After leaving for several years, Michikatsu finally returned once again to the town where the Tsugikuni household was located.
Like Yoriichi, he also deliberately chose to come at late night rather than during the day.
After all, for someone who was officially "dead," being seen by former acquaintances would indeed be very troublesome.
The Tsugikuni castle keep was completely quiet. Carefully avoiding the soldiers on guard, Michikatsu first returned to the room he once lived in based on his memory.
In the equally quiet room, his wife and child were currently sleeping soundly.
Michikatsu paused slightly to look at them, but only took one glance before quietly closing the door and walking toward the main hall direction.
Inside the memorial hall lit with candles, fragrant flowers and candles were arranged everywhere. Mitsuba's coffin was placed on the altar in the center of the hall, quietly awaiting burial after the funeral concluded.
Raising his hand to knock unconscious the several maidservants keeping night watch, Michikatsu slowly stepped forward. Gazing at the heavy coffin before him, his eyes were rather complicated.
Perhaps the dead truly are more memorable than the living.
Features that had already somewhat faded, a voice that was almost forgotten, and those childhood memories that seemed to have long been unrememberable...
The moment Michikatsu saw his younger sister's coffin, all of it came rushing out at once.
Sealed memories suddenly became clear. Even now, Michikatsu still couldn't quite believe it—his younger sister, she was really dead?
Was she really lying right now inside this cold coffin?
When he left, she was still perfectly fine. Why did she pass away in just the blink of an eye?
Yoriichi said that Mitsuba had contracted the same terrible illness as their mother, incurable by medicine.
And Mitsuba had known about this long ago, and had been hiding it from them the entire time.
Why did she do this?
Although Michikatsu very much wanted to ask this, he actually knew the real reason in his heart.
Mitsuba was a particularly worry-free younger sister. She had always been this way.
From the perspective of an elder brother, from the perspective of the Tsugikuni household, Mitsuba almost had the perfect template image. No one could find any fault with her.
But Michikatsu knew that this wasn't actually Mitsuba's true nature.
After all, he had seen what Mitsuba was like as a child.
He certainly knew what Mitsuba was like at the very beginning.
And precisely because of this, Michikatsu had always been too ashamed to return to the Tsugikuni household.
There are very few truly foolish people in this world; they merely pretend to be foolish.
Michikatsu certainly knew that when he left without a word back then, dumping the entire Tsugikuni household and his own wife and child onto his younger sister, what a tremendous blow this would be to Mitsuba.
He knew this very clearly in his heart.
But he really wanted to chase after Yoriichi.
Really wanted to.
For this goal, he could even abandon everything he had.
And his younger sister who now lay quietly inside the coffin was also one of those he had abandoned back then.
"Mitsuba... I'm sorry..."
Sorrow welled up in waves in his heart. Michikatsu stood in place like this, slowly raising his hand to lightly touch the coffin before him.
The deceased has departed. All he could do now was continue forward.
Yes, only forward.
On this path of chasing after Yoriichi, he had already given up too much and lost too much.
He must, and absolutely would, succeed!
The sorrow in his heart was gradually replaced by determination. Taking one last look at the coffin carrying Mitsuba's remains, Michikatsu turned and left without hesitation.
"..."
"Speaking of which, the town ruled by our Tsugikuni household, does it count as a fairly large town?"
A few nights later, walking on a dirt road in the outskirts of some place together with Tamayo, Mitsuba suddenly asked.
Tamayo behind her, upon hearing this, only calmly replied:
"The Tsugikuni town is located near the capital region. Compared to those towns in remote areas, the population and commercial trade are naturally more prosperous."
The contrast in the two people's postures was quite obvious.
Mitsuba walked ahead with her hands behind her back, her steps light, her kimono also worn loosely and sloppily, looking quite improper.
While Tamayo walking behind her was dressed properly, hands folded in front of her, head bowed and eyes lowered, completely looking like a maidservant.
Clearly the older demon, yet being treated as a servant by a much younger demon?
The reason for this, besides Mitsuba's strength being far superior to Tamayo's, was more importantly that Tamayo couldn't win against Mitsuba.
Clearly just a young little girl, yet whether in verbal sparring or thinking ability, Tamayo clearly felt that the Mitsuba before her was far superior.
Mitsuba, who had several years of experience as family head, always seemed able to see through her inner thoughts, and time and again used those precise and heart-piercing words to stimulate or even break through her mental defenses.
This also caused every verbal exchange between the two these past few days to end in Tamayo's defeat.
And having lost so many times, her momentum also failing again and again, she naturally degenerated into Mitsuba's "maidservant"...
Just serving that bastard Muzan was bad enough, and now there was an even more difficult to deal with Tsugikuni Mitsuba added on top. Her demon life really was completely dark...
"Speaking of which, Miss Tamayo, do you know of any clothes that would suit me and also look good?"
Just as Tamayo was sighing about her future, the Mitsuba in front of her spoke again.
As she spoke, Mitsuba also looked down at the exquisite yet loosely worn kimono on her body.
Under normal circumstances, there were many rules for wearing kimono.
For example, one must wear an obi sash, the collar must be neat, and the hem should just cover the ankles but not drag on the ground, etc...
But Mitsuba completely ignored all of these.
The kimono on her body not only had sleeves hanging past her fingertips, swaying back and forth as she walked and swung her arms.
The part that should have been carefully tied at the waist was only simply fastened with a thin sash.
And the hem that should have been carefully adjusted and gathered was casually spread out, occasionally revealing her slender calves as Mitsuba walked.
The main theme was one of scandalous impropriety and unrestrained freedom.
But Mitsuba still felt somewhat uncomfortable.
For the past twenty years, she had constantly worn this heavy thing on her body.
Now that she could finally make her own decisions, she indeed still wanted to wear something lighter and more convenient.
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