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This article, Welcome to the Dawn 1, is property of Ten Tailed Fox |
Dawn on Kagamino City...
It is always a breathtaking sight for those who live near the sea.
The Getsueikirite shop was one such location. Nestled on the docks of Kagamino City, which touched the eastern sea, the shop had been erected nearly three years ago, when its owner, Raian Getsueikirite, finally retired from a lifetime of Shinigami duties.
However, this story is not about him. It is, instead, about his pupil, Shōgi Kudō, and the much more grand and dangerous adventure that lay before him.
The Triumphant Return[]
The ocean was calm; well, about as calm as any massive body of water was on a fair day. The winds were favorable and the rising sun was now within sight beyond the landmass of Japan, which was now visible on the horizon. Atop a wooden boat, although it was hardly a boat with its size, which rocked and swayed with the waves, was Raian Getsueikirite; standing on the "lookout's post" as he called it.
One year ago, he had set out to visit the Americas for an unknown reason, and now he was finally returning home to Japan; to Kagamino city, and to his shop. An annoyed look cross his face as he looked down upon his small vessel, noting that water was beginning to pool in the craft.
Actually, it is incorrect to say that the water was "beginning to pool", it had been doing so for the past twenty-four hours, hence why he was standing atop the sails. With another grimace, he pulled a small drinking cup from his pocket and leaped into the thin puddle of water in the main part of his vessel. He then began, although futilely, filling the cup with the salty ocean water and throwing it overboard.
This had been his ritual for the past day or so. The boat would begin to leak and fill with water and he would futilely attempt to toss it all out. After getting tired, he would retreat to the sails and watch for land on the horizon. For the next few hours he did this, until he saw that he was close enough to land, and gave up. He climbed to the top of the sails and awaited landfall at the dock directly parallel to his shop. He became comically flustered upon noticing that his boat, at this point, was so filled with sea water, that it was beginning to sink. Even so, he was now within a few feet of the dock, so he allowed the doomed vessel to sink further still into the murky depths. When at last he finally reached the wooden dock, the sails were just beginning to go under, making them ground level with the dock itself; allowing Raian to simply step off onto the dock while the rest of the boat slipped under the waters.
Shōgi Kudō had just awakened and stepped outside to stretch and take in some fresh air before getting to work. As he did so, he noticed his master's rather unorthodox return and ran to the dock to greet him.
"Sensei! You've returned!" he exclaimed happily.
"Have I?" Raian replied sarcastically while looking himself over, "Excellent, let's celebrate with the drinking of some sake."
Shōgi chuckled, "You've only just returned, and you want sake?" he asked.
Raian glanced at Shōgi curiously, "You're really surprised by this, my young friend? I thought you knew me better."
Shōgi smiled and rolled his eyes, "No, I suppose not. Sake coming right up!" he said, and bounded off to fetch Raian some sake.
"Such a good child." Raian remarked comically after he had gone.
When Shōgi returned, and had handed Raian his cup of sake, the Master-Student duo went for a walk by the sea to catch up on the previous year's events.
"Sales at the shop have gone up with the economy here in Japan. Even the visitors from Soul Society seem to have been buying more. I am nearly done with my senior year in high school and I have managed to balance my school life with my Hollow extermination duties." Shōgi explained.
"Hmm, things really have gotten uneventful since the last Reikai war ended. And here I thought they never would." Raian replied, sipping his sake. "Any word from old silver-hairs?"
"Not much. He comes by once a month to purchase supplies for his dojo in Karakura, but his life seems to be as uneventful as ours." Shōgi replied.
"Excellent! The little bugger hasn't gotten ahead of me!" Raian exclaimed comically, nearly dropping his glass of sake in the excitement.
Now it was Shōgi's turn to ask questions;
"How did your voyage go?" he began.
"The usual; moments of extreme beauty followed by those of incredible stupidity. The American country is so busy quarreling with itself politically that it is falling apart from the inside out." Raian replied as he finished the last drops of his sake.
"And did you locate the item that you were looking for?" Shōgi questioned.
"So full of questions today, aren't you, boy? Nevertheless, I did find it." Raian said, pulling what appeared to be a glass prism from his pocket.
Inside the prism was a shard of what looked like glass, which glowed multiple colors and pulsated a dark purple. Raian quickly returned the object to his pocket.
"So that was it, eh? A shard of the Hōgyoku? And from the looks of it, you sealed it within a barrier." Shōgi noted.
"Quick learner. Yes, that is what you think it is. The barrier is to keep its powers from activating until I need it to." Raian replied. "I intend to learn every inch of this object and its capabilities."
With that, the two walked on until they had returned to the shop.
Dawn has begun, and a new threat is rapidly approaching...waiting for the sun to set.