Vixen

And then Moment X version 2.0 occurs, which completely destroys his newly restored self-esteem.

When his entire armed retinue and he himself prove incapable of defeating a single demon, whom Yoriichi kills with a single strike.

It all happened again. Again he was defenseless, and again his brother saved him effortlessly. But on top of that, due to his inability to display the same fighting talent as his brother, people died. To us, they were unknown, but to him, they were loyal retainers and comrades in arms. Yoriichi mentioned that the death of his squad was the main motivation for Michikatsu's decision to become a hunter. So, for Michikatsu, their deaths weren't unimportant; the Transparent World allows one to see such things.

Note: Yoriichi says "lent". This means Michikatsu was supposed to be a TEMPORARY member of the organization, not a permanent one.

For him, what happened was clear proof of his complete inadequacy as a combat leader, compared to his younger brother... whose rightful place as heir he had taken ten years earlier. And so we come to how Yoriichi, as the Herald, demonstrated to Michikatsu that an ordinary person, even at the very top of the social ladder, is nothing compared to a unique talent. And that no armor, money, or high status can compensate for this difference.

Yoriichi also revealed that there was an entire organization of demon slayers, and theoretically, one could indeed learn to fight like him. And Michikatsu, with all the tenacity of a heroic soul, decided to answer this Call.

2. Identification with the Masculine and gathering of allies

Michikatsu joined the organization as an ordinary slayer, leaving behind not only his family but also his feudal status. At that particular moment, there was nothing overly reprehensible in his actions. It was normal for a samurai to go on a long campaign, especially since in this case, his family and household could continue to function normally even in his absence. It was normal for a samurai to be concerned with restoring his honor. And most likely, Michikatsu justified his actions by saying he would return home to his wife and children once he had learned everything Yoriichi could.

Yoriichi supported him, and the slayers were naturally delighted to see a professional warrior, not a peasant farmer, appear. His wife's opinion, alas, was ignored.

3. Road of trials, meeting ogres and dragons

Michikatsu convinces himself that if he trains long enough, he can match his brother's abilities. He can't use the Sun Breath (no one has for hundreds of years), but he creates the closest equivalent—the Moon Breath. It's also unique and one-of-a-kind, but not quite the same. Years later, he acquires a mark, which—as he thought—proved he was on the right path.

In his eyes, slaying demons was hardly different from fighting bandits and enemy soldiers. For him, all means of regaining his self-esteem boiled down to the desire to become the strongest of fighters.

His relationships with the other hunters are unknown. His memories only reveal Yoriichi. In Michikatsu's eyes, his younger brother appeared as a calm man, preoccupied with his own thoughts and rarely showing emotion. They didn't go on missions together, as Yoriichi had no need for assistants. Because of this, their interactions rarely extended beyond discussing business matters, which certainly didn't foster a good relationship. When someone walks around with a stony face, showing little interest in you, it's very difficult to detect any signs of affection.

Michikatsu no longer thought about his family. His only thoughts were directed toward one specific goal. Having become the second-strongest Hunter in history by the age of 20+, he still couldn't be satisfied with such a "modest" result.

4. Finding the boon of success

And so we came to the point where it was discovered that the presence of the mark dramatically shortens the bearer's lifespan to 25 years.

Considering Kokushibo's words that "Yoriichi lived for over 80 years, and they hadn't seen each other for 60 years", Michikatsu would have been at least 20 years old at that point. And if we take into account the phrase "I have no time left," then most likely the meeting with Muzan took place when our hero was already exactly 24 years old.

Did he fear the very fact of death? No. But HOW he would die was of the utmost importance to him.

Like Yoriichi, he faced a second trial — accepting his fate. In his case it meant to die humbly, like all the other lesser slayers who had managed to achieve the mark. But certain that he must justify his existence with some significant feat, Michikatsu looked back and saw nothing. Not even apprentices capable of maintaining the techniques and the Breath he had developed.

И всё же он проделал такой долгий путь. Он поднялся так высоко. И казалось, вершина была прямо перед его глазами. И умереть всего в двух шагах от цели было невыносимо. Он всё ещё верил, что сможет сравняться с Ёриичи.

He desperately needed support at this moment. For someone to approach him and tell him that, despite his young age, he had achieved much and truly deserved respect. But he always kept all his worries to himself, ashamed of his envy, realizing that such a feeling was unworthy of a true samurai.

And that conversation with Yoriichi was probably the limit of what Michikatsu was capable of. Dry and concise, purely businesslike. "We will die, and all our achievements will die with us". Michikatsu hoped that his brother, who was in similar circumstances, would understand and say something encouraging.

But Yoriichi couldn't understand, having never experienced such emotions himself. And their conversation could be compared to that of a rich and poor man, where the former assures the latter that money is unimportant.

Muzan, however, was clearly not in the best of spirits at that moment. Not only had the slayers suddenly become equal in strength to the demons, but they had also become immune to forced conversion. Recall Tanjiro, who resisted even when Muzan poured his all into him.

And the sudden death of the organization's main fighting force was a true gift for him. True, this didn't guarantee that no one would replace them, but he could try to take advantage of the situation, so that the voluntary conversion of one of the hunters would be a true finishing blow.

And who should he turn? That's right, the second strongest. After all, the second always dreams of being first. Especially since the strongest should be eliminated anyway before they have time to train the next generation.

Did Muzan spend time studying his victim? Most likely, yes. Unlike many other Moons, Muzan wasn't some kind of benefactor to Michikatsu, and forced conversion was impossible. He needed to think of something to offer beyond simply saving someone from death, and to do that, he needed to understand the person's desires and aspirations.

And so he did. On one side of the scale stood Yoriichi, proposing that they die like ordinary people, accepting the path of victim. And on the other stood Muzan, proposing that he becomes someone truly special and shapes his own destiny.

If Michikatsu had had even a day to think about it, it's far from certain he would have agreed. But he didn't have that luxury. Most of his comrades had already died or were expected to die soon. His relationship with his brother hadn't worked out, and it was assumed he would soon die too. And he didn't have a minute to think. Moreover, the very proposal shocked him and threw him off balance. He had been preparing for battle. He had already drawn his sword.

And so he leaped into the abyss. He leaped because he thought this leap would allow him to achieve what he desired. That very summit.

And for a while, he even thought he had. Having given up his last—his humanity—Michikatsu transforms into a demon, completely severing his ties to the world of ordinary people on a material level.

The trial of the Guardians is passed. The Threshold into the Unknown World is crossed.

5. Awakening to feelings of spiritual aridity, death

And... the main tragedy was that he became a demon, but retained almost his entire personality. A completely normal personality, without any deviations.

Why did Kokushibo like Akaza so much that he even got angry when he died? Because Akaza's behavior closely resembled that of a human and a professional fighter, while the vast majority of demons behaved like Douma — that is, they found a convenient hiding place and caught everyone who passed by, wasting their eternity on the pathetic theft of other people's chi. It was not without reason that Muzan measured the power of a demon by the number of people he ate — because they didn't try to develop in any other way, while Kokushibo, by the age of 480+, had created 16 styles for his Breath. Yes, for the first 60 years or so, immersed in a life freed from the need to do anything but train, everything seemed wonderful to him. And perhaps it would have lasted longer, but fate, in the person of Yoriichi, found him then, abruptly ending the aura of "freedom" that had turned Michikatsu's head in the first decades.

When it turned out that, having become a demon and dedicated more than half a century to endless training, he was still inferior in skill to the aging Yoriichi. When Yoriichi died of old age, in battle, victorious. The perfect death of a samurai. While Michikatsu himself remained alive as a hideous monster.

That's why Kokushibo had a genuine breakdown at that moment. Because in his dreams, he himself wanted to die exactly like that. And not live forever like Muzan. And the only reason he agreed to become a demon... turned out to be false. Yoriichi passed away in a blaze of glory, and thus his greatness became impossible to attain. Because the dead cannot be surpassed, as he will always be remembered as an unattainable ideal.

And so he was left with the cut flute in his hands, a symbol of a broken brotherly bond, which further fueled his sense of guilt—the main source of his obsession. And for the rest of his life, he kept it close to him, as if deliberately picking at an unhealed wound.

Didn't he call himself "all people"? Didn't he confess in these lines his longing for his twin brother?

And then... then it was all over. Having turned into an Oni, he lost everything but the warrior's pride that wouldn't allow him to go out into the sun or lose to any opponent less worthy than Yoriichi. Pure, mindless stubbornness without any real ambition.

Well, and serving Muzan. He swore fealty to him, unlike Ubuyashi. Kokushibo addressed the demon king as "Muzan-sama". The fanbook says that Kokushibo got along with Muzan and saw no reason to hide his thoughts from him, but that doesn't mean he liked his superiors. Rather, it's because, desperately clinging to his samurai status, he followed his oath with particular zeal.

Remember how Yoriichi constantly walked around with the mantra, "I'm a mere mortal"? So, Michikatsu also had his own mantra: "I'm still a samurai". When he left his family, he probably justified it by saying he needed to restore his honor. It was the same with his transformation into a demon, because from a Buddhist perspective, eating not only people but meat in general is bad. But samurai ate meat; it was necessary for the military. Not beef, of course, that's taboo, but they allowed themselves wildfowl or chicken, ignoring the priests' heavy sighs.

A samurai has to kill other people. A samurai needs to eat meat. Therefore, having become a demon, he still remains a samurai. And for centuries, he continued to deceive himself, pointedly pretending that nothing had changed for him after his transformation:

- he retained almost a completely human appearance. His six eyes served a purely functional purpose, allowing him to constantly use the Transparent World.

- his combat methods also remained as human as possible, including dodging attacks, despite his frantic regeneration. He gave his weapon a name, even though his blade was no longer a unique and prized possession, but simply a piece of his flesh.

- his behavior was emphatically in keeping with samurai etiquette. He removed his shoes on the tatami mats (though this was pointless in the Infinity Castle), he never attacked first, and he strictly enforced military discipline among the Higher Moons, even though they met once every century. He even called himself "watashi"—an extremely polite form of the personal pronoun.

A psychological defense against the realization of how far he had fallen, just as Yoriichi had denied his Chosen Oneness to the very end.

6. Initiation and descent to the Goddess

In the Heroine's Journey, this stage is considered the beginning of the ascent, when the hero gains a second wind and overcomes a psychological crisis. But... Michikatsu doesn't have this stage because he dies in the previous one.

Such is the sad reality. The Hero may not defeat the Dragon, and the Heroine may not survive the stage of Spiritual Death.

Kokushibo kills Muichiro and, with him, the last memory of himself. He then loses the outwardly decent shell that allowed him to deny reality and falls into an existential crisis, weakening his ability to withstand damage.

People debate the cause of his death, but if you break it down and compare it to Akaza, it becomes quite clear.

1. The red-hot sword deals constant damage to the demon upon contact and, most importantly, slows regeneration. But it can't kill on its own: remember Muzan, chopped to pulp.

2. Decapitation or sunlight is the main requirement for killing a demon. Without this, the demon can’t be killed, even if you plunge ten red-hot swords into it at once.

3. Kokushibo regenerated his head, simultaneously resisting both the decapitation and the red-hot sword already embedded in it. The sword's damage has no "delayed" effect. It takes effect immediately upon being stabbed. And the damage Kokushibo received before and after his head regrowth was the same.

What's the difference then? The difference is in willpower and the desire to fight. When Kokushibo's human form was taken away, his self-perception that he was living a normal samurai life, and that there was nothing special about it, crumbled with him. Sure, a liege lord with a bad temper happens. And then he was slapped in the face with the fact that no, that wasn't true. And denying reality became impossible. And so he lost the desire to fight at a level that would allow him to regenerate while constantly taking damage.

And he died in despair, regret, and self-hatred. A sad end to a tragic character. But then why did I even start this section? The thing is, although Kokushibo doesn't have a Descent to the Goddess stage, its central character—Animus—is still present in the plot.

Who is this character? Gemei.

A man who had achieved incredible heights in martial arts and also faced the fact that as soon as he activated the mark, he would die within 24 hours. Do you remember his response to the offer to become a demon?

"The weak-willed do not become slayers. We will live the days that remain with pride."

These were the words Michikatsu needed when he was overcome with grief over his ignominious death: "You are a samurai. It doesn't matter how many victories you have won. The main thing is to live your life with dignity, and let that be enough for you".

While the Tsugikuni brothers completely misunderstood each other, Gemei spoke the same language as Michikatsu. He used terms he understood. And if this phrase had been spoken to Michikatsu back then, 480 years ago, he would never have accepted Muzan's offer. It was a voice calling him to remember who he was. To remember something very important, something that Michikatsu had forgotten in his self-flagellation. But the person capable of telling him these words arrived too late. And given the plot circumstances Gotoge had devised for the Animus's appearance, any other course of events for Kokushibo was impossible.

Could his ending have been different? It could have.

If he had been transformed into a human with the vaccine, he would never have thought of returning to the demon ranks.

If the characters had met Kokushibo off-duty and not in the Infinity Castle, he would have been more than happy to talk to them without resorting to cutting off their limbs. Because even an introvert needs someone to talk to from time to time, and finding a worthy companion among demons is extremely difficult.

Either scenario could have led to a completely different outcome. Perhaps even to Michikatsu's appearance at the decisive battle, which would have reduced the losses among the main characters.

Unfortunately, both of these characters appear extremely rarely, and their biographies are spread thinly throughout the manga.

But even this was enough to create a more complete Journey for each of the brothers than that of the main trio. Moreover, most importantly, their Journey is not simply a description of events with symbolic figures, as was Tanjiro's, but a story of a spiritual transformation of the individual.

Yoriichi, like his brother, is a tragic hero, whose essence is summed up by the phrase “I’m a mere mortal”, Yoriichi, clearly no mere mortal, constantly uttered these words like a mantra, demonstrating a complete reluctance to embark on the Journey. A man stuck in the Refusal stage, suffering the full weight of problems that befalls those who do so.

He was born the Chosen One. Yes, he truly is the Chosen One, for the Demon Slayer world is a world where hell and heaven truly exist. With a mark, incredible strength, enormous chi, and other gifts from Amaterasu, something his family naturally knew nothing about. His Known World was an extremely sad spectacle, as his father was a superstitious man, and also a samurai from the early Sengoku period, meaning he was very far removed from any notions of humanism. Therefore, the man considered the younger of the two twins (which is already a source of fear) with a strange mark on his forehead to be cursed and bringing misfortune. Nothing special, really, just standard magical thinking for a person of that time.

He wanted to get rid of the child, but his mother, Akeno-san, showed unexpected aggression, shocking everyone around her, including her husband, and thus saving her son's life.

And so we have the Master of the World — the unnamed father (the author didn't consider him worthy of a name). A military man, a feudal lord, a stern and calculating man.

The Mistress of the World — Akeno-san. A calm, sickly, and deeply religious woman.

And the First Heir — Michikatsu's older brother, who grew up in a system where he was expected to be both filial piety and to become his father's replacement in the future, the ruler of the fief, not just a submissive soldier. And he grew up tenacious, hardworking, and stubborn when it came to achieving his goals. And although his father wielded absolute power in the household, Michikatsu clearly believed he had his own opinion on matters, even under the threat of violence.

Excerpts from the fanbook. From here on, translations from the original are shown in red to convey the exact meaning.

How should we assess his role in Yoriichi's life, given the significant discrepancy between the brothers' perspectives? It's important to be clear who's speaking. Gotoge has always been excellent at creating psychological profiles. And if Kokushibo is a 480+ year-old individual recalling events he remembers only very vaguely, and through the lens of his present-day perspective, then it is unlikely he remembers the thoughts and perspectives of a little boy named Michikatsu. Even the faces of his family have faded from his memory, much less his own thoughts at age seven.

On the other hand, we have Yoriichi, who is about 30 years old and has possessed the Transparent World since birth, allowing him, among other things, to see people's psychological states. Putting it all together, we can say Yoriichi's opinion is far more credible. According to him, Michikatsu didn't despise his younger brother; he pitied him and worried about him.

He played with him, gave him a device so he could call for help, since Yoriichi was considered deaf (and no one knew how to teach a deaf person to speak at the time). He communicated with him despite all the prohibitions.

That's why Yoriichi loved his brother so much. At that particular time, Michikatsu wasn't "Kaigaku Number 2"; in Yoriichi's eyes, he was a protector and a positive role model. A source of good memories of home.

Yoriichi himself was already an extremely passive and submissive person, accustomed to being led by his older brother's hand. Those who like to label him consider him autistic (it's a fashion these days to attribute mental illness to everyone), but Yoriichi should be viewed as a mythical Buddhist hero. And he's not mentally ill, but rather blessed. Or even Enlightened. A perfect being from birth, incapable of experiencing negative feelings towards people or any strong aspirations, as the Enlightened One has already completed his Path. The very tree Tanjuro mentioned.

And... this is the main source of problems in his life. Because who is a Hero? A Hero is the primary driving force of Existence. He is the leading manifestation of Yang energy in history—movement, activity, sometimes even chaos. One who knows no rest and seeks development.

A perfect and passive being can’t be a Hero, because only Yin energy can be perfect and passive. A Goddess, a Mistress of the World, a Princess, any metaphorical Mother, but not a Father, whose essence is struggle.

Yoriichi possessed heroic abilities and a heroic Body, but he lacked a heroic soul.

...and the heroic soul ended up in another child. "Oops," said Amaterasu...

The turning point occurs when the brothers turn seven years old. Seven years old is a special milestone in Asia, as people believe that until that age, a person belongs to the spirit world. The tradition of celebrating this milestone in a child's life continues in Japan to this day.

The reasons why Yoriichi chose to speak with his brother now aren’t revealed, but the most important thing is that he demonstrated his phenomenal fighting ability. Picking up a weapon for the first time in his life, he instantly knocked out an adult professional fighter.

And this... instantly destroyed his Known World, as the backlash came immediately.

1. The Call to Adventure

The father decides to make Yoriichi his Heir, getting rid of his eldest son in the process, as he could theoretically pose a threat to his brother.

The stress of this situation overwhelms Akeno, and she dies of illness.

In other words, Yoriichi's biological father acted as the Dragon, destroying his world (as manifested in the death of his mother) and planning to send his eldest son to a monastery, symbolizing the imprisonment of the Princess in a tower, where she will never be able to begin a new era. Yes, in this Journey, Michikatsu played the role of the Damsel in Distress, whom Yoriichi needed to save. Save his soul and his world, where he has a family.

2. Refusal of the Call

Instead of confronting his father, Yoriichi runs away, abandoning his brother (the Princess) in the Dragon's arms.

Yoriichi didn't want to quarrel with his father, so he saw only one way to help his brother: leaving. While this truly saves Michikatsu, it also leaves him in the company of the man who so recently intended to get rid of him, and it's unlikely that such a thing can be easily forgotten.

Nothing more can be learned about this period, as Kokushibo himself immediately switches to memories of his wife, and his father dies shortly after his marriage.

According to the logic of the Journey, the stage of Supernatural Aid, or at worst, the stage of Threshold Guardians, follows after Refusal, but what happens to Yoriichi?

Yoriichi finds Uta and, in her, acquires a new Mistress of the Known World. Michikatsu remains in his memory, but Yoriichi considered his connection with his home severed and never planned to return there.

The gods were probably astonished: "Hero, are you... planning on being a hero? What do you mean, not?"

And at first, Yoriichi was lucky. He spent serene days in Uta's company, and the terrifying Dragon in the person of his father died on its own, allowing Michikatsu to live a peaceful life, as peaceful as it could be for a feudal lord of the Sengoku era.

But fate still found Yoriichi. For fate leads the willing, and drags the unwilling.

When Yoriichi went to negotiate with the midwife, leaving his pregnant wife alone for a whole day (in the mountains, in the forest, in a house without a fence... what stunning, unadulterated naivety), he returned to find her dead.

The higher powers cruelly punished the one who dared to defy his destiny.

3. Supernatural Aid. Appearance of the Mentor

Help, as with Tanjiro, arrives, but too late. A demon hunter appears and invites Yoriichi to follow in his footsteps.

It's unlikely he could teach the Chosen One anything, but he showed him where the futon was in the barracks, and that's all he needed.

So, Yoriichi himself didn't rush into the Unknown World; he was simply led there, given a sword, and pointed a finger at the demons. Even the Threshold Guardians were absent, because there was no one to check here. He had enough power for an entire army, and Yoriichi's enthusiasm always strove for perfection. To zero.

The Threshold Guardians and Belly of the Whale stages are skipped.

4. Road of Trials

Instead of burning with an unbearable thirst to kill every demon on the planet, Yoriichi found his calling in sharing his divinely bestowed knowledge with other slayers, like a Goddess. This knowledge literally encompassed how to transform one's Qi into a tangible form—Breath—and thereby increase one's combat potential.

Although, according to the rules of the Hero's Journey, a Hero should develop himself, not improve others. But Yoriichi was already born perfect, and I don't think he spent even five minutes of his life on personal training.

5. Meeting with the Goddess

If the mountain won't come to Mohammed, Mohammed must be brought to the mountain—so the gods thought, and they orchestrated a local emergency for Michikatsu, sending a demon to his military camp at night. Michikatsu experienced shock when all his fighters were instantly slaughtered, and Yoriichi, pursuing the demon, meets his brother after 10 years of separation. If a Body without a Soul can't function properly, it must be given a Soul. But this Michikatsu was no longer the sweet, kind boy; he had become a samurai and an aristocrat, whose pride and self-esteem had been twice crushed by a tractor (which we'll discuss in more detail later).

And a warrior aristocrat takes such blows very hard. He needed to restore his self-respect—to prove to himself that he wasn't worthless but had a right to live. Therefore, without any persuasion or entreaties from Yoriichi, Michikatsu abandoned all his possessions and family and went to a place where—as he believed—he could restore his dignity.

But Michikatsu wasn't just a soldier and couldn't be satisfied with the routine of "kill a demon, get money and someone's gratitude," if only because he thought beyond the confines of a single mission. A soldier strives to win a battle, while a general thirsts to win a war. And Michikatsu likely understood perfectly well that killing one, ten, even a hundred demons would change nothing. Especially in the Sengoku period, where a village and its inhabitants could be plundered or burned just to spite the village's owner. Humans killed on a much larger scale than demons.

And so, killing demons alone brought him no satisfaction. The Hero's soul and wounded pride craved a sense of significance, craved heroic deeds and recognition.

But the Princess doesn't perform heroic deeds; instead, she’s the one being fought for. She doesn't seek meaning in life, because she is meaning for others. And she certainly doesn't need to transform, because the Hero values ​​her as she is.

And the role Michikatsu was assigned in this life greatly oppressed him. He didn't understand why he existed. The concept of "living to be happy" didn't exist for him, because at that time, for the vast majority of people, happiness consisted of having a crust of bread, good health, and not fearing for their lives. Michikatsu had all of this, and even his abandoned wife and children lived far better than any peasant woman — better, in other words, than 90% of women in Japan. But this didn't make him any happier, because his problems lay much higher up Maslow's pyramid.

And it must be understood that when Yoriichi agreed to take Michikatsu with him to the hunter organization, he assumed the responsibility of a Mentor on his Journey. The responsibility of someone responsible for spiritual guidance and preparation for the transition from the role of an ordinary soldier to the role of a hunter living in the name of a sacred purpose.

And Yoriichi failed in this role. He couldn't.

Why? It's simple. A Mentor on the Journey is someone who has completed the entire cycle, at least to the Master of Two Worlds stage. Master of Two Worlds means that a person has successfully completed their transformation and successfully integrated back into the Known World.

In other words, they have completed the Journey themselves and can now explain how to do so to others.

But Yoriichi didn't complete the Journey; he refused it.

So it turns out that Michikatsu never made the transformation from an ordinary soldier, treating his enemies with the principle of "nothing personal, just business," to a hunter convinced he was fulfilling a sacred mission. And the only way for him to restore his self-esteem was to compete for the title of the best warrior, a competition he could never win. This, combined with his stubbornness and battered self-esteem, drove him to despair. Moreover, let's recall Yoriichi's phrase, "All masters of their craft converge on one point." He was primarily referring to spiritual Enlightenment, but he himself had already been born Enlightened and therefore couldn't explain to his brother how to become one. He simply didn't understand the torment of his soul.

And when Michikatsu came to him with the question of how he should live when he was soon to die and not even a memory would remain, what did Yoriichi say? He replied, “Don't worry and be happy. Just calmly await your fate; a more talented person than you will soon be born”.

No Hero would sit and meekly await their death, leaving the accomplishment of heroic deeds to someone else.

And at that moment, Yoriichi failed his meeting with the Goddess. Michikatsu went off to seek answers elsewhere and was "kidnapped" by the cunning Dragon.

6. Atonement with Father

Two monsters, one from the human world, the Chosen One of the gods, the other from the demon world, the Progenitor... no, they don't clash in a fierce battle for dominance of the Unknown World in the main villain's castle, but meet completely by chance on a path at night.

Unlike Tanjiro, Yoriichi never specifically tried to search for Muzan, which once again demonstrates the extent of his inertia.

And what does Yoriichi do? Defeats evil, realizing that this is his destiny? No. Instead of immediately focusing all his moral and physical strength on destroying Muzan, Yoriichi spends precious minutes expressing his indignation at his uncultured behavior.

Tanjiro meeting Muzan: running at him and yelling. Yoriichi: ...

Yoriichi was sorely lacking a genuine desire to defeat the villain at any cost... or an extra pair of hands.

Perhaps if Michikatsu had died in battle with Muzan, it would have been enough to truly anger Yoriichi.

Perhaps if Michikatsu had undergone the transformation and become a slayer not only in rank but also in spirit, he would have been able to heat his sword and inflict enough damage on Muzan before dying to make Yoriichi's task easier.

Perhaps, if Michikatsu had been nearby at that moment, he wouldn't have wasted time currying favor with the progenitor of monsters and would have prevented his brother from doing so.

But none of the above happened, because the hero's Soul had already been stolen by the evil Dragon. And Yoriichi never received his weapon—the unquenchable flame of the heroic Soul, necessary for the feat. Ultimately, Muzan escapes and then spends the rest of eternity erasing any memory of the Breath of the Sun. And even here, Yoriichi made no effort to hinder him. He didn't keep any archives, didn't create a hiding place for future generations. The fact that the Breath of the Sun has survived centuries is the initiative and merit of the Kamado family, not Yoriichi himself.

As for Michikatsu as a prisoner and the Dragon's most prized possession (yes, Muzan truly considered himself extremely fortunate to have obtained him) – again, Yoriichi did nothing to free his Soul from its prison, even at the cost of destroying his physical form. Although Yoriichi, perhaps better than anyone, understood how dangerous Michikatsu was. As the second most powerful hunter in history, he had become a truly terrifying demon and threatened the very existence of the extermination organization. But Yoriichi took no steps to quickly find and kill him, even though Michikatsu, unlike Muzan, never hid or avoided combat, meaning finding him wouldn't have required any extraordinary effort.

Only in his eighties did Yoriichi resolve to do what was necessary... and failed, because he died of old age, leaving his Soul eternally trapped in the immortal Dragon.

But from the point of view of samurai honor, Yoriichi was obliged to do this.

Yes, this is the true apotheosis of the Hero, who failed to do anything he should have.

He couldn't protect his World, he couldn't save his Princess, and he couldn't defeat his Dragon.

Because without a heroic soul, a heroic body is an empty vessel.

And yes, like all good characters, Yorichii was reincarnated as an ordinary man with a wife, children, and a life where the worst thing is a mortgage. Who has no idea that his Soul is burning in hell, or that he ever even had a brother. Can you call that a happy ending? I don't know.

Michikatsu's own journey didn't even hint at a happy ending. Fortunately, hell in Buddhism isn't a final destination, but a transit point (though not for those who end up in Avici. Muzan will have to languish there until the next kalpa).

But while in Yoriichi's Journey, Michikatsu is the Object (that which is influenced), in his own Journey he’s the Subject, and in many ways, he has ruined his own life.

There are many absurd opinions about him as a hero. For example, the claim that Michikatsu could never have equaled Yoriichi because he was bad and jealous, and bad boys naturally never win. This position is preschool-level, because Yoriichi is the Chosen One of the gods, and it is impossible to equal him in principle, and life is such a thing that you can do good deeds as much as you want and still never achieve success.

The second popular claim is that the moons symbolized the seven deadly sins, and Michikatsu was responsible for envy. This is no less clever than the first, because the leading religion in Demon Slayer is Buddhism, which doesn’t have the concept of the seven deadly sins. Christianity isn't mentioned at all, and there’s only hint of Shintoism. The theme of Buddhism is indeed present in Michikatsu's plot, as the main tenet of that religion is: "All desires lead to suffering. As long as you desire, you continue to suffer”. And Kokushibo's story is the story of a man whose desperate desire to achieve the impossible destroyed everything he held dear. The connection is obvious.

What's less obvious, however, is his Journey, because to properly understand the plot, one must understand the motives and origins of the hero's actions, and all we have are a few meager pages of biography, conveyed by an unreliable narrator.

But what do we know for sure about Kokushibo as a person? Let's try to list all the information that can be considered reliable (this is where the repetition begins, but it's inevitable):

1. Michikatsu Tsugikuni was born at the beginning of the Sengoku period to a wealthy samurai family and was a man with a sense of honor and ethics appropriate to his time and social standing.

Only a VERY rich person could afford large rooms, expensive furnishings, multi-layered clothes and equipment for a personal army.

What conclusions can be drawn from this?

A) He had a very specific attitude toward death and murder.

Michikatsu Tsugikuni was a professional military man who lived during the feudal wars, when death was omnipresent.

And from his perspective, demons eating people was far more repulsive than killing them at all. Ordinary people were just as likely to rape, rob, and enslave. Cannibalism is disgusting, but death is the reality of life.

And he was part of this reality. While Yoriichi and villagers like him initially led relatively peaceful lives, Michikatsu regularly killed ordinary people without any personal grudge against them. And he lost his comrades because war is a thing where people die.

Why is this important? Because Michikatsu Tsugikuni never perceived the work of a slayer as a great mission, lacking the personal element. He approached demon slaying with complete coolness and businesslike efficiency, as befits a professional.

Such a man would never be able to heat his blade, as it requires a tremendous emotional outburst. A self-respecting samurai, however, strives to remain calm in any situation.

On the other hand, such a man would never perceive the very need to kill others as something terrifying, because he had already done it before.

B) Michikatsu Tsugikuni was not an ordinary plebeian, but a wealthy feudal lord, which, in the era of warring provinces, made him practically an independent ruler. Consequently, he wasn’t one who served, but one who was served.

Roughly speaking, he wasn’t a knight, but a lord. Every lord is a knight, but not every knight is a lord. Why is this important? Because it means that Michikatsu Tsugikuni never swore an oath of allegiance to Ubuyashiki. He was a political entity whose oaths automatically affected his family, his vassals, and his political alliances with other feudal lords.

The Ubuyashiki clan and the Tsugikuni clan were on the same rung of the social ladder.

And if he had sworn an oath of allegiance to Ubuyashiki, his entire family and all his subordinates would have automatically become Ubuyashiki vassals. Like the Rengoku clan, for example. And then, after Michikatsu transformed into a demon, his family would have been obligated to find him and destroy him to clear the honor of the Tsugikuni clan. This didn't happen. The Tsugikuni clan degenerated over centuries for reasons beyond its control—Kokushibō states this explicitly.

Only Yoriichi swore a personal oath to Ubuyashiki. Not as a samurai, but as a humble man named Yoriichi. And he bore responsibility not as a member of the Tsugikuni clan, but as a slayer who had brought another person into the organization and vouched for him.

What was Michikatsu considered within the organization then? Most likely, some kind of honorary ally. He was bound to the organization by absolutely nothing other than his personal desire to be there.

C) Michikatsu was born into a very religious family, a very religious and superstitious class, and in an era when belief in God was taken for granted. And so he grew up a deeply religious man.

Furthermore, as the heir to a wealthy samurai clan, he had access not only to combat training but also to a good education, and therefore, in his eyes, the Way of the Samurai was not simply military service, but a philosophy with specific concepts of honor. And he couldn't have grown up any different in the conditions in which he was raised.

He wasn't isolated from society like Muzan, and his parents didn't turn religion into a profitable business like Douma's. His father devoutly followed feng shui, his mother constantly prayed at the altar of Amaterasu, and everyone around him lived the same way.

And while none of this was ever verbally expressed, it's important for understanding both the character and the plot.

Particularly because Kokushibo's main opponent in his final battle is Gemei. The best warrior in centuries, according to him, and also... a Buddhist monk. A man strong in his faith, he didn't turn away from his principles even after being accused of murdering children.

And this has great symbolic significance, as Michikatsu himself almost became a monk as a child, something he terrified of, having set all his intentions on the path of the samurai. But again, having become a samurai, he ended up betraying his own principles, which once again puts him in opposition to Gemei.

2. Michikatsu Tsugikuni was born at the beginning of the Sengoku period to a wealthy samurai family and was a man with a sense of honor and ethics appropriate to his time and social standing.

Michikatsu Tsugikuni was a normal, adequate member of society, as much as possible for someone who had been going to war as a job since the age of 14. While Nakime is a serial killer, Douma a psychopath, and Hantengu a schizophrenic, Kokushibo shows no signs of deviant behavior. Before becoming a demon, he led a completely law-abiding life, and his quirks were fueled by internal conflicts, not mental illness or flawed ethical standards.

Look at his bowed head posture. It's the posture of a man who understands he's doing wrong.

He understood that envy weighed heavily on him, and considered it a flaw. He understood that betraying one's duty as head of a family and feudal lord was wrong. And he understood that eating humans was immoral, and that demons were vile monsters.

He always knew this, it wasn’t as if he suddenly had an epiphany before his death (there is such a theory).

The Kokushibo’s sword translates as “The Empty Cry of the Abandoned by God”. And when a believer calls himself “abandoned by god”, it doesn't seem like a compliment at all.

Year after year, finding excuses to indulge his obsession, he drifted further and further down the path of no return, which gave rise to yet another attempt to convince himself that the end justifies the means. Until he reached a situation where making excuses became impossible.

3. Kokushibo has very low self-esteem, despite his high social status and military successes.

Moreover, this low self-esteem shines through in all his actions:

His inability to accept defeat from anyone other than the incomparable Yoriichi. Only the most insecure people constantly fear being in a "shameful" position. This applies both to the demons he demonstratively devoured, punishing them for even attempting to challenge him, and to his refusal to acknowledge the possibility of a more capable person being born than himself, even though to him — a man with children of his own — such a development should have seemed the natural course of events.

His desire to prove his worth to himself by any means necessary. For example, to emphasize that this talented boy is the heir to his bloodline. That is, the child's talent is a consequence of being the descendant of such a remarkable warrior.

His inferiority complex toward his younger brother was so strong that the mere sight of Yoriichi made him feel almost physically ill. Any achievements below Yoriichi's level seemed unworthy to Michikatsu, not enough to justify his very existence.

I remind you that they are twins.

He literally didn't understand why he should live if he was worse than Yoriichi. Therefore, he longed to accomplish something great, to convince himself that Tsugikuni Michikatsu's birth into this world was not in vain.

And this isn't just envy. A person overcome by banal envy never doubts their right to live and being worthy of same blessings as their more fortunate rival (Zenitsu and Gyutaro send their warmest greetings). This is something on the level of psychological trauma, where Yoriichi acted as a trigger, initiating another bout of self-abasement. Almost like PTSD.

And his decision to become a demon was born not out of fear of death, but out of the hope that, with endless time to train, he would one day be able to equal his brother and finally calm his fevered mind.

4. Before his death, Kokushibo listed the things he believed he had sacrificed for the sake of his desire to equal Yoriichi. And since he considered it a "sacrifice," it means he perceived it as something valuable. Something personally important to him.

Moreover, the listing proceeds in ascending order of severity, symbolizing how Michikatsu "went ever further, out of a desire to equal Yoriichi." The worst sin, naturally, was betraying the Way of the Samurai. Essentially, betraying himself.

He didn't want to kill Muichiro. And he described his married life as peaceful and prosperous. If he had been indifferent to this, he wouldn't have cherished the memory of it for so many centuries. The fact that he was genuinely happy (!) to meet his descendant speaks to the importance of family and children to him.

And summing up his achievements and sacrifices, Kokushibo sadly admitted that the life he had lived wasn't worth leaving his family, betraying his principles, and killing his descendant.

What follows from this? It follows that Michikatsu valued two things most in his life: the way of the samurai and his family. And why he abandoned what he considered important and valuable is what we must understand when charting the Journey.

Now about the Journey itself.

The stories of Yoriichi and Michikatsu run parallel, contrasting each other in almost every way, including the subtype of the Journey. If Yoriichi is the defeated hero of the classic Hero's Journey, then Michikatsu... is the deceased heroine of the classic Heroine's Journey.

The Heroine's Journey is a special case of the Hero's Journey, where the hero sees no need to evolve beyond their initial way of life, but rather questions the wisdom of their established way of life in general. This Journey primarily reflects a psychological crisis within a person, where the primary goal is not to respond to the challenges of fate, but to come to terms with oneself.

This type of Journey is most often found in fairy tales for girls, and the Journey itself was identified as a separate category by psychologist Maureen Murdoch, who spent many years helping adult women struggling with balancing their personal and professional lives. This explains the specific names of the stages, but one shouldn’t think that only the emancipated woman of the 20th century can be a "heroine".

1. Separation from the Feminine

The Hero realizes that although they fully conform to the social norm, they feel completely unsatisfied. Someone from a different social category not only receives far more benefits, but also demonstrates this to the Hero personally, often to their detriment.

The Call to Adventure stage. With the emergence of the Herald, as a demonstrator of the advantages of another social group.

2. Identification with the Masculine and gathering of allies

The Hero receives help in their attempts to cope with the crisis and meets those who support their desire to change their social status. From this point on, the Hero also begins to gradually lose the attributes that connected them to their original status.

The Supernatural Aid and Appearance of the Mentor stages are possible.

3. Road of trials: meeting ogres and dragons

Trials on the path to the goal.

4. Finding the boon of success

The Hero, at the cost of enormous investment and effort, achieves success in their new status, but completely severing ties with their old one.

In fact, this stage correlates with the Threshold Guardians stage. The Guardians demand a price for the transition to the Unknown World of a new social status, and this price is a final break with the old social status.

The severing of ties with the old status correlates with the Ritual Death stage.

5. Awakening to feelings of spiritual aridity, death

The hero begins to experience disappointment in the choice they made, leading to a psychological crisis.

6. Initiation and descent to the Goddess

The Hero meets their Anima/Animus, a spiritual mirror—a person who has faced similar dilemmas but with a different attitude. Sharing experiences leads to revelation, and new horizons open up for the Hero.

Meeting with the Goddess stage.

7. Urgent yearning to reconnect with the Feminine

The Hero realizes the need to reestablish ties with their former social status.

8. Healing the mother/daughter split

The Hero reestablishes ties with their former social status. Most often, this is accompanied by a symbolic reconciliation with the person who, in the Hero's eyes, embodied their previous social status.

The Atonement with Father stage.

9. Healing the wounded Masculine

The Hero comes to terms with oneself.

The Apotheosis stage.

10. Integration of Masculine and Feminine

The Hero realizes the value of both statuses and understands how to achieve balance between them.

The Master of Two Worlds stage.

And I'll state right away that:

The Known World, also known as the "previous social status," in Michikatsu's Journey is the world of ordinary, down-to-earth people, while the Unknown World, also known as the "new social status," is the world of special people with superpowers.

Just like Yoriichi, Michikatsu's main problem was his refusal to accept his destiny. If Yoriichi didn't want to be the Chosen One, then Michikatsu... didn't want to be an ordinary, insignificant person. He wasn't even 17 when he climbed to the very top of the Japanese social pyramid, but this didn't make him happy.

Why? Let's try to understand.

Separation from the Feminine

What do we know for sure about Michikatsu's childhood before moment X?

He had a younger brother, Yoriichi. He was considered deaf, which in medieval times also meant muteness. An authoritarian father with complete power within his fiefdom. And a quiet, modest mother who spent most of her time engaged in religious practices.

What was Michikatsu's relationship with them? What do we know for sure?

Initially, Yoriichi and Michikatsu got along well. Despite explicit prohibitions, Michikatsu visited his brother and played with him, even under threat of physical punishment. He made him a flute so that the "deaf" Yoriichi could call for help, meaning that for the sake of creating the gift, Michikatsu found the materials, tools, and time to make it. This required some effort on his part, as no one had taught the heir of a wealthy clan how to work wood. Besides, chisels aren't exactly on every shelf in a samurai's estate.

Kokushibo also mentioned in his memories that he couldn't give his brother any of his belongings... which means he tried.

He himself (almost 500 years later) attributed his behavior to pity, but it seemed like too much effort was being expended on behalf of a man whom — according to Kokushibo himself — he despised.

Yoriichi said that "my brother was kind and constantly worried about me". So, Michikatsu certainly didn't consider him a "mama's boy". So where does this rhetoric come from? I can only speculate that in his memoirs, Kokushibo was quoting his father, attributing his words to himself hundreds of years later.

And what about his parents?

Michikatsu described his mother as a quiet woman, but he knew that it was she who stood up for Yoriichi when the head of the family wanted to get rid of the marked child. According to the «Rumors», Akeno treated the children equally, and Kokushibo's memories show that he wasn’t isolated from his mother in any way.

Furthermore, the «Rumors» mentioned that Akeno constantly quarreled with her husband over their sons, which caused great stress for the boys. And when their father hit Michikatsu, she even attacked him with her fists. This suggests Michikatsu felt a certain affection for his mother, since his parents' quarrels had such a severe impact on him. And regarding Yoriichi's position in the family, he sided with his mother, not his father.

But his father's situation is particularly interesting. It was emphasized that, despite his character, he loved his wife dearly. He had no concubines or children with other women. He didn't even remarry when his wife died, even though, by the standards of the Sengoku period, one son was too risky for a feudal lord.

Why is this important? Because it means Michikatsu was considered his father's sole heir, which... afforded him a certain protection. Given the particular upbringing of that society, the boy was constantly reminded of the importance of his status, and, aware of his value, Michikatsu allowed himself far more freedom than an ordinary manor resident.

He knew his father was capable of killing even his own child, but he wasn't afraid of him and easily sabotaged his orders within the bounds of etiquette. Not directly, of course, but "when his father isn't looking," he could, for example, visit his brother, knowing that the guards would be afraid to inform on the future master. Because his very existence is a guarantee of the fief's future stability. As long as he meets the expectations of adults, he is untouchable.

As for his father himself, given Michikatsu's behavior, one might assume he viewed him less as an authority figure and more as an aggressor. A man constantly yells at your mother and dreams of getting rid of your younger brother. It's unlikely that a stubborn child with a strong character would feel much sympathy for such a parent.

The degree of obedience of the child to the main person in the house is immediately visible.

And most likely, it wasn't ambition, but rather the desire to be independent of others' will, that gave rise to the dream of "becoming the best samurai in the country" in little Michikatsu. Why do I think this? Firstly, we know of no evidence that he actively engaged in conquest, politics, or dueling other samurai. Thus, as a feudal lord — effectively an independent ruler — he showed no desire to realize these ambitions, although he could have. On the contrary, having become the head of a wealthy family, he led a "quiet, languid life" by his own choice. His father died almost immediately after his marriage, and this lifestyle was his personal choice (!).

For some reason, it seems to me that a person with great ambitions wouldn’t become a homebody...

And secondly, because the fear of helplessness runs like a thread through the character's entire story. Time after time, his life found itself in the hands of others. In the hands of his father. In the hands of a demon. In the hands of a mark.

"Become the master of your destiny" - Muzan told him, luring him into his net. And the most important thing wasn't "save yourself from death" or "become the strongest", but precisely this. The entire life of a samurai is a struggle. Even seppuku represents a conscious choice by the samurai to end his own life with his own hand. Humbly awaiting his fate — that's what Michikatsu couldn't and didn't want, because he had been raised differently.

But. I said "dream", not "future plan". Until moment X, the desire to become the best samurai hadn't yet turned into an obsessive drive, as Michikatsu had no reason to obsess over it. No one ever told the child he would inevitably become the best. Nor did they instill in him false hopes of being a rising star of the samurai world.

A normal, experienced mentor wouldn't say such things, because the proud, like the fool, die first in war. Everything the mentors said boiled down to: "You have talent, and you will become strong if you train hard".

And by moment X, the dogma “I am the most talented boy in Japan” couldn't form in little Michikatsu’s head. The mere appearance of a more gifted child could not, by itself, have shocked him enough to leave him traumatized for the rest of his life.

Yoriichi hadn't humiliated him in a personal duel, hadn't insulted him in any way, and posed no threat to his life. But then why did Yoriichi become Michikatsu's personal trigger? To do this, we need to examine in detail all the events that occurred from moment X to Michikatsu's departure to join the slayers.

First, moment X itself. It’s not the specific scene of Yoriichi's duel with the trainer. No. Just because the adult Kokushibo is fixated on his younger brother doesn't mean that a little boy named Michikatsu was fixated on him. After all, before their second meeting, Michikatsu led a completely ordinary life, not preoccupied with winning. And at seven years old, Yoriichi, his father who disowned him, and his deceased mother all mattered to him. It's a whole series of events that occurred in a very short period of time. When Yoriichi came to Michikatsu to tell him of his mother's death, he was still living in his room, meaning he hadn't even been moved to the storage room as planned.

The area marked in red is three tatami mats. This means the decision has been made, but hasn’t yet been implemented.

And so it turns out that in just a few days:

Michikatsu suddenly realized he didn't know his brother at all. He wasn't deaf, wasn't sick, and didn't need any protection;

His father decided to rearrange his sons, sending the eldest to a monastery, thus destroying the entire system of existence that his mentors had built in the boy's head from infancy.

He lost his "heir's armor", which had protected him from his father's tyranny, and for the first time in his life, found himself in the position of a meek victim.

- And then his mother, the only source of unconditional love in the child's life, who could have supported and comforted him in difficult times, suddenly died.

The mentors didn't dare interfere, his mother's retinue was busy with the funeral, and Michikatsu endured all these events alone, without any moral support. Silently and helplessly, he watched as his familiar world crumbled before his eyes.

Centuries later, Kokushibo remembered his emotional experiences at that moment quite clearly, so traumatized he was.

If we look closely at the boy's behavior, we can discern in these memories the famous five stages of acceptance of the inevitable.

First Shock, then Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Despair, and Acceptance.

Shock: when everyone learns that Yoriichi is gifted with a unique fighting talent, and his father rejects him, his entire life collapses before his eyes.

Denial: Michikatsu's attempts to find a logical explanation for Yoriichi's abilities. To prove, at least to himself, that they aren't so different.

Anger: after finding his mother's diaries, Michikatsu is confronted with proof of Yoriichi's unique abilities. The anger he felt at that moment was irrational and yet a completely natural reaction to stress. It is a person's anger at the injustice of existence, which he takes out on the nearest object nearby. In this case, his brother.

Bargaining: A person's attempts to bargain with doctors, higher powers, anyone. "Please die. Such a person should not have been born. Your existence defies the laws of nature" - a reliance on the justice of heaven.

Moreover, it's important to focus on the moment of Anger and the moment of Bargaining, when Michikatsu (a deeply religious man living in an era when magical thinking was considered commonplace) was sincerely angry at his younger brother, blaming him for everything, and begged the heavens to rid him of him, as the existence of a person with such abilities was abnormal.

Why is this important? Because in his quest to become stronger, Kokushibo was driven not only by the desire to be the master of his own destiny, but also by the conviction that if he was worse than Yoriichi, then there was no point in his existence at all.

He says outright, "If I'm worse than Yoriichi, then why was I even born?". This isn't envy anymore. And it's not a question of achieving a sense of security.

Because when Yoriichi went missing and the threat passed, Michikatsu, having calmed down, began to assess the situation differently.

It was he (!) who wished for his brother to disappear. A believer in an era of magical thinking, when people believed in witchcraft, evil spirits, and curses. A seven-year-old child with no one to discuss his experiences with. He wished his brother dead, so he could take what was rightfully Yoriichi's. Although what awaited him was not death, but rather the relatively peaceful and prosperous life of a Buddhist monk.

Quoting Kübler-Ross's book "On Death and Dying":

The next fact we must understand is that, at a subconscious level, we are unable to distinguish between desire and action. Everyone remembers examples of those illogical dreams where two contradictory statements coexist side by side. In the dream, this seems insignificant, but in the waking state, it becomes unthinkable and illogical. The subconscious is unable to distinguish between the desire to kill someone in a fit of rage and the actual act of murder. A child is also unable to make this distinction. An angry child, secretly wishing death on his mother for not fulfilling his whims, will suffer severe trauma if his mother actually dies — even if the event doesn't coincide with the destructive wish. He will forever hold himself responsible for his mother's death. He will constantly repeat to himself (and occasionally to others): "I did it, it's my fault. I behaved badly, and Mom left".

Michikatsu believed himself to be responsible for his brother's disappearance. And that through his prayers and curses, he had taken the place of the clan's heir, even though his brother had proven more worthy. This is where his conviction arose that he had no right to be worse than Yoriichi. If he deprived his brother of his rightful place as heir, then he had to be at least as good as him. Fear of helplessness and guilt were personified in one specific person. And guilt has every chance of developing into hatred.

Grief, shame, and guilt are not so different from feelings of anger and resentment. Grief always implies certain signs of anger. Since none of us wants to admit to being angry at the deceased, these feelings are usually carefully hidden and suppressed, prolonging the mourning period or expressing them in other ways. It is not for us to judge such feelings or regard them as bad or shameful. Our task is to understand the true causes and meaning of these very human reactions. To explain this, I will return to the example of a child—the child that lurks within every person's soul. A five-year-old who has lost his mother blames himself for her departure, but at the same time is angry with her for disappearing and no longer fulfilling his wishes. Thus, the deceased person simultaneously evokes in the child equal love and hatred for such a cruel punishment.

It wouldn't have been so bad if that had been all. The period after his brother's escape and before his father's death is never mentioned, but it's likely that Michikatsu more or less reflected on his injuries over the course of seven years, got married, became the head of the clan—that is, he seemingly achieved practically the highest position in society, with the exception of some emperor. But no one remembered the emperor during the feudal wars.

He's a wealthy feudal lord. Perhaps even a daimyo (a daimyo was a feudal lord with an income of at least 10,000 koku of rice per year). He's a successful ruler, married to a beautiful woman, and has two sons. It would seem that his life plan has been fulfilled, he's established himself as a person and can respect himself for it.

And then Moment X version 2.0 occurs, which completely destroys his newly restored self-esteem.