The moment Reiko stepped back into the house, the door behind her vanished.
The walls groaned like ancient lungs, and one by one, every window, every exit, sealed over with wood and bone. Where the shrine's paper doors once stood were now warped surfaces of flesh-veined timber. Koroe reached for the handle to the main gate, only to watch it dissolve into the wall like wax.
"We're sealed in," Yukishiro said, his golden eyes narrowing. "This isn't just spiritual—it's alchemical. The house is becoming part of him."
Saika stood still by the staircase, his head slightly bowed. Reiko had seen him in every stage of her life—tidying the garden, preparing her meals, bowing silently as Miyako wept behind closed doors. He had always been present, reliable. But now his eyes were clouded. Not with fear, but resignation.
"Saika," she asked, her voice tentative, "what is this place turning into?"
Saika turned slowly.
"The House of Return," he said softly. "The final stage of the bloodline seal. When all three shadows awaken, the house becomes the vessel. And I... I am its gatekeeper."
Yukishiro drew his blade an inch from its sheath. "Gatekeeper? What are you really?"
Saika smiled, and in that smile was sorrow.
"Not a man. Not anymore. I am a shell. A spiritual homunculus, shaped from blood and bone. Created by Lord Jiroh to protect the lineage. To ensure the ritual would never be forgotten."
Reiko took a step back.
"You served my family all this time... but you weren't real?"
Saika bowed.
"I served the purpose. And you, Reiko-sama, are its conclusion."
Koroe raised her staff, beginning a chant. Her voice trembled with fury.
"You mean to sacrifice her again? I won't let this house consume her!"
She pressed her fingers to the floor. A seal ignited—blue flame curling into the shape of a lotus. But the moment it touched the walls, they howled. The floor split beneath her, and smoke poured upward.
Koroe screamed.
Her eyes glazed over as she fell into the vision.
The past.
She stood in a different era.
The estate was new, golden with lantern light. Children laughed in the garden.
Then: a woman's scream.
Koroe turned to see Jiroh standing over a woman, her face pale, her belly swollen with child.
"Forgive me," he whispered.
He raised a curved blade and drove it into her womb.
Blood splattered across the shrine walls.
Behind him, a young boy—Teisuke—stood frozen.
Jiroh turned to him, eyes wide with grief.
"I must bind it," he wept. "Or we all vanish. The spirits demand shape."
Then he slit his son's throat.
Koroe screamed awake, the vision shaking her body.
Reiko ran to her side, catching her just before she fell.
"He killed them... his own family," Koroe choked. "To make the seal. To bind the spirits. Reiko, your blood carries that act. That wound."
The house shook violently.
Saika stepped forward, his body beginning to crack.
From beneath his skin, threads of ash and wire emerged, writhing. His voice deepened.
"I am unraveling. My purpose is fulfilled. My final act... is to witness you choose."
He fell to his knees.
Yukishiro moved to strike him down, but Reiko held up a hand.
"No. Let him fade."
Saika looked at her one last time.
"Forgive me, little one. I carried your blanket when you first came to this house. I watched you smile through your mother's pain. And though I was made to serve the seal, a part of me...—"
He shuddered, mouth breaking open with black threads.
"—a part of me loved you like a father would."
He crumbled.
Dust. Bone. Gone.
Silence fell.
The house's heartbeat slowed.
Reiko rose. Her hands glowed faintly. The symbols on her skin now pulsed with gold instead of red.
Yukishiro approached, voice tight with emotion.
"You carry the final blood. You carry their pain. And now... you must decide."
Koroe leaned on her staff. "Exorcise the shadows and break the cycle... but your spirit may not survive the severing."
"Or," Yukishiro added grimly, "let them in. Become the vessel. But lose yourself."
The walls whispered again.
"Choose."
Reiko placed her hand over her heart.
Inside, Jiroh's voice whispered.
"We can make you a god. Just open the gate."
But over that voice, she heard her mother's laughter.
She saw Otaki's smile.
She remembered the child she had once been.
"I'm not your vessel," she said.
She turned toward the center of the house.
"I'm your ending."
To be continued...