like his two sisters, both of whom Hikari found dead as well later on. The state of their bodies, their ripped clothes, and horrified deathly expressions … Hikari didn’t want to think about it.

He didn’t want to think about his family at all.

Perhaps it was a blessing that his mother died before this.

She would’ve killed herself had she been alive that day, or maybe get killed as well by those so-called freedom fighters.

The Tsuchida Clan, small as it was, had no relations with what was happening in central and was beloved by the people whom they managed. What kind of rebels fighting for hopes and dreams would kill people just because they were nobles? Those questions were unfortunately left unanswered like the many questions posed during the Great Rebellion.

How did the Fukyusei gather so many people for their cause and how did their movements go unnoticed for so long?

How did they manage to slay the Third Seat, the Disintegrator, regarded as the most powerful and dangerous mage of the current era?

Why was it only after that tragedy that the Ten Seats decided to say ‘we need to change’ when they’ve been given so many opportunities long before?

Despite the endless moments of pondering and wondering of what things could have been, perhaps it was just better to leave things as they were, submerged deep in the waters and letting them evaporate like the hot steam bath Hikari was now in.

Feels so relaxing …

After some more time, Hikari’s eyes then went over to the clock and decided it was time to part. After washing his body on one of the shower stalls, he dried up, wore back his clothes, and exited the public bath with refreshed senses especially with the cold night wind breezing through the now mostly empty streets, lit up only by the streetlamps lined up along the pedestrian roads.

To his surprise, Kengo exited not a minute later. He was in the baths far shorter than he was, so Hikari assumed he would be inside a little while longer. However, it might’ve been a good thing. The way he dressed bore a remarkable semblance to someone whom Hikari had been hearing a lot of recently.

“Didn’t expect you to finish up so soon,” Hikari said. “Heading back home already?”

“Unfortunately I do not have a place to call home,” he replied. “Just wandering off to my next destination.”

“But it ought to be cold, no?”

“Sickness is not a problem for me. We martial artists have a great constitution and can exert much control over our bodies. That being said, it is quite surprising to hear those words. We’ve only just met, so I don’t think our one conversation warrants much for you to be worried about me.”

“This is Takamichi hospitality. We take good care of each other and tourists, Kengo-san. Where did you say you were from again?”

“I never did say where I was from.”

“Right. It must be all the steam fogging up my memories.”

“Then the bath was indeed very relaxing,” he gently smiled. “I’m from Chiyuhara, or at least I once was. Now I’m but a humble traveler of this land of stars, experiencing new things and all that. It really gave much of a breather for someone like me.”

“Sounds as if you don’t feel as if you deserve it.”

“I don’t. The sins of the past do not simply fade into nonexistence. It continues to hold onto you like a disease lying in wait,” he calmly warned. “though as I’ve accepted this path since long ago, there cannot be any room for regrets.”

“Sounds like a hard way to live.”

“It is the only way to live for people like me.”

“I’m not following. You say as if you’re a person different from any other. Are you also a mage perhaps?”

“No, I wasn’t cursed by the First Star. My circumstances are simply more unique than most.”

“I guess you’re not willing to share it with a stranger.”

“Not at all. It is but a long distant memory, though I’ve been having difficulties recalling it these past few years. Must be my age catching up to me. It’s been three years since I was at my prime.”

That actually sounds impressive, Hikari thought, having no clue when the ordinary martial artist exited their prime state. Definitely didn’t expect it to be in their late forties or early fifties.

“It’s been a delightful evening, Tsuchida-san, but I must get going,” Kengo said. “U have a ride I need to take over to another district.”

“Another one of your travels?” Hikari asked.

“Something like that.”

“Then I wish you luck on your travels Kengo-san. Honestly, it feels weird calling a stranger by their first name.”

“Tachikawa,” he said. “Tachikawa Kengo is my name.”

“Tsuchida Hikari,” Hikari added. “But you already know that so … yeah. Goodbye for now. Hopefully we can meet again some time later.”

“I wouldn’t count on that prospect.”

The two parted ways and Hikari headed back in the direction of his house. It was really a pleasant evening. Hikari never knew he could get along well with his son’s and niece’s savior. He felt more so surprised when discovering that Kengo wasn’t a mage. He was sure the feat of cutting through an entire carriage could only be done by magic. Once more, Hikari was reminded of how vast the world was along with its eccentricities.

Still, Martial artists really do say everything on the top of their heads, Hikari thought, as he made his way to a nearby telegram station. Inside were rows of typewriters occupied by those in need to send messages across large distances. With the typewriter now in front of Hikari, his fingers went to do its job.

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STARGAZING TELEGRAM

357, Valkriya 33

Send to Xiaodan Zhu,

Third Division Precinct, Takamichi District

The person you could be looking for is a man by the name of Tachikawa Kengo from the Chiyuhara District. He’s very poetic in his way of speaking and observant in his surroundings, likely due to his training as a martial artist like yourself, but I have a feeling that he started way younger than you did. While I didn’t get to see his swordsmanship, I did get a glance at his sheath. Black with faint traces of golden clouds, exactly as my niece described. As for his background, he seemed to have lost an apprentice and a dear friend on the day of the Great Rebellion.

We probably won’t be meeting again, he seemed so sure of it. And he’s now off to another district, likely to either Lanting or Mizumitsuru. Umikaze possibly, but it’ll take three days from here to there, so I wouldn’t be so sure about that. Anyway, that’s all I’ve gathered. This was a very unexpected meeting.

Tsuchida Hikari

Southern Telegram Station, Takamichi District

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And with that, an operator came to pick up the telegram. Thanks to the new sorting technology, the telegram would probably be counted for tomorrow morning’s messaging services. The faster the better due to the implications it had.

Certainly, Kengo did not seem like a bad guy, but like he said, ‘the sins of the past do not simply fade into nonexistence’, which probably alluded to his recent relations with the kidnappings happening recently. For the savior of his son and niece to also be in league with the very organization possibly targeting them sounded ironic, but he surely had his circumstances. Everyone did, be it in Hoshikuni or other parts of Antryion.

It was quite shocking meeting him. Hikari didn’t expect this at all, having only been told of the situation recently through his wife, who’d been in contact with the Third Divison’s captain recently. A black swordsman aided in the escape of two counts of kidnapping in Takamichi, a girl ten-years-old and another of eleven-years-old. Had it not been for Xiaodan Zhu mentioning him being the savior of Mihiro and Keika, Hikari would’ve thought it to be a fluke.

I really hope that I’m wrong.