Jeffrey Castillo
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FG Chapter 30: Life Energy
🕑 Added 2025-09-29 11:18:25 +0000 UTCRoy drank his tea in silence.
Tanjiro sat on pins and needles, a lump in his throat.
The grandmother and the woman both went pale. The latter hadnât grasped it at first; now she didâher hands twisted together, ten fingers digging hard into her hem.
A moment later, a sighâŠ
The grandmother seemed to age ten years in an instant. In a low voice she said, âHirotomoâs a stubborn child.
âOut on the road all year, he treats silver as dearer than lifeâŠ
âHe always said unless he was gone, nobody was to touch his basketâŠâ
Now the basket was back and the man was not. The meaning was obvious.
âChild, tell Grandma the truth.â By the end her voice was shaking, as if she were on the verge of breakingâheld together only by sheer will. âIs Hirotomo⊠not coming back?â
The tight air in the room froze solid. The brazier on the table might as well not have been there; it felt colder than the dead of winter outside.
Tanjiroâs stiff neck creaked as he looked to Roy for helpâŠ
Roy noticed the little girl, Shizuki, glance from her mother to her grandmother, then back to him and Tanjiro in confusion. He waved for Tanjiro to take her out âto have a snowball fight.â
Neither woman objected.
Only then did Roy set down his cup and say quietly, âTo be frank, this should come from Mr. Minamino himself.â
Both women blinked.
Then they felt a warmth rise from the table, flow up through their knees and into their eyes, andâ
a familiar figure stood before them, though neither knew when heâd appeared.
It wasâŠ
a motherâs son, a childâs father, a wifeâs husbandâMinamino Hirotomo.
âHirotomo!â
âMother⊠NaokoâŠâ
Using the table as a medium, the Nen linking the two women surged.
Roy closed his eyes and let them have the room; inwardly he knew exactly what he was sensingâan impact of intense emotion.
Emotion shows in Nen as colorâŠ
If everyone in the house were Nen users, the tiny room would feel full to bursting with those stirred feelingsâshaded gray and dim, thick with grief and pain beyond words.
Outside, the north wind wailed; childrenâs bright laughter blew in on the gustsâŠ
Roy looked out on reflex. Shizuki was sprinting happily with Tanjiro. By the snowman sheâd made with her mother lay the bamboo hobbyhorse Minamino had bought her. She shouted and laughed, scooped a clump of snow, and flung it at Tanjiro; he put on a pained act and fled, sending her shrieking after him.
Inside, the room slowly calmed.
The kettle boiled, popping the lid and sending up a spout of steam.
After speaking with Minamino, the grandmother and the woman pressed their hands together at their brows and bowed low to Roy, full dogeza.
âThank you, RĆichirĆ-sama, for avenging my son / my husband!â
âHardly more than a passing deed.â Roy helped them up, glanced at Minamino, and said plainly, âWe were looking for a place to stay. When the demon attacked, we fought to save ourselves.
âThereâs no need to thank us, Grandma, maâam.â
âRĆichirĆ-sama is too modest,â Minamino said, smiling to the two women. âMother, Naoko, you may not know how he toyed with that demonâŠ
âI saw it all. The thing was no match for him. If he hadnât been intent on training his younger brother TanjiroâŠâ
âThat demon wouldnât have lasted a single exchange!â
Roy didnât bother to demur. He finished his tea, handed over the gifts, andâtask doneârose to leave.
The women tried to keep them for a meal, but with tear tracks still wet and fresh ones threatening, Roy insisted on refusing, pushed the door open, and stepped into the yard.
They came to see them off; Tanjiro led a tuckered-out Shizuki up to them.
Under their eyes, Roy placed the canteen that had housed Minamino into the grandmotherâs hands.
âThis is Mr. Minaminoâs resting place. Keep it, Grandmaâsomething to remember him by.â
Her hands trembled as she gathered the canteen to her chest; the tears came again despite herselfâŠ
The woman steadied her at the waist, swallowing her own grief. Only Shizuki stared, bewildered.
Minamino chuckled softly then and, broad-minded as ever, tried to comfort them: âDonât cry, Mother. Since ancient times, who lives forever? Just think Iâve gone on ahead to bliss.â
As if to prove his words, he could no longer hold his soul togetherâit began to unravelâŠ
Seeing it, the grandmother and the woman gripped his hands and refused to let go, their sorrow swelling.
Roy watched in silence, then took the chance to ask him via Nen: âDo you want to say goodbye to Shizuki-san?â
Minamino looked at his daughter with love as she ran to her mother and grandma, wiping oneâs tears, then the otherâs, murmuring, âDonât cry⊠donât cryâŠâ
With endless reluctance, he shook his head.
âRĆichirĆ-sama⊠I rarely thank anyone. Beyond my mother Iâve never bowed to a soulâŠ
âEven when bandits stabbed me years ago, I didnât kneel to begâŠ
âBut this timeâtruly, thank you.
âThank you for bringing me homeâand letting me be contentâŠâ
A cold gust; white vapor wavered at the canteenâs mouth. Minaminoâs voice grew fainter, untilâ
smiling, he cast one last long look at ShizukiâŠ
and broke into motes that drifted to Roy and sank into him.
[Notice: Detected you have purified a soul.]
[By their entrustmentâaccepting their karmaâthe other has transferred their final energy to you.]
[Notice: âLife Energyâ +1]
[The host may allocate freely, e.g., to the âPhysiqueâ stat.]
Roy started. In his coat, the copper coin heâd pried from the snow beside Minaminoâs basket suddenly felt heavyâso heavy he had to draw a long breath before the weight eased.
So this is the real gift⊠he murmured, standing in the wind and snow for a quiet moment.
Then he called for Tanjiro, bid farewell to the Minamino family, and turned toward the depths of Mt. Sagiri.
âGoodbye, big brother TanjiroâŠâ
âGoodbye, ShizukiâŠâ
âGoodbye, Minamino HirotomoâŠâ Roy did not look back; he finished the words in his heart.
The sun-and-mountain earrings at his ears swayed in the wind and snow and slowly disappeared into the squall.
Whoooshâ The wind rose; the snow thickened. The Kamado brothersâ footprints were wiped away. The world held only a fenced yard and two grieving women, and one bewildered child, watching them go, standing there for a very, very long time.
