Once again, the knocking on the door of his temporary lodging awakened Ren. He gasped as he was pulled from the darkness to the confines of the room shrouded in shadows.

"Wait," he said with a hoarse voice as he rolled onto his belly to pick himself up, then went to find the window to open the shutters. With the morning light illuminating the interior, he was able to go and open the door for Sora. She greeted him with a smile, a blush on her cheeks, and a tray full of food.

"Thank you," he said, making space for her to enter.

"Good morning, big brother," she said in response and then went in to kneel on the floor and put the tray there.

"Good morning," he replied, then joined her. He quickly consumed the food, hurried by the accomplishments of the previous day. The hope for some major breakthrough made him feel anxious to continue the meditation.

Sora took the empty dishes as soon as he finished, then headed out, and he followed her. Their paths soon split, as Ren went straight to the meditation room, where the old saishu awaited him, surrounded by the thick smoke, obscuring the already dim light pouring inside through the gap under the ceiling of the chamber.

"Good morning," he threw to her as he sat down to pull the Maken and place it on his lap.

"Good morning," she replied. "Let's start."

Ren nodded and closed his eyes. He immediately found himself on top of a hill, where a lonely tree grew. The wind was ruffling his hair, just as it was ruffling the leaves in the tree crown, creating a faint murmur. A few steps away stood a young man. He was older than when Ren saw him previously, but he had no doubt that this maybe fourteen-year-old teenager was the Hearteater.

He kept repeating a single motion of striking from above as he held a stick, nicely carved into a wooden sword. A few steps away, sitting in the grass, were a bunch of other kids who clearly laughed at the training of the boy. They all seemed to enjoy a break day from work.

Then the vision shifted. All the colors blended into this strange mess of dull colors, only to morph into another background. This time it was the edge of the village. The day was slowly coming to an end, and on the dirt road, some teenagers played with a ball made out of sewn-up pigskin, filled probably with some pieces of old cloth. They enjoyed it, laughing and sometimes wrestling a bit.

Another group sat on the roadside, in the grass, enjoying a bit of rest after work. A few chewed on pieces of grass, cheering for their playing friends. The ghost was there too, but he stayed slightly away from everybody, with the wooden sword fixed to his side. He seemed exhausted and clearly was happy to simply sit, letting his body rest.

Ren noticed something else as well. Three kids dressed in nice black kimonos immediately brought the Noroi clan to his mind. They were coming from the side of the village. Each had a wooden sword by their side, clearly showing they were learning to become warriors.

It was weird, as their faces were blurred, and yet he knew some details about their expressions. The smirks curving their lips, and the fake confidence in their moves, combined with occasional glances at one another with the addition of laughter was enough for Ren to understand what was about to happen. The confrontation was inevitable.

At first, the peasants didn't seem to notice it, but eventually, one of them pointed to the others, and their game stopped.

"Don't you have work to do, you filthy peasants?" asked one of the three Noroi clan members as he stopped a few steps away with his comrades laughing nervously, right behind his back.

None of the kids dared to answer, but the Hearteater got up on his feet.

"Take this piece of garbage and scram. You are ruining the landscape with your ugly mugs," said a self-confident young warrior from the Noroi clan as he stepped forward to kick the ball away.

This made the peasants disperse, but something in their faces or the way they moved had to irritate the Noroi, as the first guy grabbed one of the teenagers by the shoulder and pushed him.

"Do you want to say something to me?" he asked.

The kid shook his head, only to get slapped in the face, prompting laughter from the other two young warriors.

"Hey, stop it!" The Hearteater's voice cut through the air.

Suddenly, everybody was looking at him.

"Are you looking for trouble?" asked the first of the three Noroi, raising his head up to look at the ghost at a weird angle, clearly as an attempt to intimidate him.

Ren rolled his eyes, witnessing that, but he also kept watching.

"I can give you trouble if you won't leave us alone!" The Hearteater shouted and then pulled his wooden weapon from behind his belt.

"He wants to fight, guys," the second of the Noroi said, pulling his own training sword.

His comrades followed, and soon it was one against three.

At first, they just stood there, watching each other, but then one of the three young warriors decided to attack. His simple swing from above was parried. The ghost stepped forward, shortening the distance, and grabbed him by the sleeve of his kimono, pulling forward, and forcing him to stumble.

If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

The remaining two came to help. The Hearteater blocked one sword, but the other one hit him in the shoulder. It was announced by a dull thud, which indicated that the bones endured, unfortunately, it was only a prelude to the rest of the troubles.

Wounded, he stood no chance against the three, who surrounded him. He got hit a few times defending bravely, as he simply couldn't parry more than one sword. In a moment, he ended up on the ground, getting kicked.

The rest of the peasants scattered, leaving him alone.

"This is what you get for standing up to the clans," said the first of the three Noroi, then spat on the ghost.

Laughing, the group left, and the vision faded away.

Ren opened his eyes and saw the old saishu, who nodded to him in silence.

"You are making progress. I can feel it," she said. "Let’s go eat, and then you will tell me what you saw," she added.

He got up, fighting with his stiff legs, giving the old shinshoku enough time to reach the corridor. From that point, he followed her back to the cafeteria, where other saiins already waited with the food, including Reiko and Sora. He and the old saishu sat at the table, and Ren began telling her everything he saw.

She repeated the same thing about making progress, and that was it. Ren didn’t really need her to say it, as he was aware that he was delving into the past of the ghost, which should help him understand the Hearteater better.

After they finished the meal, both returned to the meditation room, where he once more sat on the ground in front of the old saishu. The heavy smoke in the air and the silence of that space soon brought him another vision.

This time, the boy was a bit older once again. He was walking on a road in the middle of a sunny day. The birds chirped in the canopy of a few nearby trees. But other than that, the horizon was empty, allowing Ren to see Hikarimura from afar. He was sure of it the moment he saw the architecture, quite similar to what he could still experience in the district of the Noroi clan.

It was obvious that the boy was going to the city, although Ren was unsure of the reason behind this journey.

The ghost was armed, as the familiar wooden sword dangled by his belt.

There was this conviction and nimbleness in his step as he walked, which made it obvious that he had some kind of important purpose, which led him to go to the city.

Ren decided to follow, and soon both of them found themselves in Hikarimura. With a single glance, it was quite obvious that the city was much smaller than what existed in the current timeline. There were still plenty of people around, taking care of their own business, and the ghost looked at them curiously, clearly wondering what they could be so busy with.

'A true country bumpkin,' Ren thought to himself. 'Probably his first time in here, despite living so close.'

Soon he realized that he was slightly wrong. The Hearteater was not as curious about the citizens but rather tried to look for a way somewhere. Not too long later, the destination became obvious as the Tachibana clan district.

At that moment in time, it was surrounded by not-so-tall walls and had a gate, watched by guards in dark blue kimonos, which allowed Ren to recognize the place. They patrolled on top of the wall but cared more about other things than paying attention to their duties as most were engaged in conversation, or stared into the distance.

The ghost approached one of them.

"Hello!" He greeted the man, luring his attention.

The guard didn't respond, only looked at the dirty brat.

"I… I want to join your clan! I'm a good swordsman! I've been training for years and…"

"Get lost, kid!" The guard growled, cutting the Hearteater off. He even waved at him with his hand, only further underscoring what he said.

"B-but…"

"Get lost, or I'll go down there and stab you!"

This was enough for the ghost to step away, but he did not leave. He found himself a spot in a nearby alley, where he would not be spotted by any of the sentinels on the wall, and from that vantage point, he observed the gate.

'He is looking for somebody to come out… Probably not a warrior, as those already told him off, so probably a woman belonging to the clan,' Ren pondered.

He was spot on, as he found out soon, when the whole vision shifted, going further in time. A group of teenage girls left the district, giggling among themselves as they headed somewhere.

The Hearteater immediately rushed after them. The blush on his dirty cheeks indicated that he was embarrassed, so Ren actually wasn't worried that some scene of carnage would unveil in front of his eyes.

"Excuse me!" He called after the girls the moment he got closer.

Several of them turned around to look at him, and disgust immediately twisted their faces. "Get lost, beggar!" one said, making the others giggle, and then the whole group resumed their walk, ignoring him.

All but one, who decided to stay behind, curious about why this strange teenager tried to stop them.

"Yes?" she asked, stealing a glance at the wall, to make sure no guards were watching.

She was young but already beautiful. To anybody who would look at her even once, the fact that in the future she would become gorgeous would be evident. At first, it missed him, but then Ren caught the detail that he actually was able to see her face.

‘She is important,’ he immediately thought.

"Uhm..." the Hearteater took a few steps forward, but when she reacted by stepping back, he stopped, afraid he would scare her away. "I… I want to join your clan. I'm a swordsman. I've been training for a few years now! I fought with a few Noroi, and I was better than them! I can become great if you take me!" he assured.

Her face showed confusion. He noticed.

"Please… If there is a way I can join your clan, then I beg of you… Tell me!" He spoke again lowering his head.

"If you want to become Tachibana, you first need to show your skills as a warrior," she said after a short moment of thinking. "Maybe if you defeated one of our samurais, then they would accept you," she said.

Then one of her friends called out for her, and she hurried off after a slight bow. Unfortunately, Ren was not paying too much attention to anything but the other two, so he didn’t quite catch it in the ruckus of the busy street.

"Thank you!" The Hearteater called, bowing deeply. "Thank you so much!"

And then the vision came to an end.

As soon as he opened his eyes, the saishu began getting up without even saying a word. Ren followed her, and they both went out of the meditation room and entered the corridor.

He began telling her everything as they walked.

"It's progress," she deemed when he finished. "You need to discover more. Perhaps you will find out what turned this poor boy into the monster he has become," she pointed out.

"Yes," Ren agreed, and then he noticed Sora and Reiko working in a corridor, cleaning the floors. "Uhm… I'm going to help them," he said and ran off.

The old lady watched him for a moment before she resumed her walk to the cafeteria with a slight smile gracing her lips. „Good… We need more hands,” she deemed to herself.

Without a word, he grabbed a rug from one of the buckets and began cleaning with the girls. Reiko was watching him discreetly, but she didn't say a word, making the situation strange and awkward. At least for Sora, who noticed that something was going on between those two but refrained from asking.

As they finished, they went to eat, and then Ren called it a day, retiring to his room, where thoughts about Reiko haunted him, preventing him from falling asleep.