A village devastated by a cruel incursion, the dreaded buzzing of the insect monsters with promises of demise. Families perishing before their very eyes, a wicked punishment for which no one shall ever know the cause. There, Saki stands in the middle. The bodies of her fellow villagers that she failed to protect lie on the ground. She was alive, but she was rotting on the inside. Wracked with guilt, Saki could only grip her sword with trembling hands and twist her face in regret as she whispered for forgiveness and atonement.
Saki woke up in her own bed, sweat forming on her forehead. She has awoken from that strange nightmare and let out a relieved sigh. She flopped her head against her pillow and took a moment to calm her racing heart. Later, she stepped down their stairs to see her parents cleaning up in their kitchen.
"Mother? Father?" She called out, causing them to snap in her direction. Their eyes were filled with surprise, and suddenly, her mother dropped the plates she was cleaning and rushed to her with teary eyes. "Oh... Saki!" She threw herself to Saki, holding her tight and rubbing her hair down. "My dear Saki..." She speaks between her sniffs. Her father walks to their side as he brushes off a tear from the corner of his eyes.
"Wh-what's going on? I just took a rest..." Saki was a bit surprised to see her mother holding her and crying. She looked at her father for answers, so he replied with a gentle tone. "Saki... You've been asleep for an entire week" Saki skipped a heartbeat upon hearing his words. She has been asleep for a week right after she dealt the final blow to the giant bug. She couldn't form a word as she processed the thought.
"We were worried when you didn't wake up for two days. And then your friend Abigail came to give us clarification. She explained to us that your body couldn't keep up with all the fatigue that you had carried along with your battered body. While her healing spell cleared your fatal wounds, your body had suffered greatly" He explained to her and then went to pat her head.
Her mother pulls away slightly to look at Saki with a relieved smile and teary eyes as she fixes her hair. Saki smiled back at the feeling of her mother's hand on her hair. "Oh... Saki. I was so worried" Her mother whispered. "I know, Mother... I'm sorry" Saki replied in a low tone. "Come on, honey. Let her eat her breakfast" Her father patted the back of her mother who pulled away from Saki to agree with him. "We've already eaten, we weren't expecting you to wake up at this time" Her mother said with a trembling voice. "That's, um, fine... I can eat by myself, thank you, Mother..." Saki reassures her.
Later on, Saki finished her meal. Throughout her breakfast, she can feel the glances of her parents. She must have slept for so long that it was a huge relief for them that they couldn't stop checking up on her, she thought. She stayed at her table for a few moments to relax and look through their window. Then her father spoke up. "Saki... Your friend tried to be subtle about it... But she has been passing by our house twice every day. Make sure to give her a lot of hugs when you go out"
Saki felt a bit flustered hearing him. "We... We don't do that stuff" She replied. Her father pretended to be shocked. "Oh, really? Are you too much of a rural commoner for such a thing? Town girls do that all the time, I've seen your mother do it occasionally with her friends when she was younger" He let out a bit of a chuckle. Saki glanced at her, a bit annoyed. "Unless you guys had me in Saintsville, then yes, I'm too much of a ' rural commoner' for such things like that" She knew she was born in Shigure and it added to her annoyance.
"Anyways, you can leave your plate there, sweetie. We will clean up after you. You should go outside, people might be delighted to see you after these few days" Her father said to her, giving her one last glance before returning to helping his wife.
Saki stepped out to their yard, and the same familiar sight greeted her. Their yard enclosed by a wooden fence, the houses and villagers walking by to her right and the wooden dummy to her left. Upon her appearance by their house, the passing villagers would turn their gaze on her and their expressions immediately turned to admiration and surprise. After taking in the fresh air, she walks to her dummy and touches it. The dummy had a rough texture due to scratches and small splintered spots as the result of her previous training.
As she was reminiscing her training days, she heard a footstep stopping behind her by the fences. "A fine morning, Saki" It was Abigail, she turned around to see her. Seeing Saki's face again, Abigail let out a sharp exhale as if holding back some feelings. She climbed over their fences to Saki's surprise, and once inside, she rushed towards her and threw herself at her.
"Oh... Good morning, Abby..." As Saki caught and greeted her, Abigail buried her face on her chest and let out a muffled giggle. "Geez... When did you get so affectionate like this? So much for telling Father about hugging being not our thing" Saki had a slight confusion but seeing her so happy was refreshing to her. "And climbing over our fence like that... You looked like a thief" She giggled. The movement of her chest from her giggles caused Abigail to giggle as well, then she pulled away to see her. "How are you doing, Saki? You've slept for quite a bit" Hearing Abigail, Saki noticed a tinge of longing in her voice, making her remember her father's words about her passing by her house at least two times every day.
She takes in this thought and replies to her. "I'm fine now, I'm glad you care so much" Her words caused Abigail to place a hand on her own chest. "Of course I care, Saki" She replied with sincerity. Saki nods with a smile then looks around. "Looks like Shigure has already moved on from the bug's attack, huh?" She said to Abigail, causing her to look behind her.
"Yes. Believe it or not, it only took three days to clean everything up. The chief of Kire briefed Saintsville about the incident, and all the dead bugs were carried to their village so the people of Saintsville could help dispose of them" Abigail explained. Saki thinks for a while. "So many things happened while I was resting, huh... To think Saintsville folks would travel all the way down south to help disposing the bugs" She said. Abigail then turns to her. "Well, apart from that, all the villages had returned to their usual routines. You didn't miss much unless you really wanted to see the people of Saintsville" She let out a slight giggle.
"That can wait, I will be visiting them soon" Saki replied with confidence, causing Abigail to be amused. As she stood, Saki noticed two swords sheathed on either side of her waist. "Oh... that..." She points then Abigail perks up and immediately unstraps one of them. "Here... This is your sword" She hands over Saki's sword along with its sheath. Saki held her sheath and admired it for a few seconds. As she did, Abigail spoke up. "You dropped it after you killed that giant pest. I couldn't pick it up sooner because I had to carry you back here" Her words caused Saki to feel a warmth in her chest.
"I, um... Thanks" She replied, her voice coming out timidly. Abigail nods with a smile. "Do you need it right now? I also have your wooden sword here, I've fixed it" She took out the wooden sword from her other sheath and extended it to Saki. "Wow... You fixed it?" Saki asked as she was sending her iron sword to her virtual inventory. "Yes... After dealing with the bugs, I had so much time so I figured I should fix your wooden sword back to its mint condition" Abigail replied as she handed over the wooden sword.
Saki examined the wooden sword. It appears as if it was newly made rather than being repaired, the ashwood in which the sword was made out of retains its perfect condition without a trace of damage. The perfect condition even formed doubt in Saki's mind about whether it was the same sword. She looked up to Abigail to ask. "Is this really the sword you gave me years ago?" To which Abigail nods. "It looks just like when you gave it to me that day" Saki remarked as she looked back at the wooden sword.
"I guess I'm good at restoring your wooden sword" Abigail shrugged at her with a smile. "I guess..." Saki replied briefly then wielded the wooden sword against the dummy. Abigail steps to the side and watches her. "Slash true against the bodies of gel!" Saki yelled and executed her combo of slash and thrust against the dummy. Loud thuds and splinters echoed around as her wooden sword scraped and hit the dummy. Abigail chuckled silently, covering her mouth with a hand.
"Seeing you do that to your dummy makes you look so violent" She said, causing Saki to frown. "Well, why do you swing a sword for then? To tickle someone?" She joked as she returned to her dummy, leaving Abigail chuckling to the side. "Cleave the enemies apart!" Her wide swing causes the head part of the dummy to break with a loud splinter. Abigail jerks up as it echoes throughout the village. "Whoops..." Saki looks down on the broken part and then glances at Abigail. "Like I said... violent" Abigail said with a small smile.
She approached the head part and picked it up then looked at Saki. "Don't worry. I will get it fixed" She said to her then turned to pick up the dummy. "It should be fixed tomorrow" She said one last time before heading towards her house to exit. Standing from the yard, Saki could hear her confused parents asking Abigail how she got in. She shook her head with a scoff and then practiced her swinging for the rest of the day.