What I see in the garden’s direction is Uzuki-san’s falling blade, and Kei-kun’s long, retreating leap to dodge it.
The sound of the sword slicing wind, and the kicks of feet stomping the high weeds, reach all the way back here.
(Kei): I told you I’d let you kill me tomorrow! Don’t get in my way!
Uzuki: Anyone can make such a promise when they plan to strike from the shadows. As if I would believe in such an empty oath.
(Kei): What the hell do you know!? Akira-san was never that distrustful!
Uzuki: That’s right, and that’s what brings us here, today.
(Kei): Khu!
Without a weapon, Kei-kun can do nothing but dodge her attacks.
And as she bears down against him, the swings of Uzuki-san’s blade hold not a shred of mercy.
Uzuki: Corporeal oni, in place of the kekkai I erected, I will cut you off, here. As your path ends in ruin, regret the moment you ever set your sights on the Nie no Chi!
(Kei): You’re wrong! I didn’t come here for Kei’s blood! The one who’s after her isn’t me!
(Kei): —Dammit!!
As he yells, Kei-kun’s eyes look not at Uzuki-san, but in my direction.
That grave expression looks nothing like any ploy to divert her attention.
Kei: Eh?
Flustered with urgency, I turn my eyes from the distracting scuffle outside and rush them over my surroundings.
That’s right… this ringing sound is those two and their—
Tsudzura-chan holds a mirror to her chest, the size of a large plate. The ring is sounding from its faintly quivering surface.
Nozomi: Fufufu! So kind of you to let us in.
And that voice, also from the mirror…
Tsudzura-chan is already inside the room.
Nozomi: If there’s a barrier repelling those noncorporeal…
Mikage: You need only take form upon reaching the other side.
Nozomi: Any barrier, however fortified…
Mikage: …will easily crumble for the enemy within.
This time, clearly, the ring of a bell.
With the ring of a bell, bare feet step upon the floor.
When the burning red light fades, the twin oni are in the room.
As if to reenact that deed in the shed, the twin oni take form.
Nozomi: Kei… we’ve come to take your blood.
Mikage: This time, you will set our master free, without fail.
The oni have come, to set in motion again the event Yumei-oneechan broke her body to quell.
Uzuki & (Kei): Kei-san!
At the moment the two in the garden cry out, Obana-chan’s hind legs kick strongly at the floor…
…disappearing completely from sight.
*ban!*
A loud sound, above my head. Looking up, I see the ceiling boards quaking.
Obana-chan is nowhere to be seen.
Only, as I was raising my vision, I could see something white rushing down.
It was an amazing movement, nothing you could explain away by the speed of a wild animal, but…
Nozomi: Quit loitering about, you pest! I have no taste for the blood of a animal!
As she sets her sleeve aflutter with a wave of her arm…
A line of red light shoots through the bound air between her hand and the direction it points.
Taking after her elder sister, Mikage-chan does the same…
One line…
Two…
Three…
Line and line intertwine to form a surface.
Nozomi: Will you behave for us, now?
Blocked by the web-like surface, Obana-chan’s nimble, flamboyant movements come to a halt.
Not content to stop there, it smothers him like a thrown net, binding him.
Narrowing her eyes and giving her work a glance, as if in disinterest, she turns her eyes to me.
Her eyes shine red, and the corners of her lips curve into a smile.
Kei: Agh!…
Nozomi-chan’s feet kick at the floor, fluttering down before my petrified body.
As she lands, the ring of a bell.
While my eyes were on her, the other must have circled around. Before I even know she’s there, Mikage-chan whispers into my ear from behind.
Mikage: Now, let us feast.
She touches her cold hands to my bared neck, freezing my very core.
Then, edging closer with the ring of a bell, Nozomi-chan peeks into my eyes with her cursed stare.
Nozomi: Ufufufufufu!
Ah—!
Frozen like a statue of ice, my body won’t even let my throat tremble enough to cry out.
Press circle once more and then check your divergence map.
Note the branching of the white line and pick the appropriate path below.
If you do not yet own the game and want to know which branch you have just taken, click here.
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