Quoted By:
Here and now, in the rain, you suddenly remember. Like the thunder above, in a flash it comes to you. You finally understand what your instinct was trying to tell you when you touched the tapestry written across the dead girls back. You have seen it before, it is the same calligraphy that was written into the back of your mother. Line for line, cut for cut.
Yuki is attempting to shake you back to your senses, but he can't get through; not in this moment. This boy is leading you to the Daimyo, but what then? Will he finally be the one to put a sword in your hand? Will you shed blood for him? If another civil war breaks out what then? Will you slay a hundred men? A thousand? Is your teachers prophecy impossible to escape? With every turn you take to run from his riddle, you only find yourself getting closer to returning to that house in the rain. The next bolt of lightning screams into the tallest roof of the palace illuminating the landscape with a searing light, obliterating every shadow, and pulling you back to this moment with Yuki. He is shouting your name over and over, but all you can now think about is the still living women you almost forgot.
"I'm sorry, but I can follow you no longer."
"Now is not the time for hesitation swordsman, there is simply no time for it. Get your body out of this pond, and fall behind me" He is frustrated, understandably so. This may not be the best time for self reflection.
"I will not fight someone else's war. If I am responsible for an innocent death, then perhaps the first step to redemption is saving an innocent life."
"You imbecile, I TOLD you that you are not respo-" Yuki's feelings almost spill out, but even this is not enough to crack him. His face transitions back into a smile and all his tense frustration melts away. "It is my fault, I was the one who miscalculated. Go swordsman, struggle against your fate."
Yuki springs out of the water like a carp and takes off in the direction of the central building, leaving you behind. For someone who needed your help to stand only a moment ago, he is surprisingly agile and spry. Whatever weakness was in his step before, it is now long gone. His silhouette disappears into the thick rain, and you struggle to pull yourself out of the pond. Contrary to Yuki, your tired and near broken body is very real.
