The next day, Monday afternoon...
"Got it! The national treasure-class famous blade, [Kiku-ichimonji Norimune]!"
On the rooftop, a handsome white-haired girl held a katana in both hands, her face brimming with excitement. She wore her hair short and dressed more like a girl, yet possessed a dashing air completely unlike that of other girls.
She had always wanted a weapon that suited her. Ordinary blades simply did not match her status, and this national treasure-class famous blade, Kiku-ichimonji Norimune... was her target.
To obtain it, she had spent several months planning, finally stealing it from the museum without anyone noticing. With her strength, she could easily have taken it by force.
But this era had too many rules—she was forbidden from doing this and that. If she were exposed, it would even implicate the family that had taken her in. The museum had surveillance cameras too, which was why she had needed to plan for so long. Still, she had finally gotten it...
Ever since learning about Kiku-ichimonji Norimune's origins in her textbooks, she had been unable to stop thinking about it... This was a tachi forged eight hundred years ago, during the Kamakura period, by Kiku-ichimonji Norimune of the Ichimonji School in Bizen Province, commissioned by Emperor Toba.
Legend said it had also been the beloved sword of Okita Sōji, the shogunate's greatest swordsman, though there was no evidence for that claim.
Ruth Benedict's work The Chrysanthemum and the Sword took its title from the "chrysanthemum" of the Far East imperial family's crest and the "sword" symbolizing the bushido spirit of the Far East, leading many people to associate it with the famous blade Kiku-ichimonji Norimune.
The white-haired girl played with the tachi in her hand, in an exceptionally good mood! Now she had a weapon of her own.