言霊の神

Trees.

A plethora of trees.

Each tree, reaching upward, spreads its branches to its heart's content, and nearly hides away the entire sky.

In the depths of the mountains------ as ancient trees with fat trunks line alongside, I walk, pulled by the hand, through a narrow path laden with foliage.

A faint sense of deja vu------

Though I am not rushing so much as to run, and the one pulling my hand is Tsudzura-chan.

Senba-san stands ahead to clear the path, so the trail is not so difficult, and Sakuya-san is behind, so the darkness isn't as fearsome.

The soles of my shoes flatten the grass, ever marching forward.

Za! Za! Za! Za!

Zaa!------

Suddenly, my field of vision opens wide.

At this point, we're probably halfway up the mountain.

As far as I can lift my gaze stands a tremendous------

Reaching high towards the great, round moon, a divine tree spanning over a thousand years has dropped its roots.

As if the other trees stand in reverent reservation for this one, the area around it is slightly open.

Zaa!------

The tree's blooming flowers shake and shiver in the passing wind, and numerous white petals dance as they fall------

My eyes are drawn to a butterfly's shape, gleaming among them beneath the moonlight, colored a pale blue------

Surrounded with a swarm of those butterflies, the Ohashirasama stands at the tree's base------

She faces me, and lights up her face with a beaming smile.

What is this------

This painful feeling in my chest... could it be because of the sweet, nostalgic scent of those flowers, permeating the air?

This tree------

That person------

---the god possessed of this tree... is someone who knows me well------

The warmth of the hand gripping mine, and the voice calling my name, lifts me away from the vortex into which my thoughts were listing.

What------ is this------

When I walk close to the Ohashirasama in search of an answer, she hides her eyes behind long lashes.

When she lifts her reverently lowered head, Tsudzura-chan leaves no pause, notching in with a question.

With the same air in her voice whereby a detective might say, "the culprit was you, wasn't it!?" She cuts to the chase with such a sudden deduction.

At once forgetting the uneasiness in my chest that I lost the opportunity to put to voice, when I inquire at the faces around me, Senba-san continues to hold the usual poker face.

As for the easily readable Sakuya-san, she only shows a slight reaction. The only one taken aback by this is myself.

Leaving me to my meanderings, Tsudzura-chan gives a knowing nod and continues her conversation with the Ohashirasama.

At least, as far back as the thousand-year records of the Onikiribe go, it appears that the Ohashirasama has never taken a human form.

They say that during the kamikakushi incidents, when Tsudzura-chan's ancestors came to this clime, the most they saw were dreams featuring her butterfly servants.

In other words, the way she is now is------

Tsudzura-chan let's a flitting petal fall into her hand, and blows a kotodama into it.

Upon which the petal morphs into a butterfly, and begins to quiver its wings above her palm.

So she says, but that doesn't help me understand it very well.

At which point the Ohashirasama lifts her palm, and allows one of the dancing light butterflies to rest upon it.

Passed into my hands, the butterfly of light transmits only a faint and frail, unreliable sensation, like the times when you catch a bubble in your palm.

Compared to that, the butterfly Tsudzura-chan passes to me is completely unremarkable, such that even the scales flake off upon my fingers.

Could it be that this "transmutation," is some remarkably incredible ability?

Just as water conforms to a container, the way of being for a soul is easily bound to its shape.

So, if this person allows herself to become to true Ohashirasama------

if the Ohashirasama's way of being is just as Tsudzura-chan says------

she will never again...

Her words are, no doubt, a wish for her not to disappear, disguised as a warning.

But regardless, that person---

---lets the strands of her hair fall against her cheeks, as she shakes her head willfully.

Then, after she faces me with a diaphanous smile...

...she reflects Tsudzura-chan in strong, determined eyes...

...and her own volition, pledges to become the true Ohashirasama.

I wonder, what she possibly could have felt when she inherited the Hashira... what was she thinking when she became something inhuman?

And then, inside myself, I think------

---that even though this person looks to differ little in age from me, she is regardless, incredibly strong.

---that even though she looks to differ little in age from me, she is regardless, an incredibly strong person.

However, as someone who can stand and accept her gaze straight on, Tsudzura-chan is also strong.

The one-word answer she returns to that declaration is not something that arises from frivolity, or misunderstanding.

Tsudzura-chan has cut down many to protect what's important to her------ she knows there are times when she must force herself to ignore her own feelings.

Whether it was the words that convinced her, or whether she realized that nothing she would say could shake her resolve, Sakuya-san falls silent.

Ahh, so that's it.

Tsudzura-chan drifts her gaze across to the divine tree.

It has to be something capable of sealing Nushi, so it must require incredible effort.

If her resolve will not be swayed, then all I can do now is help, and make sure that resolve doesn't go to waste.

That's why------

---I touch my knees to the ground, and lower my height to where Tsudzura-chan can most easily suck my blood.