The bitter gales that had clung to the ragged edges of winter finally receded, allowing the faint breath of spring to permeate even the sequestered villa of the Fujiwara.
Upon the branches of an ancient tree rooted in the heart of the garden, pale pink cherry blossom buds peered out shyly, as if hesitant to greet the world.
It had been nearly a month since Utsugi had been dispatched to this sanctuary.
In those fleeting weeks, a transformation—strange, absolute, and undeniable—had taken hold of Utsugi’s life.
"……."
Seated against the wooden veranda, Utsugi silently tracked the presence of Kiyo as she meandered through the garden. His eyes were obscured by a thick, dark blindfold.
His mind was tranquil. It was a state of perfect stillness and absolute silence he had not known since the fateful night his Six Eyes had first awakened.
The cacophonous din of Cursed Energy—the filth of human emotion and the screams of lingering curses—was bleached into a hollow white nothingness the moment it entered a ten-pace radius around Kiyo. It was as if she were a miracle of nature.
The transparent, pure Cursed Energy emanating from her form acted as a sanctified sieve, tempering the tidal wave of information that usually sought to pierce Utsugi’s brain, reducing it to the gentlest of ripples.
Even the grueling exhaustion—the constant need to utilize the Reverse Cursed Technique to mend his own incinerating neural pathways—had vanished without a trace during his residence in this villa.
'This place... is my only breath of air.'
Utsugi attempted to rationalize this unfamiliar sense of relief burgeoning within his chest, labeling it merely as 'maintaining optimal condition for the escort mission.'
Yet, whenever he watched Kiyo through the veil of his blindfold—noticing how she laughed with such guileless joy while stroking a cherry blossom branch—he could not deny the subtle, indefinable tremors radiating from the depths of his long-locked heart.
"Lord Utsugi."
Kiyo, who had been strolling through the garden, approached with quick, light steps and came to a halt below the veranda.
Her white kosode, bathed in the nascent spring sunlight, glowed with a radiance that was almost blinding.
"I have prepared some tea. It is an infusion made from dried cherry blossom petals; the fragrance is truly exquisite."
Kiyo held out a small ceramic cup toward the porch. Her crystalline voice brushed against Utsugi’s ears like a silken caress.
Utsugi accepted the cup in silence.
Had it been the elders of his clan, they would have droned on about the risks of assassination and warned him against consuming anything offered by a Fujiwara. Utsugi paid such thoughts no heed. Above all, it was impossible for this maiden to harbor the intent to harm another.
He took a sip. A faint astringency was followed by a subtle sweetness and the ethereal scent of flowers that bloomed across his palate.
"How do you find the taste?"
Kiyo asked, her hands clasped together, her eyes alight with anticipation.
"…It is not disagreeable," Utsugi replied, his voice dry.
At his meager praise, Kiyo’s face lit up with a brilliant flush of joy.
"I am glad. Tomorrow, I shall try an infusion of plum blossoms."
Kiyo perched herself lightly on the edge of the veranda, turning her gaze toward the heavens.
"Lord Utsugi. Do you know what manner of day today is?"
"Exactly five days remain until the Merger Ritual between the primary Star Plasma Vessel and Master Tengen," Utsugi stated in a voice devoid of emotion.
Kiyo’s shoulders gave a microscopic flinch at his response.
Five days. If the primary Vessel successfully assimilated with Tengen, Kiyo would spend the rest of her days dying slowly within this villa, never again to see the light of the world. And if the primary Vessel were assassinated or if the merger failed, Kiyo would be the one to ascend the altar, melting into Tengen and suffering the total annihilation of her own self.
Regardless of the outcome, in five days, the fate of the human being known as Fujiwara no Kiyo would be irrevocably sealed.
"Yes, that is correct. Five days remain," Kiyo murmured, her voice strained as she toyed with her knees.
"But aside from that, do you know what else occurs today? They say that tonight is the Spring Lantern Festival in the marketplaces of Heian-kyo. I heard the maids who serve the villa whispering of it. A festival where lanterns are kept burning throughout the night, where troupes of acrobats dance, and where all manner of delicious confections are sold..."
Kiyo’s voice trailed off into a whisper. She gripped her folded hands tightly upon her lap.
Utsugi looked down at her from behind his blindfold.
From the moment of her birth, Kiyo had been raised as a surrogate Vessel, never once stepping beyond these walls. The colors of the world, the laughter of the common folk, even the shifting vistas of the seasons—all had been filtered through books and the idle chatter of servants within this narrow garden. She was a bird in a perfect cage.
"…And so?"
At Utsugi’s low prompt, Kiyo cautiously lifted her head.
"Lord Utsugi."
A faint shimmer of moisture clung to Kiyo’s clear eyes. This was not her usual smile of resignation, but the desperate yearning of a child giving voice to her own desire for the first time in her life.
"Would you… would you take me to the festival in the marketplace? Just for a fleeting moment. It would be enough even to see the lantern-lit streets from afar. Before everything ends in five days… just once, I wish to see what the true world looks like with my own eyes."
It was a blatant violation of protocol.
To escort the Vessel—the most classified secret of the jujutsu world—beyond the barrier without authorization was a capital offense. Had the elders of the Sugawara or the Fujiwara known, they would have handed Utsugi over to the punitive squads without a second thought.
"I refuse," Utsugi said, his tone cold and cutting.
"Thy life is not thine own to risk. The lands beyond this barrier teem with malevolent Curse Users. There is no reason to court such danger merely to witness a few trifles and fires."
Kiyo’s gaze sank into a deep, hollow loneliness at his harsh dismissal.
"…As I thought. Forgive me for my selfishness, Lord Utsugi."
Just as Kiyo forced a smile and prepared to rise, Utsugi stood up, setting his teacup down upon the wood.
"However. A perfect escort must always secure a route for safe and covert transport under any circumstance. I suppose an inspection of the grounds outside the barrier, under the guise of field training, would be permissible."
"…Eh?"
Kiyo’s eyes went wide and round.
Utsugi strapped his tachi to his waist and adjusted his blindfold, extending a hand toward Kiyo.
"The temperature will drop when the sun sets. Don a thicker outer garment before we depart. It is impossible for any Curse User to bypass the vigilance of my Six Eyes, and should any dare to strike, I shall simply butcher them where they stand."
"Lord Utsugi…!"
A smile, more radiant and brilliant than any Utsugi had ever seen, blossomed across Kiyo’s face. This was not the smile of one resigned to fate; it was the pure, unadulterated ecstasy of a teenage girl truly alive.
The moment he beheld that smile, Utsugi’s heart hammered against his ribs with a violent, irregular thud. It was a strange, ticklish ache he had never experienced in all his years. Utsugi looked away, forcing a cough.
"If you are going, prepare quickly. Before I change my mind."
•
Night fell deep over Heian-kyo.
The heart of the capital burned brighter than any day, set ablaze by the glow of ten thousand vermillion lanterns.
Utsugi neutralized the barrier and, gathering Kiyo into his arms, leapt over the walls of the Fujiwara villa in a single bound. As they soared through the void, Kiyo let out a soft cry of wonder, looking for all the world like a bird that had finally found the sky.
Disguised in the coarse hempen cloth of commoners, the two vanished into the churning crowds of the marketplace.
The festival streets were a riot of noise: fire-breathing acrobats, masked musicians playing the flute, the hawking cries of merchants selling honeyed sweets, and the discordant masses of Cursed Energy radiating from the populace.
To the usual Utsugi, this place would have been a nauseating cesspool he couldn't have endured for a minute.
Even behind his blindfold, the pressure of the surrounding Cursed Energy made him furrow his brow, his steps faltering instinctively.
"Lord Utsugi? Are you unwell?"
In that instant, a small, warm hand reached out and gingerly clasped Utsugi’s larger one.
It was Kiyo. The moment she held his hand, the cacophony of the world that had been tearing at his brain miraculously receded into the distance, and a perfect silence descended. Only the warmth of Kiyo’s palm and the steady, clear rhythm of her pulse remained in Utsugi’s world.
'Ah….'
It was only then that Utsugi realized why he had permitted this perilous outing, even at the cost of his honor and duty.
It was not to grant Kiyo’s wish. It was for 'himself'—for the only man who could find the peace to breathe like a human being only when she was by his side. He had already fallen into the depths of this transparent girl's soul, beyond the point of no return.
"Look over there! He’s breathing fire!"
Kiyo led Utsugi by the hand, weaving through the throng of people.
Everything she saw seemed a wonder. She laughed brightly while eating apple candy that smelled of sugar and fire, and she grew pensive and solemn at a goldfish-scooping stall, her face falling in adorable disappointment when the paper net tore.
Utsugi followed her silently, a shadow in the light.
He subtly pushed the crowds aside so that no stranger's shoulder would brush against Kiyo, engraving only the image of her back into his mind. To think that he had reached the age of sixteen without ever knowing such an achingly beautiful sight existed in this world.
"Oh, how lovely."
Kiyo’s steps halted before a small stall selling ornaments.
Her gaze was fixed upon a hairpin carved from jade, shaped like a pale blue forget-me-not. Kiyo toyed with the piece, unable to look away, but soon she began to put it back with a wistful smile, as if reminding herself that such vanities were not for her.
In that moment, Utsugi tossed a silver coin to the stall keeper.
"We shall take that one."
"What? Oh, Lord Utsugi! This is far too expensive!"
Though Kiyo tried to protest in her flustered state, Utsugi took the pin from the merchant and carefully slid it into Kiyo’s ink-black hair.
The pale blue of the jade matched her porcelain skin perfectly.
Utsugi stared at her through his blindfold before speaking with studied indifference.
"It is not disagreeable."
Kiyo’s cheeks burned a deep crimson, even brighter than the festival lanterns.
She touched the pin with her fingertips, wearing a smile that was shy yet arguably the happiest in the world.
"Thank you. I shall cherish this for as long as I live... until the day I die."
'Until the day I die.'
That phrase scraped against Utsugi’s heart like a rusted blade.
•
As the festival’s heat reached its peak, the two escaped the crowds to a secluded bank of the Kamo River.
Upon the water, the reflections of the lanterns shattered like fallen stardust, while a full moon hung mournfully in the night sky.
They sat side by side, watching the river in silence.
Kiyo gently stroked the blue pin in her hair and spoke quietly, as if to herself.
"Lord Utsugi."
"Speak."
"If… just if… that person, the primary Vessel, successfully merges with Master Tengen, I will be moved to the cellar beneath the villa. I will live out the rest of my days in the deepest shadows of the Fujiwara."
Kiyo’s voice did not tremble. She was describing her cruel fate with a terrifying calmness.
"I am not afraid to die. Nor am I afraid of being locked away in the dark. I was born to be a tool for that purpose, after all."
Kiyo turned her head to look at Utsugi.
"But if there is one thing that saddens me… it is that no one will remember that I ever existed in this world. Not the Sugawara, not the Fujiwara, nor anyone in the jujutsu world will ever even record the name of the girl who was a 'surrogate Vessel.'"
Utsugi’s fist clenched tightly.
This was the hideous providence of their world: to completely erase a young girl's life for the sake of clan interests and the stability of the realm.
"That is why I have been so happy today."
Kiyo smiled purely at Utsugi.
"Because you brought me out into this world, Lord Utsugi. The sweetness of the candy, the clamor of the festival, and even the cold touch of this blue jade... all these memories are now etched vividly within me. Even if I am entombed in the dark, I believe I can endure a lifetime of smiling, just by clutching the memory of this night."
Kiyo reached out cautiously, her fingers grazing the knot of the dark blindfold covering Utsugi’s face.
Utsugi did not pull away.
Fwish—
The knot came loose, and the heavy fabric that had blocked Utsugi’s vision fell to the ground.
Utsugi’s eyes were revealed, naked and unshielded.
His two pupils, drinking in the light of the full moon, radiated a 'light of the azure firmament' more brilliant and frigid than any gemstone in existence.
Usually, the moment he removed the blindfold, the vast influx of information would trigger a splitting migraine. But now, before his eyes, there was only the perfectly clear and transparent Kiyo. The Six Eyes did not ache. Rather, they reflected her soul with startling clarity.
"Beautiful…"
Kiyo whispered, staring into Utsugi’s blue Rikugan as if possessed.
"You are no hollow tree. Your eyes hold every star and every corner of the universe within this night sky."
In that moment, the glacial wall of reason that had stood firm within Utsugi for sixteen years shattered without a sound.
The boy who had wielded his blade in the shadows of his clan while suppressing all emotion.
Within that boy's chest, a storm of uncontrollable, violent emotion surged for the first time.
'I cannot let this girl die.'
Utsugi cared nothing for the collapse of the world’s barriers or the rampaging of cursed spirits. Whether Master Tengen ran rampant and humanity was extinguished was of no concern to him.
This perfect sanctuary that allowed his heart to rest, this bright star that was the first to look upon him as a 'human being'—he could not allow her to be cast into a damp, dark cellar or a sacrificial altar.
Utsugi slowly raised his hand, cupping Kiyo’s cheek gently.
His calloused hand was trembling slightly.
"Kiyo."
From between Utsugi’s lips, a heat he had never uttered in his life seeped out.
"If you say you wish to refuse the merger with Tengen, and if you say you wish to flee this cage of the Fujiwara."
A deep, heavy resolve settled within Utsugi’s azure eyes.
"I will take thy hand and flee with thee to the ends of the earth. Whether those who pursue us be the elite of the Fujiwara, the elders of my own clan, or even the entirety of Heian-kyo itself... I shall crush and butcher everything in my path to protect thee."
It was a declaration of treason from a sorcerer of the Sugawara, the heaviest and most agonizing oath a boy could offer while turning his back on all the world’s logic.
Kiyo’s eyes shook violently.
From her large eyes, a single, transparent tear fell, wetting the back of Utsugi’s hand.
"Lord Utsugi…"
Kiyo nuzzled her face into his palm, weeping without a sound.
It was a tear that mingled the instinct to live, the ecstasy of being saved for the first time, and the sorrow for the cruel fate that still loomed ahead.
By the moonlit banks of the Kamo River, the two shared each other's warmth for a long time.
In an era defined by blood-stained curses and death, it was a single chapter of youth—a remnants of a blue spring—bathed in true color.
Yet, as the light shines brighter, so too do the shadows deepen.
While the two were intoxicated by the remnants of that spring, the gears of fate were already grinding toward the worst possible conclusion.
On the opposite side of the capital, in the profound darkness of the Star Corridor where Tengen’s main shrine lay.
The blades of hideous Curse Users, moving as the hands and feet of Kenjaku, were silently converging upon the throat of the 'Primary' Star Plasma Vessel awaiting the merger.
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