Afterward, the four traveled together to a small town near Mount Fujikasane. When Sabito saw Hiru suddenly become extremely excited—asking for directions and then sprinting straight toward the mountain—he couldn't help feeling puzzled and a little worried.
"Um... what's Hiru doing?"
"It's fine," Yoriichi replied calmly. "He's just going to paint. He'll be back tomorrow morning."
"Does this happen often?"
"Mm." Yoriichi nodded slightly. "Compared to swordsmanship, his talent for painting is indeed greater—or perhaps, it's something he loves even more."
"Hmm..." Sabito nodded thoughtfully, glancing at the inns lining the street. "Speaking of painting, isn't there a famous school or style? I think it was called... Yomi-sensei? Later, many artists imitated his work, and there was even someone named Asahi-sensei. I heard their styles were very similar, except Asahi-sensei only painted daytime scenes."
"Yes, that school does exist—and Hiru happens to be part of it." Yoriichi's eyes softened slightly as he nodded. "Actually, Hiru's been thinking about adopting a similar title for himself. He said he'd only paint dawn and dusk—to let that style be passed down together."
"Haha, that's quite an admirable goal. But I've heard Yomi-sensei's paintings are incredibly hard to imitate," Sabito said, propping his chin on his hand as he tried to recall. "They say he never used white paint—any white you see in his paintings is just the untouched paper itself. Asahi-sensei became famous for the same thing. I'm not well-versed in art, but wouldn't it be really difficult to paint without using white?"
Yoriichi shook his head. "That's not an issue for Hiru. For certain reasons, he's never had access to white pigment."
[After all, he's been painting that way for hundreds of years because he couldn't find the color—and whenever he manages to get light pigments, he's always too reluctant to use them.]
Yoriichi thought silently to himself.
"That's incredible!"
"I think so too." Yoriichi smiled faintly. "But when he paints... well, he can be a bit hard to get along with."
Sabito was about to respond when Giyu tugged on his sleeve. "Sabito, over there."
Sabito looked up and spotted an inn with a vacancy sign. "Ah, that one still has rooms available. Let's go there."
Yoriichi nodded, showing no objection.
When they arrived and inquired, they learned there was only one room left. Since they hadn't seen any other inns with vacancies along the way, Sabito and Yoriichi decided to split the cost. They asked the innkeeper to prepare four futons and set up an extra folding screen.
Before going to bed, Sabito couldn't help wondering when Hiru would come back—and whether he'd even be able to find them. But he ended up sleeping straight through until morning, and Hiru never returned.
Peeking past the screen, he saw two futons neatly folded and stacked by the wall. Yoriichi sat cross-legged in the morning light, quietly meditating.
Sabito glanced at the still-sleeping Giyu and, not wanting to disturb them, quietly dressed and slipped out the door. He didn't notice that when he opened it, Yoriichi briefly opened his eyes to watch him leave—then closed them again once Sabito shut the door behind him.
"Hmm... I should go order breakfast for everyone first," Sabito murmured as he fastened his haori and headed downstairs. "Yesterday, Yoriichi seemed to prefer lighter flavors for the oden, and Giyu should probably eat more vegetables..."
He was still thinking over what to order when he stepped into the lobby—only to stop in surprise. At this early hour, he hadn't expected anyone to be there, but a single person was already seated. Looking closer, he realized it was Hiru, who had been missing since last night.
However, the Hiru before him seemed entirely different from the one yesterday.
The youth sat casually but with a calm, focused expression. One hand held a sketchbook made of stiff paper, while the other moved a pencil fluidly across the page.
Sabito blinked in mild disbelief, then quietly approached and peeked over Hiru's shoulder.
On the paper was a drawing of a black-haired figure wearing a kimono. Their face was obscured, but they stood beneath blooming wisteria, posture straight and tall like a pine tree, gazing gently toward the viewer. Though still unfinished, warmth and serenity seemed to radiate from the figure through the drawing itself.
"It's the person I met last night."
Sabito froze and realized Hiru had stopped sketching to look at him. "Last night?"
"Yeah. He seemed very sick," Hiru replied, eyes lowering back to the page. "It looked like he could die at any moment."
Sabito noticed the confused look on Hiru's face—like he had witnessed something beyond understanding. Sabito wanted to respond, but no words came to mind.
Hiru rubbed the pencil between his fingers for a moment, then resumed sketching. "I've already ordered breakfast. Once everyone's up, we can eat."
"Oh, how much was it? I'll pay for Giyu and me."
"Forget it. Just treat me to dinner instead." Hiru frowned slightly and gave him a quick look over his shoulder, his tone edged with impatience. "If you don't have anything important to say, then don't talk to me. I need to finish this before nightfall. Go on, go."
Sabito paused for a moment, then gave a helpless smile.
...He really is hard to deal with when he's painting.