‘Jack-kun, the sword is the soul of the samurai,’ said Masamoto with great import, and presented the daishō to him, his amber eyes fixing Jack with a stern stare.

‘With the possession of such a weapon comes great responsibility,’ instructed Masamoto, not letting go of the swords so that now both he and Jack held them. ‘It must never fall into the hands of your enemy. And you must always uphold the samurai principles of bushido. Rectitude. Courage. Benevolence. Respect. Honesty. Honour. Loyalty. Do you understand?’

‘Hai, Masamoto-sama. Arigatō gozaimashita,’ replied Jack with complete sincerity.

Jack took the swords from Masamoto and immediately felt his hands sink under the weight of their responsibility. He bowed low and returned to his place between Akiko and Yamato, the daishō by his side.

‘Now that we have finished here, I ask you all to kindly leave, except for Yamato-kun. I wish to spend some time with my son. We have much to discuss,’ said Masamoto, a smile brightening the unscarred side of his face.

Everyone bowed and respectfully departed from the Hall of the Phoenix.

Jack and Akiko wandered into the Southern Zen garden to wait for Yamato. They stood between the two standing stones and stared in silence at the night sky together. The moon was bright and gibbous, two days from becoming a full moon, and the stars shone keenly in the heavens.

‘See that star, the brightest one in the sky. That’s Spica,’ said Jack after several moments had passed.

‘Which one?’ enquired Akiko. ‘They all look the same to me.’

‘Start from the handle of the Plough, the constellation above us, then follow the arc to Arcturus and speed on to Spica,’ said Jack, guiding Akiko’s eyes with the tip of his finger. ‘Then the one over to its left we call Regulus and the one next to that, Bellatrix. The twinkling one over here is Jupiter, but that’s not a star, that’s a planet.’

‘How do you know all this?’ asked Akiko, turning to Jack.

‘My father taught me. He said if I was to ever be a pilot like him, I would need to know how to navigate by the stars.’

‘And can you?’

‘Yes. Enough to guide a ship back to port,’ said Jack, then with a sad longing. ‘Possibly even enough to get home.’

‘You still want to go home?’

Jack returned Akiko’s gaze. The moonlight reflected in her jet-black eyes, sending small shivers down his spine like shooting stars.