The Soul's True Color

At the eastern edge of the village, a few small huts were enclosed by a fence.

Inside the yard, two figures—one large and one small—were working together to build a snowman.

The smaller one was a young girl wearing a floral-patterned cotton jacket with a purple scarf wrapped around her neck. The larger one was a woman with a headscarf, struggling to lift her daughter so she could place a hood on the snowman's head. From a distance, the snowman actually looked quite a bit like Minamino Hirotomo.

"Does Shizuki miss Daddy?"

"Yes."

The hood was placed a bit crookedly, looking rather comical. The little girl giggled, "Look, Mommy, Daddy is so ugly~"

The woman rolled her eyes at her, then laughed along. Inadvertently, she glanced toward the yard entrance and saw...

Roy, followed by Tanjiro, was standing silently outside the fence. Her expression froze slightly; she pulled her daughter behind her and asked guardedly, "Is there something you need?"

The small village at the foot of Mount Sagiri was already remote, and with the heavy snows of winter, it was rarely visited by outsiders. It was no surprise she felt wary at the sudden appearance of two strangers at her gate.

Roy held a water canteen in his hand and glanced at Minamino Hirotomo.

The man's face was a mess of tears, his mouth trembling as he bit down hard on his upper lip. He just stared fixedly at those two figures, unable to speak for a long time.

"Nii-san..." Tanjiro couldn't bear to watch the scene and turned his face away.

He couldn't imagine... if it were him, what kind of despair he would feel upon learning the news of his father Tanjuro's passing.

And yet... families torn apart, children being traded for food—in this world infested with demons, such things were all too common.

"Good day, ma'am. We are friends of Uncle Minamino. We're just passing through to deliver some things for him."

Roy remained silent for a moment, then stepped forward and placed Minamino Hirotomo's wicker basket on the snow.

The basket had been woven by Naoko herself, using vines gathered from Mount Sagiri. She recognized it at a glance, her expression softened, and she opened the gate to let Roy and Tanjiro inside.

"Naoko, who is it?" Hearing the commotion, an old woman washing clothes in the backyard poked her head out from the house and asked with a kind smile.

"Hirotomo's friends. They said they came to help him deliver some things."

"Oh~ then hurry and invite them in for some hot tea. It's freezing out, don't let them catch a cold..."

"Yes, Mother." The woman took the little girl's hand and bowed to Roy.

Roy nodded politely at her and walked in with Tanjiro, while Tanjiro dragged Minamino Hirotomo's basket into the yard.

"Mommy, who are they?" The little girl hid behind the woman, timidly poking her small head out.

Minamino Hirotomo, who had been standing there in a daze, could no longer hold back. He drifted down from the canteen and leaned in to embrace her.

A cold gust of wind blew past... Minamino Hirotomo's body passed straight through the little girl.

The little girl blinked, her bangs fluttering, and she looked dazed for a brief moment—a detail Roy carefully captured in his eyes.

Her soul is too fragile to withstand the impact of a living spirit. It would be best if you didn't try to hug her forcibly...

Roy used the canteen as a medium to communicate with Minamino Hirotomo via telepathy.

After imbuing his eyes with "Nen," he could clearly see the "aura" on the little girl's body showing signs of "rejection" the moment Minamino Hirotomo's soul overlapped with her physical form.

There was a faint, dangerous hint of her mistakenly identifying Minamino Hirotomo as her "primary soul."

So, is the "soul" the true foundation of "Nen ability"?

Roy recalled Jager's notes. The descriptions matched his own understanding of the Hunter world, which held that—

"Nen ability" originates from the "life energy" within the human body. If that energy loses its anchor, it loses its footing and eventually dissipates in the form of an explosion or extinction. For example, the "Nen bullets" fired by "Emitter" Nen users were a perfect testament to this.

But Minamino Hirotomo's existence shattered Roy's perception, making him realize that "life energy" might not necessarily need an anchor to exist, even if only briefly or long-term, in the vast world.

For instance, Mount Sagiri, which they were about to enter, was hidden with quite a few lingering spirits.

"It's my fault... Shizuki, Daddy was too impatient..." Minamino Hirotomo was terrified. The man in his forties slapped his own face hard, his soul-form growing thin, showing faint signs of dissipating...

"If problems could be solved by self-mutilation, the world wouldn't need a complete person." Roy glanced at Minamino Hirotomo indifferently, squatted down, took the bamboo horse he had bought from the basket, and smiled as he beckoned to the little girl: "Shizuki, is it? Look, this is the bamboo horse your daddy bought for you... He said..."

"You can play with this for now, and when he comes back, he'll let you ride him like a big horse..."

"And there's candy, too." Tanjiro chimed in, pulling some snacks from the basket and spreading them out in his palm.

"Mommy..." The little girl hugged the woman's leg, looking up at her pleadingly.

The woman patted her small head dotingly and encouraged her, "Shizuki, don't be afraid. Those are your daddy's friends, your big brothers."

"Big brothers..." The little girl let go of the woman's hem and walked over.

She hesitated for the first few steps, then sped up, finally hopping over to Roy and grabbing the bamboo horse.

Taking this opportunity, Roy used the bamboo horse as a medium to channel a layer of Nen into the little girl.

Visibly...

The "aura" that had been "pushed out" by Minamino Hirotomo, thanks to Roy's "replenishment," returned to its normal state.

The proof of this was—

The little girl's previously dull eyes became noticeably bright and lively, and she returned to her former bubbly, innocent self.

Minamino Hirotomo saw it clearly. As a spirit, his senses were even sharper than Roy's. The moment Roy stopped, he fell to his knees at Roy's feet with a thud.

He couldn't bring himself to say the words of thanks this time, for he had already said them quite enough over the past few days...

Roy paid him no mind, taking one of Shizuki's hands while Tanjiro took the other, and followed Naoko into the wooden cabin.

A stove was burning inside the cabin, its style looking very much like the one his father Tanjuro had huddled beside for years. A pot of tea was warming on the stove, and an old woman who had just finished washing clothes sat cross-legged by the fire, her hands flushed red. Seeing Roy and Tanjiro, she chuckled and poured each of them a cup of hot tea.

Roy and Tanjiro thanked her and took a sip of the tea...

Not forgetting the task at hand, They immediately handed over the items Minamino Hirotomo had purchased to them.

"This is the fabric the uncle bought from town, he said it's for you and the grandmother to make some new clothes..."

"These bamboo horses and snacks are gifts for Miss Shizuki..."

"Please also take care of the remaining silver..."

"Child, did Hirotomo say when he would be back?" the old woman suddenly asked.

The wooden cabin fell into a sudden silence...