K – Seven Stories - Chapter 8

The last Side:Blue installment in the 7 Stories series. The original text is provided by .

K ~ Seven Stories: 24 Pieces
Piece 8: Kusuhara Takeru (You Will Understand, No Doubt)
by Furuhashi Hideyuki

Kusuhara felt a gaze on his back about 10 minutes into his daily practice-swinging routine at the night dojo. When he turned around to check, he found Zenjou sitting in a seiza, like usual. Only, tonight, his head was turned in Kusuhara’s direction ever so slightly.

“Is something wrong, Zenjou-san?”
“Mn… No, my apologies.” Zenjou fixed his posture. “I just thought it was fun.”
“Oh.”

Kusuhara took an inquisitive look at what he was wearing. His training clothes were entirely unremarkable.

“Fun, sir…?”
“Yup, fun.”
“Was my swinging form odd in some way, perhaps?”
“No, that’s not why…” Zenjou cocked his head a little, trying to find the right words. “…It’s just fun.”
“Oh… Then, if there is no particular problem, I hope you don’t mind if I continue, sir.”

Kusuhara readjusted his grip on the handle of his wooden sword and resumed swinging.

Quite a few of his conversations with Zenjou were like that, lacking focus and not making much sense. But the young recruit often wondered if the reason for that was not just Zenjou having no way with words, but mostly his trying to talk about things that were impossible to put into said words. In particular, there were several instances when Zenjou made vague remarks that Kusuhara initially couldn’t even tell were a piece of advice or just general impressions, and then, a few days later, it would suddenly dawn on the young man just what Zenjou meant right in the middle of a training session.

“…In the past, there was someone who told me it was fun to just watch, too. I suppose that’s what he meant, huh,” Zenjou said with feeling, evidently having much “fun”.
“Oh…”

Kusuhara didn’t think he was particularly strange or anything compared to the other troops, but apparently, there was something not immediately noticeable about him that was hard to put into words.

“I wonder if I will understand that kind of fun when I’m your age, Zenjou-san,” Kusuhara mused.
“Yeah. By then, you will, no doubt,” Zenjou said and smiled.