Note: I have nothing to do with Ronin Warriors and its characters except to be a fan who enjoys the series very much. This story is my extrapolation of the storylines as received in North America. I apologize if this story doesn't quite fit into the Japanese series.

"Hey, guys!" Ryo shouted as he ran into the house.

His friends looked up in surprise. "You're in a good mood," Sage said. "I thought you went to the dojo to collect your belongings."

"I did," Ryo said, "but you'll never believe what happened."

"Well, spill already!" Kento said. "We're all ears!"

"See, it's like this," Ryo began. He looked at Kento. "It seems your friend, Kumano, has some friends he never told you about. He sort of hinted to one of them that Manigami and the other instructors wouldn't be coming back, and that someone needed to continue the students' instruction in swordsmanship, discipline, and self-defense. So this friend--I think he was a banker or something--came down to the dojo while I was there, and point blank asked me and the other instructors whether we'd continue teaching at the dojo until Manigami's disappearance could be confirmed and something more permanent could be decided. So now the bank's paying us, and I still have a job!"

"Hey, that's great!" Rowan said. "With four of us bringing in decent paychecks, we should be able to keep Mia from selling things she doesn't want to."

"About that," Mia said slowly, entering the room. "There's something I have to tell you, guys."

"Oh?" Sai asked.

Mia flushed, and looked away. "I was going through Grandfather's papers again, and I found a combination for a safe that didn't open the one in the study. Sage and I searched through the house, and we found another safe in Grandfather's room. It, ah, had his entire stock portfolio."

Kento blinked. "I don't get it."

Rowan sighed. "Are they paying well?"

"Extremely," Sage said. "Not only are they bringing in money, but all of the stocks passed down to Mia after her Grandfather died. Add that to the stock shares he purchased in her name and Mia's earning almost seven times what you're all earning collectively."

"That's amazing," Rowan said.

"But that means we don't have to work anymore!" Kento said.

"We don't have to," Sai said, "but I'm not quitting my job. I like working at the Aquapark."

"And I like working at the bookstore," Rowan added.

"I don't think I'll quit, either," Ryo said. "After we defeated the Dynasty, I felt sort of lost and confused. Like I didn't know what to do with my days. Now I feel like I have a purpose again."

"I didn't mean I wanted to quit," Kento protested.

"We know," Ryo said. He grinned. "But isn't it nice to know that we can? If you want, you can quit working at the hospital and spend more time looking for another job."

"Hey, I like working at the hospital," Kento said.

"Then everything's fine?" Mia asked. "I'm sorry I caused all this worry for nothing."

Ryo nodded. "Don't worry, Mia," he said. "We'll still do our share for this household, and it will be for the right reason."

"Yeah," Rowan said. "Because we want to."

Ryo couldn't agree more.

* * *

The young man stood on the beach, gazing out over the dunes.

He looked like a high school student, but few students possessed such hard, determined eyes, or such beautiful, ageless features. And few carried such a long, thin item across their backs as he did.

He knelt down and scooped up some sand. He let it trickle down between his fingers where the breeze carried the grains a little ways until they finally reached the ground.

Ogres had been killed here. He sensed it in his bones. Killed, and more importantly, completely destroyed. Plainly the cause had been the tremendous forces he'd felt released in the area the night before.

He'd been on the mountainside, dealing with an ogre problem of his own. He felt a touch of gladness creeping over him. He endured the unfamiliar emotion for a few moments, then locked that happiness away.

Still, he couldn't help feeling relieved that he was not the only one striving against the domination of ogres.

"Perhaps one day we'll meet in person," he mused to himself. "I'd like to thank them in person for their help." Then he held up his sword and studied its hilt.

"You'd like that too," he said. "Wouldn't you, Ogre-slayer?"

The sword said nothing, but pulsed momentarily with a bright light.

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