The village lights came into view like dying stars.
Small flickers in the distance. Warm, fragile. Not nearly bright enough to push back the weight Tatsuya carried on his shoulders.
Each step forward felt heavier than the last. Not because of injury—though his body throbbed in deep, quiet ways—but because his mind was trying, desperately, to piece things together.
But the more he tried to remember what had happened…
…the more it slipped through his fingers like water.
He remembered the forest. He remembered Rukai.
And then—
Nothing.
Just silence. Then Tokagame's voice calling his name like it had been the only thing holding the world together.
Now, they walked side by side.
Not speaking.
Tokagame hadn't said much since the fight. He kept glancing over, like he wanted to say something, but didn't or couldn't.
Tatsuya didn't press him.
Because even though the air was calm now…
He didn't feel safe.
Not from what had happened.
And not from himself.
The wooden gates of the village creaked as they stepped through. Lanterns swung faintly in the breeze. A few guards nodded from their posts, their expressions falling from recognition to confusion to wide-eyed disbelief.
No questions were asked.
But eyes followed them like whispers.
Tatsuya felt them. Each one. Like pins on his skin.
It wasn't until they rounded the final path toward the Corps Hall that he saw them.
A group waiting outside.
A boy with dusty grey hair, leaning against the wall, it was the one that insulted Tatsuya at the start of the mission.
A girl with long mauve hair braided over her shoulders, arms crossed tightly, eyes flickering with restrained worry. She was short, perhaps 5'1 and unfamiliar—who turned as they approached, her gaze locking onto Tokagame with a silent, unreadable sharpness.
"Kiome…"
The name left Tatsuya's lips without meaning to. A crack in his voice.
Standing besides the short girl, Kiome straightened. His eyes widened, just slightly. Then, without hesitation, he stepped forward.
"You're alive."
Tatsuya nodded, lips parting with a tired smile. "I… I'm glad you're okay too."
He meant it.
More than he expected.
For a moment, everything else dimmed.
The fight, the fire, the fear—none of it mattered. Because she was here. Because she had made it. Because she hadn't—
"Hey," the shorter girl said, stepping forward.
Tatsuya blinked.
Her voice was soft. "You're the guy they keep talking about, huh?"
Tatsuya hesitated. "Uh… sorry. Have we met?"
"No," she said flatly. "But you owe me for dragging this guy back to the village."
She jerked her thumb at Kiome.
Kiome glanced sideways, embarrassed.
The short girl sighed. "Name's Chika. Corps Member. Currently regretting every second of being involved in this lunatic mission."
"Hey," Kiome muttered.
Chika ignored her.
Tatsuya looked at her, then at Kiome, then at Tokagame, who still hadn't spoken.
"…Right," Tatsuya said. "It's nice to meet you."
A fourth figure stepped forward from the doorway—quiet as falling snow.
"Aoi," Tatsuya said.
She nodded. "You're safe."
There was relief in her voice. A soft kind. The kind that didn't draw attention to itself but made you feel it anyway.
Tatsuya let out a slow breath he hadn't realized he was holding.
For the first time since they entered that forest, he felt like he had returned.
But something in Tokagame's silence kept the edge sharp.
Something unspoken still clung to the air.
Tatsuya looked back.
Everyone was here.
But the silence between them all…
…was filled with everything they weren't saying.
Only one thing was said, "let's return to the swordsman corps HQ."