Hoshi : Insurrection

Chapter 27 : The Search.

"How come you are catching all the fish? Leave some for me too."

"Stop sucking at it then! Look at all these fish I caught! These will make dinner grand!"

Two young black haired boys wearing ragged brown robes sat on a cliff alongside a shallow clear river filled with black freshwater fishes. They swung the strings of their wooden fishing rods attached with cheap synthetic bait in anticipation of catching themselves a big haul. It was around the middle of the day, so an adequate amount of sunlight shone through the clover shaped leaves of the short trees around them to reveal the individual fishes in the river.

The boy with slightly longer height and messed up hair had his bucket practically full while the shorter boy with long but combed hair had none.

"You promised that we will release them once we are done with this competition!" The boy with the empty bucket got up and raised his voice.

"Fine. It's almost over anyways and you got your rear beaten badly!" The other boy laughed cockily.

"It's not over yet. I haven't lost yet." The shorter boy stepped back without calculating the extent of the cliff's edge and lost his footing.

"Be careful Tamura!" The second boy reacted quickly and grabbed the falling boy's hand only to pull him back.
"That was close. Are you alright?" 

"Yes, thank you brother." 

"You should be more careful! Don't think you can win by trying to subdue the fishes by falling on them!" 

"Shut up you dummy."

The young brothers laughed and decided to free the fishes from the bucket before heading back home.

"(I was always there, right next to you. Not only to pull you out of any trouble but also be your one reason to laugh.)" 

"Tamura? What happened?" Young Erashi came running towards his brother.

The younger boy was sobbing heavily in the middle of an empty ground while his brown robes were stained with murky blood. There were masses of gore around him, concealed by the darkness of the night.

"They were beating me with all kinds of random stuff and even brought a few lethal weapons to test on me. I kept crying for help but no one came. Suddenly I blacked out and when I woke up, they were reduced to these collections of limbs, guts and bones," young Tamura hysterically explained while revealing a huge number of bruises and cuts on many different parts of his body.

Erashi surveyed the area and became astonished at the sight of the remains of his brother's bullies.

"Hey brother, do you think I am a monster?" asked Tamura, weeping.

"No, not at all! You weren't the one who did this. Come on, it's getting late. let's go back home." Young Erashi smiled to soothe his disheartened brother.

A few days later…...

"Is anyone home!?" A loud deep voice shook everyone inside a small wooden house. 

The house had minimal furniture and only two bedrooms. There was no lounge or dining room, only a compact kitchen with a single fireplace and an oven. A few paintings and lanterns were the only ornaments found in the interior of the rooms. There was a single bathroom with just a circular wooden bathtub.

"Coming!" A middle aged woman with long brown hair rushed to the paper sliding door right beside the kitchen.

There were nothing but long leafy trees and a few inari statues visible under the bright sun outside. In Front of the calm scenery there was a tall man wearing red and white armor standing with pride.