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It was late at night.
But nobody knew if dawn would arrive tomorrow.
In a black kimono decorated with gorgeous and colourful flowers, Lily walked in the corridor of the Saikanji Household.
Gazing at such a night sky brought with it a sense of sorrow.
It also made the boys and girls of this era realize their calling earlier in life, making them more eager to understand each other and accomplish something, because they didn’t know whether there would be tomorrow after tonight.
“Sister Rinne, why haven’t I got any clues about you so far? Is Lily really incompetent?”
Lily passed through the quiet and elegant courtyard. The courtyard path was secluded and windy. The bluestone lamp faintly visible in the night garden was covered with a layer of moss. In the corner, a bamboo water wheel was still slowly storing water. When it became full, it fell down and poured water in the stone basin.1
The zigzag corridor led to a simple wooden house under two big pine trees.
The door of the wooden house seemed to be half-closed and some light was coming from it.
In the Saikanji household, Lily didn’t have to worry about the danger so she pushed the door open and entered.
In the wooden house, under the dim candlelight, a girl wearing pink flowery clothes and white rabbit mask was sitting on her knees. Behind the girl, there was a large trapezoid wooden box.2
The girl had short but beautiful hair, dangling on her shoulders. Although she was sitting in an elegant posture, she was trembling a little.
“Nanako? You are
” Lily asked in confusion.
“Who, who is Nanako, you recognize the wrong person! I
 I am invited by the Saikanji family. I am a wandering samurai. Someone entrusted me to help you practice
 Ukiyo-e tonight.” The girl in the mask said in a slightly nervous and soft voice.3
“Ah? Nanako, what are you doing?”
“I have already said that I’m not Nanako. I’m just a samurai warrior hired by the Saikanji family with money. You should thank the Saikanji family. I am just doing this for money, that’s all!”
“Huh?” Lily tilted her head and wondered what to say.
“Also, what are you doing? Spring night is short, isn’t it? Do you want to start soon?”
“Start?”
The masked girl turned her back, took off her mask and put on a large blindfold. Then she hurriedly dropped her yukata from one side. Under the soft candlelight and cold moonlight, she showed her delicate white back.
“When painting this kind of painting, it won’t be as effective if you can’t see the girl’s expression, right? I just happens to want to ask someone to draw a picture on my back anyway. Can you draw it? I won’t pay a penny if the painting is bad
”
“But you just said that you are hired for money
”
“D- don’t mind about it too much, please. I’m already like this. Please, let’s get started soon! ”
Lily suddenly felt that the girl with the blindfold was trembling and even her small back that was thinner than Lily had turned red.
As her heart started pounding, Lily could feel the determination of the other party, a determination with dedication.
Although Lily was a woman, her eyes at the moment were gentle and firm.
She glanced at the prepared brush and special paint on the edge. She knew that it was a paint that couldn’t be washed away without a special solution once it was painted. That meant, the painting would never be washed away as long as the person being painted did not want to wash it.4
Leave my mark on this girl? Am I really qualified to do so?
If not, wouldn’t the young girl’s determination be wasted on her?
Lily stood up and gently picked up the girl, “Come with your sister.”5 She helped the girl to the front of the big wooden box and said in her ear, “Come on, sister will help you to lie on your stomach.”
“Nghh
” It could be seen that the girl was very nervous.
It was the same for Lily, but when the girl’s helpless back was facing Lily and she really laid on the wooden box like a canvas waiting to be painted, Lily’s tension and anxiety went away.
At this moment, she seemed to be able to feel the mood of leaving her colour on such a white and precious “canvas”.
Even if a beauty was laying right before her, her heart didn’t have any distracting thoughts.
“It may hurt a little when I tie you.”
After all, it was impossible for the hard-to-wash-off paint to be comfortable on the delicate skin.
The girl just nodded silently.
Lily took a deep breath. She squatted down and tied the girl’s slender hands and legs with white cloth strips to the four corners of the wooden box. Then she came behind the girl again and looked at the loose yukata over her back.
“Canvas, don’t need these.” Lily grabbed the yukata, pulled it off and threw it aside

The blindfolded girl almost went insane at this time. There was only darkness in front of her eyes. She couldn’t even move her hands and feet but her body was seen by the sister under the lamp

“What the hell am I doing, is it really fine for me to do this?”
However, it was too late to ask this question. Since the hands and feet were tied to the four corners of the box, the girl knew that it was no longer possible to stop.
The girl in the eyes of Lily no longer had a beautiful back and white buttocks but a canvas. What she wanted to paint and how lifelike it was, she already knew in her heart.
Lily raised her brush

“Swish—”
Under Lily’s brush was not a white cloth, but a living, shy and coquettish girl. And the painting drawn by Lily’s brush was not a simple painting but a combination of her own mind as a painter and the painting!
At this moment, Lily felt that the girl belonged to her.6 And she wanted to leave her mark on her.7 With the brush, colours, lines, and shapes, she would give form to her feelings!
The gratitude, the feelings, and what she wanted to say to Nanako, at this time, was conveyed completely by relying on the brush without saying a word!
The Drawing Concept! It seemed that Lily suddenly had an epiphany!
It was to convey one’s feelings to each other through painting!
Regardless of whichever entity, be it an ordinary girl who willingly offered herself to be painted or a Phantom Blade that was used to split the waves.
The medium —paint and ashes respectively— for Drawing Concept and Sword Runes might be different, but the method to transmit one’s obsession was the same.
Although Lily knew that she was Nanako, she did not intend to say it and she would not bother to reveal it in the future.
At this time, it wasn’t only the brush and colour of Lily but also the slight tremor on girl’s delicate back and the flushing of her body had become a part of the charm and artistic conception of the painting.
At this moment of the spring night, Lily felt like painting on this girl’s body forever!
Lily herself was also extremely focused until the last stroke of the painting was completed and she lifted her brush. She was sweating all over. The kimono was soaked with sweat from top to bottom and inside to outside!8
There was an eye-catching painting on the girl’s back. Perhaps the technique was not top-notch, but the artistic conception and emotion contained in it were the finest in the entirety of the Heian Empire!
Because this was not only the accomplishment of Lily but also the whole art which contained the girl’s tolerance and dedication and the beauty of purity!
It was a plum blossom blooming in the cold winter. There was a golden, green, and blue coloured Canary on the branch.9