"Haaaaaa!!"
A loud shout came from a slight, willowy figure as he held his wooden sword upright, bringing it down in a wide arc.
"Good! But next time control your stop, you can't have your sword getting stuck in the dirt now, can it?"
A gruff man, arms rippling with muscle, stood over the child, gently yet firmly guiding the child's arms. The evening sun cast vibrant rays of orange and red over the backyard, and the child would frequently get distracted by the occasional falling leaf.
"Haruto Ichiko! Get back here right now! I don't care what your father says, you still need to eat dinner and get your homework done!"
A stern female voice emanated from the sliding door leading to the backyard, at the same time as the heavenly smell of beef stew and radishes filling the backyard.
"Coming mom! Haha dad, listen to what mom says! I can't stand here and hack at a wooden post all day!"
Sigh...the man huffed.
"You're already turning 12 next year, you should really start to be more serious in your training. I'll even get you your first real sword for that birthday! Wouldn't that be great?"
"Dad...all the kids at school say I'm weird cus you're so obsessed with katanas! Literally no one trains with katanas except those anime guys!"
"Haruto! Don't speak like that! It's an ancient family tradition, passed downn-n t-th-rouuughhhhghh..."
*BEEP BEEP BEEEEEEP!* The loud blaring of the alarm cut though Haruto's dense fog of sleep, and he reluctantly dragged himself out of his comfy bed. As expected, Hana was up way before him, and the scent of freshly brewed coffee (only the best arabica beans for Hana) drifted through the open bedroom door. As the sunrays though the window attempted to chargrill his eyes, Haruto weaved into the spacious living room, where his two sons, rambunctious as always, pestered Hana for a sip of coffee.
"Morning darlin, sleep well last night?"
Hana inquired. Haruto merely blinked in response and pecked her on the cheek, quickly snagging a cup of coffee on the way back and downing it in one gulp.
"Ick! It's disgus-tang!"
Haruto's sons scrambled over one another to get away from the elixir of demons, yet to the adults, this was the brew of heaven.
Having a day off from corporate drudgery was a day to be cherished, and as Hana and the kids left for their respective duties, he kicked back and spent the day lazing around the house, finally getting the opportunity to catch up to that one anime.
The kids were staying over at one of Hana's friends for a sleepover, and Hana would be coming home late.
Yet Haruto had maybe hoped for a special night, especially since the kids were a large tax on her energy. To prepare, Haruto quickly made the bed, placing a few scented candles and sprinkling rose petals over the bed.
As night rolled around, he heard the sound of metal jangling at the door. Eager with anticipation, he started to head down the stairs when he registered the sound of muttered, distinctly male voices behind the door.
"Reckon there'll be anyone at home?"
"Nah, we didn't see no light outside, right? That means there won't be anyone at home! Use your brain, dumbass."
"I swear, this place better have a good haul otherwise I'll burn this shithole down and call it a 'gas leak'."
Fuming at what he heard, Haruto knew them to be burglars. Quickly glancing around the house for something he could defend himself with, his eyes alighted on the katana he had gotten on his 12th birthday.
While not the fanciest of katanas, it was perfectly serviceable and Haruto had kept it in good condition wherever he went, and going to the kitchen to grab a knife would take too long.
The katana it was.
As the door finally opened under the burglars lockpicks, two interlopers entered the darkened house, eyes scanning for valuable loot.
One of the thieves spotted the empty rack which previously held the katana, muttering: "Hey, looks like something should've been there?"
It was only at this moment that Haruto noticed the knives in both the men's hands.
These weren't amateur robbers or delinquents looking for easy cash, these were lifetime gangsters, probably yakuza or their lot. He tightened his grip around his sword, and realised this was a life or death situation.
If he messed up, he would be stabbed and his place trashed, and what would Hana or his sons do if that happened?
So, Haruto steeled his resolve, stepped forward, and remembering the technique drilled into him by his father all those years ago, swung down in a powerful arc.
The blade cleaved thief #1's head in half, and thief #2 barely had time to turn his head before a fountain of blood and brain matter splattered everything within it's radius.
The remaining thief barely had time to scream before Haruto followed up with a horizontal strike, cleanly carving the last thief's head from his body.
As he stood there, panting, surrounded by a pool of blood and gore, Haruto was astonished. What had he just done? He wasn't a killer. So why, so why?
Why did it feel so easy, so satisfactory, so pleasant to take those burglars lives? Sure, it was justified, they were robbing him and would have killed him too, but that wasn't it.
No, Haruto realised. He liked it. Liked holding the power over someone else, liked the fear in their eyes before he cut it out of them. Yet questions raced through his mind. Was he a sadist? What was wrong with him?
Yet before Haruto could stand there and have an existential crisis, the sharp retort of a pistol firing interrupted his thoughts. Suddenly, the world became blurry, as though seeing it through frosted glass.
As Haruto hit the floor, katana still in his hand, his head turned ever so slightly to see that there was another burglar, hands shaking as they held the pistol.
Yet that was enough. Haruto had been shot fatally, he knew it. So as he slowly started to drift into oblivion, he wondered if it was all worth it.
If he had just stayed hidden, none of this would have happened. He would've been robbed, sure, and maybe him and Hana and the kids would've been safe.
He could rebuild, remake their lives, yet he was never going to get that second chance purely because of his foolishness.
As the darkness overtook his vision, Haruto Ichiko's final thought was, damn, corporate holidays really screwed me over...