Gray morning.
Faint wind touches the trees.
Renji led his nearby team, boots sinking in the mud,
every step slower than the last.
Misaki, Naoki, Aiko, Arata, and Rin followed, heads down.
They all knew what was coming.
Arata's voice was dull.
"We found them just ahead. It's… bad."
The smell was already telling the story.
Crows flapped away, indifferent, as the group entered the clearing.
The ground was stained dark with blood.
The bodies were twisted, wrong.
Misaki pressed a sleeve over her mouth.
Aiko's hand gripped the tree—for balance.
Naoki's head bowed,
he was hiding his eyes;
the only movement came from his jaw.
clenching again and again.
Takumi was on his back, fingerprints on his throat.
Rei had a sword straight through her heart—almost precise, almost gentle.
Kai's face was...
Crows still pecking his face.
Even Misaki, always quick with a jab, was silent.
No one spoke at first.
Naoki broke the silence. "No man could do this."
Arata's lips barely moved.
"Hayato…"
He couldn't finish.
Rin folded her arms, her gaze steady but tired.
"Hayato wasn't himself."
Aiko crouched by Rei, touching his shoulder gently.
"They were our comrades. We should bury and honor them."
Everybody moved.
Naoki knelt first, palms in the mud, silent as stone.
Aiko's braid had come loose, strands clinging to her face as she pressed the soil over Rei's body.
Renji's jaw tightened.
He stared at Takumi's hand, his own fists clenched and white. Takumi was the 'loyal bloodline'.
Renji's shovel slipped on something slick.
Bone, maybe. He didn't look down.
When it was all done, everyone prayed for their souls.
That's all mankind could ever do.
After they buried them, they set up the camp.
The sky hovered just above gray —
not raining, not bright, just undecided.
Smoke from the campfire curled upward, as if It wasn't enough gray in air.
Naoki squared his shoulders at Renji,
"You're our leader. Hayato needs to answer for this."
Arata snapped,
"Why? Takumi wasn't saint."
Naoki fired back,
"And Rei? Kai? Did they deserve this?"
Rin stayed standing,
arms folded across her chest,
eyes never leaving Renji's face.
Rin's voice was calm,
"If we punish Hayato, what about the twins?"
Naoki replied,
"If we don't, how do we preach justice of Empire?"
Aiko smirked;
"If we do, Yui and Kana will send bucket of flowers to us."
Naoki's voice shook,
but he didn't back down.
"Order shouldn't bend because it hurts."
Misaki sat on a rock,
elbows on knees,
picking dirt from under her nails—
a nervous energy she couldn't shake.
Misaki finally spoke, soft but cutting,
"Naoki, we need to hear Hayato's side. It was three on one."
Naoki looked at her,
anger flickering,
then dying out,
"Maybe you're right. But these deaths—"
He stopped.
Arata leaned against a tree trunk,
boot digging a groove into the mud.
He has wolfish smile on his face,
"You only listen when Misaki says it, huh?"
Rin joined Arata with wolfish smile of her own.
Naoki snapped.
"Enough Arata!
I joined this rebellion
because I was sick of lords and their 'justice'."
Arata became serious.
"Don't tear us apart,Naoki. Not now."
Rin added, turning to Renji;
"If there's a chance, we need loyal bloodline help.
Otherwise we're in grim position."
Naoki also added;
"Renji, we all in your debt.
You saved all of us.
We trust you.
Only you."
The tension was a blade, drawn but not yet swung.
Renji's thoughts echoed in his mind.
I pulled him back from the cliff once.
Can I do it again, if he's already fallen?
Renji exhaled dramatically, voice suddenly formal,
"I'll find Hayato. He'll get my realm-famous, utterly terrifying and merciful judgment."
Misaki rolled her eyes,
"Yeah, your famous 'judgment' wanted to put me on trial for eating your grapes."
Renji glared, mock-offended.
"Disrespectful! You're still in my debt, thief."
Misaki folded her arms,
"One silver. For grapes!"
Renji deadpanned,
"Southern grapes.
Aristocrat's fruit.
Priceless.
Worth more than half of your cooking, peasant."
Misaki was on edge,
"That was two years ago! Let it go, old man!"
Renji thought her words for a moment;
"You will not get away. That "old man" insult is also included. "
Wind was picking up.
Aiko's braid had come loose again.
She didn't fix it.
She looks tired from all of it;
"Still dragging grapes into a graveyard, Renji?"
Renji let the moment fade.
"
Yeah it's petty nonsense,
as expected—from the one dragging around half a forest in their braid.
Misaki! You're grounded for one week."
Misaki tried to intervene, but Renji raised his hand.
"Hush now.
The rebellion stalls here.
Northern lords are clawing at Lord Minato's soil,
and winter's sharpening its teeth."
Renji's eyes softened, just for a second.
"I'll bring Hayato back. Whatever it takes."
Northern lords, like vultures. Going after each other.
Kana clinging to life.
Yui's spirit crushed.
Watari, Takumi,Kai and Rei gone.
The rebellion's heart is breaking.
One more crack, and everything falls.
Later, alone, Renji trudged down a muddy road.
Trees thinned;
the morning stayed gray.
Sunlight smudged across the road like a fading smile.
Renji thought of Takumi,Rei and Kai.
I am terrible man.
They were my child too.
I remember every moment with them.
I wear the mask for the others.
I'll mourn them in secret — so my children won't lose their smiles.
The wind kept pushing against his body,
like it wanted him to turn around—
but he didn't.
A merchant caravan rumbled by—old oxen, sleepy guards.
When the merchant passed close,
Renji's hand brushed his sword hilt by habit, though he didn't draw.
The merchant called out,
"Roads are cursed, friend.
Chaos every day. We could use a sword."
Renji managed a thin, crooked grin.
"I'm the best you'll ever meet.
But I'm searching for my son.
When I find him,
you can shower us with your gold coins."
Merchant grinned,
"You have very high opinion of yourself.
I like that.
Times like this,
your son is either in ditch or wasted in a brothel."
Hayato in a brothel.
The image was so absurd,
Renji almost actually laughed.
Almost.
But if the twins ever found out, they'd never forgive him.
Renji muttered.
"My boy Hayato? His first time? In a brothel?"
Renji let out half a laugh and shook his head.
" That'd be... great!"