Tsunami of Dead Tears: Part 1

Chapter 3

The trees swayed in the wind as the two Hashiras walked along the narrow road. It was quite foggy that day, so they decided to stay close to each other. Judging from how far they went, they were probably somewhere in the east side of Mount Yoshino.

Suddenly Giyuu stopped. Shinobu turned to him, confused.

"What is it? I don't smell or hear anything."

Giyuu walked over to a tree on the sidewalk. He laid his hand on the tree's trunk.

Is this what I think it is?

He went over to the other side of the road and pulled a hidden rope, soaked in mud. At that moment, the tree's 'trunk' opened up and shot out tiny knives tipped with wisteria, almost hitting Giyuu.

"What the- Tomioka-san!" Kochou scolded as she held her chest. "Don't scare me like that!"

"I recognize this trap..."

"What?"

Giyuu looked back at the knives, his eyes wide. He pulled one of the knives out and carefully inspected.

Sabito always loved this one. He always tripped it whenever going down the mountain.

Shinobu stared at him, wondering if Giyuu just got a brain disorder.

"Tomioka-san!" She called again. "Did you hit your head or something? What are you even doing?"

Giyuu stopped fondling the knife, realizing what he had been doing for the past 30 seconds.

"Nothing." Giyuu thrust the knife back into the tree. "It was nothing."

Shinobu was far from satisfied. "Huh?! What kind of answer is that?!"

"Like I said, it was nothing."

"Like hell it was. You stared at it for a long time."

Giyuu was already annoyed. Thinking about Sabito for too long caused his heart to sting.

"It reminded me of my old sensei." Giyuu finally admitted.

"Urokodaki-sensei?" Shinobu asked. "But isn't he supposed to be in Mount Sagiri?"

"That's why I'm so surprised."

"Huh. That trap was actually quite clever. What other traps did he make?"

Oookaay... Giyuu thought. The conversation ends here.

Shinobu got nothing back. Relatively annoyed by this, Shinobu decided to ask some more questions.

"What was he like? Why did he wear that mask? Who was he related to?"

Giyuu still kept silent after what seemed like a hundred questions. Shinobu decided to switch tactics.

"Was he always making traps like this?"

"Yes."

Well, better than nothing. Shinobu thought.