魂削り
Tama Kezuri


Uzuki: Kei-san!

A shout cuts through the wind, severing the threads binding me.
My powerless body collapses to the floor like a marionette with its strings cut, and thanks to the pain of my bottom hitting the floor, my consciousness is jolted awake.

Kei: ......Uzuki-san?

Uzuki: Sorry I'm late. I wanted to return before dark...... that aside, these two just never learn.

She advances to the center of the room with another swing.
After Nozomi-chan dodges with a backwards leap, Yumei-san stands in front, staring at Uzuki-san silently.

Kei: Ah......

Uzuki: ......I apologize for last night. Also, Kei-san is okay now.

Yumei: But, you are...

Uzuki: This will not be a problem for me.

Her straightforward, strong statement swallows Yumei-san's words.

Uzuki: More importantly, if you exhaust your power, your existence will be in danger.

Kei: Yumei-san, please don't overdo it.

Yumei: ......I suppose you're right.

Yumei: Please take care of Kei-chan.

Uzuki: I will.

Nodding at Uzuki-san's answer, she disappears, melting away.

Uzuki: Now......

Passing through the room's center, she stops in front of me and turns her sword toward Nozomi-chan.

Uzuki: One question. Since then, you've attacked someone and fed, I take it.

Nozomi: Compared to that girl, it was mediocre, thin blood. It would have been better not to drink it.

Nozomi: But it was your fault, you know? We needed power to bury the wounds you gave us, so we sucked him dry.

Mikage: It is your fault that there were casualties.

Nozomi: Because you interfered with us.

Mikage: Because Kei will not be ours.

Kei: Eh......I did...... it's my fault?

Uzuki: Kei-san, don't listen to them. Those who become oni while holding grudges should bear their fangs only at the objects of that grudge...

Uzuki: If there are casualties beyond that, you need only say the fault lies with the existence of oni, itself. There's no reason to hesitate.

Nozomi: Hmmm, you look so young, but you don't budge, do you?

Uzuki: If I could be swayed by such an argument, I wouldn't be fit as Onikiri-Yaku. If necessary, I will even kill humans.

Nozomi: I see...... but, you were in quite a hurry to make it here, weren't you?

Uzuki: ............

Nozomi: Did it worry you that much?

Nozomi: Were you scared of the Nie no Chi becoming ours?

Uzuki: ......That has nothing to do with you.

Nozomi: Oh my, that's rather cold of you.

Uzuki: The night wears on. If you want an extended conversation, come back during the day. Of course---

Uzuki: ---that's assuming you can!

With the Ito no Tachi, she cuts the conversation short.

Nozomi: It seems you must be taught a lesson.

Mikage: What should we do, Nee-sama?

Nozomi: Well, what to do, indeed. To make sure she doesn't become a nuisance later, perhaps it's time we have her step off the stage.

Mikage: However, Nee-sama, our power is still...

Nozomi: I suppose. If only we managed to have some of that girl's blood before the Onikiri-Yaku came...

Her neck cranes as our eyes meet. Thinking something awful might happen if those eyes do something to me, I hastily avert my vision.

Nozomi: Fufufu...

A suppressed laugh sends shivers down my spine.

Nozomi: Hey, Mikage. I have a good idea.

Mikage: What manner of idea?

Nozomi: We'll give up for today. In exchange, we'll seek another's blood somewhere else.

Nozomi: How about that, Kei? That's better for you, isn't it?

Kei: Eh......

Nozomi: In your place, we will make do with someone else's blood. You won't have to suffer at all, so that would be better, right?

Kei: No......

Nozomi: Aha! Lost your nerve? You're so funny.

Nozomi: Uzuki, was it? The Onikiri-Yaku of the Onikiribe... Unlike you, Kei makes a far more interesting face.

Nozomi: Tomorrow, when the morning sun climbs over the mountains...

Mikage: One body? Two? Three? Four? Maybe more?

Nozomi: When you hear about the corpses found, drained of blood, I'm sure your face will be a sight to see.

Kei: Something like that......

Uzuki: I won't allow!

Stepping in with an energetic yell, Uzuki-san lunges with the Ito no Tachi.
The steel edge thrusts straight through Nozomi-chan's body.
Imagining the sprouting spray of blood, I shut my eyes, but the wet *zubisha* you would hear in a period drama never comes.

Nozomi: Fufu...... fufufu---

Uzuki: Tch!

Opening my eyes to a laughing voice and a muttered curse, I see Nozomi-chan's body melting hazily into a red light.
Ten centimeters below the neck, where the chest would normally be, the blade had thrust straight through.
No, at the edges where the blade makes contact, a red fog splashes, explodes, crackles, spouting sparks like a firecracker, and yet...

Nozomi: Even with that enchanted blade, is that all you can do? With this, we may not even need to run.

Mikage: We are also lacking a decisive weapon.

Nozomi: True, carrying on without end would be so dull.

Mikage: Unfortunately, Nee-sama, the further we remain until morning, the more our power is reduced. The advantage is hers.

Nozomi: ......I suppose. Though her power is lacking, it's true that she's an opponent we aren't compatible with.

Nozomi: In the mean time, perhaps we'll add another.

Kei: Y-you can't! Please don't!

Nozomi: If you would just become ours, we could care less about the refuse of such rabble, however.

Kei: But that's...... Uzuki-san, is there something you can do?

Uzuki: ............

Kei: ......Uzuki-san?

Nozomi: Ahaha! Even the distinguished Onikiri-Yaku is lost for words? Why not speak so we can hear you?

Uzuki: ............

Nozomi: Oh dear, what ever is wrong with her? What should we do?

Nozomi: Hey, Mikage. Maybe we can simply take Kei with us?

Mikage: No, nee-sama. We should leave this place at once!

Nozomi: What manner of spineless---

Uzuki: ......Indeed. I'll let you hear it. The incantation I've been muttering for a while now is---

Uzuki: On Maka Shiriei Jiribei Sowaka!

Following her roaring yell, a flash of light bursts forth.

Nozomi: Kwaaaaa-------!!

Nozomi: You little! What did you......!

Uzuki: Senba Myouken-ryuu, Tama Kezuri... (TN:The first is the name of her sword style, Senba Myouken, or "Senba Miracle Sight" style. The attack, Tama Kezuri, would be translated literally as "Soul Shaver" or something similar.)

Uzuki: The Senba Clan I belong to... is an Onikiribe that focuses mainly on sword techniques against corporeal oni, but also teaches attacks like this.

Uzuki: I have accepted the role of yaku. Even with Ito and our ougi (TN: strongest attack of a sword style), I am young and inexperienced, but if I were to be taken lightly here, it would be an insult to the generations of my predecessors.

Nozomi: Tch...... Aagh......

Uzuki: So, prepare yourself. If I let you go, I imagine there will be many casualties, after all.

Mikage: ............

As Uzuki-san readies the Ito no Tachi for the finishing blow, Mikage-chan steps in front.

Uzuki: Whichever goes first, the result is the same.

Saying nothing in response to Uzuki-san's statement, she only holds her once downcast face in readiness, and glares at her with her penetrating, blood-colored eyes.
The surrounding air strains, making it difficult to breathe. Feeling the pressure of enclosure in a narrow space, my chest is smothered with an oppressive pain.
Yesterday and moments before, when caught in Nozomi-chan's gaze, I would be paralyzed. But now...

Uzuki: I've already told you. That level of jashi---

Uzuki: ---won't work on me!

Receiving the gaze with her closed left eyelid, and reflecting it with her widened right eye, she lowers the readied Ito no Tachi.
The world is smashed into tiny pieces of glittering moonlight, and crumbles to the ground.
That spectacle of broken glass is quite different from the reaction I felt before.

Uzuki: Illusion...... No, I can't be affected by suggestion.

Uzuki: In that case......

Mikage: That is a projection of our appearances.

Mikage-chan whispers, supporting Nozomi-chan on the opposite side of the broken glass.

Mikage: Power is used to duplicate our form on a solid wall. Though a deception, it is not an illusion, but a concrete phenomenon.

So what we were watching was a mirror reflecting their appearances?
As if Mikage-chan had moved several "pieces" in the time after her eyes shone, they both had opened the space between themselves and Uzuki-san.

Mikage: Nee-sama, perhaps we could do this...

As she brings her face close and whispers in Nozomi-chan's ear, her face, distorted with pain and anger, cracks a thin smile and distorts yet further.

Nozomi: ......Amazing, Mikage...... All right, I'm sure that will satisfy my hunger.

Then, shifting her burning eyes in our direction,

Nozomi: As you suggested, we will come again. Let us save our conversation for tomorrow.

Their figures then melt into the darkness.

Uzuki: Stop!

Though I would figure there's no way to give chase once they've disappeared, Uzuki-san heads outside, exits into the hall---
---and I hear the sound of someone collapsing.

Kei: C-could it be......

Could Nozomi-chan's group have pretended to leave, only to ambush her or something?
If that really was the case, leaving unprepared would be incredibly dangerous, but before that thought enters my mind, I race out into the hall.

Kei: ---!?

Uzuki-san had collapsed.
There are no external wounds.
She's lying on her face, so I can't tell exactly, but at least she isn't submerged in a pool of blood or bearing any wound I can see.

Kei: Uzuki-san......?

Uzuki: ---, ---

As I approach, I see the soft rising of her back, and manage to relax at least a little.
Neither quick nor slow nor with any sign of pain, it seems to be the breathing of a peaceful sleep.
Could she...... really be sleeping?

Kei: Uzuki-san. Uzuki-san, what's wrong?

I move my hand to her shoulder and shake her slightly as I call out.

Uzuki: ............

There is no reaction.

Kei: Hey, Uzuki-san. Uzuki-san, come on! If you sleep here, you'll catch a cold.

As I give her another nudge, the hairs covering her flow away fluidly, and her handsome face is exposed to the moonlight.
Uwa, such long eyelashes...... ahem.
At any rate, even as we sit out here, full of openings, it doesn't seem like we'll be attacked. It looks like Nozomi-chan and Mikage-chan really are gone.
So the problem here is what to do with Uzuki-san. She probably won't wake up, and letting her sleep here is out of the question.
However, taking Uzuki-san, her height higher than mine, back to her room would be a pain.
Of course, I could probably make do alone, but dragging her would cause many needless scratches and bruises, so I'd better not.

サクヤさん助けて 自分の部屋までなら。。。
Sakuya-san, help me. If it's just to my room, though......