"Huff! Huff! Huff!"

‘Who the hell is this!!’ thought Yujiro while running from rooftop to rooftop. ‘They can so easily run and jump over streets! There is no slowing down at all! I need to fight them!! I thought only my blood could give me a fight!! Baki!!! I have given you that title far too early!!! This!!! This person I’m chasing is worthy of such a title!!’

They ran and ran; Yujiro had never put in so much work since his early years as a youth.

‘This is fun!!! Actual fun from a challenge!! If they can do this by just running, I can’t imagine the euphoria I will have when fighting them!!’

They kept running until Ai reached a large gap.

"End of the road!!" Yujiro said with a massive smile. "I must give you high praise for leading me around for so damn long. I actually had fun running around."

"I’m glad chasing after me brought on that evil smile on your face, Hanma Yujiro."

‘A female voice??’

"Who are you?" he said with great intrigue.

Ai glanced over enough to show her indigo eye. It was sharper than any predator Yujiro had ever faced.

"I’m someone well above your strength."

Blink!

"Eh???" The next thing that filled Yujiro’s eyes was the starless night sky and moon, followed by a stinging pain on his face, and then followed by the crashing of a few buildings.

Ai, however, looked as if he had been sent flying away from a simple palm strike taught to her by Susanoo.

"… I’m sure he’s fine!" She waves it off. Welp, I've gotta go and find a place to sleep!" Ai then turned back to the large gap and took off, jumping over the gap and continuing to run along the rooftops.

 

High up in space were satellites whose only purpose was to keep watch over three people the U.S. had deemed highly dangerous and needed to monitor. Yujiro is one of them. The moment he runs faster than 6 miles per hour or when they fight, every satellite will move to find him again. When Yujiro stopped, the satellites found him, and what they caught blew away the people who saw what happened next.

"… Are you sure this is correct?" said General Gerry Strydum, sitting down.

"Yes general! We get reports that that the Ogre was heavily injured from being sent through six buildings." Said a soldier. "And we just received these from the time when it happened."

He put down several pictures from the satellite. It showed Yujiro standing with another figure before him, and as he sifted through the pictures; he felt he missed a few as they were right in only 2 frames following Yujiro’s crashing through 6 buildings.

"My god, do we have anything on this person!!" Strydum shouted.

"N-no, sir! They are gone with the wind! We even tried to get some satellites to look for them, but nothing!"

"Dammit!! We need to find this person!! They could very well beat the Ogre!! I don’t care what you have to do, but find them!!"

The whole U.S. intelligence began to move. They sent anyone who could speak and or look Japanese to help look for this person as a monster greater than the Ogre had appeared.

 

Some hotel.

"Seems the money I picked up from the nearby people was pretty good! Thank you, Cirrus! Lord Hermes! I never knew such a day would come!"

 

Two days later, while walking around the city and taking in the sights.

‘Another day, another experience! But I really need to get back home. I miss Cirrus, Artemis, and our children. Hmm, I guess I’ll have to look around to see if I can find something that can get me back home.’

"Today around 3 o’clock... A man appeared who referred to himself as Miyamoto Musashi, and he took on the police in the middle of downtown Shibuya, and here you can see the footage of the incident that occurred."

Ai turned to see the TV display in a store she walked by.

She could see the man cut down the law enforcement. His techniques were exquisite to see as he took down five police officers with nothing in his hands.

"… Beautiful… I have to get him to teach me that swordsmanship!"

Ai quickly went to the alleyway and went to go look for him. Because of Cirrus’s influence, his love for learning new things rubbed off on Ai. During her stay in Yamato, she had been challenged by several swordsmen, and after she defeated them, she wished to learn their way of the sword in an effort to always improve herself and her sword style, as counter-intuitive as that sounds.

 

After running around, she finally found him. He walked similarly to Yujiro, that is, with no care in the world. She jumped down and approached him.

"Sir Miyamoto."

"!!" He quickly turned his head to see Ai covered. "… You are very talented to be able to hide yourself from me. Tell me what brings a shinobi out of hiding?"

"I am not a shinobi. I am a swordsman, and I came to ask to be under your tutelage."

"…" he looked at Ai, and he imagined himself trying to cut her down, but...

‘Nothing… I can’t cut her...'

He could see what she looked like to him—a massive nine-tailed fox. Its ferocity could be seen by the look of its well-hidden and well-kept fangs and claws.

Sweat covered his forehead, thinking of ways to even try to graze her.

"What’s wrong?"

Her voice woke him up from his mind.

"Why do you seek my teachings? From what I see, you are stronger than I."

"I wish to learn your swordsmanship; I always try to learn a sword style, even if I beat it."

"Why would you learn an inferior style?"

"So I can improve myself in another way. The way of the sword is special to each person, so should I learn it, I can see how they think and view the world. New aspects of the sword would open with a much wider view."

"I see… you truly show it." a smile grows across his face. "I shall teach you after we have a spar."

Even if he knew victory over her was near impossible, he would at least let his swordsmanship be given immortality to the likes of her.

"Thanks! Oh, do you have a place to stay? I have just been stealing people’s money and staying at what they call motels."

"Come then, I am staying with a noble. I am sure he would like to meet a fierce warrior such as you."

Ai followed Musashi to his home, and they quickly noticed two people following. They turned to see them, startled by their gaze.

Musashi then jumped over a wall, and Ai followed suit.

"So this is where you live... It is a very nice manor."

"Yes, a nice home indeed."

 

They enter the home; Musashi leads the way and opens a sliding door to show an elderly man dressed in fine attire, one-to-one with what the nobles of Yamato wore.

"Musashi, who is this?" he asked.

"Lord Tokugawa, I am sorry for interrupting you so late, but this is a pupil that found me."

"Oh? You are taking a student?" His gaze landed on her. "What is your name?"

"Since you are a noble, I think it should be fair to properly give you a greeting."

Her nice voice sparked his ears as she undid her cloak and threw it off in such a style that it memorized the elder.

"My name is Kyūjouno Ai! The second wife of the lord of Fuyukusa! I greet you, Lord Tokugawa!" She gave such an elegant and graceful bow that the two men didn’t notice her beautiful, silky, snow-white hair or fox ears until a bit after her introduction.

"T-those ears… Are you into cosplay?" Tokugawa asked.

"Oh, these?" She stood straight up again. "These are my ears, see?" She then moved them in different directions. "I’m sure this is a surprise given that since I have been here, I have only seen humans here."

"Are you a yokai?" asked Musashi.

The surrounding air grew tenser.

"No, my kind are called Renard’s, and you're calling me a yokai? Do I look like a monster to you? Ah, wait, I kinda do..."

"D-do you have a tail?" asked Tokugawa.

"I do hold on." She reached her hand back and popped her tail, moving about.

"Fascinating!!" The old man's face grew a smile from ear to ear. He stood up quickly. "C-could I touch your ears or tail?"

"… Once, should you do it more than that, I'll cut off your hands. I am only doing this as a courtesy."

They both felt a chill run down their backs. She was dead serious.

Tokugawa walked over and touched her tail. The softness and warmth of it proved it was real. Ai leaned down, and he felt her ears. The feeling of her ears was similar to that of actual animals. He could even see there was no headband keeping them there.

"T-thank you for letting me do this!" He said that, giving a bow as well. "You can stay here as much as you like!"

"Thank you, but I am looking for a way to return back home."

"Back home? You are not from here?"

"No. Before coming here, I was in bed with my husband, thinking of the beach, and when I closed my eyes, I found myself at what you call Tokyo Beach. I presume?"

"Ah… I understand now that it seems you were Spirited Away." He said this, sitting back down.

"Spirited Away? What do you mean?"

"It is a phenomenon that is said to occur in the world. One day you walk down the street, and the next you are walking through a forest. There are many things that say what causes this, but most all point to the gods."

"You have gods in this world!?" she said with an excited face. "Then could they send me back!"

"U-um, those are merely a myth! I am sorry, but any god you find will be in religious books or myths."

"O-oh… well, I just need to keep looking! But say there is a god by the name of Susanoo and Artemis, correct?"

"We do! But in Japan, you will find Susanoo’s shrine, but Artemis? I’m afraid her shrines, or temples, to be accurate, are in Greece, and even then I do not know if there is any standing. Why do you ask? Are these gods in your world?"

"They are... um, could I explain it tomorrow? I like to take a bath and sleep."

"Of course, I shall get you food as well, Musashi. Do you—"

His gaze was intense, and a big smile was on his face.

"Tokugawa, would it be possible to get me my blades? I have told her that I would teach her once we sparred."

"That would take a while, so um—"

"We can simply spar with wooden swords if that is fine with you. I’m sure you are fully capable of defending yourself easily with one, no?" Ai said.

"I am, but I truly wish to meet your blade with mine," Musashi said with a grin on his face, glancing at the sword on Ai’s hips.

Tokugawa looked as well to see a beautiful blade. The handle and guard were of such quality that it was as if they were looking at the Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi itself.

"T-that blade, Mrs. Kyūjouno. Does it have a name?" asked Tokugawa.

"Oh, this? It’s called Brilliant 3rd Flash... My blacksmith would have named it Mk. 3, but... just no. You wanna hold it?" She took it from her hip, sheath and all, and held it out.

"It would be a privilege."

Musashi gently holds out his hand, and Ai puts it in his hands.

"!!!!" Immediately he could feel the weight of it, and his muscles bulged out to try and hold it up. "This katana… It must weigh at least 10 or more grown men. I can see why you are so strong. Being able to hold this blade as if it’s a feather is truly terrifying." An even bigger smile grows on his face.

"Thanks!" She took it back. "Well, I’ll go find a room to stay in! Thank you again, Lord Tokugawa!" She said it with a bright smile that heavily contrasted Musashi’s. "Oh, I almost forgot my cloak! Goodnight!" She got her cloak and left the room.

"Tokugawa, would it be possible to get my swords and bring me to the world’s strongest fighters? I truly wish to see if there is someone of her might in this world."

The smile on Tokugawa’s face was filled with so much more joy than he could handle.