Koichi rolled his eyes. Ungrateful brat. He should have allowed the demon to eat him.
No good deed goes unpunished.
And his good deeds were forever criticized.
At least the monks weren’t quite so rude to him. They were tolerating him as a necessary evil.
Though that could change, given how many of them were being captured by Oda Nobunaga whenever they left the mountain. For some reason, Nobunaga was having them tortured for information regarding their camp. Though why the great Nobunaga cared about the camp, he wasn’t sure.
Granted, the monks were opposed to his rule, but normally Nobunaga gave them plenty of latitude. This newfound crusade against them was frightening.
And no one knew Ryuichi was here.
So the kidnapping and interrogation of monks made no sense.
Those were his thoughts until Keiko brought him to a small clearing where two boys were sparring. The ferocity stunned him, but not nearly as much as the reality that one of the boys—the one winning the fight—was Ryuichi.
Koichi stumbled.No...
Instead of being the kindhearted boy he knew, this was the same kid who’d attacked him at the merchant’s home. The one with unrestrained bloodlust in his eyes.
And Ryuichi was showing no mercy to the poor boy.
“Ryuichi!”
He ignored him.
Growling, Koichi grabbed a staff from the hands of a nearby monk and headed for his student.
Ryuichi went to hit the boy on the head.
Koichi caught the blow—barely—with the tip of his staff. Ryuichi’s wooden kendo hovered less than an inch from the boy’s face.
With a curl to his lip, Ryuichi glared at him. “How could you?”
Koichi was flabbergasted. “Me? I’m not the one bashing the kid’s brains out. What’s wrong with you?”
“I’m teaching him what he needs to know. His enemies won’t take mercy on him. This world won’t take mercy on him, and I’m not doing him any favors ifItake mercy on him!”
Those words rang in Koichi’s ears. What had happened to the kid? He was furious as he reminded Ryuichi of the main principles. “Honor. Respect. Courage. And most of all, mercy.”
“Mercy is for the weak.”
Koichi flipped the wooden sword from Ryuichi’s grasp, and the other boy ran from the clearing as fast as he could manage. “Mercy isn’t weakness, and strength isn’t beating a weaker opponent. It only comes from defeating a stronger or equal challenger.That and that aloneis how you obtain honor.”
Ryuichi actually growled at him. “What doyouknow of honor, ronin?”
Those words stung to the depth of his soul and invoked an anger in him that would rival Masaru’s. For a moment, he almost retaliated with his own strike. It took everything he had not to take his fury out on the kid. But...
Anger is your enemy.
His old teacher’s words were the only thing that saved Ryuichi’s hide.
That, and the fact that Koichi realized something that made his blood run cold. Something about his student that he should have realized before.
Eyes wide, he glanced at Keiko. “We need to get our charge out of here.”
“Agreed.”
