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Chapter Text

Tomioka Tsutako doesn't think when she rushes straight at the demon, desperate to protect. She does not think that she may die young, and certainly does not think that tomorrow is her wedding, which she may not live to see. She doesn't think that this monster is a demon, which she definitely can't handle. She doesn't think about anything like that.

All she cares about is little Giyuu, who is sitting in the closet, shaking with fear. If she retreated and ran away, the demon would surely run after her. However, he can stay, and then he will definitely find her weak little brother. And she definitely couldn't let that happen.

That is why Tsutako does not retreat, but remains in place, although she is terribly scared. She's shaking all over, but she stubbornly clenches her fists and refuses to step aside. She looks straight into the vile face of the demon, on which there is nothing human, and frowns. She's weak and she doesn't have any weapons, but that's not a reason to leave.

After all, who, if not her, would protect her brother, right?

The demon laughs nastily, and Tsutako holds back nausea from disgust. She hates him for breaking into their quiet and measured life, preparing to divide it into "before" and "after".

She hates Death, which will soon appear to disrupt its legitimate harvest.

"Go away!" she demands, although she knows that these words of hers will have no effect on him.

He continues to laugh, and then abruptly jumps forward. Tsutako doesn't have time to blink when his claws dig into her heart, and she screams in pain and horror.

But all she can think about is, "I'm better than him. Better me than him. Better me than him."

Older sisters should always protect younger brothers.

For a moment she thinks she's already dead, because she doesn't feel any pain, and then some strange warm wave runs through her, and the demon is literally thrown aside.

When Tsutako blinks from tears, she sees a beautiful spirit woman with long snow-white hair hovering in front of her, protecting her. She glows light blue, which almost blinds her, but she still watches with wide-open eyes as she cuts the demon into pieces without the slightest effort. He, howling with rage and pain, begins to crumble, as if made of clay. When the demon finally disappears, crumbling, the female spirit turns to her. She has a snow-white mask on her face, on which only her eyes and eyebrows are marked. Bright red stripes stretch down from the eyes, dividing the mask from below into three parts.

However, although the eyes are marked, there is nothing behind them - only a luminous snow-white void. And no holes for the mouth and nose.

"Am I... dead?" Tsutako asks trembling, because everything starts to blur before her eyes, but a sudden attack of incredible pain makes her gasp and grab her chest. The spirit woman does not answer, but hides the glowing katana in its sheath, and tilts her head to one side. There seems to be an alarm on her mask, but Tsutako is in too much pain right now for her to look at it.

"Tsutako!" Giyuu jumps out of the closet and rushes to her sister, who was caught at the last moment by a spirit woman so that she would not fall to the floor. "Tsutako!"

He desperately calls out to her, but Tsutako is too hurt and ill for her to answer.

She thinks she's dying, so she tries her best to look at her younger brother. She's not sure what exactly happened, but she's just glad he's okay.

And Tsutako closes her eyes, unable to respond to Giyuu's desperate cries and tears.

But they soon disappear, replaced by the crystal ringing of bells.

Chapter Text

"..ako!"

"...tako!"

"Tsutako!" The frightened, sobbing voice of her precious little brother is calling her. He was always sensitive and vulnerable. Probably because of everything that happened, he's scared half to death right now. Tsutako desperately tries to open her eyes, smile and calm Giyuu down. However, no matter how much she tries, she doesn't succeed. It was as if buckets of water were tied to the eyelids, which made it impossible to even open them. And she felt so weak and helpless, as if someone had drained all her strength at once. "Tsutako!"

She really wants to answer, but then an avalanche of memories hits her, preventing her from floating out. Than memories burst into her head, and Izumi Kyouka.. No, Tomioka Tsutako remembered everything. A completely different, more modern and complex world, where there were things that no one had ever seen before, as well as self-driving carts. A world where people possessed incredible and very different abilities, and where Tsutako... No, Izumi Kyouka was one of them. She remembered a tall woman with bright pinkish-red hair, cruel, but still sincerely loving and caring for her. She wore a beautiful and ornate kimono and used a long sharp katana disguised as a traditional kinugasu umbrella. Her hands brought more pain and fear than tenderness, but Kyouka still, in a sense, sincerely loved her.

She remembered a short but very strong man with the brightest red hair she had ever seen. This man was her older brother-not by blood, but he cared about her. He was always on her side and, no matter what happened, he came to her rescue. He was strong enough to destroy an entire city, if not a country, but he treated her like the greatest fragile jewel. He never learned to be gentle, because outdoor street life rarely teaches anyone kindness and understanding, but the man still grew up to be a surprisingly wonderful and generous person. Even if his enemies couldn't say that, but here are the people he cared about and recognized as his family... She remembers his bright and short-tempered character, which was muted by affection and tenderness in her presence. He was the best big brother she could ever have dreamed of.

She remembers a boy who was a little older than her and could transform into a tiger. She remembers that he had white hair and incredible two-tone eyes, mesmerizing with their bright iridescences and sometimes sharp feline pupils. He was very kind and gentle, and also helped her when the rest of the world turned away from her. It was he who saved her and gave her hope when it seemed to her that she had nothing left but darkness and pain. She remembers that he was injured many times because of her, but still continued to protect her, even when he was attacked by a scary man with the ability to transform clothes.

She vaguely remembers a place where there were very different and dissimilar people, bright and unique in their incredible individuality. She remembers how she became a part of this place and found a real strong family. Of course, they could argue and disagree in many ways, but that still didn't stop them from being close. Her vague memories of them are colored by affection, care and love. And she wishes she could remember more about them.

When Izumi Kyouka... No, Tomika Tsutako... no... Or is it Izumi Kyouka? Her memories get confused and merge, making it impossible to realize where her past life ends and a new one begins There are so many things in her head at once that it simply does not work out to comprehend everything that is happening at one moment. She is in a lot of pain and feels bad.

However, whoever she is, the only thing she firmly believes in is the need to protect her younger brother from any danger.