Prologue Scene:
---Somewhere, the hawk cries.
On Kinpou Mountain lies Reigan Cave. Here, a single old man is awaiting his end. The old man’s name is Shinmen Musashi-no-Kami Fujiwara no Harunobu.
In other words, well, it is I.
Yes, I am that Shinmen Musashi who has slaughtered many with the blade--- Miyamoto Musashi. It seems that was also a name of mine, perhaps. Well, doesn’t really matter at this point anyway.
…..
……..
...That was quick indeed. Can’t fall asleep yet again, it seems.
Well then. Open, eyes of mine. Yes, that’s good. Whether this body dies today or tomorrow, it is still too early to say. For now, endure. After all, the one I await has not yet come.
...Hm, how much can I recollect, I wonder. That’s right, the blade. I remember the blade. I once killed people by means of the blade, didn’t I.
The blade---
It is something that rips, cuts, and kills men. Once they were called tachi and katana. Now they are called katana and wakizashi. There are those soldiers who carry a blade. Warriors. Martial men. Because they are nobles, therefore, samurai. I suppose it’d be fine to call them that.
Anyway, the one who leads them would be a general.
A general. That is someone who could be called a master foreman.
They must discern the rules of the land. They must ascertain the rules of the country. They must know the rules of the house.
...I don’t really get it, O-shishou-sama, is what Iori would have said when he was young.
Would Magonojou have made a face that looked like he understood it?
Well, probably.
It is my incompetence. When I was young, I didn’t understand anything at all. I just ran about cutting down everything in my path. Could I have become a general that way? Hah, yes, my career would stop at being the military commander for a small clan or thereabouts.
How foolish I was.
Indeed, what meaning is there in having talent for the blade? To rip, cut, and snuff out countless lives, as if just for a prank.
Maybe it would have been better if I had just kept to paintings instead.
Ah, Matabei of the Takada would certainly be laughing at me now. After piling up so many years in age, what should I be bothered about now, something like that. That’s right, Matabee. I am not permitted to regret this.
Old Man:
... and so on, and so forth. Is that something you think I’d actually say? Hahaha!
It’s fine to be foolish! It’s fine to be mischievous! For I have lived through this chaotic world blasted by the raging winds of blood and filled with the hellish cries of suffering! There is nothing like regret in me!
Rip, cut, and to continue to butcher lives callously, that is my entire life!
Now come! That which is my last, mine ending fate!
Oh, heavens above, please forgive me this glimpse of my dream in these dying moments. Pay no heed to the ramblings of an old man on the verge of death. However, I do not have much time left. My eyes may fall shut forever before my important fate arrives.
Old Man:
….Mm, mm----- cough, cough…..!
….Ah, what a shame. This is such a shame.
Oh gods. Oh Buddhas. Right now, even onis or demons are fine.
Give me more time, in order for me to meet my fate.
If I am in the depths of hell, even my fate would not be able to pursue me there.
----Or perhaps.
….Sigh. Perhaps, if this world is already hell...
Chapter 4 Scene:
---This morning, the hawk cries too.
On Kinpou Mountain, in Reigan Cave. Feeling the visit of morning, I open my eyes. My heart still continues to beat laboriously. That’s right, it looks like I’ve managed to live to greet this morning. Everytime I fall asleep, I think that I will die. Would my closed eyelids no longer open again? Would my eyes no longer reflect anything within them?
You can laugh at my self-absorbed words all you want. That is right, none would have laughed at me before…. I am Musashi, after all?
Who doesn’t know of Shinmen Musashi? At about eleven years of age he cut down his first man; he stood against countless other swordsmen, defeated, and killed them; and he wielded his blade even unto the battlefield. There were countless such ostentatious displays.
But, well, it’s all just killing, in it's own way. I can’t be certain of the details myself. In truth, I stopped counting after it exceeded ten. Heheh, as they say, the facts have been cut down!
Old Man:
Heh, heh… hehehe… hahaha… cough…. Cough-----!
Ugh, what are you coughing for, this corpse of mine. The laugh of an old man made only by summoning up the last of his strength, it’s not even the least bit funny. Well, there is irony in it, though.
Cut, without question. Discard, without question.
If there is no intention to mend a person’s life, do not shoulder it in the first place. It is at the top of the list of things I don’t care about. After all, my treatise was written to impart the art of killing other people. To have one’s heart disturbed, to have it shaken during a deathmatch, that is something inexcusable!
Kill without compassion.
Kill without dejection.
Kill without sorrow.
Kill without anger.
That is I. The Shinmen Musashi that founded the Niten-Ichiryuu.
To kill with a serenity reflecting the calm water’s surface, to kill, and to kill and to kill and to kill from youth to old age. That is the swordsman I have become.
Old Man:
Swordsman… huh…
Would it be possible for I, who was once called thus, to wield the sword again? Can these hands still grasp the hilt? I intend to do so, but… well, so I hope.
A chance may have come to me last year in Shimabara, but ultimately it ended before I was able to grab a single sword in hand. Yes, that was truly a shame. I could not see eye to eye with the military commander of the Kokura domain, but should I have fought alongside the Christians then? I would have been able to wield a sword if I did so. Would have been able to swing my blade.
Without fearing the twilight, without waiting around for my fate to be handed to me, I could have quickly wrapped up the ending to my own life. Yes, that’d have been right.
……….
…..
…..
Old Man:
...Nay. It was impossible.
The fire, that passion, which has lodged in the hearts of the Christians of Shimabara… that is something I do not have. Cannot have.
In my treatise there is no need for a heart. There is no need for emotion or justice, nor for grudges or obsessions. There is nothing but to kill, to cut, and to discard.
Then, in the end there is no choice but for me to continue waiting in this place.
Now, come. That which is my last, mine ending fate.
….Late, too late. Have you still not come. I cannot just die and leave things this way.
Oh gods. Oh Buddhas. Right now, even onis or demons are fine.
Give me more time, in order for me to meet my fate.
If I am in the depths of hell, even my fate would not be able to pursue me there.
----Or perhaps.
….Ah. Perhaps, if this world is already hell...
Chapter 7 Scene:
---Far away, the hawk cries.
On Kinpou Mountain, in Reigan Cave. I open my eyes, realizing that death is finally close by. Not here yet? Have you not come yet? I am dying. Tired of waiting impatiently for my fate to arrive.
Aye. I, Shinmen Musashi, will die here----
No fiendish arts or sorcerous crafts can prevent that. My body has far exceeded its limits; it would not be strange for me to be called a living corpse. This aged husk of mine can no longer move. It will no longer move. Just standing and walking is enough to shave away my lifespan.
I have grown old.
Truly, I have grown old.
A mind of tedium, a mind of attachment, and a mind that has become blank; all of these are just too depressing. Iori would have laughed. “Even though O-shishou lectured me so strictly, I can’t see that his mind has reached emptiness”.
No, I have reached it. I have reached the seat of emptiness. I killed and I killed, I slashed and I slashed, and at the end of it all I have reached it.
Old Man:
...And then, alone, I knew how hollow emptiness was.
Oh. I am in good condition today. My throat does not shriek out a horrible coughing even if I speak out loud.
Now is the time, my fate. If you are coming, now is the time. Come, while I am still alive and yet to deteriorate!
And yet. And yet, for me to try and be fierce as raging flames. Niten Ichiryuu is a treatise where the heart must be clear and be as nothing. There is no doubt that the immaturity within me yet boils!
Even at the end of the path I have walked, even as a withered old man, I still behave like a reckless youth.
Now that I think about it…
I am similar to that father of mine.
I am Munisai’s child, after all.
My father was strong whether he had a jitte or a sword in hand. Although that strength was truly complete, my father was entirely dissatisfied. That idiotic stubbornness, that obstinacy, it caused me no end of trouble…
If so, then, my temper, this impatience I have so close to death… is it a curse inherited from my father?
Do not be satisfied with merely your name in prominence.
Do not be satisfied until you die.
Ah. The name of Shinmen. Did I not inherit it from Munisai after all? Is it still fitting for me to continue using the name Miyamoto Musashi?
Old Man:
Nay. Nay… This is… my....
No. This is my karma.
I expect death every time I close my eyes.
I think of death every time I open my eyes.
Even after aging this much I have not given up. I impatiently wait for the meeting of a lifetime.
Come. Are you not here yet? That which is my last, mine ending fate.
I… my life is now like a candle before the wind. I do not think I can endure any longer. Please. Come!
Oh gods. Oh Buddhas. Right now, even onis or demons are fine.
Give me more time, in order for me to meet my fate.
If I am in the depths of hell, even my fate would not be able to pursue me there.
----Or perhaps.
….Sigh. Perhaps, if this world is already hell...
Chapter 15 Ending Scene:
---Somewhere, the hawk cries.
Nodachi Swordsman:
Elderly sir. It seems ten years too early for you to coop yourself up in Reigan Cave. Though you have withered up so much, are you not even sixty right now?
Old Man:
...Late. Late. You’re late. You are very late, o fate of mine.
Nodachi Swordsman:
I am truly ashamed. However, I still seem to have made it in time.
Old Man:
Hah, like hell you did. I was just starting to think about my mother right before I die.
Nodachi Swordsman:
Reminiscing about your esteemed mother, haha. Shinmen Musashi-dono seems to be a kinder gentleman than I have thought.
Old Man:
You’ll be struck down by Heaven for saying such a thing, mine fate.
Even so, I welcome you. I have waited. I have waited long, surely, I have waited so long for this.
However, my regrets cannot be put to rest. You see, I can no longer swing my two swords with these old hands of mine.
I am sorry. I am so sorry. Forgive me. Please forgive me---
Nodachi Swordsman:
There is no need to apologize. Raise your head, sir.
This is a good place you have cooped yourself in. It is as if you have separated yourself from all mundane chores of the outside world.
If I could, I would like to choose such a place to live out my final years. It is truly peaceful and quiet here.
There is no bustle of the town, only a leisurely passing of time.
I can see that you have arrived at a different realm than I have.
Old Man:
Hahaha. Haha…. I wondered what you would say, but you chose to evaluate my final home. You are poor at flattery, mine fate.
Though it has some bare necessities, this here is a tomb. The tomb where I, who once lived as a man, will die.
Iori has been raised well. He has become a man as fine as Mikinosuke, and is now a chief retainer or something, somewhere....
I am dying. Therefore, I have been waiting for you. The man who is mine fate.
But--- you certainly are a swordsman with a beautiful face.
Nodachi Swordsman:
Beautiful, you say.
Unlike me, sir, you are good with flattery.
I am nothing more than a whimsical eccentric who wanders the empty wilderness no others have set eyes on, continuously swinging my single sword.
I am a swordsman.
However, I absolutely cannot be called a champion of the sword.
Old Man:
A champion of the sword, eh? Those who are called that are...
Well, there are none… but, heheh.
A champion is such a grandiose thing. There are no champions who would lay hands on a normal person, a normal old man, I think.
Nodachi Swordsman:
The word ‘champion’ would not be an exaggeration if used to refer to you, sir. The many legends passed down about Shinmen Musashi stand testament to that.
Shinmen Musashi, Miyamoto Musashi. There is no swordsman whose heart would not be set aflame at the mention of that valorous name.
There is no shortage of children vying with each other, their aims inspired by you.
Elderly sir, you will become such a legend.
Old Man:
….A legend. A legend, huh.
I am just an old man. In my youth I was single-mindedly wild, and in my old age I tried to behave wisely, but…
In the end, I am just what you see before you. Nothing but an old man about to die alone.
Well, though I say that, there’s one, two of us here. There are so few now. I once encountered those who would reach out to others. A nagging old monk, for one. A bunch of little boys and girls would also follow me around once in awhile.
…….
And so, I lived. Man cannot survive alone, after all.
In the end, by the time I understood that, I was already alone. Well, this is just the meaningless grumblings of an old man.
Nodachi Swordsman:
No, that is a bit different. You said it yourself, sir, that you raised Miyamoto Iori-dono.
You also passed on the Niten Ichiryuu to this world.
Even if you sit here alone in Reigan Cave, the man named Musashi has left his mark on the world, a mark that will spread even after his death.
On the other hand, I am--- nothing so admirable. All I have is my body and my skill, and they will vanish upon my death.
Old Man:
...It’s just the grumbles of the elderly. Stop it. Why must you put on such a face?
Do not speak of such lonely things. You are my good rival, an elegant swordsman who is like the wind.
Though it could not be fulfilled in this life……
Someday, on another stage, perhaps…
Perhaps, ah, if this were truly hell…
I would stand up even if I had to eat the flesh of oni…
And cross blades with you…!
Nodachi Swordsman:
Be at ease. There is not a speck of need at all to lament so.
Old Man:
What….?
Nodachi Swordsman:
Just a moment ago, I have indeed fought Musashi. I have truly seen what the real Niten Ichiryuu is like.
That is why, sir, be at ease.
Shinmen Musashi has---- in front of my eyes, reached the point of zero.
Old Man:
….Is that so.
…….Ah, if it is you who is saying it, then I believe it is so. Musashi has reached the seat of emptiness and known of zero.
That is so. Yes… that is so, mine fate. Sasaki Kojiro.
That is… good…
Truly, truly….
A fitting conversation… to calm my soul… it is…
The old man slowly closes his eyes.
Nodachi Swordsman:
Farewell, Musashi. Farewell, Shinmen Musashi-no-Kami Fujiwara no Harunobu.
The greatest rival in my life, whom I should not have been able to meet even once.
Farewell.
Originally Posted by mewarmo990
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