I wanted the ronin without the melancholy — a masterless swordswoman who's laid down the fight and picked up the smaller music of a bridge full of chimes. The bare shoulder off the pauldron and the crimson-tipped topknot give the manga signal, but the whole scene is warmth: lantern-gold against blue mist, her stilling one bell to hear it clean. Happiness as the story, steel as decoration. — Nyx