Resistance

The second Day of the Hare in November marked the Niiname-sai.

People believed this was the day the sun died and was reborn. On this important day, the Emperor offered newly harvested grain to his ancestors and the gods, praying for peace throughout the land and a bountiful harvest.

That was how it was supposed to work.

But the current Emperor had only just ascended the throne. The Niiname-sai held in the first year of his reign was called the Daijō-sai, one of the three most important ceremonies following his enthronement.

When an official proposed inviting Ryomen Sukuna to be the object of worship at the ceremony, the Emperor dared not voice his anger. He simply claimed to be ill and shut himself away.

The ritual should have begun at night and continued until the early hours of the following morning, but Ryomen Sukuna's overwhelming presence forced the ministers to move the ceremony forward to around three in the afternoon.

Atop the altar, Ryomen Sukuna cast an indifferent glance at the civil officials below in their lacquered gauze caps. Uraume stood behind him with eyes closed.

To Uraume, it was truly ironic how these hypocritical officials feared Lord Sukuna while being forced to pretend they revered him.

In the opposite direction from the imperial residence within the Palace, Alluka had been dressed in an elaborate, luxurious kimono. Layers of outer robes trailed around her feet, and her straight black hair fell down her back like brocade.

An exquisite ribbon was tied across her forehead, embroidered with four expressions: joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness. Gold leaf and gold thread had been worked into the embroidery, making the vivid colors look distinctly eerie.

Unlike the Daijō-sai at the imperial residence, the Fujiwara Clan had invited eminent monks to chant prayers and blessings to ensure this wish succeeded. Ordinarily, a ceremony would also include a kagura dance to invite the gods, but they had abandoned that step for fear it might offend Lord Nanika.

Fujiwara Michimitsu had considered inviting Lady Alluka to the imperial residence, but abandoned the idea for fear something might go wrong along the way.

The many elders of the Fujiwara Clan sat to one side. Apart from the insect-like drone of chanting, the entire space was silent. The scene was eerie and absurd.

When the prayers ended, at the same point in the Daijō-sai when the Emperor should have eaten the ceremonial grain and sacred offerings, two warriors dragged an oblivious sacrifice forward like livestock.

Thud.

With a dull impact, the sacrifice was forced to kneel before Alluka, his knees pressed together.

"Where am I? Who are you?"

He stared at the unfamiliar surroundings in bewilderment and alarm.

Several months earlier, a fellow villager had told him that the harvest was poor that year, but a lord from Heian-kyō would be coming to buy grain. On his way to meet that lord, someone had knocked him unconscious.

When he woke again, he was somewhere like a prison cell. No one spoke to him, and he had no cellmates. The isolation had nearly driven him mad.

After finally leaving that dark room, he had been brought to this place that resembled an altar. He wanted to scream in terror, but a warm hand suddenly rested on his forehead.

He looked up. A calm gaze met him from above, as gentle as a spring breeze.

"What's your name?"

Alluka slowly walked up to the sacrifice, sparks of anticipation glimmering in her blue eyes.

"My name is Tasuimaru."

In a daze, he answered the girl's question.

For a moment, he felt as though he were in a dream of spring cherry blossoms covering every hill and field, coming home after a day's work to find delicious food and his beloved wife and child. It felt like morning sunlight warming his brow, soothing him beyond measure.

"Tasuimaru."

While Tasuimaru was still recalling the happiest moments of his twenty years of life, the serene-faced divine child before him spoke words in a calm voice that filled him with terror:

"Could you give me your liver?"

The Black-Haired Boy stood in the center of the altar. Dappled light fell across his face, shattering the dazed Tasuimaru's illusion that he had returned home.

His expression froze, then turned pale with terror as the meaning of her words sank in.

His pupils trembled violently. He turned to flee, but the two warriors forced his head back down against the raised altar.

"I was wrong. Please save me. I was wrong..."

Tasuimaru had no idea what he had done wrong. He had only wanted to sell the grain he had harvested with his fellow villager. What was this place? What were these people going to do...?

He knelt and begged without a shred of dignity, tears spilling from his eyes and quickly spreading into a wet patch.

"Tasuimaru, could you give me your liver?"

Alluka tilted her head, confusion showing on her face. She did not understand why the sacrifice before her was crying.

"No!!!"

Tasuimaru shook his head, tears and snot streaming down his cheeks. His body curled in on itself in pain, his calves cramping as he knelt on the ground. Trembling, he buried his face against the floor, as though that could shut out all this absurdity.

"Tasuimaru, could you give me your kidneys?"

Just as he thought he was certain to die, the Black-Haired Boy's voice echoed through the darkness before him.

Had the two requests not been different, Tasuimaru would have thought he was dreaming.

"I don't want to."

Once again, he shook his head desperately, unable to stop his tears. Terror, revulsion, fear, hatred, and every other negative emotion reached their peak at that moment.

Below the altar, the elders of the Fujiwara Clan watched coldly as a cursed spirit gradually formed around him. Even hatred of this intensity produced only the lowest grade of cursed spirit. They had nothing to worry about.

"Tasuimaru, could you give me your spine?"

The Black-Haired Boy nodded. After being refused a second time, he simply asked his third question.

"I don't want to..."

Tasuimaru knelt on the ground, his teeth chattering, utterly bewildered.

He did not understand what these people wanted. Had they dragged him here just to watch this farce of refusals?

His streaming tears blurred his vision, and he shrank further and further into himself.

"Tasuimaru, could you give me your heart?"

This was the girl's fourth question. Each time, she asked for a different organ.

The instant he heard the word "heart," Tasuimaru seemed to reach his limit. His feeble voice suddenly rose, and strength from somewhere unknown allowed him to break free of the warriors behind him and spring to his feet.

"I already said no! What more do you want?! Is toying with people that much fun? Are we commoners not human?! I..."

Before he could say anything more, the Black-Haired Boy before him slowly raised his head.

Only then did Tasuimaru notice that the girl no longer had the delicate features he had seen moments ago. At some point, she had become a monster that resembled a mannequin.

When the monster looked at him, he thought he heard the creaking crunch of bones being crushed together.

"Heh... what an entertaining sight."

Just as the Fujiwara Clan elders were waiting to watch Lord Nanika twist Tasuimaru into a rope person, a languid voice sounded above their heads.

Everyone looked up at the sound. The monster who should have been at the Daijō-sai was now sitting on the roof, watching the altar with keen interest.