Demon Sword Maiden

Cherry blossoms and snowfall filled the whole sky. Gradually, even the ground was covered in pink and white.

Lily absent-mindedly looked up and viewed the descending cherry blossoms like the starry sky. Even if it was a thousand years old cherry blossom tree, the scale of this petal rain was too large, wasn’t it?

However, these cherry blossoms floated more and more to the extent that Lily’s view gradually became a white one.

The world had turned into a snow-white world. Lily felt as if she was floating in the middle of the sky. It was boundless and hard to recognise but it seemed to have some kind of power which attracted her…

She felt as if she had been sucked into this place which was both familiar yet unfamiliar at the same time. She seemed to be slowly falling down. At last, her fall ended by landing on an ice-cold floor.

When Lily’s vision gradually recovered, what she saw was an octagonal stone room in a dimly light space and the ancient rope patterns that emerged on each wall…

She was in the mirror space!

For some unknown reason, I have returned to the mirror space.

In the past, Lily had tried various ways to re-enter the mirror space again but she discovered no clues. This time however, she unexpectedly entered inside.

Was it because I have accidentally comprehended my own intent, Sakura Fall?

Lily stood up and looked back at herself in the mirror on the wall.

As expected, she had physically transformed back into an image of a handsome boy’s appearance which was the original appearance of her soul.

“Mm-mm…”

However, Lily felt that the person in the mirror hardly had any boyish-looks remaining except for his subconscious cognition that he was a boy. It seemed that he had become more feminine than he was last time.

It was not only in appearance, but the gestures and physical charm, all of it also exuded a more feminine feel.

Is this true or is this just illusory? Is it because I’m now used to being a woman so the reflection of my soul has become more like a girl?

What’s more, Lily felt that her lips seemed to be watery and lustrous, just like those of girls’ lips. Most importantly, she had to ensure that she was physically…

Physically he was still a boy, but he had only partially retained the boy’s physical characteristics. Lily seemed to feel that the skin had become more hydrated and glossy, and even the hair had grown a lot. The boy’s black hair was a little messy and had length almost reaching the shoulder. What the hell was going on?

Can the hair of the soul grow longer? Will my body change? Don’t think too much about it. This place is far beyond your understanding. Senior sister! Coming here means that I can see senior sister again!

Suddenly from behind Lily, sounds of rumbling of frictions between rocks were heard.

When he looked back, he saw another room opening next to the room where his senior sister was held. But at this time, he was too anxious to see his senior sister so he went straight into her room.

Senior sister was… still quiet, wearing thin white clothes and sleeping there. Lily stepped forward and his eyes filled with sadness. She reached out to his senior sister. She could not touch her but she still wanted to hold her hand.

The feeling of nothingness. They were so close, yet worlds apart, such feeling was both real and illusionary.

Lily still couldn’t feel the sensation of senior sister’s skin, but some kind of spirit power from both sides made contact and prevented their spiritual bodies from passing through each other. This, in turn, made it so that Lily could feel the shape of senior sister’s hand.

But this was very different from the contact between the physical bodies. It was as if two souls were physically touching each other.

Lily tried to lift the hem of his white yukata. In the past, his hand could not grasp the tangible things. But now, he could lift his hem and see the shameful loincloth hidden underneath it…

In fact, just a moment ago, when Lily confirmed that he was still physically a boy, he had already done it but he didn’t notice the details at that time.

I am now a soul but I can grab things? Why is this so?

Lily remembered that when he entered into this space the last time, he was still a completely ordinary person, but this time, his body and soul seemed to have undergone metamorphosis.

Perhaps his soul changed due to adapting to the spirit power, or maybe it might be because of the magatama-shaped soul that was located in mysterious space in his lower abdomen?

Then, why can I feel another kind of spirit power which is totally different from my own. This spirit power seems to be coming from senior sister. It is warm, mysterious, and even felt somewhat boundless. Does the senior sister also have spirit powers? This… this is inconceivable. I achieved it because of a chance encounter and vigorous training, but how can senior sister have spirit energy?

The soul of senior sister lay dormant since she came to this place and her body was occupied by him.

Is it because of me? But this power feels totally different from mine. It’s like the warmth of the sun.

“Can the spirit power awaken senior sister?”

Lily was now a soul which was originally in the form of a condensed spiritual power. However, he didn’t know how to utilize the soul to operate and control spirit energy.

But he still attempted it following his own intuition. He had some control over spirit power. However, when he grabbed senior sister’s hand, tried to inject spirit power or use spirit waves, it had no effect.

“Sure enough, I can’t do it… And there’s the thing about this mirror space too, even now I don’t have much information about it… Oh yea, didn’t the stone door to the next room become unlocked since just now? Let’s go and see if I can find any other clue.”

Lily exited from senior sister’s room and walked towards the next room that opened earlier in one of the eight walls. Inside the room, the light was dim and some ambiguous candles were lit but those candles seemed to be anything but ordinary.

When Lily walked into the room, she found that there were ancient wooden doors all around the room. Those wooden doors were painted with faded colours but they were decorated with exquisite and charming Ukiyo-e. On one side of the room, there was a small wooden table on which ornaments like jewellery and mirror were placed. It looked exactly like a woman’s dressing table. In front of the table, there was a floral cushion.

The ground was even covered with soft and comfortable tatami.

Why is there such a room in the mirror space? Is it senior sister’s room?

No, no, Lily didn’t think that this idea was reasonable. The style and atmosphere of the two rooms were quite different. Moreover, it wasn’t as though senior sister chose to sleep here on her own accord, and why would a soul need another room in the first place?

When Lily walked toward the sliding door, she felt even weirder. It seemed that the inside of this room was bigger than it appeared from outside because the stone room was in octagonal shape. However, she felt that the space had exceeded the original size.

What’s behind the sliding door? Lily opened one of the sliding doors.

“Huh?”

What Lily saw was a beautiful garden. In the closet just beyond the sliding door, there were women’s feathered kimonos with beautiful embroidery.

These feathered kimonos were available in various colors but it seemed that purple, blue, and white one were comparably more common. Unlike the kimonos and yukatas that were common in the Heian Empire, these clothes… were very revealing. They were interwoven by thin stripes of clothes and clasped together with beautiful metal rings or jewellery. It felt like more than 90% of the kimono’s fabric had been cut off, leaving behind only the most important part and ornaments. However, there were some elegant ribbons on it which were painted with simple floral decoration. This kind of ribbon must have looked very beautiful while dancing.

There were even some feathered kimonos that covered the chest and crotch area with translucent silk. Rather, than covering up the private parts, they seemed to be emphasizing them instead.

And if there was anything in common, these clothes all exuded some kind of incredible elegant and ethereal, extraordinary and refined feeling. According to Lily’s own knowledge of the Heian Empire, she had never seen any place where women dressed like this.

“It’s amazing. Whose clothes are they? They’re so gorgeous and sexy. Furthermore, they’re so unique.”