"Pull it out again? But... isn't the blade right there?"
In Geno's eyes, Tailless hovered unsteadily above the offering altar.
More than worrying about pulling it free, he worried that Tailless would simply vanish before his eyes again.
"That's just a figure of speech. To be precise, you need to earn Tailless's recognition."
Misako covered her lips lightly, called little Hoshimi Miyabi back to her side, then spoke to Geno.
"Do you remember the trials you went through earlier? The ones where fire and frost tested you in turn?"
Of course Geno hadn't forgotten, but what did that have to do with the Tailless in front of him?
"Those trials tested whether you were qualified to become this blade's wielder. Pulling Tailless free is the final question of that test."
"What? But I don't want to be some kind of wielder."
Geno was dumbfounded. What did any of this have to do with anything? Why was it all happening so suddenly?
"But don't you want to leave this place? The only way out is to become Tailless's wielder and sign a pact with it."
Misako slowly laid out everything about Tailless.
"This place belongs to Tailless's world. Even though you were dragged in here by force, it's the same for everyone — without Tailless's power, no one can leave."
Hearing this, Geno's world caved in. To him, it was nothing short of a disaster out of nowhere — how had he ended up catching this thing's eye for no reason at all?
"Wait, that's not right. Isn't Tailless's master Hoshimi Miyabi? Why would it set its sights on me instead?"
Facing Geno's confusion, Misako remained just as composed as ever.
"Tailless has a will of its own. Even though it's a blade, it chooses its own master. Anyone it hasn't recognized can never unleash its full power.
As the Hoshimi family's heirloom blade, Tailless holds many secrets unknown to outsiders.
The simplest example is exactly what I just said — that Tailless chooses its own master is something few people even know.
"But who Tailless chooses isn't something we can decide. And no one has ever said Tailless can only have one master at a time. Perhaps it saw something in you, some quality — just as it once did with little Miyabi."
As she said this, Misako lowered her eyes to her young daughter, her gaze full of reluctance.
"Um, about how Miss Hoshimi Miyabi earned Tailless's recognition — is there some secret behind it?"
It seemed to touch a raw nerve for Misako. Her slender frame trembled slightly, and she stayed silent for a long while before speaking again.
"Miyabi showed a talent for martial arts from a very young age. That was exactly what worried me, because I never wanted her to walk that path."
Everyone knew that every head of the Hoshimi family, generation after generation, had wielded rare power thanks to Tailless. That assumption led people to believe Hoshimi Miyabi was no different.
But the truth was that from her debut to becoming a Void Hunter, Miyabi had relied entirely on her own strength — she had never once used Tailless.
This formidable talent brought Miyabi power, but it also brought her a burden: the fate shared by every head of the Hoshimi family — to become Tailless's wielder.
But Miyabi's parents didn't see it that way.
'As long as Miyabi gets to live the life she wants, that's enough.'
This was the shared belief of Hoshimi Misako and Hoshimi Souichirou, and because of it, they did everything they could to keep Miyabi away from Tailless.
They knew that the moment Miyabi came into contact with Tailless, her becoming its next wielder would be all but certain.
Even if that fate couldn't be changed, they hoped the day would come as late as possible.
"Unfortunately, man's plans can't outrun heaven's will. Disaster always arrives first. On the day the Old Capital fell, the Hoshimi estate was caught in it too. The whole house burned to the ground, and I was struck by Ether Corruption, too weak to flee."
As she revisited that painful memory, Misako's brow furrowed tightly, as though she were once again feeling the agony of being burned alive.
"To let young Miyabi escape, I had no choice but to sacrifice myself to Tailless, to awaken its power so she could get away safely."
And that was why, even though Miyabi was now Tailless's wielder, she had always refused to unleash its power again.
Because every time she drew Tailless from its sheath, she could never forget that her own hands were stained with her mother's blood.
"That child must have been terrified. But it was the only way I could think of at the time."
As she spoke, Misako held little Miyabi a bit tighter, and little Miyabi obediently patted her arm.
Hearing all this, Geno just felt a weight settle over his chest.
Beneath the bright, peaceful surface of this world lurked one painful memory after another — the people involved wanted to forget, those around them refused to speak of it, yet everyone still carried the wound.
Geno let out a helpless sigh. He'd always been too soft-hearted for his own good — he couldn't stand hearing stories like this.
But his doubts hadn't gone away. If anything, there were more of them now.
"By your account, you already sacrificed your life to Tailless back then. So why are you here now? And what about that little Miyabi in your arms?"
Hearing Geno's question, Misako answered without holding anything back.
"Tailless turned my flesh and blood into sustenance, and sealed my soul away here — just like every head of the Hoshimi family before me, trapped in this lightless space to savor endless solitude. And this child is one I fashioned from my memories of little Miyabi."
Misako lifted the doll in her arms. Just as she'd said, little Miyabi looked almost indistinguishable from a real person — but on closer inspection, her eyes lacked a certain spark, faintly hollow, like an exquisite porcelain doll.
'So it's a figure recreated purely from memory? Then this courtyard is probably the same.'
Anyone else might have found this a bit hard to believe, but Geno — who had personally experienced Filth's power to manipulate memory — found it fairly easy to accept.
"All right. Thank you for the thorough explanation. So what I need to do now is pull this blade out again?"
Geno pointed at the eerie blade behind Misako, looking at her for confirmation.
Misako nodded slowly, then lowered her head, as if signaling that Geno could begin. But in a corner where Geno couldn't see, her expression carried a trace of reluctance.
But it lasted only an instant, and Geno never noticed it at all.
"Well then, here I go."
____
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