Wake up.

“Not now.” Kanashi groaned, his body still sore from the pain of fighting the Flower magic using women.

Kenji will die if you don’t.

“No he won’t… he’ll be fine.”

Are you sure?

Kanashi, not liking that ominous thought, looked up and between his halfway shut eyes he saw Kenji staggering with blood pouring from his body like a water tank full of holes.

“!”

Jumping to his feet he felt as though he was soon to collapse, his legs shaking under him.

If I keep pushing myself like this, something is going to break, I won’t get away with ignoring the pain forever. At some point I’ll succumb to it when I need to fight the most… but until that day comes I’ll keep pushing forwards.

Kanashi punched his own thighs to stop them from trembling, after a few smacks their movement died down and he could walk normally.

I have enough energy for one single attack, after that I’ll be down for the next few hours at least. My mana pool never recovered from yesterday and the little bit that had been refilled was stolen by the flower girl.

Kanashi looked down at the woman next to him who was knocked unconscious.

Please stay down, I don’t want to… have to kill you. He thought.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

“Hahaha! Damnit this feels great!” Kenji cackled, he’d lost almost 40% of the blood in his body and felt an indescribable high, like the endorphins from the pain fueled his body making him stronger.

“What the hell are you!?” Nigiri cried.

“A Samurai!” Kenji declared as he dashed forwards once again, aiming his sword at Natou who stood between him and Takoyaki.

Natou tried to deflect Kenji's attack but was no match for Kenji's superior speed and strength. With a single kick to the side Natou flew backwards vomiting blood.

“Blergh!”

Immediately afterwards blood exploded from Kenji's mouth, adding to the puddle beneath him.

“I get what you’re trying to do!” Takoyaki growled, sweat dripping down his forehead. “But I won’t work! If it was just one of us then yeah we’d bleed out first. But there’s three of us and one of you, you’ll run out of blood long before we do!”

“I can still take out two of you in the meantime!” Kenji chuckled under his breath.

Because of Takoyakis spell any damage Kenji dealt to one of the three Yakuza was also dealt to him. Of course the immediate question was if this also carried over to if one of them died. Say Kenji was to kill one of them would he be in turn killed by the spell's effects? Unsure of the answer to this question Kenji tried to avoid dealing any immediate and lethal damage to the three Yakuza. He instead opted to slice them up and let them bleed out. But that raised another question. If they died from blood loss due to the wounds he inflicted out still carry over to him since he was the origin of their death? The answer was most likely no, that would be far too powerful of a spell without any visible weakness. If they died from blood loss then that surely would not reflect on Kenji.

However as Takoyaki had pointed out Kenji had less blood in his body then the three men combined. Due to his harsh life and many battles up to this point Kenji would surely be able to outlast at least one, maybe even two of them before he succumbed to death. Perhaps if he was to simply knock the spell caster [Takoyaki] unconscious the spell would be dismissed. Or would it continue being in effect until he killed him? Even then would it become a curse and stick with him post mortem barring him from damaging the remaining two forever?

If such a case were true would that not mean he lost? No, that was unacceptable. Kenji will make sure he wins flawlessly.

Reading this you might think that these are the thoughts of Tatakayaiba Kenji, but you’d be incorrect. These thoughts are the description of his instinct and genius battle prowess. The entire monologue being something he understood in but half a second and acted upon accordingly.

[Inorigi!]

Kenji leapt forwards aiming his katana at Takoyaki, however Natou jumped in the way. Smashin his elbow into Natous temple he knocked the intruder away though as a result his brain too was rattled.

“Ack!” Natou coughed as he tried not to fall over his eyes rolling into the back of his head as he gasped for air.

Though Kenji's world was also shaking and flipped upside down it was nothing he hadn’t experienced before. Instead of fighting his body's urge to fall over he instead followed it using it to his advantage to move forwards without losing speed.

[Karakiri!]

Kenji's sword slashed right into Takoyakis stomach, slicing it open and throwing him back some.

“Are you crazy!?” Takoyaki cried as he curled forwards, his face white and lips blue, “You should be dead, why are you still moving!?”

“The only way I’ll ever die is by my own blade!” Kenji roared with laughter, he too felt as though he was about to faint.

Aaaah, this is it. That feeling I love, fighting on the brink of death~”

[Kyoyu Style: Zangeki!]

Appearing from behind Takoyaki was Kanashi with his Katana Itachi raised overhead, using the dull end of the blade he smashed it down onto the top of Takoyakis head with a crack.

“GYAH!” Takoyaki gagged, blood pouring down his now cracked open head before he collapsed to the floor with a shiver.

“Ha-ha-ha!” Kanashi painted, his legs wobbly. This is it, I’m done. He thought, falling to his back and de-conjuring Itachi.

[Roronoa!]

Moving like a blur Kenji quickly cut down both the remaining Natou and Nigiri who fell to the train's top with a thud.

“Normally I’d be upset that you interrupted my fight… but I was really running out of options there so I guess it’s fine!” Kenji laughed while taking a seat next to Kanashi.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“Blegh, I’m ready to sleep again.” Kanashi wheezed looking up at the night sky. Among the stars was a large blue moon casting its light down upon the planet with a second smaller Red moon behind it. “Do you ever think about what’s up there?” He asked.

“No, not really. I like to think if I can cut it in half or not though.” Kenji said.

“I don’t think even Jin could do something like that.”

“Who’s Jin?”

“Oh, yeah you don’t know him… Well don’t worry about it for now. You’ll meet him eventually.” Kanashi sighed.

“What should we do about these three? Throw em overboard?” Kenji asked, pointing to the fallen Yakuza.

“Can they move?”

“I cut their tendons so they shouldn’t be able to.” Kenji answered.

“Then that’ll be good enough, thank you for not killing them.”

“For you to think it’s okay to cut their tendons but not kill them… don’t you think that’s more cruel?”

“Not really, I just think that killing them shouldn’t be our go to answer, we should try something else first and if it eventually leads up to it then maybe killing them is the only option. I just don't want that to be out first. Exhaust all the other options first you know.”

“No I don't.” Kenji frowned. “But when should we hop off of this? The rest of the lot will be waiting for us at the train station's next stop won't they?”

“Just give me a while to catch my breath, I’m at like 10% Stamina right now.” Kanashi huffed and waved his hand at Kenji who stood up with a frown.

“!?”

Kenji wrapped his arm around Kanashi and hoisted him up and over his shoulder, like one would carry a log of wood.

“What’re you doing?” Kanashi asked, too tired to yell.

“Getting off this thing!” Kenji cackled, jumping off the train's roof with a crack of air, the whole train shaking from the force of this leap.

“Wooow!” Kanashi screamed out as he flew high into the sky with Kenji, his face being blown back by the wind.

DOM!

Falling to the floor with a bang the surrounding car alarms erupted filing the quiet night with their song of panic.

“Can you walk?” Kenji asked Kanashi over his shoulder.

“I’d prefer not to, but I’d also prefer it to being carried.” Kanashi frowned.

Taking that as confirmation threw Kanashi off his shoulder and Kanashi fell to his feet smoothly, though he was still exhausted and his legs trembled from under him he had enough energy to walk a little further ahead.

“So what should we do now?” Asked Kenji.

“We'll find somewhere for me to rest first, my phone says it’s three in the morning so we should try to keep a low profile until about six when the city wakes up. Then we should find our way to the meeting point with Akatora.”

“Hmmm.” Kenji hummed looking around the street they were on in search of any signs with the city wards name on it. “Nothing.” He said after a few seconds.

“We'll need to go further ahead. We'll look for a net cafe or something of the sort on the way as well.” Kanashi said. I’ll also need to change my clothes, that plant lady ripped these ones all up…

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

Kanashi and Kenji sat in their cubicle at a net cafe, the space barely big enough for the two of them to sit facing each other without their knees touching. Before them was a small black coffee table with a cheap map of Tousen laid across it.

“Alright so we’re here then.” Kanashi said pointing to the ward marked “Kohin.” On the map. “And we need to get to Shubuchi which is over here.” Kanashi said as he traced his finger along the map as he spoke. He moved it along the beach which Kohin stretched across until it reached the ward titled Shibuchu.

“I would say we should take the train but after what happened in Nishijou there’s a chance that could end up in us being arrested so we’ll have to take this way to Shibuchu.” Kanashi said, tracing his finger back from Shibuchu to where they were on the shore of Kohin.

“And in Shibuchu we’re going to meet this Akatora?”

“Yeah, he’s a Hachibuto who’s on our side.”

“What are we hoping to gain from him?”

“Hm? Oh well… I’m not sure exactly… but he’s the one who told me to pick you up.”

“My loyalty is to you, not him. So I think it’s important for that to be laid down first.”

Loyalty… Kanashi thought. “He seems like a pretty level headed guy so don’t worry about him trying to boss you around. The more pressing thing on my mind is the Soutou clan situation.”

“Care to explain it for me once again?” Kenji asked.

“Sure. So basically there’s six great powers in Edoland. Two of them being the remaining members of the three great clans. The Hojo and the Soutou. I had a little meeting with the Hojo clan a few days ago and I messed up by telling them more about the liberation than I should have. So basically they have some dirt on the Venator Society we don’t want to get out. The reason I talked to them in the first place was to get them on our side of the liberation but they said that it was too risky of them. Currently the other six powers are the Toumeikan, Sosaki Corp, Parliament and of course the Orochi Kingdom itself. They think that out of the current powers other than the Toumeikan and Orochi Kingdom which controls Parliament none of them would side with us. The Soutou and Sosaki are linked together tightly because of their businesses and the Sosaki have a beneficial relationship with the Toumeikan. So if the Sosaki sides with the Toumeikan, so will the Soutou. However if we were to kick the current head of the clan Raizen out of his seat and get his son Sosuke in then Hojo Asara can talk him into joining us. With Asara and Sosuke on our side the Sosaki will follow. Meaning we have half of the six powers under our belt.

“So we have to force Soutou Raizen to resign then instead of just killing him?” Kenji frowned.

“Yes, not only because killing is the wrong thing to do but also because if we do kill him that would reflect badly on everyone else we're working with. We need him to sign it over willingly and preferably without much blood shed.”

“Do we know where he is?”

“No, but I do know they’re in Tousen because of their export and importing business.”

“But is that their home estate or headquarters?”

“Both probably, if I had to guess they’d probably be under Mt. Tousen right? That’s where most rich people live if I recall correctly.”

“Then what?”

“We’ll report to the Hojo clan and I’ll try to reconnect with Nordon the captain of the Venator Societies Edoland branch”

“I thought you quit?”

“I did… we'll figure out what to say once I speak with him again but even if I’m officially kicked off the team I’ll have set everything up… I’ll have made up for my mistakes.” Kanashi said with a weak smile.

“What, you're gonna quit that easily? What about my flight with Yurius?”

“It’s Julius… and I’m sure Nordon could hook you up with that. Look I don’t want to be kicked from the Venator Society but It’s a possible outcome. I’m untrustworthy, I quit when things got tough and from their perspective what’s to say that I won't do it again when they need me the most?”

“...” Kenji just frowned at Kanashis words before looking back at the map and pointing to Shibuchu. “If we can’t use the train station then what route will we use, it shows three here. One that runs along the Harbor, one that cuts through Kohei to Shibuchu diagonally and then this one which goes through Chuji, the shortest of them.”

“Cutting through Chuji is the quickest but we’d have to cross through two separate borders. If the Toumeikan are checking on the borders, that’s giving them two shots at catching us. Also with Chuji there’s a chance they could block us in completely since it’s the middle of four wards.”

“Then should we go straight through? That’d be the second shortest.’

“I think that’s the path they’d expect us to take. They know we’re in Kohin since that’s where the train we rode on was headed. From Kohin we can go to five separate wards. But really there’s only three likely options since Ouji is the Royal city so we can’t go there and Denshou is nothing but suburbs.

“So they’ll split their forces across the routes to Shinkaju, Chuji and Shibuchu.”

“That’s what I think at least. And while this path is by far the longest it also has the benefit of only being covered on three sides since the bay of Edo is right there.”

“So they can’t close us in as easily.” Kenji muttered, rubbing his chin.

“Alright then here's our final perfect plan. We’ll wait here until six in the morning, then we’ll follow this route along the harbor until we reach Shibuchu. We’ll meet up with Akatora and iron out the details with him. Once we're done with that we’ll find Raizen and have him sign the goods over to Sosuke. After that’s been officially dealt with we call Nordon and the Hojo clan to wrap things up nicely.”