Bounty Hunters - Shokin Kasegi

Forest Haven Arc: Chapter 124

==A four letter word==

Horuteph replies while drawing Babylon: “Why don’t you get that I was just hyping myself up for this? It’s gonna be a heckin’ cool fight!”

Shitsuke starts to ponder: “What kind of sword is that? I’ve never seen it before.”

Ketsuki forms his “Filament Katana!” and his sensei notices: “Oh wow! He can make a sword? I bet it’s super strong because his very own blood flows through there.”

Ketsuki waits for an attack, ready for anything. Horuteph takes the bait and takes a deep breath followed by his “Breakneck Strike!”, dashing into Ketsuki in an instant.

Ketsuki parries the attack by holding his blade vertically with both hands. It produces a loud bang that blows snow off of the trees.

Ketsuki’s sensei thinks: “What kind of powerhouse am I supposed to train here?!”, and Shitsuke thinks, gnashing his teeth while smiling, “Shit… I can’t deny it… they’ve surpassed me in strength by a lot.”

Ketsuki continues with some extremely powerful but slow strikes out of every direction to tire Horuteph out early. Sparks fly and Horuteph is struggling to defend and not get flung away but after a few moments he manages to counterattack with an equally strong strike against Ketsuki’s sword. With the unique divisive power of Babylon, he manages to split Ketsuki’s katana in half and it starts to shoot out blood.

Ketsuki screams in pain but collects himself again and catches the next strike with his teeth. He quickly regenerates the sword and hits Babylon upwards and, with a circular motion, all the way into the ground right beside them. With Babylon stuck in the ground, Ketsuki quickly moves his sword close to Horuteph’s face who dodges it by bending backwards.

Ketsuki leaves himself wide open now, with his blade high up in the air, and Horuteph uses this chance to quickly slide his blade across the ground in front of Ketsuki’s feet. This creates a tiny landslide which makes Ketsuki’s next swing miss. Horuteph now comes with a slash from above and Ketsuki cannot defend from it anymore, so Horuteph stops right before hitting.

Ketsuki puffs a little air out of his nose and smiles: “Unthinkable that you’d beat me. Although it was short, this was one of the most enjoyable fights I’ve had so far.”

Horuteph is breathing heavily and says: “This was absolutely anyone’s fight. One little detail could’ve made me too tired to defend anymore. Good fight.”

They fistbump with the sunset in the background and Shitsuke shouts: “I’m gonna catch up to you guys, I swear!”

Later, in the middle of the night, Ketsuki is fast asleep. Suddenly, some purple slime comes through the cracks between the wooden planks that make up the roof. It forms into a person on the floor and turns out to be Atsume.

She smiles and thinks: “Perfect! I’ll sneak into his bed to get some cuddles!”

She lifts the blanket and cautiously climbs into his bed.

“It’s so warm. And smells so much like him~”, she thinks as she visibly enjoys the coziness.

She looks into Ketsuki’s face and can’t help but admire him.

“He’s so cute and innocent, I love it!”, she thinks with the most honest smile.

She then wants to tap his cheeks but hesitates for a moment. Blushing, she pulls through and wakes Ketsuki.

As he slowly wakes up, she says: “Hey Ketsuki, …I love you.”

Ketsuki rubs his eyes and then asks with a yawny voice: “What did you say?”

Atsume turns tomato-red and looks away: “I- I said I- l- love you…”

Ketsuki replies: “Yeah, no, I got that. I just don’t know what that means. I’ve never heard that word.”

Atsume is a bit shocked and confused.

She asks: “Never? Really? Like really never? Like for real never ever before? Not even… from your parents?”

Ketsuki explains oblivious: “No. Never heard that word. What does it mean?”

Atsume begins to tear up and Ketsuki asks: “Did I say something wrong?”

Atsume explains while burying her face in his chest: “Yes! Yes you did! It’s the saddest thing I’ve ever heard.”

“Can you still explain it to me?”, Ketsuki asks, not knowing what to do.

Atsume replies: “No… love isn’t something you can explain. I can only show you what it means.”,

“Show me then.”,

“It’s also nothing I can show you on the spot. It takes time to show you. No, you don’t understand it like this. …I’ll say it like this.”, she looks up and into his face again with a smile that is filled with warmth, unconditional acceptance and wholesomeness, “I will always show you what love means, Ketsuki.”

Ketsuki still doesn’t quite get it and Atsume asks: “Well, since I got here already, can I at least stay and cuddle with you for the night?”

Ketsuki replies with: “Sure.”, and Atsume becomes the little spoon within a second.

Meanwhile, Erika is still awake with ten cups of coffee next to her desk. She managed to turn the crystals into a liquid and is now trying to make the liquid into a type of fuel. Some of the flasks are rattling and steam comes out of some see-through pipes. The liquid illuminates the entire room with a blue light. Suddenly, it becomes really quiet and Erika’s expression changes from super concentrated to extremely excited.

“Haaaaaah!”, she inhales, “I’ve done it!!”

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Ketsuki has never heard the word 'love' before? Just what is his story?