Minamino Hirotomo's Gift - Life Energy Column Activated

Roy sipped his tea in silence.

Tanjiro felt a lump in his throat, unable to sit still.

The old woman and the young woman's faces turned ghastly pale. The latter, who had initially not realized the gravity of the situation, now caught on; she twisted her hands together, her fingers digging deep into the fabric of her skirt.

A moment later, a sigh...

The old woman seemed to age ten years in an instant, saying faintly, "Hirotomo is a stubborn child."

"He has traveled far and wide, yet he always valued his money more than his own life..."

"He once said that unless he was gone, no one was to touch his basket..."

Now the basket had returned, but the man had not. The implication was self-evident.

"Child, tell me the truth," the old woman said, her voice trembling. She seemed on the verge of collapse, yet she held herself together with sheer willpower.

"Is Hirotomo... never coming back?"

The already stifling air inside the wooden hut seemed to solidify. Despite the stove burning on the table, it felt colder than the dead of winter outside.

Tanjiro twisted his stiff neck, looking toward Roy as if pleading for help.

Roy noticed the little girl, Shizuki, glancing between her mother and grandmother, then looking at him and Tanjiro with confusion. He waved his hand, signaling Tanjiro to take her outside under the guise of a snowball fight.

Neither the old woman nor the young woman objected.

Only then did Roy set down his teacup and say softly, "To be honest, I think it would be more appropriate for Uncle Minamino to tell you this himself."

The old woman and the young woman were both stunned.

Then, they felt a warm current flow from the table, traveling up their knees and spreading to their eyes, and then—

They suddenly discovered a familiar figure standing before them.

It was...

The mother's child, the child's father, the wife's husband—Minamino Hirotomo.

"Hirotomo!"

"Mother... Naoko..."

Using the table as a medium, the "Nen" connecting the old woman and the young woman fluctuated violently.

Roy closed his eyes to rest, leaving the space to the three of them, though he knew clearly in his heart... this was the manifestation of his own "intense emotions" being impacted.

"Emotions" reflected directly into "Nen abilities" would manifest in different colors.

If the room were filled with Nen users, the small wooden hut would be packed with surging emotions, though these "emotions" would be gray and dim, filled with unspeakable sorrow and pain.

"Woo—woo—" The north wind howled outside the window, carrying in the sound of a child's joyful laughter.

Roy instinctively opened his eyes and looked out the window. Shizuki was running happily, accompanied by Tanjiro.

Beside the snowman she and her mother had built lay the bamboo horse she had discarded, the one Minamino Hirotomo had bought for her.

She called out and laughed, bending down to scoop up a handful of snow to throw at Tanjiro. Tanjiro forced a smile, pretending to be in pain as he scrambled away in a clumsy retreat, which only made her chase him with excitement.

Back inside, the room had gradually calmed down.

The tea boiled, lifting the lid of the pot and releasing a puff of steam.

Having finished their conversation with Minamino Hirotomo, the old woman and the young woman folded their hands on their foreheads and prostrated themselves, performing a dogeza toward Roy.

"Thank you, Lord Eiichiro, for avenging my son/husband!"

"It was merely a matter of convenience." Roy reached out to help them up. He glanced at Minamino Hirotomo and said truthfully, "My brother and I were looking for a place to stay, and encountering the evil demon was merely a matter of self-defense."

"There is no need for you to thank us, Grandmother, Madam."

"You are too humble, Lord Eiichiro," Minamino Hirotomo said with a smile to the two women. "Mother, Naoko, you may not know how Lord Eiichiro toyed with that creature that day..."

"I was watching from the side; that evil demon was no match for him at all. If not for the fact that Lord Eiichiro intended to use the battle to train his brother, Lord Tanjiro..."

"I suspect that demon wouldn't have lasted a single blow!"

Roy did not offer any further modest denials. Having finished his tea, delivered the gift, and completed his task, he stood up to leave.

The old woman and the young woman insisted he stay, but seeing the tear tracks still wet on their faces and the signs of more to come...

Roy firmly declined, pushed open the door, and stepped into the courtyard.

The old woman and the young woman rose to see him off. Tanjiro, holding the hand of the exhausted Shizuki, walked over.

Under the gaze of the group—

Roy handed the water bottle that housed Minamino Hirotomo to his mother.

"This is Uncle Minamino's dwelling place. Please keep it as a memento, Grandmother."

The old woman tremblingly took the bottle into her arms, and tears began to stream down her face once more.

Seeing this, the young woman suppressed her grief to support her mother's back, while only Shizuki looked on, bewildered and at a loss.

Minamino Hirotomo chuckled, offering a magnanimous consolation: "Do not cry, Mother. Death is the fate of all men since ancient times. Just think of it as me heading to paradise early to enjoy a life of ease..."

As he spoke, as if to verify his own words, Minamino Hirotomo could no longer control his soul, which began to dissipate...

The old woman and the lady watched this with growing sorrow, clutching his hands and refusing to let him go.

Roy watched all of this silently from the side, seizing the opportunity to ask him via "Telepathy": "Do you not wish to bid Miss Shizuki farewell?"

Minamino Hirotomo looked on with affection as Shizuki ran to her mother and grandmother, wiping tears from one and then the other, repeating, "Don't cry... don't cry..."

Filled with infinite longing, he gently shook his head...

"Lord Eiichiro, this humble one, Minamino Hirotomo, has rarely thanked anyone, and aside from my mother, I have never bowed to anyone..."

"Even years ago when I encountered mountain bandits and was stabbed, I never knelt to beg for mercy..."

"But, this time, I truly thank you..."

"Thank you for bringing me home and teaching me contentment..."

A cold wind blew, and the white steam from the kettle drifted away... Minamino Hirotomo's voice grew fainter and fainter, until—

With a smile, he took one last deep look at Shizuki...

He transformed into specks of light that flew toward Roy, vanishing into his body in the blink of an eye...

[Notification: Detected that you have cleansed a soul...]

[Entrusted by them and bearing their karma, the other party has transferred their remaining energy to you...]

[Notification: "Life Energy" +1...]

[The host may allocate this at will, applying it to the "Constitution" column.]

Roy was startled, suddenly feeling that the copper coin he had dug out of the snow beside Minamino Hirotomo's basket felt exceptionally heavy, so heavy that—

It forced him to take a deep breath just to feel a little better.

"So, this is the true gift?"

The youth murmured in a low voice, standing silently in the wind and snow for a while...

When he finally regained his senses, he called for Tanjiro, bid farewell to the Minamino family, and turned to push deeper into Mount Sagiri...

"Goodbye, Brother Tanjiro..."

"Goodbye, Shizuki..."

"Goodbye, Minamino Hirotomo..." Roy did not look back, silently adding this in his heart...

The Sun and Mountain Earrings swaying beneath his earlobes danced in the wind, gradually disappearing into the snowstorm...

"Whoosh~" The wind grew fierce, the snow thickened... The footprints left by the Kamado siblings were erased, and between heaven and earth, only a fenced courtyard remained, with two grieving people and one bewildered child, watching them depart for a very, very long time...