[Prev] ~ [TOC] ~ [Next]



II: Lily of the Valley
Chapter 65: A Sound
Where did you come from, sneaky cat?

***

It rained non-stop.

Sendai seemed to particularly like rainy days in mid-March. It had been raining since last night. The unopened buds on the cherry tree branches had been knocked off, and the scattered petals were washed on the streets by the rain.

When he went out this morning, it was still drizzling. After nightfall, the world became silent, and the rain made a noise in the dark night.

The various buildings were blurred into uneven color blocks by the rain curtain, and heavy rainwater splashed on the windowsill.

The cold smell of rain mixed with the smell of rust, and the rain rolled up the scattered petals and flowed through the soles of the feet.

There were actually cherry blossom trees in this place.

Satoru put his hands in his pockets and looked at the cherry trees next to the building in a daze.

Spider-web-like cracks on the wall extend in all directions. In the center of the spider web, the cursed spirit was well embedded in the center, with scattered gravel underneath. The cursed spirit embedded in the center was twitching like a spasm, making sporadic noises. It let out a sporadic sob, but the moment it blurted it out, it was covered up by the rustling rain.

An unknown force plowed a ravine on the ground. This ravine went straight forward, with a cursed spirit at one end and on the other was an unperturbed man standing at the entrance.

"You're not dead yet?" The moment Satoru took his hand out of his pocket, he was still holding his phone.

There seemed to be a big hole in the sky, but no light fell into the city. The patter of rain echoed in the silent rainy night, and the neon lights on the billboards lit up in the distance jumped and changed.

The black rainy night was noisy and silent, except for the whispering sound of rain, which was a whisper of curses and full of negative emotions.

"Don't... I don't want... don't want...!"

The indescribable monster roared hysterically, and the hatred at this moment surged out. It was huge and rich, as if it wanted to tear apart human skin and bite human bones, and the strong hatred almost swallowed people up.

White and purple lightning tore through the sky, and the rain knocked down the drooping flower buds, falling to the soil and staining them with mud.

The wind carried a strong fishy stench and blew into my face. The slender branches of the cherry trees were overwhelmed by the wind and rain, making a squeaking whine.

"Cursed Technique Reversal: Red."

The thick wall was torn apart in straight lines, the steel bars tied to the concrete structure were broken, and the broken glass was scattered in the rain curtain, stained with rain and mud, and fell to the ground with a crash.

The entire building was directly penetrated by a single blow, and a deep ravine was plowed out on the rain-soaked ground, extending into the forest of trees.

Satoru didn't even raise his head. He kept looking down at his phone. The screen of his phone quietly emitted a bright white light in the calm rainy night.

'Satoru, have you ever thought about finding the little redhead?'

The smell of blood in the air seemed to have not dissipated yet, mixed with the smell of rust and earthy smell that entered his nose, and the sound of rain seemed to echo in his ears.

Satoru pursed his lips.

The man in embarrassment leaned against the wall, and the blood dyed his white bottom clothes into a dazzling red. He spoke half mockingly, half jokingly.

'You're not... afraid to go find her, are you?'

In fact, they understand from the bottom of their hearts that non-sorcerers and sorcerers were completely different worlds. Although they advertise that "this red-haired girl hit people hard" and "this little red-haired girl was so fierce", but in the final analysis, they still classified Yayoi at that time into the category of "non-sorcerer".

There was no such thing as a death without regrets for a sorcerer. The shadows in the other world were too dense and dangerous. A sorcerer living there may have his or her hair cut off anytime and anywhere. Either they would be eaten by the cursed spirit, or they would be cursed to death by the curse users.

Satoru was the strongest, and the strongest would not worry about other ways to die besides old age. So far, there was no existence that could kill him.

He was very strong, and he had almost no weaknesses. His only weakness was probably... he who was the strongest, could not protect everyone.

At first glance, that little redhead was the kind of person who was not suitable to be a sorcerer. She was too ignorant and stubborn, and her character was as white as a piece of white paper, and could be stained with any color.

It's easy to kill the cursed spirit, but those stinky old men in the upper echelons of the sorcery world were all heartless and evil-minded. Yayoi's IQ may go up or down at varying times, and there's no telling what they would do to her.

Satoru, who was born in the jujutsu society, had seen many such things, including many in his family. His best friend Suguru was a good example.

Those malices would make her heart gloomy and break her spine. It's impossible to be sure whether Yayoi would be drowned in these malices, and it's also impossible to be sure whether she would live well, just like she had never been before. He never thought that the weird bangs who always talked about sorcerers and wanted to protect non-sorcerers would defect and kill all the ordinary people in a village.

Fragile things would die sooner or later. Even if Yayoi was not fragile, he was not completely sure that Yayoi would not suddenly become the second Suguru one day.

The red-haired girl's thoughts were wandering, he could catch them, but he couldn't catch them all.

This feeling was heartbreaking.

Secretly, he didn't want to see that red color lose its bright luster.

He wanted to see her, but he tried his best to restrain his desire to find her.

There was too much filth in the inner world, so she might as well live in the outer world. Live quietly, live like an ordinary person, study, graduate, work, enter ordinary society, get married...

Wait a second...

Chikuso, why was he so angry when he thought about the little redhead marrying another man and having children?

The cursed spirit had been exorcised. Once it went down, it would die without even ashes. As for the remaining filth, just leave it to the "window" to deal with.

Satoru gritted his teeth, walked out of the abandoned building, and fell into the torrential rain. He didn't even hold an umbrella. He knew whether he had any Infinity on. As long as his technique were not turned off, the rain wouldn't hit him.

'There’s no need to involve her, right?'

In the final analysis, although she was the child of the last descendant of the Kawabata family, she was a little red-haired girl with absolutely zero curses energy. It's better for her to live a peaceful life as an ordinary person, and there was no need to go to the world of jujutsu.

'That’s not what your expression tells me.'

Suguru, who was leaning against the wall, covered his severed right hand and smiled. Perhaps because of the blood on his face, he smiled with a certain energy, like a cunning old fox.

'Well... well, it's a parting gift.'

Suguru said softly.

'Go to Sendai to find the redhead. She is now a teacher at Sugisawa High School.'

'If you don’t go to her, someone else will go.'

The rain dyed the lights orange, the water flowed rapidly under the feet, and Suguru's voice echoed softly in his ears.

Ah, it's so annoying.

When he thought about Yayoi marrying another man and having children in the future, when he thought about how she would slowly forget about him, she might not remember him in the end.

He's so annoyed.

The lights in the 24-hour convenience store spilled onto the road from the other end of the glass window. Scattered raindrops jumped on the water. The light splashed onto the umbrella painted with cats, the umbrella rotated, and the red hair tail swayed at the bottom of the umbrella.

The other person was holding an umbrella, carrying shoes in her hand. Her feet were bare, her slender ankle, and her skin was as fair as jade.

Fragments of light fell onto the rain-filled road, swaying like flowers.

Satoru stepped forward, pulled down the blindfold, turned off the Infinity, stepped forward, and bent down. He stretched out his hand to lift a little of the umbrella.

"I didn't bring an umbrella. Can you support me~"

The final sound was elongated and the intonation rose and fell.

His eyes met the amber, cat-like eyes under the umbrella. The delicate eyelashes were clearly visible and a little moist.

The rustling sound of rain lingered in the ears, lingering for a long time.

As always, he wanted to kiss those eyes.

What should you do if you come home in the middle of the night and meet a big cat you hadn’t seen for a long time?

Of course she took him home.

The big cat didn't bring an umbrella and had no place to go. It ran up to her all wet and left people on the roadside. It really went against the conscience of Yayoi, a cat lover.

So Yayoi sneaked back home with Satoru and entered the house. Yayoi found slippers for Satoru. Satoru subconsciously wanted to find the light switch in the living room, but was dragged upstairs by Yayoi, who looked a little guilty and sneaky, and went upstairs quietly.

Satoru looked up and down Yayoi's bedroom. There was a bookshelf, a wardrobe, a bed, and a cat pillow on the bed. The lights in the room gave off a warm orange glow. Outside the window, there was rustling rain. The curtains drooped quietly, the lamp on the table lowered its head, and the picture frame was covered on the table, maybe it was accidentally knocked over.

Simple and clean.

It’s still the same style as many years ago.

This hadn't changed.

Yayoi went back and forth and pulled out several pieces of clothing from the closet. She rummaged through them several times, but none of the clothes were suitable for Satoru. He was too tall, even taller than when he wore her skirt before.

Yayoi suddenly thought of Yuji. As a male, Yuji had a muscular body and was approaching the height and physique of Satoru. Maybe he had clothes suitable for Satoru.

But then she thought about it, Yuji had already gone to bed, and the rain was cold late at night, so Yayoi stopped thinking about disturbing Yuji, and finally pulled out a large-size T-shirt of her own and a pair of loose pants from the closet.

"You should take a shower first." Yayoi stuffed the clothes to him. "You'll catch a cold."

"Just turn left when you exit the bathroom. Keep your voice down." Yayoi told him at the end.

Satoru took the clothes, looked at them and then at Yayoi, who was also wet. He kicked off his shoes and walked into her room. He opened the closet, pulled out a pajama hanging on the hanger, and stuffed it into Yayoi's hands.

The adult man, who was taller than Yayoi and had a lot of tendons, picked up her back collar for the first time in a long time, turned left when he went out, and quickly placed her at the bathroom door.

"You wash first." Satoru said, and finally reminded her, "You might catch a cold."

Yayoi hugged her clothes and said from the bottom of her heart, "I won't get sick."

"Hurry up and wash~" Satoru shrugged, his hair was still stained with water, and it was shiny under the light, "I'm so cold, I will catch a cold, you have to be responsible for me if I catch a cold~"

Yayoi really couldn't guess what the big cat was thinking. If it's cold, why didn't he just wash first?

But it seemed that if Yayoi didn't take a shower, he wouldn't go in.

Yayoi thought for a while and felt that he couldn't defeat Satoru, so she turned around and walked back to the room.

"Eh~ Won't you wash?" Satoru tilted his head, like a big cat with its head tilted.

"You only brought me the dress." Yayoi looked at Satoru super seriously.

No underwear was taken.

Satoru: "..."
The white cat understood instantly.

After running back to the room and taking out her underwear, she ran into the bathroom and took a quick shower. Yayoi pushed Satoru into the bathroom.

"Hurry up and wash." Yayoi pushed Satoru in the bathroom and closed the door.

The sound of rushing water echoed in the bathroom, and the running water washed the smooth floor of the bathroom.

It was still raining outside, hazy water vapor filled the bathroom, and the pouring rain knocked on the bathroom window.

The warm water washed over the surface of the body, washing away the coldness caught in the rain and the bloody smell of the cursed spirit, and flowed into the sewer along with the water flowing down the body.

The eyelashes were hung with clear water drops, and the warm water soothed the body. The body curves washed by the warm water were smooth and the muscles were full. Every cell seemed to be sighing in comfort.

After the end of the hair were stained with water, they hung down meekly, and water droplets secreted along the ends of the hair little by little, dripping onto the bathroom floor where there was a thin layer of water.

Satoru looked at the things in the bathroom calmly.

Skin cream, shower gel, shampoo, facial cleanser, and clothes hangers were neatly arranged. There was also a bathtub by the window. There was a shower head hung on the wall, and the smooth ceramic tiles were stained with water vapor.

Standard bathroom equipment.

But...

Satoru's eyes passed over a bottle of shampoo, and a line of small words on the label clearly said 'For Men Only'.

"Gojo, you didn't get a towel."

There was a knock on the door outside the bathroom, and Yayoi's voice entered the bathroom.

Satoru suppressed the gloom in his eyes, and put on the cunning feline look on his brows. He opened the bathroom door and poked his head to reveal a wet cat head.

The wet hair lay obediently on the head, the water droplets secreted from the ends of the hair dripping down, and the pale blue eyes were still filled with hazy mist.

Satoru saw the little red-haired girl holding a towel at a glance. Compared to more than ten years ago, she had grown a lot taller. The lines on her face were mature, and her facial features became more refined after they were opened. Her amber eyes were like cat eyes. She wore a pajama that he pulled out from the closet. On the pajama was a white cat head, with red hair sticking to her cheeks, bright as fire in the cold rainy night.

The steam and light in the bathroom filled the air from the crack in the door. Satoru poked out his head from inside, and Yayoi carefully covered his handsome face with a towel.

Satoru: "...thank you?"

Yayoi: "You're welcome."

Satoru: "..."
Suddenly I feel that my life was a bit difficult.

The warm orange lights set off the rain-stained windows, and the pattering rain stuck to the windows and slid down.

Hearing the sound of pouring rain, Yuji sleepily lifted the quilt, got out of bed, and walked out of the room. He vaguely saw the dim lights.

On a humid and cold rainy day, his throat was unexpectedly dry, and the moist in his throat seemed to have evaporated completely.

Through the bathroom door, he could see the bright lights inside, and Yuji subconsciously thought it was his sister coming back.

The bathroom door was slowly pushed open, and the little tiger was stunned as he watched an unknown man with white hair and blue eyes slowly walk out.

Little Tiger: ???

When the two parties met their eyes, each other was stunned for a moment. The other party didn't feel guilty at all. He was standing at the door of the bathroom openly, wearing only a steaming towel around his waist. His bangs were wet with water and lay meekly on his forehead. Water dripped down thinly, with full muscles and smooth curves. It was obvious that he was an adult man, but just looking at his face, he didn't look much older than him.

The little tiger was confused, and the big cat across from him was stunned for a moment when he saw this male creature suddenly appearing in the little redhead's house. Then he thought of the bottle of men's shampoo in the bathroom, and his eyes became much more ferocious.

"Who are you?" The little tiger was confused, "Why do you appear in my bathroom in the middle of the night?"

Satoru's face darkened visibly to the naked eye, and in the blink of an eye, dark clouds gathered.

The man spoke slowly, his low tone unable to hide the gloom in his heart, "Where did you come from, sneaky cat?" [1]

Unexplained smoke filled the air at the door of Itadori's bathroom. Lightning outside the window tore through the sky. Taking advantage of his height advantage, the white cat looked down at the little tiger.

Yuji stood at the door of the bathroom with bewildered eyes.

What's going on with this guy?

***

· Genuine translation can be found only in OchatimesBlogspotCom, FanFictionNet, and Wattpad

• Omake •

Gojo the Cat: I discovered a naughty cat other than the fat orange cat. I really hate naughty cats!
Little Tiger: ???
Little Tiger: The world of adults is so complicated.

[1] You may have seen "sneaky cat", "stealing cat", "thieving cat" or the same words in the previous chapters.

That is a metaphorical term that originally refers to the behavior of cats when their owners are not at home: stealing food from other households.

In real life, this word is used to describe people's emotional cheating and eating forbidden fruit. In various extramarital affairs and cheating incidents, many people are called "sneaky cats", which means that they are not loyal to their partners and look for others.

Not only is such behavior a betrayal, it can also lead to family breakdown.



[Prev] ~ [TOC] ~ [Next]