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post-revenge arc, mizu and ringo living in a cabin near the town. since she is 'available' for a duel to the death, taigen challenges her again and mizu accepts as she promised. problem is, they can't settle on a date and keep delaying it for stupidest reasons .d
ringo is going to try a new soba recipe for dinner and of course he'll need both sides' opinions. what if mizu's opinion is biased? they can't trust taigen's pricky ass too.
mizu said if taigen will come here and linger everyday, he better be useful and talk less. so he collects woods, helps mizu for training, chops onions for ringo (which ended up being a mini-duel between him and mizu because ringo deserves the best chopped onions from the best samurai). but taigen is not stupid, he isn't going to fall for mizu's 'make taigen exhausted-slash him easily' plan. it won't be a fair fight. taigen has to rest and mizu should help him, she is responsible after all.
as the weather gets warmer, rumors of a big festival spread. ringo is so excited, talks non-stop about how much him and his master will have fun but taigen doesn't agree. he bets joining a festival with mizu is like carrying a heavy rock around while you are trying to enjoy your trip. mizu isn't obsessed with honour unlike taigen but she can't let that slide too. she will show him that she knows how to have fun, even more than him. they'll kill each other after the festival then.
(spoiler: they won't)
i like to think that every time taigen sees his scarf wrapping around mizu's neck he loses his mind. especially when she adjusts it or pulls it down slightly when it gets hot. something that belonged to him on mizu makes him go feral
mizu saying a broken sword fits taigen makes me feel insane- like. she did that sword. she caused that sword to be broken because she was 'impure'. that sword got stolen by a liar. later, that liar found her and hurt her with it. and then she earned the sword. but she still doesn't love it. to her, it's a solid proof of her impurity, her flaw.
then, she gave it to taigen. taigen helped her to escape, saved both of their lives with it. taigen, who once pointed out her impurity and harmed her because of it, used the same impurity to protect her.
and she admitted it. she said, "the broken sword fits your hand." maybe she thought, one day taigen will kill someone in order to protect himself with this sword, and it'll be me who saved him, my flaw saved him. taigen will know that too :)