On the high platform, crimson petals carpeted the entire space. Yet no matter how intense their fragrance was, it could not conceal the blood-soaked stench that pierced the soul.
Tsunayashiro Kojiro had completely lost consciousness, yet his body remained standing. His arm still swung that final strike at Asano Kiyoshi!
In the spectator stands, the mother whose arm had been mangled into a bloody mess screamed herself hoarse. Petals drifted down, lending the scene a bewitching and tragic beauty.
Asano Kiyoshi looked at Kojiro, who had utterly lost consciousness but still had not fallen. He looked at the short sword still slashing toward him, and at the mother crying out as if a cuckoo were weeping blood.
Those heart-rending cries made Asano Kiyoshi's heart tremble without end.
Doubt rose within him. His sword swing slowed as he looked toward the Captain-Commander, Captain Shunsui, Captain Jushiro Ukitake, and everyone else, but none of them could give him his answer.
The arm holding his sword stopped. He did not know whether he should win. He began to doubt the justice of his own actions.
But when he fixed his gaze on Tsunayashiro Kojiro, Asano Kiyoshi understood. Neither of them was wrong. When their positions differed, justice and evil had long since been stained black by this muddy water!
Kojiro bore the debt of gratitude for his mother's upbringing!
Asano Kiyoshi bore the debt of gratitude for the Captain-Commander's teachings!
Our battle needs no reason. What we bear is the best reason to fight!
I respect you as a person, but now I will defeat you with my own hands!
Asano Kiyoshi looked at Kojiro, who could no longer stand steadily, and an apologetic expression appeared on his face. He swung his final strike, slashing at Kojiro's ankle.
At that moment, a pure