During the Taisho period, evil spirits were rampant.
The swordsmen of the Demon Slayer Corps use the Nichirin Sword to slay demons and use the breathing method as their sword, fighting for their lives against the darkness day after day. On this road paved with blood and death, some people fell down, some got up, some learned to smile from loss, and some found their destination in loneliness.
This is a story about "hardening" and "softening".
Kamishiro Ahiro is a girl with thorns all over her body.
She has never gone to school, can't read, speaks like a quarrel, and wears clothes that can make her master cry. She has a chirping sister, a senior sister who always smiles, and a partner who talks as little as a stone - the man who killed her ghostly family members, but when she was about to die, he blocked the fatal knife for her.
"Summer Festival, let's go together next time."
These were the last words left by that man.
Then Lihong learned to laugh.
It's not a real smile, it's the kind of smile where the corners of the mouth are just right, the eyes are bent, and no one can see through it. She hid all the thorns, swallowed all the curses, and turned herself into a stone - cold, hard, and didn't care about anything.
Until she met the boy named Xuan Mi.
He is 1.8 Meters tall and as thin as a bamboo pole. His status as a ghost eater makes everyone stay away from him. He talks less but works more. He doesn't say anything when he is in pain or suffers. He has an irritable brother, a figure that wants to catch up, scars all over his body, and a pair of eyes that are always bright.
Lihong looked at him as if he saw his former self.
Then the stone began to crack.
Light shines through the cracks.
Some masters scolded her for secretly buying candy, some junior brothers rushed to work and their ears turned red, some sisters chattered that they would take her to China, and there were streaks left by that person, which made her forehead feel slightly hot.
Everyone knows what happened next.
The blood and fire of Infinite City, the wound sword and ice, the people lost, the people left behind, those who died before dawn, and those who lived until dawn.
But that's not what Lihong remembers.
She remembered that when Master left, he smiled and said, "Okay, let's go."
I remember the way Sakurako slept, exactly the same as when she was eight years old.
I remember that person said, "I'll go too, then."
I remember Xuan Mi standing up from the ruins, covered in blood, but still alive.
I remember Fengzhu sitting beside his brother's bed and putting his hands on his hair.
Remember that everyone loves well, desperately, and clumsily.
Flowers bloom on the rock wall.
Flowers can also bloom in the cracks of stones.
Those who are hard, cold, and don't seem to care about anything actually have the softest things hidden in their hearts. But the wind was too strong, the soil was too thin, and the days were too hard. They could only survive by turning themselves into stone.
But the flowers will still bloom.
One day
In this story, no one is born strong.
They just learned "not to cry" too early.
But the flowers in the cracks of the stones will always bloom.
Even if the flowering period is short.
Even if only one person sees it.
Also worth driving.
Concept: Flowers growing on rock walls