"Why not just stay the night?"
He asked, gesturing to the doorways of one of the many rooms. Her blush only deepened at his words and her fists clenched.
"Ah, no. Not like that. I mean just borrow one of the rooms and try to sleep a little while the rain dies down."
He quickly moved to clear up her misunderstanding.
"...Where will you be sleeping?"
"I think I’ll stay down here a little longer. You go ahead and choose a room – it doesn’t matter which. I won’t disturb you, so rest assured."
She bit her lip wondering whether this really was the right course of action. What would people think if they saw her coming out of his house early in the morning... of course, they’d think ’that’. She felt embarrassed just contemplating it. But still, it would be ridiculous to charge through the rain only to be completely soaked.
"Fine... I’ll go ahead and try and sleep a little then."
She said, nodding, more to assure herself than anyone else. Gengyo returned her nod with a smile, trying to imply that it’d be fine.
She tentatively began up the stairs, reaching her hand out to open the first door, before recoiling as she remembered Togashi was in there. She took a deep breath to steel herself, and then walked stiffly along the landing onto the next room.
She wanted to say goodnight to Gengyo, but from the embarrassment, she could not bring herself to. She slid open the door, and closed it hurriedly, as if to block any prying eyes.
He watched her go, amused by her dramatics, as he turned keenly back to his scrolls, enjoying his reading all the more after his conversation with Akiko.
...
...
He was awoken by the strong stench saké sitting right under his nose. He flinched from its foul odour, his eyes shooting open to see his vision filled with a grinning Nakatane.
"Ahaha! Wakey wakey lad!"
"Isn’t it a little early to be drinking?"
He commented unenthusiastically as he wiped the sleep from his eyes feeling utterly exhausted. Judging by his current surroundings, it seemed that he had fallen asleep whilst reading the scrolls, and the dull aching of his forehead confirmed that he had indeed slept against the table.
"Probably."
He agreed, setting down a large sack upon the table, marked by the audible clanging of metal.
"And this is?"
"Yesterday’s haul."
Nakatane said, peeking inside and removing a golden candle holder, examining it with a squinting gaze.
"I can’t really see the appeal in having it golden..?"
"Neither can I. Aesthetically, it’s a bit of a disgrace."
The master gave him a funny look at that, as though dissatisfied with his answer.
"Well... Let’s get down to business then..."
He brought the bottle close to his nose, savouring the scent as he continued his speech with a good deal more vigour.
"You’re going to head to Toyokawa and sell these."
Gengyo leaned back onto his hands, enjoying the springiness of the tatami underneath his palms as he stifled a yawn.
"I see... Why me? This seems more of a merchant’s task."
"You’ve only been in your position for a day, and you’re already being insubordinate?"
"You know that’s not what I’m doing... Please, I only just woke up. Can we keep things simpler than usual?"
"Tsch. You’re what, eighteen? And here you are acting older than Jikouji... Well, fine. If you want simplicity, I’ll deliver. Whilst you’re in Toyokawa, you’re going to be recruiting. You can take 5 gold coins from the amount you get to recruit men for yourself. And then I want you to recruit some men to serve directly under me."
He nodded slowly, processing the information.
"How many do you want?"
"I want to reform the strength of our original unit, so about 80 men."
"80... That’s a decent amount..."
He mused, stroking his chin.
"How long will it take for us to ride to X?"
"Half a day, perhaps less if you ride fast."
He grinned at that, having a sudden flash of inspiration.
"What’s that look for?"
The master asked, a little put off by the sadistic edge to his smile.
"You’ll see."
"Right... Well, I’ll leave you to it."
He turned to the door to leave, before whirling back around and slapping his forehead as though he had forgotten something obvious.
"Best not leave that in the middle of the room, eh?"
He took it up in his hands and began up the stairs, deciding that it would be much safer to leave their quarry behind closed doors. He passed the first, thinking that the second looked to be the most inconspicuous.
"Ah wait-"
Gengyo realized where he was headed, and felt a sudden chill down his spine as the master’s hand stretched out and pulled open the door revealing a sleeping Akiko.
He sighed, preparing himself mentally for the tribulations ahead.
"What’s up with you, kid?"
"Eh?"
Nakatane was looking down on him from atop the landing, his eyebrows raised.
In disbelief, he clambered up the stairs after Nakatane, looking inside the small room. It was completely empty, aside from a perfectly made futon in the middle of the room.
"Ah... I mean, it’ll do I suppose..."
’She must have gone before I woke up.’
He thought, greatly relieved by Akiko’s quick thinking. Had she been revealed, fast asleep, they certainly would have had some explaining to do.
"Of course it will."
He gently put the sack down in the corner, taking care not to break any of the pieces inside, and with that, he took his leave.
"I’ll be expecting good news."
"I’ll do my best."
...
...
Around an hour later, the Special Forces unit were gathered outside of Gengyo’s house, having been rounded up by Masaatsu and Togashi. They exchanged conversation fervently, evidently excited for the task ahead. They assumed it would be training, but they relished the thought, for it would be their first training session as a new unit.
"The master Niwa has delivered us our first mission."
He announced.
That only served to increase their excitement.
"Already? Hell yeah! We finally get to go and kick some ass again!"
Rokkaku pumped his fists enthusiastically, getting ready for the fight ahead.
"Ah, I’m afraid it won’t be that kind of mission – unless things go very wrong."
"What d’ya mean boss?"
One of the guards asked, confused.
"We’re going to Toyokawa for recruitment purposes."
"Toyokawa? Really? I’ve always wanted to go there. Apparently there are more people than our village, and Tobishima combined."
Kitajo said, elated.
"Even more than that lad, but it’s a good distance away. How are we getting there?"
Niiro spoke, asking the sensible questions.
"We’re going to walk."
Gengyo said emotionlessly.
"..."
It took them a few moments for them to process just what had been said, before there were a few outraged cries.
"WALK? BOSS, WE’LL DIE. IT’S WAY TOO FAR."
A guard fell to his knees just contemplating the thought.
"Oh, don’t worry too much. We’ll run too."
He said, struggling to hide his smile as he watched the anguish spread amongst them.
"It’ll be fine. We need to build our endurance if we’re going to have any success as a unit. This is a good start."
The groans still came as he spoke those words, but they were less dramatic, as they started to see the bigger picture.
"Whoever arrives there first will get a ride on the way back. Their mount will be whoever came in last place."
Faces went white as they contemplated the cruelty of that statement. Whoever came in last place would be without a doubt the weakest runner, and with an extra burden on their back they would be lucky if they made it home at all.
"Do you a feel a bit more motivated now? Good. Go and collect a sword each from the armoury, we will begin our run as soon as you get back."
Gengyo was as good as his word. The moment everyone had arrived back – now armed with a sheathed sword in their hand – he began to jog forwards. Those with any sense followed immediately, making sure not to fall to the back straight away.
The directions Nakatane had given him for getting to Toyokawa were simple – follow the road north, and then follow the road north some more. If you think you are lost, and have gone the wrong way, just keep following that road, and you will soon end up at your destination.
The march was arduous. When they were running, they wished they were walking, and when they were walking, they wished they were running. Their calves ached, their shins did too. Their feet had gone numb hours ago, and blisters quickly began to form.
The distance – in our units – would be roughly 30 miles. Gengyo acted as the pacemaker, but he quickly became aware that he was not amongst the fittest of the men. His body began to lag, and his breathing was laboured, but he pushed himself on despite the pain. As the leader, he had to set a good example.
Kitajo seemed to find it easiest, as he stuck nearest the front, not slowing to join the rest. Whereas Togashi likely found it the hardest. He had been chained up for months, and his body had deteriorated. It was likely too harsh a first test for the man, but Gengyo could not afford to take things slow with the battle so near. He had to push their limits mentally and physically so that they could make the most progress in the shortest time possible.
To the skinny man’s credit, though he was likely in the worst shape, he did not complain a single time, and instead wore a fierce look of determination as he ran beside the larger Rokkaku who was sweating furiously.
The hard stones of the road quickly began to bruise their feet, so they moved to the softer surrounding grass. But with that there was the danger of rabbit holes, so they had to keep their guard up at all times, lest they fall over and lose their position, falling behind the rest.
Morohira carried the sack of goods, but still kept up near the front. His physical condition was so good that it was almost intolerable for the rest, as they watched him run with a smug smile, heaving the heavy sack, making sure they saw him do it. He had certainly not offered to carry it out of good will. He merely liked the idea of hefting such riches, but also the prospect of gloating when their march came to an end.
With the coming of afternoon, and the vicious beatings of the boiling sun, they neared their destination, spotting the vast expanse of houses upon the horizon.
"Wow... It’s huge."
Kitajo breathed. He had never seen so many houses in his life. With its port came great amounts of trade, and even greater amounts of people. It made sense for them to want to settle closer to their place of work.
"Indeed, look past it, and you will see the ocean. Welcome to Toyokawa, men."
//Authors Note
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