Great. The boy hit him square in the chest with an open palm. “You trying to embarrass me?”
“No.”Definitely not.
“That’s right. You know better.” When the Black Tortoise moved to slap him, Ryuichi caught his wrist. Normally, he’d have let it go, but this was a new school.
A new day.
And he was done being slapped and laughed at by arrogant scum who thought they were better than him. “I’m not your practice dummy.”
More anger flared in the boy’s dark eyes. “Who are you?”
For the first time in his life, he lifted his chin with a newfound dignity. “Mahotsukai Ryuichi.”
The boy laughed in his face. “Yourrealname.”
Heat scalded his cheeks as that all-too-familiar shame rose up inside him and began to shake his confidence.
I’m no one. Nothing.
Yesterday that would have sent him fleeing. But as he looked around at the faces of his newfound family, he refused to cower.
“I am Mahotsukai Ryuichi.” He took a step forward and boldly met the boy’s gaze. “And I will not be embarrassed by you.”
Laughter rang out from the other Black Tortoises. “Teach him some manners, Toshi.”
Before Ryuichi knew it, all the other students had formed a circle around the two of them.
That familiar dread welled up inside him; he knew exactly what was coming.
Ryuichi gripped his practice spear and prepared himself for a duel to the laughter of the small Black Tortoise group and the other students.
Toshi sneered. “Everyone, look! The reject thinks he’s a samurai.”
Another round of laughter rang in his ears, filling him with the pain that had become a second part of him.
Two more Black Tortoise students stepped out from the crowd and joined Toshi.
Ryuichi grimaced at them ganging up on him. “Are you afraid of a challenge? Am I so threatening that you need all your friends to defeat me?”
Toshi smirked. “Oh, I’ll fight you all right. But it won’t be a duel. What honor is there in defeating a sad little rice farmer who was clumsy enough to lose both parents?”
Kato stepped forward. “That’s enough, Toshi.”
That only caused Toshi to laugh harder. “Leave it to you to find the only other loser in the school. Good job! This is why samurai are above everyone else. We may look like others, but beneath our skin, you can tell we’re different. It shows in everything we do and in everything we are.” Toshi smiled. “Except you, Kato. For you, itissprinkled all over your skin.”
Fury snapped in Kato’s eyes and left no doubt that Toshi had found his weakness. The one thing that made him forget his training.
Anger is your enemy.
The key in battle was to always maintain a cool head.Never let anyone make you so angry you lose control.
“That’s it!” Kato grabbed his practice sword and summoned the yokai spirit he controlled. It flowed from the small medallion around his neck and laid itself over Kato to form a glowing green silhouette.
Wincing over what his friend intended to do because he was an idiot, Ryuichi stared down the three Black Tortoise students. He and Kato were outnumbered and outmatched, but it didn’t matter. Even if it was hopeless, they couldn’t let this slight against their honor stand.
Standing against impossible odds was the true spirit of the samurai. Something pompous brats like Toshi would never understand.
Toshi was a bully who only understood force.
