Shiratori Haruto

The sun had set and the darkness of the night was all over the place. The wooden windows of the wooden houses on both sides of the streets gave out orange lights. PAT PAT PAT PAT PAT PAT. The sounds of the dashing footsteps grew louder and louder. The hoofs of the horse thumped its feet one by one as it ran on the ground. The horse’s back had a green saddle, covered with a black pair of pants beneath a green robe that sat on the saddle. The blonde hair of the figure jerked up and down as the horse ran. The streamlined eyes were fixed at the front, full of anger and rage. “If the news of my ass being kicked by some kids spreads out, my image will be ruined, and my position in the army might be snatched away too,” Katsuki, who sat at the top of the horse, thought. He jerked both his hands up and whipped at the horse. It neighed a little and continued to run in the middle of the wide road covered with wooden houses on both sides. “I don’t have any information on the hero too. Tch.” The horse quickly ran through the houses, and just after a second, three more horses in line, with men wearing a red shirt on top of their black pair of trousers followed.

“This is bad…” One of the soldiers sitting on top of the middle horse thought. “He might kill someone in anger.”

“Y-Yeah,” The one at the left nodded. “That’s what scares me.”

“Stop talking ill of one of the seven sinners!” The one at the right commanded. “Let’s keep following him and keep a check on him!”

“Yes!” The two others replied, took up some pace, and continued following Katsuki.

Katsuki, running on his horse some steps in front of them, had his gaze fixed at the front of him. “The hero… needs to be killed too… in some days anyways.” As he kept on running upon his horse, he quickly pulled up his whips. The horse started to slow down little by little.

The soldier at the center of the trio noticed Katsuki pulling his whips and slowing down, and commanded the other two, “He’s pulling his whips!”

“Yes!” The two replied and continued to run towards him.

Just some steps away from a wide building made and painted with bricks in the middle of those wooden houses, the horse slowed down and started to walk hurriedly. It turned inside the gate in the middle of the building. The front part of the building had a garden area between its gate and the building, which was about a dozen of steps wide. Katsuki pulled the whips again, and the horse’s feet came to a standstill. Katsuki moved his right leg up across the saddle, and stepped down on the ground. As he stepped, a soldier suddenly arrived from the building. Katsuki moved his right hand with the whip in it to the soldier, who took it. As Katsuki left the whip and went by the soldier’s left, the soldier suddenly turns to his right at Katsuki with a big smile on his face and asked, “How did the fight go, sir? Did you kick their asses?”

Katsuki stepped towards his front, at the back of the soldier, and as he heard the question as the soldier turned his head back at him, his feet froze. His head was tilted down, his eyes were dark, his hair was all over his eyes, and his right hand, in front of his abdomen, was clenched angrily. Suddenly, from the front of the soldier, three more horses came in and he turned to the front at them. The soldiers sat upon them. They quickly got off from their horses. The soldier turned to the front again, “Sir? How did the fight go?” He asked again, a little doubtful this time.

The three soldiers behind him hurriedly walked towards him. The one at the center held his shoulders. “Hey, don’t disturb Kabata-san.”

“But, I’m excited to hear about the fight,” He replied as he turned back. “Kabata-san must have kicked their asses, slaughtering them all in just one swing! He must have been so quick at his attacks… and deadly!” Katsuki stood silently in front of him, frozen, with his back facing the conversation. “Those kids must have gone home crying, feeling lucky that they survived. At last, how dare they behave like this to such an officer?”

“Y-Y-Yes,” The other one replied. “I-I guess you should keep the horses at the stable first. T-This is not the right time to talk about all this nonsense.”

“I wanted to see someone like Kabata-san in action, you see,” He replied. “So I was just a little excited.” He then turned to the horse in his left. “Maybe I should keep them at the stable first and do my job. At last, there’s nothing more entertaining than this at the countryside.” He turned to the front, kept his right hand on the horse’s head, moved him right, started to pull his whip, and walked beside him towards the right. As the horse got out of way, the one at the center then suddenly stepped to Katsuki’s left and patted on his back. “Here are all the kids around nineteen, sir, and all of them still kids. Don’t feel bad about them.” He looked at the face of Katsuki tilted down, his eyes covered with his hair. He bent his knees a little to look at his face as he said, “Sir, ple—” He stepped a little back. His eyes were widened in shock. “S-S-Sir…”

Katsuki’s eyes were wide open in despair, shock, and anger. He moved his head up, and said, “We’re gonna destroy this whole town.”