[1] Kenshi

• 二 Two 二 •

Hours had passed since the events on the roadside. By then, Yohei had already put it in the back of his mind. In the time between then and now, he'd had travelled a considerable distance and the sun had began to set, the sky now an orange color.

In the distance, the fishing town of Edo came into view, which was where Yohei intended to go from the beginning. His goal was nothing too big, just find a proper bed and food, but only if Edo's severe overpopulation would allow him to even breathe in the town.

Over the years, Edo was widely recognized as the capital of Japan and boomed economically and socially under the Tokugawa clan's rule. Due to the power of Tokugawa's military, it also became the safest, both protected against opposing armies and yokai. With the fall of the Tokugawa clan however, things changed.

The city grew out of control as any semblance of order was gone as the military presence dispersed in hopes of not being slaughtered by other clans that figured it would be the best time to strike. With a majority of control gone, many left, but more saw it as free shelter. Soon Edo would find itself severely overpopulated. All this in turn made Edo the best hiding spot for criminals, resulting in a high crime rate as well. With the passing of time, Edo grew worse. Nowadays, bodies litter the streets and alleyways as the death rate became too high for anything to really be done about it. With all of this negative energy, Edo became a hotspot for yokai, malevolent beings that feed off of negative energy and emotion and are born from it.

Yohei was well aware of everything that occurs in Edo, but didn't care. All he wanted was a good meal and something soft to rest his head on, and if Edo gave him even the slightest chance of that, he'd surely take it.

Time would pass, and Yohei would be nearing the gate of Edo, a group of armed men standing in front of it. Judging from the poor equipment, it was evident that they were not samurai and most likely brigands hoping to exploit those who intend on entering Edo and possibly those exiting it.

As he drew near, the leader of the five brigands held his hand out. He was armed with a katana at his hip while the rest were armed with spears. "You there, traveller. Stop."

Yohei did as he was told, not saying a word. With this, two of the brigands went up to him and aimed their spears at him. Yohei didn't react, rather just looking down at the tips of the spears and then looking at the leader.

"We're officials of the few remaining Tokugawa clan." The leader told him. "Our duty is to keep an eye on those who pass through these gates. In order to help keep the overpopulation to a minimum, we charge a fee for those entering and exiting, so we ask that you--"

"Cut the crap. I know you guys are brigands looking to make a quick buck." Yohei cut him off, already seeing a fallacy in his statement, as if the whole thing itself wasn't one. "If you were here to help reduce the overpopulation, why would you charge a fee for those who try to get out?"

The leader grit his teeth and furrowed his brows out of anger that his act was found out. Soon this expression turned into a malicious one. Even though he was found out, he could still get money out of his prey.

"If you know we're brigands then you should know not to cross us and simply just pay up." The leader spoke, Yohei not listening at all as his eyes were focused on the sun which was just beginning to disappear below the horizon. His eyes then darted towards the outer walls of Edo, noticing a number of horse-drawn wooden arts lining the wall. They were the same carts that merchants used to carry their goods, except there was no merchandise here. Only rotting corpses.

Due to Edo's high death rate, there are those who take it upon themselves to clean up the streets from the corpses that lay about. The main method of doing this would be to put them in carts and wheel them out to the outskirts of the town, simply leaving the bodies to rot.