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Homare is having a tea party with Tsumugi, Tasuku, and Fuyuki when Takao and other servants are sorting out the old stuff in the Arisugawa mansion. The butler pushes a metal chest towards the lounge where Homare and his friends are relaxing and chatting.
“Homare-sama, are you still planning to keep this?”
“Hmm? Whatever do you mean?”
Once Takao opens the hatch, Homare stops smiling. He’s shocked and eerily quiet.
“A sword?” Tsumugi asks. “It’s really big though.”
“I think it’s an ax?” Fuyuki asks.
Meanwhile, Tasuku takes his sweet time to finally speak up. As a blacksmith, he finds this thing an insult to his profession. He can only describe this misshapen slab of metal as a poorly-forged cleaver. The blade is too thick and rugged to slice through things.
And worst of all, with that size, the swings will be hella slow and predictable.
“Whatever it is, no sane man will ever wield it in battles. Just what the hell the blacksmith was thinking when they created this…”
Homare never speaks.
“Homare-san?” Tsumugi asks.
“This ax-sword is the first and the last weapon that blacksmith ever creates,” Homare mutters. He just looks at the weapon sadly.
“Hey, I’d give it points for its unique look!” Fuyuki quips. His attempt fails anyway.
“A weapon is useless if it has no use in a battlefield.” Homare closes the hatch and pushes the box into his room. “I apologize, but I would like some time alone. Takao, please escort them out of the mansion.”
“Understood.”
The whole thing is very strange and certainly sparks a discussion between Tsumugi, Tasuku, and Fuyuki as Takao leads them out of the mansion.
“Homare-san was especially sad when you harshly criticized that ax-sword, Tasuku.”
“Whoa, you really can’t escape Tsumu’s observation.”
“I agree. I believe Tsukioka-sama has an idea about the story behind the ax-sword,” Takao says.
“Huh?”
“That ax-sword…”
As Takao tells the story, Tasuku can feel his heart break.
🪓⚔️
“That thing is not a sword. No, it is not even a weapon.”
Homare still remembers his grandmother’s words very clearly. Homare has always liked art, and when he first dabbled in the arts of blacksmithing and created this ax-sword, he thought he’d created something groundbreaking.
He was very wrong. He could barely lift, let alone swing it.
Honestly, Homare isn’t even sure why he’s still keeping this garbage. It’s time to finally discard it, he thinks.
But he doesn’t get to. When he’s about to leave the room with this piece of junk, he bumps into Tasuku.
“Tasuku-kun? I thought I asked Takao to escort you out of the mansion.”
“You did, but… I wanna apologize for saying bad things about your ax-sword.”
“You are not at fault. This thing is a piece of junk to begin with.”
“Even if it’s useless in combat, as my brother has said, it looks pretty unique.”
“A weapon that cannot kill or destroy is useless.”
“Honestly, I can fix it for you. But I don’t think you’ll want that.”
“You can? But why did you think I would not want to let you turn it into a proper weapon?”
“Because it’ll take away your soul.”
“I do not understand.”
“You’re a poet, aren’t you? You’re a creator. The difference between a poet and a blacksmith is the type of art they create. Each time you create, there’ll always be something that makes it feel you .” Tasuku puts his hands on the box. “May I have a closer look at it?”
Without saying anything, Homare opens the hatch.
“No blacksmith can create a proper weapon when starting out.”
Tasuku tries to lift it, and succeeds. But as muscular as he is, he still can’t swing it properly. The floor suffers and Tasuku is trying so hard to not panic.
“Sorry-”
“Hold up!”
…
…
…
“Aha!” Homare immediately strips to his waist and Tasuku is now really panicking. “Behold! The strength of the bear!”
“Oh, right.”
Homare flexes his lean muscles and bulks up, way buffer than Tasuku now. The upper half of his body is taking the form of a spectral bear. Then he lifts the ax-sword and swings it with finesse, smiling so broadly.
“This ax-sword is not useless after all.”
“Definitely not for you.”
“I wish to test its usefulness in combat!”
“You don’t have to.”
But it’s clear that Tasuku isn’t even trying to stop Homare from doing it.
🪓⚔️
“So where’s that troublemaker wereboar the town's talking about?” Fuyuki asks.
Homare, in his half-bear form with his ax-sword strapped to his back, scratches his head while looking around. “It is supposed to be in this forest, but…”
“Tsumugi can’t be wrong with his druidic senses.”
“Well, animal-related magic isn’t really my specialization…”
“And a wereboar is not fully a boar,” Homare adds.
Rustles.
“Hey, I think I heard something.” Fuyuki approaches the bushes with his sword ready.
There the wereboar is! It’s very big but can jump really high somehow.
Fuyuki runs off. “I believe in my little bro’s craftsmanship but this sword isn’t made to block that beeeeeg club! You take the stage, Homare-san!”
“Gladly!”
Homare rushes in with his gigantic ax-sword held up in defense. There’s a very loud crash when it meets the wereboar’s crude club. It’s as if the surroundings shake.
Tasuku smiles proudly. “I knew it. When I accidentally broke the floor of Arisugawa’s mansion, I knew the strength of that thing is the real deal.”
With the wereboar knocked away, Homare jumps with the ax-sword raised overhead. The wereboar tries to parry it, but the monstrous weapon smashes through the club and into the creature’s skull. Its blood and brain matter splatter as its eyeballs pop out of their sockets.
“Holy crap!” Fuyuki exclaims.
Homare stands before the fallen wereboar and keeps looking at the stained ax-sword. “It is not useless after all.”
Tasuku approaches Homare. “I told you so. And…” Tasuku stops right there and looks down, shy.
“What is it, Tasuku-kun?”
“I like…how you swing that ax-sword in your half-bear form,” Tasuku mutters very softly.
“I beg your pardon?”
Tasuku doesn’t reply.
Tsumugi smirks. “That’s it.”
Tasuku’s face is reddening but he can’t bring himself to speak.
“Normally Tasuku would try harder to stop you from testing out your ax-sword, but he never did.”
“Tasuku-kun? Are you…”
Tasuku is now staring at Homare’s bulked-up body. “You’re cool.”
“I cannot hear you.”
“My little bro is weak to rippling muscles,” Fuyuki quips.
“Weak to…rippling muscles? Hold up!”
Tasuku is clenching his fists, his face pretty much a tomato. “Yes, I admit it, Arisugawa. I like you.”
Homare certainly takes his sweet time to process everything and recover. When it’s all done, he gives Tasuku a big bear hug. Tasuku hugs him back so tightly, while Fuyuki and Tsumugi are laughing.
“I suppose this ax-sword is never useless after all,” Homare says. “Thank you for teaching me that, Tasuku-kun.”