The Village Disciples

40 Years Ago

It was a relatively peaceful day. The sun was shining, birds were chirping mirthfully, and the people in the village of Tokuni were happily moving along.

Tokuni was a small village inside the nation of Adonai, the home of a thousand people or more. One day in Tokuni, a man in his early thirties was walking to work. And his name was Laurence Hisahito.

Laurence Hisahito was having a fantastic day. He was just recently promoted to the head of the facility at which he works, as well as being granted permission to perform his own tests. All very good things for the dark-haired Laurence.

Laurence is currently working at a facility named Kyodo. It was placed in the center of the village, Tokuni. Kyodo was a local department for various studies. The majority of the studies are based on past historical events or even newly discovered scientific studies.

Opening the front door to the facility, Laurence walked into the building with a smile on his face. A young woman with long, silver hair was the first to greet him, holding a clipboard as she smiled at Laurence, "Good morning, Mr. Hisahito."

Laurence nodded in acknowledgment, replying, "Good morning to you, Ms. Rosaline." Throughout Laurence's five years of working for the Kyodo facility, Rosaline has always been there to assist him.

The two then began walking down a narrow hallway. They passed multiple rooms with glass windows, enabling anyone to observe the contents of the room when walking through the hallway. Then, after a few moments of the two walking throughout the facility, they finally reached a room with double doors. Next to the two doors was a huge window, which was where Laurence and Rosaline stood, looking into a huge room.

Laurence breathed in to speak, "So, are they already named?" He turned to look at the silver-haired woman.

Rosaline nodded at the question and answered, "Yes. Currently, they are being fed in the lunchroom."

Those words put a brighter smile on Laurence's face. Everything was going smoothly. Well, he did have a smile on his face until he heard what else came out of Rosaline's mouth. "However, one of them is a bit rambunctious. They refuse to listen, even resorting to tossing food everywhere."

Laurence sighed, gesturing a hand toward her. "I see. May you take me to them?" He questioned, adopting a look of curiosity.

Rosaline nodded. "Certainly, Mr. Hisahito."

XXX

*CREAK*

The sound of doors opening could be heard. Both Laurence and Rosaline could be seen entering a room with copious tables and seats. It was the facility's built-in lunchroom. In the corner of the lunchroom, a few of the tables were currently occupied. At those tables, there were five children.

Laurence steadily walked over to the children who were currently eating, his hands behind his back. Upon arriving at the table, Laurence noticed that none of them bothered to glance up at him. He had to make himself known. Laurence cleared his throat loudly, then spoke, "Hello?" That got their attention. All of the children steered their eyes from their food to Laurence, prompting the man to smile. "Hello. My name is Laurence. I will be the one taking care of you all!"

He got no response in return. Rosaline walked up to Laurence, tapping his shoulder lightly. "They aren't exactly responsive at the moment. They're adjusting to the new environment."

Laurence remained silent, looking at the children. When you look at them, they really were diverse children. Their hair ranged from blue, black, brown, purple to white. They all sat in different seats, spaced away from each other, even eating different foods. Deep down, they were probably good kids. "Alright," Laurence suddenly said to Rosaline. "Let's give them some space."

And with that, the two adults left the lunchroom, leaving the children to eat.

XXX

"Mr. Hisahito, I must question: why did you choose underage children for our tests?" Rosaline asked Laurence.

Currently, after leaving the lunchroom, they proceeded to head to Laurence's new office. Upon entering the office, various sheets of documents could be seen, scattered all over the desk that sat in the middle of the room. Laurence parted his lips to speak, "Because, Rosaline, if we raise them young, we have a higher chance of them cooperating when they're older. They don't fully understand the power they have, giving us the opportunity to teach them our ways."

Laurence walked over to the elongated, wooden desk in the middle of the room, re-arranging some of the documents. Laurence grasped one of the documents, lifting it up to his face. "Reberu Manabu: Eight years old; Tansu Beast: Kesseki." Laurence read off the information listed on the document. Rosaline quietly listened from behind.

Laurence put the document back on the desk neatly. "We managed to save all five of the original Tansu beasts. Having those children could result in a new sanction! Our wonderful nation is suffering from the Takuetsu family's reign. These children can lead us into freedom!" Rosaline remained silent, looking at the document-covered desk from where she stood. With her silence, Laurence continued, "With Reiwa finally being dead, we have a chance to improve our nation!"

Reluctantly, Rosaline nodded. "Alright. I'm choosing to trust you on this, Mr. Hisahito."

Laurence smiled at her words. "You won't regret it, Rosaline. I promise you."

XXX

4 Years Later

'That damn Imawashiki!'

Laurence was currently rushing throughout the village of Tokuni. He received a call about one of his tests causing problems with the locals. Arriving at the scene, he could see a black-haired child with long, red sideburns traversing down the side of his face. 'He must've been running freely throughout the village again.'

Over the past four years, news about the Tansu beasts' return ignited a negative response from the public. The kids' having immense strength that they most likely couldn't control in the slightest was terrifying to the people of Tokuni. So, to calm the villagers, the kids are either to be guarded when leaving the facility or not allowed to leave at all. Laurence constantly had to send guards whenever one of the children broke out. More specifically, a child who has the nickname Imawashiki. The rowdy one of the Tansu bunch.

Laurence marched over to the black-haired child, catching the troublemaker's attention instantly. "What did I tell you about wandering about the village!?"

The child, who was nicknamed by the villages as Imawashiki, lowered his head. "To never leave home without a guard?" He answered shyly.

Laurence nodded. "Yes," he said, then proceeded to grab Imawashiki's left arm, revealing what the twelve-year-old child had in his hands. "And to not steal food!"

This specific child had a tendency to steal food from concessions or people who were ignorant enough to leave it exposed. Imawashiki tended to steal either bread or any type of junk food. He always justified his actions by saying, 'The food at home sucks!' It was very annoying to Laurence.

"Well, tell the lunch lady's at home to make better food! Especially not food that's as burnt as my targets at practice!" Imawashiki retorted childishly. What he's referring to are the frequent training sessions the children of the new Tansu are put through. Training children was harder than Laurence thought.

Laurence yanked the piece of bread out of Imawashiki's left hand. "Quit complaining. The food can't be that bad!" Laurence assured.

"IT IS!" Imawashiki argued.

This was getting old. Laurence snapped his fingers, alerting nearby guards from Kyodo. "Guards, escort him back to the facility safely."

Laurence proceeded to walk over to the stand that originally owned the piece of bread, gingerly handing it back to the woman who runs the stand. "I apologize for his actions, ma'am."

The woman huffed, placing the bread along with the other pieces. "Just make sure it doesn't happen again. I've lost count of how many times I saw him just wandering around!"

Laurence smiled sheepishly. "Yes, ma'am. Have a great day ma'am." Laurence then walked away, most likely heading back to the Kyodo facility. 'Damn troublemaker.'

XXX

3 Years Later

Laurence was sitting at his desk in his office, looking through new documents as he tapped a pencil against his head. Suddenly, knocking could be heard at the door. Laurence looked up at the door, placing his pencil down. "Come in!" He called out.

With the door opening, Laurence could see the familiar silver-haired Rosaline walking in. Laurence smiled at her presence, he then greeted her, "Ah! Rosaline! What do I owe the pleasure?"

Rosaline didn't speak, but she did hand a paper to Laurence, confusing the man momentarily. Laurence decided to look at the paper closely, causing his eyes to widen tremendously. The village, Tokuni, was running dangerously low on supplies, materials, and warriors to protect the village. All of this is very bad news. Without supplies, they couldn't train the new Tansu group to their fullest extent. Without materials, homes and businesses couldn't form properly, and with no warriors, Tokuni would be left wide open, sitting and waiting for anyone to attack.

"When did we receive this?" Laurence questioned Rosaline hastily, still eyeing the paper in his hands.

"This morning, Mr. Hisahito," Rosaline answered, patiently standing still, waiting for Laurence's next orders.

Laurence clenched his fist tightly. It wasn't supposed to go this way. Wait. There was one viable option left. Albeit risky, it had to be done in Laurence's eyes. Laurence looked at Rosaline sternly. "Considering our current standing, we have no other choice."

Rosaline adopted a look of confusion. "To do what, Mr. Hisahito?"

Laurence sighed. "Are you aware of the village Furusato? The massive village that is right next to us?"

Rosaline nodded, asking, "Are you requesting that we form an alliance with them?" It wasn't all that bad of an idea to the silver-haired lady.

Laurence shook his head slowly. He never wanted to resort to something as lowly as this. "No. I'm saying we steal the supplies we need from them."

XXX

1 Year Later

Destruction. Overwhelming amounts of destruction. Over the past year, multiple affairs between Tokuni and Furusato have spread, resulting in the inevitable destruction and razing of Tokuni village. Even the Kyodo facility has met its end. It was currently being set ablaze by warriors from Furusato.

"No! Stop!" Laurence pleaded, running towards the burning facility. All of his work was going to perish!

The warriors who were lighting the place on fire turned, spotting the sprinting Laurence. "There he is!" One of the warriors yelled, raising their glowing sword and charging at Laurence. The other warriors joined in.

Laurence came to a halt when he saw the approaching warriors. But, before the warriors could come too close, all of their heads slipped off their bodies and dropped to the ground, multiple thuds came from the impact of the heads hitting the earth's surface. "Laurence!" The younger Laurence turned to his left after hearing a feminine voice and recognizing a familiar female.

"Rosaline!" Laurence cried out to the female running toward him. "Rosaline! They've burned down the facility!"

A grimace found its way onto the silver-haired woman's features. "I'm sorry to hear the troubling news, but we need to get out of here! Furusato has already overwhelmed our forces. I've gathered all of the survivors and equipment from the facility that I could. We now only need to make our escape!"

Laurence gritted his teeth at the news, shooting copious glances at the burning building before them. He then glanced at the dead warriors on the ground, eyeing their red-tinted armor. 'Damn you, Kokoro Kangae!'

A section of the flaming building fell, crashing to the ground and spreading the flames even more. It was safe to state that the building, including itself, had been completely destroyed.

XXX

Laurence, Rosaline, and a group of people who originally worked at the Kyodo facility could be seen traveling. Going in a direction away from Tokuni, with the whole village being uninhabitable, they were forced to leave. Throughout the recent events, Laurence has felt nothing but immense resentment and hate toward Furusato. More specifically, Furusato's current king, Kokoro Kangae.

"Laurence," Rosaline called out to Laurence, breaking the man out of any negative thoughts. "Where do we plan to go? We never expected a raid on our village, so we had no time to prepare for a runaway location."

Laurence understood where she was coming from. "Do not worry. I've had my eyes on a decently sized village nearby. There, we can all start anew."

Rosaline had a hopeful glint in her eyes. "I'm also sorry about what has transpired these past few months. None of us ever planned for that to happen."

Laurence smiled lightly, turning back to give Rosaline a reassuring look. "It's okay, Rosaline. We'll have another chance at a better life in the future. Don't worry."

With those words, the group of people wandered all throughout Adonai, hoping to reach their destination soon. Having to walk in the cold without any shelter was certainly difficult. Their only supplies consisted of what they could save from the fires and attacks in Tokuni.

One day, when they were traveling, a certain figure came into Laurence's sight. A man who he has learned to hate and to resent. Laurence halted his group by raising his arm as a gesture to stop. "Everybody halt!"

This wasn't an encounter Laurence expected, but one he doesn't absolutely despise, for it was Kokoro Kangae that was standing before them.

XXX

Hey! I hope you guys enjoyed this backstory of Laurence! It did also happen to show a part of the younger Tansu group! Showing a bit of Imawashiki as well! What will happen after the encounter of Laurence and Kokoro? When will we see what happens with Yuso and the others? Stay tuned for more!

Have a Great Day!

Peace - Cr1ticalz_