BlazBlue:Phase Shift 1 Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Doubt of Yellow Equilibrium

Part 1

It was deep in a remote forest.

Excluding the people who lived there, no one knew about it.

In such a place, there was a small village.

The people who lived there weren't humans. They were beastkins... To be exact, cat-type beastkins who had root of lineage in the now defunct Japan.

The inhabitants already slept as the night had gone deep. With fires burning on the village's surroundings to repel wild animals, the cracking noises of orange-colored flames were played during the stillness like an instrument.

In the basement below a small building inside the village, there he was.

The room, which was surrounded by stone wall, was unpleasantly cold; it was covered in complete darkness. Walking with a lantern that was lit with fire, only him and his surroundings that were wrapped with the warm, faint light.

On the walls that were almost assimilated with the darkness, silhouette of a short person was swaying.

Even if it was a human, it only got the height of children. However, there were large, triangular ears on top of the head and a long tail which was split in to two parts on the back. It was a cat-type beastkin with grey fur, Tomonori.

With silent footsteps as he advanced inside, only flickering fire in the lantern engraved his slow pace.

Arriving on the inner part of the room, Tomonori stopped. He placed the lantern he held to his side.

A flat, lengthy box made of paulownia tree was enshrined there. For a several seconds, Tomonori stared at it, and then he gently undid the seal.

Inside it was a single sword. Compared to the pair of short swords Tomonori usually handled, the sword was larger by far.

It was sheathed in black scabbard and sealed tightly by the sword strap.

Tomonori grabbed that sword. As if severing the intense hesitation, he took it out from the box.

"...What do you want?"

With the grabbed sword hanging in the air, Tomonori suddenly talked.

That inquire was directed to the presence behind him.

He found out about it by the scent, even without looking back.

The presence was looking at Tomonori's back from the entrance of the small room that was hidden underground. The standing still figure had similar small build of silhouette as it was a male cat-type beastkin. He had white fur with tawny spots; a two-tone pattern.

The name of the man was Mitsuyoshi. The older brother of Tomonori.

"What're ya plannin' to do with that?"

Without entering into the room, Mitsuyoshi asked with calm voice.

This room was hiding things considered important for the village; a room dedicated for safekeeping. With trespassing without reason being the obvious, taking out the object inside without permission was violating the village's law.

While it was a scene where someone should get blamed properly speaking, Mitsuyoshi didn't raise his voice. With somewhat amazed looking pretext, he asked again.

"Ya know what kind of sword that is, right?"

"...Time-Killing SwordHihi'irokane"

Hihi'irokane

It was a secret sword that when wielded, it held the power not just to cut flesh, but also eventually sever the dwelling spirit.

However, this sword wasn't just that kind of object.

It existed from long ago. Tomonori and Mitsuyoshi's clan had inherited it for generations.

Until six years ago, Tomonori and the others had been living in a mountain village in Japan. Likewise, the mountain was a passed down plot of land from the old days. Compared to this village, far larger number of cat-type beastkins had lived there.

However, that life had been severed by the Black Beast.

In order to defend the old village land, many numbers of warriors had challenged the Black Beast, and fell. Because of the large-scale nuclear strike, the old village's mountain had gone burnt and demolished.

Tomonori and the other cat-type beastkins parted with most of their brethren as they made their escape to a continent. Here, they had been building a small village while living quietly.

Someday, they would obtain the peaceful land from those days once more and restore the undying long history.

He strongly believed so.

"That's the treasure of our clan, foundation... an' our old village's symbol."

Mitsuyoshi spoke as quiet like the engraved shadow in the room.

Just like the time when they had been living in the now formless old village, this sword alone had been taken care of. Among the villagers, this sword was believed as the old village's symbol. The number of people who survived the days of despair while holding that belief wasn't small.

Still gripping his clan's old village's sword, Tomonori dropped his arm to the side of his body.

Without looking back at the older brother, he replied with stiff voice.

"...Wherever everyone is living on, then that'd be the home. Sword is a weapon. And weapon... has a role."

"What's the role of that fellow?"

"To cut the evil that threatens the world."

"What's the evil that threatens the world?"

"The man I must kill."

Answered unhesitatingly, Tomonori moved his gaze to the sword he held. Different from the short swords, it emphasized its presence heavily.

Hihi'irokane. A sword beyond all definitions of space-time that could also sever spirit.

"This sword is required to kill that guy. If not this sword... there won't be a meaning on it."

As the words of his younger brother hinted an awfully strong determination, the glint on Mitsuyoshi's eyes slightly turned sharp. As if he was weighing Tomonori's intention.

"...This ain't Clavis' instruction, is it?"

Tomonori answered with cold, unwavering voice.

"Of course. This is my will."

"If ya act on yer own convenience, ya will lose somethin' equally big. Surely ya understand, right?"

"I'm not Clavis' servant."

Mitsuyoshi was righteousness. Tomonori was faith.

It appeared their words indicated and matched the resolution they abided in their heart.

It had been this way for a long time. Mitsuyoshi and Tomonori couldn't understand each other. Even while they were aware of the burden that was decided for each other and respected each other's feeling, but still, they couldn't live in the same way.

The questioning Mitsuyoshi and the replying Tomonori extremely aware of it from long ago.

Therefore, Mitsuyoshi knew well that he wouldn't be able to sway his brother's faith no matter what kind of words he used. Undoubtedly, he himself possessed something that couldn't be distorted just like Tomonori.

"...Tomonori. Ya goin' alone?"

"Of course."

"But yer opponent is the kind that makes ya need to get Hihi'irokane. Ya still doin' it?"

"I don't need any hindrance."

Tomonori's reply was cold. But inside his mind, there were the figures of half-beastkins who had done many missions along with him as his subordinates.

They were someone incomplete. Neither man and nor beastkin to say either. They were rejected mixed breed who didn't belong to any society.

Had no place to go, Tomonori aided them while Mitsuyoshi resolved to shelter them. Since then, the protected half-beastkins worked as Tomonori's subordinate, fighting along with him.

If they were aware that Tomonori went alone, they would most likely grieve. However.

"...If I take them along, those guys will lose their lives."

As if he didn't intend for anyone to hear it, Tomonori muttered in low tone.

No matter what their appearance was, no matter what their race was, they were living because they had been born. Especially since the half-beastkins never knew peace and weren't permitted to establish as a species.

He himself must not have been a good leader. Even so, he couldn't bring himself to involve their lives for his selfishness.

"There's no time. You too, you mustn't been planning to loiter in a place like this."

Tomonori turned on his heel as if to shake something off.

Mitsuyoshi slightly twitched the tip of his nose.

During this time, Mitsuyoshi also had a different duty. It was to investigate that person.

The target of his investigation was Relius Clover. The man who Clavis tracked the records of and had something to do with the appearance of Black Beast.

"If you're going to assist me, I need none of it. This is my path."

After he told it, Tomonori started walking with sword and lantern in hands. Although he noticed the older brother's figure on the edge of his vision, he didn't focus on it.

There was other thing that he should focus on. He had that kind of expression.

"Tomonori."

Mitsuyoshi spoke while they were passing each other.

Mitsuyoshi also didn't take a better look at his younger brother. As if yielding to the room's entrance, he leant his back on the wall, staring at the empty paulownia box which stored a sword until a while ago.

"Since ya made up yer mind, I won't stop ya. So definitely... bring him down."

"...That is my role."

Definitely, whatever the outcome would be.

He would kill that man.

Holding killing intent and sense of duty that were like blades in his chest, Tomonori ran straight to Ishana during the dead of night.

Part 5

Back to Chapter 3

Return to Main Page

Forward to Chapter 5