The air stayed cool even as the sun kept its throne.
After getting my ass handed to me, I sat beneath the shed, sweat cooling on my skin, watching Heiwa stretch. She'd already changed out of her training clothes—clean lines, calm breath, no trace of strain. Like nothing had happened.
"Hm. A mother goose testing if the water is safe," Miss Li Hua said, materializing behind me like she'd always been there.
"What do you mean?" I asked as she settled beside me.
"Oh, nothing." She produced a small plate of sweets from her sleeves. Because of course she did. "Want some?"
I stared at the plate, then at her sleeves, then gave up. "Yes. Thank you."
She watched Heiwa as I chewed.
"Where is your shinobi?" she asked casually.
"I don't know. They sort of… disappeared."
That was the truth. Shinkage had simply unwritten himself.
"Interesting," she said, and left it at that.
The sun climbed higher but held back its bite.
"I'm ready," Heiwa said, approaching us. She hesitated. "But I'll need a weapon." Then, quieter: "Miss Li Hua, could you make me one?"
Miss Li Hua popped another biscuit into her mouth. "No."
Then, after a sip of tea: "Ask Victoria."
That dismissal stung. Heiwa turned to me, shoulders tight, eyes hopeful.
"What would you like?" I asked, forcing confidence. "I'll do my best."
"A qiang," she said.
"…A what?"
Between her explanation, Li Hua's corrections, and a rough sketch traced into the dirt, the idea took shape. Long shaft. Leaf-shaped blade. Balance meant for reach, not brute force.
Miss Li Hua suddenly produced a spear in her left hand.
"This," she said.
I leaned forward. "I thought you weren't helping."
"I'm not." The spear vanished.
The image stayed—sharp, vivid, burned in.
I reached for it.
The weapon formed slowly, like memory condensing into matter. Warm. Heavy. Real.
"That's it!" Heiwa exclaimed. "You'll have to explain how you do this someday."
I smiled weakly. My arm buzzed from the effort.
The blade was diamond-shaped, elegant without ornament. She took it with reverence.
"Thanks."
"So where's—Shinkage?" she asked.
"I don't—"
They were suddenly behind her.
Heiwa spun instantly, spear snapping up. Shinkage rose from a kneel, blade in hand. The weapon was unfamiliar—broad, heavy, cleaver-like.
"A pudao," Miss Li Hua said mid-sip. "Interesting choice."
The field was cleared.
Heiwa planted her spear, tip resting lightly against the ground. She moved first—hands interlocking, palms apart, forming a hollow sphere before her mouth.
"What does that do?" I whispered.
"She's trapping a localized pocket of filtered qi," Miss Li Hua replied. "Control before conflict."
Then Shinkage charged.
Blade in his right hand. No hesitation.
Just before contact—
Poof.
White smoke bloomed between them. Dense. Localized. Surgical.
Heiwa moved anyway.
Her spear swept wide arcs through the fog—smooth, repeated, measured.
"Is she fighting blind?" I asked.
"Hardly." Miss Li Hua set her cup down. "Her first action likely established a field sensitive to disturbance."
A still pond.
A spider's web.
Then Heiwa was thrown from the smoke, hitting the ground hard.
Before she could rise, Shinkage was there.
She blocked one strike.
Then another Shinkage emerged from the fog.
Then a third.
Three shadows. Three pudao.
One without a hat—but the face beneath was still unreadable. Like looking at a palimpsest scraped too many times.
Heiwa switched targets, barely keeping up. The handle of a pudao slammed into her stomach.
She staggered.
In seconds, she stood frozen, spear locked in place, surrounded.
"You don't seem surprised," Miss Li Hua remarked.
"Do I?" I said, looking away.
Heiwa snapped her fingers and whipped her wrist.
Something invisible struck one of them, hurling it back.
She ducked, rolled, reclaimed her spear—
—and collapsed.
I was on my feet instantly. "What happened?"
Shinkage caught her effortlessly and brought her to us. Her breathing was steady. Calm. Asleep.
Small cuts marked her skin, but nothing fatal.
"Is she sleeping?" I asked.
Before anyone answered, Shinkage was gone.
Gone-gone. Like he'd never been.
"Interesting," Mr. Mumei-shi said, appearing in the doorway.
Blue awareness.
Black execution.
Ao learns. Kuro ends.
And somewhere between them, history was quietly being rewritten again.