Arai ignored her objection, grabbed the black sword, and jumped nimbly up to his feet. He looked down coldly at a flustered Yae. “How should I know that? It’s your fault for playing with my heart. All right, let’s wake my brother.”
He abruptly ended the conversation and drew the sword from its scabbard. Yae had opened her mouth to explain herself, but she fell silent when she saw the brilliant shine of the black blade. He didn’t come to this spring to rest. Saving his brother was the goal all along.
Arai held the sword in both hands and swung it down at the surface of the water as if striking an invisible enemy. The scenery around them shifted immediately. Actually, they were in the same place, but now the spring was empty. The dry earth at the bottom was exposed, making it look like a moon crater. Yae and Arai were still standing on the log bridge, which remained as before, over the now-dry spring.
The area was shrouded in a blue darkness. The sunlight through the trees, the singing of the birds, and the butterflies that had been dancing above the flowers were all gone. Everything looked very similar to how it did when Yae performed ceremonies. It was as if the dimension had shifted just a fingerbreadth.
“Yae, my brother is down there.” Arai pointed to the bottom of the crater that had been the spring. It was full of minerals that looked like bismuth crystals. Most of them shone a brilliant, mystical blue, and they gave off an elegant rainbow light depending on the angle. They differed in size and shape, but they all contained insects, fish, and animal skeletons. They reminded Yae of insects preserved in amber.
“Is one of these your brother…?” Yae asked as she wondered at the beauty of the minerals. They scaled the crater like the terraced fields in Kaki Province. Arai nodded, then picked Yae up and jumped down into the spring.
Some of the minerals were as tall as Yae, and some didn’t even reach a meter in height.
“March, Yae.”
Arai pushed Yae lightly in the back, snapping her out of her enchantment at the formations’ glossy blue finish and causing her to stumble forward.
“What do you mean, ‘march’…?”
“This is no different from a ceremony. Go on.”
He made it sound simple, but she didn’t have any idea what kind of song she should sing.
“I told you my brother’s soul is being eaten away by deformation, right? Well, he’s sealed, too. That means we need to wake him up and release him first. Sing something violent; make it sound like you’re threatening to chop his head off,” Arai said, puffing out his chest.
Weren’t we trying to save him…?
Yae walked timidly among the geometrical crystals, looking back at Arai over and over. It almost felt like she was exploring an ancient ruin. She happened upon a long and narrow stick—it, too, was shining with a beautiful silver-blue light—and picked it up and began to think.
“Hurry up. My divine power can’t keep this air distorted forever,” Arai urged her from behind.
He probably created this atmosphere to make it easier to perform the incantation, but… Ooh, I don’t have any idea what to do. I have to try something, though.
Yae decided to use the stick as a ceremonial tool and lifted it overhead. The Kaizaka March was far from the only ceremony Yae had served as envoy for. Natureless people rarely got sick and were resistant to miasma, which made her perfect for the job. Many of those ceremonies required her to march and sing.
“Hi-fu-mi-yo.”
Yae took a large stride with each syllable she sang.
“I-mu-na-ya-ko-to.”
She passed between the minerals as she marched.
“E-ri-u-chi-i-ka-ke-yo.”
Most of the ceremonies in this world were performed to exorcize evil spirits.
“Hi-fu-mi-yo-i-mu-na-ya-ko-to, let us take up swords and find our foe.”
Yae was singing an incantation used at ceremonies called the “Hifumi Warning.” It was used to calm and expunge evil presences.
“By night, we sing their evil name, we choose our words to strike and maim.”
The insects, fish, and animal skeletons began to stir inside the minerals as she sang. Oh, it’s working. A giant dragonfly leaped out of its mineral and flew through the air, shining blue like a star. Next, a fish emerged and began to swim around Yae. Then a goat skeleton freed itself and pranced lightly in the air. The sight was at once beautiful and ominous. They were followed by a wasp, a grasshopper, a shark, a crocodile, a horse, and a bird, all shining as they flew through the blue darkness without a sound.
“Hi-fu-mi-yo i-mu-na ya-ko-to. Hi-fu-mi yo-i-mu na-ya-ko-to.”
The incantation changed as she marched around the crater. It shifted and crumbled, and the words were rearranged.
“Imukotohito uchitori yomiya kaerikomu kakeutanari…”
New words came to her mind unbidden as she sang.
“Detested outsider we shall behead, and sing one to another in festive song.”
Just as Arai wanted, Yae was shaking awake his brother’s sleeping soul by threatening to chop his head off. She gave all her attention to the song as she marched through the giant minerals. Eventually, she noticed the creatures that had been lighting up the sky like stars were gone, and all that remained was the skeleton of a four-legged beast in front of her.
“Accept my prayer. Speak thy name.”
The rearranged lyrics emerged from Yae’s mouth seemingly on their own. They had an immediate effect—the skeleton before her glittered brightly and grew flesh and blood. It was a tiger with white fur. Though its color was different, it looked a lot like Arai’s beast form. It had faint stripes and gave off a mystical aura. The pattern on its forehead looked like Siddham script, and there was dark shading around its silver eyes.
“Thank you for waking me. I am Sui. That is the name my brother gave me in this land after my real name was shaved from my soul. To think I almost lost that as well…,” the divine tiger said, shaking its head to throw off the last of the sparkles.
Is it okay for me to respond to him normally? Yae turned back toward Arai to let him make the decision, and in that moment, the surrounding area returned to its normal state.
“Huh?! Gack…”
Naturally, that meant the spring was full once again. Yae panicked as she was suddenly enveloped by water. The white tiger grabbed her sash in his mouth and dragged her to the surface as she struggled. He jumped out of the water with a splash and landed on the bank of the spring with Yae in tow. His ears pressed back against his head, he looked at her with concern as she coughed violently.
Arai, who had apparently fled to the bank of the spring alone, walked toward them and grabbed the stick that Yae had forgotten she was holding. It immediately transformed into a white sword. Aside from the color, it closely resembled Arai’s black sword.
“How is he, Yae? Is my brother’s soul okay?” he asked impatiently, showing no concern for the soaking wet Yae, who had just caught her breath.
So that’s the thanks I get, huh…? Yae thought, her shoulders drooping. She formed a window using the fingers from both hands and directed it at the white tiger who had called himself Sui. This was a simple charm that showed a thing’s true nature and a basic technique to tell when a monster was disguising itself.
The window showed a man with silver hair that reached his shoulders. His silver eyes were clear as melted snow, and the ring crest in each iris looked like four circles arranged in the shape of a plus sign around his pupil. His physique was almost identical to Arai’s, but his face was a little tougher and more masculine than his brother’s. That made him somewhat intimidating, but his expression was gentle. His clothes were also the same as Arai’s, except for the color and the lack of a heavenly garment around his shoulders.
“How do I look? Is my soul deformed?” the silver-haired man—Sui—asked pleasantly, but with a hint of unease in his voice. Yae lowered the window and looked at him directly. The white tiger rustled his whiskers and transformed into the young man she had seen through her finger window.
“…You look fine. There’s no distortion on your soul,” she answered.
“Really? That’s good to hear,” Sui said, his smile growing wider.
“So we made it in time.” Arai grinned broadly as well and handed the white sword to his brother. It must have been Sui’s sword.
“Your name is Yae, correct?” Sui asked kindly, looking from her to Arai. “You have allowed me to temporarily regain my sanity. You have my thanks.”
“No, it was nothing. I only did what Arai asked me to,” Yae responded, feeling flustered by his warm gaze. Wow, he’s nice. I can’t believe he’s Arai’s brother. Both of these tiger brothers had personalities that ran counter to their looks. Arai looked kind at first glance but was actually rude-mannered, and Sui had cold features but a gentle personality. “Um, what do you mean by ‘temporarily’?”
Sui looked down and smiled in response to Yae’s question. “It is likely too late for me. One charm isn’t going to be enough to stop my body’s deformation. I am going to lose my sanity again soon…and I will attack anyone in sight once that happens. I am glad I was able to see my brother again, but you should both flee as fast as you can,” he explained sadly, glancing at the displeased Arai. “You were sealed before me, I believe… Did Yae free you?”
“I became the target of a ceremony, and this girl chanted a curse at me every single year,” Arai answered.
“A curse? …Not a hymn?” Sui inquired with confusion, and Arai smiled sardonically.
“No, it was a curse. A strong one that demanded obedience.”
Both brothers looked at Yae. Their expressions were unreadable.
“N-no, I don’t know anything about that. I only sang the words I was taught after being chosen as the envoy. It was never my intention to make Arai serve me… I never even had a good idea of what the ceremony was for,” Yae explained falteringly, breaking under the tense atmosphere. They both exhaled and smiled awkwardly.