Unable to keep up

"One hundred forty-two... one hundred forty-three..."

Several clear blisters had already formed on Shinobu's palms. The wooden sword seemed to grow heavier and heavier in her hands, each swing wringing out what little strength she had.

Clack.

The wooden sword slipped from her hands and fell to the ground. Exhausted, Shinobu fell back onto her bottom in the dirt.

She stared at her swollen, trembling hands, her eyes slowly reddening.

"Why... why am I so weak..." Shinobu bit down hard on her lip, refusing to let her tears fall. She remembered that night. If Rokuya hadn't descended like a god, she and her sister would long since have become a demon's meal.

She wanted to grow stronger, to stand beside him rather than hide behind him forever as a burden who could only hold him back.

"What, giving up already?"

A tall shadow blocked the sunlight overhead.

Shinobu looked up and saw Rokuya's face, wearing the hint of a smile.

"Who... who said I was giving up! I'm just... just taking a break!" Shinobu sprang up like a cat whose tail had been stepped on and reached for the wooden sword, but her hands shook so badly she couldn't even grip the hilt.

Rokuya sighed inwardly at her stubbornness.

He stepped forward, but instead of picking up her sword, he reached out with his large hand and roughly ruffled her short hair.

"Let go! You're messing up my hair!" Shinobu protested, but she didn't move away.

"You were born with little physical strength. That isn't your fault." Rokuya's smile faded, his tone turning unusually serious. "Water Breathing really doesn't suit you. It takes powerful wrists to cut through a demon's neck. But that doesn't mean you can't kill demons."

"But the old man said you can only kill them by cutting off their heads..."

"People make the rules. If you can't cut through their necks, use another method. Wisteria poison, for example." Rokuya looked into her bright, lively eyes. "Don't you love studying those herbs? Then become the strongest poison master in the world. Refine wisteria into a deadly poison and make those demons rot in agony. As for rough work like swinging a sword-"

Rokuya pointed at himself. "Just leave that to me."

Shinobu froze.

She stared blankly at Rokuya, her heart feeling as though something had struck it hard. At that moment, light truly seemed to shine behind him.

"Who... who asked you to help me! You arrogant jerk who eats more than a pig!" Shinobu's face flushed bright red. She abruptly turned, jabbed a finger hard into Rokuya's waist, then covered her face and ran off. "I'll definitely make a poison that can kill even you! Just you wait!"

Watching the little girl flee, Rokuya chuckled. "Quite a temper."

"Shinobu is actually very happy."

A gentle voice came from behind him. Carrying a cup of hot tea, Kanae walked up beside Rokuya with a smile.

"Is she? I just think she wants to murder me." Rokuya took the cup and drained it in one gulp.

Kanae looked at Rokuya, a trace of complicated emotion flashing through her eyes.

Over the past month, Rokuya had progressed at a terrifying pace. It had taken him less than two weeks to master all ten forms of Water Breathing. Although his moves lacked any of Water Breathing's gentleness and instead brimmed with the same savage, murderous air as his "Demon Form," even Master Urokodaki had to admit that Rokuya was already strong enough to enter the Final Selection.

And what about her?

Kanae lowered her head slightly and looked at her slender fingers.

She was doing a little better than Shinobu. At least she could wield a real sword and barely sense the Breathing Style. But whenever she tried to incorporate Water Breathing into her swordsmanship, she always felt a powerful sense of dissonance.

Her movements were too light.

Water Breathing required a continuous rhythm and a certain degree of explosive power, while her sword was more like a fallen leaf dancing in the wind, or... a delicate flower petal. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't produce the same overwhelming sword pressure as Rokuya.

"What are you thinking about?" Rokuya keenly noticed the change in Kanae's mood.

"Nothing. I just feel... you're moving too fast, Rokuya." Kanae looked up, still wearing that gentle smile, but a deep trace of dejection lay hidden in her eyes. "Shinobu and I seem to be falling further and further behind you."

Rokuya fell silent.

He knew what Kanae was worried about. This girl, outwardly as gentle as a pool of spring water, was actually more resilient than anyone. She longed to protect her younger sister and to help him, too. But the gulf of reality lay between them.

"Don't overthink it." Rokuya reached out and gently patted Kanae's shoulder. "I said I'd protect you both, and I will."

"But you can't protect us for the rest of our lives, Rokuya," Kanae said softly, her tone carrying an unmistakable stubbornness. "We have to learn to hold our own swords, too. Cut down evil with a sword-that's what you taught me, isn't it?"

Looking into Kanae's eyes, which seemed capable of embracing everything, Rokuya felt an inexplicable surge of irritation.

He didn't like this feeling. As a top-ranked player on the Chinese server in his previous life, he had grown used to fighting alone, to keeping everything under his own control. When he had first crossed into this world, he had saved the sisters largely for that paltry bit of gratitude points in the system.

But during this brief month together, everything had been changing without his noticing.

Kanae, who cooked for him every day, who would give him a chillingly "kind" smile when he forgot to eat because he was training too hard and force him to eat five large bowls of rice; Shinobu Kocho, who always had a sharp tongue and a soft heart, calling him an idiot while secretly applying medicine to the cuts branches had left on his arms.

They were no longer NPCs who supplied gratitude points on a system panel, but his most real bonds in this cold, cruel other world.

"You talk too much." Rokuya turned his head away, hiding the flicker of emotion in his eyes. "Is dinner ready? I'm hungry. If there's no meat today, I'm roasting that black bear in the mountains."

Seeing Rokuya's slightly reddened ears, Kanae couldn't help chuckling. She tapped her chin with a finger out of habit.

"Yes, yes, we have your favorite roast wild boar today, Rokuya. But if you don't finish every last grain of rice, I'll be angry."

Looking at Kanae's smile, so gentle it seemed to overflow yet carrying a hint of danger, Rokuya gave a rare shiver.

"I know, I know. You're such a nag."

Time flew.

The red leaves on Mount Sagiri fell and grew again, and in the blink of an eye, a month had passed.

Early that morning, Sakonji Urokodaki wasn't waiting for them by the waterfall as usual. Instead, he called Rokuya, Kanae, and Shinobu into the cabin's living room.

The atmosphere felt somewhat solemn.