The deck creaked beneath his feet.
The damp wood smelled of salt and gunpowder, and the wind made the black sails flap like battle flags. Shun placed one foot on the rail, one hand clenched on the imaginary hilt of his sword, the other raised to command silence. Around him, the crew held their breath.
"Listen to me carefully," he whispered in a deep voice, not deep enough to imitate a pirate captain's voice.
Ahead of them, a few cable lengths away, the enemy ship glided slowly across the ink-black sea. Its lanterns were lit. Too confident. Too careless.
"They haven't spotted us," Shun continued. "It's now or never."
He turned to his comrades, his eyes shining with a fierce flame.
"You'll take the stern with two men. As soon as I raise my arm, you jump. Not before."
"You'll cover the starboard side. If they pull out their muskets, don't hesitate."
"And you... you stay with me."
He paused, savoring the moment. The silence, the tension, that exhilarating feeling of being at the center of everything. Here, no one was laughing. No one was doubting. They were waiting for his orders.
"We don't kill anyone," he concluded. "We take the provisions and the map."
A smile spread across his face.
"On my signal."
The wind suddenly picked up, as if obeying him. Waves crashed against the hull. The moment was perfect.
Shun slowly raised his hand.
"All aboard!"
The world exploded.
Screams, hurried footsteps, the crash of bodies leaping from one ship to another. Shun was the first to jump, rolling across the enemy deck and springing back up in one fluid motion. His sword sliced through the air, precise and elegant. He dodged, counterattacked, and guided the others with a simple glance.
"This way!" he shouted. "Don't let them regroup!"
Everything was going exactly as planned. Because he was the one who had planned it all. He who had imagined every detail, every possible outcome. He felt his heart beating fast, not with fear, but with excitement. Here, he was strong. Here, he was indispensable.
Then a voice cut through the air.
"Shun?"
The ship shook. The sky cracked.
"Shun, it's time to eat."
The sea disappeared. The sails froze. The cries vanished like smoke.
Shun blinked.
He was standing in the middle of his room.
The room was silent. The figurines hadn't moved. The plastic sword lay against the wall, harmless. His friends were nowhere to be found except in his mind.
His adventures were too vast, too unreal, too fanciful.
There was no world where they could really happen.
Shun, lost in his thoughts, jumped when Edano brought him back to reality.
Edano immediately turned to him.
"Are you okay?"
The boy nodded, as if returning from a distant place, closing his phone, whose screen remained stubbornly blank.
"It was to be expected..." someone in the group remarked. "We couldn't be the only ones."
The tension did not ease. On the contrary, it changed form.
"Even if this Kurosawa Masanori chose the clan that seemed the safest, there's nothing stopping us from joining him," added another voice, trying to convince himself.
On paper, the argument made sense. But the faces around him told a different story.
Some survivors had tense features, clenched jaws, and averted gazes. I recognized that expression immediately.
It was the face of someone who had just realized they had lost something without even having had the chance to fight for it.
They understood, too.
The first to choose a clan would unlock a special role.
The role of Marshal.
And while they debated, while they searched for the best option for survival, someone else, somewhere else, had already seized that opportunity.
Saé looked at the faces around her, those closed expressions, those silences too heavy to be insignificant.
She finally spoke up.
"Why do you all look so tense?"
No one answered her.
They avoided her gaze, as if putting words to this unease would make it too real. But, as I expected, Saé understood almost immediately.
She let out a slight sigh before adding, in a calm but lucid voice.
"Don't tell me it's because you didn't get the role of marshal."
The silence that followed was answer enough.
Saé frowned slightly, visibly perplexed.
"But... I don't understand. How can you be so disappointed when you don't even know what this role entails? We don't know anything about what this power really entails."
Ishikawa then joined the conversation, adding in a calm tone that, if they wished, they could still choose one of the other clans that had not been taken.
But I knew.
They wouldn't dare.
According to Fujimoto, the Hojo clan remained the safest thanks to its fortresses, and this simple idea was enough to lull everyone into a false sense of security. To abandon this choice was to accept risk. And few of them were capable of doing so.
It was then that Kaisho stepped out of the shadows.
He spoke, his voice cutting through the surrounding hubbub.
He declared that they were all wasting their time debating endlessly, hesitating over which clan to choose, and that by procrastinating, they were heading straight for failure. Then, with almost natural aplomb, he promised them that he would lead them to victory if they decided to follow him.
I immediately recognized someone who knew how to use words.
By doing so, Kaisho ensured that the field was completely clear for him. While the others were still hesitating, he was already positioning himself as their leader. And without even announcing it clearly, he gave himself the right to choose a clan before anyone else.
It was then that someone asked Kaisho if he already knew which clan he intended to choose.
Kaisho paused briefly, as if he wanted the silence to reinforce his importance, then declared that he would choose Oda. According to him, Oda was a central figure of the Sengoku period, a symbol of conquest and domination. An obvious choice to lead the others to victory.
No sooner had he finished his sentence than he began running straight ahead, toward the holographic sword.
It was then that soft words were heard.
"Mastery of Nature."
The grass beneath his feet began to warp. The ground undulated like a stormy sea, forming waves of vegetation that abruptly slowed his progress. Each step became heavier, as if he were walking against the current.
Kaisho gritted his teeth.
Despite everything, he managed to fight against this artificial resistance, forcing his way through the moving grass. Meter by meter, he got closer to the holographic sword, convinced that he would reach it.
But when he finally arrived at his destination, his momentum came to a sudden halt.
Someone was already standing there.
The sword rested in their hand, now very real. Their eyes were wide with wonder, shining with an almost childlike amazement, as if they had just discovered a new power they did not yet understand.
I looked at Kaisho, unable to contain my anger.
"It seems someone got here before you."
[Bun Chokan has just joined the Oda kingdom!
Being the first to join the Oda kingdom, he is given the role of Marshal.]
The silence was immediately broken.
Kaisho couldn't hide his anger. His face tensed, his fists trembled, and he started yelling at me, asking how I could be there. How could I still be standing when I was supposed to be dead, or at least dying?
His voice echoed, filled with incomprehension and rage.
"Bun? How is this possible? How can you be here?"
But I didn't have time to answer him.
The notification displaying my name had just cut off any possible dispute. Almost immediately, Saé and Edano crossed the border of the Oda kingdom, joining the clan as if it had always been their destination.
Saé turned to me. Her gaze was still trembling, as if she wasn't sure I was really there.
"Bun! I thought I'd never see you again, but at the same time... I knew you'd come back."
I then turned to Kaisho and, with an almost mocking smile,
"So, are you happy that I'm your marshal?"
He turned abruptly toward me, as if my words had just hit him in the face.
"There's no way that scenario could happen in this world!"
You could feel that his certainties had just collapsed.
He now had only one option left. The Tokugawa clan. His last resort.
But before he could even make a move, a new notification appeared before us, cold and relentless.
[Ishikawa Bushi has just joined the Tokugawa clan
As the first to join the Tokugawa kingdom, he has been given the role of Marshal.]
I saw Kaisho's gaze freeze.
This time, there was nothing left to say.
A new notification appeared immediately, much more urgent than the previous ones.
[The three marshals have been appointed.
Please join:
- the Oda clan "Marshal Bun Chokan"
- the Tokugawa clan "Marshal Ishikawa Bushi"
- the Hojo clan "Marshal Kurosawa Masanori"
Participants who have not yet chosen a kingdom have 3 minutes to make their choice.
After this time, anyone who has not joined a clan will be eliminated.]
I felt the tension rise a notch.
I turned to Edano.
"Did you bring Shun with you?"
He slowly shook his head. That's when I really noticed. Shun wasn't with us.
Saé approached me, looking worried.
"What do we do now?"
I took a few seconds before answering, watching the crowd that was already beginning to stir, some running toward the holograms, others frozen in fear.
"Honestly... not much. We wait." "
I let out a slight sigh.
"People will eventually make their choice."
I glanced toward the Tokugawa kingdom.
"It's a good thing Ishikawa is their marshal. Many trust him. It's obvious that a lot of survivors will join him without thinking twice. "
Then I turned my attention back to Oda's holographic sword behind me.
I shrugged, a wry smile on my lips.
"For me... it might be a little more complicated."
Even in a situation like this, I couldn't help adding, in a falsely lighthearted tone.
"After all, I've never really been the kind of person people follow spontaneously."
That's when a small group of people started moving towards me.
I blinked, slightly surprised.
It seemed that some of them had finally decided to trust me.
Saé immediately walked towards them, a sincere smile on her lips.
"Thank you for joining us."
But one of them raised his hand to interrupt her, almost embarrassed.
"It's not really that... It's just that your group is the only one with room left."
I couldn't help but smile inwardly.
Just as I suspected.
There was bound to be a limit to the number of people per kingdom, and those who hesitated too long were forced to choose by default.
I let my gaze sweep over the remaining crowd, observing the tense faces, the silent calculations, the fear of making the wrong choice.
Even here, even on the brink of death, decisions were never entirely guided by confidence.
But in the end, the reason didn't matter.
They were here now.
Shun approached Edano timidly, his hands clenched against his sides.
"I wanted to join Ishikawa's group..." he whispered, hesitant. "But I decided to trust you. You... and your teammates."
I crouched down slightly to be at his height.
"You made the right choice," I said calmly. "I'll do everything I can to lead you to victory."
His shoulders relaxed a little, as if those words were enough to give him an anchor in the chaos.
I then looked up to observe those who now made up my group. Tense, cautious faces, some already looking to the future, others still stuck in fear of the decision they had just made.
Then my gaze met his.
I froze for a split second.
I couldn't believe my eyes.
I never imagined he would choose my clan. Was it to stay as close to me as possible? Or simply because he hadn't had time to make a real choice? Surprisingly, he wasn't the marshal of any group.
I gritted my teeth.
Whatever his reasons, one thing was certain.
That bastard Ryo Kanjo was now part of my clan.