Currently in the town Ashveil:
In a courtroom, the judge flips through the papers on his desk and after a moment he looks at the defendant, who had long, dirty, black hair, torn clothes and was as slim as a stick, and speaks.
"It says here that you have been accused of sabotaging almost every business in this town, is there anything to be said in your defence?"
"Your honour, there is no-"
The defendant's lawyer answered only to be cut off by his own defendant.
"I only provided equal effort for the pay I was getting."
The defendant spoke. The lawyer turned to look at him. A shocked expression crossed his face.
"What do you think you're doing?"
The lawyer whispered to him. The judge, just to make sure the whole court heard the defendant correctly asked a question.
"You were providing equal effort for the pay you had?"
"Yes." The defendant answered.
"You should've been glad that you got any pay at all!"
One of the businessmen that Reiji Kurozuma, the defendant, worked for yelled out.
The other businessmen in the courtroom screamed in agreement. After a short while the judge raised his hand and the courtroom went quiet.
"It seems that we have eyewitnesses, and quite a lot of them. Anything you want to say in defence?"
"Your honour, there is absolutely no proof that this man sabotaged the businesses he worked for on purpose."
"Well, the number of eyewitnesses here should be enough proof and concerning your statement it says here that he is accused of sabotage, whether it was intentional or unintentional."
The judge answered the defendant's lawyer.
"Your honour-"
"I have heard enough. Reiji Kurozuma, for the crime of sabotage and many others you are to be exiled from this town and to never return."
The judge brought down his gavel and the room burst into screams of approval.
"Leave, you scum!" "Death is too good for you!"
The guards, who were in the courtroom waiting for a verdict, took Reiji and dragged him out. A crowd followed behind as he was dragged through the streets. People yelled insults and threw rotten food at him. He was tossed into the mud covering the road that led in and out of the town.
He slowly stood up and started walking away from the town. As he walked, some of them even started throwing stones at him.
After going a short distance, he turned to the town one last time and pointed his finger at the crowd.
"And I sentence you to remain in your city till death takes you, all of you."
Seven years later.
The world was covered in a thick layer of snow and ice, since it was winter.
It wasn't snowing but there was powdered snow being carried by the wind just above the surface.
The snow that wasn't powder was frozen and cracked under every step Reiji took. His nose stung slightly from the cold. His fingers were a bit stiff and hard-to-move.
The icy surface of the snow offered slight resistance before cracking under the weight of his boots.
He had a bow on him; the string pressed against his chest and the wooden part against his back. The quiver was awkwardly on his right shoulder, his hand making sure it wouldn't fall off.
He had to steal some money shortly after getting exiled from his hometown and used it to put himself together and make his appearance more appealing.
His skin was clean and healthy. His hair was shorter, no longer filled with dirt and bugs. It was pulled back in a slightly rough manner.
Never staying in one place, he was lucky enough to find part-time jobs where the pay wasn't as terrible as it was in his hometown. It didn't matter much since he still stole a bow, multiple arrows and somehow a katana.
It wasn't his proudest moment, stealing someone's work. Work that costed them time and money.
The forest was quiet and still. Any movement stood out, making hunting both easier and harder.
The only thing keeping him warm was a white sleeveless kimono, white umanori and beat up winter boots.
After walking for a while he spotted a deer in the distance. He slowly crouched down, his gaze only on the deer. He took off his bow and gripped it with his left hand, putting the quiver on his back and pulled out an arrow.
He was too far away to shoot, so he slowly moved forward, trying his best not to make any noises. Reiji stopped at a certain distance. He hunted for food every day and knew that if he would get closer, he would be noticed by the deer.
Catching it was a possibility only during summer, since the snow made it hard to move. He slowly drew his bow back and aimed. Reiji Kurozuma put on a lot of muscle in seven years, especially the last four.
He released his grip on the string, and the arrow flew at an incredible speed towards the deer, and it pierced right through the deer's neck, landing somewhere behind it in the snow. The deer fell into the snow, barely alive. He stood up and approached it in a calm manner.
Can't believe I pulled off thatshot.
First, he searched for his arrow. It's not like deer would just disappear after all. He crouched to the ground and looked for it, hoping it was sticking out of the snow.
There was a line of blood showing the direction of the arrow which helped Reiji find it. He put it into the quiver and put on the bow in way that nothing would be falling off or awkwardly hanging on him. He walked back to the deer and picked it up like a princess and started making his way back to his camp.
His living spot was a hole in the snow, which exposed the frozen dirt underneath. The circumference of the hole was raised higher than the surrounding snow.
There was burnt wood inside of it on the edge from a campfire. Next to it there were long, thin logs that Reiji slept on. On those logs was Reiji's katana.
He dropped the deer beside the hole and jumped in, lading on the burnt wood. He picked up his katana from the logs and jumped out of the hole, unsheathing it and using its rusted blade to cut up the deer.
The good parts were thrown into the hole, and the rest was dragged away. The snow turned red from all of the blood. After a short walk he let go of the remains and buried them under the snow.
Since he was already out here, he might as well collect the sticks necessary for a fire. Using his hands, he snapped off of a few branches and took them back.
He then threw them into the hole, so they landed on top of the deer's body parts. He left again and used his katana to cut into a small tree which he then knocked over himself. He dragged it back to the hole and split it into fire food using the katana again and his own strength. He then sheathed it and threw it onto the logs he slept on.
Using classic caveman techniques and the leaves he had under the logs he slept on a fire was lit. Of course, before he lit it, he moved the body parts away. When the fire burned big enough, he threw a piece of thicker wood into it and took the leg of the deer and held it over the fire.
He patiently waited for it to cook and then he ate it, avoiding the part where his rusted blade cut it off. He then realized that the sun was setting and stared at it with an indifferent look.