Kaede's Village had changed.
It had become almost unrecognizable.
Ten days ago, before Shinji left Musashi and headed north to Mutsu, this place had been nothing more than a small mountain village.
It was nestled against a tiny hill, beside a modest stream, centered around the Sacred Tree, with no more than a few dozen households.
Now, it had expanded into a town with a nascent framework.
The shrine had been rebuilt.
Vermillion torii gates stretched from the foot of the mountain to its midsection, six tiers in all, polished to a gleam that reflected human figures.
The roof of the main hall had been replaced with brand-new cypress bark thatching, the roofing structure commonly used in this land's shrines.
The bells hanging beneath the eaves had been swapped from bronze to gilded, producing a clearer, brighter chime whenever the wind passed.
Along the main approach to the hall, new saplings had been planted on both sides.
Stone lanterns stood in neat rows.
Even the moss on the steps had been scrubbed clean.
The changes surrounding it were even greater.
With the shrine as its core, three orderly roads extended outward.
The houses along them had transformed from thatched-roof wooden shacks into earthen-walled, tile-roofed townhouses.
Though the scale was still small, the rows were neat.
Warm curtains hung before the doors.
It already had the beginnings of a "castle town."
Further out, more than a dozen villages that had migrated from the surrounding area were scattered about.
These villages had not been ordered to relocate by Shinji.
After he was enfeoffed as Kishin Mikoto-no-Mitama by the two provinces, the common folk from the surrounding lands had gathered here of their own accord.
The shrine had a miko of proven efficacy.
There was a Demon God's protection, a barrier's shelter, and tribute goods delivered regularly from various regions.
In this chaotic age, this place was even safer than a daimyō's castle town.
And now, those roads connected these villages together.
The total population had swelled from the original hundred-some souls to nearly two thousand.
And the direct force behind this great construction,
Was Hōjō Ujiyasu.
After the Hōjō-Uesugi allied forces had blocked the northeastern army's southward advance at the northern border of Musashi, this female daimyō of Sagami had not immediately withdrawn her troops back to Sagami.
Instead, she had brought her five hundred main-force soldiers directly to Kaede's Village.
On the surface,
"To worship Kishin Mikoto-no-Mitama."
In truth,
She had come to wait.
For Shinji.
She had waited ten days.
The person had not come.
But Hōjō Ujiyasu had not been idle.
She had done something very much in character.
In keeping with the Hōjō clan's consistent practice of benevolent rule, she had undertaken road repairs, house construction, and infrastructure improvement.
Under the pretext of "repairing the divine domain in the name of the Demon God," this ruler of Sagami had summoned three hundred craftsmen, over a thousand laborers, and vast quantities of building materials from Sagami.
Within ten days, she had renovated the shrine of Kaede's Village and rebuilt all the roads connecting the surrounding villages.
Her purpose was clear.
To beat the Imagawa and the Takeda to it, to carve her own mark into every brick and tile of Kaede's Village.
The shrine you worship—I built it.
The roads you walk—I paved them.
The houses you live in—I constructed them.
When the time came for rewards to be distributed, it would be very difficult to bypass her.
This was Hōjō Ujiyasu's greatest strength.
In direct battlefield charges, she could not match Takeda Shingen.
In offensive strategy, she could never be Uesugi Kenshin's equal.
In overall coordination and political maneuvering, she was hard-pressed to match Imagawa Yoshimoto, the ruler of Suruga personally groomed by Taigen Sessai.
But…
Administration.
Investment.
Making money.
Building things.
She was truly good at that.
Every generation of Hōjō clan heads had built their foundation on this.
And it was precisely this that had allowed them to persist in benevolent rule without being dragged down.
At this moment.
The newly renovated main hall of the shrine.
The sliding doors were open.
The night wind poured in from the corridor.
Hōjō Ujiyasu knelt on the left side of the head seat.
Her deep purple kimono wrapped her delicate frame.
She clutched a round fan in her hand, slapping it against her palm again and again.
Her black hair was immaculately combed.
Yet her face was somewhat stiff.
Across from her sat Uesugi Kenshin.
Her deep indigo hair hung over her shoulders.
The white band across her forehead was tied with perfect precision.
Her violet pupils looked quietly ahead.
Between them lay a low table.
Upon it sat two bowls of tea, long since gone cold.
".....So I'm saying, the very fact that your Uesugi army is stationed within Musashi Province is against the rules. No matter what banner you fly, Echigo's soldiers are treading upon Sagami's sphere of influence—"
"Mn. I was in the wrong."
Kenshin nodded.
Ujiyasu's words caught in her throat.
Her mouth opened, then closed.
She repeated the motion.
The fan stopped tapping for two beats, then resumed, still repetitive.
After a moment, Ujiyasu finally spoke, utterly speechless.
"Whatever I say, you admit it. If you admit everything, how am I supposed to continue?"
"Because it truly was my fault."
Kenshin's tone was calm.
Her violet pupils shifted from the tea bowl to Ujiyasu, carrying a sincerity that only infuriated Ujiyasu further.
"I did things I should not have done before. All of it was wrong. I have already said so."
"You've said it.... you've been saying it for ten days!"
Ujiyasu finally couldn't help but rise to her feet.
Her fan pointed at Kenshin's nose.
"From the first day I arrived, you've been saying this! I asked why you're squatting in Musashi and not leaving. You said 'repaying a debt.' I asked how you got here before me. You said 'I run fast.' I asked how long you intend to stay—"
"Until the debt of gratitude is repaid. I will not leave."
Kenshin finished the sentence for her.
Ujiyasu nearly snapped her fan in half!
In the corner of the main hall, Momiji and Botan knelt side by side behind a pillar.
Momiji wore red robes and white hakama, her black ponytail neat, her expression taut.
Her gaze shifted back and forth between the two provincial rulers.
Her face was practically screaming:
I should not be here. I should be under a car.
Botan, round-faced and big-eyed, wore blue robes and white hakama.
She hugged her knees and curled into a ball, her face buried in them.
Every now and then, she lifted her head for a peek before ducking back down.
They had watched this scene for ten days now.
At least once a day.
And the pattern was always the same.
Hōjō Ujiyasu accused.
Uesugi Kenshin admitted fault.
Then Ujiyasu had nothing to say.
She either exploded or fell silent for a while, then continued accusing from a different angle.
Over and over.
Never tiring of it.
Though they both remembered that, at the beginning, this ruler of Sagami had actually been somewhat afraid of Uesugi Kenshin.
Later, it seemed that upon discovering Kenshin's "meek acceptance," she had gradually grown bolder.
Footsteps pattered from the corridor.
Kaede poked her head out.
Her twin-tails swung.
Her seven- or eight-year-old face was written with confusion.
"Sister Momiji, are they performing something again?"
In this little girl's eyes, the daily repetition was, indeed, a performance.
She had seen something similar before in a village with her sister Kikyō.
It was very interesting.
Momiji forced down her urge to laugh and urged,
"…Kaede, go back to sleep."
Kaede pouted and withdrew.
She was Kikyō's younger sister, but during this period, Momiji and Botan had spent more time with her.
She had come to regard them as sisters too…
Important family, second only to Kikyō and Shinji.
Amidst this,
The atmosphere in the main hall froze for a moment.
Then Ujiyasu finally sat back down, her fan placed on her knee.
An advantageous silence.
A long silence.
Then she spoke, her tone much lower than before.
"…I need to go back."
Kenshin tilted her head.
"Matters in Sagami have piled up for ten days. If I don't return soon…"
Ujiyasu's voice paused.
"The Tsugikuni family… the previous-generation branch of the Hōjō clan that has been stationed in northern Musashi....my distant clan uncle's household, has had a situation."
"The legitimate eldest son of the clan head has suddenly vanished."
"The Tsugikuni family has searched every stronghold along the border of Musashi and Kōzuke and found no trace of him."
The legitimate son of the Tsugikuni clan head,
Without question....
Was Tsugikuni Michikatsu.
The elder brother of Tsugikuni Yoriichi.
The military commander of the Hōjō branch family stationed at the border of Musashi and Kōzuke.
His disappearance was no small matter for the Hōjō clan.
Of course, Ujiyasu did not know where that young lord of the Tsugikuni family had gone.
But if Shinji had been present, he could probably have guessed.
The Demon Slayer Corps.
Tsugikuni Michikatsu and Tsugikuni Yoriichi, that pair of brothers had previously met at the border of Musashi and Kōzuke.
What happened afterward went without saying.
Michikatsu had witnessed his younger brother's growing extraordinariness.
As the elder brother who had been by his side since childhood, unwilling to be left behind, he had naturally abandoned the family and joined the Demon Slayer Corps.
This was also the original Demon Slayer plotline that Shinji knew well.
Though now, Kibutsuji Muzan had already been killed.
Though there very likely existed other demons in the world, whether Tsugikuni Michikatsu would become a demon as in the original story, or even the Upper Rank One, Kokushibo, the strongest beneath the Demon King, remained unknown.
But this was not something Ujiyasu could know.
She only knew…
"Previously, when I was away, certain matters were entrusted to my clan uncle for handling. Now that his household has encountered trouble, I must return to deal with it personally."
Ujiyasu rose.
The hem of her kimono brushed across the tatami.
Her silhouette in the candlelight seemed somewhat thinner than when she had arrived.
Ten days.
She had repaired the shrine, paved the roads, and built the houses.
Yet she had never once not waited for that person to return.
Had not even seen him once.
Detestable!
"…Every time it's like this."
Every time missing him.
At the very beginning, at Yajihara, she had been abducted by Takeda Shingen's subordinates and missed it.
At Okehazama, she had not gone.
At Mount Hakurei, she had not made it in time.
On the front lines against the northern coalition, when Shinji had swept the moths from the sky with a single slash, she had stood in the rear, seeing only a light in the distance.
Now again.
Always…
Always missing him.
But no matter how unwilling, no matter how helpless,
It could only end here.
She drew a deep breath, tucked her fan back at her waist, and stepped toward the end of the corridor.
Then...
The sound of horses and carriages came from outside.
In the vast night, Hōjō Ujiyasu's procession disappeared beyond the village, vanishing into the boundless darkness.
However.
Less than half an incense stick's time after Ujiyasu's departure,
Kenshin stood up.
The tea bowl was knocked over by her knee.
The cold tea spilled across the tatami.
Her violet pupils suddenly blazed bright.
"....He's back."
Momiji and Botan lifted their heads simultaneously.
"What?"
Kenshin had already turned toward the window.
The white band across her forehead drifted in the night wind.
Her body leaned slightly forward.
Her right hand unconsciously pressed against her chest.
There....
It was beating very fast.
No mistake.
Momiji rose and walked to the window.
Following Kenshin's gaze, she looked out.
Botan followed too, tiptoeing and gripping the windowsill.
Outside the window, the night was deep.
The moon hung at the center of the sky.
And yet,
From the northern horizon, ink-black clouds were churning toward them.
Beneath the clouds, dense silhouettes swept past in the moonlight.
Winged.
Horned.
Tailed.
Scaled.
One after another, they trailed into a dark dragon stretching for several kms.
Five-colored radiance interwove and flowed at the very front of that dragon.
Dark crimson.
Ghostly violet.
Pale white.
Violet-blue.
Dark blue.
The gray-robed, long-haired figure stood at the very front.
His crimson demon eyes were like two embers in the moonlight.
The white-robed, crimson-hakama figure stood beside him.
Her longbow was slung behind her back.
Her black hair streamed backward.
The Hyakki Yakō.
Descending upon Kaede's Village.
Momiji clenched the edge of the windowsill.
Botan's mouth formed a perfect circle, her eyes filled with five-colored light.
Kenshin stood at the window.
Her violet pupils reflected that gray-and-white figure streaking past within the black clouds.
The sound of her heartbeat drowned out the night wind.
The tips of her ears flushed red.
Her lips moved.
Very softly, she said:
"…Welcome back, Lord Shinji."