"Protecting the course of history... is certainly not an easy feat."
He didn't realise back then, how those words have affected him so much.
xxx
"Welcome... to the citadel."
A green-haired... 'person', greeted him kindly almost as soon as he manifested. The person introduced himself to him as Uguisumaru, a fellow tsukumogami manifested from the swords of old like him. Tsukumogami. Sword warriors, that's what he is right now.
It's a bit strange to see himself—feel himself—taking the form similar to the humans who must have wielded him in the past. Walking with his two legs... touching and holding things with his hands. And then seeing the things around him with his eyes, hearing sounds from his ears... using his voice to speak as humans do. Uguisumaru said that it was the same for everyone when they first manifested here, feeling awkward about their new bodies and feeling disorientated at how they could wield themselves using said bodies.
Uguisumaru told him that the odd feeling will pass and that he'll get used to it. Well, he hoped so.
The citadel was almost empty because everyone else was either out on expeditions or sent to the frontlines so he couldn't introduce himself to the others yet.
"But you'll get your chance when the others return," said Uguisumaru again. "I know at least one person who would be delighted to see you. He's also part of the Ashikaga treasures like you, Honebami."
Honebami Toushiro stopped in his steps as Uguisumaru turned around to look at him.
"I'm sorry. I have no memories of my past before being burned. All I remember was the flames."
Uguisumaru just shrugged at him before smiling.
"It's alright. You don't have to worry about that."
xxx
"The unit that was sent to Honnouji should be returning any second now. I'll introduce you to them."
His hands and body were stiffening, was he feeling 'nervous'? Guess apart from the feel of his new body and form, he needed to get used to having these kinds of 'emotions'.
Uguisumaru seemed quite close to the other swords that has just reappeared with a gentle swirl of breeze and flower petals. He wondered if he could be so friendly and comfortable with the other swords, the more he spent time here. He probably would like that... very much.
"—today we had a new arrival. He's been keeping me busy here for a while."
Honebami walked out from where he was standing as one of those sword warriors called him his brother right away. The other sword warrior had worn similar attire as him, so they must've belonged to the same school.
"Oh? It's good to see you again."
Another sword warrior greeted him gently. Somehow Honebami sensed a different kind of kindness from this beautiful sword warrior, quite unlike what he felt from Uguisumaru. Was the person Uguisumaru mentioned to him before, this sword warrior with tiny moons inside their eyes?
An ashen-blond sword warrior stepped out to ask the dark-haired one. "You know him?"
The sword warrior who had moons in his eyes and crest smiled amiably. "Well, we were displayed together by the Ashikaga clan. He belonged to the same school as Yagen Toushiro, so they were like siblings. His name is Honebami Toushiro."
Everything clicked inside his mind right away. This person was indeed the one Uguisumaru had mentioned to him before. But, how could he tell that person that all of his past memories—that the current him right now couldn't even recognise anyone from his past?
"Brother?"
The tantou who called him their brother immediately noticed that something was wrong. Thankfully, Uguisumaru sensed his dilemma and explained to the others about his predicament. Honebami thought that hearing that would make that other Ashikawa sword sad or disappointed—But instead, the person smiled at him in understanding before nodding.
"Honebami, we'll catch up on things another time."
xxx
The seven of them gathered in a small common room as the other swords started their own mini welcoming party for him. Since everyone else was still away on expeditions, this would have to do for the moment. So Honebami got to learn more about the rest of the swords he just met and Uguisumaru started to introduce him to the others.
The ashen-haired sword warrior, an uchigatana, was called Heshikiri Hasebe. The rough-looking one holding the yari was called Nihongou. The shorter one who called him brother was Yagen Toushiro while the quiet one was another uchigatana called Yamanbagiri Kunihiro. And the last one who had been drinking for quite some time was called Fudou Yukimitsu.
The five sword warriors started discussing their last mission while talking about him. Talking about the circumstances of how he ended up being burned and lost his memories prompted Yagen to talk about his own experience, and that led to some other talks regarding their former masters. Apparently, most of the sword warriors sitting around him were related to the warlord Oda Nobunaga in one way or another. As Honebami listened to the five of them talking about their former masters, he wondered whether having memories of the pasts intact was actually good. Judging from how Hasebe and Fudou had different reactions to viewing their former master's death, he had no idea what to think about it.
"So who is the one earlier who said he knows me?" Honebame started to ask, to try to change the topic of the conversation.
Uguisumaru put down his cup of tea as he spoke out. "Right, that's Mikazuki Munechika, he's our master's aide. He oversees all the activities around this citadel. He's said to be the most beautiful of the Great Five Swords. Master fully trusts him."
"For that reason, was that why no one but Mikazuki was allowed to see the master lately?" Suddenly Hasebe spoke out without warning as Uguisumaru gently told him to talk about it another time.
Honebami turned his attention towards Hasebe. Apparently, despite Mikazuki's kind nature... it looked like Hasebe didn't quite like the Great Sword. But that might just be due to him wanting to be able to serve Saniwa closely just like Mikazuki had been doing. And indeed, all Hasebe would talk about afterwards was how Mikazuki had been keeping everyone else from seeing their master.
Just as Hasebe was talking about him, Mikazuki himself appeared in the flesh as the tachi tried to deny having such malicious intent.
At first glance, Mikazuki exuded the personality of a carefree and gentle old man. Though it seemed that Mikazuki was also quite a tactful person as the tachi deflected all questions regarding his strange behaviour while still maintaining his kindly persona.
That just made Honebami more curious to get to know Mikazuki better.
xxx
"Woi, oi, oi, oi! How could Nobunaga still be alive?!" exclaimed Nihongou as he walked into the common room, still in his tracksuit. "I thought we already completed our mission successfully!"
Nihongou sat down on the tatami with everyone as Hasebe just sighed.
"It just meant that we failed to eliminate all of the History Retrograde Army, that must be it."
Yagen cocked his head at him. "But when we left, I couldn't feel any presence of them remaining—!"
"Maybe some of Nobunaga's men had survived—"
"Everyone who should've died back then have all died!" Honebami turned to look at the speaker as Fudou glanced up to look at everyone fiercely. "I'm sure of it!"
Uguisumaru just shrugged at them. "Anyhow, forget about the cause and think about how we should proceed on this. Master and Mikazuki were still in deep discussion about this—"
"—Again with Mikazuki?" cried Hasebe as Uguisumaru just gave him a stern look.
"Stop complaining. The formation has already been decided—"
Honebami just sighed to himself as he continued sitting in the corner of the room. Since he still just recently manifested, this shouldn't concern him...
"Captain, Mikazuki Munechika. Joining him will be... Yagen Toushiro, Heshikiri Hasebe, Yamanbagiri Kunihiro, Nihongou and..."
And the last one should be Fudou-san, right?
"...Honebami Toushiro."
"Eh?"
He couldn't believe what he just heard. He was going to join the frontline this time.
.
He followed the others to the courtyard where a small shrine stood before it. Honebami stared at the big crystal orb that was placed at the centre of the shrine as if it was an offering. Uguisumaru explained to him beforehand that the crystal orb held an ancient power that allowed them to travel into the past to preserve history. The crystal orb... was the result of the combined powers of many practitioners of onmyodo of the past.
"Brother... what's wrong?"
Honebami glanced sideways as Yagen Toushiro walked up towards him.
"Are you nervous?"
He just shrugged. "I just don't understand."
"What do you mean?"
"Do we really need to protect the course of history?"
Because... from what he heard about the First Unit's previous mission earlier, all six of them had tried their best to ensure that the Revisionists were stopped from changing history. Yet, somehow that mission wasn't quite a complete success. So if things still end up being so unpredictable like this, what's the point of them to even 'protect' history?
"What?" Honebami heard someone speak from behind him as he turned around to see Hasebe walking toward him.
Having seen the uchigatana's temper earlier, Honebame hastily added. "Don't get me wrong, I don't dislike battles. I just want to know what I'm fighting for."
Hasebe just stared at him silently before answering immediately.
"If the past changed, then the future will... too."
"I see."
But was that... enough reason for one to keep fighting to protect history?
"Sorry for the wait..."
Mikazuki chose that time to finally arrived at the courtyard... followed by Nihongou behind.
.
"Is everyone ready?" asked Mikazuki before turning around to face everyone. "Good, let's go."
"Our objective this time... is the assassination of Oda Nobunaga."