Council of Masters (Kashima Pt. 2)

While the burgundy-haired princess slumbered deeply within the school of Jikishinkage-ryū, the knight that had once served her was hard at work, honing that edge of hers with keen focus and indomitable effort. Her blade clashed again and again against that of Master Ueno, a man whose renown in Kashima was second only to Ryouichi Shindou himself. His defence was practically impenetrable, each one of Tetsuko’s attempted slashes receiving a near-effortless dodge or deflection from his own loosely held katana, Intetsu. Ueno was a master of technique, of near flawless form, and Tetsuko stood no chance… One poorly timed thrust had him skilfully twirling his blade to disarm the Shindou girl, before he held its point towards her.

”Your skills… Have not dulled as much as I’d thought. Your pace is slow, but there is definite progress.” The swordsman declared, withdrawing his blade and sheathing it in one smooth motion. Tetsuko, still panting from the exertion of challenging a master bladesman, could only breathe a sigh of disappointment in response. It was exactly as she figured. To hear she had made progress was unsurprising, it didn’t take much effort to do so. The stagnation was what she feared…

”I understand, Master Ueno. I… Will keep my focus from now on.” Tetsuko assured… Though there were impediments, the young girl had already taken steps to ensure that she could uphold her responsibilities, that she could attain the strength to protect her ‘past’…

”I am glad to hear it…” The bespectacled man replied walking over a few steps toward one side of the room and retrieving a towel, tossing it to Tetsuko so she could wipe off her sweat, which the young Shindou girl did readily. ”It is… A heavy burden that we carry. Do not forget that.” Tetsuko raised a brow at the man, spotting just a hint of a crack in his usual expression. Had Gai’s words before…

”It is for the sake of your school and family, Tetsuko-sama. Everything else is secondary. Forgetting the importance of strength is a mistake you must not… It is one I would not wish to see you make. For the sake of Kashima.” Tetsuko hung her head quietly, realizing the weight of his words. To achieve strength, to achieve ‘immovable heart’, that was her greatest goal… To ensure it was within her grasp… Perhaps it had to be her only goal. Perhaps that was what Tetsuko needed to do…

The Shindou girl had already sought to remove herself from Elise’s side, to no longer let that princess rely on her useless knight… Now, today’s events only pushed Tetsuko further down a dark path… One that only that distant light might yet save her from. For now, the Shindou girl would wash up after spending the afternoon and early evening training, before heading to the eatery to convene with another pair of masters before she finished for the day…



…Which was the exact same place Elise von Eisenberg would find them after awakening from her extended nap. Upon entering the eatery, the Germanic girl would indeed see the two masters and Tetsuko herself within. Master Gai with chopsticks in hand and some instant ramen before him, Uwabami across the table from him with a hearty look as usual, laughing about something or other. There was a large bottle of sake between them, several ceramic cups along the table. Tetsuko was beside Uwabami, looking a bit withdrawn from their conversation, with naught but some iron-rich mineral water in front of her. The young swordswoman had insisted she wasn’t hungry when she arrived. Tetsuko had also needed to tell Uwabami she wasn’t going to touch the sake, but that might soon change with the next arrival…

”Well, look who’s awake~” Master Gai would utter, back to his chipper tone. Uwabami would wave with her lone arm, while Tetsuko just looked at the Germanic girl with a strange coldness in her eyes. No hostility there, simply… Isolation, perhaps. Tetsuko Shindou was now well cemented in her frozen, snowy landscape, and was evidently already starting to experience the effects of this closed off perspective as the day had gone on…

The foreign master would nod to Elise as he greeted her, gesturing for the girl to come over. Tetsuko responded quietly, still not looking directly at Elise. ”’Evening, Eli…” It felt so wrong so twisted to even still be interacting with the person she’d failed time, and time again… The person who seemed to refuse as well to acknowledge those failures. The incompetence that plagued Tetsuko’s actions, that only ended up hurting Elise.

The third greeting prompted a curious brow from Uwabami. ”Huh? Pillows?” The woman uttered, clearly confused. Tetsuko, more familiar with Elise’s terminology, just brought her palm to her forehead and sighed. Perhaps Elise didn’t change as much as Tetsuko had thought.

It wasn’t until Elise apologized that Uwabami finally got the joke, bursting out into laughter. ”Gahaha! Yer gal’s mind really is in the gutter, Tetsu!” The boisterous woman laughed, slapping Tetsuko on the back while the ironblooded girl just glanced away. ”Sh-She’s…” Tetsuko was about to add the word ‘not’, but… For whatever reason, couldn’t bring herself to. What a paradox it was… Tetsuko couldn’t bring herself to call Elise her lover now, simply because Tetsu didn’t deserve to be such a thing to her, so why could she also not bring herself to say the opposite was true… The young girl pushed the thoughts from her mind as Elise sat down, her stomach rumbling.

”I’ll go get you something to eat, Eli-tan~ You’ll need it for training tomorrow~” Master Gai would state, rising from his spot on the table to retrieve some feed for the young Germanic girl. The one-armed woman grinned as he left, looking greedily at her bottle of sake. ”Now that we’re all here, why don’ you girls join me for some strength buildin’?” The mischievous and blatantly irresponsible swordswoman uttered, as she opened her bottle of sake and poured generously into her own cup.
”Experience some Kashima spirit! Those boys in the steel mills can throw this stuff back like nobody’s business!” Uwabami laughed again, as she poured the sake into another pair of cups. ”Whitey won’ join me, so it’s up to you two. Assumin’ yer willin’. Gotta be easy for a German, right?” If only the one-armed woman knew what hell she was sowing…

Tetsuko would have, under any other circumstance, protested… But with how awkward things were right now, between her and Elise, and how much strain was on her shoulders… The release of it that came with the hard drink was awfully enticing to her… ”Very well, just this once… If you claim it’s so good for strength…” Tetsuko uttered, earning an encouraging grin from an already somewhat intoxicated Uwabami.

The Shindou girl would gingerly take one of the cups, raising it to her lips and letting the strong liquor slide down her throat. It took some willpower to put it down, and already she felt it hit her like a truck as she set down the cup, her cheeks reddening already. Having not eaten much, Tetsu was bound to get drunker more easily than most right now… Although she did it to dull herself, there were going to be unforeseen consequences to the drink…

It was one hell of a mistake.

Master Uwabami’s drunken shenanigans rarely went well, and that was usually the most amusing part about them. The woman had never quite gotten out of that party girl lifestyle of hers, but tonight what occurred would hardly be worth calling a party. As Uwabami was about to learn, not all the swordsmen and women of Kashima were so entertaining once some alcohol was in them…

Elise’s proclamation that it would be unfair earned only a competitive grin from Uwabami, taking it as nothing less than a challenge. ”Hah! Don’t underestimate me, girl!” Uwabami declared. Had Elise not attended the meeting earlier, it might have been difficult to believe this boisterous woman was really an esteemed master of Jikishinkage-ryuu.

Not everyone was drinking for competition or pleasure, however, as Tetsuko wordlessly threw back some sake for the sole purpose of making it harder to focus on what was before her. That was, Elise von Eisenberg. The Shindou girl was only growing more frustrated, she’d done everything she could to make sure that Elise knew she didn’t have to rely on her, to make Elise know she couldn’t rely on Tetsuko further… This dinner might bring that topic again, so Tetsuko was eager to make sure she couldn’t think too hard about that frustration…

Yet, the foolish young Tetsuko failed to realize just how much her frustrations were being held back. This alcohol was going to loosen her before it numbed her, breaking down the barriers that stopped her deepest thoughts from breaking free and being heard by Elise… The Germanic girl’s claims about Tetsuko blushing burned within the swordswoman. As flattering as the comments were, they felt so… wrong… It just felt wrong to Tetsuko for this girl, who she’d failed and hurt and failed again… To give her such words.

”Just… Don’t… I… You don’t need to…” Tetsu muttered out, unable to fully form the words. Though, the barrier was sleeping, as Elise would start to realize, as Tetsuko started to look a little angry at… Something. It might’ve even seemed she was angry at Elise herself, though that wasn’t the case. ”Bah, you fuckin’ Shindous! Dunno how to take goddamn compliment!” Uwabami groaned, pouring some more cups of sake. The ironblooded girl, noticing and averting Elise’s gaze, was already eyeing one of those cups greedily… As she made quick work of her current drink. Each gulp hit her like a wave, a looseness developing in her mind and body, her movements becoming noticeably less finessed…

As Uwabami readied herself some more sake, she noticed Elise’s staring, grinning to herself as she called it out. ”I know, I know, one-armed one-eyed chick, kinda freaky.” The swordswoman huffed, a hint of anger finding itself in her expression. ”Partin’ gift from my ex. You ever hear a friend go through a bad breakup, tell ‘em they at least got out of it in one piece!” In spite of the rather dark tale Uwabami told, she finished it with boisterous laughter, just as Master Gai returned with some steaming instant ramen for Elise. He shook his head at the festivities, sighing as he noticed the opened sake and cups present.

”Naughty naughty~ Though, I guess I should’ve expected it~” Master Gai said with a sigh, cautious and concerned eyes probing over the table as he set the instant ramen down in front of Elise, seating himself beside her. ”Ah, shaddup.” Uwabami dismissed, gesturing towards Tetsuko as the young lass sipped on even more sake. ”Look, even Tetsuko-sama’s good with it! Er, actually… Ya alright there? Might wanna pace yerself a bit more.” Uwabami huffed, noticing that Tetsuko wasn’t holding back when it came to the liquor… In spite of being a lightweight in general, and having not eaten most of the day…

”I’m fine.” Tetsuko affirmed, her volume raised lightly as she continued to sip from the cup, her speech slightly slurred as the effects continued to hit her. Nonetheless, the girl didn’t seem to be engaging in the conversation at the moment, withdrawing into herself more and more… Or so it seemed, for now.

”I’m gonna guess you tried to pass this off as strength training again~” Master Gai hummed as her raised a judging brow at Uwabami, tutting lightly at her. The female master just huffed in response, pulling up the sleeve covering her lone arm. ”Ya wanna test it?” The swordswoman grinned widely as she placed her elbow upon the table, holding a rather muscular arm out with the hand open, a clear challenge to an arm wrestle if there ever was one!

Master Gai wasn’t about to back down, however, and smiled slyly to himself. He always had something up his sleeve, or at least that’s what the look on his face seemed to say! ”Oh my~ You’re on, Miss. One-Armed Bandit~” The man’s own physique was of course toned as any athlete’s, though not possessing quite the outward appearance of mass that Uwabami had. As Tetsuko continued to pay more attention to her cup of sake, looking wearier by the moment, the two would prepare for their wrestle, Master Gai positioning his hand to grip Uwabami’s with both of their arms at equal angles. Uwabami looked proud as ever, while Master Gai counted down, all while holding that usual smug grin of his… It would be clear he, as usual, had something more than what he revealed! He counted down before they began…
”3… 2… 1… Go!”
In but a moment, the illusion that Gai had anything under control would be broken! Uwabami’s rippling muscles overpowered him immediately, slamming the back of his hand onto the table and shaking all the cups and glasses on it. The master himself hissed out some Arabic curse, withdrawing his hand and holding it in pain while Uwabami laughed uproariously. ”Gahahaha! Ya not so tough, are ya? Ain’t none o’ yer ‘strength o’ bonds’ or whatever ‘ere!” The woman was beside herself with amusement, as Gai nursed his sore hand.

”Oi, oi, not my fault you’ve got the strength of a gorilla! Besides, bonds are for more than arm-wrestling~” He was in his innocuous ways as usual, it seemed, though little did the two masters know, simply mentioning the subject was going to set off quite the chain reaction…

”Stop with all that bullshit…” Tetsuko groaned, a lazy look in her eyes and another empty cup beside her making it more than evident just how intoxicated she’d gotten herself. ”That bond stuff… You shouldn’t have ever said it in the first place… Eli… Shouldn’t have been there. You didn’t need to be there!” Even Uwabami was left a bit at a loss for words as Tetsuko snapped, her barriers well and truly destroyed… The flood gates opened.

”I didn’t need you to be there… Trying to take… my blame… Idiot… Why do you always… Need to cling to me?”

Master Uwabami had, to put it lightly, fucked up. The older woman was painfully aware of this fact as Tetsuko snapped, and went atypically quiet as the Shindou girl shouted at Elise. Her brow was just raised at the pair, an odd curiosity to her expression as she observed. Master Gai was also standing by, a concern and readiness to his expression, knowing that this was far deeper than a simple lover’s spat. Yet… Perhaps it was best to let Tetsuko release these feelings of hers… Uwabami wasn’t entirely thoughtless herself, pushing the sake bottle out of reach of the Shindou girl…

Tetsuko, her inhibitions entirely eliminated, looked at Elise with pure frustration and pain, as the Germanic lass spoke of reminding her of their bonds, of the value they carried. What the hell was she talking about? Those bonds Tetsuko had formed… Had they made her stronger? Or had she only gotten weaker in her time at U.A… The later was what she truly believed, it was what the Masters themselves believed! Bonds weren’t strength, they were leisure… Tetsuko couldn’t afford leisure…

The Shindou girl’s rage, her inner turmoil and self-loathing intensified dramatically as Elise outright said it was her place at Tetsuko’s side. Her head was in her hands as she grit her teeth in frustration, her eyes starting to grow moist with the knowledge that this was her own fault. Not only that, but to claim Tetsuko had lost sight of what was important… The anger was threatening to explode, every on of Elise’s words making Tetsu more and more conscious of the weakness and frustration lying deep within her. Even as Eli claimed she was an idiot, that she would never abandon Tetsuko, the swordswoman could only shake her head, muttering protests under her breath. Why? Why did it have to be like this?

Was it so hard to just march into the snow, to just leave behind the things she’d hurt, for their own good? Why didn’t Elise realize this was all for her sake, that this was all what needed to be done… Why couldn’t she understand the importance of strength, of honour, of pride… Everything Tetsuko had fought for, everything she continued to fight for, why couldn’t Elise recognise its importance? The cruel and tragic world that they lived in, they couldn’t continue to exist within it like they had, not after everything that had transpired.

”You don’t get it…” Tetsuko uttered, looking up at Eli with anger, hurt and sorrow in her eyes. ”You just don’t get it.” The bite in her words was cold yet conflicted. ”Bonds? All the bonds I’ve made at U.A., and am I any stronger for them? Do you think bonds will make a blade sharper? Bonds didn’t stop me from fucking disgracing my family!” Tetsuko snapped, standing up from the table now as she slammed her hands upon it.

”I’m the one who has sight of what’s important! I’m the one who knows my fucking responsibilities! I need to be strong, Eli, is it so hard for you to see that?” The moisture in her eyes grew, as she looked at Elise almost pleadingly while she spoke. Everything Tetsuko believed in was breaking forth, leaving the Germanic lass little choice but to acknowledge these damnable words. ”I need to do this, Eli! I need to uphold my responsibilities! I’m the one who hasn’t lost sight, I’m the one fighting to protect my past, and that includes you, you idiot!” There was a pause, her words lingering in the air, as the deepest truth behind Tetsuko’s actions became clear. The Shindou girl truly believed what she was doing was in Elise’s best interests.

”You’re so stupid… So foolish… You keep clinging to me, standing by my side, and what does it get you? You get hurt, time and time again, and have I been able to do a single fucking thing to stop it!?” She scoffed at herself, shaking her head in self-directed disgust. ”All the pain I’ve caused you, and you can’t seem to fucking realize. I couldn’t stop Nick Cross, Eli. Rin called me, she relied on me, and I couldn’t do shit. And you now what? Even afterwards, I was fucking useless. I’m always so fucking useless… It was Rin who woke you up. Maybe you should rely on her…” Every moment where it seemed like Tetsuko might be calming down, new sources of self-loathing would arise right before Elise’s eyes. ”Even beyond that… Doesn’t it hurt? Saying you love me, when I can’t return those words? After all this time, how doesn’t it hurt? Knowing that… All I’ve been doing is standing by your side, selfishly, knowing how fucking cruel I am for not returning those feelings in earnest…”

Tetsuko hung her head, full of shame, of regret, of pain. ”Just get this through your head. I’m doing what needs to be done. It’s my responsibility. My burden. My own strength. I’m done failing it. Time and time and fucking time again… I’m done letting you rely on me like an idiot.” Her tears fell, quietly, as Tetsuko looked to Elise, her expression full with a grim resolution, even if her drunkenness made it difficult for her stand up without swaying. ”It needs to be this way. Stop getting in the way, Eli. Stop relying on someone who will only hurt you, who will only fail you, someone who’s so fucking weak they can’t even uphold the responsibilities placed upon them. Just walk away, for crying out loud, just let me be!” Tetsuko was angrier than ever now, her volume filling the eatery.

”Just abandon me, let me abandon you! It’s for both our sakes, so why won’t you let me do what I fucking need to! You’ll be safer, I’ll be stronger, I’ll protect the past that keeps fading away! You… You can keep changing, if you’d only just… Leave. You need to just… Let. Me Do. This!” Tetsuko bellowed, shouting violently at the Eisenberg girl, panting afterward with exhaustion. Tetsuko hadn’t eaten since the morning, and had quite easily burned herself out with this outburst, to the point where she was hardly standing up straight…

It was, perhaps, not entirely correct to Tetsuko was marching into the snowstorm anymore. No, her current approach was not characterised so much by resolve and dignity, it had become overshadowed by desperation and fervor. Tetsuko wasn’t marching into the snowy hellscape, she was running into it, hoping to be so fast that none could catch her, none could stop her from doing what she had resolved to do. Deep down, Tetsuko irrationally feared that possibility, that she might still be talked down from this path, that she might still selfishly follow her cruel and disgusting desires to remain at the side of someone whose feelings she couldn’t return in earnest. A fear that she would continue going on as a weak and useless knight, simply because she didn’t have the willpower to do what needed to be done.

That deeply sown belief in ‘need’ was what drove Tetsuko to break all her barriers keeping her from snapping at Elise, the entity that seemed to try and deny what Tetsuko needed, the one she couldn’t let keep getting herself hurt for no good reason at all. The Shindou girl wasn’t budging from that any time soon, at least, not while she was still under the influence of alcohol. Even if Elise made points and reassurances that would cut through the twisted beliefs Tetsuko had developed, the swordswoman only sought to cut them down as soon as they appeared. That look in her eyes, so full with anger and frustration, would contain a hint of the same venom that existed within Ueno’s gaze…

As the Germanic lass continued to argue for the strength of bonds, Tetsuko only shook her head vigorously, the pain in her expression only growing as memories of that night came into play. ”You’re wrong! You really think I did anything that night!? I was too late. He only ran because the police were there, I changed nothing! Rin saved you, everyone else has been there, not me, you idiot!” Tetsuko retorted back, that continued insult coming across with more pain than actual resentment. ”Don’t talk to me about my family’s honour! It’s always what I’ve fought for… It’s always been my responsibility. Didn’t you hear what they said back there? It’s my job to uphold their honour, not to forge bonds. They were right!” There was no doubting that Tetsuko placed importance on bearing this burden, on upholding the honour of the family that had defined her. The family she’d been destined to fight for before she’d even met Elise von Eisenberg. ”My family’s honour… Has always been what’s important.” Tetsuko affirmed quietly, her strength starting to leave her at this point, coming back in bouts of drunken fury that only exhausted her further.

Tears were falling on both sides of the table, with yet another dear topic coming into light… The past. ”What use is a future that’s uncertain!?” Tetsuko snapped back, clenching her fists with rage directed at the very concept itself. ”And a ‘present’ that keeps on changing… The past is all that’s certain, don’t you dare dismiss it!” The security-conscious Tetsuko had always been innately anxious in that regard. Things that changed, that could not be known for sure, were loathsome to her… Perhaps that was why she clung to the immutable past so desperately. ”The only thing left I need to do is protect that past… But you won’t let me…”

The confirmation of the pain that Tetsuko caused Elise sapped her strength even more, cutting into her like a knife, one that only sunk deeper as the Eisenberg girl continued to stand by Tetsuko’s side, in spite of it all, ending it in a shout that had Tetsuko’s teeth grit in pain and despair. ”DON’T SAY THAT TO ME!” Tetsuko shouted back. ”You really think it’s OK? For you to say that so easily… For you to tell me how much you love me, and know, that I can’t say it back? Is it really OK just… Waiting… For me to fall in love with you? Waiting for me to know what that even means? Stop hurting yourself… Just stop, please! You think I like watching you hurt yourself this way!? Hearing those words, again and again, knowing I can’t say them back… It’s just pain! So stop all this hurt already!” Tetsuko’s darkest feelings were laid bare, things said that couldn’t be unsaid… Ending with Tetsuko exhausted out of her mind, swaying and barely standing upright by the time she was finished.

”I-I’m fine…” Tetsuko protested pushing back from the Germanic lass who’d come to hold her, and stepping back away from Elise, looking like she was about to simply fall the other way… Were it not for Uwabami suddenly scooping up the ironblooded girl with one arm and holding her on her shoulder. ”Bedtime, Tetsuko-sama.” The Shindou girl, left a but nauseous by the sudden movement, just groaned in response, and Uwabami began to walk away from the scene left behind. Master Gai looked to Elise with concern, thinking to watch over her, but trusting his friend instead, as he stepped alongside Uwabami.

The one-armed strongwoman would stop for a moment, however, glancing back at Elise. ”Uh, sorry, bout that… Shouldn’t o’ let her touch the stuff. My bad.” Uwabami apologized a bit awkwardly, before continuing to carry the young swordswoman out, with Master Gai at her side as the exited the eatery.

”Well… I think that went about as smoothly as could’ve been expected…” The foreigner side, earning a sigh from the older woman.

”Yeah, yeah, I know… Fuck… I didn’t know she’d… Damn…” The older woman, not entirely sober herself, was already feeling the regret of her actions, though Gai was quick to dismiss her worries.

”What’s done is done… I think this might actually help them, anyway…”

As his cryptic words lingered in the air, Elise von Eisenberg would find she was not alone in the eatery. A sudden meowing could be heard behind her, the cat’s approach otherwise silent as it gracefully trotted over to the girl, brushing against her legs in an undoubtedly comforting fashion. Its origins weren’t immediately clear, but all would be explained in time, as it looked up to her with soft, dark eyes, glowing slightly in the light… Its fur dark as night itself, this black cat did not herald bad fortune as one might presume…

Tetsuko’s wouldn’t do much fighting back as Uwabami carried her to her dwellings. The Shindou girl had released everything within her, the rage, the frustration, the sorrow, the pain… There was simply nothing left within the swordswoman, not even the strength to protest against this rather embarrassing carrying method! Held over Uwabami’s shoulder like a sack of potatoes, the older woman would walk alongside the foreign master as they headed towards Tetsuko’s room. Or, rather, her temporary dwellings for the night, within the same general area as Elise, though, a separate room… Ultimately, they decided that the walk back to Tetsuko’s actual room on the Kashima estate would be too long… Additionally, this way they wouldn’t have to reveal to anyone else how the Shindou girl had lost control. To say she already had enough on her plate would be an understatement.

”Ya ever wonder if the old man’s doin’ it right?” The one-armed woman inquired of Master Gai, whose ears seemed perked up for something… The foreigner was silent for a few moments, his attention drawn by something else, someone else, before he sought clarification. ”Doing what right?” Gai asked, looking back to make sure Tetsuko wasn’t listening… The girl was practically asleep by now, bordering unconsciousness.

”The fuckin’ raisin’ of his heiress, or whatever.” Uwabami huffed in response, earning half of Master Gai’s attention. It was a bit difficult, focusing on two conversations at once, but if anyone could do it, it was him. ”I mean, I get her pa’s doin what he can, even if his influence ain’t much… Her ma’… Well, that area’s all kinds of fucked. So it’s basically the old man makin’ ‘er like this.” The one-eyed woman explained, shrugging lightly. ”I mean, stressin’ so much over this crap, sure she’s gotta be strong, we all do to kick those Koyanagi fucks back, but… Shit…” The woman wasn’t entirely sober herself, lending itself to how easily she rambled on. ”I mean, I ain’t ever known what proper parents are like an’ all that. I thought her havin’ responsibilities was jus’ fine, but, fuck…. I dunno. It’s all too much to think ‘bout. I’m only here fer my own selfish reasons anyway…” The woman sighed, glancing over to her quiet fellow master.

”It is their own concern.” Master Gai uttered simply, shrugging his shoulders. ”This family’s duties are its own… How they seek to uphold them… Their own choice. There is no one here without that ‘agency’ to choose. We just can’t always understand those choices…” He sighed lightly, hearing a similar sentiment through another’s ears… He heard Elise von Eisenberg struggle to understand or accept the choices Tetsuko had made, for honour, for strength. ”You’re as much a foreigner as I am, Master Uwabami.”

The female master huffed in response, laughing lightly at his words. ”Always speakin’ in riddles… But I guess yer right. Least I’m actually Japanese, though.” Uwabami teased, just as the pair reached Tetsuko’s dwellings for the night. Uwabami would, as gently as she could, set Tetsuko down on the futon, before looking back to Master Gai with a small grin. ”Yer goin’ back, ain’t ya?” Her question had the foreign master taken aback for a moment, before Uwabami waved it off with her hand, seating herself beside the sleepy Tetsuko.

”Ya never know when to keep yer nose out. Besides, I ain’t exactly the person to go to fer relationship advice, unless yer lookin’ to lose an arm an’ an eye.” Uwabami chuckled heartily, before ushering Master Gai off back toward the eatery. ”I’ll make sure she gets to sleep, go on, ya damned foreigener…”

Grinning quietely, Master Gai would nod his head to the older woman before departing back the way they’d came. It wouldn’t be long before a certain Germanic lass would enjoy his presence yet again…

As the girl held the black cat, she’d find its eyes of midnight staring curiously at her, almost knowingly. Animals always had this strange quality of seeming smarter than they appeared, yet in this case, revealing her feelings to the creature would prove to be far more useful than Elise could have known. Just when she hit her lowest, uttering such foolishly dramatic words, a voice would speak from the entrance to the eatery.

”He’s a good listener, isn’t he?” The foreigner asked, beckoning the cat over. ”Come, Melas.” The black feline would slip free from Elise’s grasp, trotting over to Gai and brushing against his legs. ”I won’t be coy, I heard everything you said to him. His senses are mine, a peculiar ability… It means I hear everything he hears… He listens well I listen well.” It was best to get that little reveal out of the way first, Master Gai knew. This wasn’t his first rodeo, so to speak.

”I heard what you said. So let me be blunt, Eli-tan~” The two sides of the foreign master, the serious and cunning, the playful and cheery, were in flux at this point. ”If you really think it would have been better if you’d never woken up… You’re as much a fool as Tetsu-tan claimed you were. Got it~?” The foreign master would approach the table once again, seating himself across from Elise and glancing briefly over at the still present sake bottle. ”A devilish thing, isn’t it?” He muttered aloud. ”It makes us say the things we’d rather not, the things we truly believe, yet, the truths we keep hidden from even ourselves. Or so I’ve heard~ Never touched the stuff myself, that’s a big no-no~” He grinned slightly to the Germanic girl, as Melas hopped up onto his lap, evidently quite comfortable where he was.

”Tetsu-tan just spoke the truth to you. The truth she kept concealed. I think it was a good thing she did… The truth is very important, y’know? That’s why… I’m here now. I just want to help you come to your own truth. If you’ll let me speak for a moment? I already… Heard everything you felt. So if you’ll just allow… A bit of a story, I think I might be able to offer the help of a humble traveler~”

The Germanic lass seemed willing to hear his story, so the foreign man nodded his head lightly, sitting back and gently stroking against the content Melas as he let his mind drift, his eyes fixated on nothingness as he spoke, his voice soft and gentle, strangely… Reminiscent… It would become very clear why it was so.

”The way you spoke, Eli-tan… You make it sound like you’ve lost everything. Rather… Like you stand to lose everything. That’s… Particularly relevant to a story I know.” His hand drifted towards one of the cups, picking it up lightly and observing it closely as he spoke. ”I knew a man… A boy, rather. Who really did lose everything, a long time ago… Like you, it made him wonder why he… Continued existing. If it hurts so much to lose everything, why put yourself in a position where you can?” His fingers squeezed lightly against the cup, before he placed it back down on the table. ”A life where you can lose is ceramic. Hard and tough on the outside, and it won’t bend. But it can break. His life broke. So he thought… Why don’t I just find a new one?”

Melas purred softly as he was pet, Master Gai continuing this story of his with memories in his eyes. ”It hurt to much to have a ceramic life. It hurt to much to ‘need’ so much. So he needed nothing. No more than shelter, food and water. That was all he had, as travelled on, always moving. Never still, never breakable.” It was clear, who the subject of this tale was, but it didn’t change Gai’s retelling, disconnected yet vaguely reminiscent. ”As he travelled on, he came to hate that ceramic life even more. He saw many things and many people, each one of them with fragile smiles that could be washed away in a moment. They always were washed away, and those people who needed so much, seemed to fall to sorrow every time. Despair followed every laugh… That was what he saw, anyway.” The room was silent within every pause, as though the world itself stopped as he gathered those treasured memories.

”He lived a much different life to them, to those with fragile smiles, to those who succumbed to foolish ‘need’. The boy moved from home to home, always with the belief that… If he lost one, he could always gain another. He came to rely on this replaceable life, where everything could be substituted, where nothing was needed. His hate only grew for that which could be lost, his hate for the seemingly irreplaceable, for people who said such things as ‘I can’t live without this’ or ‘my life has no meaning without it’… He hated it. With all his might.” Master Gai smiled softly, his quieter side now having taken over completely as he spoke, little choice but to fall back on those memories of his, those memories of a boy ruled by his own fear.

”That boy lived as a wanderer, with nothing to lose, nothing to need. Eventually, the boy became a man, one who cast his worries to the wind, for what use were they to someone who needed nothing? The only thing he sought after was money, the ultimate substitute… Until something more came to him.” He smiled down at the cat on his lap, petting him gently as he continued. ”He did odd jobs, all around the place. He even hurt people. One day… He had to take something from someone. Something… That they thought they ‘needed’. Or at least, that’s what he thought was their reason. He even went as far as telling them they could live without it… Only to hear words that changed him evermore.” He glanced up at Elise, his eyes soft and almost sorrowful as he echoed those words.

”I know I can live without it. But I don’t want to.”

His eyes were cast down again, the foreign master continuing forward as he pet Melas. ”That man never got to return what he stole. He was instead given something himself… A realization. That all those people with their fragile smiles, their ceramic lives… Had always smiled more genuinely than he ever could. The happiest among them… Knew it wasn’t need. It was want. Want… That defined them. That gave them meaning he could never know. He was the one who’d succumbed to need. The need for peace, the need for no more pain… Without knowing… That hurt is what makes our smiles beautiful.” He smiled quietly, the façade no longer in play as he spoke honestly from then on.

”I came to learn that this… Unreasonableness of the world… The ugliness of scrambling after our wants… Is the most beautiful thing about it. I… Sought my own wants. I sought the very concept. That search… Brought me to the strangest place I’d been yet.” He looked back up to Elise, who would’ve surely caught on already, that this was not just any story, but his story. ”Eli-tan… Everyone in that hall… Was either twisted by need… Or driven by want… To generalise it, they were all… Drunk on something.” He took the sake bottle in his hands, circling it around with his hand, watching the liquid swirl within. ”Duty… Revenge… Power… Even love… They all sought these things… Yet for the ones who smiled the most… It was, above all else, their ‘want’. That ‘want’ that drove them into beautiful unreasonableness… Away from the oppressive and cold ‘need’. They led ceramic lives, and the craftsmanship… Was without compare.”

He held the sake bottle still for a moment, watching the contents settle before he placed it back. ”Perhaps you could let her carry on, abandon her bonds, abandon you… That’s just not what you ‘want’, is it? Well, that goes without saying.” Indeed, it wasn’t at all hard to guess that… Not at all…

”If you can know what you want… How it’s different from what you need… Then the next thing to do is think of her ‘wants’. The needs and wants that drove her from the start… Drove her to you, didn’t they?” Gai didn’t need to say her name, Elise would doubtlessly already be thinking of her at this point. ”The ‘needs’ that she marches towards… The ‘wants’ that twisted that path so she’d walk at your side… I want you to think about the wants that brought her to your side in the first place… And you want to consider that… Even as she snapped…

Tetsu-tan… Didn’t ever use that word… Did she? She spoke so much of what she needed… But… Did she say what she ‘wanted’?”

The foreign master’s mind was in the past as he retold his own story, but his aim was instead to save the future… Not his own, but that of Elise von Eisenberg. He never had been able to keep his nose out of others’ business, at least, not since he too was struck by that revelation. From that point on, the role of the wanderer had become something else entirely… It had become about observing that reveal all over the world. Even if Master Gai spoke of the drunkenness of the Council of Masters, he knew he himself was no different. It was why he fit in so well. Yet, while they were all drunk on their wants… He was seemingly drunk on the world itself.

Always searching it, observing it, loving it. In the hopes he might find his own ‘wants’ someday.

To know your wants and needs, to know what separated the two, was something that the foreign master always sought to help others with, following their paths and noting their journeys so he might understand it himself someday. He guided others to things he did not possess, with wisdom he grasped yet did not enact. It was the strange existence of the traveller, but one that was undoubtedly benefited those around him.

Elise von Eisenberg would soon understand her own wants, her own needs, as she seemed to come to her own world-shattering realization thanks to Master Gai’ story. The Germanic lass came to understand what separated her needs from her wants, what defined them and what drove her into this beautiful ceramic life, as Master Gai had called. The foreigner would nod in affirmation as she spoke, smiling to himself as the young girl grasped what he was saying so quickly.

”Our wants are unreasonable by nature, and that’s the beauty of them… It’s the beauty of a ceramic life. To seek what we want, that is the craftsmanship behind it. That is what I never understood until those words changed everything.” The foreign swordsman would affirm, showing his clear support for the conclusions Elise was making. It wasn’t something that could be understood entirely right away, but it was indeed a philosophy that could be understood in time. It would take an even deeper understanding to truly grasp the words that might save Tetsuko Shindou, as Master Gai spoke on and continued to guide the Germanic lass to her own conclusions.

The conclusion she found came bundled with the resolve of a warrior, the resolve that let Elise discover her own truths about Tetsuko’s feelings, her actions and words. Indeed, it would be up to her to truly discover what it was Tetsuko ‘wanted’, and how that clashed with the girl’s burdensome ‘needs’. If Tetsuko was allowed to continue on, bearing the needs and desires of others, shedding those irreplaceable things and avoiding that ceramic life… Master Gai truly feared she might someday end up as he once had, that wandering boy who hated all that could not be substituted. The man who had lived a life that wasn’t made of ceramic, but rather… Plastic. A plastic life, bending and twisting to the forces that came to it, yet decidedly weak in its structure. It was not hard or sturdy, it was not as beautifully crafted as ceramic. Perhaps, most importantly to the Shindou girl herself…

A plastic life was not immovable.

Elise found resolve in seeking her own ceramic life, knowing the challenge she had to overcome in order to reach Tetsuko’s heart and convince her not to lead a plastic life. ”I’ll leave it to you then… To find the wants that drove her to your side in the first place, to find how they might keep her there… How they might stop her from drifting away from the beauty of a ceramic life. I’ll leave that in your hands… That being said, I shall do what I can to train you against those claims of detriment.” His formalities were starting to fade, a slightly more chipper tone in his voice as Elise continued on. Truthfully, this dramatic and exaggerated Master Gai was certainly not the real one… So why did he usually act with such flamboyance and joy?

It was simple, really. So that he could try and achieve the greatest sign of a beautifully ceramic life. It was so he could smile, so those around him could smile as well. He got drunk on the world, drunk on his love for the world, and enjoyed it so dearly. It wasn’t his ‘real’ persona, but it was the mask of joy that truly did make him feel like his own ceramic life was in play, like his own travels and love might cause the smiles of others. That was his own version of ‘happiness’.

It was already clear it wasn’t going to be easy to save Tetsuko, but Gai had faith in Elise and her newfound resolve, the young lass already keen on training this late at night. ”Well, I hope you’re willing to stick through, Eli-tan~ It’s not going to be easy, training until morning~” Though, it would be much less difficult than it would for normal people, as both Master Gai and Elise von Eisenberg possessed remarkable stamina. The former had wandered through blistering heat and deathly cold nights for weeks on end, after all, as a result of his wandering lifestyle after the tragedies that struck him early in life.

After Elise took a sip of Tetsuko’s rich mineral water – an acquired taste, to say the least – Gai chuckled lightly, before standing up himself, gesturing the Germanic girl onward. ”C’mon, no time to lose, Eli-tan~ Let’s get you nice and warmed up for tomorrow~ Just know that I’m only going to show you a fraction of my strength for now~” Master Gai explained as he led the Germanic lass out of the eatery, and towards one of the training halls of the school. ”You’ll see my full powah tomorrow~ For now, all I can do is prepare you… And show you the importance of our school. I hope you’re ready to sharpen those blades of yours, Eli-tan~” He spoke figuratively, knowing that everyone possessed a ‘blade’ in those terms…

It was just a matter now of seeing if Elise had the resolve to hone her own, in preparations for a fight not just against the foreign master… But against the cruelties of fate itself. It was a fight for the heart of Tetsuko Shindou.