Tales From Edo High - A Modern Retelling of Bakumatsu Era Japan

Chapter Three - The Mentor

In the weeks following, Secretary Ii had fifteen students personally expelled for publicly speaking against the student body. Which wiped out a majority of the Choshu's informants. Luckily, the Choshu themselves were safe. No word got to the principal about the letter incident, and I'd blamed my twisted ankle on an accident in the cafeteria. 

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"What are we to do?" Katsura pondered, walking around the clubroom as Takasugi played his guitar, "We have no idea what the student body is up to now."

Kusaka turned abruptly, as if a brilliant idea had just popped into his mind. "Shoin!" he smirked, "We'll go to his place. He can help us!"

Takasugi nodded, putting his guitar down, "That's not a bad idea..."

"Better than anything else we've got." Katsura added, clearing his throat "Very well then. Genzui and I will go and pay Shoin a visit after classes today." he then turned to me, "Ryoma, if it's okay, I'd like you to come along, it'd be good for you to meet the guy who started it all."

I nodded, "Fine by me. Nothing pressing me at the current moment." Takasugi and I quickly packed our things and left the clubroom. 

The two of us walked the halls, we'd shared first period together, so it was convenient, especially after the incident with Ii. As we walked, I caught a glimpse of a rather cute girl, who winked at me cutely as she walked past. 

Takasugi nudged me, "Ryoma! somebody's got the hots for you, eh?"

I chuckled, "It's nothing."

"Nothing?" Takasugi boomed, "That's Ryo Narasaki! Mr. Narasaki's daughter?"

I scratched my chin, "The daughter of the science teacher?"

"Who...also just so happens to be one of the hottest chicks in the school!" Takasugi continued to laugh, before looking at me, "What do you think, eh?" he smirked.

I brushed it off, continuing to laugh as we entered our classroom. 

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"So..." the sickly man uttered. Kusaka, Katsura and I were sitting down in an apartment, faced with the man that the Choshu had praised since I'd joined them. "You come to me... a man with no future, so that I may help you decide yours?"

"We need your help, Shoin! Please!" Kusaka pleaded, "We can expose Ii, and take down the student body! Restore power to Komei just like you said!"

Yoshida turned his chair around, his pale, sickly face and beady eyes imbedded themselves in my mind. "Fifteen students expelled. All because of one of your schemes, Genzui." he shot a glare straight through Kusaka's soul, "and in doing so, you endangered a new student. Why?"

Kusaka gritted his teeth, "So we could do what we set out to do! Ii is weak! Komei wants him out! We just need to expose him for the rat he truly is!"

The man could only scoff, before turning back around, "You. New kid." he turned his head, giving me a glare from the side, "I've seen your type before, you're southern, like me. Where did you come from."

"Tosa." I responded, my hands shaking lightly, "My name is Ryoma Sakamoto."

"Tosa...eh?" he mumbled, "Who did you run with?" 

I tilted my head, "What do you mean?"

"I'm not stupid, kid." he sighed, "Every kid from Tosa has some connection to one of the gangs."

I hesitated for a moment, he was right, and he'd seen right through me. I could feel Kusaka and Katsura's eyes shifted from Yoshida to me. "In middle school, I ran with The Shiroikiba, under Izo Okada."

"The White Fang. one of the worst gangs in Tosa Middle School." I could feel him smirk, "You've definitely got something in this new kid, Genzui. I'll give you that." 

Kusaka sighed, "Alright!" he stood up from the folding chair Yoshida had laid out for us, "If you're not going to help us, then at least give us some advice!"

Yoshida turned his chair around again, "You want my honest advice? Stop fighting before you burn what you're trying to save." he scorned, "But if you're dead set on it..." he wiped his eyes, "I'd talk to Toshimichi Okubo."

Katsura looked stunned, "Okubo? he's a member of the Satsuma! It's impossible to think that we'd align ourselves with them! The Choshu and Satsuma have been deadly rivals for years!"

"Yet your goals are aligned." Yoshida sighed, "You just have differing methods of achieving your goal." he looked at Kusaka next, "Perhaps it is time that the Satsuma and Choshu put aside their methods, so that they can accomplish what they need to."

Kusaka put a hand to his chin, "He's right, an alliance between us and the Satsuma could be possible, but the question is not if, but how long it lasts."

After a cup of tea, Yoshida walked us out his door, where we were faced with a stranger, holding a folder. 

"Genzui Kusaka and Kogoro Katsura, right?" the stranger uttered, he was older than me, he appeared to be about Kusaka's age. "My name is Nobu Yoshiwara. I work for Principal Komei. I have some documents that you may want to see." his hair was brushed back, a lot like Katsura's, except his was tied neatly in a ponytail. His face, sharp and elegant, as if he were a model. 

He handed Kusaka the folder, who shot him a stare. "Can we trust you?"

Yoshiwara smirked, "If you want Ii out, I don't believe you have much of a choice." 

Katsura nudged Kusaka, as Yoshiwara walked off,  "He's right, we really don't have a choice."

As we walked back to the train station, Kusaka opened the folder, pulling out a page and reading it aloud. "Sanai Hashimoto... expelled student and a possible choshu informant...expelled by Naosuke Ii for spreading lies and hate speech..." his eyes glanced over the document in amazement, "these are expulsion documents. Real ones." he smiled, nearly jumping for joy, "With these, and the Satsuma on our side...Ii is sure to fold!" he boomed gleefully. 

On the train ride, Kusaka's smile never faded from his face, although there was one thought on my mind. 

I'd opened up to not only he and Katsura about my past, Yoshida too, who'd figured me out right from the get-go. If there's anything I'd wish for right now, it's that my past doesn't follow me to wherever my destination may be.