He was ruthless not only to himself, but even more so to those around him.
Tetsu no Sosuke had been grieving at first, but now, for some reason, anger rose in him. "What the hell was that? You decided to die, just like that. Did you think about anyone else? Your sons? Your daughters? Your wife? ...Fine, Amane must have been ready for this long ago. Your children knew the burden you carried, too. From the day they were born, they were never going to have normal lives! I get it... I understand all of that!"
"But... did you think about those of us who've been fighting all this time?"
"We're the ones on the front lines. That's our responsibility. Since when did you have to pay a price like this?"
"You were too damn sure you knew best!"
Tetsu no Sosuke pointed at the crater and cursed at the top of his lungs.
But when he finished, he felt no calmer. If anything, the anger left him feeling even emptier.
In Ubuyashiki Kagaya's eyes, he had been someone special, someone unlike anyone else.
Yet to Tetsu no Sosuke, Ubuyashiki Kagaya had been just as special.
He had disagreed with some of Ubuyashiki Kagaya's ideas and decisions. For a time, he had thought the man was a powder keg behind a calm exterior, his mind forever on the edge of extremes.
And yet he could make decisions with astonishing composure.
No matter how dire the situation, he would never knowingly send the swordsmen under his command to certain death.
Even so, casualties had been unavoidable.
There was nothing he could do about it except hold the fallen swordsmen in his heart. He remembered every name, and mourned every lost soul day and night.
A complicated man, equal parts composure and