Failure

Challenge

»Failure should be our teacher,

not our undertaker.

Failure is delay, not defeat.

It’s a temporary detour, not a dead end.«

- Denis Waitlay -
 

Instead of the groaning and panting of students and the cracking of bamboo swords hitting each other, the muffled sound of fast footsteps on the wooden floor echoed through the deserted Dojo. Remains of the night were still lingering in the corners of the rectangular room and gave a ghostly atmosphere to it.

Only a few shy sun rays fell through the opened slide door which led into a small inner courtyard with a well in its centre. The shadows of some smaller plants on the sides of the courtyard already painted scattered patterns on the ground and all in all it was one of those peaceful mornings everyone enjoyed.

At least, for everyone else it was a peaceful morning. Merely Souji did not even bother to have a closer look at his surroundings as he crossed the Dojo. It was only a short-cut, sparing him the time to follow another hallway and get over to the residential building, where the master of the Dojo and some students had their rooms.

Without slowing his pace down or getting his shoes on again after carrying them through the inside, he left the Dojo through the opened door and got off the porch with a graceful skip. He was lucky enough that no one was around and could complain about the fact that he was running around outside without shoes.

With a brief look around, he rounded the well and stepped on the porch of the other building. It took him some more steps on the porch, before he got inside again and followed a narrow hallway. Its walls were made of dark and plain planks as it was common for the fencing halls in this district of Edo. Only a sign besides the gate showed the name of the Dojo and what style of fencing was taught. It did not even mention the name of its current master. All in all, there basically were just some neat characters written with red ink on some weathered piece of wood.
 

Shieikan Dojo

School of Tennen Rishin Ryu
 

Except for the quite dangerous style that had been invented for war and to kill opponents in the most efficient ways, there was nothing special about the fencing hall. But nevertheless it was his home now and he would not leave it and his closest friends for anything in the world. His skills in fencing and the people he met about seven years ago were often the only sure things in his life.

As this thought crossed his mind, his usually alert eyes seemed to lose their bright colour of hazel as he gazed at the ground for a few seconds. Even after all those years had passed and he had gotten used to the thought that is parents would never return, the pictures of blazing flames always found their way back into his head.

Absent-mindedly he ran his fingers over the scar at his right wrist. He had been lucky enough to survive the fire, but at the same time he had lost half of his family just a few days after his ninth birthday. Sometimes he heard them screaming at night as if he was back there and when he closed his eyes he could see their burned skin. Their lips were dry and torn open from the intense heat, their skin had a dark red colour and started to form blisters and the scent of smoke lingered everywhere.

But he couldn’t allow those thoughts to gain the mastery over him and his life. There were other duties he had to fulfil and he was not going to give his chance to teach basic sword fighting at a nearby village away. He had finished his apprenticeship almost a year ago and it really was time for him to find his own path in life.

Forcing the memories back into a corner of his mind, he swallowed once and headed further into the building. Only the silent rustling of the pitch-black fabric of his Kimono accompanied him for quite a while, before he finally reached the right door and shoved it aside to have a look into the kitchen.

“Mitsu?” He called out for his sister and peeked into the room. To his dismay he did not find her, but two live-in students who seemed to be on cooking duty for the day. A lopsided grin crept up on his lips as he realised their confused looks. It seemed like they were still new at Shieikan and didn’t know what to do.

“Oh… never mind, I guess neither of you is called Mitsu.” He said without waiting for any reaction before he closed the door again and continued his way at a faster pace since he was slowly running out of time. If he was lucky enough, his sister was still at her room instead of running after her husband and giving him tasks.

“Mitsu? Sorry to disturb, but I can’t find my black Hakama.” He tried his luck again as he simply shoved the door to the room aside and had a look inside. It was quite impolite that he didn’t give her any chance to answer, but it was not the first time he ran into a room without asking for permission and they both had gotten used to it.

Though, this time Mitsu looked kind of surprised as she turned to her brother. Her Kimono was still slightly loose and the knot of her belt was on the side instead of in the centre of her back. But still she was smart enough to overact her embarrassment to be caught not properly dressed and shrugged at his words.

“I don’t know where you’re leaving your clothes all the time. It should be either in your closet or in the basket with the clothes that need washing.” She answered after a short break and readjusted her belt with swift movements as if his clothes had nothing to do with her – which was only partially true since she usually took care of the washing together with Kondou-sans wife.

Souji rolled his eyes and gave an exasperated groan. He knew he was old enough to take care of his things by himself, but sometimes his sister simply gave such hints at the wrong time and in the most useless situations. “Please, can you spare me with those comments? I have to teach at Tama today and should leave soon. Otherwise I will be late and Kondou-san will be disappointed.”

Mitsu raised one eyebrow and looked at her younger brother for a few seconds, before she went over to the closet and opened it. “I can only offer one of Rin that might be too long for you. Or you go and ask some of the other students to lend you one.” She stated and pulled a neatly folded Hakama out.

“I don’t mind if it’s too long.” He rejoined and took the Hakama out of her hands as soon as it was within his reach. Sometimes even his own clothes were too large for him. And right now the only thing that mattered was not to let Kondou-san down by loosing even more time. “Thank you for your help. I’ll make sure to return those in no time.”

He gave her a quick smile and ignored her silent huffing, before he turned around again and unfolded the Hakama at the same time. Since he looked at the fabric instead of where he was going, he didn’t see another person on the hallway in front of the still opened door. Even his sisters warning came too late and before he could understand her words, he already sat on the ground.

The situation was awkward for a brief moment. Souji looked quite clueless to the other young man in the door frame without moving and his opponent simply did the same with a light blush on his cheeks. Mitsu on the other hand simply stroke some wrinkles in her Kimono even and readjusted the collar.

“I’m sorry.” The young man finally found his voice again and bowed. But instead of waiting for some words of forgiveness from Souji or helping him up from the ground, he continued after a short break. It seemed like his message was urgent and there was no time to lose even if politeness actually asked for such actions. “Kondou-sama wants to see you immediately. It seems like the Dojo was challenged by a member of Hokushin Ittou and there is no one to face the stranger except for you.”
 

誠

Duel

He had to undo the long ribbons of his Hakama and wrap them around his slender waist all over again, because he hadn’t been paying attention to the movements of his hands. Instead of tying neat knots, he had confused the different ribbons and only realised the mistakes as his sister gave him a slap on the wrist for being so thoughtless that he messed things up he learned as a young boy and did every day.

It was actually the first time in years that he had gotten something so basic confused. But this day was totally different since the challenger arrived at Shiekan and the senior master decided to leave the fight to Souji. He had never been in a serious match before, especially not against a full-fledged and most likely ten or more years older samurai.

He wasn’t even familiar with the Hokushin Ittou style after only practising at one Dojo during his six years of apprenticeship. It was one of the most famous styles throughout the country and it was known for being effective and dangerous. But every style of fencing was dangerous, if it was done right and if someone attempted to kill another person.

With this, his thoughts were already rushing on ahead to the match against the alien fencer and by force of habit, he started to calculate how great his chances were. They were not going to use edged weapons for such a match, but there were still enough possibilities to get hurt by one of the bamboo swords and even more chances to lose the fight.

On the other hand, he was the best swordsman at Shieikan since he had turned thirteen years old. Most of the time, it took few exchanges of blows before his opponent had to give in to his attacks. It wasn’t his strength that made him win, though. In contrast to others, he relied on swiftness and sudden moves to surprise his opponents. One second of mild confusion was usually enough to catch the opponent off-guard and to carry him off his feet. Strike capability was definitely not everything in fencing.

“Stop dreaming, Soujiro.” His sister interrupted his thoughts quite ungentle and tightened the last knot in the ribbons of the Hakama so firmly, that he gasped for air. “Otherwise you will not even get ready for the match.” She added and observed his now decent clothes for a second, before she held a white lace out to tie the long sleeves of his Kimono back. There was no use in fighting, when the hilt got caught in the fabric every second move.

“I am sure this challenger can wait another minute. He can’t be waiting for his defeat so eagerly.” He replied with a shrug and pulled the lace through his sleeves before tying it in front of his left shoulder. Only a silent voice of anxiety in the back of his mind whispered that he shouldn’t be too self-confident about a fight with a fencer who had a lot more experience with real matches than himself.

There was no time to listen to the voice anyway as his sister returned with a piece of leather armour which would protect his torso against serious blows. During training he usually relinquished any protection since there was hardly anyone who could score a hit. But even bamboo swords could leave severe bruises and crack bones and he wasn’t an admirer of black and bluish discoloured skin.

He would never complain about bruises and scratches, though. He had not even cried when he had fallen down a flight of steps and ripped half of his lower arm open at the age of eleven, not even when Hijikata-san had patched the wound up without much experience. It seemed as if nothing was able to be more painful than the blazing flames that once had tasted his skin and licked it like a lover’s lips.

“I am done.” Mitsu interrupted his thoughts once again and pulled the last buckle of the armour in the right place. After she and Souji had moved to the Shieikan Dojo, she had spent most of her time helping out at the kitchen or in the fencing halls and knew perfectly well how to dress a swordsman for a match. The armour fitted tightly to his chest, but it didn’t cut his breath short or restricted his free movements.

“Thank you, aneue.” He gave her a quick smile as he took a pair of gloves out of her hands and put them on. Afterwards he grabbed the Shinai which had been leaning against the wall the entire time. Compared to a Katana, the bamboo sword was unfamiliar light and would give him the chance to attack with even swifter movements.

“Take care and don’t overdo it. It is only a match not a fight for life and death.” She reminded him and held the helmet which also belonged to the common training clothes out for him. He took it with another smile and reassured her that he would be careful in the fight. Only in his mind, he wasn’t able to understand her worries. He was good with his swords and he carried a real Daisho since exactly 247 days now. The chances that he would get hurt in a match with wooden swords were low.

“I will make you proud. And Kondou-san, of course.” He added with another look to his sister, before he left the room and stepped in the narrow hallway which led past the kitchen and to one of the major halls. Some students passed him on his way and greeted with formal bows and a few silent words, but no one dared to ask him why he was dressed up with armour he never wore under normal circumstances.

Nevertheless their eyes were curious and his heartbeat sped up with each step. It was a great honour and a heavy burden at the same time to face a challenger in place of the current master of the Dojo. One wrong step, one moment of abstraction could destroy the good reputation of the school and - even worse - the Tennen Rishin Style.

They already had trouble to find new students, because there were more famous styles and richer fencing halls in other districts of Kyoto. If they lost to Hokushin Ittou style now, it would be proven that the other fencing hall was superior to them and it would become even harder to find new students to join Shieikan.

He was not going to allow that. He was going to defeat his opponent as he usually defeated other students and prove that Tennen Rishin Ryu was worth learning. There was no other way to keep his honour and to make everyone proud after he had trained for seven years as if his life depended on it.

With those thoughts in mind, Souji entered the hall and bowed before closing the door behind him. He remained there as it was common courtesy, until the senior master of the Dojo waved him over to sit with him and the stranger before they started the match. It seemed like they had a friendly conversation before, but they didn’t continue it after Souji sat down on his knees and had placed his hands on his thighs.

He was painfully aware of the dark eyes which observed him closely, but he did neither move nor try to break the tense silence surrounding them. Discipline and control over his body and emotions were important to get through a match victoriously. Distraction and a lack of discipline gave an opponent vents in his defence and increased the chances to be beat up within a few minutes.

“Soujiro, this is Yamanami Keisuke. He was a student of Chiba Shusaku Narimasa and is a member of the Koryu Dojo at Edo.” The senior master introduced their guest with his calm smile. Yamanami Keisuke nodded in return and gave Souji a bland smile which awakened his doubts once again and made his heart drop a few centimetres.

He was a man in his late twenties and he was quite a bit taller than Souji. He had a slender body which almost hid his athletic constitution and kept a constantly straight posture. His hair was tied back in a traditional Chonmage and his thin face had the clean-cut features of a well-read scholar.

His dark eyes sparkled with slight amusement and hid his knowledge well. It was easy to tell that he had been born in a family of high-class samurai and that he had been able to enjoy education since his childhood. Even his choice of style of swordsmanship gave away that his parents must have been rich. The fees for a popular school and a well-known teacher as Chiba Shusaku Narimasa were expensive.

He himself was of samurai birth as well, but his parents had been poor and would have been unable to pay for such a famous school. Since they died even before Souji could enrol at a Dojo, it had been pure luck that he got to learn how to use a pair of swords. If his sister hadn’t married Rintarou who had a connection to the family of Kondou Shusuke - the senior master - there would have been no way for him to get proper education.

“It will be an honour to fight you.” Yamanami Keisuke broke the silence after a few minutes and forced Souji to force his thoughts back to reality. He would have liked to slap himself for losing his focus even before the match had started. If he was going to keep this manner up, he was going to lose within the first few seconds.

“The pleasure is all mine.” He replied with a confident smile without averting his eyes. He was not thoroughly sure about his victory anymore, but sometimes pretending was the key to success. It had worked in the past, when he had told himself that he was strong enough to beat an opponent, and he was going to give it a try this time as well. Kondou-sama had put all his trust in him after all.

“Then we should begin.” The senior master decided and stood up with smooth movements. He was almost seventy years old, but the exercise and the teaching had kept him flexible as a young tree. Only the wrinkles in his suntanned face which especially appeared when he was laughing spoke of great life experience.

While Yamanami Keisuke went over to the other side of the room to put his armour on and to tie his sleeves back, the senior master turned to Souji who had risen from his place as well and gave him an encouraging smile. There was not even a single spark of doubt in his eyes. Only trust gleamed in them.

“Concentrate on your defence and don’t let it down under any circumstances, especially at your flanks.” He gave a last advice, before he stepped back to the side of the Dojo. He knew Souji well enough to know that he tended to be careless about his defence once he was caught up in a fight. He did not underestimate his opponents and he knew what he was capable of, but he was still young and forgot the important things as keeping himself safe while attacking from time to time.

He looked after the master who knew all his weak spots howsoever small for another second, before he picked the bamboo sword which had been lying on the ground up and stepped in the middle of the hall. From this point on, he needed to focus on his body and the movements of his opponent. Nothing else was going to be important, until he won for the sake of Shieikan or was defeated to his disgrace.

The challenger of the Dojo took his place across the hall. Both of them bowed, before they made one step closer to each other and waited for the sign to start. Tension flared through the air and Souji needed all his concentration to keep his hands from shaking. His beating of his heart sped up as if it wanted to jump out of his chest right away and his breaths grew less deep and a little faster than usual.

“Hajime!” The voice of the senior master echoed through the hall, finally breaking the almost unbearable silence in half and allowing the opponents to attack. But instead of closing the distance between them with rapid movements, Souji forced himself to exercise patience and corrected his stance first.

His left foot was placed behind his right one with its toes pointed away from his body and to the left side. Furthermore, he slightly pulled his left shoulder back to have more freedom to move. The tip of his bamboo sword was pointed at the throat of his opponent and did not move a tiny bit even as he took a step forward.

For a few minutes the two swordsman circled each other like hungry lions waiting for a lack of defence or a second of distraction. But as much as they both hoped for a chance to end the fight quickly, it did not happen. The concentration filling the hall was as intense as the tension before and even Kondou Shusuke who had seen many bitter fights in the halls of his Dojo was close to holding his breath.

After an eternity, Souji decided that he had been patient long enough. His scream shattered the silence as he leaped forward and attacked with two accurate and fast sequenced strikes. To his displeasure his opponent fended both of his blows off with the greatest of ease. He did not even have to take more than a backwards sidestep to avoid being knocked down by the momentum Souji had.

An annoyed groan escaped his lips as he backed off and took his stance again. His opponent was faster than he had expected and his height gave him a slight advantage as well. Standing head and shoulders above Souji, it would be hard to make him lose his centre of gravitation and to overthrow him. In conclusion, the easiest way to end this fight was probably to land a blow which could be classed as deadly.

Still pondering over the best way to attack further Souji lost a part of his focus and left his opponent few seconds to catch him off guard. The vigorous blow from above forced him to yank his sword up and to take a step back at the same time. His bare feet started to slide over the wooden floor as his opponent added even more pressure after the bamboo swords had made contact.

Souji clenched his teeth and tried to fight back as soon as he had been able to find foothold again, but all he could do was withstanding the strength of Yamanami Keisuke. It was only a matter of time until he would have to give in, but to his luck his opponent decided against going to the bitter end right away. He stepped back with a faint smile and allowed Souji to get his stance back.

It took him only few seconds to correct the position of his feet and to hold his sword stable again, but his mind was a turmoil of emotions. For the first time in his life, he was afraid of losing a battle at any moment. His heart was racing and cold beads of sweat crept up on his forehead.

The worst about it was that he was not able to figure out why he was so close to losing. He had faced taller and stronger opponents before and he had been able to defeat them without exception. Even Hijikata-san and the current master of the Dojo had to surrender against his blade at some point of his apprenticeship. But something about Yamanami Keisuke was different. Maybe it was his style of fighting, maybe it was just because Souji did only know him since a couple of minutes.

He had no time to come to a conclusion before his opponent attacked once again. This time Souji reacted faster and dodged the combination of strikes with swift movements instead of fending them off directly. It was a whole lot simpler than holding against the strength of a superior opponent, but he felt like a coward doing so. He fled from the sword of his opposite as if he was still a child.

The further he lost himself in the dance with the other blade, the more he wanted to scream at himself and his stupid behaviour. His honour was going to be smashed even before he lost the fight, if he kept running away. But his feet did not listen to his mind and carried him further through the hall.

Another scream erupted from his throat and surprised everyone, including himself. He dashed forward and prepared for a combination of three sequenced and quite deadly blows. He moved his sword horizontal in front of his body. His right hand pulled the hilt backwards at the height of his neck after he had covered the remaining distance between himself and his opponent. He planned to stop his sword before he actually hit the neck of the other man and to continue with a strike against his left and afterwards against his right shoulder.

But before he could even think about slowing down his movements and saving Yamanami Keisuke from some nasty bruises, something crashed against his forehead. The sound of splintering bamboo filled the hall and grated on his ears. The flow of time seemed to stop for a few moments, until the pain reached his mind and he felt like his head was going to explode any second. Black spots whirled through his field of vision and he stumbled backwards, reaching a hand up to his forehead.

Something sticky seeped down from his hairline and spread out over his left temple and cheek at a rapid pace. He did not look at it and took his hand away when the voice of the senior master filled the Dojo after a few seconds of utter shock: “Ippon!” He raised his right hand as a sign of Yamanami Keisukes victory.

Souji showed his respect for the winner with a bow, before he turned away to get rid of his armour. He took only one step, before his knees gave way. His world was suddenly foggy and everything seemed to be spinning. Colours blended into each other, until they turned to one compact black mass.
 

誠

Lessons

“How could he forget to put the helmet on? And how could you forget to remind him about it before they started to beat each other up? You are worse than children.” The high-pitched voice of his sister in combination with a clinking sound he could not identify made enough noise to wake the dead.

“Now, calm down and stop blaming me. I was not even here during the match and he is old enough to remember important things by himself.” Another voice answered with a huff and made her shut up in an instant. “Be glad that I returned earlier. Otherwise you would have to take care of the wound by yourself.”

In any other situation, Souji would have started to grin in amusement. There was only one person in the whole world that was able to shut his sister up within seconds without arguing at all. Hijikata-san simply spoke his mind whenever he was annoyed. He did not care what everyone else thought about him and his manners. As long as they left him alone with their requests, he was fine.

But this was not any other situation. His head was throbbing with pain and the memories of the match with Yamanami Keisuke slowly returned to him. He had lost within minutes and he had been avoiding the blade of his opponent most of the time. To top it all, he had managed to run straight into the sword instead of landing his final blow with a combination of strikes he had perfected after years of work.

He cursed himself in his thoughts and tried to open his eyes. He needed several attempts, because his eyelids were still heavy and the darkness tried to pull him back in its arms. Nevertheless he kept struggling and groaned under his breath as he finally opened his eyes and the sudden light caused the throbbing pain to turn into a feeling as if he had been running against a wall at full speed.

He blinked for a few times to get used to the light, before he tried to sit up. Immediately, two strong hands on his shoulders forced him to stay in a lying position and a still slightly blurry face appeared in his field of vision. Dishevelled black strands of hair which had escaped the high ponytail framed the distinctive features and a pair of not really concerned eyes observed him businesslike.

“Listen just once and stay where you are until I took care of the wound. Otherwise you might hurt yourself even more than you did with that foolish attack.” Hijikata-san instructed him before he let go of his shoulders and turned back to a wooden basin which was most likely filled with water. He dipped a piece of white fabric in it and wrung it out until it did not drip anymore, but was still damp enough to clean the wound.

Souji felt like someone jabbed a blade right into his chest as he listened to the harsh words. His heart skipped a beat and he could not breathe for a few seconds. Unconsciously, he clenched his fists in helpless anger against himself and gazed at the ceiling of the room. There was no way for him to gain the position of the best swordsman at the Shieikan Dojo again, as soon as the news about his failure spread. He had disappointed everyone because he had been distracted in the probably most important situation of his life and he would have to listen to their comments and jokes all day long. To top it all, they would go back to treating him like the younger students.

“Leave me alone with your concern.” He snapped and sat up quite determined as Hijikata-san turned back to him and was about to clean the wound. Since Souji caught him off guard, he did not even get the chance to get a hold of his shoulders to push him down again and only blinked at him in utter confusion.

“I neither need your pity nor your help or anything else. I am not a child anymore..” He added and took advantage of the general confusion to get back on his feet. Although his legs were shaky and his surroundings started to spin again, he crossed the room and left without another word. He even ignored the death glare of his sister that tried to stab him from behind and the last thing he heard was a quite annoyed and still confused comment from Hijikata-san: “What the hell got into him? I did not even think about treating him like a child, I just wanted to clean that wound.”

A sigh escaped his lips after he had closed the door and followed one of the hallways to the inner courtyard. To his relief, he did not come across other students or teachers since most of them were occupied by the forenoon lessons. He was in no mood to meet them and to talk to them about the newest things they had learned or about the pretty girls they had met at the festival last week.

He needed time to think about his match with Yamanami Keisuke. He needed time to figure out how he could ever dare to face the senior master again and how it was possible that he lost in such disgrace. He could not even put a finger on all the emotions which where whirling through his head right now. As soon as he tried to hang on to one feeling, it slipped through his hands like sand. The constantly throbbing pain in his head and the light spinning of his surroundings did not help his attempts at all.

Accompanied by the faint sound of his footsteps he left the building and sat down on the edge of the porch. The planks were still in the shadow and quite cool, but he did not mind and enjoyed the silence around him. While he looked up at the light blue sky and the few clouds which travelled over it, the sun started to warm his bare feet since they were dangling over the edge of the porch. It was only a matter of time before he calmed down and closed his eyes due to the bright sun which only increased the pain.

He was not sure how long he sat on the porch like that. It could have been an hour or just a couple of minutes. Only when the crunching of gravel under a pair of shoes got through to his ears, he opened his eyes again and glanced over the inner courtyard. But instead of meeting the death glare of his older sister or Hijikata-sans dangerously flaring eyes, he was greeted by a friendly smile and a pair of calm eyes.

He felt the urge to leap up to his feet and to hide somewhere else, but at the same time he felt like he was frozen on the spot. There was no way he could talk to Yamanami Keisuke before he got a hold of all the emotions inside of him. Not to mention looking in his face and being constantly reminded of his defeat. He set his eyes on the ground and tried to ignore the fact that the other samurai sat down besides him after he had crossed the last metres of distance. A few moments, there was only silence.

“I am truly happy that I got to fight you.” He finally broke the silence with his soft voice and made Souji look up. He could not believe the words of his opponent and stared at him for a few seconds. “You are talented with your sword and one day, you will be a great man. I am happy that I could teach you a lesson.” He continued and turned his head to look Souji straight in the eye.

“You call that a lesson? Making everyone see that I am still a child?” He snapped and turned his head away again to stare at a tuft of grass as if it was the most interesting thing in the whole world. It was not polite to simply turn away as if his opposite was not existing, but right now he didn’t give a damn about it.

“Soujiro... You are no child just because you lose a fight. Quite the opposite is the case. You are already strong enough to face a total stranger in a match. It does not matter if you win or lose as long as you don’t give up.” He continued after a short break. His voice was still calm and when Souji looked back to him and met his eyes, he could not find a single spark of arrogance or lie in them.

“You know, you almost got me with that last move. I was not prepared for such an advanced strike. I never faced someone who was able to use the technique of Sandanzuki as perfect as you did and I only hit you with my sword, because I was surprised and had no time to stop my movements.” Souji could not help himself and looked up to the other man once again. He had never expected to be praised by his opponent.

“But I lost after all. There is no way I can look Kondou-sama in the eye again.” He retaliated with a sigh. Yamanami Keisuke only raised an eyebrow at his words and shook his head after a few moments of thinking about his words. “You are taking this match a little to earnest.” He added and smiled at him once again, before he leaned back and watched a small cloud which was drifting over the sky.

“You know, someone told me that we should never let success get to our head and failure to our heart. He said those two simple things were the key to true swordsmanship.” He continued after some time had passed. “Try to keep these things in mind, when you follow your road through life. It helped me a lot when I had finished my apprenticeship.”