"Hey. While they're gone, we should probably focus on building this city." Shichiro stretched his back, voice firm.
"Aye aye captain" Kentarō saluted.
Katsu, holding a bounty poster. "Shichiro, look. It's some guy pretending to be Musashi Miyamoto. And we could get money for the town if we capture him."
Shichiro looked at the bounty poster.
"That's nice but, we should focus on the tow-"
"The what?"
Sokudo interrupted him.
Rokuro waved.
"Hey!! I remember you, your Shichir-"
"Yeah. My brother"
Shichiro rolled his eyes.
Reiko ran around the town, insanely fast.
"You guys are, building this town?. Really?, you guys are like... 8 year olds but with access to tools other than. Pillows."
Katsu looked up.
"Oh yeah, you have the Heart of velocity, the first ever legendary heart we saw."
Sokudo dusted off his jacket, barely looking at Katsu as he spoke. "Heart of Velocity, Heart of Speed, whatever you wanna call it. Doesn't matter. I'm still faster than all of you combined."
Kentarō leaned in with a grin. "Yeah? Race me then, speedster."
Sokudo blinked slowly."...No."
Kentarō sputtered. "Bro! why!?"
"Too lazy," Sokudo muttered, collapsing onto a pile of wood like it was a couch. "Also, you'd lose so hard it'd ruin your ego, and I'm too tired to deal with crying."
Shichiro crossed his arms. "You're literally never tired. You're just lazy."
"Exactly," Sokudo replied, eyes closed.
Rokuro sat beside him. "So… are you here to help or just to roast us for building houses like cavemen?"
"I'll help," Sokudo sighed, standing up. "Just tell me what to do."
Shichiro pointed to the perimeter. "Start by gathering wood. We need fencing and supports for the outer wall."
"Yeah."
He vanished, just a streak of white-blue light, then reappeared instantly with three entire trees slung over his shoulder like they were pillows.
Katsu's jaw dropped."Bro. We have axes."
"Yeah."
A short silence lingered.
Kentarō pointed."Can you at least, I don't know… strip the wood? Or you gonna carry a forest into town?"
Sokudo shrugged, flicked his finger, and friction-burned the bark clean off in a single motion. The wood dropped, charred smooth, perfectly cut.
Rokuro stared."...I hate you."
"Yeah."
Shichiro knelt to inspect the wood. "Okay, fine, this is actually useful. Just, don't vanish again."
Sokudo tapped his temple, half-smirking."I'll stay until I get bored."
"We're not eight," Shichiro muttered. Sokudo stopped beside him, leaned forward lazily, hands in pockets.
"Yeah."
"...Did you even listen?"
"Yeah."
Kentarō squinted. "Why do you talk like you're buffering?"
"Yeah."
Kentarō facepalmed so hard it echoed.
Ryosen finally spoke up, setting down a stack of lumber. "Balance-wise, if Sokudo's staying, that means we have more manpower. We can finish the outer wall by sundown."
Sokudo blinked at him.
"Why would I stay?"
Shichiro groaned. "Because you just showed up, insulted us, and now you're leaving?"
"Yeah."
Before anyone could grab him, Sokudo was already sitting on top of an unfinished roof, legs dangling, chewing on something he probably stole.
Katsu tilted his head. "Honestly? He reminds me of a cat."
Shichiro rubbed his temples. "He is a cat. A fast one. With abandonment issues."
Sokudo raised a hand lazily. "I heard that."
"You were supposed to," Shichiro shot back.
Rokuro, curious, walked up to him. "So… the Heart of Velocity. How fast are we talking? Like— run to the forest and back fast?"
Sokudo disappeared.
A gust of wind blew everyone's hair sideways.
He reappeared chewing an apple.
"No trees left in that forest by the way," Sokudo said casually.
Ryosen's eyes widened. "You deforested an entire region… just for a fruit?"
"Yeah."
Katsu stared at the bounty poster again."...At this rate, Musashi isn't even the problem."
Shichiro took the poster, rolled it up, and sighed.
"Look, whether you help or not, at least don't cause more problems. We're trying to build a home here."
Sokudo leaned back, eyes half-lidded.
"Yeah. Sounds fun."
A small smirk appeared, almost unnoticeable.
"But I'm bored. If that Musashi guy shows up, tell him to keep me entertained."
Katsu looked up. "Oh yeah, you have the Heart of Velocity, the first ever legendary heart we saw."
Sokudo stopped running, appearing behind Katsu without warning, hands in pockets.
"Legendary doesn't mean useful," he muttered. "It just means faster than you."
Kentarō scoffed. "Bro thinks he's better than us just because he can run laps around the planet."
Sokudo raised an eyebrow. "I could, actually."
Ryosen dropped a bundle of lumber beside him. "Then do it."
Sokudo stretched, yawned, then walked away instead of running. "Too far."
Shichiro rubbed his temples. "Why are you even here?"
"Mom said check on you." Sokudo pulled out a folded note. "She also said stop dying."
Kentarō leaned over Shichiro's shoulder to read. "It literally just says 'Tell Shichiro to stop being stupid.'"
Shichiro snatched the paper."...Handwriting looks fake."
"I forged it because I forgot what she actually said." Sokudo shrugged.
Katsu blinked. "You're such a terrible older brother."
"Yeah."
He said it with zero shame.
Rokuro sat on a half-built wall, chewing on grass. "So are you helping or just watching?"
Sokudo looked around the construction site. Houses half-built, huts tilted, Katsu's blueprint drawn in the dirt, piles of random scrap.
"...This place is pathetic."
Shichiro glared. "We're trying."
"I know." Sokudo stepped forward, eyes sharpening for a moment. "That's why I came."
The wind shifted, small grains of dirt lifting from the ground, wooden beams trembling slightly from pressure.
Then, flash.
In less than a second, every log Ryosen and Rokuro had gathered stood organized in neat stacks, perfectly measured and sorted by size.
Everyone stopped.
Kentarō's jaw dropped. "Bro. Could've done that hours ago?!"
Sokudo dusted his hands. "You were having fun."
Rokuro narrowed his eyes. "So you can help."
"I can." Sokudo stretched lazily again. "Doesn't mean I want to."
Katsu opened one eye and smirked. "Typical older brother behavior."
Shichiro crossed his arms. "Well, now that you're here, help us finish the foundation."
Sokudo stared at him. "No."
"Come on."
"No."
"Sokudo."
Sokudo sighed, flicked his wrist, wooden posts shot into the ground like stakes, perfectly aligned, forming the outer wall.
"There. Town foundation. I'm going to nap."
He laid down on the grass, arms behind his head, eyes closed.
Shichiro pointed at him violently. "WE ARE SWEATING, BLEEDING, AND BUILDING CIVILIZATION AND YOU'RE SLEEPING?!"
Sokudo didn't open his eyes. "Yeah."
The town buzzed with activity: half-built huts, logs stacked neatly thanks to Sokudo, and Shichiro and Katsu still arguing over blueprint placement. Kentarō muttered something about "civilization taking way too long."
And then, a flash of steel.
A figure sprinted across the plains.
Musashi Miyamoto, or at least, someone pretending to be him, landed in the middle of the unfinished town, katana drawn, grin wild.
"Looks like I found the perfect place for a little challenge," he said. "Collecting bounties, building villages… pathetic."
Katsu groaned. "Yeah, yeah. That's him. The bounty guy."
Sokudo, lying on the grass, opened one eye. "Oh. Him."
Musashi lunged. Sokudo yawned, rolled to his feet, and… vanished.
A gust of wind swept through the town. Katsu, Shichiro, and Kentarō blinked. Musashi's sword passed through empty air.
"Where-?!" Musashi swung wildly. Sokudo reappeared behind him, one hand lazily pushing Musashi's back.
"Hey, bud. Wrong way," Sokudo murmured. Musashi stumbled forward, arms flailing, barely keeping his footing.
Rokuro and Ryosen watched, jaws dropped. Sokudo wasn't just faster, he was everywhere at once, a blur of white-blue light.
Musashi tried to slash, thrust, dodge, but Sokudo casually deflected every attack without even touching the blade. Logs stacked themselves into defensive barricades around him mid-fight, trees bent to block a path, and a stray stone landed perfectly under Musashi's foot, sending him tumbling.
Kentarō finally shouted: "He's… he's playing with him!"
"Exactly," Shichiro muttered, gripping his whip. "Sokudo is literally… toying with him."
Musashi fell to the ground again, panting. "What… are you-?"
Sokudo appeared above him, legs crossed, arms behind his head. "Breathe. You're working too hard."
Musashi scrambled to stand, katana swinging. Sokudo's eyes flickered lazily. With a flick of his finger, Musashi's sword spun out of his hands like a boomerang, then returned perfectly to Sokudo's hand.
Musashi sank to his knees. "Impossible…!"
Sokudo yawned. "Yeah. That's the point." He vanished again.
In the blink of an eye, Musashi was tied up in a neat little knot of ropes, almost like a decorative piece of town furniture. Sokudo casually tossed him onto a pile of sorted lumber.
Shichiro shook his head. "You realize he just defeated a legendary swordsman by… doing nothing hard?"
Kentarō blinked. "Bro… Musashi is legit crying and you're just chilling on the grass."
Sokudo sat down, stretching. "Town first. Entertainment second."
Katsu rubbed his temples. "He literally just… played with a guy who could kill all of us. While building civilization."
Sokudo smirked faintly. "Yeah. Don't worry. I'll nap now."
And with that, he laid back on the freshly stacked lumber, arms behind his head, eyes closed.
Kentarō shouted. "WE ARE SWEATING, BLEEDING, BUILDING, AND YOU'RE SLEEPING?!"
Sokudo didn't open his eyes. "Yeah. Again. Wait, did you just.. Nevermind."
Shichiro rubbed his temples. "Three days without a chapter? This is worth it."
Kentarō groaned. "Can we just… finish the wall without him sleeping on it?"
Katsu rolled his eyes, brushing a bit of dirt off his hands. "Honestly? He's faster than anyone could imagine, but he's also a living nap hazard."
Ketsuki, perched on a half-built roof like it was a throne, clapped her tiny hands. "I like him! He's funny! Can we keep him forever?"
Shichiro glanced at her, half-smiling, half-exasperated. "Yeah, Ketsu… forever, but only until he decides he's bored."
Kentarō slammed a beam down. "He's literally sleeping on our civilization! I'm sweating, bleeding, and building the foundations of civilization and he's… napping."
Ketsuki tilted her head, watching Sokudo with admiration. "He's like a cat… a really, really strong cat."
Shichiro laughed, rubbing his temples again. "Yeah… that's exactly it. He's basically a cat with a legendary Heart. And yes, yes, I am talking to you, dear reader. Three.. Four? days? I needed this chapter too."
Kentarō groaned. "Stop talking to yourself, Shichi-"
Before he could finish, a sudden streak of light zipped across the camp. Sokudo reappeared, casually juggling three beams of wood like they were sticks.
"Maybe… maybe he'll help us now?" Kentarō muttered.
Ketsuki clapped again, bouncing on her heels. "Do it, big brother! Show me your speed!"
Sokudo yawned, flicked his wrist, and all three beams split perfectly into planks, nailed and stacked neatly. Not a scratch out of place.
Kentarō's jaw dropped. "Bro… could've done that HOURS ago!"
Sokudo stretched, smirking lazily. "You were having fun."
Shichiro shook his head. "Typical older brother behavior. I swear, if the next chapter doesn't show him actually fighting someone, I'm writing an angry letter to the author."
Ketsuki rolled her eyes. "You're funny, Shichi… but show me too!"
Sokudo blinked, and in a blink, he had built three perfect small houses' foundations, all in less than a second. Ketsuki cheered. "YES! Big brother! You're the best!"
Shichiro, still rubbing his temples, muttered, "I can't… I just… this chapter writes itself…"
Then, a distant shout echoed.
"HEY! MUSASHI IS HERE!"
Sokudo opened one eye lazily. "Finally… someone worth my attention."
Ketsuki's eyes lit up. "A fight! Go go go!"
Shichiro groaned, leaning against a half-finished wall. "Of course. Couldn't we just build in peace for one chapter?"
Sokudo stretched, flicked his wrist, and appeared in front of the newcomer like lightning. Musashi's confident smirk faltered the moment Sokudo lazily raised one eyebrow.
Without warning, Sokudo tapped the ground. A gust of wind lifted Musashi off his feet and tossed him gently into a pile of scrap like a ragdoll.
"…What?" Musashi sputtered, scrambling.
Sokudo yawned. "Try harder."
Ketsuki clapped, hopping up and down. "Go! Go! Big brother! Show him!"
Musashi lunged, swords drawn, only for Sokudo to vanish and reappear behind him in a blur, lightly flicking his shoulder like he was swatting a fly. Musashi tumbled forward again.
Shichiro shook his head, smirking at the chaos. "Yep… stronger than Bellerophon. Just… playing with him."
Ketsuki giggled. "That's so fun! Can we have popcorn next time?"
Kentarō groaned, flopping on the ground. "I can't… I can't even process this."
Sokudo yawned, flicked a plank into the air, and casually caught Musashi with a perfectly-timed slap that sent him spinning across the yard.
Ketsuki cheered, hands on her cheeks. "BIG BROTHER! YOU'RE AMAZING!"