"Kill me."
When Naoe Kanetsugu spoke those three words, her tone had become eerily calm.
She had been bound to this pillar for seven full days, allowed only the briefest moments to move, if at all. Yet her eyes had never once lost their clarity.
There was no despair in them, nor the hollow, broken look of someone abandoned by her lord. It was more like a carefully considered request.
Shinji sat cross-legged on the floor. The yōki within him was still slowly settling. Hearing her words, he didn't respond right away. His pale face was lit by the morning light, and his crimson demon eyes, changed after the essence transformation, lowered slightly.
"Why?" was all he asked.
"I am an enemy commander," Naoe Kanetsugu said, her voice tight. "My lord has already withdrawn. As a defeated general of a defeated army and a defeated land, staying here is nothing but humiliation. Just give me a clean end."
Withdrawn.
That was the word she used. To Naoe Kanetsugu and the other ordinary humans, Uesugi Kenshin had not been slain.
There had been no succession. She had simply been forced to kneel before Shinji in Kaede's Village, then safely withdrawn with her army.
This was something Shinji had only realized afterward.
Aside from himself and Kikyō, no one else, not even Momiji or Botan, retained any memory of that nirvana and rebirth. All they remembered was that their enemy had been forced into a humiliating retreat after being made to kneel.
The Uesugi Kenshin described by Naoe Kanetsugu and the others was entirely different from the one Shinji had driven to death.
He wasn't sure whether the original Noragami storyline had established that a god or buddha's succession could completely overwrite mortals' memories of their predecessor.
But it seemed Bishamonten, through this new Uesugi Kenshin, had done exactly that.
It had altered the memories of ordinary humans.
Truly, the power of gods and buddhas was something to behold.
Thankfully, he himself remained unaffected.
Thankfully, he still remembered that the previous Uesugi Kenshin was dead.
This one was the second generation.
"Fair enough," Shinji nodded. "By the customs of the Warring States, a defeated general ought to be put to death."
He grasped the hilt of the sword at his waist and slowly rose to his feet.
But instead of fear, an almost imperceptible flash of relief crossed Naoe Kanetsugu's face, perhaps even a hint of satisfaction.
The girl lifted her pale neck slightly and closed her eyes, truly offering her throat to the blade.
Yet the blade did not fall.
Shinji walked up to her, crouched down, and brought his gaze level with hers. Those crimson eyes, threaded with faint violet veins, narrowed slightly. His expression was that of someone watching an amusing spectacle.
Then, he spoke again.
"You want to die… because that's your way back, isn't it?"
Naoe Kanetsugu's eyes snapped open. Her pupils dilated.
It was a rare sight, an expression of someone whose deepest secret had just been laid bare.
"What are you talking about…"
"Uesugi Kenshin. The living incarnation of Bishamonten," Shinji continued. "A war god who speaks of nothing but 'righteousness.' A daimyō who would risk herself alone for the sake of that righteousness. Someone who values her own honor and her people's faith in Bishamonten above all else. How could someone like that abandon her most trusted adjutant without any burden?"
He tilted his head slightly.
"Unless… in her eyes, you haven't truly been 'lost.'"
Naoe Kanetsugu's face went completely stiff.
Shinji went on, "You may not possess the power of a shinki, but you are the core that commands the Echigo army in Uesugi Kenshin's absence. You are the army's second heart. At the same time, you are the 'brain' that oversees all her shinki."
"If Uesugi Kenshin has the power to bestow names and create shinki, then she certainly has the power to place a safeguard within you."
"My guess is this: if you die here, your soul or consciousness will immediately return to Echigo and be resurrected into some prearranged vessel or upon some prearranged altar."
He lightly patted her cheek.
"Am I right, Adjutant General Naoe?"
Naoe Kanetsugu's expression froze completely.
He had seen through it.
Completely.
This yōkai had not only unraveled her lord's island-hopping tactics, he had even guessed at this hidden application of divine power.
"So," Shinji said as he stood up and dusted off his hands, "I won't kill you."
"Not only will I not kill you, I'm going to take very good care of you. Momiji! Botan!"
"Here!"
The two young miko poked their heads in from the doorway.
"Feed Lady Naoe Kanetsugu well. Don't let her get too skinny. And no need to untie the ropes, just keep her like this. When her lord comes in person to ransom her, then we'll talk."
"Y-you—demon!"
Naoe Kanetsugu finally broke. She thrashed violently against the pillar, as if trying to cut through the ropes by force alone. Her eyes burned with pure, incandescent rage.
If she couldn't die, she would be trapped here indefinitely, forced to watch helplessly as Echigo continued to decline.
This was worse than death.
Shinji ignored her curses and turned toward the door.
As the grand administrator of Echigo, sending Naoe Kanetsugu back would only allow Echigo to recover and rebuild faster.
Though Shinji was confident that the new Uesugi Kenshin could not, and would not, oppose him directly, certain precautions still had to be taken.
Naoe Kanetsugu had to stay detained.
Just then, Momiji spoke up, her expression slightly awkward.
"Um… Nakai-sama, there's another visitor outside."
"The new Uesugi Kenshin's back already? That was fast."
Shinji raised a brow. But the moment he extended his senses, he realized something was off. There was no trace of that oppressive divine pressure approaching.
And it made sense. Barely seven days had passed, Uesugi Kenshin would still be stabilizing things back in Echigo. There was no way she could return so soon.
Besides, with the "lock" he had left on her soul, she would have to kneel the moment she saw him again. Would she even dare show her face?
As expected, Momiji shook her head.
"No, that's not it. It's a woman… dressed very lavishly. She says she's the ruler of this land."
The ruler of this land?
Shinji arched an eyebrow. He already knew who it was.
At that moment, Kikyō emerged from the inner chamber. She had just finished her morning cultivation, bathed, and changed into a fresh miko robe. Her long hair was still slightly damp, and a faint, clean fragrance clung to her.
"Let her come in," Kikyō said evenly.
"Hōjō Ujiyasu," Shinji spoke the name aloud.
The nominal lord of Musashi Province. The "Lion of Sagami", the very same woman who had been led around by the nose by Uesugi Kenshin.
No sooner had Uesugi withdrawn than she appeared at their doorstep.
Her timing, he had to admit, was impeccable.
Shinji materialized his crimson demon mask from condensed yōki and held it in his hand as he walked toward the entrance of the main hall.
At the foot of the steps stood a woman.
Jet-black hair cascaded like a waterfall, and her deep purple kimono was embroidered with the intricate triple-scale crest. The fabric hugged her full hips and long legs, giving off the unapologetic allure of a mature woman in her prime.
A pity, though, far too flat up top. Nowhere near ample enough.
In her hand, she held a gilded folding fan. At that moment, she was looking up at the shrine's torii gate with an expression of clear disdain.
Hearing the footsteps, she lifted her head. Her violet eyes swept past Kikyō before settling on Shinji.
"Well, well," she said, snapping the fan shut. A smile curved at the corner of her lips. "We meet again. The 'Demon God' who forced Uesugi into retreat… Lord Nakai Shinji."
Over by the pillar, Naoe Kanetsugu had given up struggling. She merely cracked one eye open.
Hōjō Ujiyasu?
Here?
Had that woman come to court this yōkai?
Most likely, Naoe Kanetsugu thought. But she couldn't be entirely certain.
One thing, however, she was absolutely sure of,
Today, once again, the person tied to this pillar was going to be completely ignored.
Damn… yōkai.
The petite adjutant ground her teeth in frustration, but she was truly powerless. Shinji wouldn't kill her, and he wouldn't release her. All she could do was stay right here.
Going nowhere.