Truancy Origins by Isamu Fukui

Author:Isamu Fukui
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781429959018
Publisher: Tom Doherty Associates

Red raised his plank to block Umasi’s, the two pieces of wood colliding with a dull thunk. Breaking the deadlock with brute force, Umasi gave a shove that sent Red staggering back. When they began this sparring match, Umasi had warned that he wouldn’t be holding anything back. Even so, Red hadn’t expected ferocity like this. Umasi was relentless, pressing the fight so aggressively that Red was almost convinced that Umasi was out to kill him.

Red’s reflexes were good enough to parry the next attack, but before he could riposte, Umasi swung his board back again to slam painfully into Red’s shin.

“Ouch!” Red yelped, hopping backwards on one foot.

Without pausing for a moment, Umasi lunged again, thrusting forward to catch Red right in the chest, shoving him backwards so that he fell flat on his butt. Sitting prone on the ground, Red gingerly rubbed his knee as Umasi brought his weapon to rest lightly on top of Red’s head.

“Okay, okay, I give up,” Red conceded as he dropped his own plank. “Man, if that’s how you practice fighting, remind me never to make you mad.”

“Sorry,” Umasi said, suddenly looking embarrassed. “I may have overdone it a bit. Are you all right?”

“Yeah, I’ve been worse,” Red said, standing up to highlight the point.

Satisfied, Umasi walked over to where two bottles of lemonade were cooling in a stubborn patch of snow that hadn’t yet melted. He sat down and opened one for himself, then tossed the other to Red.

“So Umasi,” Red said after taking a gulp, “what made you want to fight in the first place?”

Umasi looked troubled by the question, but answered anyway.

“I don’t want to feel inactive,” Umasi explained, “not after all I had to do as a vagrant.”

“So your brother doesn’t have anything to do with it?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“So you want to get strong and beat your brother,” Red observed. “Is that for the good of the whole City, or is it about you?”

“Probably some of both,” Umasi answered after a moment of thought.

“Well there’s nothing wrong with self-satisfaction, but people don’t forget nobility,” Red said. “Just take a look at the vagrant ghost, for example.”

“The what?” Umasi raised an eyebrow.

“The vagrant ghost,” Red repeated. “She’s a legend among the vagrants—or at least, I thought she was. Lots of people told me they’ve seen her, but I never believed any of it until I saw her myself.”

“You did?” Umasi said skeptically.

“Yeah, the day I got away from your brother,” Red said. “She saved me from a Truant who had a gun.”

“What did she look like, then?” Umasi asked, examining Red’s face as though expecting a joke.

“Pure white, all over,” Red said. “Except the eyes; they were blue, but then they flashed red. And she had a chain, that’s what she used to knock out the Truant, I think.”

“How can a ghost knock anyone out?”

“Well I suppose the chain was solid enough,” Red said thoughtfully. “She didn’t touch him at all, of course, from what I saw. Then she disappeared.

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