Early because I'm not home tomorrow.
Blue's Shadow comes out July 15th. The first few chapters are on Patreon.
My book comes out to pre-order on August 1st. Let me know if you have questions.
Sora
yesterday
I skip dinner today. The sun hasn't even set. It falls between the line of skyscrapers in the distance. The line between the Slums and Center city is ignored by such a thing. Musutafu may be one place but it is divided and the barrier will always be made of poverty and crime.
I sit in the middle of the square cleaning off my swords. Dad, Suru, and Copper went out to eat together at the diner down the street. I said I wanted to stay home today and guard the house. Tenko smiled and pat my head, leaving me to it.
Darkness is settling in. It cradles the Slums with a quieter nature now that Scythe has been cleaning up the streets. More people have been getting jobs down here. Most of the gangs have either dispersed or are actually helping people now. Without any weapon or drug flow, crime has taken a backseat. Sure there are villains every now and then, but most of Scythe's men along with X deal with them efficiently.
Even if that day in the tunnels still scars me, haunting my nightmares, making me and my siblings wake in the middle of the night sweating and crying... Maybe X was right. Maybe we were just at the wrong place at the wrong time and what came of Scythe's reign is a better life. A better place to live.
"This place hasn't changed a bit, has it?"
I look up, clenching one of my swords as it sings in the air. Walking in from one of the alleyways, someone I haven't seen in a very long time creeps into the square. He walks with his hands in his coat pockets, taking in the air of his old home. His shoulders are straight, but there's the tiniest bit of a limp in his step, a bit of an awkward, almost injured manner to the way he moves. Although what catches me the most off guard is the fact that he's here at all. In the flesh.
"What are you doing here, Kaido?" I breathe, standing up.
He doesn't consider my question. I'm not even sure he hears it. Instead, he looks me up and down.
"I always wondered why you and X did that." he points lazily to the swords in my lap and the rag I clean them with. "You're going to bloody them anyway aren't you?"
"Even something as strong as steel can weaken without the proper care," I say, my suspicion of him unwavering.
"Yes, you'd know all about that," he says with an amused smile. "With all your adventures lately, I'm surprised you've found any time to take care of yourself. Then again, your choice of friends couldn't have been worse on that front. Yuki doesn't even know how to take care of herself let alone three kids."
My stomach drops. He knows. Is that why he's here?
It always hurts when I see or hear about Kaido in any fashion. Word of mouth, tv, anything. I revert back to who I was when I was a child, clinging to him, loving him because he was my family. I revert back to this defenseless little boy whose only wish is for his big brother to come home.
"You've known since the beginning?" I ask.
Kaido shrugs his shoulders.
"Yuki's smart. Smarter than most people, but she's not a good liar. A training camp? Near the Slums? Right after a mysterious attack on her brother?"
"You followed her," I realize.
That day in the rain when shadows crawled about the Slums in hoods and descended into our square, Yuki and Hina weren't alone. There was another on the rooftop. I caught a glimpse of him and thought it was just another shadow, a loose figure in the drawing that dissipated with the time. By the time I realized Yuki and Kaido were friends, it'd completely slipped my mind.
