The New Winds

Aiichirō woke up very late and didn't even get to see the Yasuki this morning. Thus, after the training, he went around running searching for him as a training partner, bokken on hand. At least as a pretext.
Doing so brought back some yesterday night memories. His steps were hard on the ground as always, and his skills at finding the Yasuki never seemed to get better. So there was a Kaiu running around as always.

Ginkarasu is practicing jumping.

He's jumping up and down up and down up and down up and down. Trying to get higher each time.

It's tough, cause he's carrying a "big" log at the same time and trying to hold onto it is rough.

He heard a lot of noise outside a room and went to investigate what it was. There he peeked outside and looked at Ginkarasu, not being able to contain a faint smile on his lips as he slides the shoji closed behind him, sitting in the overhang area as he watched the Yasuki.

He leaped up, clutching the log as tight as he could.

He came down, bending low so his knees didn't carry all the weight.

And up again. Ugh, weighted jumping squats were the worst.

"This seems somehow worse than rolling rope on the catapults." He said, still watching Ginkarasu, noticing his presence went unnoticed.

He lands and falls back, pushing the log away from himself.

"Aiichiro-san! You..you...you." He stands up and shakes a finger at him, "Don't scare me like that!"

"I sneaked over you for the first time. Seems like I'm getting that box of mochi now." He laughed a little. "It's good to see you again."

"Hotei's Sweaty Tabi! That's not what I'm talking about! Last night! All the bodies!" He's really energetic about it. "I looked out of the dojo and all I could see was a bunch of bodies the size of all of us students. And a great big pit!"

"This is why it's good to see you again." He replied, genuinely happy before his voice turned somber. "I was searching for you after the battle, you know, after Hida-sensei arrived. Bag of jade powder in one hand, bokken in the other in case one of them was still alive patrolling the corridors." He turned his head down and closed his eyes. "When I returned to the barracks, I didn't think I could be happier to hear you snore behind the shoji. I honestly thought you were dead." Aiichiro looked at Ginkarasu again.

He shakes his head. "I was training. And then I saw, and I went out, trying to lure whatever did it towards the sensei. Everything was over by then, I just didn't know it."

"Oh." He then moved to enthusiasm. "Oh Hida's lost son. You saw none of the battle? It... It was so surreal. Not like I don't believe this happened surreal because I got trained to consider those scenarios, but... You know, it just feels like a fever dream now."

"Was it goblins?" He asked. "How'd they get to Imperial lands?"

"Zokujin. They travelled by an underground tunnel."

"Zokujin?" He frowned, thinking.

"Tainted Zokujin. The races before mankind can very well get tainted."

He shakes his head, "You think our sensei is notifying the Crab?"

"Of course he should be. There's an entire hole full of tainted stuff beneath our feet."

He shakes his head. "That's not good. How'd they get that all the way up here?"

"There is a tunnel that leads from wherever they came from to the forges. They already covered the entrance with a big rock that has one hole the size of a ruler."

He shakes his head. "We had Jade though. That's something at least."