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“I would like to thank you again Ryo for accompanying me on this journey.” Yukiyasu Sanada thanked his son as he took pictures of Shinshoin Temple for a new article that requested a series of photographs of the temple.
“I didn’t want to miss the chance to spend a few days with you, Dad!” Ryo exclaimed as he watched his father carefully and patiently choose the best shot before taking the next photo.
Yukiyasu smiled as he continued to take pictures of the temple in front of him.
“What will the article you are taking so many photographs of be about?” Ryo asked with some curiosity as he watched his father pick up another camera to take more photos.
“It will be about the tragic story of one of the people who was buried in this temple.” Yukiyasu replied with a serious voice, “And who belonged to the Takeda clan.”
“The clan that the Sanada clan were once vassals of.” Ryo muttered without realizing that he hadn’t lowered his voice too much, so much so that his father jumped when he heard his last name associated with the word “clan”.
“And Rekka’s crest belongs to that clan…” Ryo added this time, making sure that the thought remained in his mind.
Yukiyasu continued taking pictures, while Ryo focused on what looked to him like a white flame that was moving with a solemn step near the temple. He wanted to get closer to go and check, but he didn’t move for fear of damaging or prolonging his father’s work, knowing how tight the delivery times were.
His father stopped while taking pictures and observed his son’s thoughtful look at the time and then the position of the sun in the sky.
“Shall we go for a little break?” Yukiyasu suggested while carefully putting his camera back in its case “I have to wait for the sun to change position in the sky to take the last photos of the temple”.
“Okay”. Ryo exclaimed and followed his father out of the temple where they stopped on a bench to talk.
“As I told you, it is the tragic story of a princess of the Takeda clan.” Yuyikasu began to tell the story as he watched the ginko leaves moving in the wind. “She was promised as a child to another child from a rival clan in a political marriage.”
“The two children met once when the agreement was made to then marry the two children once they grew up. As the two grew up, they began to exchange a lot of correspondence, exchanging many letters and although they had not seen each other since that day, the two fell in love.”
Ryo listened in silence to his father’s story, staring at his concentrated face as he continued to speak.
“But just as they approached the wedding day, tragedy struck: the rival clan invaded the Takeda territory and the agreement was canceled. The two young people continued to stay in touch through their letters and the princess decided to go meet her beloved with a letter in her hand, which she wanted to deliver personally. But her beloved died during one of the many battles between the two clans and the princess fell into a deep depression and decided that she would never marry another man. She retired to that temple and became a nun where she took care of the children until she died, always thinking of her lost beloved”.
Yuyikasu concluded her story and just at that moment the wind blew, moving the ginko leaves that emitted a sound that sounded like rain.
As if the trees had started to cry after hearing the story of the princess of the Takeda clan.
“It really is a sad story ...”. Ryo commented in a low voice while turning his gaze to the sky and then turned back to his father “That princess made the same decision as you ...”.
Yukiyasu gave a short nod and looked out at the clouds that were moving in the wind, some of which took on the shape of a woman.
“When you lose someone you’ve given your heart to completely, it becomes impossible to find someone else.” Yukiyasu murmured softly, “I loved your mother so much and I never saw anyone else walk beside me like she did. Her help was invaluable in making my dream of becoming a photographer come true and every time I take a picture I feel her close to me.”
“I wish I could have met her so much…” Ryo whispered into the wind that seemed to drag him towards the sky as he thought about the pictures his father had taken of his mother and how he had captured all of her essence and her wonderful smile.
“But there’s one thing I’ll never forgive myself for.” Yukiyasu continued speaking, this time looking at his son, “I let myself be consumed by grief and I neglected you during these years. I was supposed to be close to you and give you your mother's affection, instead I threw myself into photos to seek consolation and I left you alone for several periods even while facing the journey that took you to school. In some ways I deprived you of a normal childhood. ” .
Yukiyasu tortured his hands heavily while he spoke, while he was ashamed of how mourning had reduced him in all those years.
“My childhood was normal in some ways ... ”. Ryo spoke with a serious voice and then hesitated in the last words “There were difficulties ... but it went well.”
He didn't want to tell them that his going to school completely alone had caused problems in which he was called “yokai” and teased by the other students of his school for how his appearance sometimes appeared unkempt.
He didn't want to add another burden to his father's heart, who was already tormented by the mistakes he had made in the past.
That was simply the fault of human stupidity and superstition, as Byakuen had tried to tell him several times to console him, and only now that he had grown up had he understood how right the tiger was.
Yukiyasu shook his head several times at his son's words, having the feeling that not everything had gone well, that his son was hiding something.
"And we can still recover ...". Ryo tried to console his father "Even now that I'm helping you with your photo shoots and I understand even more how important your work is".
"Although recovering everything is impossible ...". Yukiyasu concluded with a bitter voice without being heard by Ryo and returning to look at the sky again to understand where the sun was and where he could take more photographs.
In the meantime, Ryo had lowered his head again and had noticed that white flame moving inside the temple again.
"What do you say that while I wait for the right moment to take more photos, I go get something to drink or eat?" Yukiyasu made another proposal to Ryo.
“Okay, I’ll wait for you here!”. Ryo immediately accepted the proposal, seeing it also as a good opportunity to investigate that white flame and make sure that it was not a threat to his father and the others.
Ryo waited until his father had moved away from the bench before getting up and going back in time and approaching the white flame and trying to touch it with his hand.
“Who are you? Can you see me?”. A mature woman wearing a nun’s habit appeared from the white flame.
“Could it be the princess whose story dad just told me?”. Ryo thought as he looked at the woman who had a kind face and emanated a sweet and not at all evil aura.
“I’m Ryo Sanada and I can see myself ...”. Ryo introduced himself as the flame became even brighter and a smile appeared on the woman’s face.
“Sanada, so you are a member of my father’s vassal clan!”. The woman exclaimed happily, “Then I can give you a mission, since I cannot leave the place where I died.”
“I will grant your every request, my lady.” Ryo replied while slightly lowering his head towards the woman.
“Since I can no longer move from this place, can you please deliver this letter to my beloved?” The woman took out a letter and placed it in Ryo’s hand “If his spirit still wanders among these lands and only then can I rest in peace”.
“I will do as you requested, my lady”. Ryo held his letter in his hands which immediately dissolved and became a small light that was absorbed into his body.
“I thank you ...”. The woman thanked Ryo once again before she returned to being a pure white flame that immediately flew towards the sky.
Ryo looked up at the sky and observed the flame, which seemed to become one with the sun and just at that moment he heard the sound of a camera taking a picture.
Ryo turned and smiled at his father who was nodding satisfied with the picture he had taken.
“You really came out well in this picture!”. Yukiyasu exclaimed with a satisfied tone, “We can put this photograph in an album where we remember these “adventures”.
“Great idea!” Ryo exclaimed as he approached his father to look at the photograph he had taken.
“There is also another thing I regret ...”. Yukiyasu continued to speak as he looked at the Takeda clan, “That I listened too much to my pride and did not ask for help when I was alone”.
Ryo knew well what his father was talking about and decided not to intervene, but to let his father speak.
“So if you want to meet them and get to know them, I will not resist.” Yukiyasu announced with a serious voice, “You are the one who must make the decision, since it is your life”.
“But in that case, I would at least like to tell you ...”. Ryo murmured as he looked up at the sky, while thinking that he had never thought about that hypothesis.
Yukiyasu gave a brief nod as they resumed their photoshoot, which only ended when the sun set, when father and son left the temple to go have dinner at a nearby restaurant.
Several days later.
“I finally found you!” Ryo exclaimed as he saw the letter the princess had given him begin to glow and exit Ryo’s body to walk towards the young man “I am Ryo Sanada and I have come here to deliver a letter from the princess of the Takeda clan”.
“I can’t believe that after all these centuries I have finally received a new letter from her!” The man exclaimed in disbelief and on the verge of tears and immediately began to read the content as it slowly began to fade before Ryo’s eyes.
“I waited so long, but it was worth it.” The man exclaimed after finishing reading the letter “I can’t wait to be able to see her again when I am in the afterlife. Thank you, noble samurai for giving me your letter.”
Ryo saw the flame rising to the sky and joining another flame before disappearing into the clouds.
Ryo watched and couldn’t help but smile, while he held tightly in his left hand the newspaper in which appeared the article with the photos of his father, who had helped him find that place.