When Hikari arrived at the shrine, the sun was setting below the horizon, and an orange mist of twilight spread long shadows across Yamaoka. Her robes were torn and dirty, her body tired from the long journey. Yet it was not the physical exhaustion that weighed her down—it was the crushing sorrow, the searing memory of Rinne's final moments indelibly etched in her mind.

The elders sat in the high hall of the shrine, their faces gloomy and dark beneath the flickering shadows of the holy fires. Haruka was among them, pale and trembling, gripping her healer's robes in her fists. When Hikari opened the door and entered the room, all eyes were upon her, their faces blazing with anger and suspicion.

"Hikari," Haruka began, moving forward, her voice trembling. "Where is Rinne? Why isn't he here with you?"

Hikari stopped in the center of the room, the judgment beads at her neck shining faintly. She looked at Haruka briefly before speaking to the elders.

“Rinne. he’s gone. He gave his life to protect me.”

The room was in disarray.

Haruka stepped back, weeping. The elders began to speak at one another, their tones infused with acid recriminations.

"Gone?"

"The prodigy? Dead?"

"What were you thinking, taking him to that accursed place?"

One of the elders, an old man on a cane and wearing a profound scowl, came forward.

"You went to Kurohana, didn't you? Despite our orders!"

"Yes," Hikari admitted, her voice steady under the weight of their anger. "We went to find answers—"

"Answers?" The old woman interrupted, her voice colder than ice. "You defied the council's explicit order and brought one of our most promising young men to his death. And you refer to that as answers?"

Haruka's screams echoed in the room as the elders closed in on Hikari, their voices coming down on her like an unrelenting storm.

"What did you hope would happen?"

"Is it your belief that your title places you above the laws of this village?"

"Do you know what you've done?"

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Hikari lifted her hand, casting a silence over the room with the radiant light of her judgment beads. The beads glowed with a fierce energy, reflecting the flame that burned within her heart.

"What I have done," she stated, her voice cutting through the din like a knife, "is expose the evil that has been brewing in this village for far too long." With her other hand, she raised the shining petals of the Blood Blossom into sight."

"Rinne didn't die for nothing. He died fighting the Hollow Queen—a monstrous creature bound to the shrine at Kurohana." Hikari said, the room fell silent. Even the fire in the shrine appeared to flicker at her words.

The elderly man with the cane snorted. "An old wives' tale. You expect us to think that a legend—a thing that hasn't been spoken of for generations—killed our best man?"

Hikari's gaze remained steady, unwavering. "I watched her rip reality to shreds. I felt her tugging at my memories, at the threads of my very being, like she was pulling strands from a tapestry. Her goals were more than mere power—she sought to annihilate us."

The old woman with the silver hair squinted. "And you're saying that your brother was. involved?"

Hikari nodded gravely. "He preceded us to Kurohana, searching for the Hollow Queen. He permitted her whispers to enter his mind, and she deceived him, as she has deceived all fools who ever pursued immortality.".

The elder's expression stayed frosty. "And you did nothing to prevent him?"

Hikari drew a deep breath, gathering her senses. "I didn't know he'd fallen so far until it was too late. And while you've stood here, pretending all is well, he's been plotting something—something awful. If we don't do something, many more lives will be endangered."

Another elderly man, younger than the rest, moved agitatedly. "And what proof do you bring before us?

Haruka stepped forward, her voice trembling. "She's telling the truth. I've seen Hakari's arms—his arms bear the same markings that we discovered at Kurohana. And. I've sensed his aura shift. It's corrupted."

The old man, resting on his cane, squinted. "Now you decide to talk, after the death of the boy. How convenient, indeed."

Hikari tightened her fists. "If only I had known earlier, if only I had stepped in with Hakari at the earliest sign of danger. maybe Rinne would still be alive."

The silver-haired elder stepped forward, her voice slicing through the air like a shard of ice. "You dare mention regrets when you are the cause of his death?"

Hikari tensed.

The elder's eyes were frozen steel. "You neglected your responsibilities to pursue illusions. You disregarded the laws of our village. And in doing so, you brought Rinne—our strongest, our future—to his death."

Hikari shut her eyes for a moment. The pain was keen, slicing through her chest.

But when she opened them, she was no longer the girl who had been scolded by elders her whole life. She was the Kanshisha.

She locked the elder's gaze, her voice firm. "I know the cost of what I've done. And I see the cost of not doing it."

She took a step forward, her judgment beads ablaze with fierce resolve. "Rinne died because I lacked the strength to save him. But he had faith in me. He had faith in this village."

Her eyes roved around the room. "If we don't do anything now, his sacrifice will be for nothing. Is that what you want? To allow Hakari to ruin everything while you just sit here, blaming?"

The shrine fell deathly silent.

Lastly, the young elder spoke. "What do you propose, Kanshisha-sama?"

Hikari breathed deeply. "We prepare. We learn every scrap of information we can about the Immortal Mask and its rituals. We fortify our defenses. And when the time is right."

Her eyes burned with unshakeable resolve.

"We will stop Hakari—no matter what it takes."

The elders exchanged glances.

The silver-haired elder wheeled away, her jaw set in determination. "Very well. But remember this, Kanshisha: if you fail once more, the blood will be upon your hands."

Hikari nodded, her heart sore but resolute. "I understand."

Later that evening, as the village hummed with activity, Hikari knelt in solitude within her room. The Blood Blossom petals were in front of her, their soft luminescence casting drawn-out shadows on the walls.

She touched her judgment beads, their warmth delivering a slight consolation from the overbearing chill of her guilt. "I will do this correctly, Rinne," she muttered softly. "I promise." Beyond her window, night hummed with shadows, and somewhere far off a crow's call sliced through the darkness.

Hikari stood strong. She had faced the darkness before and survived.

And now she would confront it again—recalling her friend and driven by the strength of her resolve.