/
“Waiting for the Mirror Girl to appear?” From the look on Yukiko’s face, Lily judged that she wasn’t faking it, but the weak and fickle woman act that she played until now was also flawless as well.
Thus, Lily questioned her further in order to determine the truth, “How are you so certain that I’m really the Mirror Girl? What if my mirror is fake? Isn’t it possible that this mirror of mine is just an ordinary ancient copper mirror? You just touched it for a moment, so what could you have found from that?”
Lily naturally questioned Kagura secretly and learned that there weren’t any changes within the mirror space.
Yukiko still kneeled in front of Lily respectfully and said, “I don’t know… Miss Lily. The Midō clan has protected a secret related to the Mirror Girl for many generations now, but in fact, even I know very little about it. I also don’t know whether the mirror is real or fake, but I was under the influence of a spell that activated the moment I touched the Ancient Mirror and reminded me of the message within the spell. This message is only passed down successively to the Midō clan’s overseers and is made of a cipher that only I can decode, unless I pass down the cipher to the next generation’s overseer.”
“Hmph. That does sound pretty amazing, Yukiko. However, if the message is really that important, wouldn’t the Mirror Girl’s secret vanish if an accident occurs?” Lily asked doubtfully.
The suspended Yumi looked utterly clueless about this matter and Shiu also didn’t dare to speak up in such a situation and just sat to the side obediently.
Yukiko spoke the truth as it is, “Forgive me, Miss Lily, but even I’m clueless about this matter. I just heard about it from my senior so I’m unable to confirm the authenticity of these words. It’s said that there’s more than one mirror out there and that each Mirror Girl has her own mission. The Midō clan isn’t the only ancient clan to possess the message related to the Mirror Girl’s secret, but as it involves a huge secret relating to the survival of the clan, it might lead to the extermination of the clan if an outsider learns of it. I actually heard that the other clans have all been exterminated already.”
“There’s more than one mirror? Is it possible that there’s more than one real mirror?”
“If we look at it from this perspective, that might indeed be true,” Yukiko stated.
Lily felt that Yukiko’s words were sounding more and more credible now, “Tell me, then. What is that message?”
Yukiko looked at Shiu a little worriedly.
However, Lily spoke in her favor, “Just say it. Shiu is even more reliable than me. You should be more worried about your little sister leaking this secret instead of her!”
Yukiko looked at her little sister and shook her head helplessly, “I understand, Lady Lily. It’s an old legend passed down in our Midō clan that tells of a treasure located within Kai Province. Although this treasure is under the protection of the Midō clan, it doesn’t belong to us and is actually meant to be given to the Mirror Girl.”
“Meant to be given to the Mirror Girl?” Lily came to a sudden realization after hearing this. The treasure that Yumi used to entice me was actually meant to be given to a Mirror Girl like me?
Yukiko’s gaze turned solemn as she recalled the secret that had been protected for several generations and had been entrusted to her by the previous overseer, “When you meet the Mirror Girl, you must pass the treasure’s location and the message to her. This is the mission assigned to the Midō clan.”
An entire clan had survived through numerous perils with great difficulty in order to complete this mission, so what the Mirror Girl actually shouldered was quite unimaginable.
“Just what are the contents of this message?” Lily also knelt down in front of Yukiko in a seiza solemnly.
“The message is pretty simple—Ayaka.”
“Huh? What?” Lily was taken aback as she knew this person. Thus, she questioned further, “Ayaka, and?”
“Although I only remembered it after touching the mirror, the message only contained these five letters—Ayaka—and nothing else,” Yukiko stated.
“Just what…” Lily realized something suddenly, “They went to such trouble in giving me this message secretly, yet it only contained these five letters? The name which these letters form, I wonder if it’s the same name as Heian Empire’s greatest onmyōji who’s in Kansai, Fujiwara no Ayaka?”
“Yes. Although Kansai and Kanto are almost isolated from each other now, even I know about this eminence. It’s the same name as the greatest onmyōji beauty of Heian-kyo, Fujiwara no Ayaka,” Yukiko answered.
Lily fell into deep thought, “But what does this name explain exactly?”
“Forgive me, Lady Lily. Our clan’s mission was to pass the treasure’s location and this message to you and even we are clueless about what to do after that, so you will have to look for the answer yourself. The mission shouldered by the Mirror Girl is much nobler than ours and simply can’t be mentioned in the same breath,” Yukiko felt unprecedented relief after saying this, “It seems like I was able to complete the clan’s mission as the last overseer of my clan. Although the Midō clan is on the verge of destruction, we were at least able to pass the message relating to the Mirror Girl’s mission to you in the end. It was really worth it for me to remain in hiding for so many years. The sacrifices made by me and my clansmen for the past several generations as well as the humiliation we bore were not in vain in the end.”
“Sis…” The suspended Yumi also realized the truth at this moment, “S-So you didn’t elope with that tea master a decade ago because of love?”
“Yes. The identity of a tea master was just his disguise. Hon’ami Koetsu was the one who actually brought the message to me.”
“What? So, the Midō clan and I have always misunderstood you until now?”
“A few powers already doubted that the Midō clan might be hiding a secret related to the Mirror Girl, so they incited the Fūma clan to steal this secret in vain. Thus, as the only one privy to the secret, I pretended to fall in deep love with that tea master and eloped with him in order to protect the secret and live until the Mirror Girl appears. You naturally assumed the overseer’s position after that, but it was impossible for the Fūma clan to learn anything from you no matter what they did as you didn’t know anything about it. This was the safest way to handle the matter, but it was really too unfair to you and placed you in danger. However, such has been the fate of our clan for many generations. Sacrifices, sufferings and requiems, they are our fateful companions in life… forgive me, my little sister…”
“Sis…” Yumi only felt astonishment and didn’t feel any resentment at all. At the very least, her sister Yukiko was still the same talented overseer she longed for in those days.
“And then…” Lily asked in a somewhat aggrieved tone.
Yukiko continued, “Hon’ami Koetsu didn’t know the contents of the message at all and just brought a charm with him. If he had failed and had other forces obtained the charm, it would’ve been impossible for them to obtain the contents of the message without the mirror and the Midō clan’s cipher that I possess. A messenger like Hon’ami might appear again in that case, until one of them succeeds and the message is imprinted deep within my consciousness after the charm is used on me and I’m only able to remember the message after touching the mirror. As for giving the treasure to the mirror’s master, the final judgment for that lies in my hands. In case the mirror falls into the hands of a man or a monster who can’t possibly be the Mirror Girl, I wouldn’t reveal the secret message even if I recalled it, so it was an absolutely safe method.”
“So it was like that… it was indeed a pretty calculative method to maintain the secret,” Lily pondered for a moment and concluded that it was highly likely that either Fujiwara no Ayaka or a faction she controls that had created such an unimaginable charm and sent Hon’ami.
“But, Yukiko, why did you turn the act real later on?” Lily inquired.
“It was in order to make the act more realistic. No one knew when the Mirror Girl would appear, it could’ve taken a few months or a few years, and it was also possible the Mirror Girl wouldn’t ever appear. In that case, there was a chance that the act may be seen through along with the passage of time. Although I didn’t like Mister Hon’ami that much, he was an honest and kindhearted intellectual man, so we developed some emotions between us as time passed and really got together in the end. In case the Mirror Girl didn’t ever appear, wouldn’t it have been too lonely to spend a solitary life? So, I thought I might as well choose him as my companion,” Yukiko stated.
Lily nodded. In addition to protecting this huge secret, Yukiko also had the normal emotions of a girl and a desire for the opposite sex for many years, so this decision was quite understandable.
Yukiko continued with a sigh, “Unfortunately, the Heavens are not always on our side. Perhaps it was because Hon’ami was too obsessed with his identity as a tea master, he ended up becoming a famous tea master of the East, and as a result, Tokugawa began to covet the Fuji-san teacup in Hon’ami’s hands. Tokugawa didn’t know about the secret of the Midō clan and invaded Hon’ami’s city just because he wanted that teacup. Fortunately, my stepdaughter wasn’t present in the city at that moment and managed to escape this calamity, but Yasutarou and I were taken captive. As I looked pretty, Tokugawa took me as a trophy wife and defiled me…”
Lily shook her head sympathetically after hearing this, “But how did that Tokugawa learn about the treasure?”
“As I said before, the Heavens are not always on our side. Tokugawa found about the treasure while forcing himself on me… t-this is the most disgraceful event of my life… but you are bound to learn about it sooner or later since the treasure is meant for you, Lady Lily,” Yukiko lowered her head while blushing.
“No, I don’t get it. How’s that related to the treasure?”
Yukiko answered, “The treasure map’s tattoo is hidden on my back, but it’s invisible usually and only appears while making love… to be frank, it’s pretty embarrassing to mention this, and I would have never revealed it if it weren’t for the mission. Tokugawa began to harbor some doubts after seeing the treasure map on my back, so he sent someone to investigate my background and learned about the legend of the treasure in the end.”
“Why didn’t Tokugawa try to obtain the treasure immediately based on the map on your back?” Lily questioned impatiently.
“That’s because… only one-half of the map is tattooed on my back,” Yukiko stated.
“Huh? What about the other half, then? Don’t tell me…” Lily already had a good guess about it.
“The other half is on my little sister’s back and it’s only possible to view the full map on our backs when someone makes love with us two sisters at the same time,” Yukiko answered.
The bound Yumi snorted at this moment, “Hmph! You understand now, right, Lily? This is the reason I chose to pretend to cooperate with you instead of requesting Tokugawa’s protection…”
Lily gazed at Yumi silently. If this was indeed the truth, she could understand the motive behind Yumi’s actions as no chaste girl would prefer to pay the price for Tokugawa’s protection willingly.
Yukiko continued, “I was different from my little sister. If I didn’t submit, Tokugawa would’ve killed me for sure, but I had to keep living so that I could complete my mission. I couldn’t let the Midō clan’s sacrifices end in vain and disappear in the river of history without ever achieving anything. Thus, I endured the humiliation and acted like a meek wife so that I could protect the real secret and waited for the right time to come.”
Lily looked at Yukiko ruefully, “Yukiko, you said that the Heavens are not always on our side, but in truth, the Heavens are really unpredictable. Who could’ve imagined that you would meet with me because you fell into Tokugawa’s clutches and that him threatening you sisters would force Yumi to exploit me, which ultimately led to you learning my real identity.”
Yukiko revealed a relieved smile after hearing this and nodded, “Yes. Fate truly likes to fool with us humans…1”