Akuma

📖 Akuma's Story

Akuma means devil, and Akuma did not choose it. The name chose him, out on a field where he did the things that had to be done and did them well enough that the survivors needed a word bigger than soldier. There is a difference between earning a name and being handed one, and it matters, and Akuma has stopped explaining it. When the wars ended the devil had no more work, but a reputation like that does not retire; it just follows you into the dojo and orders a drink. So he wears it now, lightly, the way you wear an old scar. People give him room. He finds this convenient, and only a little lonely. He resolves to be a better man every single morning and gives up right around the time the sake arrives, which he has decided to call knowing yourself rather than losing to yourself.