What on earth is the Master thinking...
Why would he plan to give those children a chance...
Those girls and Tsukinokami, whom I thought I would never see again.
I could not accede to their plea to introduce them to an instructor to join the Demon Slayer Corps.
My heart itself rebelled against growing attached to the girls.
No matter how pitiful they were, I could not rob their future on the spur of the moment.
I could not understand Tsukinokami, either, for bringing them here.
I even suspected that the Master had instigated it, yet I was more confused when his tone held no malice.
Turning my back on their desperate entreaties, I entered the main room.
"Greetings, Kyoumei. It seems you have returned safely from your mission, which puts our Master's mind at ease."
As I stepped inside, a single Kasugai Crow perched on the windowsill greeted me.
Its deep, resonant voice and skillful speech set it apart from the others.
I asked, "Are you the Master?"
The lead Kasugai Crow was the Master's own messenger.
I knelt on one knee.
"Please, do not kneel. I have come only to deliver the Master's message."
"The Master's message?"
The Master's crow restrained my gesture and continued.
"By now, Tsukinokami and the two Kocho sisters you rescued must have arrived."
The Master already knew.
I was not surprised—his insight, his prophecy, after all.
"Kyoumei, the Master has entrusted this to me: grant those girls an opportunity."
"Yes…?"
I blurted the words, stunned by the Master's request.
"Those children are weak. To grant their request…"
"It is not simply a matter of granting their plea, Kyoumei. The Master said you are to determine the trial for their request, and that Tsukinokami must be allowed to observe that trial—that was the condition."
I could only grow more baffled.
What link could there be between my setting a trial—no matter how impossible—and Tsukinokami's witnessing it?
"Then am I free to impose an impossible condition…?"
It was surely disrespectful to question the Master's request.
Yet seeking understanding, I dared to ask.
"The Master said it is up to your judgment, Kyoumei. Of course, you may refuse this request if you wish."
There would be no limit to the conditions I might set.
There would be no harm in refusal.
And yet I could not refuse.
For this was the Master's request—he who would decline any escort or private favor.
But...
Back to the present.
Watching Tsukinokami's exasperated expression, I ran it through my mind once more.
I still had no idea what he was thinking.
Yet it was the Master's will—he must have seen something in those children that I did not.
Forgive me, Master.
A training rock took me quite some time to move myself,
let alone have those girls push it.
It may contravene your intent, but spitefully I set a trial I knew they could never pass.
For whenever I face the children, that nightmare of that day still comes rushing back.
Even if these girls are different, the memory haunts me.
Is it my own failing?
Though saved by the Master, I still wander that day like a child, and I loathe myself for it.
So I wished them to be different.
Unlike me, who had no choice, they should have another path.
Those who know sorrow will become strong and kind adults.
I hoped they would bear children and live ordinary lives.
I prayed they would walk the life ahead—the one the children who perished in that old temple never had.
Even if it was nothing more than a naїve self-delusion...
Even if it was a false excuse to cast them aside.
That is all I have ever wished.
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It is simple.
The children push that enormous rock.
And I, knowing it cannot be done, merely watch this meaningless act.
I repeat it again and again.
What on earth is the current Master of the Mansion thinking?
Why has he bound me here?
It is not torment by false hope.
If he were that twisted, Himejima-san would not obey him.
Then what on earth is his design?
Has he glimpsed, through this meaningless chore, a future in which they become Demon Slayers?
I cannot fathom what he has seen.
As Kanae and Shinobu collapsed in exhaustion, I knelt beside them with cold water.
They had pushed so fiercely their palms were a bloody mess.
Caked in dirt and blistered until the skin was thick and calloused.
Not an easy task.
"Uncle."
Shinobu looked up at me.
She was deeply fatigued, her breathing labored.
She caught her breath and spoke again.
"So… it really can't be done, can it…?"
She seemed half resigned.
The same expression was mirrored on her sister's face.
Himejima-san must have intended them to give up.
Otherwise, he would never impose such a trial on mere children.
He must have wished them to leave, bitter and blaming themselves.
But could the current Master of the Mansion have failed to notice?
The Ubuyashiki Lord possesses the power of prophecy.
He must have seen a future where the sisters become Demon Slayers, and so he granted them this chance.
Then, like that pitiful Final Selection, he would surely have instructed Himejima-san on the details of the trial to intertwine cause and effect.
Yet the only condition given to Himejima-san was to simply watch over them.
He left the exact content of the trial entirely to him.
Does that mean the trial's substance bears no relevance to fate and consequence?
If not... then...
...
Hmm.
Why am I worrying about this?
In pondering, something struck me, and I could not help but laugh softly.
Fate—what does that matter?
Even if I did not escape my destiny of becoming a demon, here I stand as living proof that I defied it.
Do not fixate on some doctrine of fate, nor cling to a future yet to come.
Focus on the present, for the path is one you carve yourself.
Indeed, there is no need to follow the letter of the trial.
Once you move the rock and see the result, the trial is complete.
Then is there any need to push it by sheer muscle?
They have yet to notice the loophole in this system.
They are clever—they will soon realize—but since they will learn it anyway, I may as well hint at it now.
Yet to lay it out plainly would be too much, so... let me see...
@@@
Should I give up?
I wanted to abandon it all.
I knew Himejima-san's task was born of coercion.
I realized it was meant to make them quit and go home.
For there was no way my sister could push that monstrous rock.
It was so forced, so painful.
Their palms hurt so badly...
Inside, my hatred for Demons boiled up.
I could not forgive the beings who stole my family away.
So he made this pointless task impossible to abandon.
I felt as though I might go mad.
"Little one."
"What is it?" she snapped.
"You're very bright."
Why that sudden compliment?
Was he teasing me?
"'It's not about whether you can or cannot. Even if you believe you cannot, you must still accomplish it. If your strength falls short, if you must sacrifice everything, stake your all and see it through.'"
Were those the words Himejima-san said to me...?
"This does not mean you should keep repeating a meaningless act. It means you should employ every means at your disposal until the meaningless becomes meaningful. Not to keep hammering at one spot to move this rock."
Not hammering at one spot?
"'Whether it's moving this rock, slaying demons, or battling, the principle is the same. You prepare for anything that might help. If you have a thousand strategies and one works, that is excellent. You leave no possibility unprepared, and those preparations become your means. And you already know those means.'"
I already know...?
Come to think of it, Uncle...
He stressed the phrase, 'moving the rock.'
It lingered in my memory.
'Moving the rock.'
Moving the rock...?
...Yes!
Himejima-san never told us to push the rock; he told us to move it!
Use every possibility at your disposal.
As he said, there is a way, there is a chance.
There is a method for my sister and me to move that absurdly large rock.
With a smile, I accepted the cold towel Uncle handed me.
When its chill met my battered palms, I grimaced at the pain.
But that was not what mattered, so such pain was bearable.
"As I thought, you are bright."
He smiled and said it again.
"You must be someone's sister!"
Laughing, he went off to find the solution to our assignment.
"Where are you going, Shinobu?" he called.
"Sister! Rules are made to be broken!"