kscans

Chapter 75 - Please Give Me Love.

Past Recollection, Memories as Yuto Saito

A boy was huddled in the corner of the room. His name was Yuto Saito. He was seven years old.

The walls were grimy, and moldy bread crumbs were scattered on the floor. The fluorescent light had long since burned out, leaving the room dim, and an unseasonable chill crept in with the draft.

His mother was no longer there. In the winter when Yuto was five, along with his father's shouting, his mother had smashed a plate in the kitchen and stormed out of the house. That was the last he saw of her.

And what remained were his father and Yuto.

"Whose fault is it that we have no money! Because you cry, your mother...!"

A fist flew. A foot flew. Yuto's body rolled across the floor like a small piece of scrap paper. He was used to the pain now. He didn't cry. He just endured.

Yuto knew. His father was already broken.

He had quit his job long ago, it seemed. He drank from midday, slept, woke up, yelled, and hit. Sometimes he couldn't even remember Yuto's name.

I want to eat.

He had said it before. But the answer was always the same.

"Then work. My life ended because you were born."

One day, his father stopped coming home.

First day. He waited without eating anything. Second day. He drank only tap water. Third day. He licked the bread crumbs off the floor. Fourth day. He could no longer stand.

Still, Yuto believed someone would come for him.

"Someone, help me." His faint voice reached no one, and outside the window, the sound of cars faded into the distance.

And on the morning of the seventh day.

As the cold morning sun streamed in, Yuto ended his life alone, as if in sleep.

...A quiet wind passed through the plains.

The boy was in a white light. A warm, comfortable, and endlessly quiet space. There was no more pain, no more hunger, no more tears.

"...Where is this...?"

Eventually, a woman in a robe appeared before him. Her hair shone like silver, and her eyes were as clear as crystal.

"Your soul will be guided to another world. ...This time, be happy."

Her hand touched him gently. At that moment, something frozen deep within Yuto's heart thawed slightly.

"Please, give me love..."

With that small wish in his heart, the boy returned to the light. And he would receive a new name.

Yuto Mikazuki. The Black Moon Swordsman.

A solitary warrior who trusted no one, only his own sword, would eventually carve out his destiny in this world.