A Sister knocks on the doors of your quarters. When you open the door, she is clad in ceremonial dress and beckons for you to follow. She leads you through the corridors of the Battleship, past passing sentries and those going about their business, to the Sisterhood of Dreams’ hall. She bows at the entrance, and extends her hands towards the door. A gesture to ask you to enter.
As you pass through the heavy-set metallic doors, you enter a plain room. Whilst matted, there are no furnishing or ornaments adorning the walls. Under the dim lighting you see two lines of Sisters facing the middle of the room with a woman, the Hatsuyume, kneeling at the end of the room. They too are wearing ceremonial dress, and have their eyes following you intently.
The woman speaks across the hall in a stern tone. “Come. Sit with us.” She beckons to the space in the middle of all the Sisters. “You are here as you have proven yourself to the Sisterhood of Dreams. Your passion, your potential, your belief in Matsuda’s teachings have brought you to us and we are ready to accept you as our Sister. However, there is one more challenge before we do so.” Each of the four Sisters comes forth and present an item in front of you: A Cardamine breather with a dose prepared, a copy of the Golden Chrysanthemum in Bloom, a small dagger and a china bowl.
“We understand you have been preparing for this… complete the ritual of the Forsworn, take up your oath and leave behind the desires of your former self in place for those of Matsuda's.” The Hatsuyume gestures first to the Cardamine breather and nods once slowly. “Bear in mind, however, there is no turning back after this point…” The woman, and the other Sisters, watch you with an intensity that fills the room with tension.
"Shiroibara, your time to blossom into a Chrysanthemum has come."
Munen, also wearing a ceremonial dress just like the other sisters, kneels down in the middle of the room facing the Hatsuyume. She watches and listens carefully as the four sisters bring the items needed for the ritual. As the leading figure ends her introductional speech the Kusarian bows respectfully and gently opens the book infront of her. She slightly bends her back forward to reach the pages and her open hair falls over her shoulders coming to rest on her chest.
Slowly and carefully the woman flips through it page by page until she reaches the one she was looking for almost near the end of it and leaves it open infront of her on the ground.
Munen picks up the Cardamine breather besides her and puts the device onto her mouth and begins to inhale long and slowly until there is no free space left in neither her left nor right lunge. Her eyes flutter and she feels like almost fainting at the sensations.
The Kusarian moves the bowl between herself and the copy of 'Golden Chrysanthemum in Bloom'. Munen picks up the dagger and takes a moment to cherish the ceremonial dagger by gently caressing the ornaments on its hilt. Once she finished positioning the blade in her other hand she firmly surrounds it with her fingers and begins to steadily cut herself making the skin of her palm and fingers split open almost down to the flesh beneath. The Kusarian yelps silently and tears begin to form and run down her cheeks, but she forces herself to keep running the blade through her closed hand until it is done.
Once finished she holds her hand dripping with blood over the bowl and watches a moment to ensure her drops fall into the vessel. Munen begins to read her chosen line from Matsuda's teachings."Like a dream it shines, from Amaterasu's safe keep. As darkened red blossoms fall, becoming divine steps."
She looks down at the already half-full bowl - she clearly cut to deep in her eagerness. Her wet eyes wander up to the Hatsuyume timidly expecting a positive reaction while two sisters already are on their way to take care of Munen's self-inflicted wound. She speaks the last sentence without looking at the page.
Ritsuko enters in harmony illuminated room. Ceremonial dress look clumsy on her body as her first bow as well. Ritsuko have sketchy representation about all of Kusarian traditions, dress, behavior and of course rituals.
With short steps she slowly reaches the center of the room and kneels down and catching discerning look of Hatsuyume. Other sisters had passed their ritual yesterday and Ritsuko have to be with them, but she did not come, so she is alone with her Hatsuyume. She makes the deepest bow in her life, her forehead touched the floor. “Please forgive me, Hatsuyume.” There was no answer.
She looks at the only usual for her thing which is the Cardamine breather. She takes it, she knows it will help. After several breaths she takes the copy of 'Golden Chrysanthemum in Bloom' and starting read from first pages. It takes very long time, she reached the last pages, her eyes rises up on Hatsuyume.
Hatsuyumes look falls on a beautiful dagger besides the Ritsu. Ritsu takes it and rapidly cuts her hand. Blood drops on a book, her dress and breather. The cut is too deeply and continues to bleed, stop only after Rutsuko finished read the lines from 'Golden Chrysanthemum in Bloom':
“Thus shall you think of all this fleeting world:
A star at dawn, a bubble in a stream;
A flash of lightening in a summer cloud,
A flickering lamp, a phantom, and a dream.”
She bows deeply again, her forehead again touched the floor. This time Ritsu remained speechless and don't rise her head until Hatsuyume silently leaved the room.
"Life of the Chrysanthemum is a life without attachment."
“Rise as a Sister”. The Hatsuyume indicates to stand, a gentle smile spreading across her face. The other Sisters bow twice, repeating “Sister” in soft tones. They clear away the items whilst the Hatsuyume continues to watch you with a piercing gaze. The Sisters reassemble in their positions silently, and the woman gives a nod.
Suddenly, the door behind you opens. As you turn to look, you see a hooded figure being dragged to the middle of the room by two woman in combat gear. “However, to become Yume and be one with the Sisterhood of Dreams, there is one more act you must commit.”
The large hooded figure is dragged to you by the two Sisters. They are asked to kneel, and as she does so the hood is pulled away. Before you is your husband, wide-eyed and trembling as he speaks in a frightened voice.“Munen-kun? What’s going on?” The Hatsuyume walks down to you with a cold frown for an expression. “These are the kinds of atrocities we must be prepared to commit if Yuyu’s Dream is to be realised. Notions of morality must be left behind, where sinful actions fall onto us. Darkness makes way for the Light to follow. Will you do that which others will not?” A Sister holds out a plain Wakazashi with the handle pointed towards you and nods silently.
The hood is pulled from the figure, and kneeling before you is your father. He looks up at Ritsuko pleadingly,“Ri… Ritsuko? Why?” His eyes are wide with terror, and his body shakes. The Hatsuyume walks up behind you, and speaks in a cold, stern voice. “It is time to sacrifice your past self, your morality, for Yuyu’s dream. Darkness makes way for the Light to follow. Prove to us you will do that which others won’t.” A Sister holds out a plain Wakazshi with the handle pointed towards you and nods silently.
After the two sisters have properly taken care of Munen's palm and fingers she watches as the hooded figure gets dragged infront of her and forced into a kneeling position. A surprised flash in her eyes is clearly noticeable when the person's identity gets revealed to the Chrysanthemum, followed by a stern look.
While her husband is starting to babble in confusion, slowly realizing his position, Munen bows to the Hatsuyume and grabs the Wakizashi's hilt strong-willed with her unharmed hand."I understand Hatsuyume, he reflects just my long gone past. My former self who struggled with the shadows covering Kusari. Years ago my mind would have been troubled with what you ask me for here." And with that she swiftly rotates around her own axis, accompanied by the sound of the blade Munen carries cutting through the air. The Kusarian comes to a hold when the blade smoothly cuts through the man's throat turning his babbling into a desperate gurgle.
Yet she isn't done. Her first stab following up intentionally misses the heart. She takes a moment to give the man's dying terrified eyes a deep uninterpretable look and just then finishes the cold blooded murder by driving the traditonal Kusarian short sword through his already weakened blood-pumping muscle.
Munen hands the Wakizashi back to the sister she got it from. As she bows to the Hatsuyume once again, hoping for her approval, there is that wet heavy noise of the slumping dead body.
After all he was no different from those faceless guards on Fuchu to her...