"Speaking of which, Brother Yoriichi."
Instinctively covering her left hand beneath her robes, Mitsuba maintained her composure and asked with a curious tone:
"From just now until now, haven't you used your special eyes to look at me even once?"
"Special eyes? Do you mean the Transparent World, Mitsuba?"
Realizing what Mitsuba was referring to, a deep sorrow suddenly surfaced in the depths of Yoriichi's eyes. He lowered his head and replied with a faint smile:
"Ever since I met Uta, except during battle, I no longer use the Transparent World to observe others..."
Mitsuba keenly realized that this "Uta" mentioned by Yoriichi must be someone extremely important to him, and most likely no longer in this world...
But she didn't ask further about this, instead actively avoiding this topic that might cause Yoriichi grief.
"Is it because Brother Yoriichi no longer wants to see the people around you as walking lumps of flesh and skeletons?"
"Mm."
Smiling at his sister's teasing, Yoriichi nodded gently and replied seriously:
"I also want to use normal eyes to see the people around me."
"I see..."
Finally understanding everything completely, a smile also appeared on Mitsuba's face.
So that's how it was, no wonder he hadn't noticed her physical condition at all.
But this was good too.
After all, she didn't want to cause trouble for her two brothers even at the end...
Thinking of this, Mitsuba completely suppressed the thoughts in her heart and smiled at Yoriichi:
"Brother Yoriichi, it's getting late. I think it's about time you returned."
It was time to see her guest out. She worried that if it took too long, her oblivious brother before her might notice something.
"Mm, you should rest early too, Mitsuba."
Completely unaware of what his sister was thinking at this moment, Yoriichi nodded gently and stood up to leave.
But just as he was about to climb out the window, Yoriichi suddenly stopped.
"Brother Yoriichi?"
He turned back, and under Mitsuba's slightly nervous gaze, promised with an extremely serious tone:
"Mitsuba, when I have time later, I will bring my brother back to see you together."
Stunned once again, looking at Yoriichi's incredibly serious eyes, Mitsuba smiled resignedly.
"Thank you, but there's no need..."
The bright moonlight streamed in through the window, gently falling upon Yoriichi at this moment, as if draping him in a sacred silver veil.
And across from Yoriichi, Mitsuba sat entirely in the deep darkness of the room, with only the dim, yellow candlelight faintly illuminating half of her face.
"Life is short. Since both my brothers have found what they wish to strive for, then continue forward in this direction with all your hearts.
You need not worry about me, nor about the Tsugikuni family. As the daughter of the Tsugikuni family, I will handle everything properly..."
"..."
"So what you're saying, Mitsuba, is that one of your brothers came to see you last night?"
The next day at Butterfly's clinic, while performing acupuncture on Mitsuba as usual, Butterfly suddenly looked up, her face full of astonishment.
"Incredible! So Mitsuba, you actually have brothers?
Ah no, I mean, your brothers are actually still alive?
Uh, that doesn't sound right either... Anyway, I always thought you were the only one left in your family..."
"Mm."
Not minding Butterfly's slip of the tongue, Mitsuba nodded gently and explained:
"I still have two brothers at home, but due to various reasons, they have both left the Tsugikuni family one after another and joined an organization called the Demon Slayer Corps..."
"Wow! Dumping all the family responsibilities onto their younger sister, then quietly running off to live freely and happily—are there really such irresponsible brothers in this world?"
"Butterfly, you mustn't say that."
Mitsuba shook her head slightly, clearly not agreeing with her best friend's words.
"Life in the Demon Slayer Corps is extremely dangerous; it cannot be described as living freely and happily. Compared to my two brothers, I who merely remained in the Tsugikuni family am already very..."
"Mitsuba, that kind of thinking is what's wrong."
Before Mitsuba could finish, Butterfly directly interrupted her.
She stood up and walked over to Mitsuba, then grasped her shoulders with both hands, looking directly into her eyes, and spoke with an extremely serious tone:
"You must understand that every person in this world is a unique individual.
If one day you die, then whether it's your two brothers, or me, or anyone else, absolutely no one can live on in your place.
Don't give me that nonsense about spirit living on forever—when a person dies, they're dead. The truth is that simple.
Therefore, other people have their own lives, and you yourself should have your own life as well.
Undeniably, your two brothers may indeed be doing good deeds.
But this doesn't mean they can justifiably shift all the responsibilities they should bear onto your shoulders.
Nor does it mean you should take it for granted that you must bear the responsibilities that were originally theirs.
This kind of thinking is completely wrong! Utterly and thoroughly wrong! Do you understand?"
Joining the Demon Slayer Corps and slaying demons in this world—Michikatsu and Yoriichi were undoubtedly doing good deeds for this world.
But this didn't mean they could simply say "Mitsuba, we're leaving the entire Tsugikuni family to you," then wave their sleeves and toss all the responsibilities they should bear onto their younger sister before leaving gracefully.
In Butterfly's view, these were two entirely separate matters.
Wanting to be heroes was fine, but please fulfill your responsibilities and arrange your affairs properly before becoming heroes.
Rather than only caring about looking glamorous and pursuing dreams up front, then leaving the mess behind for your younger sister to clean up.
Just like Butterfly—after all these years of volunteer clinics, every medicinal herb she used was either personally gathered from the mountains or purchased from other clinics using her own savings.
She never thought that because she was doing volunteer work, because she was doing good deeds, the government should cooperate with her and provide medicinal materials at low prices or even for free.
That would be utterly absurd.
Butterfly's mind was very clear. In her view, wanting to do volunteer clinics was her own decision; therefore, whether it was the government or other physicians in the city, they had no obligation whatsoever to cooperate with her.
The medicinal materials were obtained by herself, the clinic was rented with her own money—she had no reason to ask others to bear these costs for her.
Similarly, the same applied to Mitsuba and her two willful brothers.
Just because they had dreams, just because they wanted to become demon-slaying heroes, they dumped such a large family entirely onto their younger sister, leaving her alone to contend with those old vassals and other daimyo outside, without even caring whether she was willing or not?
Pah!
So you're the only ones with dreams, huh? Who in this world doesn't have dreams?
Why should others abandon their dreams to carry the weight for you?
Not to mention, Mitsuba's time was already running out...
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