I woke up the next morning and went out to Kumatetsu's courtyard that was at the back of his house. Sure enough, Kumatetsu was waiting for me. Hyaku and Tatara were there too. Kumatetsu smirked at me and said, "Ready for some training?" I nodded and said with determination, "I'm your apprentice. I have to." Kumatetsu grabbed a stick off of the ground and said, "Watch and learn."

He swung the stick forward, and suddenly a strong wind blew from behind us. He swung the stick to the right, and the wind seemed to follow, blowing my hair into my face. Kumatetsu tossed me the stick after he was done.

"Do exactly what I just did."

I was still recovering a little after what happened before I shouted at him, "There's no way!"

Hyaku looked up to me and said, "Don't worry, Azuma. Just give it a try." I took a deep breath in, and let it out. I gripped the stick with both hands, and tried my best. I swung, but nothing happened. I swung the stick to the right just like Kumatetsu did, but the stick slipped out of my hands. I could hear Tatara snicker at me. "Hey, it's my first time alright!" I yelled at him, but Tatara rolled his eyes and laughed at this, saying, "Yeah, of course it's your first time, like, you don't say?" "Oh, shut up." I muttered under my breath, picking up the stick. I swung it again… still nothing happened. I tried one more time, but Kumatetsu said to me, "Okay... just, stop." "Well then, what am I doing wrong?!" I asked him. "You're supposed to grip the sword-" He said, grasping the air in front of him, "and then it's a WHOOSH, and a BANG! Got it?" He said, miming the motion of swinging the stick forward. I gripped the sword tighter, but he butted in and said, "No, no, no, you're doing it wrong! You're supposed to GRIP!" "I am griping! I'm doing exactly what you're telling me!" I shouted at him. "No, you clearly aren't! This is beginners stuff, how hard can this be?!" Hyaku said to Kumatetsu, "That's the problem. Even though it's simple for you, Azuma has a difficult time because he's new to this. Try explaining it to him using different words." Kumatetsu growled loudly and shouted, "Fine!" He turned back to me and said, "You have to grip the sword in your soul!" I looked down to my chest and said, "The sword… in my soul?" I exhaled and said, "Alright… Grip the sword in my soul." I closed my eyes, and did as Kumatetsu said. I felt a bit of tight grip in my chest, which I was a little shocked to feel, but I knew what it was. I opened up my eyes, a determined look on my face. I swung the stick as hard as I could.

But... nothing happened.

I sighed and simply gave the stick back to Kumatetsu. "W-What…? What are you doing?!" He said, shoving the stick away from him. "I can't do this. I tried, but it's no use." I said somberly.

"Well… you gave it your best shot." Hyaku said, giving me a faint smile. "We'll train more tomorrow, alright?" I said, encouragingly. Kumatetsu stared at me, not saying anything. His eyebrows furrowed. I felt a little uncomfortable... "U-Uh… what's wrong? Do I have something on my face?" I asked him.

And then... Kumatetsu just walked off. "H-Hey! Wait a minute! Where are you going?!" I said after him. He didn't respond.

"Hyaku… is there something wrong with him?" Hyaku looked over to Kumatetsu, and immediately went up after him. "Where are you running off to?" I heard him call to Kumatetsu.

I looked over to Tatara, hoping to get something out of him, but he just sighed and started following after the two. "Kid… just go home." I heard him say,

"W… What?"

"Apprentices train for five, even up to ten years. At this rate, you'll never make it. So quit wasting your time…"

And with that, I was the only one left in the courtyard.

I sighed out loud. Maybe Tatara was right. B-But… how would I be able to get home… if the way I came in doesn't exist anymore? I rested the stick against one of the walls, and headed back to the house, my hands in my pockets.

I saw Hyaku sitting out on the front porch, and I walked up to the window behind him.

"So… where'd Kumatetsu go?" I said, leaning on the windowsill.

"He… left. He said we shouldn't expect to see him for a couple of days." He said to me, reading a book. "What am I supposed to do while he's gone?"

"Well… the basics, like cleaning, dusting, cooking… the usual."

I got to work, pulling down Kumatetsu's dirty clothes and collecting them.

"Aren't you eager to help all of a sudden? Is this about yesterday?" "N-No… not really."

"Don't mind him, Azuma… he's a got a bit of a temper. I'm pretty sure you've seen it from him already. But the nice thing about it is that he usually forgets about it the next day."

"What, does he have short term memory loss or something?" I said jokingly, washing out the clothes after I collected them all. "I suppose you could call it that… but just not around him." Hyaku said, smiling faintly.

After washing them all, I started to hang them up.

"Again, you really shouldn't let it concern you too much." "And again," I said, looking back to him. "It's not about yesterday." "They're gonna wrinkle if you do it like that… make sure you shake them first."

"Okay, okay… I hear ya." I said, pulling down one of them and gave a good shake.

"Hey, while you're being the busybee around here, how about you get some more food tomorrow? Kumatetsu's starting to run out." Tatara said, leaning out the window.

"Y'know, there's a thing called asking nicely…" I said to him.

The next day, I woke up early, and headed down to the market. "I've never had a human customer before…" One of the shopkeepers said, helping me fill my basket with potatoes. "Really?" "None that I've known of."

"How long are you planning on staying?" Another one asked.

"It's all up to Kumatetsu, I guess." I said, paying her and taking the fruit.

"Jutengai's first human… That's certainly a surprise." I heard someone say while I was walking back to the house.

I started to head down a shortcut when all of a sudden, Jiromaru, one of Iozen's sons and his band of cronies started to harass me, shoving me and calling me a monster. "H-Hey, knock it off!" I said, finally shoving him back.

"I heard what my dad said about you people! Humans are bad, and someday they turn into monsters! Well, why wait! I'll hunt you now!"

Then, Iozen's other son, Ichirohiko, suddenly darted in front of Jiromaru and said, "Knock it off and leave him alone!"

"T-Thanks…" I said.

"Don't mention it." He said to me, and then looking back to Jiromaru. "Dad's gonna know about this if you continue to make fun of him!"

"I'll fight you for it!" Jiromaru yelled at him, his cronies looking ready to battle.

"Go, now!" Ichirohiko said to me. "I'll hold them off!"

I nodded to him and hurried off to the house, hearing Jiromaru yell, "HE'S GETTING AWAY!"

That convinced me to start running faster.