When Hanachirusato had first awakened not long ago, her thoughts had been a blur.
She hadn't known who she was, or why she had appeared in this place. All she'd had was a single, stubborn wish buried in her heart: to cleanse the filth of Narukami Island.
That wish was the strongest thing inside her.
It was also something she felt she had to do.
Only when the Dragon Vein's light had washed over her did a small fragment of memory return.
Su Han smiled at her. "All right," he said. "Then I'll call you Miss Hanachirusato from now on.
"But don't forget what you just promised me.
"You're going to live. Properly."
"This soul would never lie," Hanachirusato answered seriously.
They left the underground chamber beneath Konda Village and went on to the abandoned shrine.
Here, as before, Hanachirusato activated the Grand Sacred Sakura ritual, and Su Han used the Dragon Vein to smash the filth that surged out.
As the tainted energy dispersed, something in Hanachirusato seemed to shift as well.
Under the Dragon Vein's radiance, wisps of blackness began to rise from within her body. They were like smoke, but heavier somehow, clinging to her before finally peeling away.
Whatever they were, they were nothing good.
When the last of the dark smoke left her, her knees buckled. She swayed and pitched forward.
Su Han rushed to catch her. "Are you all right?" he asked.
Her breath came a little fast. "I'm fine," she said after a moment. "It's just that, with the impurity stripped away, my soul has thinned out a bit more. But…"
"But?" Su Han frowned. A cold thought slipped in. Had the Dragon Vein started to erase her along with the filth?
Behind the mask, golden eyes glinted with sudden mischief.
"But," she said lightly, "could you move your hand away from my chest? Even if this is only a soul, I still mind being grabbed like that."
He coughed twice. "Sorry. That… wasn't on purpose."
He let go in a hurry, ears burning.
He really hadn't meant it.
Even after he took his hands back, though, Hanachirusato still seemed fragile, her steps unsteady.
In the end, he had no choice but to keep a supporting arm around her as they walked.
As they made their way along the path, she glanced up at him with a smile in her voice. "Su Han, since you're friends with that little pink fox," she said, "have you fallen for her yet?
"I should warn you. We foxes can't resist fried tofu…"
"Uh… we're just friends. Really. Just friends."
"What a pity," she said. "The fox clan is very… emotional, you know. We long for love more than most.
"If someone like you had been there back then, perhaps even this humble soul might have fallen for you."
"…"
Su Han had the distinct feeling that Kitsune Saiguu and Yae Miko came from the same mold.
Or rather, that the former might be even worse.
"Why so quiet?" Hanachirusato teased. "If my strength really runs out later, you might not get another chance to talk to me."
"You're not going to die," Su Han said quietly. "That much, I can promise."
She let out a soft laugh and did not press. She needed to conserve what strength she had left.
The two of them walked on together under the moonlight.
The third seal lay beneath Chinju Forest.
As they stepped into the glade, fireflies rose all around them.
"Could we… stop here for a while?" Hanachirusato asked. "I feel like I've remembered something."
"Is it Ioroi?" Su Han asked.
"So you know that little rascal too," she said, amused. "He was always so troublesome. Still, that was just his nature.
"I racked my brains back then to keep him out of danger.
"How is he now?"
"He's still in the stone," Su Han answered. "There are three little bake‑danuki keeping him company. He's very happy.
"Later, when he couldn't find you, he caused a bit of trouble. Korekami Harunosuke used onmyou arts to seal him again."
"I see."
She exhaled slowly.
"As long as he's all right… as long as he's all right."
If the calamity of that year had taken even Ioroi from her, she thought, she wasn't sure how she would have borne it.
They didn't linger long. After a brief pause, they continued toward the third sealing site.
On the way, Su Han asked whether they would need more warding objects.
Hanachirusato said no. The impurity was on the verge of overflowing; countless old foci would be enough to loosen the seals.
The third site lay in a cave beneath Chinju Forest.
Hanachirusato clearly had no strength to make the descent, so Su Han simply lifted her and carried her down.
The corruption here was even thicker than at the previous two locations. They had barely stepped into the cavern when a warrior's shape rose from the sludge and attacked.
Hanachirusato's eyes widened. The creature did not flinch from the Dragon Vein's light at all. "Be careful," she called. "These are far stronger than the last ones. Ten times, at least."
"It's fine," Su Han said. "Just sit here and watch."
He set her gently on a nearby rock.
The blade of the phantom warrior's sword came down hard.
Conqueror's Haki formed a shell of will around Su Han's body, turning aside the blow. Purple light bloomed along Tenseiga's edge.
"If I'm not mistaken," he said, "you're still undead at your core."
His smile turned sharp.
He swung once.
Tenseiga's arc, wrapped in exorcising force, cut through the warrior in a single stroke, shearing filth and spirit apart alike. The last traces of soul were drawn into the blade and held there.
That was only the first wave.
A moment later, more than twenty corrupted samurai hauled themselves out of the black mud.
"Kill…"
Their voices were little more than growls. Thick black smoke rolled off their bodies as they charged.
They were nothing but condensed malice now. There was no thought left in them.
Tenseiga fell again.
One sweep, and all of them were gone.
As he fought, Hanachirusato called directions, guiding him through the sequence for unlocking the seal. Each mechanism he triggered loosened another knot in the barrier, and the impurity surged more violently.
At the end, a single warrior stepped out of the depths of the filth.
Black fire burned over its armor, eating into the rock beneath its feet. The stone around it blackened and crumbled. The nearby plants withered and turned ink‑dark.
This one was almost entirely made of corruption.
Su Han took in the sight and smiled. "Not bad," he said. "Let's see if you can take a cut from me."
Purple radiance coiled around Tenseiga.
A moment later, flame flared up as well.
Pure solar fire rose along the blade.
"Extinguishing One‑Sword Style…"
"Slash."
The burning warrior tried to respond with its own technique, but it didn't matter.
Su Han only needed one swing.
The strike dropped like judgment.
Thousands of violet threads of light punched through the warrior's body from within.
"What… what is this power…" it howled. "How can it be this strong…"
Cracks raced across the armor.
It shattered piece by piece and fell away.
A moment later, the warrior crashed to the ground, and its scattered soul was torn apart and drawn into the sword.
The corruption at this site finally broke and dissolved.
When Su Han turned back, Hanachirusato's form looked even more transparent than before.
He hesitated for a breath, then decided.
Tenseiga's stored soul power flowed out under his control and into her.
The dim edges of her soul brightened and firmed, her outline gathering itself back into a clearer shape.
She opened her eyes and smiled at him. "It's done?" she asked. "Thank you. One more place, gone."
"I gave you some of the soul power," he said. "Does your body feel any better?"
She focused inward for a moment, then nodded. "The strength hasn't faded," she said. "I can still hold on."
"Then let's keep going," he said. "I'll carry you."
He knelt in front of her.
Hanachirusato was quiet for a long moment.
Then she slowly lay down across his back.
Heat and the faint scent of him rose around her. She felt strangely light‑headed.
It was the first time she had been this close to a man.
She found that she did not dislike it.
If anything, she tightened her arms around his shoulders.
"Even if I vanish soon," she thought, "let me enjoy this one peaceful moment.
"Maybe this is the only time I'll ever have it."
Su Han had no idea what was running through her mind.
All he wanted now was to break every seal as quickly as possible—and find some way to save this fox spirit.
Ten minutes later, they reached the fourth site.
This place was different from the last three.
Here, the constant roll of thunder from the storms above interfered with the work below, and the enemies were just as numerous and vicious as before.
Su Han cleared the filth in turn, then sent more soul power into Hanachirusato before lifting her onto his back again and starting on the seal itself.
This time, five corrupted samurai stepped out of the sludge.
Each one carried the same weight of power as the last "boss" he had cut down.
Tenseiga, wrapped in overwhelming force, sliced through them in a few strokes. Their souls, too, he took into the blade.
Only when the chamber was clean did he hurry away with Hanachirusato in his arms.
He checked her again.
She was still weak, but the decline had stopped.
For the first time tonight, he let himself breathe a little easier.
On the way to the last seal in Araumi, a message from the mission group chimed in his mind.
Yae Miko, clearly, had not been able to sit still with him gone this long.
…
In the mission chat:
Yae Miko: "@Su Han How is she? Can you save her? Is her soul still unraveling?"
Kamisato Ayaka: "I just saw Lord Su Han and Lady Kitsune Saiguu's spirit heading out over the sea. They should be going to the fourth place!"
Su Han: "For now, she's holding on. But the more filth we clear, the worse her condition gets. The true, final Grand Sacred Sakura Cleansing will have to wait until tomorrow night."
By now, four sites had been purified.
All that remained was the fifth.
Once that was done, they could stop for a while.
If Hanachirusato could rest and recover, then they could attempt the final ceremony without tearing her apart.
Otherwise, he feared the story would end just like it had once before: the disaster ended, but she gone with it.
That was not a future he would accept.
Ganyu: "Then let's clear the fifth place first and see how she is afterward."
…
Time slipped by.
At three in the morning, Su Han carried Hanachirusato down to the bottom of Araumi.
As before, the process itself was messy but not complicated. With the power of exorcism in his hands, no corrupted warrior here could truly threaten him.
In less than ten minutes, all the filth at the final site had been dispersed.
When the last clotted knot of darkness shattered, though, Hanachirusato's presence faltered.
Her breath grew thin. Even her eyes dulled.
Panic jolted through him.
"Hey. Are you all right?" he said. "Say something. Hanachirusato… Hanachirusato."
He had already given her soul power. Why was she still—
It felt like forever before she stirred.
After a full two minutes, she managed a small, strained smile.
"I'm fine," she said softly. "Just… a little weak."