Senren Banka Murasame's Route

 

Murasame is the spirit that resides in the Spirit Blade and acts as the liaison of the Gods to the wielder of the sword. She is a young girl that was sick with a dark plague and became a sacrifice to become the spirit of the sword. Since that day she has resided as a spirit able to leave the sword and walk among mortals but never dying and never being seen except by those with strong spiritual powers. 

The town of Hoori used the legend that the sword located in a stone could never be pulled out and for many generations that had been true. However, with the protag entering the story, he is able to remove the sword, and through that action, he is able to see Murasame. 

Murasame has lived for hundreds of years, she has knowledge of the town and of its history and is a good source of information for the protag and the rest of his friends as they hunt for fragments of the crystal. Despite that though she still appears extremely young and tends to be a bit childish at times. She likes to talk boldly about more adult interactions but when it comes to actually do something about it she tends to back down quickly being a bit shy.

Her route is a bit tougher to get but once you start down the path you will begin to see Murasame in a new light. It's not till a bit later do you realize that her story is a little bit sad. She was chosen to act as the medium between the Gods of the land and the Sword. She was chosen because as a young girl she was to die due to the plague. Upon her death, she was transferred to the sword. 

She grows fond of the protag and once they realize that she can actually be touched by him and only him their relationship starts to bloom more and more. They start with the usual kissing and then move on to a more...sexual relationship.

Through the story of her and the protag of getting together and starting the relationship you later find out that her body is actually located in the shrine and has been placed in a stasis-like state. Her body is recovered and taken to the clinic where she is given medicine to help with her illness which thanks to modern medicine will completely eliminate the illness. 

Despite this turn of events towards the good, there are some tear-jerking moments when she struggles to decide if she wishes to remain a spirit or to go back to being a human.

It takes some time but eventually Murasame through the protags continued to question and talking come clean as to why she chose to become the spirit of the sword. Her reason was that she was scared to die, and becoming a spirit meant she would be immortal, now presented with her body she can return to be mortal again and live. She also bears the brunt of watching many people passing away while she lived on which taxed her greatly as the number of people that could see and talk with her dwindled to barely anyone. 

At the end of her story, they are able to finally defeat the evil spirit that has kept the curse going for hundreds of years and in doing so she is no longer needed to be the Spirit of the Sword. With this done it is as if the Gods of the land grant her the reward she deserves and that is to live her life again as a young maiden in the realm of the living. 

The protag and her make a vow to remain together and to become married upon graduating High School. I enjoyed this arch and her story as it touched a lot upon several unique concepts that the other story paths didn't, such as immortality, spiritual life for those detached from the physical realm as well as the mentality of those that are in fact immortal and watch everyone around them eventually pass on.

Her path is one that I highly recommend.

Senren Banka Mako's Route

Mako is one of the four primary routes you can choose to go with. This route opens up around the time you go fishing with your cousin, Lena, and Yashino. While your cousin shows Lena and Yashino how to fish you can then head into the forest where you will then run into Mako as she collects different types of plants to use in cooking. This then starts you down the route with Mako and unlocks her ending.

Mako is the one true friend of Yashino and also acts as her bodyguard of sorts. She is trained to be a ninja as is all her family. Her background is that her family was the ninja that protected Yashino's family during the era of the shogun and the warring states period. Her family however at one time was viewed with great suspicion and with great misgiving due to their involvement with the eldest son of the feudal lord that would later create the curse that plagued the decedents of his younger brother.

Mako is a very interesting interpersonal person. She views her life as a simple tool for Yashino to use as she sees fit. To that end, she relegates every moment she can in taking care of and watching over Yashino and her father. She acts like a robot and doesn't seem to have any self-related interests. She does read manga in her off time when she gets it. However, after she is given some time off to take for herself, she makes it known she doesn't have a life outside of taking care of Yashino. 

As you go down her route the story shifts slightly from Yashino being the key person to ending the curse and it shifts to Mako and her struggle between the past of her ancestors as vessels and ninja of the former lord, and her current state and affairs dealing with her friendships, and eventually her love life with the primary character. The story remains a great deal of the same, with only some dialogue actually changing, but when the relationship phase starts, you begin to see how much Mako truly has lived a life full of heartache and sadness.

Mako finally realizes that her own happiness means a great deal not only to Yashino but also to the protag and even herself. As she starts to open up and become more emotional the curse attacks her in the hopes of bringing her back down, but in the end, Mako can put the curse down for good by reminding the spirit of the curse of its own feelings and answering its question of, 'what is love and why is it important.