The Bridge of Fireflies (The Guardian – episode 5)
It should have been beautiful. A bridge of fireflies. But beauty, in this world, burns the wrong way. What crosses is not light. What returns is not whole.
That echo haunted the space before the ritual— not as memory, but as a thing unfinished.
A star inverted, framed in old letters that never truly left the page.
Two candles. One white. One black.
His tanto, unsheathed— not for violence, but placed with care. Zatoichi style. Edge forward. Intention inward.
Frankincense lingered, its thread of smoke trembling in the still air of the corner he never named— but returned to whenever something could not be saved.
That was all he could do. Compassion, from a distance. For Kiyomi. And perhaps not even that.