The three girls sat around the blade Hoshimori Shion had just unearthed, a sword that bore a striking resemblance to the Spirit Cutter. Its hilt was considerably rusted, yet the faint traces of exquisitely carved patterns could still be discerned. The blade itself, however, gleamed with a dazzling, cold light. Even though it was largely caked in mud, it exuded a subtle, palpable sense of dread.
Ayane, already munching on a rice ball from Shion’s backpack, gazed at her older sister with a hint of bewilderment.
“Sister, when did you decide to become a mole?” Ayane asked, her curiosity piqued. “Suddenly digging things out of the ground, your hands are all dirty.”
Shion raised her hand, intending to playfully swat her, but Ayane immediately adopted a defensive stance, causing Shion to lower her arm. She had just used half a bottle of water to clean the mud from her hands; striking now might just transfer some of it to Ayane’s hair.
“Ayane, don’t you think this sword looks a lot like the one enshrined at the shrine?” Shion asked, meeting her sister’s eyes. Ayane, however, merely stared back with a completely blank expression.
“Looks a lot alike…?” Ayane mumbled, staring blankly at the sword with its thoroughly rusted hilt. “I think all swords of this type look pretty much the same.”
Shion covered her face. Ayane had a point, it seemed. Shion’s initial reaction had been to instantly identify this sword as the Spirit Cutter. And Ayane wasn’t wrong; outwardly, swords of this particular style were indeed almost identical. Yet, Shion’s intuition screamed that this blade was exceptionally similar to the Spirit Cutter.
Besides, it was she, Shion, who wielded the Spirit Cutter for exorcisms day in and day out, not Ayane. In Shion’s memory, Ayane had hardly ever touched the Spirit Cutter, let alone seen it drawn from its sheath.
If her own sister, who was always nearby, hadn’t seen it, then Kujou Sakuya certainly wouldn’t have…
“Huh? This sword looks so familiar!” Sakuya exclaimed suddenly from beside Shion, much to her surprise.
Shion jumped. She quickly racked her brain, recalling yesterday’s exorcism. Had Sakuya seen the Spirit Cutter unsheathed? No, no, wait. Calming herself, she remembered that the malevolent spirit she’d sensed yesterday was minor, so she’d only brought a few hastily drawn talismans. She hadn’t taken the Spirit Cutter out for exorcism at all.
Then… how did Sakuya know?
Sakuya settled down, accepting the bento Shion offered. She picked up a meatball and took a bite.
A wave of bliss instantly filled her mouth. The meatball was incredibly juicy, still warm despite their walk, its savory, tender texture lingering on Sakuya’s palate.
‘Ah, eating Hoshimori-san’s cooking is simply divine!’ Sakuya thought, happily covering her cheeks.
“Huh? Is my cooking that good?” Shion asked, taking a bite of her rice ball.
Sakuya’s face contorted in shock. “I-I said that out loud?”
“Uh… what else?” Shion replied, scratching her head, a bewildered expression on her face as she looked at Sakuya.
“Wah!” Sakuya cried, covering her face in embarrassment, though her chewing didn’t falter. “Hoshimori-san, Ayane-san, please forget what I just said!”
Ayane, meanwhile, looked utterly perplexed. “Is it really that good? Let me try…” As she spoke, she unceremoniously picked up a fork, directly took a meatball from Sakuya’s bento box, and popped it into her mouth.
“How is it? Hoshimori-san’s cooking is amazing, right?” Sakuya asked, looking at Ayane expectantly. The way she spoke was almost like someone boasting about their newlywed spouse’s culinary skills…
“It’s alright, at least it hasn’t gotten worse,” Ayane replied, chewing a few times before swallowing the meatball.
“No way… are our tastes really that different?” Sakuya wondered, eating another meatball. It still had that tender, savory flavor, rich but not greasy, utterly delicious.
“Ayane eats my cooking every day, so she’s probably tired of it,” Shion explained with a smile. “Now, only hamburg steaks and desserts can truly tempt Ayane’s palate.”
Ayane grinned triumphantly. “Only a silly sister like you truly understands me.”
“I truly envy Ayane-san, getting to eat Hoshimori-san’s cooking every single day…” Sakuya said, her face radiating pure envy.
“Enough about eating!” Shion quickly interjected, steering the conversation back. “So, Kujou-san, what exactly is the deal with this sword?”
Sakuya took another large mouthful of rice, then sipped some water to compose herself. After a moment, she pulled out her phone, tapped at it briefly, and brought up a photo. “Here, take a look.”
The photo displayed a sword diagram, meticulously recorded on yellowed parchment. The diagram detailed smelting and forging methods written in a century-old script, but Shion found the archaic language too obscure to decipher the specifics. What truly stood out was the sword depicted in the diagram: its shape was almost identical to the Spirit Cutter!
“Eh?! Wh-what is this?” Shion exclaimed, staring at the photo in shock.
“Oh, just some old family heirlooms,” Sakuya explained. “My ancestors apparently specialized in weapon forging, and they left behind numerous blueprint diagrams. But it seems my ancestor was particularly fond of this one.”
“Why?” Ayane asked, simultaneously pulling a small cake from Shion’s bento box. She had, in essence, voiced the very question Shion had wanted to ask.
“Because all the other diagrams were on rough paper, and many of the inscriptions had become illegible. I handed over those easily perishable paper diagrams to the library, where they can be better preserved.”
“Then how did this one survive?” Shion pressed.
Sakuya pondered for a moment, then replied, “Because this diagram is made of parchment, it can be preserved quite well even without being in the library. It’s still stored in my family’s warehouse right now.”
Shion nodded thoughtfully.
“My family stopped forging later on, though, and I’m not sure why,” Sakuya said, rubbing her head. “They were apparently quite successful when they first came here with the army.”
With the army… that implied Sakuya’s ancestors weren’t originally from this area, but had arrived with the daimyo who once conquered this region…
And there was another question: the Spirit Cutter.
The Spirit Cutter, capable of effortlessly vanquishing malevolent spirits. Without it, Shion would likely have been ‘game over’ during her very first exorcism. Without the Spirit Cutter, Shion, despite her spirit-calming constitution, would truly be no different from any ordinary girl. Oh, right, an ordinary girl could at least beat a stray cat.
What kind of person, then, could forge a weapon capable of destroying malevolent spirits?
“Uh… what kind of person were they?” Sakuya vaguely recalled some records, then spoke with a hint of reluctance. “I heard that my ancestor didn’t particularly enjoy bathing, so they had a very strong, unpleasant smell.”
‘Seriously.’