Giyū and Shinobu vs. Dōma

Chapter 4: Happiness

Taishō 5, January 2

Infinity Castle

I once believed that the road of happiness... Kochō Shinobu reflected as she recalled a memory from when she was ten-years-old and her older sister Kanae was thirteen. In it, she was sitting in her father's lap being tickled while Kanae hugged him from behind and their mother sat nearby, smiling at her daughters and her husband. ...continued forever and ever into the distance. But when it was destroyed, I realized for the first time...

Then the memory changed to one in which her ten-year-old self and thirteen-year-old Kanae were huddled in a corner while the bodies of their parents lay nearby, covered in blood. An oni had broken into their house that night and attacked, their parents dying to protect the sisters.

...that happiness lies atop a thin sheet of glass, the Mushibashira continued to reflect. Then, she recalled how the oni had gone to attack her and Kanae. However, that had been when Himejima Gyōmei arrived, putting himself in between the Kochō sisters and the oni, slicing its head off and then crushing its body with his Nichirin Kusarigama. And just as we were saved...there are those whose happiness hasn't yet been destroyed. So I wanted to get stronger...and protect them.

The memory changed again, this time to shortly after that fateful night.

That's what we promised each other.

"Let's defeat as many oni as possible. Together," Kanae had said as the Kochō sisters sat before one another, their pinkies crossed. "We won't let anyone else experience what we went through."

Even if we're weak... Shinobu thought to herself as she used Tomioka Giyū's Nichirin-tō to cut through Dōma's neck, sending Jōgen no Ni's head flying as his body fell to the floor. ...and can't cut off oni's heads...if we defeat one oni, then we can save dozens of people. And if we defeat a Jōgen no Kizuki, then we can save hundreds. It isn't about whether we can or cannot. There are things we have to do.

"Are you angry?" The Mushibashira recalled being asked by Kamado Tanjirō back in March on the roof the Butterfly Mansion where she had found him working on his breathing techniques.

Yes, I'm angry, Tanjirō, Shinobu silently replied. I've always been angry. My parents were killed. My older sister was killed. And except for Kanao, all of my Tsuguko were killed. Then, Shinobu's thought turned to Naho, Aoi, Kiyo and Sumi. If oni hadn't murdered those girls' families, they'd be living happily with them right now. But, now that I've done it...now that I've won...now that I've cut off an oni's head...now that I've avenged Nē-san...I can feel all of that anger beginning to slip away. Maybe...maybe I can be happy...and live the kind of life Nē-san wanted for me...

"Huh, I guess I was wrong..." the Mushibashira said out loud, sliding Giyū's Nichirin-tō into her own sheathe and staring at the body of Jōgen no Ni as it crumbled away into nothing at her feet.

"Kochō...what do you mean by that?" Giyū asked, confused by her sudden statement.

"Hmm?" Shinobu said, looking up at the Mizubashira.

"What were you wrong about?" He asked her.

"I...I thought that I would have to die...in order to defeat Dōma," the Mushibashira admitted.

"..." Giyū's dark-blue eyes widened as he stared at Shinobu with a mixture of shock and disbelief, his grip loosening on the hilt of the Mushibashira's Nichirin-tō and allowing it to fall to the wooden bridge. Then, he walked over to Shinobu, placing his hands on her shoulders as he locked eyes with her . "Kochō...why...why did you think that you would have to die?"