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In the depths of the vast mountain range to the north of Odawara Castle that was several hundred kilometers away from Kamakura City, an unusually tall, worn-out, wild samurai with the visage of a demon stood on top of a cliff and observed the castle that belonged to him originally.
“These shameless scum. How dare they take over my castle?!” A purple glare flashed through Hojo Dijon’s eyes, his pupils seemingly lit with demonic flames as they glared at the faraway castle tower, “Ashikaga Kiyoshi, you sanctimonious hypocrite. I swear I’ll kill you!”
Yuki Mayumi stood beside Dijon in her tight-fitting indigo-blue attire.
“Hehe. Lord Dijon. Do you still remember Lady Haihime’s warning? Do not underestimate Ashikaga Kiyoshi. Even Lady Haihime has said that this person has hidden himself pretty well.”
“So what?! His schemes and cleverness are naught but a joke in front of supreme power!” Cracking noises sounded from Dijon’s fists as he clenched them tightly.
“Lord Dijon, don’t you forget our plan now. The entire Land of East shall belong to you sooner or later, so there’s no need to feel bothered about the outcome of a single battle. Our highest priority is to capture the Mirror Girl and seize the Ancient Mirror!”
“Hmph! It’s just a woman, that’s all. Do the Hundred Demons really need to feel so bothered about it?”
“Lord Dijon, your words make you seem like an outsider. You are also one of the Hundred Demons now.”
“Hmph! It matters not whether I am human or demon, my sole aim is to obtain power to reign over everything! There’s no need to mention anything else! Isn’t it fine to just assemble your army of monsters and team up with my demon soldiers to invade Kamakura and directly capture Minamoto no Shimizu?”
“Lord Dijon, your strength has shot up after practicing the demon spirit arts, but I hope you can still show the same intelligence as in the past. Lord Kamakura is guarding the city, so now isn’t the time to attack Kamakura City. The enemies are out in the open while we are hidden in the darkness, so we ought to ruin them progressively and take down the samurai of the Land of East instead of confronting them head-on,” Yuki Mayumi said thoughtfully with her hands folded across her bosom.
“Tell me, then. How do we capture that Minamoto no Shimizu? She isn’t someone we can catch that easily. She will remain unfazed if we just send a few experts after her, so it would require an army at the very least to surround and capture her. Even if I’m able to defeat her, it is practically impossible for us to bring her out of Kamakura City!”
“Don’t worry, Lord Dijon. We received the latest intel from Kamakura City just a moment ago.”
“What intel?”
“They’re at least two mirror girls in Kamakura City.”
“Two? Who’s the other one?”
“The other one… Hehe. Now that I think about it, it’s an old acquaintance of yours. A neophyte samurai who’s taken the limelight in Kamakura recently. It seems like she’s a remarkably beautiful blade maiden called Kagami Lily.”
“Kagami Lily?!” Hojo Dijon’s eyes lit up with terrifying purple flames, “I’m in such dire circumstances because of that b̲i̲t̲c̲h̲! So, she’s actually a mirror girl. Hahaha! Great! This is really great! We’re indeed enemies on a narrow path! Yuki Mayumi, we happen to have the same views this time. If we succeed in catching this woman, it’s fine if you don’t even give me any reward! All I ask is that you hand her over to me once you’re done with her!”
Dijon’s fists released popping sounds as he clenched them with force. He seemed to have forgotten about his Ashikaga enemies the moment he heard Lily’s name.
“Mhm. Lady Haihime only has two requests. First, to seize the Ancient Mirror. Second, to kill the Mirror Girl. As for what happens in between, feel free to act according to your wishes, Lord Dijon,” Yuki Mayumi smirked.
“Hmm… Although that Lily is quite repulsive, won’t it be the same as before if this b̲i̲t̲c̲h̲ keeps hiding inside Kamakura City? We cannot do anything to her even if we know she’s the Mirror Girl!”
“Don’t be in such a haste, Lord Dijon. An opportunity will arrive quite soon.”1
Lily tossed around in bed restlessly on this night and decided to make a night visit to Shimizu’s house in the end.
“Lady Kagami. Lady Shimizu needs to rest, could you come on some other day?” The maid, Yoshiko, suggested.
“Yoshiko, I need to see Sister Shimizu for a pretty important matter. Can you please let me in?”
“Lady Kagami, you’re really putting Yoshiko in a tight spot here. Lady Shimizu’s health hasn’t been in a good state ever since she returned and even kept coughing endlessly till the evening which managed to stop with much difficulty after she had taken the medicine. It isn’t good to disturb her so late into the night…”
“Is that so? I shall come visit again tomorrow then…” Although Lily felt a bit despondent, Shimizu’s health was more important for her in the end.
Shimizu’s voice echoed from indoors at this moment.
“Let her in.”
It was the same room she had visited before, the one with the circular window. However, it was a moonless night today.
Shimizu was still dressed in the pitch-black long-sleeved kimono patterned with a golden phoenix’s tail and butterflies from the morning and sat inside the room in a dignified manner with stiff shoulders and a pale face.
Lily also hadn’t changed her attire and was still donned in the red long-sleeved kimono patterned with the moon, snowflakes and flowers.
As such, Lily’s gait was pretty slow as she walked towards Shimizu step by step and gave it an indescribable ceremonious feel.
Lily sat down before Shimizu in a prim and proper manner. She said nothing and bowed towards Shimizu deeply in the most customary manner first and didn’t get up even though some time had passed. It seemed like she would never lift up her head unless Shimizu ordered her to.
Shimizu also remained silent for a long time.
And this went on until it had become a tad bit too excessive. Only then did Shimizu speak to her with a weak yet sonorous and melancholic voice, “You are already a feudal lord now, little sister. For what reason are you bowing down so customarily to a dojo disciple like me?”
“Sister Shimizu… I… request your forgiveness! Lily shouldn’t have deceived Sister Shimizu, but please believe Lily when she says she had no ill-intentions behind doing so. Lily just had some troubles she couldn’t voice out.”
“Oh? It’s about that. Lil’ Sis Lily, haven’t you already explained this in front of all the samurais and Lord Kamakura when we were in the Hachiman Palace? You didn’t need to specially visit me to explain this.” Shimizu replied weakly.
“Sister Shimizu… Lily won’t justify her selfish actions. Danger lurks everywhere in this Heian Empire, so Lily was forced to keep her guard up. However, Lily shouldn’t have hidden it from Sister Shimizu and told you about it. Lily doesn’t seek Sister Shimizu’s forgiveness and only asks for punishment…”
“Those words of yours carry much weight, little sister. You never said anything, but I also failed to inquire anything. There are probably only a few people in this world who are fools like this sister of yours who believed she had met the only person who she can trust and become sisters with and bared her entire heart as a result,” Shimizu said earnestly while craning her neck.
Lily’s bowed further and her forehead almost touched the floor as she stated the following words, “Sister Shimizu, your words make Lily feel ashamed.”
“Never mind. The hardest thing to figure out in this world is the heart of humans. I was the one who was too affectionate towards you. Anyone would have done the same if they were in little sister’s position, so why would I place all the blame on you?”
“Sister Shimizu… Lily knows she was wrong…”
If it were just Lily alone, she wouldn’t have concealed it. However, the safety of her senior sister’s soul was related to the mirror in possession of Lily, so she couldn’t speak about it at any cost! She couldn’t put her senior sister in danger even if the entire world were to misunderstand her.
She had never expected Lord Kamakura would reveal her identity, and that too so publicly. This had placed Lily and her senior sister in even more danger and even created a misunderstanding with Shimizu.
Unless they were aware of her senior sister’s existence, Lily would only appear as a woman with selfish motives in the eyes of the public.
Although she felt aggrieved, Lily still chose to acknowledge her wrongs and apologize to her sister Shimizu with a flushed face.
This was because Shimizu wasn’t the same as Uesugi Rei. Her health wasn’t that good, and she had even suffered blows to her mind in succession recently. Although her senior sister held the highest position in Lily’s heart, Lily had her own circumstances in this Heian Empire right now and also had sisters and friends who she just couldn’t disregard as nothing.
Shimizu drew out a long sigh helplessly and said, “Don’t say that. What crime did you commit, little sister? Even Lord Kamakura said your actions were completely reasonable, so how could I blame you?”
Lily could feel that Shimizu still held a strong resentment, and this made her heart hurt. This prompted her to say the following words immediately, “Sister Shimizu, if you still think of Lily as your training sister, please scold and penalize Lily. Lily seeks your punishment, Sister Shimizu…”
Lily blushed hard. She wasn’t that willing to request another woman to punish her in such a servile manner. She had indeed resolved herself to hide the matter of her senior sister, but it ended up hurting the people around her, so she couldn’t say she had done no wrong.
Shimizu’s gaze was akin to rippling water in the night as she opened her lips slightly, “Forget about the punishment. After all, we are sisters, aren’t we? If you really want me to forgive you, it’s not like there’s no way to do that. However, I have two conditions to do so.”
Lily thought Shimizu would shun her or scold her or reproach her, yet she never thought Shimizu would actually raise two conditions towards her.
“Please say them, Sister Shimizu,” As matters stood, Lily could hear them and respond afterwards.
“Mhm. I shall say them then. First, if you wish for us to still remain as sisters, knock off the word ‘training’ before ‘sisters’ to truly become my little sister… and girlfriend.”
“Eh?” Lily’s face flushed up, “Sister Shimizu, we are already as close as real sisters, so Lily feels delighted to truly become sisters with you, but girlfriend and so on… Lily doesn’t understand that.”
“Tch. There’s no need to act so pure in front of me. Become my beloved, that is, my lover,” An infatuated expression climbed up on Shimizu’s face as she gazed at Lily deeply.
“Ehh? That’s… How could Lily do that, Sister Shimizu? Lily has already sworn to remain single and tread forward on the path of training, so Lily cannot become anyone’s beloved or lover. Please let Lily off, Sister Shimizu. Lily cannot promise just this alone, no matter what happens,” Lily stated in an ashamed yet firm voice.
“Hmph! Fine, then. There’s not much difference between sisters and girlfriends for two women who are in love anyways, so I’ll let you off this once. Let’s truly become sisters, okay?”2 Shimizu said lovingly.
“Mhm…” Lily felt like there was something wrong with Shimizu’s words, but it wasn’t proper to refuse now and she also had no intention of hurting Shimizu again.
A sweet sunny smile climbed up on Shimizu’s face when she saw Lily agree. She then continued to speak, “Actually, you could have told me earlier that you were a mirror girl, little sister. There was no need for you to hide it and create a misunderstanding between us sisters. The identity of a mirror isn’t anything dishonorable at all, at least not in front of me. I was willing to accompany you and even requested you to aid me in facing the threat of the Land of Hundred Demons before I even knew you were a mirror girl, so you can see how much I trust you. Since you are a mirror girl, it couldn’t be anymore better. As mirror girls, we sisters form the perfect pair and shall deal with the forces of the Hundred Demons and those scoundrels who wish ill upon the mirror girls. Isn’t this the best outcome ever?”
Lily’s heart warmed up and she finally raised her blushing face up to meet the gentle gaze of Shimizu’s before stating happily, “Lily’s heart feels much at ease now that you’ve said this, Sister Shimizu. Lily shall keep her promise and fight alongside Sister Shimizu in facing the forces of Hundred Demons that persecute the mirror girls.”
“Mhm. Since that’s the case…” Shimizu revealed a witty yet playful smile on her face and said, “Let me have a look at your mirror then.”3