Late at night, Sui knocked on the gate of the courtyard.
A light soon flicked on inside, and Jigoro came stomping out, grumbling under his breath. "Which bastard is it? Disturbing a man's peace in the middle of the night!"
The gate opened.
The old man stood there, staring at Sui. "Huh?"
Under the night sky, the girl stood straight outside the door, cradling a bouquet of Chinese milk vetch in her arms.
"I'm back, old man," Sui said with a soft smile.
"Good. It's good that you're back." Jigoro forced himself to sound calm. "Put those flowers in your room properly. The girl from the town gave them to you, didn't she? Honestly... what exactly did you do to leave her so smitten?"
Sui followed the old man inside. The furnishings were just as familiar as ever.
Only eight days had passed, so nothing much had changed. Still, her room had been tidied to perfection, and a few peach blossoms had been placed in the dressing stand.
Before long, Jigoro brought out food and set fish to simmer over an iron pot.
"Where's Kaigaku?" Sui asked.
"That brat's training in the back mountain. Ever since you went off to the Final Selection, he's been working himself half to death trying to grasp the First Form you used. That strike of yours was truly astonishing—even I was surprised," Jigoro said.
"The Master told me everything. You did splendidly, girl!" the old man praised without holding anything back. "Right out of the gate, you killed a grotesque demon and a demon with a Blood Demon Art on Mount Fujikasane, then wiped out all the lesser demons on the mountain besides. That's an incredible feat. Very few candidates can manage anything close to that, let alone after only three months of training."
"Oh, right. The Master specifically told me that a swordsmith will be coming soon to ask about the details of your blade. He's having your Nichirin sword forged to Hashira standards. Until it's finished, you won't be called into service unless it's an emergency, so rest well here on Mount Momoyama for a while. Once you get that Nichirin blade, I doubt you'll have much free time left."
"The time after the Final Selection is over is what all swordsmen remember as the graduation days."
Sui ate with quiet refinement, almost like a cat. Jigoro had originally meant to remind her that swordsmen needed to consume large amounts of food to replenish themselves after slaying demons, but then he remembered who he was talking to—this monstrous girl who had mastered Thunder Breathing in only two months.
In the end, the old man simply sat in silence and waited for her to finish eating.
"I'm full," Sui said at last. "It was delicious."
"Kaigaku still hasn't come back. It's already very late." The old man glanced outside.
Out there, a black-haired boy with a sword on his back stood staring at the warm electric light spilling from the room.
"That damned woman's back. So the Final Selection's over."
He frowned, made no move to enter, and turned back toward the rear mountain where he trained.
Morning mist blanketed Mount Momoyama, and the countless peach blossoms looked as if they had drifted into a dream.
When Jigoro knocked on Sui's door to wake her, the girl's voice came from within—she was already up, seated at her dressing table and tending to herself.
After receiving permission, Jigoro pushed the door open, and Sui turned her face toward him with a smile.
She had a hairpin between her lips, and a lock of dark hair brushed against the Chinese milk vetch resting on the table.
At the corner of her eye was that natural streak of red.
By the time the old man entered, she had reached the final step: she swept her hair up and fixed it in place with the pin. A narrow shaft of sunlight came through the window and slid across the ornament, tinting the gathered black hair the deep brown of sandalwood.
Sui favored pinned-up hairstyles because loose hair interfered when she used high-speed slashes. She disliked the feeling of her own hair whipping across her face.
"The swordsmith is here," Jigoro said.
"All right. I'll be there in a moment."
Sui narrowed her eyes slightly, and only then did Jigoro realize that she had them open. Her pupils were clear and bright, like twin dark pools. The way they moved now made her dazzling.
People always said that the eyes were the window to the soul, that by looking into them you could truly understand what kind of person someone was. When Sui kept her eyes closed, she carried that quiet, delicate stillness about her—but now, with her ordinary black eyes revealed, her whole presence had changed.
When she smiled, the curve of her brows and eyes was gentle and alluring. This was a beauty so vivid it crushed everything around it.
Jigoro suddenly remembered that Sui had once been the eldest daughter of the head shrine maiden of Fushimi Inari Shrine, where the enshrined deity was the fox spirit.
The girl looked exactly like a fox spirit herself.
"I only keep my eyes closed because it's more convenient, and because it helps me control the Mystic Eyes better. Sometimes, though, I do like to look and see just how pretty I've grown," the girl said with a laugh as she stood up. Once her grooming was done, she seemed to settle back into her usual tranquil self.
Given Jigoro's temperament, he should have snapped back with something like, Brat, stop being so vain, but even after Sui stepped out of the room, he still said nothing.
There was simply no denying the beauty that girl possessed.
In the tatami room, a man wearing a hyottoko mask sat waiting. At Sui's appearance, he bowed slightly.
"My name is Hotaru Haganezuka. The Master has sent me to forge Lady Sui's Nichirin blade—specifically, one to Hashira specifications."
"Since your tamahagane has already been selected, I must make one point clear. A Nichirin blade forged by me for a Hashira and a Nichirin blade forged for an ordinary swordsman are fundamentally the same. 'Hashira specifications' only means I can tailor the weapon to your habits and preferences; its raw durability will not differ much."
Hotaru Haganezuka spoke with utmost seriousness. The hyottoko mask was comical, but the man behind it was clearly very grave.
Sui nodded. "I do have an idea."
"Please, go on."
Sui went into the inner loft of the wooden house and returned carrying a long sword wrapped in silk cords—the cursed blade she had brought from the shrine.
She handed it to Haganezuka.
"This...!"
A cry escaped from beneath the mask. The instant he took it in hand, he felt a boundless killing intent, as though some enormous pale serpent had slipped out of the darkness and fixed him in its cold stare.
"It's a cursed blade!"
He had reached exactly the same conclusion Jigoro had.
As he unwound the silk bindings layer by layer, Haganezuka grew more and more shaken. He had never seen craftsmanship like this before, and the metal used to forge the blade was of an entirely unknown kind. His gaze fixed on the guard: eight serpent heads biting and twisting around one another in the shape of a lotus blossom.
The blade inscription read:
Yasouzu Shimo Yomi Taidou.
Ordinarily, an inscription had some connection to the sword's true name, so Haganezuka asked, "Does this blade have a name?"
"No. I don't even know its origins. It should be a sacred blade once enshrined upon an altar."
"No, not a sacred blade," Haganezuka said, shaking his head. "Sacred blades usually do not have guards. What is it that Lady Sui wants me to do? Forge a Nichirin blade modeled after this one?"
"Yes," Sui said with a nod.
"Reproducing this blade will be difficult. I'll need to take this cursed sword back to the Swordsmith Village and study it there. Would that be acceptable to you? I swear it will be returned in perfect condition."
"Then I leave it in your hands, Lord Haganezuka."
Sui passed him the blade.
"I will not fail your trust!"
Haganezuka answered solemnly, accepting it with both hands.
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 150)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 115)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League (Chapter 110)
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter105)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter100)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter69)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter100)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 70
From Junkman to Wasteland 60
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 40
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 60
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 50
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 50
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 50
The Way the Umamusume Look at 31
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 26
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 26
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