The Overwatch Story

Chapter 15 - Kanezaka

Autumn, with its gift of crisp evenings and red maple leaves, was gone and the cold snowy winter had already made its way in. Kanezaka's weeklong eponymous End of The Year Festival was also coming to its end. The festival's grand finale, a display of dazzling fireworks that had been consistently spectacular for hundreds of years, always made Kiriko Kamori a little wistful. She is a cheeky and full-of-life shrine maiden who is in her twenties. One night over a decade ago, after such a festival Sojiro Shimada, former Shimada head, told his sons, Hanzo and Genji, and Kiriko a story from the history of the Shimada clan. Centuries ago, a rival clan attempted to end the Shimada's rule by setting their orchards aflame, as well as the city's Fox Shrine. The rival clan anticipated that the Shimada would move to protect their fields rather than the people of Kanezaka, but instead, the opposite happened. The Shimada aided their people first, and united with the clan, the Kanezakans made short work of the rival clan lying in wait at the orchards. The lesson, as Sojiro imparted to the three children, was that a leader's relationship must be mutually beneficial with their people, or else, they were nothing more than a parasite. But that was a long time ago. The Shimada were some ten years gone now, and their castle had a new occupant, the Hashimoto.

"I always wish these fireworks weren't the last of the year," Kiriko admitted as she, Ryōta, Nobuto, and Sakura joined the crowd heading back to town whilst carrying a box of doughnuts for herself for dinner.

"Who knows? Maybe they aren't," Ryōta said, smirking.

Ryōta was a busboy at Gozan Ramen. It wasn't the best job, but it helped him listen in on some interesting conversations. All the information he picked up on the job was being put to good, slightly illegal, use by Ryōta and his friends, who had decided to push back against the criminal organization that had terrorized Kanezaka ever since the Shimada fell from power. It hadn't taken long for the Hashimoto to swoop in and fill the power vacuum that the Shimada left behind. In the decade since, their stranglehold on the region had only continued to grow. The Hashimoto's yen was as dirty as it got, obtained from dealing in contraband and other even more unsavory things. The hospital always had several patients who'd fallen after crossing paths with them. Tourists were told that the town closed up early because of tradition. In reality, it wasn't safe after dark in Kanezaka, not since the Hashimoto had moved in.

Ryōta and his friends were indeed vandals, but Kiriko knew their hearts were in the right place because she too has the same hatred toward the Hashimoto. They had sprayed graffiti, broken windows at Hashimoto strongholds, and once, when they had felt very daring, robbed Tora no Sumika, the Hashimoto bar, a black market stop the Hashimoto had appropriated for their own use from a local family. One of these days, Ryōta vowed, he and his friends would strike Hard. Kiriko believed him. All they needed was the chance, and it came sooner than Kiriko imagined.

Ryōta had learned from Nobuto that a weapons shipment was coming into the nearest port tonight. Sakura informed the gang that she had just visited her uncle, who unloaded cargo at the warehouses, and had pretended to avert her eyes when he'd entered the code for the main gates. The weapons shipment would stay overnight and be out of their reach in the morning. They only had one shot at this. The plan is to meet up in the shipyard at midnight.

They each parted their ways for now and Kiriko was excited to go back to her apartment and enjoy her sugary dinner. On the way back, she kept thinking about her childhood and upbringing. She was raised by her grandmother and mother in Kanezaka. Her grandmother taught her about taking care of the, traditions and the importance of community. A highly spiritual woman, her grandmother's spiritual beliefs strongly influenced Kiriko, and shaped her fighting style. In addition to having Kiriko sweep the floor of the shrine, her grandmother taught her the ways of healing, and how to summon the Fox Spirit. On the other hand, Kiriko's mother was a fierce ninja, who believed in action, standing up for oneself, and fighting for what was right. Both her mother and grandmother wanted Kiriko to follow their path, but she was unable to choose. Training quietened her mind, and opened her to the guidance of the Fox Spirit, while her bond with the spirit allowed Kiriko to protect those who couldn't defend themselves. As such, she followed both paths.