I was just there, unable to speak or hide my shame.
{Think me, how can you improve? There must be a way that even someone like YOU can}
Staring at the empty space, I filled my head with thoughts like those.
My head hurt but that didn't stop me, it only made me more oblivious to my surroundings as well as more focused towards finding a solution for my current problem.
So much that I didn't even realize just when we reached the village.
"We're here..." As we reached the house of the elder, Tifa let a sigh of relief.
"Alright. Now if we're a little lucky-" Just as Ooya was about to finish her sentence, bad luck struck again.
"Halt there! Who dares to trespass his Wisdom's property? Identify yourselves!"
Suddenly two brown gorillas jumped out of hiding and blocked our way with two staff-like weapons.
"Ooya, you never told me that we were trespassing!"
"It's me guys, so calm down will ya? "
The two guards looked at each other in confusion. They looked fairly surprised as well.
"Well isn't it your unlucky day? The fact that it's you of all people trespassing here gives us just one more reason to not let you in"
"Yeah, you'll need to get past us if you want to steal his Wisdom's meal this time"
"You don't seem very welcomed here..."
Tifa commented at the guards' warnings, all while looking at her new friend with a displeased face.
"What can I do!? That old man gets to eat the fanciest bananas in the world! Is it so bad for me to steal just a little??"

The situation was getting worse by the minute, they needed to somehow convince the gorillas to let them through or else I would be the one suffering.
"Oh come on! Can't you let me in? Just this once! A friend of mine is sick and needs his wisdom's help quickly!"
"Haha, nice try! But I won't fall for the same trick twice!"
"You mean you have already used this excuse!?"
"I have lived many years here you see..."
I groaned in pain and looking at Tifa, upon hearing their reply she too expressed her disappointment by facepalming.
"Hihihi, I see that you never change do you Ooya?" And as everything seemed hopeless, we were addressed by a young monkey that looked like he was resting on top of a tree branch behind us.

Without wasting a second, both guards bowed in front of him who looked down at the earth.
"Young wisdom? Excuse our rudeness of not noticing you. We were trying to throw away those ruffians that dirtied the ground of your humble house sir"
Fixing their posture, the two gorillas saluted and by the end of the speech, their body stopped moving, waiting for orders.
"Don't mind you two, it's simply good manners for my father, the elder of this village to accept guests, especially when there is a real reason this time, don't you think so Oooooyaaaa?~"
Hearing his mocking words, Ooya's body straightened as if a drop of sweat had dripped on her back and flowed downwards.
"Y-You're right" She said blushing, and at once, the son's mood brightened.
"I see, I see. Now you two, please guide our guests inside and serve them some banana tea"
"Roger sir! We're on it!" Without wasting time, the guards rushed towards the house as the young monkey landed on the ground with a quick yet accurate jump.
"As for our injured friend here, let's see what we can do shall we?" He focused his gaze towards me for a second before returning to his previous smiley face and walking with an energetic step towards the gate.

The inside of the building looked incredibly average, to say the least, and we were told to sit on a couch in the old looking living room.
A blue-colored wooden library was decorating the white wall on my left and behind us, a small painting was hanging from a nail.
It was a famous one, four dogs playing poker.
In the end, this building turned out to be nothing like what I had in mind.
It was no place for an important person such as the elder of the village to live in.
However, it made me feel better.
Not as fancy as my family's mansion but not as plain-looking as a hospital room either.
It was a perfect residence for a small family to live in.
And next to the table in front of us, the one we rushed to meet was sitting.
An old-looking monkey wearing a white kimono.
He seemed to be deep in thought while stroking his white beard with his brown paw.
Another three elder-looking money men were sitting with him.
One on each side of the table.
They were playing a type of game, each one holding a set of small white bricks as each brick had a colorful pattern drawn on it.
Some of them were lying face down on the ground while some others were facing the ceiling.
But although it looked foreign to me, it really piqued my interest, and thus I told Ooya to bring me closer to them so I could watch.
And watching us, Tifa decided to follow.
I was still feeling like crap, not as bad as before however since I was able to move again.
And so, I figured out that I would be alright as long as I didn't move too much.

"Pon!!"
Suddenly one of the Saru-Jin shouted this strange word as he took the small brick along with two others that had the same pattern on their front and placed them face up on the corner of the board in front of him.
At that moment the one that was known to me as young wisdom whispered something to the ear of the elder monkey that was closer to me, who in response gazed towards me with the corner of his eye.
However, upon looking at the brick the previous monkey discarded, a big grin was formed on his face.
"Hoh? That is a nice expression you got there Darwin, or should I say your wisdom"
The one who placed the brick on the board laughed sarcastically with a smug-looking face.
"Choose your actions wisely sir Robaba, you know he's seen through your strategy two turns ago"
"Heh! Yeah that's right, isn't it? You can't pass the elder's defense with such a simple mindset, don't you think so Rome?"
The two monkeys praised their friend.
Looking at his bricks I could see that he was on a tight spot.
Every pattern was different.
The only patterns I could recognize though were those that included the numbers one and nine.
Everything else was different.
Taking the opponents move into account one should have duplicates or triplets of the same pattern.
But even all the ones and nines were of a different pattern.
{How can someone win like that?} I thought.
"I'm sure my father can win this game, he's the champion here after all"
'Rome' who seemed to be the young wisdom's name then pet his father's head, as the elder let out a small laugh.

"Is this the words of the devil or the words of a fool Robaba? Aren't you underestimating me a bit?"
"Like hell I do! I'm just lucky this time. With such a lucky hand, I can't lose you hear me? I shall even bet my title as the village's strongest on it"
Pointing towards him the one named Robaba smirked proudly.
"That is a very interesting bet my friend, however, I don't have anything like that to bet. What CAN I do though, for the bet to be valid, Is to not play this hand myself."
At that moment the other monkeys were stunned.
"Not play the hand himself? What are you saying?"
"Are you alright Darwin?"
"What kind of nonsense is this you old fart? Do you intent to mock me with that trump card of yours?"
Enraged Robaba glared at his friend who's words sounded like mockery, however, the one entitled wisdom did no more than playfully stroke his long white beard before making the deal.
"Don't make sudden conclusions my friend, I just imply that my hand is so good in fact that it would feel like cheating for me to draw the winning tile. So by having that child, for example, make my move, the odds would be 50-50, half a chance to draw victory, such as a real gamble should be"
Pointing towards Tifa, the elder declared his end of the bet and twisted it into a real gamble.
"Hehe, I like that way of thinking Darwin, it fascinates me. However, let me spice up our deal a little by making all four walls available"
"That's what I like to hear" Said the elder amused with his friend's words.
" Alright, the deal is on then! Make your move kid, let's see who is the luckiest in the room"
"W-W-What!!??"

Once again at a loss for words, the girl silently gazed left and right while shaking nervously.
Coincidentally she brought herself in this situation without knowing what to do.
Bucket's of sweat fell from her forehead as everyone's eyes fell on her.
{She does have a thing for drawing all the attention onto her} I thought, as I too, was awaiting her response, without talking so I don't throw up once more.
But deep inside me, I was cursing my weakness.
I wanted to help her, to cheer for her.
To say "have some faith in yourself"
If I was in her place I also would feel anxious like she does now.
Her face seemed to say: "Just what the hell do you expect me to do??"
{What is my move? I don't even know the rules!}
She certainly looked to be having thoughts like those, but managed to calm down after receiving a warm smile from the one who involved her in the first place.
"Don't worry kid, gambling is easy. Some times you just have to trust yourself, do what your heart tells you"
After spouting those words, the aura in the room seemed to change.
Tifa as well seemed to be focused, after staring at the elder for a second and taking a deep breath.
She wasn't shaking anymore, instead looked focused, like she could feel the gentle wind of victory flowing in sync around her fingers.
And as the elder wrapped his tail around her wrist, she firmly pushed forward towards Robaba's wall.
In her face, of course, the fear and the anxiety she felt before were gone.
She had thrown away that mask, for now, revealing the true cold face of determination, up until she finally drew it.
The winning tile.

It was a blank one. It didn't have a pattern on it.
However, with that the elder's hand was complete and his victory was certain.
"What!!!??? That's impossible! She shouldn't be able to draw that one!"
Robaba screamed in dissatisfaction as Tifa did the impossible.
"Kokushi Musou Juusan Menmachi (13 Orphans closed wait) so common yet so powerful"
"As expected of his wisdom. He's the only one to pull that off after all the other tiles were out of the game"
The two other monkey's commented on their friend's move.
From what I could figure out, all the other tiles Tifa could draw except that single one were gone.
Yet, by a miracle, she managed to draw the specific one needed.
Me and Ooya were amazed by her.
At this one time, she looked less like a person that was drawing a random tile, and more like she knew what she was doing.
"That was awesome Tifa! How come and you picked that one out of all the tiles?"
However, that cool phase of her's lasted only for a moment, after hearing Ooya's question she returned to her former self.
"It was nothing special, just a single lucky pull that's all hehehehe. Now about Ran's condition, please help us"
Laughing nervously she tried to change the subject, shifting it towards the one that mattered the most.
My health.

Still feeling weak I couldn't help but wait and see what he can do.
After all, if I can't get better, I'll never reach my goal.
"Of course let me see him, and as for Robaba you can keep the title my friend"
With a smiley face, he signaled Ooya to follow him, but as we reached the second floor, he told her to let me down and that only I was to enter.
Ooya of course did as she was told as I cautiously entered the room from its big blue door.
Inside, the room was decorated with various plants, and as the sunlight gleamed from a big window on the roof in the shape of a circle, and fell onto the wooden floor, the room seemed to shine.
As if it was filled with energy.
The elder sat on a pillow that was placed on top of a blue, circle-shaped carpet, and waved at me to come and sit in front of him.
"I'm all ears my child, what seems to bother you so much?"
"I know what Ooya said, but will you really be able to help me?"

I was desperate.
It would be easy to trust him, but if it's a disease that even my mother can't cure, then I'm not so confident that he will be as well.
"Hohoho, It depends my child, how can someone be healed if he doesn't believe he can?"
Glancing at me, once again he stroke his beard.
Spouting words that truly were sounding wise, and of course, were right on spot about my feelings.
"Y-you're right" I said, averting my eyes from meeting his gaze as I tried to hide my shame.
"Don't make that face, well, it is true that I cannot cure that disease of yours completely, but perhaps I can do something to help you for now"
I sighed in disappointment.
In the end, not even he could cure this curse of mine.
"Bellac come here for a moment"
Immediately after my reaction, the elder called that name, and as he did, a little monkey with black fur jumped out of a plant behind me and landed in front of him.
"You see, Saku energy is mysterious even for someone like me, I don't know everything about it"
At that moment I focused on that phrase which sounded incredibly strange.
How did he know it had to do with my energy? I never said anything about it.
Tilting my head I looked back at him with a confused expression.

"You see Bellac here is also a child of mine, Rome's younger brother. Our species possess the ability to see a person's energy, although Bellac in particular, doesn't cling to people very much, except if the energy they emit is extraordinary. It is rather easy to understand since he's been observing you closely since you stepped into the room."
"Here"
At that moment Bellac spread his arm towards me, and as he opened his palm a single tiny fruit was awaiting me.
Naturally, I accepted the gift as I gently placed it on my hand.
"But how is that possible? I thought that spirits wave nothing to do with Saku energy. If that's the case, how is he able to see mine?"
At my comment, the elder laughed.
"We Saru-Jin are the spirits closer to humans my child. Because of that, we possess abilities not many have. One of them being this one. And also have you wondered why such an important person like me would live in a residence such as this?"
In response to his question I nodded.
"That indeed was one of my many questions"
"You see my child, one does not need wealth to find inner peace. Life is an energy as well, by living in such a humble environment I have decided to focus on the aspect of energy and in the end, I became sensitive towards it. Bellac too spends his time in this room that blooms with energy even more than I do, which is why he was able to sense your energy so quickly"

He then gave a warm smile and by spreading his arm, he covered the palm in which I was holding the fruit.
"As I said, I can't cure your condition fully since I don't know much about it at the moment, but I can do something about it"
He then picked up with his brown fingers, the fruit which looked like a piece of green grape and held it in front of me.
"This gift Bellac gave you is a secret fruit we Saru-Jin harvest, if you eat that, as long as you're in this room, you won't get sick at all"
Hearing his words I was stunned.
"Are you telling me the truth? Is this really going to stop my illness for as long as I'm in here?"
"This is the wisdom speaking, what do you think?"
This was perfect.
Of course, my illness wasn't cured but it was certainly an improvement.
{If I could be healthy at least for now, I wouldn't drag everyone down anymore.
I may even be able to become the strong swordsman I set out to be.}
With these thoughts in mind, I took the grape, devouring it immediately.
Afterwards, I stood up.
"One...two...threee!!" Without wasting time I crouched, and with a quick sprint ran as fast as I could.
Bellac imitated me as we both playfully ran around all over the place, without breaking anything of course.
It was really true, I wasn't feeling sick anymore, in fact, I was greater than ever!

"What should I do? I can't thank you enough sir!"
"Ohohoho don't worry my child, it's nothing much, I'm the wise one so that's to be expected"
We both laughed and jumped around.
The elder certainly seemed to love getting complimented.
We continued our little celebration until we heard knocking at the door.
"E-Excuse me your Wisdom. How is Ran? Is he feeling any better?"
The one who interrupted us was Tifa.
It seems I've taken too long of a time and she had started worrying.
"Yep! I'm alright now. Thanks for worrying about me Tifa" I responded in a cheerful tone to calm her down.
As I did she let a sigh of relief.
"Then hurry up, we need to get going if we want to meet up with the others again"
"Roger that, let's go"
We were finally ready once again to continue our mission, as Ooya step in.
"Glad to see you're alright man, but first we need to head to my house to get some supplies"
"Before that why don't you have something to drink and relax a little? You were on edge since you got here"
The elder gave a quick glance at Ooya as she remembered something.
"You're right! There's a place I wanted to show you, follow me you two"

She then started walking towards the exit of the house.
"Oh yes before I forget, there's someone who asked for you two, he's from your academy"
Me and Tifa looked at each other, who might that be we wondered.
"Right now Ooya is headed towards where he is so you should hurry up"
This information sounded strange but if it meant for us to be done and continue our mission as soon as possible we would follow Ooya to wherever she wanted to go first.
After all, there was one truth in his words, we needed to hurry up.
And so we did.
Quickly, we followed Ooya to what seemed like the entrance to an underground bunker.
The gate was made of metal and there were various colored lights filling the inside along with some charming music.
Entering we found many monkey people inside, they were drinking or dancing around.
"And this is the greatest entertainment our village has to offer. I welcome you two the Golden Banana Bar"

On first look, we were skeptical about this, why a bar in the middle of the village? And why now? it's still the middle of the day.
Whatever the reason for this to be crowded right now, Ooya had spread her arms wide and seemed to be proud of it.
"I work as a dealer here in the night. You two are gonna love this place trust me, all our customers are great people and very fun to hang out with"
But the colorful lights and the fun aside there was a person that drew our attention.
A human that was sitting on one of the chairs in front of the counter.
He seemed rather old, had white hair tied in a ponytail, and was wearing a grey suit along with a fedora.
A brown human-sized backpack was placed next to him.
The man seemed to be having fun sipping his drink, as he afterwards put a cigarette in his mouth, and as he lit it, his gaze found ours.
"Hey you three come here for a minute" Said the man, signaling us to get closer.
"Oh? It's that guy again, hello there" In response, Ooya walked closer with us following behind.
She seemed to know the man, despite him being a human.
"What are you doing here so early sir? I thought you would be gone for another month or so"
She politely spouted those words, and for just a minute, boyish manners were completely gone.
{Wow this must be a great person} Was what we thought seeing our friend's personality change.
"Sadly a sudden job for me arrived this morning so I had to cut my training for the rest of the month. It seems like we won't get time to spar this time kid"

He seemed a bit sad although that sadness quickly vanished, covered by a mask of greed.
"So about today's gamble, I have a great plan that involves two sets of jokers"
"Don't even think about that! Last time you almost got me fired because you were found out!"
"Oh come one don't be like that, it's just a little cheating no harm done"
Trying to persuade her to go along with his plan, he then once again noticed me and Tifa standing behind his partner in crime.
"Wait a minute... have I been drinking much or there are more of my kind here?"
"Sir you have definitely and undoubtedly been drinking much, however this time it's true.
Those are new friends of mine that I met today. Their names are Tifa and Ran, they're searching for the friends they got separated from"
Hearing that, the man quickly took a piece of paper out of his pocket and stared at it and back at us continuously for some time.
"By the way... May you two be Saku and Sugiyama?" He asked with an expression of curiosity on his face.
"Yes that's us, and you are?"
"HaHA!! So you were here! Of course, you were here! It's not that I gave up on searching you, not at all! I definitely and most indubitably knew, that you two Ran Sugiyama and Tifa Saku would be here this exact moment! AHAHAHAHA!!"
He was certainly being dramatic as he explained how everything was in his plan as his speech ended with a pose.
"Wow! Sir, you're amazing as always" Ooya who was amazed by his performance clapped in awe while me and Tifa silently screamed {That's dumb!!!}

"Anyway, If you're here for us then that's great, but we still don't know how to find the rest of our team, and also, who even ARE you?"
The words coming from his mouth seemed to be more like what a con man would say rather than a swordsman.
"Ahem, excuse me there, I went a little overboard. My name is Rokudo Onishi, and I'm the one assigned as team F's advisor"
{Advisor? No one ever told us anything about that... Wait a minute! Then that means, this man is...}
"You're a teacher then, aren't you? If so, it should be easy for you to find where Tada and Soro are"
Tifa took the words out of my mouth.
{She's really dependable when she needs to be, isn't she?}
"But of course miss Tifa, I certainly can and will contact them" Said Mr.Rokudo as he opened his cellphone.
But before he could contact our informer, the elder monkey known as Wisdom entered the bar.
"Rokudo, I see you found them. Good for you ain't it?"
"That's right! Thanks for the advice Darwin, it's really helped me"
"What because I told you to wait for them here? Don't spout nonsense, my friend. The fact that they arrived here has nothing to do with me, although on the other hand, I AM called the village's wisdom... well whatever, I'm sure you were just extremely lucky"

And just like that, we were ready to leave when the elder suddenly grabbed my arm.
"Talking about a request though... I think I might just have the right problem for you to solve"
That piqued our interest.
After all, it was true that I needed to repay him somehow.
"Spit it out then, old man, don't keep us in the dark" Said Rokudo in a rather exciting tone.
"Alright alright. You know how there exists a beast that terrorizes us don't you Rokudo?"
"The one on top of the mountain right?"
"That's the one yes. For a month now his attacks have become even more fierce. Every time one of my people exits the village, we're not sure if they'll return. And so I think it's time to deal with it. It's a great coincidence that you three ended up here today thus this is my request: Please exterminate that beast and save my village"
"That's a great request my friend, but you should consider paying before requesting something like that-"
"We'll do it!!"

Just as our teacher was about to finish his sentence I interrupted him, accepting the request without thinking.
An enormous feeling of guilt pressed against my stomach.
"Hey hey wait a minute now, I don't think you understand what the hell are you spouting Ran"
Rokudo seemed annoyed with my decision but I didn't back out.
"The elder helped me so much Mr.Rokudo. And to make up for that, I couldn't possibly ask him to pay this request. So please let do as I say, just this once"
"Ran is right sir. It's the same for me too. If Ooya hadn't shown up when we fell into the cave, I don't think we would have been able to meet you, and maybe we would be dead right now. So I believe we should not as for a price this time"
I was filled with my usual sense of justice and ended up talking without thinking about the consequences.
However, seeing Tifa taking my side made me more confident about my actions.
"Hohoho, now aren't those the eyes of a hero? I believe they got you good, Rokudo my friend"
We expected our teacher to be angry, but to our surprise, a grin appeared on his face followed by a loud laugh.
"HAHAHAHA! I've been told you newcomers were interesting this time, and now I know the headmaster was right! Alright then you indeed got me good, just like our government dictates, the majority wins. So you can keep your money for this one Darwin. However, we need more time if we need to face such a beast"
Immediately after saying this, Rokudo picked up his phone.
"Hello there, you're Soro, right? If so listen well. From this point on, we're on a special mission. Preparation time: three days. Meetup Location: Mountain's Crossroad. Be sure to get ready"

He then closed the phone, stood up, and tossed the backpack to me.
"What is all this?" I asked with an expression of visible confusion on my face.
"What do you think? If we're going to take on that beast we need you to be ready to fight too you know. So don't expect any slacking for the next three days"
It was true, I needed to train with all I have, If I was to partake this mission.
And as braced myself, I felt something moving inside the backpack I was holding.
I decided to take a quick peek inside and just then my face was met with Mina's stomach.
"RAAAAAAAN"
"Mina? What are you doing here?"
"Oh, you know each other? She wanted to tag along and didn't leave my leg. In the end, I decided to take her along. She's going to be the majority of your training you know"
I was just processing things while Mina was munching on my hair, as a question came to my mind.
"My training!!!???"
In the end, I had no idea what she had to do with all this.
But I didn't have a choice.
If I wanted to get stronger, closer towards my goal.
For these three days, I needed to follow this man's guidance.