A week later, at the Wisteria Crest House, the sun was shining brightly.
Outside, the wisteria trees leaned this way and that, still damaged, while Lady Kyoka sat behind Sui, combing her hair.
"My, my. I hear you'll be going to that Master's estate today, where they'll confer upon you the title of Hashira for slaying a Lower Rank demon. Since you trained in Thunder Breathing, your title will surely be Thunder Hashira," Lady Kyoka said with a smile, continuing to try one new hair ornament after another in Sui's hair.
Sui was half-asleep, propping her cheek on one hand. Her dark blue-black hair spilled over the tatami and tabletop as she let Lady Kyoka fuss over her to her heart's content.
This lady's private collection was absurdly vast. She had at least a dozen pieces in every style imaginable, enough to fill wooden chests half the height of a person. Supposedly, some of them were precious heirlooms passed down since the Warring States period.
A week earlier, Sui had brought Mr. Fujiwara and Lady Kyoka back to the Wisteria Crest House, and the chaos of Osaka's demon affair had finally come to an end. Through Mr. Fujiwara's contacts, the authorities in Osaka had withdrawn the warrant on Sui and even published news articles clearing her name.
The kabuki theater had been left in ruins after Sui's battle with the demon, nearly destroyed outright. The Hidden unit cleaned up the aftermath for her and delivered a vast sum of money to restore the Tamatsubaki Theater.
Kasugai crows had been flying back and forth these past days, spreading the news that a new Thunder Hashira had been born. Sui's crow, Chihana, had risen rapidly in status among her kind. While some of her peers were still following low-ranking swordsmen through the hardships of their assignments, Miss Chihana had now ascended to become the crow of a Hashira.
Sui took a sip of tea and delicately pinched up a sakura mochi between her fingers.
The Kansai-style version of sakura mochi used Domyoji rice and was a seasonal sweet available only in spring. Once summer began, it was almost impossible to find. Yet since learning of Sui's fondness for sweets, Mr. Fujiwara had somehow used his connections to send her all manner of exquisite local confections from Osaka.
A rosy flush of happiness spread across the girl's face as she smiled.
"It's delicious."
"Is that so?" Lady Kyoka laughed softly. "You really do love sweets, Lady Sui. Most swordsmen we've hosted prefer Osaka-style savory fare—okonomiyaki, kushikatsu, things like that. Swordsmanship consumes enormous amounts of energy, and without something rich and hearty, hunger strikes very quickly."
"My missions don't really use up that much stamina," Sui replied softly.
Ever since she had begun her career, Sui had never once been dragged into a prolonged battle against a demon. There had been no desperate back-and-forths, no drawn-out struggles over Blood Demon Arts. The energy she expended in demon hunting was mostly spent on traveling—and on that single decapitating strike.
Sui nibbled at her sakura mochi while Lady Kyoka continued arranging her hair behind her.
"I heard this hairpin was a gift from your master?" Lady Kyoka asked, admiring the peachwood pin in her hand. The wood carried natural lightning patterns in its grain. This material was known as lightning-struck wood, and such high-quality lightning-struck peachwood was exceedingly rare, easily worth hundreds of thousands of yen on the market.
"Yes. It's beautiful, isn't it? The place where I trained is called Peach Mountain. In spring, the peach blossoms cover the mountainside."
"That only makes my own gift feel embarrassingly inadequate," Lady Kyoka said.
She rummaged through one of her chests and finally drew out a pair of earrings from the very bottom.
Each earring was about half a finger long, carved from translucent mother-of-pearl into the shape of a cherry blossom.
Around each hook ran a ring of old-style blue cloisonné enamel, painted with curling vines and drifting mist from the legend of the Floating Dream Bridge. At the end of each chain hung a small thumb-sized wind chime, intricately cut with wave patterns. The craftsmanship was so refined that each one even contained a tiny clapper, ringing out with the pure, crystalline sound of spring water whenever lifted.
Within the dark blue enamel, if caught in the right sunlight, one could make out a poem etched inside the bells. In the Warring States era, women often had their verses engraved on the hidden inner surfaces of ornaments rather than on the outside.
One read:
When the moon breaks the butterfly's bones, by the bridge of drifting dreams.
The other read:
A life like morning dew, a sound like stardust.
Sui felt a light tug at her earlobe.
"This ornament truly… only a beauty like you, Lady Sui, could make it shine so brilliantly. On anyone else, the earrings would simply outshine the wearer herself," Lady Kyoka sighed in admiration.
Sui turned her head slightly. The earrings swayed with a clear, chiming sound, setting off the whiteness of her skin, the moonlike curve of her brows, and her delicate features.
It was beauty enough to steal one's breath away.
Lady Kyoka unconsciously softened her own breathing, as though afraid that even the slightest disturbance might shatter the vision before her.
"Wouldn't it be a waste? When hunting demons, I normally wouldn't wear something like this," Sui said.
She knew these earrings were among Lady Kyoka's deepest treasures, cherished heirlooms from the Warring States era.
"If they stay with me, that would be the real waste," Lady Kyoka said, shaking her head. "Until now, only you have ever been worthy of this radiance."
She gently finished arranging Sui's hair and fixed the peachwood pin in place, then began telling her the story behind the earrings.
"This pair is called Floating Dream Bridge. The legend says that near the end of the Warring States era, a blind songstress mourned the death of her lover in battle by melting down his armor and casting it into earrings. But when her tears fell upon them, they transformed into mother-of-pearl cherry blossoms. Every time she sang beneath the moon, the earrings drew a host of butterflies around her. People said the butterflies were the souls of the fallen soldiers, and soldiers regarded them as an auspicious sign that the dead had been properly guided on."
"This story suits you very well, Lady Sui—your beauty, and the meaning behind it. Please accept them. After all, you saved both Fujiwara and me."
After hearing the story, Sui fell silent for a moment before saying, "I'll wear them always. They're light enough that they won't interfere with my movements."
"Why the sudden change of heart?" Lady Kyoka asked curiously. It had only been meant as a gift. She had never expected a Demon Slayer, who fought at the edge of life and death, to actually wear them into battle.
"The meaning of Floating Dream Bridge is beautiful," Sui said, lifting her head. She remembered the strange sight she had witnessed in the Final Selection after slaying that monstrous hand demon—so many unfamiliar people appearing before her, as though she had fallen into some kind of waking dream.
In this world… souls truly existed.
And if souls truly existed, then perhaps the story behind these earrings was real as well.
The dead becoming butterflies.
Wasn't that romantic?
Lady Kyoka burst into laughter, shaking with mirth.
"Lady Sui, you do have moments like this—speaking with a perfectly serious face, and yet sounding so childlike. How adorable."
Sui toyed with the tiny chimes of Floating Dream Bridge, listening to their clear ringing. Suddenly, in her usual closed-eyed state, her sense of hearing seemed to expand slightly farther than before.
She froze.
In that instant, she heard the whisper left behind by the blind songstress who had once sung for the dead.
It was not an illusion.
That "voice" truly emerged within the wind-chime's sound, and the sound in turn unfolded into a slowly spreading picture before her.
Though her eyes were closed, she saw a field of violet flowers. Beneath the moon, a blind and breathtakingly beautiful woman sang softly in their midst. Her earrings reflected the moonlight and drew swarms of butterflies. She danced lightly, longing for the lover she had lost.
And the woman said—
When the moon breaks the butterfly's bones, by the bridge of drifting dreams.
A life like morning dew, a sound like stardust.
After a thousand years, it has finally fallen against your ear.
The lingering warmth of war fades into the petals, and spring's chill has not yet passed.
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
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Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 115)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League ( Ending )
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter110)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter108)
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I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter144)
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Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 70
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 99
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 95
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 99
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 92
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 65
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 76
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 66
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 65
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer 47
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 44
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player 43
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