YUKAN AWOKE THE NEXT MORNING TO THE SUN PEEKING THROUGH THE CURTAINS and shining its radiant light upon his eyes. As he slowly sat up, he expected to be in pain, but to his surprise, not one of his bones was broken. He was completely unharmed. As confused as ever, he headed into the living room downstairs where he saw Oba, Kadaina, and Ite drinking tea. Ite approached Yukan in a full embrace.

"YUKAN!" she yelled overjoyed. "Thank goodness you're all right."

"Yeah," Yukan answered back. "Sorry for worrying you."

Just as Yukan said this, Ite gave him a slap against the face. “What are you doing out of bed? You should be resting. You almost died! How could you almost die on me? What would I be doing here without you? How could you leave me alone like-"

Ite jumped as Oba placed a hand on her shoulder to calm her down. "I think he's had enough, dear," Oba commented.

"...You're right..." Ite reluctantly agreed. "Welcome back, Yukan."

Just as Ite said this, Ani and Shisuta came into the room chasing one another. Yukan saw this and recalled a fond memory of him similarly playing with his brother Lars. Then, his memories drifted to what had happened the previous night. He remembered the death of his family. He remembered how their heads seemed to tumble backward as a mighty oak tumbles over in the woods.

"I need to know the fastest route to Central Akuni right now," Yukan demanded in a hurry, the sight still scorching his retinas, the event still stuck in his brain like a weed whose roots refuse to escape the dirt.

"Yukan-" interjected Ite.

"We need to go NOW!" Yukan was growing desperate to go to Central Akuni, but he feared that if his intentions were made clear, he would be deemed insane.

"Calm down and wait a moment-"

"NO!" Yukan snapped at Ite, who backed away slowly upon this happening. She was hurt emotionally from this, but it could be excused by the fact that she slapped him not too long beforehand. Kadaina, not quite sure how to react to this, stood up from his seat.

"You seem very determined to get out of town," said Kadaina in a somewhat unnerved fashion. "The most I can do is point you in the right direction and send you to a friend's house to stay-"

"Please," Yukan interrupted once more. "I-I can't stay here." Kadaina pulled out a map and laid it out on the table.

"This road right here will take you right into the heart of Central Akuni," Kadaina informed the two of them, pointing out a path drawn out in red marker. "I have traveled on it many times and you should be okay as long as you don't run into any issues." He then points to a small hut on the map, very modest in size compared to the full map of Akuni, but still marked in a manner that one could see how to get there.

"Right here is my friend that you will stay with," he said as he pointed at a dot on the map labeled "Kashikoi Masuta's Hut". However, to stay there you will have to undergo training. This will help you become stronger so you'll be able to defend yourself next time."

"Unfortunately," Oba added, "we cannot afford any cars. You will both have to take our horses instead. It will take you about a day."

"Thank you so much for your kindness," Ite said to Oba, evermore in debt to her. "I don't think we could ever repay you."

"I'm glad to have helped, Ite," Oba said humbly. "I wish you two the best of luck in your training and I hope you both stay safe."

"We will do our best, auntie." Oba hugged Ite as Yukan storms out of the doors to get the horses.

"Take good care of him, dearie," Oba told Ite in one last pep talk. "He needs you now more than ever. And no more slaps either, I worked hard on that chin of his." Ite nods before heading outside to meet up with Yukan, who had already gotten on his horse, a well-kept and majestic brown steed.

"Look," Yukan sighed. "Ite, I-"

"I know you've had a rough few days," interrupted Ite. "I'm not surprised you snapped at me."

"I'm sorry," Yukan's hard shell from earlier had crumbled like the Walls of Jericho. "That was wrong of me. I'm really happy you're here with me, Ite. I don't know what I'd do without you here."

"Apology accepted," Ite responded in her usual upbeat manner. "We will get through this together, through the training, and through this little adventure you have gotten us caught in."

"At least I get to go through it with you. Let's go meet this Kashikoi Masuta."

So their journey began as the two of them rode to the rural areas of Kimura where Kashikoi lived. After they rode through the woods on horseback for about twelve hours, they decided to set up camp in the woods just a bit off of the border between Kimura and Shinku.

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The next day, the two of them woke up once more and arrived at Kashikoi's hut as planned. The two of them walked up the stairs to the front door as they took the first steps in training themselves for the journey ahead of them. Yukan knocks twice upon the door. The door opens up, as if it were ajar before their arrival, but wasn't loose enough to be opened with a single knock. The two entered Kashikoi's hut, greeted with an empty room. No lights were on and there was a distinct absence of any life, save themselves.

"Hello?" Ite called into the abyss before them. "Is anyone home?"

No response. Not a single sound was heard except for the reverberation of her voice.

"We have the right address," Yukan uttered. "Maybe the dude isn't home." Regardless, the two of them enter the hut to realize that it's much larger on the inside than it is on the outside as if it were a Bag of Holding. The house inside seemed to be luxurious and decadent, but on the outside, it appeared to be nothing but a modest hut made of wood with a cobblestone base upon which the rest of the hut rested. The two of them began to walk down the long hallway, hearing the presence of footsteps behind them. Not wanting to look back and see who might be following them, they pressed onward, further into the house of Kashikoi Masuta.

"Hey, Yukan?" Ite started.

"Yep?"

"What is your plan exactly? What are we even doing here?"

"That girl at the house we stayed at said he would train us. We need to become stronger so we can beat those creepy dudes."

"Are you talking about Kadaina?"

"Yeah, that chick."

"Yukan, that was a boy..."

Just as Yukan was informed of this, the figure behind them let out a sneeze. The two turned around to see that it was Kadaina. He'd been trailing behind them ever since they'd left the house. As Yukan turned around to see the young mage behind him, his master emerged from the shadows in front of them.

"Who are you two?" Kashikoi asked in a serious tone. Ite and Yukan jumped back upon his reveal and Kadaina, having failed to brace himself for this, fell backward.

"Well," Ite said sarcastically, "that was a pleasant greeting."

"You're intruding," spoke the old mage. "On my property! That is also a pleasant greeting."

Kadaina gets back on his feet and steps forward. "I directed them here," he said to his teacher. "Sorry for not warning you, master."

"If Kadaina sent you here," Kashikoi said, putting two and two together, "then you must have encountered Kunshu. What happened?"

Thus, Yukan and Ite filled Kashikoi in on what Kunshu had done roughly two days ago. They recounted everything starting from Kunshu's attack on Shirotaun up until they had departed for Kashikoi's house.

"I see," spoke Kashikoi after being told this information. "I am very sorry for the loss of your family. I can help you both become stronger and learn more about the secret world you have both stumbled upon. Most things will not make sense-"

"I don't care," Yukan interrupted. "I-I can't go through that again. Never again. I never want to lose anyone ever."

"Will we be able to defend ourselves?" Ite asked. "Can you please teach us, Kashikoi?"

"That depends on how hard the two of you train," answered the old man. "I can only nudge you in the right direction and provide you with weapons and techniques."

"I will help you guys," added Kadaina. "Besides, Oba wanted me to. She was mad that I just let you guys go so now you're stuck with me for a while."

"Thank you for following us, Kadaina," Ite responded. "We could use all the help we can get. You were so nice and now you are helping us become stronger. We could never repay your kindness."

"It's fine, really," Kadaina said in a form of false humility. "Don't worry about it. I'm just happy I found you two and could help out." Although Kadaina cared for others, he was also an extremely vain and arrogant kid.

"Enough talk," Kashikoi stated, preparing to begin their training. "We should see what weapons would best suit you two. Kadaina, go prep the downstairs weaponry please."

"Yes, master." As Kadaina went downstairs to get all of the weapons together, Kashikoi continued to speak to Ite and Yukan.

"As I was saying," he began once more, "there are many things that will not make sense. This world has things that can't be explained by basic science. You don't need to understand how to use magic." He conjured a small fireball within his right hand and the flame escalated until it seemed as if the fire was a phoenix, freshly born from the ashes. After the flame hit its peak, Kashikoi closed the flame off. "It will come to you if you let it. Don't force it. Everyone has it in them. They just don't know it. Please follow me, Ms. Daitan and Mr. Kenshi."

The two of them follow their new master downstairs into a room filled with a plethora of weapons. One could look at the stockpile and believe that he was a blacksmith. There were swords of every imaginable variety, daggers of almost any size, and even some more unconventional weapons like maces, nunchucks, kendo sticks, and a few scythes. Ite's attention was grabbed in particular by a golden bow.

"It's so beautiful," she remarked about it when she first laid eyes on the weapon. "It's calling to me..."

"That's a Nukenai Bow, Ite," Kashikoi informed her. "Once you fire an arrow from its string, it will never miss your intended target." He then turned his attention to Yukan. "Does anything catch your eye?"

"Uh...this sword is pretty cool?" Yukan said halfheartedly as he grabbed a generic-looking broadsword from off of its hanger, swinging it lightly.

"Okay," Kashikoi said, preparing to introduce the placement test for this institute he ran. "We have a testing room over here. The test is very simple and will help us see if your weapon is good for you. There will be targets popping up all over the room. Near the end, twelve axes will pop up from the floor. You will try to throw your sword through as many as you can. Who would like to go first?"

"Hold on," Yukan began in protest, "axes?"

"No time for questions!" Kashikoi announced, ignoring Yukan's question. "Get in and start the test!" Kashikoi then pushed his new pupil into the training room and began the simulation.

Yukan only has a few seconds to collect his thoughts before the test begins. He knows that, although Kashikoi's demand for the end of the test seems absurd, he has to comply with the demand. After all, not all weapons will work well with this test. The timer began to count down. When the timer hit zero, Yukan sprang into action, going straight for the first target.

After a few minutes, Yukan had managed to take out a good amount of the targets as they popped up, but about four of the twenty escaped his blade. Then the axes popped up at the other end of the room. Yukan rushed toward them and used his momentum to toss the sword through the large gaps within the ax heads. He watched as the makeshift javelin passed through two of the axes before the guard snagged on the top of the third ax, stopping it dead in its tracks. One terrible clash of metal against metal later and the sword collapsed to the ground. Yukan then exited the testing room with a smile developing on his face.

"Great job, Yukan!" Kadaina complimented him after he returned to the weapon room. "You managed to get most of the targets. Your swing is a bit wide though...perhaps put more into your elbow than your shoulder."

"But my shoulders are far stronger," Yukan protested.

"True as that may be," Kadaina started once more, "you don't need much force to cut through the skin. Using your shoulder is simply wasting energy."

They carried on with their conversation as they left the weapon room. Kashikoi then approached Ite.

"A bit of distraction is really for him. He seems a bit better than before, don't you agree, Ms. Daitan?"

"Yes," Ite answered. "He seemed to smile a little. Can I go give this test a try?"

"Of course," Kashikoi responded. "Just relax and it will come to you."

"Right."

Ite entered the training room and the simulation began. The simulation was far easier for Ite for two major reasons. The first reason was that the test was designed for archers to start with, meaning it would be rather difficult for a swordsman to complete it with their weapon of choice. The second reason being the Nukenai bow. As she pulled back the string, she would see exactly where her arrow would land and how far the arrow would go. She trusted what the bow was telling her and, to her surprise, the presented outcome was always correct. With each bow pull, she would see a fortune. With each release, she saw the fortune come true. After she took out all of the targets, the axes arose. Ite lined the arrow up and let loose. The arrow snapped from the string and soared through the center of all twelve axes.

After she left the testing room, she was greeted with Kashikoi's applause.

"Very good," he stated. "You trust in your weapon and your aim remains true. You have a very natural aptitude for magic use."

"Thank you very much," Ite responded. "I hope I don't disappoint you in my training..."

Just as she said that Yukan and Kadaina return to the weapons room laughing and having a good time. The three of them turn their attention to Kashikoi, awaiting his next step.

"Well," he declared, "let's continue training, shall we?"