"Wait a moment, the food is almost ready."
Urokodaki Sakonji was in the kitchen frying tempura. The New Year was the day after tomorrow. The child was going home and couldn't be here to celebrate.
In that case... for an old man all alone, today was the New Year.
It was a day to eat Osechi Ryori... Chashu soba noodles paired with tempura, garnished with kuromame.
Roy, smelling the aroma, came into the kitchen to help, while a greedy Makomo peeked in, licking her lips.
"You can go practice your sword on your own during the day. I'll stay home and make some dango for you to eat on the way back. Tonight, we'll slice some wild boar meat and make sukiyaki..."
The tempura finished setting and was taken out of the pot. Urokodaki Sakonji, in a rare departure from his usual self, rambled on, sounding less like a master and more like his mother, Aoi.
Before he left home, his mother Aoi had given him instructions just like this. Now, it was Urokodaki Sakonji's turn.
Roy listened quietly without interrupting. Behind him, by a corridor pillar, stood the silent fox-masked boy... Sabito had his arms crossed, lost in thought. The expression hidden beneath the fox mask was somewhat dejected... He wasn't a sentimental person, but during the New Year's holiday, his spirits would always fall, just like Makomo, Shinsuke, Fukuda, and his other juniors. He just didn't show it, because... he was the eldest brother, the one who had to support this family.
Soon, the noodles were also cooked.
At the square kotatsu, the master and disciple sat opposite each other, a bowl of noodles in front of each. What was different from usual... was that today, Urokodaki Sakonji had specially taken some bowls and chopsticks from the cupboard and arranged them neatly along the edge of the kotatsu, one bowl paired with one set of chopsticks. If one counted carefully, there were exactly thirteen sets.
They corresponded to Sabito, Makomo, Shinsuke, Fukuda... a total of thirteen deceased disciples.
"It's the holiday. I was thinking, even if they can't eat, if they know, maybe they can watch from the underworld. Even just smelling it would be nice..."
Urokodaki Sakonji picked up his own bowl of noodles and portioned some into each of the bowls. Roy watched silently. Makomo's eyes reddened again, and a muffled sob emerged. He put down his bowl and chopsticks and pressed his hand on Urokodaki Sakonji's. "That's too little, master. The senior brothers and sisters are watching. We can't be so stingy..."
'Who... is watching?'
Urokodaki Sakonji froze. In the next instant, he felt a warm current flow from Roy's palm into his, spreading up his arm, across his chest, up his neck, and covering his eyes... And then,
This former Water Hashira, who was like a weather-beaten, mottled stone statue, singularly guarding a dilapidated past, was suddenly seeing his disciples return home to visit. He didn't know if he was delirious with joy, but he was completely stunned!
"Makomo?" After a long moment, he stretched out a trembling hand and patted the girl's small head.
Makomo's body stiffened, and she froze as well. Then came Sabito, then Shimizu, then Fukuda, then all the disciples who had studied under Urokodaki Sakonji, or had simply been raised by him,
All of them were in a state of shock!
A moment later, a strange cry exploded... Shinsuke was so agitated that he fell straight off the ceiling beam... He seemed to have forgotten that as a ghost, he could fly. He landed on the floor and didn't even get up, instead scrambling on all fours to Urokodaki Sakonji's side. He hugged his thigh and wailed, "Master, it's me... Shinsuke!"
"Wuwu... you can finally see me..."
Was it grievance?
To long for someone for so long without any response... To always be there, yet only be able to provide one-sided companionship. Between "life" and "death," there was only a thin paper window, but it was this very window that perfectly illustrated what it meant to be so close, yet a world apart...
"Master." Sabito came back to his senses, tears streaming down his face without him even realizing it. He removed his mask and knelt at Urokodaki Sakonji's feet with a "thud."... Then Fukuda, Watanabe, and Shimizu followed suit, "thud," "thud," "thud," forming a circle around Urokodaki Sakonji.
"I... you all... Eiichiro..." Urokodaki Sakonji was overwhelmed by the immense shock and joy.
Decades of composure were shattered when Makomo dove forward... The girl threw herself into his arms, crying her heart out. "Wuuu... sob..." Outside the window, the snowstorm raged, making the paper windows rustle...
Roy sat by the hearth, watching quietly, using himself as a medium, maintaining his Nen output, connecting life and death, and leaving the world entirely to Urokodaki Sakonji, Sabito, and Makomo...
He ate the soba noodles in his bowl, slowly savoring their longing...
"Master, for all these years, I've been hoping you could just look at me once... When you were cooking, I was right there watching, but I couldn't eat..."
"Master, every time you carved, I was right beside you. To get you to notice me, I'd deliberately blow on the wood shavings, but you just thought it was the wind..."
"Master... Master, me too... Every time you came to pay respects, I deliberately blew out the candle on the shrine to remind you I was right there..."
"Master..."
"Master..."
One familiar face after another... one heartfelt sentiment after another, striking right at Urokodaki Sakonji's heart.
The old man's face, hidden beneath the mask, was already streaked with tears. He patted this one, then that one, wishing he could grow twenty arms to pull all of them into an embrace...
He said, his voice trembling:
"I miss... Master misses you too..."
"I knew it. I always knew you were all still here..."
Their joy was vented unreservedly through their tears. After a while, the wooden cabin gradually quieted down. Everyone wiped their tears, and only then did they remember with embarrassment that there was still another person in the room.
Urokodaki Sakonji, Sabito, Makomo, Shinsuke, Fukuda... all looked at Roy in unison. The young man was slurping his noodles. He picked up a piece of tempura, tossed it into his mouth, chewed, swallowed, and said with a bright smile, "You all continue. Don't mind me."
"Ahem..." As the eldest brother, Sabito cleared his throat, stood up, and looked at him with burning eyes. "You did this, didn't you, Eiichiro."
Or rather...
"You knew we were here all along, didn't you?"
The fox-masked boy's eyes were unfriendly, his tone even a little dangerous... Urokodaki Sakonji, as the vessel for the "Nen," could feel the "warm current" even more directly. He looked at Roy with a heavy gaze, saying nothing, yet seeming to have said everything.
"Whoosh!" Shinsuke turned into an eerie wind and circled Roy, throwing an arm around his shoulder and winking. "Eiichiro, you sly dog, you hid it pretty deep. You almost fooled us..."
Speaking of being fooled, Makomo, hiding in Urokodaki Sakonji's embrace, suddenly remembered something.
She stole a glance at him. Noticing that he seemed to have sensed it and was looking over, she quickly buried her head back in Urokodaki Sakonji's chest.
'It's over... he knows... he saw everything... Makomo... Makomo... how can you face anyone ever again...' The girl was dying of shame, thinking to herself, 'it's all... Eiichiro's fault for being so bad!'
The big baddie Eiichiro silently finished his noodles. He didn't confirm or deny anything. He said nothing, yet seemed to have said everything.
Finally, he put down his bowl and chopsticks. "Let me be clear, I don't have the ability to turn the dead back into the living. You still can't eat what you're not supposed to eat. Of course, I'm referring to the noodles."
"No, you've already done more than enough." Sabito took a deep breath and walked up to Roy with a serious expression... Roy could even clearly see the scar on his cheek and how many stitches it must have taken...
The fox-masked boy bent at the waist and bowed deeply in a formal salute. "I, Fujita Shūichi, on behalf of my deceased junior brothers and sisters, thank you for your efforts."
'So... your name is Fujita Shūichi...'
T/n:
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