Happy Tears -- Chapter 3
     
     The following fic was created by me, 
Mike Allen.  However, I do not own any of the 
characters that I am using.  That honor 
belongs to the honorable Rumiko Takahashi and 
any and all companies to which she has sold 
the rights.  So, please do not sue me.
     
Vengeance Is Mine.
     
*********************
     
     As he stood on the ridge overlooking a 
small, shallow valley, his thoughts turned to 
the last time he had seen the little village 
lying nestled within.  His previous view of 
it had been with eight-year old, pain-
stricken eyes as he left it, he thought, 
forever.  Being taken to a place he had never 
seen, told that it would be his new home and 
there have a new family, he had feared what 
was ahead of him only a little less than his 
heart ached from the memories of what he was 
leaving behind.  They had tried to replace 
his name and family, but he didn't open 
himself to them.  He knew whom his parents 
and siblings were and would always remember.  
Even though he didn't want to recall the 
memories, he never successfully banished 
them.
     
     Happosai continued to watch the waking 
village while his feelings went through a 
familiar litany.  First he felt the burning 
desire for vengeance upon his father.  The 
need for vengeance slowly gave way to the 
gnawing fears of doubt and failure.  For if 
he failed, his life would be forfeit.  As his 
fears battled against the need for vengeance, 
a third emotion would come, thrusting itself 
forward into his consciousness.  
Determination, determination to see his vow 
completed and his father humbled before him.  
Envisioning his father on his knees before 
him with all that the man valued lost, his 
resolve and courage grew stronger.          
     
     He boldly strode forward into the small 
town and made his way to the entrance of his 
father's home.  Once there, he knocked on the 
door and waited until it was answered.
     
     "Hello, may I help you?"  A kindly 
looking woman, appearing to be in her late 
thirties, greeted him.  She was only 
partially visible as she stood behind the 
door.  She stood quite tall; Happosai 
estimated her to be five foot six or seven, 
an exceptional height for her time.  Her 
straight black hair reached her knees and her 
deep brown eyes glowed with freely offered 
love and affection.
     
     "Yes, I have a letter for Hikozabe Asai.  
Is he in?"  His voice betrayed him as it 
quavered with nervousness.
     
     "I'm sorry, my husband is out.  Would 
you care to wait on the porch until his 
return?" she motioned towards a covered porch 
in front of the estate.  
     
     "Y-yes, I will, thank you."  He gave her 
a quick bow and moved to sit on a convenient 
bench.  He had awaited this day for twenty 
years; a few hours meant nothing to him.  
     
     "My husband wasn't expecting anyone and 
will be gone until evening," she apologized 
as she left to tend to her household.
     
     The day passed quickly, as he sat and 
watched as his father's new family played 
around him.  He counted six children, three 
older girls and three young boys running and 
playing around.  The eldest, a young woman, 
seemed to be around fourteen or fifteen.  The 
others seemed to follow in two-year 
increments.  His father's new wife had given 
her husband children on a quite regular 
basis.
     
     They seemed like a happy family, and he 
felt some remorse for the pain that he would 
be giving to his half-siblings.  If not for 
the depth of his need for vengeance, he would 
have left before Hikozabe returned.  As it 
was, he spotted his quarry as he turned down 
the street.  
     
     Now in his early sixties, Hikozabe was 
still a very impressive man.  He strode along 
the street with the agility and grace of a 
twenty-year old.  His snow-white hair fell to 
his shoulders in a free-fall that accentuated 
his handsome features.  Handsome when young, 
he had grown into a very distinguished 
looking man.  The harshness that marred his 
looks earlier in his life had given way to an 
almost unyielding strength of spirit.  
     
     Forgotten love and pride in the man in 
front of him welled up within Happosai as he 
watched his father approach.  However, it was 
not enough to alter the years of hatred that 
scarred his soul.  He stood and waited until 
Hikozabe had reached him.
     
     "Hikozabe Asai?" he asked, knowing the 
answer.
     
     "Hai."
     
     "Father, I have returned and I am 
challenging you for the Asai name.  Here is 
my letter of challenge."  He held the scroll 
in both hands and bowed to his father, never 
taking his eyes from the man's face.  His 
stomach churned, his voice held steady, and 
no trace of his nervousness betrayed him.  
     
     The old man peered into the face of the 
short man in front of him.  Breaking into a 
large grin, he moved forward to embrace him 
as he said, "Shiro?  Shiro!  It is you!  You 
have returned!  How I have longed for this 
day!"
     
     Confused and moving aside, Happosai 
placed the letter into his father's left 
hand.  "I will return in one week's time to 
face the first challenge."
     
     He leapt away before his father could 
again respond.  Glancing over his shoulder as 
he crossed over a roof, he saw the man 
staring slack-jawed after him, right arm held 
out still reaching for him.  The left holding 
the parchment.  He smiled as he imagined his 
father reading the letter.  
     
=============================================
     
     Hikozabe Asai,
     
     You are hereby challenged for the family 
name of Asai.  In your youth, you used 
dishonorable methods to gain a wife.  As a 
father, you tried to kill one of your own 
sons, Shiro.  If not for his mother's 
sacrifice, he would have perished at your 
word.  You then betrayed any familial ties by 
accusing him of his mother's murder and took 
his name from him.  Without honor, one cannot 
have a noble house.
     
     My challenge is this:
     
     For all of your married sons that have 
kept the Asai name, I will fight them one per 
week, from the youngest to the oldest.  If I 
win, they will remove themselves and their 
children from the Asai family scroll.  If I 
lose, I will commit seppuku as honor 
commands. 
     
     When the last son is vanquished, we will 
meet.  If I win, in addition to removing 
yourself and your dependents from the Asai 
scroll, it shall be given to me for 
safekeeping.  If perchance I lose, I will do 
as true honor demands.
     
     Happosai, a man once known as the boy, 
Shiro Asai.
     
============================================
     
     On the morning of the first challenge, 
Happosai arrived at the gate to his father's 
estate.  He had spent most of the week trying 
to understand his father's words.  They 
didn't make any sense.  His father had 
attempted to kill him and had instead caused 
the death of his mother.  Why would he be 
pleased to see him now?  
     
     He had spent the week camping in a glade 
within easy walking distance of his father's 
home.  He went through some very basic katas 
and other training exercises to keep his 
edge, but hadn't bothered with any intense 
training.  He would live or die with what he 
knew.  
     
     Knocking on the gate to announce his 
presence, he noticed perspiration on the 
upraised fist.  If he hadn't known better, he 
would have thought that he already had fought 
and lost.  His stomach was gnarled into one 
roiling mass.  Anticipation, nervousness and 
fear all added equal shares to the beast that 
his insides had become.  When a servant 
answered and bowed him inside, he 
concentrated on walking slowly, confidently 
forward. 
     
     Entering the Asai dojo, he found the 
entire family waiting for him.  His father 
sat, red-eyed, opposite the entrance 
underneath the dojo shrine.  His three older 
brothers sat in order at his father's right.  
His stepmother and her six children all sat 
on the patriarch's left.  Seeing his 
entrance, they all bowed to him.
     
     Giving a short, polite bow in return, he 
looked towards his father and asked, "Who 
will meet my challenge today?"
     
     Saburo started to rise, but was stopped 
by Jiro.  Jiro motioned with his head towards 
their father.  Reseating himself, Saburo 
waited for his father's words.
     
     "Shiro, my son, I humbly apologize to 
you for the disgrace that I brought upon you 
with my shameful actions at the time of your 
mother's death.  After your aunt left with 
you and my lost daughters, I spent eight 
weeks in bed.  For the first time in my life, 
I looked at what my actions had wrought and 
was ashamed," Hikozabe's voice quivered with 
shame as he recounted this.  "In the years 
since your leaving, I have tried to contact 
you many times.  Each time, I was 
unsuccessful.  I want you to know that there 
is no reason for your challenge.  I added you 
back to the family as soon as I was able 
after you went to China."
     
     Bowing with his head on the floor and 
openly crying, his father said, "Can you 
forgive my foolishness and pride?  Shiro, I 
would be proud to acknowledge you as my son.  
You do not have to hide behind the name of 
Happosai.  Use the name that your mother and 
I gave you when you were born become Shiro 
Asai again."
     
     He had dreamed of this day many times.  
He had imagined his father angrily denouncing 
him, laughing at him, dismissing him and even 
trying to kill him.  He never expected to see 
his father asking for reconciliation.  As he 
began to sift through the words spoken by his 
father a second time in his mind, a sense of 
righteous indignation mingled with a cold 
hard fury began shaking him.  
     
     "Forgive your foolishness?  If all that 
you had done to me was to take away my name, 
I might forgive you, father," as he said the 
word, the loathing he felt for the man was 
palpable.  He continued in a rising shout of 
righteous anger, saying, "You ordered my 
death.  If not for mother's overhearing your 
plan and giving me her water, I would be 
dead.  She would be alive today, if not for 
your attempt at my life.  Forgive you?  
Never."
     
     "I say again, who will face my challenge 
today!" he roared at his father.  
     
     Hikozabe looked at his son, with 
anguished regret.  "How did you know that?"
     
     "Mother told me as she died."
     
     The rest of the family sat staring at 
Hikozabe, not knowing what to think.  The man 
they knew would never have attempted murder.  
He had changed in the twenty years since 
Happosai had left.  The beating that Li Wei 
administered to him had forced him to face 
himself with honest eyes.  Ashamed of the man 
he had become, he slowly and painfully had 
changed who he was.  He had become an 
honorable man, in all the ways that counted.
     
     Bowing again to his son, he choked out, 
"I-I'm truly sorry, Shiro.  I am not the man 
I once was.  That man died a long time ago."
     
     Shaking his head in negation, Happosai 
stood as straight as he could as he replied, 
"I ask for one last time, old man, who will 
answer my challenge."
     
     "I will!"  Saburo jumped up, yelling 
angrily at his younger brother.  "The man I 
know as my father would never have attempted 
your life.  He has changed.  If you cannot 
accept that, then I will allow you an 
honorable death."
     
     Facing his brother, Happosai appraised 
him.  Saburo was almost the spitting image of 
his father.  He stood an inch taller and was 
not as broad-shouldered, but had the same 
arrogance in his looks and carriage as his 
father had at the same age.
     
     Striding forward, Saburo dropped all of 
his weaponry.  Looking down at his diminutive 
brother, he snarled, "I won't need any 
weapons to defeat you."
     
     Happosai stood in a ready stance and 
calmly waited for Saburo's first offensive.  
When it did come, it came as a rush of kicks.  
     
     Saburo charged in, hoping to end the 
fight quickly.  Expecting to use his greater 
reach advantageously, he stayed outside of 
his younger brother's reach and repeatedly 
kicked at him.  Unfortunately, he found that 
his strongest kicks were useless.  If he 
kicked at a target higher than his waist, he 
was kicking air.  Instead of having his 
weight and strength behind it when he tried 
to hit Happosai, his kicks ended up using 
only the force his leg muscles could muster.  
His brother evaded every one of the strikes.  
Frustrated, he tried a spinning leg sweep.  
He felt it connect and started to smile in 
triumph when his momentum stopped and he 
found himself flying through the air.
     
     To the watchers, it seemed that Saburo 
had performed a standard leg sweep.  Happosai 
took one step back and caught the other man's 
foot in his right hand.  In an impossible 
show of strength, he then casually threw his 
arm over his head, throwing his brother out 
of the dojo's door.    
     
     Crashing through the entrance back 
first, Saburo landed hard, his back and his 
head taking the brunt of the landing.  
Getting up slowly, he shook his head trying 
to decide which of the four images of 
Happosai he was tracking really was his 
target.
     
     For his part, Happosai turned and 
casually walked out through the remains of 
the dojo's door.  Seeing the dazed look on 
his opponent's face, he decided to give his 
brother a chance to surrender.
     
     "Saburo, I don't want to hurt you any 
more than I have to.  I can see that you're 
not able to defend yourself, give up."
     
     "Never."
     
     With a small sigh, he said, "Very well, 
brother."
     
     In his first and last offensive strike 
of the match, Happosai leapt at his brother 
punching him hard in the stomach with a 
savage kick, doubling him over in pain.  
Taking advantage, he quickly put his fists 
together, struck Saburo in the small of the 
back forcing him to straighten his back.  
Applying the final touch, Happosai jumped 
onto his brother's back and punched at the 
base of his neck, bringing him down while he 
sat on his back.  
     
     "It is finished.  You will take your 
wife's family name, brother," he said to 
Saburo as he walked back into the dojo.  
Inside, he bowed to his father, saying, 
"Until next week."
     
     With that, he turned and left.  
     
*********************
     
     That night as he ate cold rice and dried 
beef, he sat and tried to make sense of what 
had happened.  He had been ready for any 
possible response from his father except for 
remorse.  His father asked him for 
forgiveness.  His stomach churned and almost 
emptied itself as he thought of forgiving the 
man.  
     
     Unable to sleep, the emotions of the day 
were still too fresh within him.  He began 
working out.  The first exercises he tried 
were some simple katas.  While they easily 
limbered him up, they did nothing to resolve 
the knot that was his stomach.  Moving into 
more exhausting routines, he began to shadow 
fight with the trees lining the clearing he 
was in.  Breaking into a sweat, his body 
continued to fight while memories of his past 
floated up into his consciousness.
     
     As he broke the yard-wide trunk of a 
tree, he felt his mothers loving hands run 
along his back and remembered the song she 
always sang to him.  Moving to the next tree, 
he remembered the plague and his mother's 
dying words.  Tears stinging his eyes now, he 
heard his father's angry words at his 
mother's funeral and the day afterwards.  
Blindly stumbling now, tripping over bushes 
and roots, Li Wei's voice came back to him 
reminding that none should be allowed to harm 
one of Amazon blood.  
     
     Collapsing as he tripped one last time, 
he heard the voice of a long forgotten priest 
reminding him, "My son vengeance is two-edged 
sword with no handle.  When one seeks 
vengeance in life, it is often the one 
seeking retribution who is most harmed by its 
pursuit.  Many times, you must become that 
which you despise to gain that which you 
claim to want."
     
     With those words ringing in his ears, he 
wandered back to his camp and fell into his 
sleeping roll.  Exhausted from his mental and 
physical workouts, he quickly fell into an 
untroubled, dreamless sleep.  
     
     He woke to the smell of breakfast being 
prepared.  Jumping to his feet, he found 
Ichiro, his eldest brother, cooking a meal 
for the both of them.  Ichiro squatted by the 
fire, his back to his brother trusting him 
not to attack.
     
     "Awake, little brother?  If you'd slept 
for another five minutes, I would've had the 
tea ready," he spoke in the friendly tones 
Happosai remembered, but with a warm baritone 
instead of the boyish soprano of his youth.
     
     "Yes, I'm awake," curious and wary of 
his brother, he walked forward and sat at 
Ichiro's right.
     
     "Quite a display of martial prowess 
you've put on.  At least, I think so based on 
the number of trees that are now ready to be 
turned into firewood."  He smiled and 
laughed.
     
     "Hmm, I needed to train last night."
     
     "Everything's ready.  Let's eat."  He 
quickly scooped up a plateful of food and 
passed it to Happosai.  Pouring some tea, he 
did the same.  After making sure that his 
brother's needs were taken care of, he served 
himself.
     
     Waiting for Ichiro to begin eating, 
Happosai sat and watched his brother.  As he 
saw him begin to eat, he ate some himself.  
Finding it very tasty, he asked, "Where did 
you learn to cook like that?"
     
     "Being a soldier and traveling by 
yourself tends to force one to learn," Ichiro 
answered with a smile.
     
     "I travel by myself all the time, I've 
never learned how to cook this well," he 
grumbled to no one in particular.
     
     Turning to face Happosai, Ichiro turned 
serious and asked, "Brother, Father changed 
after you and our sisters were taken from us.  
He apologized to mother at her shrine for all 
of the things that you charged against him 
and others.  He reinstated you into the 
family.  He let us choose our own 
professions.  Jiro is a scholar.  Brother, 
there is no need for this challenge.  
Renounce it and rejoin our family."
     
     Shaking his head in slow negation, 
Happosai answered, "It's too late.  Even if I 
believed you, I cannot back out now.  It's a 
matter of honor and I must complete the 
challenge."  The food he had just eaten sat 
heavily in his stomach.  He believed his 
brother, but the challenge had been made.  To 
back out now would forever label him as 
either a coward or honorless.  He didn't care 
of they thought him honorless; but he would 
die before his father or any of his brothers 
called him a coward.
     
     "I feared as much.  Will you at least 
come and stay with me this week?  I'd like to 
get a chance to know who my littlest brother 
has become."  With a smile, he added, "Of 
course, if you want to stay out here in the 
woods making firewood for the winter."
     
     "Heh, if it was just you and me, 
brother, I'd already have invited myself in.  
I've missed you and you're sense of humor.  
However, I cannot go with you until the 
challenge is finished."
     
     "I understand.  Would you mind if I 
visited you here?  I'd like a chance to know 
you, little brother.  From the way you were 
able to defeat Saburo and these trees, it's 
obvious that you've become a mighty fighter.  
I'm curious what else you've learned."    
     
     Happosai paused and looked at his 
brother.  He saw an earnest friendliness on 
the face of his brother.  Remembering how 
nice his brother had always been to him, he 
said, "Yes, I'd like that.  I'd like to know 
what's happened to you, too."
     
     "It's time for me to go.  I look forward 
to visiting you."  Standing up, Ichiro 
collected the breakfast dishes and left for 
the village.
     
     Ichiro brought breakfast to Happosai 
every morning that week.  Each day he would 
try to get his little brother to withdraw the 
challenge.  Happosai would refuse.  They 
talked of many things, none relating to 
either's skill at the Art.  Ichiro told 
Happosai of life in the Imperial Army and how 
Men of Samurai ancestry were being recruited 
to lead the enlisted ranks.  Happosai related 
to Ichiro what had happened with their 
sisters and some of his travels.
     
*********************
     
     Happosai stood at the entrance to his 
father's dojo.  Once again, his stomach 
churned and nervous sweat dripped from him.  
He watched as the servant noiselessly slid 
the repaired door open.
     
     He bowed to the shrine and strode 
forward into the center of the room.  He 
stopped and looked at his father.  
     
     The tableau inside was similar to what 
it had been the previous week.  His brothers 
all sat to one side of Hikozabe and his new 
wife and children sat on the other.  There 
were two jarring differences.  
     
     The robes Hikozabe wore were the robes 
one wore for the ritual of seppuku.  In front 
of him lay the family katana and tanto along 
with the robes for the second, in his size.  
Next to this, he saw a parchment scroll bound 
with a leather wrapper.  
     
     Looking up from the blades, he glanced 
at his stepmother and brothers, all were red-
eyed sitting stoically with no emotion 
showing on their faces.  
     
     "What is the meaning of this?"
     
     "Shiro, you have left me no choice.  I 
have done all of the things you stated in 
your challenge and worse.  I apologized to 
your mother's spirit and the family I had 
left many years ago.  My honor is forfeit.  I 
have removed everyone, except you, from the 
Asai family scroll as you requested.  I would 
like to ask you to second me as I commit 
seppuku to regain the honor I forfeited for 
you and my sons.  I hope that this will be 
enough for you to forgive an old man the 
arrogance of his youth."  Throughout the 
entire speech, Hikozabe kept his eyes riveted 
upon Happosai's, neither flinching away nor 
showing any weakness.  
     
     Rocked to his core, he stood staring at 
his father.  This is not what he wanted.  He 
did not want his father to accede to his 
demands and ask for forgiveness, especially 
not to the point of death!  He wanted his 
father to be the same man who had literally 
thrown him into the gutters.  He wanted cold, 
hard vengeance.  
     
     Anger and frustration boiled forth from 
him as he began to yell, "You can't do this!  
You were supposed to fight me!  I'm supposed 
to show you how good I am."  He calmed 
himself and started again, "I accept your 
apology and I will take the family scroll.  I 
promised Mother that I would see that the 
eight treasures that you valued most were 
taken from you.  Your three daughters and I 
were taken away by my aunt.  With this 
scroll, my brothers and your name are now 
lost to you.  This I vowed.  I did not make a 
covenant to oversee your death with her.  I 
do not want or need your life."  
     
     Hesitatingly, he slowly moved forward 
and took the scroll from the floor.  Placing 
it inside of his wrap, he stepped back from 
his father.  "Sir, you've shown me much more 
honor than I ever expected to see from you 
today.  I." He stopped talking because he 
didn't know what he wanted to tell the man in 
front of him.  
     
     As he looked at his father, he felt 
anger at having the sweetness of his revenge 
taken away.  Feelings of pride and love 
surfaced in him.  He was amazed at the change 
in the man who once tried to kill him because 
he was a dwarf.  Seeing true repentance 
within his father's eyes, he felt the loss of 
the dream of vengeance.  By apologizing and 
acknowledging his crimes, his father took 
away the twenty-year old dream that Happosai 
had nurtured.  Shame for the honorless 
actions that he had perpetrated in getting to 
this point overpowered what little control he 
had left and he fell forward, collapsing in 
tears.  
     
     "Father, your honor is restored.  It is 
I who must relearn what honor is.  I will 
join the Imperial Army as Ichiro has and 
learn there."
     
     A hand dropped on his shoulder and he 
heard his father say, "Shiro, I mean. 
Happosai, I am proud of you and your 
accomplishments.  I don't know of many men 
that if they had been treated as I did you, 
would have had the pride and honor to come 
back and challenge me as you did.  Stay with 
me for a while before joining the army.  As I 
told you last week, I've tried for years to 
get a letter to you or your sisters, none 
have ever been answered.  There are many 
things I'd like to know."
     
     "Ichiro, when are you due back?"  
Happosai asked his brother in a hoarse 
whisper.
     
     "I have the next thirty days before my 
leave is finished and I must report to my 
battalion," Ichiro said with a gentle smile 
upon his face.
     
     "Then I have thirty days to spend with 
you, Father."  Happosai dried his tears and 
stood up facing Hikozabe.  "I'd like to meet 
my step-brothers and step-sisters.  I've met 
my step-mother and would like the chance to 
get to know her."
     
     Hikozabe pulled Happosai into a bear 
hug.  "You will, my son, you will.  I'm so 
happy that you are willing to be a part of 
the family again."  
     
     Happosai hung stiffly within his 
father's grasp.  He wasn't going to fight 
being hugged; but he wasn't going to 
encourage it either.  His emotions 
overwhelmed, he was numb to the events around 
him.  
     
     As his father put him down, he said, "I 
have to get my belongings, I will be back 
tonight."  He then walked out of the dojo in 
a stunned daze.  
     
     "I'm looking forward to it, son!" his 
father happily shouted behind him.  "My son, 
my long lost son, is a part of my family 
again."
     
*********************
     
     Ashes.  
     
     All of his dreams and plans for this day 
were in ashes.  Why couldn't things have been 
the way he wanted them to be?  He had dreamed 
that humbling his father and forcing him to 
give up the things he held most dear would 
bring him peace.  Instead, his father had 
changed enough to willingly give him what he 
asked for. 
     
     Taking a final look around his campsite, 
he saw the tattered remnants of several trees 
laying in the dirt.  He had a decision to 
make.  Should he go back to his father's home 
and try to learn the ways of honor or should 
he leave and never come back?  Seeking 
vengeance had left him honorless and empty 
with nothing to do now that it was over.  
     
     He was curious as to what names his 
brothers and father now had.  For one thing, 
the Asai estate could no longer bear that 
name.  He wondered if it would be given to 
his step-mother's family or if it would go to 
Ichiro and his new family.  
     
     Shaking his head, he turned and began to 
walk towards the little town he had been born 
in.  It was time that he became a person of 
honor, like his mother, aunt, sisters, Ichiro 
and maybe his father.  With a smile on his 
face and hope in his heart, he quickened his 
pace and soon arrived in Nerima, the village 
of his birth.
     
 *********************
     
     In front of the shrine lay a parchment 
and a tanto.  An old man picked them up and 
smiled. 
     
     "Mother, my revenge was neither sweet 
nor fulfilling.  I fulfilled my promise to 
you and stopped father from killing himself."  
He carefully placed the objects back down.  
"I'm still not sure whether what I did next 
was right or wrong.  Joining the Imperial 
Army did teach me the difference between 
saying one has honor and having it.  I did 
things that I am still ashamed to admit.  My 
brother , Ichiro Tendo, taught me how one 
lives honorably.  I am still proud to call 
myself his brother."
     
*********************
     
     Whew.  This chapter is finished!  This 
took a lot longer and was much more difficult 
to write that I first thought it would.  
Hikozabe was supposed to be the stubborn jerk 
that he was in the first chapter.  I didn't 
know that he had matured until he first 
showed up in here.

     I have a question that I would like you 
to answer since you've read this far.  This 
fic is trying to get into Happosai's head and 
show his emotional growth during his life.  
Is it working, or am I emphasizing it too 
much?
     
     Note:  I tried to find out if Nerima had 
been a town on its own and had been 
surrounded by Tokyo this century.  On the 
Internet, I couldn't find any evidence to the 
positive or negative.  If this is wrong, I'll 
gladly change whatever I need to.  Just send 
me a friendly note.  
     
     What's coming up?
     
     In the next chapter, Happosai will go to 
war.  The Russo-Japanese war to be exact.  It 
is possible that I will be able to bring the 
story through the Second World War, but that 
would make it extremely large.
     
     I want to thank Ryan Erik for his help with 
this chapter.  He pretty much single-handedly
editted this for me.  

     I look forward to hearing from all of 
you with your comments and suggestions.
     
     Mike Allen