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The moment the young man clenched his fist and struck, Akeno Himejima's thoughts were dragged back to that unforgettable—and most undesirable—afternoon ten years ago.
Raging flames consumed the shrine. The dancing scarlet fire illuminated her mother's increasingly cold corpse, staining the white miko (shrine maiden) robe with the blood of death. The previously tranquil forest was filled with the sounds of shouting and killing from the Himejima Main Family's demon-slaying unit.
"Grab her! Don't let that little bastard escape!"
"Nothing else matters! Only that little bastard must be brought back! It's the Family Head's command!"
"That's the spawn of the slut Churi, who betrayed the Himejima family to breed with a Fallen Angel! If word gets out, the reputation of our entire Himejima family is ruined!"
"Kill her!"
"Kill her!"
"Kill her!"
Someone... save me...
Save... Mom...
The murderous shouts behind her shook the forest, and on the hillside forest to the west, the small figure of a young girl was desperately fleeing.
Her hair was messy and disheveled. The loose, comfortable miko robe she usually wore was now her greatest hindrance, getting torn to shreds by the branches of bushes as she sped through the woods. Along the way, strips of red and white cloth fluttered to the ground, serving as natural markers.
But the girl couldn't worry about that now. She only remembered the last words her mother spoke before collapsing to protect her.
'Akeno, run! Go find... your father.'
But the question was, where was Father?
Father was a Fallen Angel executive, off performing a mission for the Fallen Angel Governor General.
And so, the Himejima Main Family came. They killed her mother, and now she was about to be killed too...
The shouts of pursuit behind her were growing closer. The forces the Himejima Main Family sent after them this time were the elite of the family. Even in just a few short minutes, the clues she left along the way were finally discovered.
"Here! She fled this way!"
"Follow the footprints and the broken cloth! It must be right!"
"We must kill her!"
Like a countdown to death, as the dense footsteps of the large group behind her closed in, the girl, on the verge of double exhaustion—physical and mental—finally broke down.
"Father, where are you... Cough, cough!!"
Her dry, blood-tinged throat couldn't even manage a final complete sentence. After only starting to speak, she was overcome by an uncontrollable, violent cough. She stopped running and could only squat on the spot, breathing heavily with her hands on her knees. Her throat was thick with the taste of rust.
They're catching up...
I can't run away anymore...
Mom... Dad...
I think... I'm going to die too.
Unsure if she was completely numb or had simply given up resisting, the girl wiped away the faint bloodstains at the corner of her mouth and straightened up, no longer fearing the blade that would pierce her chest.
Just as she was about to look up through the dense forest canopy for one last glimpse of the afternoon sun filtering through the leaves, what greeted her eyes were not the ecstatic, savage faces of the elite demon-slayer unit.
It was a boy who looked like he was on a journey, a travel bag slung over his shoulder, gazing at her with a look of curiosity.
"Wake up, I'm not your dad. And are you really okay looking like that?"
Run!
The girl opened her mouth with all her might, trying to tell the boy to escape this place quickly.
She knew the cruelty of the Main Family's elite demon-slayer unit. These people were capable of slaughtering their own relatives just to keep the secret of her being a "bastard child." It would be even worse for an outsider.
If she truly had to die today, at least she had to ensure that an innocent person escaped and survived!
However, her cracked throat could no longer produce any sound.
And at the same time, the sounds of pursuit behind her had arrived.
"Honestly, after all that effort, did you finally run out of steam?"
"But that's right. After all, she's just a child of seven or eight. It's already quite remarkable that she ran this far."
"What a pity. It would have been great if she were a normal person with that kind of stamina. She could have become an elite demon-slayer after proper training in the Himejima family. But she just had to have the foul bloodline of a Fallen Angel mixed in. Blame that slut of a mother of yours for being so loose and messing around with heretics!"
As if speaking the final verdict before execution, the leader of the elite unit strode forward, brandishing his Naginata (polearm).
The girl closed her eyes in fear.
But the boy's calm voice rang out.
"These clothes... so you're the Himejima family's demon-slayer unit. Instead of cooperating with those Sorcerers to clear out Cursed Spirits, what's the meaning of chasing a small child in a place like this?"
"Huh?!"
It was only then that the leader realized there was another small figure beside the girl.
"An unfamiliar child? Well, it can't be helped. Although I apologize, since you've learned the Himejima family's secret, we'll have to ask you to die too."
"Ah?"
The boy was clearly startled for a moment upon hearing this, then muttered softly.
"Kill me? You've got some nerve. If you actually managed to pull that off, everyone in the Village of Braves would have to thank you..."
...
In the time it takes to burn one-eighth of an incense stick, the hillside where they were located was blasted open with several massive craters, as if struck by meteorites. The mountainside, bustling for half the afternoon, finally returned to silence.
The leader of the demon-slayer unit was the last one to be lifted.
Before his death, his armor was shattered. A casual brush against it caused the pieces to clatter and peel off like scales from a fish that had been scored by the back of a knife. His Reihei Naginata (spiritual weapon), which had slain countless demons, was snapped into three pieces.
But even then, he was still focused on his powerful family faction.
"You... you can't kill me! You can't kill me! If you kill me... the Himejima Family Head will never forgive you!!"
"Oh ho? He really won't forgive me?"
The boy, still impeccably dressed, looked down and poked his ear with his little finger, then blew on it.
"Well, that can't be helped then..."
With that, a punch descended, sending the man to his final rest.
"...Hey, are you alright? Do you want some water or something to eat?"
Returning to the girl's side, the boy took out a refined water bottle stamped with the character "花" (Hana) and a large bag of classic plain potato chips from his travel bag, offering them to her.
"I'm giving you this and this. You can take this water bottle and ride the bullet train to Kyoto. Then, find a Fox-Sister at the Yasaka Shrine with a really big chest. Just show this to her, and she'll understand. She'll take care of you; it's safe there... Oh, and here's some train fare too. I happen to have some change on me."
"Hmm? What about me, you ask? It doesn't matter. I don't really need this stuff; my mom just insisted I take it before I left."
"Now, if you walk north from here for about twenty minutes, you'll reach the main road. Then, take the bullet train, and you'll be in Kyoto in two hours. You should arrive at the Yasaka Shrine before sunset if everything goes smoothly."
"Alright, I have other things to attend to. So long, then."
"My name is Hanakain Reiji (Hana-kai-in Fo-gui—Buddha's refuge to flowers opening). The Reiji of 'all the Gods and Buddhas take refuge in me.' I am the current acting head of the Kyoto Hanakain family, and I'm traveling alone right now."
The next day, major news topped all the newspapers' headlines.
The main shrine of the Himejima Grand Shrine had been stomped flat by an unknown assailant. The Family Head, Hiou Himejima, was killed in battle, his head severed and embedded in the torii (shrine gate) crossbar.
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