Chapter 20: The Last Time

Morning breaks over Takayubi’s bomb shelter. Misaki wakes injured and disoriented, relieved to find her children safe with Atsushi and Fuyuko. The villagers emerge to a landscape of ruin: homes obliterated, bodies scattered, and the Yukino compound destroyed. Hyori collapses in grief; Misaki shields Nagasa from the worst of the sight.

Help arrives not from the Empire but from neighboring villages. Fishermen and farmers bring survivors, including the maimed Kotetsu Katashi and his two younger children. Three warriors—Ginkawa Aoki, Ikeno Tsuyosa, and Ikeno Shun—are recovered from the northern pass. Takeru converts the partly intact Matsuda compound into a field hospital and command post, directing cleanup of Ranganese corpses and preparation for the wounded as Tetsukai medics and Ameno warriors join the effort.

After ensuring her younger sons and niece are settled, Misaki slips away to find Mamoru. Guided by Atsushi’s account, she descends with fisherman Chiba Mizuiro through the carnage toward the blacksmith village. Along the ashen slope, Misaki confronts the reality of devastation at home and the reverence now rekindled among commoners for the Matsuda house.

At the ruins, Misaki finds Mamoru’s bloodied katana and then his body, riddled by later airstrike bullets but fatally cut by a deep blade wound. The corpse of his opponent, cleaved in half, confirms Mamoru’s final, decisive strike fought through mortal injury. Misaki breaks down, briefly and unintentionally stirring new bleeding with her jiya, then regains control and prays.

Fearing regret will trap Mamoru’s spirit, Misaki speaks to him: affirming his valor, the lives he saved, and confessing her lifelong selfishness and failure to love him properly. She promises to let go of her poison for his sake. Holding him one last time, she repeats that his life was “enough,” then allows volunteers to carry him back. Before leaving, she gently closes the eyes of the Ranganese soldier who killed Mamoru, finding forgiveness that does nothing to ease her deeper burden.