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It felt like only yesterday when they talked in leisure.
Below their favorite sakura tree, if Makoto was still busy with Inazuma-related politics, Ei would gladly wait for her. Sometimes, their friends who were free would somehow join Ei, be it Sasayuri on their way back to Tenshukaku on patrol, Saiguu who was showing little Miko and other shrine maidens from Grand Narukami Shrine about the ropes, or it was the mighty yet beautiful oni who was telling her children to behave around esteemed Shogun.
That day, Mikoshi Chiyo came alone to grace Ei’s presence, the horned oni smiled wide as she energetically waved to Ei who sat in her solitude under the sakura tree.
“Wanna spar?” the oni chirped; her eyes scanned the tree, then Ei and her trusty sword on her side, her grin pointed as she offered.
“Sure,” Ei gladly agreed, then she paused as Ei noticed that it was a beautiful day out for leisure. “Or would you prefer we spar in something like karuta instead?”
“Well, if there’s no one to supervise, it won’t be easy and fair to play karuta ,” Chiyo said. “And I can’t suddenly pull Nagamasa from work to attend to us, can I?”
“Fair enough,” Ei chuckled, she pulled her sword. She knew how Chiyo fixated over swordplay whenever they happened to have a chance to go for it. “Where should we spar?”
Chiyo thought for a bit, her eyes wandered along the road of the mainland Inazuma then landed toward the direction of Hanamizaka. “Let’s go to the Amakane Island, we’ll just be bothering people if we spar so close to the residential area.”
The spirited oni helped Ei to her feet and they both walked to the direction of Amakane Island, chatting happily about random things, and not once wary about each other’s sword or fighting prowess.
Sparring with her friends was something Ei loved to do, despite they were mutually busy as Inazuma continued its quest to prosperity. Of course, Makoto was mostly not into violence or fighting, but as most of their friends were also fighters and generals, sparring was a fruitful pastime, and a way for Ei to get to know her friends better.
Mikoshi Chiyo, for example, has always been both Ei’s closest confidant and her sword mentor. Unrivaled in both concentration and skill, the beautiful oni swept her enemies in her graceful swing of her broadsword. Ei already lost count of their sparring tally, but she could say Chiyo was still a winner between them. Sometimes, Ei couldn’t help but to think that Chiyo was losing on purpose, just like what she did today.
The sword sparring didn’t last long, they were back to the foot of the sakura tree again as the sun shifted slightly to the west. Chiyo bought them mitarashi dango and they enjoyed a peaceful afternoon below the tree along with green tea.
After a hearty meal, Chiyo would borrow Ei’s lap and lie down, then they would continue laughing as they shared stories about their respective lives and catching up, waiting for Makoto to finish her duty for the day, or for Nagamasa coming to search for her mother.
.
.
.
Yes, it would be nice if everything went out happy and peaceful forever—a kind of eternity that would dull the sword but it would lift your heart in hope.
Cataclysm, however, swallowed every dream in one succession.
Not long after they had recovered after the loss of General Sasayuri at the civil war versus Orobashi, a certain new threat plagued the land. Unlike the clear, singular threat Orobashi had, Cataclysm was akin to an unstoppable poison. It was rotting the land, and wouldn’t stop until the land itself was dead. Not stopping there, Cataclysm also spawned monsters and other foul beings, and they started to pillage and ravage the living.
As the battle grew to the point where they were surrounded, it had already been decided that the fighters would split up. Their main goal was, of course, to rescue as many people as possible, keeping a non-fighter like Makoto away from harm, also seeking the root of this calamity.
The plan itself was great in theory, but the devastating effect of Cataclysm has eroded the land far enough. The strong fighters had fallen to the hands of Abyss one by one, and some people were descending to madness.
“Have you seen Chiyo, Saiguu?” Ei asked as she got back to reforge her blade. The rotting darkness clinging to steel was making her sword dull and murky.
Kitsune Saiguu was the one guarding the survivor encampment and led people to evacuate when necessary. Saiguu, who was keeping the army and civilian morale, was the last hope Ei and Makoto had in case they had to sacrifice themselves for Inazuma.
“I saw her going toward the forest with a few of her disciples, but I haven’t heard from her since,” Saiguu said. Ei swallowed, taking in the information with a grain of salt, thinking of her next move as she renewed her blade. “Is what Makoto said true? All of this happened because Khaenri’ah?”
Ei pursed her lips. Makoto’s assessment was never wrong. If there would be a force great enough to declare a war against the Heavenly Principle, it should be the ones who never believed in God. That being said, it would be reckless to go to the ‘source’ while they were in disadvantage as it is, even though they didn’t have too much choice.
“I’ll … look for Chiyo. I leave Makoto to you.”
Raiden Ei didn’t look back as she said that. Her heart was filled with bad omen, but there would be no use to stay in stasis and dwindle when lives were at stake.
In her journey to combat the darkness ailing the forest, everything that Ei could see was a mountain of corpses. Some of them were wilting beyond recognition, some of them were headless and bloodless. Each and every of them bore the same crest of lightning, and they have fought bravely to protect their own land and their sanity until their last breath.
Chiyo was not sighted anywhere. There were no remaining forest dwellers who happened to take a glimpse of her. Ei picked up the pace, knowing Saiguu’s words to be the truth.
Then, Ei happened to hear an ear-splitting roar coming from the depths of the forest. Such a voice didn’t scare her, or dampen her spirit, but it had Ei stopped on her tracks nonetheless.
What baffled Ei was the fact that the voice sounded familiar, despite how it was distorted enough that it sounded more like a mindless monster instead of coming from a wounded animal.
Hearing that, Ei knew what was in store for her. Yet, she still hoped that it was not as worse as she’d dare to imagine.
Ei followed the noise, arriving at a thicket facing the sea, and the disfigured darkness holding a blood-clad broadsword. She would never mistook that white robe—the battle garb juunihitoe that the oni has always prided to wear. Her beautiful red eyes were now gleaming in horror and threat, as darkness clung to her body and contorted her face in anguish.
Mikoshi Chiyo might have survived a gruesome battle against the dark, but she was no longer redeemable, as the darkness itself has become one with her fiery spirit.
Ei clung harder to her Musou no Hitotachi as ‘Chiyo’ roared once again upon seeing Ei, her eyes filled in pure bloodlust.
The clash was imminent. The oni swordsman’s strength and speed were growing tenfolds, and her flurry of strikes were fueled in fury. There was no more familiar glance in Chiyo’s facade as Ei dodged and parried each swing aimed to her vitals, pushing back the warrior with every ounce of her body, while her heart increasingly pained to see what had become of her old friend, her sword teacher, and her sparring partner.
Ei slashed in a wide arc, attempting to create a gap between them, then she pushed her blade in succession. The corrupted Chiyo managed to deflect the blade away, but it nicked her lower robe. Ei continued to press the advantage to combat the speed of Chiyo’s own blade. It was not like how they spared, Chiyo would never aim her sword with an intent to kill at her, despite Chiyo might be strict with her swordsmanship, and yet Ei couldn’t think that she was merely fighting a hollow or placing this broken Chiyo as her enemy.
If only she came to aid her faster, would this bound to happen?
The warrior groaned aloud as Ei took the opening to thrust forward and up, blood splattered to the ground as Ei cut clean the hand holding that blade, along with half of her twin horns. Ei gritted her teeth in agony, the corner of her eyes burning as she saw the corrupted swordswoman clutched on her arm.
Ei, however, didn’t have the deign to deliver the final blow. She merely stood there, watching with widened eyes, as her own blade hand shaking. The memory of their usual picnic. The memory of their times together. The memory of Mikoshi Chiyo who would chide her for being too serious and rigid, everything swirled inside her mind and the ache inside her heart only grew ever more.
The corrupted Chiyo raised her face for the last time, looking at Ei, then she wordlessly fled from the scene, blood trailing in its wake.
For once, Ei had thought that her friend’s sanity returned and she would call her name again like in the bygone days, but she had sorely mistaken. Cataclysm had claimed Chiyo and there was no way out of it—she was already rotten, waiting for nature to reclaim her soul and brand it anew.
Ei could only bow her head down, glancing at her blade that bathed in blood of her dear friend, and she finally turned back, leaving the place and her gnawing guilt away, and silently whispered her farewell to the beautiful oni who was once her irreplaceable comrade.
Ei knew all too well that happy moments would eventually last, and as she woke up to the present, more peaceful Inazuma, she was alone below the everlasting sakura tree—the memento Makoto left only for her.
Earlier, a shrine maiden on duty offered her tea and sweets to compliment her visit to Grand Narukami Shrine, and she accepted the gesture, reminiscing about the past battles while looking over to the tranquil eternity she tried to keep.
It was, however, only a bitter taste in her mouth that remained, as the tragedy with Chiyo was only the beginning for the demise that followed.
Ei watched her tea cup, one sakura petal landed upon the green surface. She watched the ripple it made; the everlasting memory that shall remain forevermore and she was the one who stood as the living proof of it all.
Then Ei looked up, seeing that Yae Miko approached her way. A forlorn smile moored her face, as though she had known what Ei was thinking.
“It’s a fine day, don’t you think it’s bad to wallow in guilt?”
“I don’t know what you mean.” Ei said, sipping slowly on the tea. Miko joined her by the stairs leading to the great tree, her expression stayed the same.
“That day when everything ended, I never saw my mentor again, and you …” Miko sighed. “You changed.”
“I know,” Ei regarded her quietly. “But I need the time to think for myself.”
“Oh, of course you are , huh?” Miko replied, every syllable dripping in sarcasm. Ei knew her share of faults, and she didn’t want Miko to chide her again for it.
She was glad that Miko clammed up after that, giving them a room for comfortable silence. Her eyes once again drifted to the tree over her head, to the falling petals of sakura that continued to rain, blown by the gentle wind.
If living is the only thing she could do to atone for everything, then—
“Say, Miko?”
Raiden Ei emptied her glass, then she raised herself from her slump.
“It’s a fine day, how about we play karuta together?”