The next day, Atsuko went to the market. He was looking for the owner of a jewelry stall. A long while ago, he had bought a necklace for his sister and a few weeks ago, he saw the owner again. While he was stalking Oshira, he saw him talk to the owner, before buying something. Atsuko had talked to the man a few times ago and yesterday recognized his voice.
At the market, he walked to the jewelry stall. He wasn't dressed as "The Ghost" so the man wouldn't recognize him. He said that he wanted to buy a necklace. And noticed that the man helping him wasn't the owner. "Where is Shin'ichi?" Atsuko asked. "Fell down the stairs. Injured his arm." was the short answer. Atsuko needed to be sure that Shin'ichi was the same man as yesterday. He bought a necklace and walked home. It was a huge coincidence that the man injured his arm yesterday. After asking around at the market, he knew where Shin'ichi's house was.
That evening, "The Ghost" went to his house. Everyone knew that Shin'ichi lived alone. He had no wife or kids so it wouldn't be so hard to get to him without hurting innocent people. At Shin's house, Atsuko carefully looked around the house. He noticed that the lights were off in the living room and that those in his bedroom were lit. Atsuko went to the front and used his tanto to break open the door. He forced the lock without a noise. He stepped inside and sneaked to the bedroom. Looking around the corner, he saw that Shin was asleep, his hand in bandages. Atsuko grabbed one katana and silently entered the room. He stood in the middle of the room, his katana next to him.
Shin'ichi woke up in his bed. He didn't know why he woke up because it was still dark outside. He sat up and almost had a heart attack seeing the dark silhouette of "The Ghost". The moonlight from outside reflected on his sword. "Fallen off the stairs, right?" Atsuko asked. "Are you sure that you didn't encounter a ghost yesterday?" Atsuko walked to the side of the bed, close enough to kill Shin with one swing. The man said: "I don't know what..." and before ending the sentence, he rolled to the other side of the bed. Half a second later, Atsuko's katana sliced open the bed. Shin grabbed the katana on the other side of the bed and unsheathed it. "Yesterday, you ran away and now you want to fight?" Atsuko asked. "You want to kill me. That's what you are here for, right?" Shin looked at Atsuko. "If you give me useful information about Hebi, I let you live," Atsuko said. "If I tell you anything, I'm dead anyway," Shin said as he raised his sword. Atsuko sheathed his katana and calmly walked around the bed. He did a quick step back as Shin's sword swung towards him. Atsuko stepped in reach but this time, Shin didn't attack. He looked at Atsuko and said: "Why aren't you fighting back?" Atsuko looked into Shin's eyes and said: "You don't have the will to kill me." Shin lifted his sword attacked once. A small red stripe appeared at Atsuko's arm. As a little bit of blood came out of the cut, Atsuko said: "If you had the mental power, I would be dead now." Atsuko did another step closer and slowly grabbed the sword from Shin's hand. Without resisting, he let go and Atsuko put it on his bed. "Tell me anything that could help." Shin looked at the ground and said: "Hamatori Kuzo came to us. He didn't say much. Only that we needed to kill Oshira and his family. 2 of us stayed behind to check up if they didn't come back. After 40 minutes, we went there and saw their dead bodies and then we saw you. That's all I know." Atsuko looked at the man in front of him and knew he was telling the truth.
"Your honesty saved you today," Atsuko said as he walked out of the room. He sprinted to the front door and closed it after him. He saw a tree in front of Shin's house. He stopped at a small pole, jumped to the tree, and jumped onto Shin's roof. He could feel that Shin would follow him and he was right. Shin walked out of the door, just as Atsuko landed on the roof. Shin looked around but couldn't find Atsuko. As he stood with his back to Atsuko, he jumped up. A throwing star just landed in front of his feet. He quickly turned around to see Atsuko on the roof. Atsuko said: "Next time, I won't miss." As he walked to the other side of the roof and jumped off. After a sprint into the woods behind Shin's house, he looked around and saw that Shin didn't follow him this time.
The next day, Atsuko went to the market. A lot of people stood around Shin's stall. Atsuko pushed himself through the crowd and saw Shin's dead body, a cross carved in his chest, and his throat cut. "Should have fleed while you had the chance," Atsuko said as he turned around. He had better things to do than looking at a body. Hamatori Kuzo couldn't hide forever especially now "The Ghost" knew his name.
The next evening, he went out again. He went to Kurai Alley. He had heard that someone would be there and that he could help him find Kuzo. As he entered he saw a figure, standing in the shadows across the alley. Atsuko stepped into the light and the figure followed him. Atsuko saw that it was a woman. He didn't want to stay in the light too long, so he said: "Hamatori Kuzo?" the woman waited a second before saying: "I am Sakura. I can help you get Hamatori Kuzo." Atsuko asked: "What did he do to earn your anger?" "That bastard killed my husband." Atsuko looked around, assuring that it wasn't an ambush, but he couldn't find anything. "What can you tell me?" Atsuko asked. "He stays in the mansion just outside of Yomika." "Thanks," Atsuko said as he turned around. As he walked away, he heard Sakura say: "He has a lot of guards protecting him. Atsuko turned around and said: "He won't have enough." As he continued walking. Leaving Sakura Alone in the alley.
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Atsuko Tadeshi - The revenge
ActionMore than a year ago, Atsuko lost his whole family to a man, that later became known as Hebi. On his 18th birthday, he became a samurai with only one purpose, going after Hebi. But that proves to be harder than Atsuko thought. His family keeps going...
