In earlier, far more chaotic times, families often sent members of their branch families as assassins—tools tasked with causing as much damage as possible, killing as many people as they could. It did not matter who they killed, nor whether they themselves survived. They were only members of the branch family.

  In the present day, such actions would inevitably trigger a war between two great families.

  I need to hurry.

  The sniper searches for a position from which he can launch a surprise attack. He lies prone in a bush and waits for his next target.

  Name: Tomue

  Age: 65

  Status: Aunt of the Head of the Family

  The sniper waits in ambush, but he has no intention of killing her with his rifle. Important targets should be dealt with directly—up close—so nothing can go wrong from a distance.

  Tomue walks along the path behind the mist-shrouded temple, intending to indulge her love for calligraphy, when a white-clad figure suddenly leaps out of the forest and drives a knife into her chest.

  “Why—”

  Before she can finish her sentence, she is pierced by several smaller knives and then cleaved apart by a massive blade that could easily be mistaken for a sword.

  After the murder, the assassin retreats quickly and moves to a high vantage point in the forest.

  “From up here, I should be able to spot any pursuers. Just a few more eliminations, then I can finally go home. My parents told me I had to do this—that it’s my duty to come here and harm this family. Am I doing the right thing? If my family says it’s right, then objectively it shouldn’t matter… and yet it still scratches at my soul to know that if I die here, my family will see it as nothing more than a normal sacrifice.”

  He raises his rifle and watches the forest. He doesn’t even dare to blink, afraid that someone might appear at that exact moment. He also draws two knives and keeps them ready in his left hand.

  He hears something fluttering and glances to the side. A cherry blossom petal clings to his sleeve. Then he notices a trail of cherry blossoms arranged almost like a chain, leading deeper into the forest.

  “How did I not notice these until now?”

  He hadn’t seen them because they were always behind him—outside his field of view.

  “Good day, Mr. Hitman. What lovely cherry blossoms have attached themselves to you. I’m getting rather jealous.”

  Saku appears out of nowhere, casually waving her fan.

  The assassin immediately hurls both knives at her, but Saku deflects them with countless cherry blossom petals.

  With this Birth Ability, Saku can summon enormous quantities of cherry blossom petals and manipulate them through traditional dance movements.

  “Let us dance with him, Father.”

  Ino leaps down from the sky, a naginata in his hands. He drives it into the ground with such force that the surface crumbles and shatters.

  “Two against one—that’s a bit unfair, don’t you think?”

  The hitman pulls out multiple knives and throws them alternately at Saku and Ino, but both deflect them with perfect precision. He continues the barrage until Ino closes the distance.

  A fierce exchange erupts between Ino’s naginata and the assassin’s oversized blade.

  Saku repeatedly lets small quantities of cherry blossoms rain down on the enemy, attempting to slow and disturb him.

  Ino grows faster and faster, completely dominating the exchange. He even manages to destroy the oversized blade and land a deep slash on the assassin.

  The hitman collapses to the ground, trying to stop the bleeding. It’s a deep abdominal wound—not immediately fatal, but extremely serious.

  “This is for my wife. For my family.”

  Ino prepares to deliver the finishing blow, but the hitman suddenly leaps so high into the air that he vanishes from sight. Gunfire erupts, and a bullet strikes Ino’s left wrist.

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  “The cut to your stomach doesn’t seem to bother you much.”

  “I’m tough. Your left hand is useless for this fight.”

  They resume their clash, and the hitman manages to put up a strong fight against Ino.

  “No. I have to kill him. My beloved wife has been lying alone for so long, waiting for me to find her. I have to avenge her. I have to.”

  That single thought pushes Ino into his peak condition, and once again he overwhelms the hitman.

  The assassin blocks attacks with his rifle while simultaneously dodging the cherry blossom spheres Saku hurls at him.

  “I think it’s time I started dancing a bit more dynamically.”

  With wild movements, Saku creates a tornado of cherry blossoms that envelops the hitman.

  “Oh no—if these can cut then—…they’re not cutting? Some stick to me, but that’s all?”

  After a few seconds, the hitman bursts out of the vortex and fires several shots from a new handgun.

  Saku dodges, but her rhythm falters.

  “Anyone who disrupts my rhythm deserves to die. You don’t deserve a happy ending.”

  In her rage, Saku performs aggressive, rapid dances accompanied by cherry blossoms. The hitman is struck occasionally, but since the petals don’t cut, it barely affects him—aside from slowing him down slightly. They draw closer and closer until only a few steps separate them.

  “That’s it for you,” the hitman declares, laughing.

  Saku spins and twists to evade.

  “No. That’s it for you.”

  She reveals two massive piles of cherry blossoms that had been there the entire time—completely unnoticed. From them emerge Najun and Naki. Naki already has his sword drawn, while Najun is moments away from firing Bullet.

  He does.

  The shot grazes the hitman’s cheek.

  “Shit. Missed.”

  Naki charges in and forces the hitman back until he’s pressed against a rock. Naki thrusts his blade forward, but the assassin ducks and slips free. Then Ino strikes again, landing a second critical hit—this time to the back.

  The hitman is now surrounded by all four, bleeding heavily from both wounds.

  He throws knives and fires his pistol, but everything misses—except for one shot that hits Najun. Bullet immediately heals him, though the injury remains.

  The only one who approaches the center is Saku.

  She advances slowly, covering him with as many cherry blossoms as possible.

  “You know, the woman you just killed wasn’t the real Tomue. We used a Fata Morgana Pearl to create a real-looking Tomue. These pearls create things that feel completely real—you can even touch them. But the farther away the pearl is from the illusion, the worse its quality becomes. Luckily for us, we were standing right next to it.”

  “What? So I didn’t even manage to kill her? How am I supposed to face my family if I couldn’t even kill a branch family member? Damn it.”

  Saku laughs in his face and smothers him with even more petals. Her expression darkens.

  “You must atone for your actions. Let’s start from the inside. Maybe with a bit more color.”

  She begins stuffing cherry blossoms into his mouth. His body automatically swallows them until his entire digestive system is coated with petals.

  “So this is the end for me. Still better than what awaited me back home.”

  He can barely breathe. Inside, he feels like dry paper—like he’s eaten nothing but it until completely full.

  “Now you look better. Much more colorful, I’d say. Your exterior should remain as horrible as it is.”

  With those words, Saku ends his life by making the petals inside him swirl and pulse. He suffers no cuts and no poisoning—he is simply suffocated from within by sweet cherry blossoms.

  His body becomes wrapped in petals, on the verge of being torn apart.

  “Saku, stop this immediately!”

  Her father shouts and cuts through the cocoon.

  “Why? We still have to dispose of his body.”

  “The Head wants to see the corpse first.”

  Saku doesn’t care and wraps him again.

  Ino cuts through the petals once more and grabs her wrist—the one holding her fan.

  “I said the Head wants to see the body.”

  Saku pulls free and disappears into the forest.

  Ino picks up the corpse and returns to the temple with the two brothers.

  Saku remains in the forest for a while, alone with herself.

  “I don’t understand it. Why does Father do everything Uncle Aihara tells him to do? I know he’s the Head, but that doesn’t mean Father can’t think or act independently. How pathetic. And yet they all look at me as though I’m the fragile one—the pitiful one. If only they knew. I carry this farce with elegance; someone had to keep their composure. Maybe it was fate to burden me with all of this—loss, betrayal, this wretched family. Not everyone would have the greatness to grow from it. But me? I turn even mourning into proof of my superiority.”

  She begins to dance, showering herself with compliments.

  Meanwhile, the others are already back at the temple, bringing the body to Aihara.

  “Who might this have been?”

  the Head asks in a stern voice.

  “Perhaps we should have kept him alive to answer questions like that,” Naki replies.

  “No. Leaving such a hitman alive—especially so close to us—would have been far too dangerous.”

  Aihara undresses the body partially and inspects it.

  “I would have liked to perform an autopsy as well, but there’s a chance he hid a bomb or something similar inside himself.”

  He turns the corpse over and freezes. His body tenses so violently that the ground cracks—and the left half of the corpse shatters.

  “Brother, calm down. What did you see?”

  Aihara points at the body, revealing a tattoo.

  Ino gasps and instinctively looks down.

  “What kind of scene is this? What does that tattoo even mean?”

  Aihara is far too shaken to answer.

  Ino closes his mouth and steps closer to the corpse.

  “Great families use specific symbols or crests as identifying marks. They are unique. Each family has its own. These tattoos cannot be forged, removed, or concealed by any means.”

  “And which family does it belong to?”

  “One of the Top Five Families of the country: the Taira family. This hitman belonged to them. He came here and killed our people. Which means—”

  “That they have sent us a declaration of war. And we must report it immediately.”

  Aihara retreats into his room, intending to call the head of the Taira family.

  Naki tries to follow.

  “No. This is not our affair. The heads must speak alone first.”

  Aihara places the call.

  The other side answers.

  “Hello, Aihara. What is your business?”

  “Your disrespect and treachery… Kiyomori Taira.”