Those words had entrapped themselves in my throat, yet when my eyes laid on hers and saw that deep sadness, they came out with a roll of the tongue. Sekai bore eyes that told what musings about ‘echoes’ couldn’t, and she made her way down the destroyed garden, no more shadowy hands sprouting from the immaterial ground, only the bobbing sapling unperturbed by the world around it, and she settled to my side. I wish she wouldn’t touch me, so drenched in blood… But that blood was gone with the blink of an eye. Kasen Ibaraki remained—or maybe it was all that there ever was to begin with.

A most terrifying answer for one long millennium.

Now, an echo after a year-long enslavement in the hands of that monster.

Above, the surface of the lake shook, and the darkness crept inwards, overwhelming us in a most gentle and comfortable blanket, beckoning rather than forcing. Her infinite irises looked again towards the sapling, and I narrowed mine upon noting it was slowly fading away. “… It seems my mothers have succeeded in my rebirth. I’m glad—we’ll see the same sun, Mother Kasen.” she sighs, crouched and supporting her chin on her hands, elbows sunk in her thighs.

The thought should be one of freedom, yet the fear booms inside.

My head is adorned with big horns, the shackles are heavy, and my eyes are reflected as slit pupils on those infinite ones. Douji was an echo of something slain long ago, kept alive by a fear I could never escape and left uncontrolled. The truth tried to bury itself in my heart… Sekai’s eyes were like Reimu’s, wide and bright and—here. She’s here.

An echo of thousands, yet so very her. Not someone else, not a strand or a phantasm.

She’s listening to me.

Words come out in a barrage. “… They’ll see me for what I truly am. I’ve already lost them, b-but what I am—what I’ve done; what I’ve let happen—won’t be forgiven…” Against flooding memories, these tears are a given. “I-I never wanted these sins…”

A setting sun would’ve solved that.

“I know,” she spells softly, searching the shadowy ground and paying no mind to the fading sapling. The smile she wears upon finding a small clover balloons my heart. “… But our actions are our measure. Great people have allowed me to be born, and you’re a part of that crowd, Mother Kasen—I am thankful for that… Even to those whose hearts are void of good, like True Mother,” without a name attached to it, only the image of Yukari manifested. “She won’t change, no matter what happens. I love her no less because of that.” She twists the four-leaf clover between her fingers, that sad look lingering.

I look at both my hands, an odd sight after so long with those bandages. Both hands have elongated, jagged nails—the swords of a malevolent race. My heart shakes and my mouth dries at a rising fear.

Then, the four-leaf clover is gingerly placed on my palm, and Sekai closes it softly. The swords don’t harm the ethereal plant. “… You are here, Mother Kasen. For them, and for me. Atonement is not something I understand, but it’s something I trust you could find if you were to seek it,” she caresses my hand, locks of warm hazelnut falling to cover some of her face, which shone a baby blue. She's vanishing. “When you find what you believe will render you forgiveness for your every sin, then I ask you to come and tell me all about it. Tell me of everything that you love a lot and that you’ve found out loves you, despite your sins. I want to hear it all!” Infinite power in her eyes, and she cries like a child would, something akin to bitter pride swelling in every visible inch of her face.

It clicks, sadly: she’ll never see Yukari—her 'True Mother'—like this.

Yukari will never atone for her sins…

… Will I?

Do I even have the right to seek forgiveness?

I don’t know, and it frightens me to not know. A millennium of Douji running rampant, a shadow brewing in the back of my mind forever hidden away, my sheer malignity sealed in a piece of meat. Something that never existed.

That person—that animal—is me; her sins are… mine.

But the animal has been tamed, and it has returned home.

The answer is somewhere after this great war, and I thirst to find it, and… To tell Sekai about it. To tell Reimu about it over good tea. A yearning echoes alongside maybe the first genuine smile of mine in decades, and shoulders feel lighter, heart beats full. Sins remain to be carried, and the fear surely will never leave my guts—fear of a prowling demon; of myself—, but if my child believes I can find atonement for them, then why ignore her?

I want to earn that.

A conquered animal is nothing one should fear.

“These sins and this fear aren’t my measure. If I ever get that forgiveness, I’ll make sure it's mine—and you’ll be the first to know, child.” I smile tenderly as she giggles, which echoes as she disappears.

It’s a sight more beautiful than any sunset.

“I’ll wait warmly~!” She says.

She is gone then, and darkness consumes my shattered mindscape.

I cradle the clover to my heart.