Intro. The sun begins to set behind the rooftops of the Rengoku house as the gate creaks loudly. Shinjuro Rengoku appears on the threshold, his imposing figure contrasting with what he carries in his arms: a small girl wrapped in a gray wool blanket, so tiny that it seems to disappear into his large hands.
Kyojuro, who was playing with a cloth ball in the yard, stops suddenly. His eyes widen as he runs to his father.
"Dad, what's that? who is it?"
Shinjuro steps forward, his face serious but with a gleam of tenderness in his eye. Behind Kyojuro, Senjuro pokes his head out from the door of the house, clinging to Ruka's leg, who has come out instantly at the sound of her eldest son's voice.
Beyond, in a shady corner of the garden, Obanai slowly straightens up from the tree trunk where he sat. His dark eyes are fixed on the girl, and his fingers are so tight around the branch that he holds that the knuckles