Tetsuo scraped the edge of his knife against the grindstone a few more times and re-examined the blade, poking it lightly with his finger to see if its sharpness was up to his exacting standards. After tilting the blade to assess its sheen, he gave a nod of approval and slipped it into his holster before bidding his family a hasty farewell. "Just make sure you're back in time for--" but Tetsuo was out the door before his father could remind him that he needed to help with the cooking tonight. He needed to help with the cooking every night, so it's not like he needed to be reminded of that. 

It was a beautiful spring afternoon and the light breeze was sweet with the scent of flowers and fresh water carried down from Bluestone Creek. Tetsuo paused a moment to relish the scene, but soon began walking towards the Guardian HQ to see if there was any work they needed him to do today. Being a Guardian was usually a pretty relaxing job that demanded so much less from him than his restaurant, but from time to time they would need to step up and take down a large predator in the vicinity, or break up an altercation in this village. Still, the Guardians did regular patrols of the village and its outskirts to maintain a presence and ensure that their job stayed so enjoyable. If nothing else, he was sure that somebody would be up for a little sparring match with him.

On his way to the HQ, he came across a familiar face that he hadn't seen in some time. "Saya!" he called waving to the kitsune swordsman. "I heard you got back recently. It's good to see you in one piece." 

Saya looked at Tetsuo briefly and nodded, but said nothing and continued making her way towards the HQ at a brisk pace. The truth was, she was lucky to be back at all; her last battle was quite a bit more dangerous than she was used to and she didn't like talking about it. She still had a small bandage around her arm covering up what was left of a pretty nasty wound that would eventually become yet another scar. Noticing that she and Tetsuo were heading the same way, she decided to speak. "If you're free tonight, the Guardians will be having a meeting. It's important and we'd like as many Guardians there as possible." 

"Did you find a monster?" The voice of a young eavesdropped came from seemingly out of nowhere. Saya paused for a moment and looked down to see Garoth standing before her with an eager look on his face. 

"You should be in school," Saya said, swiftly dismissing the claim, and proceeding with Tetsuo towards the HQ, leaving the dejected Garoth behind.