The Sword of Kaigen

by M.L. Wang

listening never made any man dumber, but it’s made a lot of people smarter.” She

Then again, it was very possible that the sexism inherent to their upbringing had created a blind spot so opaque that they weren’t capable of recognizing those abilities in a woman.

It was Hiroshi. The five-year-old was barely big enough to hold the lightweight sword in both hands, but his stance was solid and his gaze fixed.

A decade later, a fifteen-year-old Hiroshi would become known as the youngest swordsman ever to master the Whispering Blade. What the world would never know, was that he was the second youngest.

Fire and water might balance each other, but they didn’t mix well when it came to offspring.

“A life of dangerous adventures might seem worth it now, when you are young and seemingly invincible, but one day, you will have children, and you will not want that life for them.”

“Who says that children belong to their fathers? We carry them, we nourish them inside us, we bring them into the world, we do all the work in raising them. Then these men—these men think they can just take them and kill them?” “Misaki…” “What claim does that Ranganese bastard have to a child from your womb? What right do any of them have? As much as Ryota was Dai’s, he was yours. As much as Mamoru was Takeru’s, he was mine. He was mine!”

“Now, don’t be like that.” Misaki drew Siradenyaa and Chul-hee covered his eyes. “If you won’t talk to me, you can’t tell me which body parts you’d rather part with first. I’ll just have to guess.”

“When Hiroshi is old enough, he will go to your Daybreak Academy in Carytha. If he does well there, I think perhaps all three boys should go.”

Fuck me 😭😭😭

Love for what she had and what was gone. Love no matter the pain.

I’m heartbroken.