Hanami
The night was quiet, the moon bright and the stars sparse.
A sea breeze blew in from the north, whipping up waves that crashed against the volcanic rock of an uninhabited reef island to the southwest, breaking into low moans.
Sōji stood on the rocky platform at the island's highest point, the hem of his Divine Robe stirring gently in the sea breeze.
The first spatial rift opened without a sound. The concentration of cursed energy around it instantly surged beyond what physical space could support, causing the fabric of space to buckle.
Suffocatingly dense cursed energy poured out of the rift. Then a thick white vine emerged, its surface covered in fine, barb-like ridges.
The vine's tip slowly rose and split into five thinner tendrils, bracing gently against the volcanic rock like a hand.
Then came a second vine, and a third—until a humanoid plant slowly emerged from the rift in full.
Over two meters tall, it stood a full head and a half above Sōji. Its humanoid body was pure white, covered in irregular black markings, while its fingers were entirely black.
Its left hand was completely wrapped in white cloth, along with its left shoulder and chest.
Its eyes, if they could be called eyes, were two slender branches resembling a snail's feelers. Yet anyone could clearly sense its gaze resting on them, calm and gentle.
As Hanami stood on the volcanic rock, several tender green shoots quietly sprouted from cracks beside its feet.
It neither attacked nor glanced warily around. It simply stood there in silence.
The sea breeze swept past with a faint rustling, like an ancient song sung under someone's breath.
Then it lowered its head to look at Kaguya Yama. Its knotted, woody eyes held no malice, only the gentleness and curiosity