“Yes… I also feel the same…” The reflection of the three items mirrored within Nanako’s eyes as she continued, “It feels as if they are a set that belonged to the same individual a long, long time ago…”
“Nanako?” Lily stared at Nanako, feeling that she looked a little dazed while her manner of speech had also turned a bit weird.
At this moment, the stele behind them returned to its original position along with creaking noises and blocked the entrance, trapping Lily and Nanako within this stone room.
Almost instantaneously, the parasol, garments and sword within the dim room emanated a powerful yet mystical pink halo as if they were resonating.
“Sakura? What’s going on? Answer me, Sakura!”
Sakura often went into a dormant state, so Lily hadn’t minded it much when she hadn’t replied a moment ago, but it was hard for Lily to treat the current situation as the usual dormant state due to this exceptional response. As such, feeling worried, she reached out towards the parasol with the intent of retrieving it.
However, the moment Lily’s hand touched the Sakura Parasol, a powerful and indomitable power pushed her away.
“Kyah—!” Lily cried out before hitting the wall and sliding down at a corner of the room.
This halo is actually so dangerous?
“Nanako! Watch out!” Lily warned the still dazed Nanako.
However, Lily witnessed Nanako reached out as if she wished to touch those three items.
“Don’t touch it!” Lily felt as if Nanako was in a trance and couldn’t hear her words, so she tried to get up and pull Nanako back, but she found herself suppressed by a mysterious power and simply couldn’t stand up at all!
“Don’t touch it, Nanako! Your body won’t be able to bear that halo’s attack! Nanako!” Lily could sense her breath quicken, so she couldn’t yell out loud and could only mutter in a low, worried voice.
However, Nanako didn’t seem to hear it and proceeded to touch that sword.
Lily’s heart trembled in trepidation.
“Whose sword… is this? It’s so pretty, graceful yet so exceptional,” Nanako’s voice sounded a little naïve as she swung that sword with elegance and ease.
“Eh?” Lily was taken aback. She’s fine?
An even more incredulous event took place after that. The pink halo shifted from the sword onto Nanako’s body.
And in the next moment, Nanako’s body was clad in pink energy blades.
“Rip!” Nanako’s clothes, including the inner garments, the grade 3 dagger passed down in the Saionji family as well as her gauntlets disintegrated immediately and dispersed in all directions.
And Nanako’s uncovered back —spotless, slender, petite and pure— manifested before Lily’s eyes.
“Nanako? W-What’s going on?” Lily had never witnessed such a method until now. Even with the power she wielded, it was utterly impossible for Lily to turn a grade 3 dagger into dust while leaving a human uninjured.
“Kyah!” Nanako seemed to have regained her senses at this moment and covered up her breasts and privates shyly and turned aside before glaring back at Lily with a flushed face, “Don’t look, Sis!”
But in the next moment, she directed a chilling gaze towards Lily and said, “Hmph! How dare you lay your eyes on this lady’s noble body! I’ll have you pay back twofold in a moment, you big-boobed woman!1”
And this stunned Lily so much that she didn’t how to respond to that declaration.
Then, Lily saw Nanako’s gaze fall on those garments and heard her say, “Hmm. These clothes looked quite pretty.”
Nanako caressed the garments without any worry of a rebound from the pink halo like in Lily’s case.
In the next moment, the garments shone with an intense pink light and disappeared. At the same moment, those neat and exquisite garments manifested over Nanako’s body, donning her in a short-skirted kimono that formed a pair with white stockings and distinctive wooden sandals.
Lily blinked her eyes, wondering if she was hallucinating. It would take at least a dozen minutes to wear those garments properly, but… how did Nanako wear them in instant?
On the other hand, Nanako showed no amazement at all and instead picked up that exquisite sword and placed it at her waist before directing her gaze at the Sakura Parasol. She picked it up as well and then unfurled it before slinging it over her shoulder and spun around for Lily to see, “How is it, Sis? Do I look pretty?”
Lily felt wholly amazed and couldn’t help but exclaim in admiration internally. The items that existed within this ancient and mysterious room for so many years were a perfect fit for Nanako, as if they originally belonged to her. Furthermore, although the current Nanako possessed a pure and romantic naiveness to her, she also possessed a transcendent otherworldly aura.
The power suppressing Lily disappeared at this moment, so Lily stood up after arranging the front of her kimono that had become disheveled because of the attack she received just now. However, she didn’t rush over towards Nanako with worry and question her because she could feel that Nanako didn’t require her worry.
Nanako tapped the Sakura Parasol and tilted her head askew, spinning before Lily’s eyes at times while raising one of her feet, just like a fairy that had descended onto this Heian world.
She then lifted her head suddenly to gaze at the Sakura Parasol and asked, “Sis, this parasol looks so pretty. Can you lend it to Nanako?2”
“Uhm, sure…” Lily nodded. She had come to realize when she first saw the three items and Nanako and bore such a thought, that they were a set, and that the parasol, sword and garments originally belonged to Nanako. However, she didn’t know this was so as even Yoshitsune hadn’t managed to enter this room and discover anything about the items left behind here by some unknown expert.
But why is it so? These two items feel like they belong to Nanako, but she should have never come to Yoshino previously, let alone this room!
Seeing Lily stand there in a daze, Nanako walked before her and questioned, “What are you thinking, Sis?”
“Eh? N-Nothing…” Lily didn’t know how to express her current thoughts in words. “Heh. Then, Can I borrow two more things from you, Sis?” “What things?” “Mhm. The first is…” Nanako stood on tiptoes suddenly and hooked her hands around Lily’s neck, causing Lily’s head to drop down.
Nanako’s ice-cold yet bittersweet apple-flavored lips pressed against Lily’s lips gently.
Although it was just a short moment, their lips squeezed tighter because of the contact and changed form.
Lily was stupefied.
I… was caught off-guard just like that?And kissed a second woman?No, Nanako is my little sister, so she shouldn’t count, right? But she seems so mysterious right now and makes my heart palpitate a little.
Lily felt embarrassed for getting toyed by such a dainty girl yet also felt a little excited.
She was unwilling to show such a reaction, yet she found it hard to control her emotions.
“The second item is something you treasure the most, Sis. But didn’t you say I’m family to you? So, you won’t act stingy towards family, right, Sis?”
Nanako placed her hand on Lily’s stomach and pushed her against the wall.
“Lend me your mirror, Sis,” Nanako stated solemnly all of a sudden.
In that split second, reluctance, worry and doubt welled up in Lily’s heart as she couldn’t understand why Nanako had become so inexplicable and strange suddenly.
It’s the same as when Shimizu wanted to borrow my mirror, that strange feeling.However, although it was for senior sister’s sake, wasn’t my indifference, reluctance and doubt the reason the misunderstanding between me and Shimizu deepen gradually?I don’t want to see my sisters shed tears ever again.Nanako is a girl who is willing to give up her life for me without any returns!There’s no way I can refuse her whether I’m willing or not, even if she wants my everything!
“You aren’t willing to, Sis?” Nanako asked unhappily, her voice slightly laden with grief. “Why wouldn’t I? I’ll give you anything as long as you desire it,” Lily answered gently without any regrets.
At the moment Lily answered her, an ancient and mystical vow descended over Lily and Nanako, and although the rocky mountain cave wall hung above them, a resplendent golden beam of light traversed through everything and illuminated Nanako and Lily’s body. The fingers of the two entwined with each other and their souls seemed to form a certain bond that far surpassed emotions.
Lily’s gaze turned gentle, following which she took the ancient mirror out from her bosom and presented it to Nanako. Meanwhile, Nanako’s remained pure and sincere, her eyes only reflecting her sister, Lily, in them, and her naught but unflinching loyalty remained inside them.
Nanako extended her slender petite hand, and the moment their fingers touched the mirror, an incredible power pulled them inside the mirror!
Lily lost consciousness and slid down against the wall powerlessly while clasping the mirror with her legs stretched outside.
The only person left in the room was Lily as Nanako and the Sakura Parasol had vanished, leaving behind only those motes of golden light that floated around Lily’s unconscious body.
Lily, the bearer of a boy’s soul, awakened inside the octagonal stone room within the mirror space slowly.
“Ah…” The moment he opened his eyes, he found himself seated in the middle of the octagonal stone room while still dressed in the same white yukata. He checked his surroundings and felt that the room was still as gloomy, cheerless and mystical as before, unchanging as ever.
“No, it seems more fragrant now, just like the flavor of a bittersweet apple,” Lily thought internally.
“Hehe. Have you finally woken up?” An embarrassed and almost nervous girl’s voice arrived from behind him.
This voice felt very familiar to Lily! He turned around instantly.
And saw the unsymmetrical ponytailed Nanako standing behind him while dressed in the pink mini-skirt kimono with the exquisite tachi located at her waist and the Sakura Parasol in hand.
“N-Nanako… How… are you…” Lily then suddenly recalled his current appearance, “I, no, I…”
He didn’t know how to explain his identity to Nanako as he felt that she might react unpredictably if she were to learn that she had sworn an oath of eternal love with a girl who possessed a boy’s soul.
“Tch. What do you want to say? I naturally know you are Sister Lily, a big-boobed woman with a cute man’s soul.”
Nanako stooped down and whispered at Lily’s ears, and in that split second, Lily felt as if he would faint from the shock.
“Oh, yes,” Nanako stated calmly, “You can continue to call me Nanako, but I want to tell you my true name, I’m…” Nanako arrived at another section of the stone room swiftly and twirled her parasol in a satisfied manner before directing a distant and noble gaze down at Lily, “Let me introduce myself again then.”
“I’m Kagura, your shikigami, Sister Lily.”3
