At the eastern end of the village, several small houses stood within a fenced yard.
Two figures, one large and one small, were working together to build a snowman.
The smaller one was a girl in a floral padded jacket, a purple scarf wrapped around her neck... The larger one was a woman with a headscarf wrapped around her head. She was struggling to lift her daughter as she placed a hood on the snowman's head. From a distance, the snowman even looked a little like Minamino Hirotomo.
"Does Shizuki miss her daddy?"
"I do."
The hood sat a little crooked, making the snowman look rather comical... The little girl giggled. "Mom, look! Daddy's so ugly~"
The woman rolled her eyes at her and laughed along. Glancing casually toward the yard's entrance, she spotted...
Roy and Tanjiro standing silently outside the fence, with Tanjuro beside them. She froze for a moment, then pulled her daughter behind her and asked warily, "Can I help you two?"
The small village at the foot of Mount Sagiri was remote to begin with, and the endless winter snow made it even more deserted. It was only natural to be wary when a few strangers suddenly appeared outside the yard.
Roy held a kettle in his hand and glanced at Minamino Hirotomo.
The man's face was soaked with tears. His lips trembled, then he clenched them tightly beneath his upper teeth. He stared fixedly at the two figures, one large and one small, unable to speak for a long time.
"Nii-san..." Tanjiro couldn't bear to watch and turned away.
He couldn't imagine... If it were him, what kind of despair would he feel upon learning that his father, Tanjuro, had died?
And yet... families torn apart and people forced to eat their own children were all too common in this world infested with Demons...
"Hello, ma'am. We're friends of Uncle Minamino. We're passing through and came to deliver some things for him."
Roy fell silent for a moment, then stepped forward and set Minamino Hirotomo's wicker basket down in the snow.
Naoko had woven the basket herself from vines she'd gathered on Mount Sagiri, so she recognized it at a glance. Her expression relaxed, and she opened the gate to let Roy and Tanjiro in.
"Naoko, who's here?" Hearing the commotion, an elderly woman who'd been washing clothes in the back came to the doorway and asked with a kind smile.
"Friends of Hirotomo's. They said they came to deliver something for him."
"Oh~ Then hurry and invite the children in for some hot tea. It's freezing out. We don't want them catching a cold..."
"Yes, Mother." The woman took the little girl by the hand and bowed slightly to Roy...
Roy nodded politely and entered with Tanjiro. Tanjiro dragged Minamino Hirotomo's basket into the yard behind them.
"Mom, who are they?" The little girl hid behind the woman and timidly peeked out.
Minamino Hirotomo, frozen in place, could no longer hold back. He floated up from the kettle, bent down, and reached to hug her.
A gust of cold wind swept by... Minamino Hirotomo's body passed straight through the little girl...
She blinked, her bangs swaying as she seemed dazed for a moment... Roy caught it all.
"Her soul is too weak to withstand the impact of a living soul. You'd better not try to hug her again..."
Roy used Nen Telepathy, with the kettle as a medium, to inform Minamino Hirotomo.
With Nen over his eyes, Roy could clearly see that when Minamino Hirotomo's soul overlapped with the girl's body, the "aura" around her briefly rejected him...
There were faint signs that it was mistakenly treating Minamino Hirotomo as her "dominant soul"...
"So the soul is the true nature of Nen Ability?"
Roy recalled Jager's notes. Their description matched what he knew about the Hunter world: they both held that—
"Nen Ability" originated from the "Life Energy" within the human body. Without a vessel to anchor it, the energy had nowhere to take root. In the end, it would dissipate through an outburst or annihilation. The "Nen Bullets" fired by Emission Nen users were a good example.
But Minamino Hirotomo's existence had shattered Roy's understanding. It made him realize that "Life Energy" might not need a vessel at all, and could exist for a short time—or even a long time—in the vast world.
For instance, Mount Sagiri, where they were about to go, harbored quite a few souls of the dead.
"It's my fault... Shizuki, Daddy was too impatient..." Minamino Hirotomo was frightened. The man in his forties slapped himself hard, and his soul thinned along with each blow, showing faint signs of dispersing...
"If hurting yourself could solve problems, the world wouldn't need a single whole person." Roy gave Minamino Hirotomo a cool glance, then crouched down and took the bamboo horse he'd bought from the basket. Smiling, he beckoned to the girl. "You're Shizuki, right? Look, this is the bamboo horse your daddy bought for you... He said..."
"Play with it for now. When he comes back, you can ride him like a big horse..."
"And some candy, too." Tanjiro chimed in, taking some snacks from the basket and laying them in his open palm.
"Mom..." The little girl clung to the woman's leg and looked up at her pleadingly.
The woman affectionately patted her on the head and encouraged her. "Shizuki, don't be afraid. They're your daddy's friends, your big brothers."
"Big brothers..." The little girl let go of the woman's clothes and walked over.
She hesitated for the first few steps, then began to move faster. Finally, she came bouncing over to Roy and grabbed the bamboo horse.
Taking the opportunity, Roy used the bamboo horse as a medium to transfer a layer of Nen to the little girl.
It was visible to the naked eye...
The "aura" Minamino Hirotomo had "pushed" out of her returned to normal with Roy's help.
The visible proof was that—
The little girl's once somewhat vacant eyes grew lively again, and she returned to her cheerful, innocent self.
Minamino Hirotomo saw it clearly. As a spirit, his senses were even sharper than Roy's. The moment he stopped, he fell to his knees at Roy's feet with a thud.
This time, he couldn't bring himself to thank him. He'd already said thank you enough times over the past few days...
Roy ignored him. He and Tanjiro each took one of Shizuki's hands and followed Naoko into the wooden house.
A brazier burned inside. It looked a lot like the one Tanjuro had always sat beside. A kettle of tea was warming on top. An elderly woman had just finished washing clothes, and her hands were red as she sat cross-legged beside the brazier. When she saw Roy and Tanjiro, she smiled warmly and poured each of them a cup of hot tea.
Roy and Tanjiro thanked her and took a sip...
They didn't forget why they'd come.
They immediately handed over the things Minamino Hirotomo had bought.
"Uncle bought this fabric in town. He said it was for making clothes for you and Grandma..."
"The bamboo horse and snacks are gifts for Miss Shizuki..."
"And please keep this money, too..."
"Children, did Hirotomo say when he'd be back?" the elderly woman suddenly asked.
The wooden house fell silent...
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