Summary: I think the challenge that produced this was one for an "unhappy ending", although the latter here is only implied. Spoilers for episodes 152-153 of the anime and the corresponding manga chapters.
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Misdirection
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Mesmerized by the movements of the chain scythe through night air, it takes him a second to remember that i>he /i> is the one directing the weapon. In its meandering arcs and fluid expositions, he finds a sense of loss as deep as his own.
The scythe had accompanied him to the castle at a time when he had resembled more-or-less a particle cast adrift. Now, it rends two demon birds that had been swooping upon a guard, just as a woman with a glaive keeps another off his – Kohaku's – back.
Somewhere, somehow, he remembers what it was like to stand with other people like this.
The others, still safe, turn to him with faces that speak of genuine gratitude. Standing in the middle of the smoldering complex, it occurs to him that his lack of past is of little consequence.
Here and now were all that mattered, because through them and the people currently around him, he is able, again, to see value in himself. For reasons irrelevant to the battle still at hand, he feels a surge of something he cannot describe.
Belonging, perhaps, for the first time in months.
Or else, a sense of warmth. One completely unrelated to the sea of fire that currently held the small group of survivors in its midst.
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