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“Don’t say that, Sis. You are always a twinkling girl for me…”
“However, not a single star can be seen in this night sky today, except for the bright and beautiful moon. Is it because her radiance has concealed all the nearby stars?”
“Sis…” Why is Sister Shimizu so depressed? Lily felt sympathetic for a moment, but she didn’t know what response would be proper.
“Hmm?” Shimizu’s eyes lit up suddenly as she felt her thoughts become clear and her perception of the surroundings also became sharper.
W-What is this feeling?
This feeling was the same one she had felt on the night she had learned the 7th stage of the mystic swordplay. Her perception and confidence as well as the clear comprehension towards the mystic swordplay from back then had returned again!
“Why did this happen?”
“Why did the talent that disappeared suddenly return again at this moment? I can feel that it might even be possible for me to break through to the 8th stage of the mystic swordplay if I train right now! Why? Why did this clear comprehension leave me without any omen and return again?”
“Is it because I’m outside?”
“Is there anything common between that day and today?”
“Night? Moonlight? Environment? No…”
Shimizu arrived at a conclusion all of a sudden!
“It’s the mirror!”
Shimizu’s heart began to thump wildly1.
The 7th stage of the mystic swordplay had perplexed Shimizu for a long time, and she hadn’t made any headway at all. However, on the night when she had seen Lily’s seemingly normal mirror for the first time and touched it, she had been enlightened! And then, it disappeared silently on the next day.
And today, when she had touched the mirror again, the enlightenment had arrived once again!
“It’s the mirror! This is a very special mirror!”
“This mirror is what allowed me to have incredible insight and improvement!”
Shimizu glanced at the utterly ignorant Lily beside her, “This absolutely isn’t like what she told me, that’s it’s just a powerless mirror that can reflect a clear image. This mirror possesses unfathomable power that far exceeds mine! Yet Lily didn’t tell me this!”
“No, it’s possible that even she didn’t know about it, as there are no traces of the mirror’s power!2 But it certainly exists!”
“Lil’ Sis Lily is so talented because she always had this mirror on her! It’s the reason she was able to go from a powerless girl to standing at the apex of Kanto in just half-a-year. This speed is too unnatural and can’t be explained with just talent! It’s all because of this mirror! This beautiful, elegant and precious mirror!”
“Perhaps this is the real ancient mirror that the demon kunoichi mentioned! Only the holder of this mirror can be the woman chosen by the Heavens!”
Shimizu’s chest heaved up and down intensely and her hand that was holding onto the mirror quivered in excitement. Her gaze also turned eager because of this and shone with a cold light.
Even Lily had noticed this change in her and asked worriedly, “What’s wrong, Sister Shimizu?”
Shimizu just lowered her head and allowed the shadow of her bangs to hide her eyes.
“Lily, you are my good little sister, right?”
“Eh? Of course?” Lily asked in puzzlement, feeling that Shimizu’s tone sounded a bit strange.
“Lily… can you… lend your mirror to me?”
“Eh?” Lily was stunned. If it were some other treasure, she would’ve given it to Shimizu without a second thought, but this mirror had the soul of the woman most important to her sleeping within it, so it wasn’t just a simple treasure to her and was rather more precious than her own life! As such, it was something she could never give up.
“But… Sis… That’s…”
“Can you lend it to me, little sister! My mirror was shattered! They shattered my life! It’s impossible for me to continue living without the mirror! My good little sister, lend it to me, okay?” Shimizu’s grip on the mirror turned harder and her eyes flashed with a passionate desire, making a radical expression appear on her beautiful face!
“Sis, what’s wrong with you? You look scary. Let’s talk about it later, okay? Now isn’t the time for this. Let go now, Sis…” Lily treasured her mirror a lot, so she also tightened her grip on the other side of the mirror when she felt Shimizu pull on it. Having the mirror snatched from her was akin to having her senior sister snatched from her, “Sis, just what happened to you? Let go…”
“Lend it to me!” Shimizu yelled loudly all of a sudden and pulled the mirror forcibly towards her bosom.
“Sis! What are you doing?! Return it to me, that mirror has… I can give you whatever you want, Sis, but not this mirror,” Lily pulled hard at the mirror anxiously and just like that, a struggle for the mirror began between the two on this cliffside. As Lily had exhausted her spirit power or perhaps because of the bewilderment within her heart, she was on the passive end in this struggle. Although she was on the brink of crying from the anxiety, she didn’t dare to truly use force on her sister, “Sis, listen to me! Let go of it first, okay? If you want the mirror, we can talk about it. Don’t act like this, you look very scary!”
However, Shimizu refused to let go of the mirror no matter what.
“You should be the one letting go! You already have everything you want, so why can’t you even give this old mirror to me?! Do you really see me as your sister? Didn’t you say it’s just an ordinary mirror? It definitely has an unimaginable power, right?! Or else, why would you treasure it so much? Why can’t you lend it to me? You liar!” Shimizu had arrived at the limits of her strength as well. In this obsessive, almost paranoid state, she ended up pushing Lily subconsciously.
“Eh?”
Lily’s exhausted body felt emptiness under her feet.
At the same time, Shimizu pulled hard and pulled the mirror into her bosom with ease after it had seemingly lost the opposing force.
Shimizu revealed a gleeful look in that split second, but when she turned around, she saw the terror-stricken Lily who had been pushed back by her into the air with the Abyssal Rift underneath looking back at her with disbelief written all over her face.
And in the next moment, Lily began to fall.
Shimizu was dumbstruck instantly.
“No! I didn’t do it intentionally! Lil’ Sis!”
Shimizu took hold of Tranquil Bamboo anxiously when she saw Lily fall down and then stooped down to extend it towards the falling Lily.
“Grab it, Lil’ Sis!”
Lily had exceptional reaction speed, so even though she felt flustered during the fall, she was able to grab onto the sheath in time.
Shimizu finally sighed in relief.
“Lil’ Sis Lily! Listen to me, I-I didn’t do it intentionally! Believe me. It was an accident, not intentional… I didn’t push you intentionally…” Tears welled up in Shimizu’s eyes from the anxiety and the hand holding onto the sheath also began to tremble.
Lily held onto the other end of the sheath tightly and smiled gently, “Sis, I never believed you would do something like pushing me intentionally, so it doesn’t matter. This is just an accident, Sis. If you like the mirror that much, I’ll lend it to you for a few days. We can share it, okay? Can you pull me up now, Sis?”
“Believe in me, little sister. I’m just a little tired. Don’t worry and hold on tight. I definitely won’t let go, even if I end up falling into this abyss along with you. Just let me catch up my breath and I’ll pull you up.”
“There’s no hurry, Sis. Take your time…” Lily looked at Shimizu with trust and smiled faintly.
“Hold on, little sister. I’ll pull you up right…”
“Throb!” Shimizu felt her heart spasm suddenly and the illness that had always troubled her returned suddenly at this moment. Her vision turned black and her grip on Tranquil Bamboo loosened unconsciously.
“NOOOO!”
Shimizu screamed internally and resisted the fatal pain in her heart to grab onto Tranquil Bamboo with her all!
And only then did she relax.
Wait, why is it so light?!
And when her sight recovered from the darkness…
She saw the terror-stricken, doubt-filled look on Lily’s face as she fell into the Abyssal Rift together with the sheath of Tranquil Bamboo while only the handle remained in Shimizu’s grip.
“NO! NOOOO!” Shimizu cried out hoarsely.
Yet she was unable to stop Lily from falling. In a moment, Lily had descended deeper into the dense mist of the Abyssal Rift and disappeared without a trace.
Lily hadn’t uttered a single word from beginning to end.
Yet that terror-stricken, grudging look of disbelief lingered within Shimizu’s mind for a very long time.
Shimizu sat down on the cliff dazedly with a blank look in her eyes, her beautiful hair cascaded down.
“W-What have I done? My little sister, I have pushed her down the cliff?”
Shimizu looked at her hand, “I-I didn’t do it intentionally. I didn’t do it intentionally!”
She screamed herself hoarse again with tears dripping down her face endlessly, yet there was no response from the abyss that was filled with the tranquil mist and fearsome eldritch energy.
Shimizu looked down at the mirror within her bosom.
Her eyes lost their luster thenceforth as she cupped the mirror and held it close to her bosom.
“It… still has little sister’s warmth and scent on it… hehehehe…”
Shimizu chuckled coldly within the darkness of the night and a powerful grudge oozed from her body and formed a dark visible stream of energy that emanated from her.
This dark energy stream seemed to be searching for its dwelling and began to seep into the blade that laid beside Shimizu, continuing to gather inside it.
Shimizu hugged the mirror tightly and revealed a strange smile.
“No more. I have a little sister no more. I’m a woman scorned and hated by the world, someone who pushed her little sister down a cliff with her own hands. I have already lost everything, except for this mirror. My precious mirror, I’ll treat you the same as my little sister, and when I gain immense power, I’ll definitely visit the Underworld and revive my little sister… if there’s really an Underworld, that is…”
“My precious mirror, you are my everything. Y-You are the real ancient mirror! I’ll also have that unfathomable talent from now on and… Cough! Cough! Cough!”
A cold breeze passed by and caused the frail Shimizu to cough violently again. The mirror slipped through her fingers while coughing and rolled on the ground after bouncing off before coming to a stop.
“Ah! My mirror! I cannot lose her again!”
Shimizu fell to the ground desperately and wasn’t able to stand up because of her ailment acting up again. However, she still crawled towards the mirror fervently in spite of this.
“My mirror…3”
Yet, she saw a pair of petite hands pick up the octagonal mirror before her.
Saionji Nanako cupped the ancient mirror with the Sakura Parasol on her back and looked at Shimizu with disbelief written all over her face.4