On the rear mountain path of the demon-slaying village, the two made their way down along the winding trail.
The mountain path curved and wound between dense pine trees, their needles still jeweled with morning dew. Drops fell at intervals, each one making the faintest sound as it landed.
Kōbe Hikaru walked behind as he had before, watching the white-robed, red-hakama figure ahead of him.
Kikyō still hadn't spoken. She had been silent ever since Tsubaki left — not a word.
Kōbe Hikaru didn't break the silence either. He knew there were times when silence served better than words.
Some things were better left for Kikyō to say herself.
After all, wasn't that the whole art of it — between a man and a woman — the push and pull? The rule that whoever speaks first, loses.
They walked like that, in quiet, for about a quarter of an hour.
The mountain path reached its end.
It opened onto a cliff's edge — a bend in the mountain face. Not particularly high, but the view was wide and unobstructed.
Standing here, you could take in the whole of the demon-slaying village below, the rolling ranges of distant mountains, and at the horizon's edge, the wheel of the rising sun just clearing the peaks.
Kikyō stopped.
She stood at the cliff's edge, her back to Kōbe Hikaru.
Her dark hair drifted softly in the morning breeze. The white robes and red hakama had been touched by the sunrise, wrapped in a faint, pale gold.
That figure looked utterly still — still as a painting.
Kōbe Hikaru stepped up beside her and turned his gaze toward the rising sun. The silence stretched a little longer.
"I'm sorry."
Kikyō spoke. Her voice was soft, but perfectly clear.
Kōbe Hikaru turned to look at her.
"Hm?"
"These past few days — making you act in the role of a shikigami."
She didn't look at him; her gaze remained fixed on the distant horizon. "And dragging you into the conflict with Tsubaki."
"That demon last night — that had nothing to do with you either."
She paused.
"I was too presumptuous."
Kōbe Hikaru studied her profile.
That cool, composed face was wearing an expression he rarely saw — genuine remorse.
"You spent the whole walk working up to that?" he said.
He laughed. "If I hadn't wanted to be here, I'd have left long ago."
Kikyō's lips parted. "But—"
"No buts."
Kōbe Hikaru cut her off. "I agreed to escort Hiraikotsu back myself — so I did."
"The shikigami arrangement — that was something we both agreed to."
"Tsubaki showing up — that was her own doing."
"As for last night's demon…"
He considered it for a moment. "Honestly? That turned out to be a windfall for me."
Kikyō finally turned her head and looked at him.
Those dark, jet-black eyes held a glimmer of something.
"A windfall?"
"Mm."
Kōbe Hikaru nodded. "Learned some useful information."
He didn't elaborate. Kikyō didn't press.
She simply looked at him, quietly.
"Thank you."
She said it again.
"What for this time?" Kōbe Hikaru glanced at her sideways.
"Thank you," Kikyō repeated, "for walking this road with me."
Kōbe Hikaru blinked.
This reserved, unsentimental girl — actually saying thank you for something like that?
He shook his head.
"Don't mention it. I had my own reasons."
"Your own reasons?"
"Mm."
Kōbe Hikaru didn't elaborate here either.
His reasons were simple enough — affinity. The Shikon Jewel's affinity, Hiraikotsu's affinity, the various objects he'd encountered along the way and their affinities.
And… Kikyō's affinity.
Those were the things he was truly after.
But there was no need to say any of that out loud.
Kikyō looked at him but didn't push further.
She simply gave a small nod, then turned her gaze back to the rising sun.
The morning light was growing brighter. Golden rays spilled across her face, softening that cool expression with something warmer.
"I suddenly find this… strange," she said.
"What do you mean?"
"Before these last few days."
Kikyō's voice was quiet. "I never imagined I'd spend my days side by side with a yōkai."
Kōbe Hikaru said nothing.
"Even less that I'd grow accustomed to fighting alongside one."
She continued: "At first, it was because Naohi recognized you — it was the one who told me you could be trusted."
"So I accepted you."
She paused.
"But now…"
She didn't finish.
Kōbe Hikaru watched her.
Something very subtle was moving across that usually expressionless face.
It looked like confusion — or perhaps like someone working through a thought they hadn't quite resolved.
Kikyō was, in fact, working through something.
She was thinking about what had just happened.
Thinking about the moment she'd heard Tsubaki say she wanted to take Kōbe Hikaru — and felt her heart go unsteady.
It had been a feeling entirely unfamiliar to her.
They'd known each other for less than ten days. He was nothing more than a temporary companion.
But she had only to picture it — barely more than a flash — this yōkai being taken away — and she felt unhappy. Unsettled.
She felt… like she didn't want that future to exist.
So she had drawn the bow.
So she had said those words to Tsubaki.
Was this… what it meant to like someone?
Kikyō was a shrine maiden — but she was also a young woman. She had never experienced such feelings herself, yet she was not ignorant of them.
Her master — an ordinary, unremarkable village shrine maiden — had told her once, while still alive, that a shrine maiden must keep her heart tranquil.
Yet tranquility, she had said, was not the same as having no heart. It was only a matter of knowing what came first.
But right now… Kikyō could no longer tell what came first.
All she knew was that she cared deeply about this yōkai.
Cared whether he got hurt. Cared whether he might leave.
Cared whether… someone else might take him away.
This was the first time.
The first time anyone had ever stood shoulder to shoulder with her in battle.
The first time anyone had walked this far a road beside her.
The first time anyone had made her feel… that she was no longer alone.
Even if that "anyone" was not, strictly speaking, a person.
He was a yōkai. A Ghost Warrior.
But so what?
Kikyō looked at the pale face beside her.
Crimson eyes. White hair.
Every feature unmistakably that of a yōkai — and yet, somehow, she found herself thinking it was a face she didn't mind looking at.
She wanted to say something.
She wanted to ask him — whether, going forward, he would still be willing to walk beside her.
But the words rose to her lips and she swallowed them back down. Too abrupt. Too unlike herself.
And yet — she still wanted to ask.
"Kōbe Hikaru."
She spoke.
"Mm?"
"From here on out…"
She had barely gotten two words out.
"Lady Kikyō——!"
A voice rang up from the mountain path below, cutting her off.
Both of them turned at once.
A group of demon-slayers was hurrying up the path, moving fast.
At their head was the stocky, broad-shouldered man — Deba.
"Lady Kikyō! Lord Kōbe Hikaru!"
He jogged up to them, breathing hard. "What are you two doing up here?"
"Isn't the match today? We came to serve as judges—"
He looked around, puzzled. "Wait — where is Lady Tsubaki?"
Kikyō was silent for a brief moment.
"She left."
"She left?"
Deba blinked. "The match is off?"
"It's off."
Kikyō's voice had returned to its usual cool register. "She conceded."
"She… she conceded?"
Deba's expression went through several stages.
That shrine maiden Tsubaki — the one who'd walked around with her nose in the air — had actually conceded?
He looked at Kikyō, then at Kōbe Hikaru, and finally let his gaze settle on the latter.
"Did this have something to do with Lord Kōbe?"
Kōbe Hikaru raised an eyebrow. "How so?"
"Last night's commotion — the whole village heard it," Deba said, rubbing his hands together. "Word is there was a demon on the rear mountain?"
"Not a demon."
Kōbe Hikaru answered simply. "But it's been dealt with."
Dealt with?
Deba blinked a few times.
"So… Lady Tsubaki was actually frightened off by a demon?"
It was a wild guess — and clearly a misreading of the situation.
But it wasn't entirely wrong, only the creature that had frightened her off was rather more terrifying than any demon.
Kōbe Hikaru glanced at Kikyō.
Kikyō's face was expressionless — but the tips of her ears, once again, had gone faintly, unmistakably pink.
"More or less," Kōbe Hikaru said.
Not quite accurate, but he couldn't be bothered to explain.
[Shikon Jewel — Naohi: Affinity +1]
[Current Affinity: 55 (Trust)]
[It asks you: Do you know what she was about to say?]
Kōbe Hikaru looked at the notification panel.
Of course he knew.
She'd just been interrupted, that was all…
"The future holds a great deal. I can't promise I'll never have to leave."
"But I will never abandon you and walk away."
He spoke suddenly, in a low voice, the words half-lost in the morning breeze — audible only to the two of them.
The words reached Kikyō's ears and made the shrine maiden go still for a moment. She lifted her gaze toward the Ghost Warrior at her side.
The young-looking figure beside her wore a calm expression.
But Kikyō pressed her lips together — and couldn't quite keep the corners of her mouth from curving upward, no matter how hard she tried.
Yes.
In the push and pull between a man and a woman, whoever speaks first loses.
And in this first round — Kōbe Hikaru had lost.
[Shikon Jewel — Naohi: Affinity +1]
[Current Affinity: 56 (Trust)]
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