Chapter 29: Soul Shock X The Color of the Spirit
At the eastern edge of the village, a small cluster of cabins was enclosed by a simple wicker fence.
Inside the yard, a woman and a little girl were building a snowman together. The girl, bundled in a floral-padded jacket, was trying to wrap a purple scarf around its neck. Her mother, her own head covered by a scarf, lifted the girl up so she could place a worn hat on the snowman's head. From a distance, the lopsided figure bore a striking resemblance to Hiro Minamino.
"Shizuka, do you miss Papa?"
"I do."
The hat was crooked, making the snowman look comical. The little girl giggled. "Look, Mama! Papa looks so silly!"
The woman smiled, her eyes crinkling at the corners. As she laughed, she glanced towards the fence and saw them. Roy and Tanjiro, standing silently in the snow. Her expression immediately shifted. She gently moved her daughter behind her, her posture becoming wary. "Can I help you?"
The village at the foot of Sagiri Mountain was already remote. In the dead of winter, visitors were almost unheard of.
Roy held up the water flask and looked at the spirit of Hiro Minamino. The man's ghostly face was streaked with tears, his lips trembling. He stared, transfixed, at his wife and daughter, unable to speak.
"Bro..." Tanjiro couldn't bear to watch. He turned his face away. He couldn't imagine the despair he would feel if he ever learned that his own father was gone. But in this world stalked by demons, such tragedies were a daily occurrence.
After a moment, Roy stepped forward. "Ma'am," he said, his voice respectful. "We're friends of Mr. Minamino. We were just passing through and wanted to drop something off for him." He placed the merchant's traveling pack on the ground.
The woman recognized the pack instantly—she had woven it herself from the reeds that grew on the mountain. Her posture relaxed. She opened the gate and let them in.
"Naoko, who is it?" An elderly woman's kind voice came from inside the house.
"Friends of Hiro's," the woman, Naoko, replied. "They brought something from him."
"Oh! Well, don't just stand there in the cold! Invite the boys in for some hot tea!"
"Yes, Mother." Naoko turned back to Roy and Tanjiro, giving them a grateful bow. Roy nodded politely and stepped into the yard, with Tanjiro dragging the pack behind him.
"Mama, who are they?" the little girl, Shizuka, whispered, peeking out from behind her mother's legs.
The spirit of Hiro Minamino could no longer contain himself. He floated from the flask and reached out to embrace his daughter. A cold, ghostly wind swept through the yard. Minamino's spiritual form passed right through the little girl's body.
Shizuka blinked, her small body shuddering for a fraction of a second. The change was almost imperceptible, but Roy, his eyes sharp, saw it clearly.
'Her spirit is still too fragile,' Roy communicated to the ghost, using his Nen as a medium. 'A direct shock from a soul as strong as yours could displace it. You must not touch her.'
With his Gyo active, Roy could see the girl's aura flicker and recoil as the ghost passed through her. For a terrifying instant, her body's energy field seemed to mistake Minamino's soul for its own rightful owner.
So the soul... is the true source, the 'color' of one's Nen?
Zzigg's notes, and everything Roy knew about the world of Hunters, stated that Nen was the body's life energy. Without a physical vessel, that energy should have no anchor and would dissipate. But Minamino's existence proved that a soul, a concentration of that same life energy, could persist, at least for a short time.
'My fault... Shizuka, I'm so sorry, Papa was too hasty...' Minamino's spiritual form wavered, and he began to slap himself in anguish, his form growing fainter with each blow.
"Self-harm won't solve anything," Roy said, his voice cutting through the spirit's despair. He reached into the pack and pulled out the small wooden horse. "Shizuka, right?" he said with a warm smile. "Look what your papa bought for you. He said you can play with this for now, and when he gets back... he'll be a big horse for you to ride."
"And candy!" Tanjiro added, pulling out the sweets and offering them in his open palm.
"Mama..." The little girl looked up at her mother, her eyes wide.
Naoko gave her a reassuring pat. "It's alright, Shizuka. They're your papa's friends. You can call them 'big brother'."
The little girl took a hesitant step forward, then another, until she was standing right in front of Roy. She reached out and took the toy horse.
As she did, Roy channeled a thin, stabilizing stream of his own Nen into her through the wooden toy. He watched as her flickering aura settled, the foreign energy from her father's touch receding, her own life force reasserting itself. The vacant look in her eyes vanished, replaced by the bright, innocent spark of a child.
Minamino saw it all. As a spirit, his senses were far more attuned to such things. He sank to his knees, his gratitude too profound for words.
Roy ignored him. He and Tanjiro each took one of Shizuka's hands and followed Naoko inside. The cabin was warm, a small stove glowing in the corner. An elderly woman, her hands red and raw from washing clothes in the cold, poured them each a cup of steaming tea.
After thanking her, they got to the point, laying out the contents of the pack.
"Mr. Minamino bought this cloth in town, for you and your mother."
"The toy and the candy are for Shizuka."
"And this... is the money he sent back."
"Child," the old woman's voice was quiet, but it cut through the room, silencing all other sound. "Did Hiro say... when he would be coming home?"