“Wait for me!” A cheery laugh came from a little girl who was running on a flowery field. She tried to catch a butterfly, which caught her attention when sitting under a big tree. Her brother looked on from afar.

“Akemi! Don’t go too far! Careful with your steps!”

“Yes!” She replied her brother advice with a loud, cute voice. Her brother couldn’t help but smile seeing his sister happy. After so many attempts to catch the butterfly, she finally made it. She inspected on it. The red wings were sparkling under the sun, made the little girl awed in delight.

“I got it! Look, brother! I got-” She turned around to see nobody around. Her brother was no longer standing under the tree. Her heart raced as she tried to scan the field.

“Brother! Brother, where are you?” her voice trembled everytime she spoke. Small tears formed at the edge of her eyes. All of a sudden, the sky darkened and the flowers dried out. Akemi was crying and scared.

“No! No! Everyone! Don’t leave me alone! I don’t like this! BROTHER!!” She ran, ran, and ran while calling out her brother, still carrying the butterfly. She got tired and stopped.

“Someone ... Somebody ... I wanna go home ...” She continued to cry until her tears fell on the butterfly. Suddenly, the butterfly flew right into her face, shocked her a bit.

“Butterfly? You’re going to help me?” the butterfly reacted by fluttering its wings. Akemi managed to calm down. She stopped crying and tried to reach out to the butterfly. But what happened after that surprised her as a dazzling light came from the butterfly.

“Wha- what happened?” As the light died out, so did Akemi’s consciousness. Right before she fell asleep, a figure with huge wings on its back came towards her. It took out a hairpin and place it on her palm. The figure smiled and muttered something as Akemi’s vision was clouded with darkness.

The school bell rang loud enough to snap Akemi back to reality. Slowly taking back her life force, she did some stretching and looked that her classmates starting to pack and go home. She looked up to the sky. Tranquil and peaceful.

“No wonder I can sleep. The weather is so relaxing. Umph...” She packed her books and took her shinai up. She went past her classmates without exchanging goodbyes or something. Same goes to her classmates. They act as if she wasn’t present. She sat right at the back, talked with nobody, and mostly sleeping on free time. But that didn’t mean she was friendless. When she reached the school gate, a girl was waiting for her.

The girl had brown hair tied up to ponytail, yellowish skin, black eyes, and medium breasts. Like Akemi, she also carried a shinai. Once she spotted Akemi, she waved at her.

“Marufuji!” She had a big, dazzling smile on her face, not to mention a figure of maturing lady that caught the attention of both sexes. Akemi smiled a bit, waving back at her.

“Good afternoon, Nagatsuka-senpai.” Akemi bowed a little once she was in front of her.

Shouko Nagatsuka. 2nd year in Enoshima High School and also the captain of the kendo team. Known well as the beautiful and kind to others, but fierce and strong during fights. A successor of Nagatsuka clan ever since her elder sister moved overseas to get married. Akemi looked up to her, and actually, the only person in school who wanted to talked and befriended her.

“Shall we?” Shouko asked and Akemi nodded. They went to the same direction until Fuuka Park. Just like any other day, Shouko was the one who start a conversation and Akemi gave a quick response.

“Hey, was going home with me bore you that much?” Akemi was surprised hearing that. She looked at her senior face, who gave a disappointed look. She shook her head and responded.

“No, it’s just I don’t know how to respond to your topics without making it awkward, senpai.” Replied Akemi with honesty.

“Oh... I thought you hate going home with me.”

“No, I enjoy it. I’m sorry if it feels like you have to go with me everywhere.” Shouko chuckled, and pat her junior head.

“Haha, don’t worry about it kouhai-chan. At least with you I’m free to talk about things that I rather not speak to anyone else.” Shouko smiled as she said that.

Akemi knew that feeling well. She had a secret. Something that she held close and made sure no one knows. If that happened, she might have to get her hands dirty. Suddenly, Shouko tapped her shoulder.

“Yes, senpai?”

“Marufuji-san, I just want you to know that if you feel like something was bothering you, you know I can be a good listener. Don’t keep it bottled inside too much.”

Akemi felt that Shouko was really nice. She cared about her close one. Akemi listened every time she told her about her family and how she wished her sister went back to visit sometime. Or the usual everyday school life that happened. Akemi was jealous. Jealous of a normal high school girl life.

“Thank you for the advice senpai.”

“No problem.”

The two walked until they reached the crossroad next to Fuuka Park.

“Don’t forget the morning practice tomorrow okay?”

“Yes. See you tomorrow senpai.”

The two exchanged farewells and went their own way home. After walking a bit further, Akemi’s cellphone vibrated. She pulled it out of her pocket and looked to the messenger id. Upon seeing it, she tightened the grip of her shinai and walked faster towards an empty alleyway. She put on a butterfly hairpin and pressed it.

From her back came out a large butterfly wings, though it was like a mere projection. Her body was engulfed by a red mist. Once it dissipated, she pulled out a sword from inside her shinai. Her eyes color changed from black to red. Butterfly spirits gathered around her, waiting to follow her every move. Closing her eyes for a moment, it felt like she was meditating. After a while, she opened them again and jumped highly to the top of a tree.

“Target sighted.” She vanished right after.

In district 5, there were many people gathering next to the harbour, each of them carrying weapons. Lead pipes, sticks, brass knuckles. Looked like a gang war was about to start. Each leaders threw insults, and with a single snap of a finger, war broke out. Neither side were willing to give in, as they kept pummeling the adversaries. But suddenly, a figure appeared in the middle of the fight. It was Akemi.

“Hey! Who the hell are you? How did you get here?”

“Wait! It’s a pretty girl!”

“Well well well, you’re not supposed to be here, missy. Unless you wanna play with us for a bit.” The last man licked his lips as he instructed his men to surround her. The gangs stopped fighting for a bit as they moved to a smaller prey. However, they are not prepared of what happen next.

With a swift swing of her sword, the man’s head was cut off. Rains of blood filled the surroundings and covered Akemi with blood. The others looked terrified, but some of them immediately went to avenge their fallen leader. Akemi, with an empty expression, moved towards the charging men and one by one fell like flies.

“Wha ... what just happen? EVERYONE, DON’T JUST STAND THERE! GET HER!”

Everyone hesitantly swung their weapons to beat her, but just like the others before them, they met their end. In the end, only one person, the leader of one of the gang was left standing. He was alone.

“Please ... I beg of you ... don’t kill me. Please...” Akemi raised her sword, ready to finish him off. But she put it down instead.

“Give me a reason why I should spare you, Kotaro Miyamura.” His eyes went wide as she spoke his name. He tried desperately crawling. Akemi stabbed his leg so deep that her sword went into the ground. Kotaro screamed.

“I believe I don’t need to repeat my words. Or would you like me to speak more about yourself?”

With a cold tone, she kneeled beside Kotaro while inflict more pain to his wound. Kotaro frantically shook his head. Believed that he would die soon.

“I received a request from someone to ask you a few questions. Although I’m allowed to use necessary force in case you are not willing to cooperate. Had you listen to me first, these lives wouldn’t need to be sacrificed.” Calmly touching Kotaro’s face, she asked once more.

“Now, why should I spare you Kotaro Miyamura?” with a scream, Kotaro swung his left hand which carried a knife he hid earlier. Sounds of flesh being stabbed rung, but the outcome wasn’t what he expected.

“GUAAAAAAH!!” Kotaro’s left hand was cut off and Akemi’s patience was running out.

“You think you can get away by blinding and crippling someone else?”

“Please! Argh! It was an accident! We were joking around, and all of sudden the rope snapped. UGH!” Akemi choked him very hard. His face grew pale.

“No, you were planning much worse. You were planning to kill her from beginning. She survived with the price of her sight and ability to walk. Luckily, someone with a will of justice told me about your sin. I’m merely delivering justice upon you.” This time, her eyes turned red and her sword glowed.

“Accept your punishment!” She drove the sword to his chest. And just like that his body disintegrated into ashes in seconds. She pulled out her cellphone, typed a message, and left the scene.

In a minute, Akemi arrived at a large traditional Japanese house. She entered through the backdoor, then walked inside until she reached a room. She opened the door, then bowed towards the person inside. He was busy reading a book and turned his attention towards Akemi once he realized it was her.

“Brother, Akemi have finished delivering ‘justice’ towards Kotaro Miyamura. However, he was in the midst of gang conflict by the time Akemi arrive. So Akemi eliminated them out of self-defense.” Akemi explained while keep bowing. Her brother rose up and put his hand to her shoulder.

“Do you use ‘that’ power?” obviously referring to the spirit power she used. She lifted her head, then nodded.

“Are you mad at Akemi brother?” she were afraid if what she went to far. But her brother showed her a look of guilt instead.

“No. In fact, I should be sorry Akemi. I suppose putting you in a task like this could affect you in the future...” Akemi immediately interrupted him.

“No brother. Do you remember? Akemi agreed to your proposal. Even if Akemi had to stain her hands with blood, as long as the clan rise again, as long as you are happy brother, Akemi will do anything.”

“Akemi...”

Her brother, Akito Marufuji was the current leader of Marufuji clan. The clan used to be known as the mercenary clan that worked for multiple families as trustworthy subordinates. By the time Akito and Akemi’s father, Atsushi, led the clan, the clan was no longer deemed worthy by other clans. One by one left the family to live normal lives and the ones stayed behind were the elders. Now only 3 subordinates left alongside the siblings. Atsushi and his wife, Tsubaki left 3 years ago and never return.

Akito since then tried to revive the Marufuji clan by accepting multiple requests from anonymous clients. Escort, assassination, investigation, rescue, anything they saw could profit the clan, they will take except prostitution, human trafficking, drug smuggling, that kind of stuffs.

One thing that Akito always kept was the way of justice. Things that related to instigating justice were the actions the Marufuji clan did. But for some mission, the one who did the job was Akemi Marufuji, the clan’s sword.