Atsuko Tadeshi - The revenge

Chapter 6 - The Ghost

The next day, Hatso was sleeping peacefully with his wife. Suddenly he woke up by a knock on the door. It was still dark outside, and he didn't know who it could be. He took his time to put some clothes on and walked to the door. After opening it, he saw a strange bag on his porch. He stepped outside and looked through the street but didn't see anyone. He opened the bag and saw a whole bunch of katanas with a note on top. He grabbed the note and unfolded it. On it was written:

"Your guards aren't as good as you thought. Here are their swords.
-Mister Tadeshi"

He dropped the note and quickly jumped inside. He grabbed his katana next to the door, pulled it out of the sheath, and stepped outside again. He walked to the middle of the street, looking all around him, but he still didn't see anyone. He quickly walked back to his house, carefully looking around to see if someone suddenly appeared but nobody did. He pulled the bag with swords inside and locked the door. He went to bed but didn't know that Atsuko's plan had just started.

He didn't sleep the rest of the night. Carefully listening if he heard anything around the house. The next day, he went to the market. His wife needed some vegetables for dinner and Hatso said he would go. On his way to the market, he got the feeling that someone was following him. He kept looking over his shoulder but didn't see anyone in particular between the other people of yomika that went to the market. After buying some vegetables, Hatso walked to a jewelry stall. He wanted to buy a beautiful necklace for his wife and one for his daughter. After buying them, he noticed an old friend and walked to him to talk. They talked about their weekend and then about their families, but suddenly, Hatso noticed someone. On the roof of one of the houses, in the shadow of a wall, he saw the one that attacked him last night. The black clothing, dark cap, and dark green mask almost made him invisible, but he didn't try to hide. He could see the eyes just under the cap, looking straight at him. His friend noticed that Hatso was distracted and said: "is something wrong, old friend?" Hatso looked at his friend and back at the shade on the roof, but the man had disappeared. Hatso responded with: "no, I thought I saw someone but it's fine. It was nice talking to you." After checking the roof one last time, he ran home.

The day after that, he also saw the man. He was chopping wood for the fire and saw him in the distance in the woods, right next to a tree. But after looking away, he disappeared again. He quickly ran to the place where he saw him, but he had vanished without a trace. Like a ghost, Hatso thought. He saw "the ghost" some other times that week. one time he saw the black cap in the crowd but it was someone else with a cap just like the one "The ghost" whore.

At the end of the week, he came back from a meeting with some of his friends and found the front door open. He quickly pulled his katana and ran into the house, not noticing "the ghost" in the bushes behind him. He noticed that all the doors were opened. He ran up the stairs, to his daughters' room. She was only 2 and was taking a nap when he left. He jumped through the open door. he was relieved to see his daughter still sleeping. But there was a note on her pillow next to her head. On it was written:

"you're not safe here.
-Mister Tadeshi"

He quickly ran to his bedroom to find his wife folding clothes she just washed. He kissed her on the head and walked outside. He yelled: "what do you want? Please stop this madness!" but nobody answered his call.

A few days later, he had a meeting with some of the people under Hebi. On the way to the meeting, he saw "the ghost" standing in an alley with a whole bunch of people between them. Hatso quickly ran through the people, but he had vanished again. He ran through the whole alley but there was no trace of the man. Hatso looked around but couldn't find "the ghost" he jumped 3 feet into the air when an old man accidentally touched him. The man asked: "are you looking for something, young man?" but Hatso replied: "nothing you could give me." And he walked back through the alley and to the meeting.

Fumihito, Hachiro, and Kaito were already at the meeting when Hatso arrived. They sat down and started talking. Hatso began: "this "Ghost" is a real problem. 2 nights ago, he killed 16 of my guards." And why is that such a problem? Hachiro asked. Because Hatso replied: "yesterday, he brought their swords to my house. He knows where my house is, and he even put a note on the pillow of my daughter. He was IN MY HOUSE!" Kaito thought for a second and said: "that is not good. You need to inform Hebi about this. He knows what to do about this "Ghost", he can help." Fumihito said: "indeed, Hebi will help you. Go to him this afternoon. The faster you see him, the faster this "Ghost" problem will go away." But Hatso was worried that it wasn't that easy, but he said: "alright, I will meet Hebi this afternoon." After that, they discussed some business deals but Hatso couldn't keep his head straight. he kept thinking about the ghost and his family. 

after the meeting hatso went home. at home, he wrote a letter and went for a walk. With the note in his pocket, he went to the forest outside yomiko. In the forest, he followed a trail that brought him deeper into the forest, and after a little while, he went off the trail. He quickly put the note in a hole in a tree, walked to the trail again, and continued walking.