A white world.
A world painted in pure white.
Perhaps bright, perhaps dim, whether filled with light or darkness, I know not, a mysterious world.
I can't even tell if my feet touch the ground, if I'm laying down, or if I'm floating.
There is no sensation.
In that void of stillness, a pebble is tossed.
That pebble creates a wave, spreading in a concentric circle, becoming a sound that makes the world quiver.
A sound... in a place where nothing exists.
Nozomi: It was you.
Mikage: You are the one who killed her.
Voices... blaming someone.
Nozomi: Fufu, your heart is open. Full of fissures. Does my jashi really not work on you?
Mikage: Why are you trembling so?
A red light. A disruptive red spreads out.
Nozomi: That's right - you've killed before, haven't you?
Mikage: You have killed a human.
Nozomi: It was by killing someone... that you took the seat of the Onikiri-Yaku, right?
Mikage: Just who is the oni, I wonder?
Nozomi: To think that you would put your honored brother to the sword.
Mikage: To think that you would wet your hands with your family's own blood.
Nozomi: Even so, such a waste.
Mikage: To think you would spill this much Nie no Chi.
Widening blood---
So much Nie no Chi---
That is my own blood---
That's right, I was cut by---
Uzuki: Ah...... Kei-san......?
Slipping from Uzuki-san's hands, Ito lodges itself in the floor. The blade is wet with blood, dyed red.
Uzuki: I am...... what did I......
Nozomi: You killed her.
Mikage: You killed Kei.
Nozomi: After all, you are an oni slayer who will even slay your human kin.
When I come to my senses, I am watching the scene from a vantage higher than usual.
Uzuki: Again, I...... someone important...... because of me......
You're wrong---!!
That was an accident---!!
I try to scream, but no voice escapes.
My vision moves of its own accord, facing the center of the fountain of blood.
(Kei): ---!!
I swallow a gasp, and run my eyes over the surroundings.
There, wrapped in Yumei-san's arms is my body, on the verge of death.
An amazing loss of blood---
Of course, Ito is a real sword. It's only natural that blood would flow where it cuts, but this wound is nothing clean or lovely.
It could be, some of my organs might have flown out, too.
I'm no good with gore, but unable to avert my gaze or even blink, I can only stare at the scene silently.
The one saving grace is, amidst all that blood, I can't figure out the state of the wound at all.
To begin with, just the sight of all this blood makes me feel sick already, but...
Yumei: Kei-chan... don't give up!
From the gap between Yumei-san's hands, a pale blue light spills out.
That's right... I have to hang on---
At that point, I finally come to the doubt that should naturally cross my mind.
If I am collapsed over there, then who in the world am I, watching myself from over here?
Could I already be dead? Right now, am I like a ghost?
Since ghosts float, that could explain why my vantage point is higher than normal.
Yet, why can I feel the sensation of my feet on the floor?
Uzuki: ......Don't you dare touch her---!!
Uzuki-san!?
Her composure cruelly shattered, Uzuki-san plucks Ito from the floor with a sideways swing.
With a ring, Nozomi-chan jumps backward. Giving chase, Uzuki-san slips on the sea of blood and topples over.
Nozomi: Aha...... Ahaha...... Ufufufufufu......
Passing her tongue over her blood stained fingertips - it seems she dipped her fingers in the blood puddle before - Nozomi-chan looses a wild laugh.
Nozomi: Ahh, so funny I can't help it. What in the world is wrong with you?
Uzuki: I made... a promise. To protect Kei-san...
Nozomi: You would spout such nonsense now?
Uzuki: But all I can do is slay oni... I can't protect her, except by slaying oni...
Nozomi: I see... in that case...
Nozomi-chan's eyes sparkle bewitchingly.
Nozomi: In that case... you should slay it, shouldn't you?
Mikage: You should slay it with that enchanted sword.
Nozomi: It's there, reflected in that red spring, is it not? The face of the oni that slew those precious to you.
Uzuki: I am...... I......
Nozomi: It was you who killed Kei, who you promised to protect.
Mikage: It was you that betrayed her.
Nozomi: You're an oni, aren't you...?
Mikage: Yes, you are...
Nozomi & Mikage: Such an oni should be slain.
Uzuki: Oni should...... be slain...... Ahh, that's right......
The crimson Ito in hand, Uzuki-san's arm moves sluggishly, facing the blade to her own neck.
Nozomi: That's right. You need only kill it, just like that.
Mikage: Because that is the oni that stole those precious to you.
Uzuki: That's right...... revenge, for Nii-san and Kei-san......
Stop--------!!
As if responding to my scream, the body that had stayed still until now takes action.
With no effort to avoid wounding my body, I use my palm to separate the blade from her neck in one stroke.
Kei: Stop!
Eh... that voice... this hand is...
Kei: Don't listen to them. Don't let an oni's voice lead you astray. Also, Kei isn't dead yet!
Uzuki: ......Kei-san is still......?
Kei: ......Uzuki-san, I'm gonna borrow Ito. This sword, the proof of the Senba Clan Onikiri-Yaku.
Uzuki: Ah...... Yeah......
The eyes that answer have no life within.
It's a suggestion to which she would normally bite back "there's no way I could hand it to an oni," yet she nods in submission.
Uzuki-san...
Setting my sentiment aside, my body - for some reason, my consciousness has entered Kei-kun - takes Ito from Uzuki-san's hand, shouldering it in a stance.
This stance is...
The same as Uzuki-san...?
Kei: Right now, I'm really angry.
What is this... It feels like some kind of pressure is squeezing the area I'm in, the space tightening.
Kei: I'm only a day late, and to think that this would happen, I can't abide my powerlessness anymore. But, above all, I'm angry at you.
Something inside Kei-kun swells ever larger. Yet again, I am pushed back.
Kei: Do you have any idea how much I've lost to you... to you and your master?
No...... What is this...... It's disgusting......
As if pressed back by Kei-kun's wrath, Nozomi-chan cowers as she retreats.
Nozomi: Hey, Mikage. Should we escape now?
Kei: You think I'll let you go!?
Held back until now, some force, like a hoop, flows from his shoulder to his arm, into the Ito blade.
As he sweeps the blade through the air, something unseen is cut... cut... cut.
It's as if he swept through the strings of marionnettes...
The people who were made into kugutsu crumble to the floor.
Nozomi: Ah! What have you done!
From the hands of one body falls the mirror, their true form.
He shifts his gaze to the mirror known as Ryougetsu.
Kei: I won't let you escape. And to prevent the mistakes of the past from repeating, I will not seal it, but destroy it.
Reflected in Ryougetsu, Kei-kun's face is terrible to behold.
Due to the force lost in that last attack, the swelling presence swells yet further, moving to crush me.
Nozomi: ---! Nushi-sama...!
Kei: I am Kei. Your Nushi is underneath the Enju tree, and Yuune has him sealed. Your master won't come.
Mikage: No... he comes.
Our heart transfixed by a golden light, I - Kei-kun, drops to his knee as if to collapse.
Kei: Khu!...... Impossible...... did he really come......?
Mikage: Just now, you were an oni. An oni cannot hold the Master at bay.
The one that came... would that be... this... I don't really understand, but, this frightening mass of spirit?
Swirling around inside Kei-kun, that thing grows large, pushing me into a corner.
And then, by the sensation, I can feel Kei-kun try to return that consciousness to normal, trying desperately to force it back.
Kei: Ghu!... Hah...
Holding back the pressure in his chest, he tries to regurgitate something inside him with his breath, trying to steady his chaotic breathing.
Slowly... deeply...
Mikage: Nee-sama, now is the time...
Nozomi: ......Mikage, isn't this a good time to pay him back for scaring us before?
Nozomi: If we take this time to erase the
vessel and the
hashira, and gather Nie no Chi, couldn't we save Nushi-sama?
Mikage: Unfortunately, the
hashira has bathed in blood and strengthened her power...
She turns her glance to the hall.
Mikage: Further, the last of the Moon-gazing Tribe...
Nozomi: So she's coming, that failure of a child...
Nozomi: Even if she comes, that doesn't mean she can do anything serious. There's nothing to worry about.
Mikage: Ryougetsu is here.
Nozomi: That's right. That could be bad.
Mikage: Yes...... further, the
vessel will recover before long. He was able to hold back the wakemitama......
Nozomi: God... if only the
vessel hadn't come, things would have gone perfectly......
Mikage: It is unfortunate, but there is no avoiding it.
As Mikage-chan moves her hand, a red light stretches from her fingertip like a string.
With a twist of her finger, one of the collapsed men rises to his feet with unnatural movements.
Mikage: Now, Nee-sama...
Nozomi: Let's go.
Continue...