Our only weapon is our fists…
The words rang in Akaza's mind as he floated into the nothingness.
Who said those words? How could anyone else be here… in death? Was voice even a concept here?
Suddenly, Akaza fell.
He threw his hands like a drowning man reaching for a straw.
But, ultimately, the nothingness swallowed him, pulling him deeper and deeper into its embrace.
Akaza, giving up, let himself be swallowed.
Slowly, his body turned around.
To his utter surprise, instead of a black abyss, Akaza found a globe of light.
It was calling him. Someone… a mere blur… was there, reaching out for him.
Akaza reached out in return, hoping to go toward the light.
Then, with a thud, he fell.
…
Hakuji lay on the ground as the Magistrate beat him with a stick.
Blood had drenched the small boy's entire back as the merciless strikes ruptured his muscles, turning the skin blue and black.
"That's it!" the Magistrate roared, huffing. "Mark this little demon for one last time! Next time he steals something, take one of his hands!"
Hakuji stared at the three black strips on each of his hands after they had let him go.
Demon… The word brought a smile to his face. The beating hurt, but he would just need to be strong enough to survive the pain.
The bigger issue was that they had taken away the money he had stolen; money that he needed to buy medicine for his father.
Now, he would need to…
"Hakuji!" An old man came running toward him. "When your father heard you got arrested again, he… hanged himself!"
…
Hakuji's fist shattered a grown man's jaw.
To hell with every one of these bastards, he cursed within.
What did his father do wrong? He wasn't causing any trouble. If only he had received some treatment, he would have…
Live an honest life, his father's last words — written with a shaky hand on a piece of paper — flashed through his head, blurring his eyes. I am sorry for all the trouble.
Honest life…
Akaza slammed his head on a man's nose, breaking teeth.
Could the poor… the weak… in this world even afford to live an honest life?!
Why would his father apologize when he hadn't even done anything wrong?!
Why… Why wasn't it him who had died… instead of his father… Why… WHY?!
Clap-Clap-Clap…
Hakuji's eyes gained focus as he looked up.
"Oh, that was impressive…" It was a big man in all white, looking at the men on the ground. "You did all that barehanded?"
Another…
Another one who dared judge him…
Letting out a growl, Hakuji charged.
Next, a fist landed on his stomach, sending him back to nothingness.
…
"This is my dojo," Keizo, the martial arts' dojo's master, said as a battered and bruised Hakuji followed him. "Your first task is to nurse my sick daughter."
The duo stopped.
Hakuji leaned sideways to look at the girl.
"This is my daughter, Koyuki," Keizo introduced, shoving Hakuji inside. "Make sure you take good care of her."
The girl's face was pale, just like his father's.
Another sick person to take care of…
Perhaps, this time, he could do better.
Perhaps, this time, he could become strong enough to protect…
…
"I am sorry again…" Koyuki said.
Why did the sick feel the need to apologize?
Weren't they the ones suffering worse all the time?
"Because of me… you can't train…" Koyuki feebly said.
"I train enough," Hakuji replied.
"You must need a break…" she said. "There will be fireworks tomorrow… You should go."
"If you want, I can take you with me," Hakuji said. "If not tomorrow, there will be fireworks next year, and the year after that, too."
There it was again.
The tears in her eyes.
Hakuji sat by her head as she cried, looking outside.
To live an honest life…
To have someone to protect…
Perhaps, they were both the same?
…
"Will you take over my dojo, Hakuji?" Keizo asked the eighteen-year-old youth. "You also have my blessing to be with Koyuki."
Hakuji looked at the girl he had cared for all these years.
Her face was flushed red, despite her old sickness not ailing her anymore.
A criminal…
Hakuji looked at the black strips on his hands.
Could a criminal love someone and live an honest life?
Hakuji bowed, barely able to hold back his tears, promising himself to protect those two with his everything… for eternity.
…
Hakuji stared at Keizo and Koyuki's corpses.
There was a pit in his stomach, so deep that he could feel it eating him from the inside.
A dispute over the land, and the samurai from a nearby dojo poisoned the well because they knew they couldn't defeat him and his master, killing even Koyuki.
The pit inside him grew larger.
Behind him, the fireworks roared.
Once again, he was here, staring at his broken promises.
In the end, all the promises he had made to her turned out to be… mere words.
…
Hakuji walked out of the samurai dojo, leaving behind a sea of corpses.
He was alive, but the pit inside him had grown so large that he could feel it dragging behind him.
"I heard a fuss about a demon in this area…"
Hakuji looked up and found a man with slitted eyes staring at him.
"… but you turned out to be an ordinary man."
Hakuji punched.
A hand penetrated his skull.
But, instead of his mind, what Hakuji lost was his heart… becoming Akaza.
…
Akaza floated in the nothingness once again, remembering everything.
Tears streamed down his cheeks, causing ripples into the dark, formless ocean beneath him.
Over his head, into the abyss, colors flashed.
Fireworks exploded here and there, just like the night when he had gone out with her.
"Are you ready?"
Akaza turned his head right and found her smiling at him.
"Haha! He seems ready enough!"
Akaza turned his head left and found his master looking at him with pride.
Then, the two grabbed his hands, pulled him up, and pushed him away… towards those fireworks.
"Go…" Keizo said. "Live an honest life."
Akaza stared only at her, reaching out to grab her hand.
"I will be here…" Koyuki pulled her hand away, her smile broadening. "… waiting for you… always."
…
Outside, Akaza looked at his blackened hands, sensing the black strips hidden beneath that charred skin.
But it didn't matter.
Nothing mattered anymore.
Because the pit in his stomach that had troubled Akaza for centuries had already disappeared...
… Koyuki's smile in his heart letting him remember the attitude he had used to live by.