— — — — — —
"Enju, huh."
Kazuma finally remembered who the kid standing in front of him was.
"Why is it that everyone else is fine, but you have a problem?" He frowned, clearly annoyed. "You act like I begged you to join. You don't believe me? Fine, I can't be bothered to explain."
"If you don't want to join, then don't. I didn't want to bring you along anyway. Go on, get lost."
Kazuma waved his hand dismissively. What a troublesome kid.
Enju stared at him, her dull, lifeless eyes flickering with a hint of confusion. She could tell he really was annoyed, really was telling her to go away—but for some reason, it felt… different.
She looked at him for a long time before realizing what it was. That look in his eyes—it wasn't disgust. Not the kind of cold, mocking disgust people usually gave her.
It was just irritation. The kind you give a noisy, misbehaving child.
"Enju," Kayano whispered, clutching her friend's hand. "Onii-Chan isn't like the others."
"He's… he's a good person. He doesn't hate us. He even said our red eyes are pretty."
Kayano's voice trembled with worry. She knew that blank look in Enju's eyes all too well—the look of someone ready to give up on everything.
Enju looked up. "A good person… who's different?" She couldn't see it. He'd just snapped at her for asking a question—how was that good?
But maybe he wasn't kind. But he was definitely different from the ones who called them cursed children.
"Don't bother with her, Kayano," Kazuma cut in. "If she wants to join, she can stay. If not, she can leave." He turned to the rest. "Anyway, class is starting. Lesson one: we're not learning how to fight yet. I'll teach you something more important—how to survive."
He glanced around, found a rock, and set it down. Then, with a piece of chalk, he wrote one large word on it: {Principles.}
"Alright," he said, turning to the group of little girls. "Question one. If someone bullies you, what do you do?"
"Hide!"
"Beg for mercy!"
"Curl up so it doesn't hurt as much!"
Hands shot up everywhere, each answer worse than the last.
"Wrong," Kazuma said flatly. "You shoot the bastard first. Once they're dead, they can't bully you."
He looked dead serious.
Teaching kids had to start with the basics. Especially these kids—they needed to unlearn everything the world had taught them.
"B-but… killing people is wrong!"
"Yeah, murder isn't allowed!" Enju protested. She'd been ready to leave earlier, but curiosity kept her rooted to the spot.
Now, her once-empty eyes stirred for the first time, confusion flooding her mind.
Kazuma sighed. "You're still here? If you're not joining, get out. You're holding up class."
"I—I want to join," Enju blurted out. "If I join, I can ask questions, right?"
Curiosity won out over doubt. She hesitated for a moment, then looked up. "Killing people is wrong… isn't it?"
"Since you've joined, I'll answer," Kazuma said. "Who told you it's wrong?"
"Who…? I—it's just common sense, isn't it?"
She faltered. Thinking hard, she realized—no one had ever told her directly. She just knew it somehow.
"Survival of the fittest," Kazuma said evenly. "That's the law of the world. Right and wrong are just things people made up. They decided killing is illegal. So what? Their rules have nothing to do with me. My rule is simple: strike first, or get struck down."
He crossed his arms. "Next question. If someone even thinks about bullying you, what should you do?"
"Run away?"
"Hide?"
"Ask them to stop?"
"Wrong again." He slammed his hand down on the table. "You shot them before they even try! If they're gone, they can't hurt you."
"That's not right!" Enju said, her voice rising. "Why do you always have to 'kill them'? Violence is bad—it's wrong!"
Her voice wavered. She knew it was wrong—but why did she feel so uncertain? Everything she thought she knew was collapsing, her fragile worldview crumbling under his words.
"You sure ask a lot of questions," Kazuma muttered, rubbing his temples. "Fine, I'll answer. What's our goal here?"
She blinked. "To… to stop being bullied?"
"Exactly." He leaned forward. "So if we eliminate everyone who bullies us, then there's no one left to hurt us, right? Goal achieved. Problem solved. What's wrong with that?"
Enju hesitated. "…Nothing?"
And just like that, her fragile sense of right and wrong shattered completely. Maybe… maybe he was right. Maybe this was how the world really worked.
"Good. Glad we understand each other," Kazuma said. "Now, last question. If someone wants to hurt you, and you can't fight back—what do you do?"
He raised three fingers.
"Option A: Fight anyway. Even if you die, bite off a piece of them before you go."
"Option B: Surrender. Do whatever they say, as long as you survive."
"Option C: Run away. If you escape, you haven't really lost."
"Choose."
The girls looked at one another, whispering.
"I choose B! If we surrender, maybe they'll let us go!"
"No, I choose C. We can't rely on others' mercy—if we run, we might still have a chance!"
The room buzzed with debate. Not a single one of them chose A.
"I choose A," Enju said suddenly.
Her red eyes gleamed, feral and sharp. "If someone wants to hurt me and I can't fight back, I'll still bite them. Even if I die, I won't go quietly."
"If it were just me, maybe I'd run," Kayano said after a long silence. "Maybe I'd surrender. But if everyone else is with me… then I choose A too. I won't abandon anyone."
Kazuma smiled. "Not bad. Not bad at all."
The two girls glanced at him hopefully, expecting praise—or maybe even a reward.
"But still wrong," he said, and their smiles froze. "Why choose from someone else's answers at all? You should make your own choice."
"If it were me, I'd train until I was strong enough to crush them. Then, when the time came, I'd hunt them down myself."
There was no right or wrong answer, not really. The whole point was that the question never had one. No matter what they picked, it was still his question.
"Make your own choices," Kazuma said quietly. "Don't just pick from what someone else gives you."
Enju murmured the words under her breath, eyes reflecting a faint spark of light. For the first time, she looked at Kazuma with something like understanding.
He wasn't a good man. But he wasn't a bad one either.
He was… strange. Strange in the same way they were—the cursed children who didn't fit anywhere.
And for the first time, she didn't feel so alone.
"Onii-Chan, I still don't get it," Kayano said, throwing herself into Kazuma's arms. She didn't really understand what he meant, but she held onto his words all the same.
"Can I get a hug too?"
"Me too!"
"S-Same!"
The other girls rushed in and wrapped him up in a pile of arms and laughter. None of them had ever been this happy before. They didn't understand half of what Kazuma was saying—but for once, they felt like normal kids in a normal class, and that was enough.
"Um… can I join too?"
Enju looked at the group shyly, walking over step by step. She tilted her head up to look at him.
"You can," Kazuma said. "But from now on, stop asking pointless questions. And stop calling yourselves cursed children, rejects of the world, trash with no purpose."
"Stop saying you're useless insects or a waste of food and air."
"If you see yourself that way, the world will too. But if you see yourself as something precious… then it won't matter what anyone else thinks."
His voice was firm.
"…Okay."
Enju stepped forward and hugged him as well. For the first time in a long while, she felt something real—acknowledgment. Maybe not the warmest kind, but it wasn't rejection either.
"Wait," she said suddenly, frowning. "I don't remember saying we're useless insects or a waste of food and air. You made that up, didn't you?"
"I told you not to ask so many questions. Does it matter if you said it or not? It doesn't. Just enjoy the hug and stop sweating the small stuff."
He reached out, grabbed her head, and gave her hair a rough ruffle. The girl laughed—it was the most alive she'd looked in a long time.
"Yeah, I guess it's not important," she said, letting it go just like that. Still just a kid, after all.
"Alright, that's it for culture class," Kazuma said. "Next up—PE."
He smiled. "I'll teach you how to fight, how to train. Once you've learned enough, I'll spar with you myself. After that, real combat."
"The first lesson— the Six Powers, Rokushiki!"
He was going to teach them the Six Powers, a pure martial discipline built on physical strength and refined technique. Perfect for these kids. Once they mastered it, he could move on to Life Return—and with their natural regeneration, that would make them nearly unkillable.
Later, they could even learn Observation Haki. As for Armament Haki… well, he wasn't quite there yet.
Still, gear could cover the gap. Kazuma planned to give each of them weapons suited to their abilities.
"From now on," he said, "don't call me 'Onii-Chan.' Call me Guild Master."
"Master Onii-Chan," Kayano said, raising her hand, "what is the Six Powers?"
"That's a pain to explain," Kazuma said. "I'll just show you."
First, he demonstrated Shave (Soru) in slow motion, each step precise and controlled.
"Like this?"
Enju watched once, then tried to copy him. The next instant, she vanished from sight and reappeared a few meters away—before losing balance and tumbling face-first onto the floor.
"Close," Kazuma said. "But you're not controlling your body well. Too slow, too heavy, and your balance is off. Keep practicing."
He smiled to himself. The girl's rabbit-type Gastrea gave her excellent leg strength and agility—it made her a natural for movement techniques.
For all the pain the Gastrea brought, they also gave these children power. Power to fight. Power to survive.
Time passed as Kazuma kept showing them the other Six Powers.
Finally, one girl raised her hand excitedly.
"Master! I learned Iron Body (Tekkai)! Getting hit doesn't hurt anymore!"
It was the same little girl who had said that when people bullied her, she'd just curl up and take the hits.
Well, she really was talented at getting beaten up.
"Good," Kazuma said. "Now everyone—beat her up."
"Eh?! What—wait!"
"Don't just stand there and tank hits," he said calmly. "Dodging should be your first instinct. I want you to feel why."
And so the poor girl got mobbed, crying all the while. Lesson learned the hard way.
...
A month went by in a blink. The girls had all learned the Six Powers—not perfectly, but well enough.
Enju had the best grasp of Moonwalk (Geppo), Shave, and Tempest Kick (Rankyaku), her attacks sharp and fast.
Her Iron Body, Paper Art (Kami-e), and Finger Pistol (Shigan) were weaker, but passable.
Kayano, on the other hand, struggled with most of the techniques—except she was the first to awaken Observation Haki. Maybe it came from the years she spent nearly blind; once she covered her ears, her awareness of her surroundings sharpened to an incredible degree.
She became the only one among them to truly master it, and the best at dodging attacks.
Each of the other children had their own specialties, influenced by their genetics—some hit harder, some defended better, some were agile like cats.
Through endless sparring with Kazuma, they'd even learned to work together in battle.
"You've all done well," Kazuma said finally. "Now it's time for your first real mission."
"The world out there is dangerous. You'll need to rely on yourselves and your teammates. Remember everything I taught you."
"What do we do if we're in danger?" one of the girls asked.
Kazuma checked his phone. Ten missions were queued up. He looked at the kids and grinned.
"If danger's coming," he said, "take it out before it reaches you. Then it's not danger anymore."
The girls nodded seriously—though their moral compasses were already pretty crooked from his lessons.
"And what if someone refuses to pay us?" Kazuma asked to test them.
"Give them one chance. If they still don't pay… eliminate them." The girls said with dangerous tone.
"Excellent," Kazuma said, pleased. "Everyone got their gear?"
"Yes!"
He'd prepared protective charms for each of them—strong enough to block most attacks—and weapons tailored to their skills.
And of course, everyone got a magic submachine gun. Those things didn't need training; just point and shoot.
"Good," Kazuma said, patting each of their heads in turn. "You've learned what you need. Now show me what you've got."
"Make me pround."
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