Chapter 3

## Cutting the Tank

**Chapter 3** is titled "Cutting the Tank".

## Short Summary

Hachimaru convinces Nanashi to go outside with him, but his new friend becomes lost in his own doubts again and wanders off. Before he can find him, Hachimaru is caught in a raid by a group of heavily-armed bandits. Seeing his friend backed into a corner, Nanashi must search for the courage to aid his first friend. Meanwhile, Daruma confronts Hachimaru's father about his son's true nature.

## Long Summary

Several Samurai are investigating an area recently hit by bandits. While they search for survivors, so far unsuccessful, a bushi that was hiding in the rubble attacks them. One of the samurai tosses his blade at the bushi and demands he identify himself. The bushi makes the same demand and tries to draw the Samurai's blade, but he cannot unsheath it. The sword's owner reveals that the sword has a biometric id reader, meaning it can't be unsheathed by anyone else. The bushi then realizes that the Samurai are from Akagi Castle. They explain that they came to investigate an unknown signal, and the bushi tells them that the area was ravaged by bandits driving a tank. When asked for details, the bushi tells them the tank is shaped like a giant cake: one that happens to be headed to the Yasha-Style Dojo.

At the dojo, Hachimaru is walking with his new friend. When he asks for his name, the boy says that he is called *Nanashi* by everyone else. Suddenly, Hachimaru is overtaken by students fascinated to see a Samurai their age. As he's bombarded with questions, Nanashi leaves and goes to the dojo's statue of Fudo Myo-o. There, Nanashi laments how different he is from Hachimaru. Mr. Right tells him that he came to the statue because he wants to be more like his new friend, and Miss Left points out that he that other students made him feel like his friend he's been drawn towards was taken away. At the same time, Hachimaru realizes Nanashi is gone, but before he can go find him, the group is caught in a blast from the cake tank. Inside the tank, the eldest brother of the bandit trio demands that someone give him a valuable orb in the dojo. Nanashi hears the warning that the bandits are on site. As other students scramble to call the instructors, the leader of the bandits get impatient and fires at Hachimaru and company.

Hachimaru tries to draw his katana and he finds that he can't, leaving him open to the tank's blast. Fortunately, Hayataro molded his flesh into a wall that shielded everyone. The Holder then tells his master that the gunpowder from the tank smells the same as the round that blew them out of the sky, meaning they were shot down by that tank. One of the younger brothers catches that their targets survived the attack. Once certain that they aren't in the presence of the *Wolf Samurai*, the eldest brother commands another attack. Nanashi arrives and sees Hachimaru in the tank's sights, just as the fledgeling Samurai realizes why he can't draw his blade: it not his. He realizes that when he crashed into Nanashi's house and lost his sword, he picked up Nanashi's sword by mistake. Nanashi realizes the same thing, and since his blade has bio recognition, his friend is helpless as the tank fires a volley of blasts. Though Hayataro does his best, the two take serious damage, and Mr. Right presses Nanashi to help Hachimaru use his sword. Nanashi doesn't believe he can and asks Miss Left to back him up. The female AI refuses: though she empathizes with her master, she reminds him that he has been gifted with a friend who needs help that only he can provide.

Several students try to cut through the tank, but the lead bandit brags that the tank's armor in impenetrable. Nanashi begins drowning in doubt, and both of his hands call him out for running from his problems like he always does. Miss Left tell him that he only hurting himself more by running and hiding, but he still doesn't know what to do. The AIs agree that he must be his own person and make his own decision, and he remembers what Hachimaru said about judging a sword's worth. The tank fires another cannonball at Hachimaru, and he tries drawing the sword again, only to succeed this time: Nanashi grabbed the katana's hilt. With Nanashi's help, he manages to cut the round in half. Realizing what happened, he calls for Hayataro to lift them into the air, spooking the bandits. Hachimaru and Nanashi leap from the Holder's back. The head bandit is confident they won't damage the tank, only to be shocked when they slice the tank in half. As the students gather to celebrate their victory, Hayataro manages to fetch his partner's missing katana.

Nanashi tells Hachimaru to he has something to say: he has decided not to consider Hachimaru a friend. Hachimaru is initially offended, but Nanashi tries to clarify. He tells Hachimaru he wants to become his friend in the future, but his awkward analogy prevents Hachimaru from getting the message. Nanashi decides to become a Samurai and make his own name before he explains his words. Hachimaru is glad, but he is unsure if they will meet again after he goes to space. Nanashi tells him that he will come visit him of his own accord. Hachimaru worries that they might die next time they meet, but Nanashi is content with that: he has decided that acting and just being there is better than doing nothing.

Nanashi sends Hachimaru off as he flies back home. Meanwhile, Daruma asks Hachimaru's dad about something sensitive: the Dojikiri Takatsuna. He is suspicious that a non-samurai has a Soul at all, let alone one with as much power as that one. Having something that important hidden inside Hachimaru proves he is not a simple thief. That plus the fact that Hachimaru has an unnaturally strong Gravitational Pull for someone his age. Daruma demands to know who Hachimaru really is.

## Fights and Events

Hachimaru, Hayataro, and Nanashi vs. Cake Tank Bandits

## Characters in Order of Appearance

* Hagamichi
* Hayataro
* Hachimaru
* Nanashi
* Daruma
* Hachimaru's Father