"Big brother!"
A voice so serene and so angelic, so sweet all animals ceased their chatter to listen it echo across the green foliage of the forest, called out to Muichiro. He turned his head and suddenly found himself in an autumn forest. The autumn leaves of warm orange, yellow, brown, and red twirled and swirled around his tiny frame, dancing across the gale singing through his hair. A small girl sat beside a tree, her back laid gently across the smooth bark, and smiled happily in his direction. Her smile, the giggles, the innocence and purity radiated from her like the glow of the sun. Muichiro couldn't believe he'd forgotten who she was.
That girl... was his little sister. Nurina.
They had been through so much. The two of them loved watching their father, a lumberman, cut down trees. The way his strong arms moved through the air, the taut muscles flexing, the trees falling before his mighty human strength. Her smiles, they were the exact same as his. Their father used to smile at Muichiro just the same. Until the day their mother fell grievously ill.
A dangerous storm raged outside their home. Their mother was not getting any better. She was burning up with a fever and complained of the cold. Their father braved the weather but ultimately fell victim to its merciless wrath. Muichiro was only 10 when his parents died, and Nurina only 8. As the older sibling, he had to take on the duties to protect her. He had to become both their mother and father so Nurina could live as happily as possible.
"Big brother!" Nurina cried, hands clinging to a pair that weren't his.
No, wait. Muichiro was 11 when his parents died, and Nurina was 7. Muichiro used to have a twin brother. Nurina had two big brothers to take care of her. Yuichiro was his name. And he was older by only a couple minutes. He was the one who assumed the responsibilities of taking care of Nurina and her unprecedented illness.
Muichiro didn't understand how or why, but Nurina came down with an illness soon after their parents died. It rendered her completely blind, her pupils a milky glass reflecting everything she could never see again. Her dreams were filled with a never ending darkness. She couldn't see the deer she loved to watch prance. No longer was she able to run towards Muichiro in the forest whenever she grew lonely. She became completely dependent on them. They could never rid her from their side. She'd cry, and he couldn't stand to hear the desperation in her voice. It reminded him too much of the frantic desperation that was in their father's before he left in the storm.
Though, he still gladly held her hand as they journeyed through the forest. She'd skip and hum, slightly tripping over pebbles and rocks in her path, but she tried to remain as bright as she could be. Muichiro was glad at least one of them... remained the same.
"Compassion does no good for anyone," Yuichiro scoffed one time in the dusk of the forest after chopping trees for a fire. "Doing something for others won't get you anywhere."
Muichiro was glad Nurina couldn't hear him speak in the moment. She was so lost in her own world she didn't understand her older brothers were arguing.
"That's not true. Whatever you do for others comes around to help you, as well, in the end. That's what Father said," Muichiro timidly said, clutching to the strap carrying the lumber on his back.
Yuichiro didn't turn to him when he rebutted, mercilessly, "You can't trust the word of a man who died trying to help someone else."
Muichiro's heart hurt. "How could you say something so cold? It was for Mother's sake-"
"As if some herbs would've healed her in that state. It's awfully stupid. Just as stupid as you are trying to find a cure that could reverse Nurina's blindness. It's permanent, and there's nothing that could be done," Yuichiro spat throwing a glance to the girl brushing her hand against the tall weeds tickling her knees. "If he hadn't gone out in the middle of a storm, we would've only lost Mother."
"Don't say things like that! That's going too far!" Muichiro cried, accidentally gaining Nurina's attention.
She tugged his hand lightly, mumbling, "Mu-Mu?"
"I'm only telling you how it is. Don't yell. It's too noisy. You might attract some boars, and you'll end up needlessly worrying Nurina," Yuichiro said turning his head to look back down the path. "The "mu" in Muichiro stands for "incompetence." This conversation is meaningless. You can't change the past. Or maybe the "mu" in Muichiro stands for "meaningless." The only worth you could ever receive is the love from a blind girl who can't even count her own fingers."
Muichiro had stopped walking and dropped his chin to his chest. He started to cry.
Nurina's hand found his face. "Mu-Mu, why are you crying? Where did Yu-Yu go? Where's big brother?" She'd always ask.
In the end, Yuichiro always spoke very harshly. Muichiro thought he took after his personality after his amnesia. Even then, his words still hurt.
Nurina couldn't understand the rift that cracked and built between he and his brother. Muichiro believed his brother hated him and thought he was a cold person for it. He assumed the duties of taking care of their little sister. Yuichiro almost did nothing for Nurina. Besides making dinner for the whole family and cleaning the house that barely housed the three of them, he almost never held conversation with her. She'd cry to Muichiro wondering why he'd ignore her. All she wanted was to spend time with her older brother. She started to resent herself for her blindness.
One day, she disappeared from the house.
"Nurina! Nurina!" Muichiro screamed, frantically racing through the forest calling her name. "Nurina! Where are you?! Nurina!" He started to cry. He ran faster and faster. The forest was a blur. He wanted, no, needed, to find the small black-haired girl stumbling through the trees. He couldn't afford to hold another funeral. Not again!
Suddenly, he heard a familiar giggle. "Big brother!"
"Nurina!"
Muichiro gasped and came to a halt. She held the hands of a woman so beautiful, he thought she was a white birch spirit. Her white hair glistened, dark eyes radiant, and she held herself so high and elegantly. He invited her to their home as a way of thanking her for finding Nurina, but the woman's intentions were near the same. She was the Master's wife and she'd traveled all the way up the mountain to speak to them. But Yuichiro spewed his usual insults and drove Lady Amane away.
That night...
"Can you believe it? She says we're descended from swordsmen! Descendants of an amazing swordsman who used something called "First Breathing" no less! Isn't that great, Nuri?!" Muichiro cheered picking up the girl and swinging her around as she giggled endlessly.
Yuichiro continued chopping bok choy for dinner with his infamous frown. "What do I care? Wash the rice already."
Nurina wobbled to her feet after he settled her down. Ignoring Yuichiro's spats, she lifted her fists up, exclaiming, "I wanna learn to wield a sword!"
"Me too!" Muichiro gasped. He turned to Yuichiro with the brightest smile, joy filling his core. "Hey! Let's become swordsmen! I can't believe that demons actually exist in this world, but if we can do something to help, we should! Right? Let's save the people who are suffering because of those demons! I bet the three of us can-!"
Yuichiro slammed his cleaver so hard it embedded itself into the cutting board. The resounding boom of metal piercing wood echoed through the then-silent house. Only the sound of the thick, forgotten slice of bok choy thudding to the ground could be heard. Yuichiro didn't lift his head from the vegetable. Muichiro swallowed the nervous lump swiftly growing in his throat. Nurina hid behind him, clutching his robe with shaking hands, feeling the palpable thick tension in the air. It suffocated them two.
Without looking at them, Yuichiro screamed, so angry and so furious, "What the hell do you think you can do?! What the hell can she even do?! Someone who can't even cook rice on his own, become a swordsman?! A little girl who can't even see where the hell she is going?! Save others? Give me a break, will you?!" He slammed a tight fist against the counter, drawing a whimpered flinch from Nurina. "Seriously, you're exactly like Father and Mother, aren't you? You're too optimistic! How does your mind even work?! Just like Mother, who worked without telling us she was unwell until she collapsed! Just like Father, who went out in a storm to find herbs! Even after... all I've tried to stop him! Even after I begged Mother to rest over and over! You know who can help others? Only the chosen ones!"
The cleaver in his hand shook violently. The heartbreaking quiver in his voice was unmistakable. Nurina's muffled cries into Muichiro's robes couldn't drown out the rest of Yuichiro's screams, "Our ancestors may have been swordsmen, but what can kids like us do? Want me to tell you? What it is we can do? This is what the three of us can do: Die like dogs and die in vain! Because we're Father and Mother's children! We're only going to be used by that woman! There's no way she's not plotting something! Now, you're going to stop filling Nurina's head with delusions and we're never gonna talk about this again! Got that?! Now hurry up and get dinner ready!"
After that, Muichiro and Yuichiro stopped speaking, and Nurina's smiles disappeared. Only one time did they fight when Yuichiro hurled water at Lady Amane when she climbed the mountain to visit them again. Nurina cried when she heard Lady Amane left without so much as a hello to her. All she wanted to do was lay in bed all day and stare at the floor silently, in hopes Yuichiro wouldn't scream at her as he did Muichiro.
Summer arrived. It brought in blistering heat... and a hungry demon. Muichiro felt his blood freeze.
"Oh, hell. Just a couple of brats?" It tsked standing in front of their open doorway, staring at the sleeping Nurina and glaring Yuichiro. "Well, whatever." It advanced toward Muichiro with a raised hand, claws extending from its fingertips.
"Muichiro!" Yuichiro screamed, dashing from his bed.
There was an unseen slice disrupting the air and a flash of blood. It sprayed Muichiro's face. Terror flooded his body at Yuichiro's arm flinging across the room and his brother collapsing to his knees. "AAHH!" He wailed, crying and grabbing at the nub spilling blood like a crimson waterfall.
"Yu-Yu?!" Nurina shrieked, gasping awake.
"Brother?! Brother?!" Muichiro screamed, but whimpered at the sight of the demon laughing, Yuichiro's blood staining and dropping from its claws.
Wailing himself, fear, dread, his soul quaking in his own body, he grabbed Yuichiro and scrambled away from the demon toward the fearful Nurina on the other end of the house. He pushed her behind them, her body shaking ferociously with tears already spilling down her cheeks, and tried his best to protect Yuichiro's body with his own.
"Shut up! Shut up!" The demon growled slowly, methodically, advancing toward them. "Not a sound. A couple of poor lumbermen like you, plus that tiny wench, you're totally useless anyway. Since it doesn't matter whether you exist or not, your lives are that worthless!"
Muichiro didn't exactly remember what happened next. Yuichiro and Nurina's cries and screams filled his ears. When they ended as abrupt as they started, all he saw was red. It was a violent rage that seemed to be boiling over from the pit of his stomach. A monstrous roar erupted from him. He still couldn't believe it was coming from his own throat, from his own mouth. The next thing he knew, it was daybreak. The demon was separated into multiple pieces, its head smashed through multiple times by a large rock, and limbs and torso impaled into the ground with various weapons and means. It wasn't until its body touched the sun did it truly die.
Its death, it meant nothing to him. Muichiro was physically untouched, but exhausted. He barely had enough strength to crawl, no, it took him an eternity, to reach his home and see to Yuichiro and Nurina's wounds.
"Please... I beg of you..." That was chanting quietly and painfully over and over again.
Muichiro crawled to the edge of the bed where they had coward. Nurina's eyes were closed and she was sprawled beneath Yuichiro. Blood trailed from her chest down to her legs. She didn't move. Her eyelashes never batted or flitted once. No response came from her. Not even as Yuichiro's ragged breathing turned to wheezing.
"Dear God... Buddha... Please..." His eyes, dark and near lifeless, bore into the ground. His lips barely moved as he spoke, but it was audible enough for his words to enunciate, "Please... just save my siblings. They don't deserve any of this."
Hot pressure instantly built behind Muichiro's eyes. Sorrow and despair ached his heart.
"My brother... my baby sister... they are not like me. They're k-kindhearted children. Through and through. Nuri... all she wanted was for everyone to smile and be happy. Muichiro says he wants to help others... but I got in his way. I even got in the way of finding the cure... for Nuri's illness. I'm... the only one... to blame. So please... if you're going to punish anyone... then... let it be only me." His voice was trembling so hard it was starting to become difficult to understand him. Muichiro reached forward and held his and Nurina's hands tightly. "I've always known. The truth is... the "mu" in Muichiro... stands for... "infinity.""
Muichiro laid his eyes on the demon lobster that attacked Kotetsu and Saena. The grip on his sword tightened. Newfound energy and strength rejuvenated within him at the brave and kind last words of his twin brother.
"I love you, big brother!" The memory of Nurina hugging him tightly flashed in his head. Her giggles were like honey in his ears. Her big doe-y eyes, both clear and milky, gazed adoringly up at him. Her smile never wavered, it only widened as he laughed along hugging her back. Yuichiro then took her hand and led her back home, the girl waving excitedly for Muichiro to follow.
He wanted to follow them, wanted to reunite with his family, but not yet.
"Mist Breathing," He chanted taking a low stance, a cold yet burning sensation running across his cheekbones, the red mark of clouds swirling underneath his pupils of crystallized blue, "Fourth Form..." A thick cloud of mist erupted from his person, swallowing his vision and the world in the white cloud he couldn't see but sense through, and rushed forward. Just as the cloud engulfed the demon, several marks of blood embedded itself all across its flesh and ripping it to shreds. He slid across the ground and turned to face it, Kotetsu and Saena safely in his arms. "Shifting Flow Slash!"
The lobster demon dissipated without another moment's notice.
"Kff!" Kotestu and Saena spewed.
Muichiro gasped. "Kotetsu! Saena!"
Saena smiled through the blood staining her lips. "Mr. Tokito... you're okay! I'm... so g-glad!" She cried happily.
"Don't... worry about us! Save... Mr. Haganezuka! Mrs. W-Watanabe! Protect... the swords!" Kotetsu begged, voice croaking harshly.
Muichiro lifted his gaze to the shed. He stared at the remnants of the door on the ground for only a second. He determinedly nodded his head and set the children down. "Right," He said and lifted his blade.
Gyokko sensed his presence just in the nick of time. As soon as Muichiro's blade was about to scrape the flesh off its throat, it flooded into the nearby vase stationed at the far end of the shed. By the furious look that could melt black ice on its face, it didn't understand how or why Muichiro was able to escape from its near-impenetrable death trap. His death was surely imminent, but without Kotetsu and Saena's resilient efforts he would've fell victim to it by then.
Not anymore. He was stronger, powerful, and more clear-headed than he'd ever been before. He felt everything: the air in the sky, the wind through his hair, and the emotions he's held off for far too long. Still, even with his memories refreshed in his mind, he was calm and cool. Even if he couldn't decapitate it, he still managed to slice through its shoulder.
Muichiro vanished into thin air again, moving to strike in.
"Octopus Vase Hell!" Gyokko screamed, pulling out a red vase.
Half a dozen engorged and thick octopus tentacles burst free from its prison and engulfed the entire shed, pushing all occupants outward into the clearing. Muichiro, Mr. Kanamori, and Mrs. Watanabe were trapped in its slimy hold, Mr. Haganezuka still sharpening the sword he had in his grip even after being interrupted for just a few short seconds. The grip was tightening more and more, Mr. Kanamori and Mr. Watanabe trying to stifle their whimpers of agonizing pain. Muichiro didn't feel any of it.
Instead, he took a deep breath. Thin lines of blue and white appeared all over the tentacles holding them captive. The meat fell apart into thick slices of sushi, dropping all back to the ground as fish fell all around them with loud, annoying plops.
Muichiro gazed down at the sword in his hand. It was his new Hashira sword handcrafted by Mrs. Watanabe. It was a perfect replication, save for the lines of red and yellow lining the guard. Destroyer of Demons was engraved on the beautiful sheen of the turquoise blade, mimicking an arch of sapphires shining in a dark, luminescent cave. He arched it high above his head and turned to face the woman. "You crafted this sword for me. Mrs. Watanabe... Thank you," He softly yet kindly said.
The woman smiled, purple eyes shining in the ethereal blade of the moon above, and bowed her head. "All I did was follow the instructions of your previous swordsmith, but I still consider it an honor you find my craftsmanship to your liking, Mr. Tokito."
Muichiro remembered. Mr. Tetsuido forged his first sword. He had since passed away from a heart disease. He always worried for him, always wondered how he had time for anything else other than battling and training after what he had endured at the hands of a demon. He understood Muichiro perfectly.
He never gave himself a breath of air and worried anxiously about his amnesia. He would train so hard he would vomit blood. He had wondered if his twin and sister were mere figments of a forgotten imagined dream. Though, at the time, he thought of Mr. Tetsuido as an overbearing old man.
If he could go back in time, he would do what he could to not make Mr. Tetsuido worry so much for him. The sword he crafted for Muichiro always brought tears to his eyes. Not because Muichiro worked so hard killing demons, but because he did nothing else but kill and train. The old man went to his death bed worrying about him until the very end. Though, if he could see Muichiro right then, he wouldn't worry anymore.
Muichiro is all right now! He can rest easy!
He surged forward as another torrent of tentacles erupted from the vase. Thick mist and white clouds trailed behind him, a blade of fog sharpening the edge of his sword leaving a thin wisp, and weaved in between each tentacle. The speed he moved was blistering. His vision comprehended swirls of red, blue, and white, but his mind and senses sharpened, understanding the threat, the environment, and the embodiment of which he fought. It was muscle memory, the renewed heart in why he fought, that allowed him to perform a barrage of continuous slashes of the tentacles in front and all around him. Each one disintegrated into multiple pieces until he was back in front of the demon.
Gyokko teleported away again to a vase up in the tree, mocking and boasting about Muichiro's lack of speed but didn't realize a thin line of blood ran along its neck until it was too late.
Muichiro huffed and swung his sword free of the crimson red. "I'm going to behead you now. I have better things to do than playing your stupid vase game all day."
"Heh. Don't underestimate me, you brat!" Gyokko growled. Then he transported to a vase back on the ground behind him.
At once, a torrent of water spouted toward Muichiro as more koi demon fish appeared, spikes spewing relentlessly from their mouths. Muichiro dashed from tree to tree, calm, graceful, and fluid, splinters raining and cascading all around him, shrapnel of broken spikes flying into the air like beautiful crystals, dividing the torrent into two streams with the quick slash of his blade. He dashed closer and closer seeing Nurina approached their home with Yuichiro in his mind. He could hear the voice of his fallen brother in his ear apologizing for all the hurtful things he had said. Yuichiro wanted Muichiro to remember no god will protect him in the end. He wanted to be the one to protect his family. That was why he threw himself in front of him and protected Nurina as best he could. They were not alike, and that was okay.
Nurina let go of Yuichiro's hand at the foot of the door. She smiled at him and their parents waiting beyond. With a small giggle, she said, kindly, gently, "I love you, Yu-Yu, but... I'm going to be with Mu-Mu just a bit longer. Wait for us, okay?" With that, she bounded back into the forest, hands outstretched toward Muichiro, smiling dazzling like the sun as always.
Unlike Yuichiro and Nurina, Muichiro can exert infinite strength. He is one of the chosen ones! He will use his blade in their name!
