Sureiyazu

Episode 13: His Lonely Past

"Tell me something, Asuka," said Akuma.

The spirit, who had followed Akuma into the gardens, raised her eyebrows in reply.

"I never knew the master well," she explained. "What . . . what was he like, when you were alive?" Akuma knew it was risky, asking a spirit about their lifetime. She assumed it would be sort of like asking a runaway what they had run away from. They might not exactly want to tell.

"He was . . ." Asuka seemed to be having trouble finding the right words to say. "He was much like he was when you knew him. Quiet, reserved, powerful."

"But who was he really?"

"Ah," said Asuka's spirit. "Yes, who was he really? I didn't know until after my death, who he really was." There was a long pause. "Maybe I should start from the beginning. It was raining, the day we found him."

***

Rain pounds the cobble road. A group of demonslayers walk through. Asuka stands with two other young men. They are all only about fifteen, and don't yet know that one day they will be known as the greatest demonslayers in Sekai.

A peach-colored force field hangs above the team, so they aren't wet at all. Nearby, a boy sits underneath the overhang of a shop, shivering. He has white hair and wears and eye patch over his right eye.

"Exc-cus-s-se me," he says to the passing demonslayers. At first, only Asuka hears him. She stops, and so does the force field, but the other two keep walking until they notice they are getting wet, and jog back to her.

"What was that for, Asuka?" the shorter and leaner of the two asks. He wears a simple green robe and a straw hat, his laughing eyes only barely visible under them.

"Oh, sorry, Bijinesu." says Asuka. "And Tsuyoi," she adds as the taller and bulkier of the two, not wearing anything on his nearly bald head and only loose-fitting armor, glares at the other, dripping wet. She shakes her head, thinking how unlucky of her to have joined a demonslaying team only consisting of boys, and brothers at that.

"What was it?" Asuka asks the white-haired boy, still shivering.

"D-do you kn-know of-f a-anywh-where I c-could s-stay? Or d-do you h-have an-ny m-money?" shivered the boy.

"Are you all alone?" says Asuka, glancing back at the brothers, now having a full-blown argument. "How old are you?"

"T-t-twelve, m-miss."

"You shouldn't be by yourself, you know." A thought strikes her. "Do you have any parents?"

"N-no, miss. D-d-died of the p-plague." This is common for a lot of children at the time, as it seems the disease only affects older people.

"Well, why don't you stay with us?" she suggests. "Technically, we should have four people on our team, so we have an extra bed in our dorm, back at the guild. What do you think?"

"Y-you w-w-would do th-that, miss?" A hopeful gleam shines in the one visible eye.

"Of course. And it's Asuka, by the way."

***

"You took him in? Just like that?"exclaimed Akuma.

Asuka nodded. "Looking back on it, it probably wasn't the best of decisions, but I don't regret it."

"So the guild just let you take in a child you found on the street?"

"Not exactly," sighed the spirit.