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II: Lily of the Valley
Chapter 89: Cross the River
The gentleness and humbleness in the daytime.

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To use an analogy, the human heart was like an onion, one layer after another was peeled off.

The existence of the cursed spirit had stripped away all the things wrapped in the human heart, and the things buried underneath were nakedly displayed in front of the curse user. Hatred, despair, and pain could be seen at a glance.

There was a saying that it was rare to be confused.

Sometimes, it might be better to not be able to see something than to be able to see it.

But on second thought, if you couldn't see it, no one would come to find "her", right?

•

After the golden-red glow faded, the silent night filled the place, and the burning-like sunset glow was submerged by the deep dark blue.

The green plants on both sides of the street swayed with lush branches and leaves, and the rustling wind lingered in the ears.

A black car appeared on the horizon, its lights shining on the deserted street, and the bright light fell on the dusty wall.

"Have you had dinner?" Akari sat in the driver's seat and slowly opened the window. Her gray-blue eyes were like a sea covered with fog.

Yayoi was holding the shoulder strap of the backpack, "No, come out and eat later."

Akari took a sandwich and a bottle of milk from the passenger seat and handed them to her through the window, "Eat some, you might not be able to eat anymore later."

"Well, even though you don't look like someone who can eat anything."

A person who could still swallow three bowls of ramen without changing her expression after killing the cursed spirit doesn't really look like someone who can eat anything.

"Then it's better to be respectful than to obey." Yayoi took the milk and sandwich handed over by Akari.

"Speaking of which, why do you want to be a sorcerer?" Akari raised her arms and held her chin, "I can't feel any cursed energy from you. If you don't have cursed energy, it would be better to stay among ordinary people, right?"

The sandwich wrapped in a transparent packaging bag was bulging. The bread slices were filled with meat and fried eggs, and the green vegetables were squeezed out of the bread slices.

Yayoi lowered her head and tore off the label on the packaging bag, "There is no place for me to go among ordinary people."

"Since you can't find it among ordinary people, let's find another place." Yayoi tore open the plastic bag, bit down firmly on the sandwich, and took a big bite.

"But a sorcerer isn't a good place to end up, right?" Akari subconsciously complained.

She felt from the bottom of her heart that being a sorcerer was not a good place to end up. In the circle of assistant director, she was still young and had already seen a lot of filth and shadows hidden in the peaceful daily life.

The work of the assistant director, to put it nicely, was to assist the sorcerer in exorcising the cursed spirits. To put it bluntly, it was to personally deliver the sorcerer to the execution ground. They have no way of predicting or guaranteeing whether they would live or die. The only thing they could do was watch the back of the sorcerer walking to the execution ground. Whether it was the human beings who beheading the cursed spirits, or the cursed spirits beheading the humans. The assistant director who was prohibited from participating in the battle could only know which side won and survived.

Akari suddenly remembered her younger brother. Her younger brother had a talent higher than hers. He could not only see curse spirits, but also possessed cursed technique. He was admitted to the Kyoto Jujutsu High.

One day, she would also look at her brother's back, right?

Dying was a luxurious and unattainable ending for a sorcerer.

Yayoi slowly swallowed the food in her mouth, "Since neither side is a good destination, let's just leave it to your own heart to decide."

"It's good to be a sorcerer. I can play with cats." Yayoi puffed out her cheeks and chewed the food in her mouth, saying vaguely.

Petting a cat required the cat's permission. If you pet without their permission, you would be punished.

Akari looked confused, then thought that she was Satoru's assistant teacher, "You have a cat in the high school?"

The high school was in the suburbs, and there should be a lot of wild cats.

"He's not my cat." Yayoi puffed up her cheeks.

It was a big, noble white cat. You could only touch him when he touched you. If you didn't pet him, he would tease you. He liked to tease people when he was in a good mood, and he also liked to tease people when he was in a bad mood. He was so evil that he made fun of people all over the place.

"I can't afford him."

That's a permed kitty with a shirt worth 250,000.

Couldn't afford it.

She might as well raise a big orange cat.

After finishing her sandwich, Yayoi clapped her hands and threw the plastic wrapper and empty milk carton into a roadside trash can.

Yayoi took out the sword that had killed the cursed spirit from her backpack. The black scabbard was filled with silvery moonlight. Taking a deep breath of the night air, the dust was sucked into the trachea mixed with the despair and pain hidden somewhere deep.

Yayoi walked into the abandoned factory holding the sword.

•

Yayoi suddenly wanted to pet the cat.

The big white cat was probably in a high school now, maybe she could get him when she got back.

The sweet smell of the big cat, the soft hair that the cat made when he was in a good mood.

Compared with these malicious intentions, if she wanted to pet a cat, she would ace the risk of being teased by the cat in turn. It's better not to be too gentle and quiet.

The malice overflowing from people was like black mud. Once it was contaminated, it would be difficult to remove, and the body and mind would be polluted together. The body and soul would sink into the mire, struggling and silently asking for help. But didn’t know who to ask for help.

'I went to look for you, but I couldn't find you.'

Yayoi thought of Satoru, who had a pouty mouth and wrapped himself in a quilt. The big cat wrapped himself tightly and huddled on her bed, feeling terribly wronged.

Speaking of which, Yayoi never asked where his home was.

Satoru took over the Gojo family from the previous generation Gojo family head when he was a boy, but he showed an attitude many times overtly and covertly that he did not regard the Gojo family as "home".

"Home" should be warmth without burden.

She had never seen his home or his family.

Yayoi vaguely knew that Satoru was in a bad mood that night, even a little irritable, and the exhaustion in his heart spread to his body. After wandering all the way to her house, he couldn't find her, so he confidently threw himself on her bed, wrapped himself in a ball and slept.

Why were you unhappy?

Did something bad happen to you?

Or was there someone who made you unhappy?

Many times, the questions she wanted to ask were not asked, and the words she wanted to say were not spoken. They were accumulated in her heart, and at some inadvertent moment, they would emerge from her eyes and wander again and again.

Thoughts that tickle and guide people, constantly driving people to do something in their minds.

'Go back and ask him.'

Yayoi thought as she tightened her grip on the hilt of the knife in her hand. The strong wind carried the roar of the cursed spirit. The moment it roared, the blade of the sword was drawn out of the scabbard, and the silver-white sword light exploded like silver flowers.

The hysterical wails of the cursed spirit almost broke through the roof of the warehouse, and the spurting plasma splashed onto the floor and walls, suddenly blooming like monster flowers.

In order to prevent it from escaping, Yayoi asked Akari who was outside to lower the rolling shutter.

The raging strong wind banged the metal rolling shutter door loudly, like a hurricane that swept through the city during typhoon season. The glass of the window was shattered and splashed in the moonlight. The warehouse was in a mess, and the sound of banging clanging sounded intermittently.

Yayoi broke its bones. After its human-like limbs were cut off, the remaining limbs could not support its escape, so it lay on the floor that was stained dark with blood, breathing intermittently.

Yayoi wiped it out cleanly.

The cursed spirit itself was not even a good-looking thing, and it was not an exaggeration to say that it was a mutant of something. The feeling brought by the alien to human beings was not only fear of the unknown, but also strong nausea.

The cursed spirit with numerous limbs cut off lay in tatters on the ground, exuding a fishy smell, and blood was flowing underneath.

It's dead.

It didn't die.

After receiving Yayoi's signal, Akari opened the rolling shutter. She was so dizzy by the smell when she entered that she almost vomited out her lunch.

No matter how many times she saw this kind of thing, her heart could never really calm down.

Fortunately, she had had this experience several times before, and it's not as embarrassing as last time.

Akari saw Yayoi walking to the edge of the open space outside the warehouse, picking up a shovel, walking into the corner of the warehouse, raising the shovel, and the cement-covered ground was knocked with a clang.

Akari shook her head, took three steps and two steps at a time, and trotted all the way to the corner.

The cement-covered ground was knocked out with spiderweb-like cracks, and there were a lot of gravel and rubble on the originally flat ground.

To be honest, with Yayoi's strength, it wouldn't be difficult to smash the floor, but she didn't want to destroy anything underneath.

Yayoi stuffed the shovel into the crack, stepped on the shovel, and used force with her arms and legs at the same time. The entire floor was pried open, revealing a small part of her delicate face underneath.

The moonlight spilled in from the destroyed window and fell on that delicate face. She closed her eyes as if she had fallen into a deep sleep.

Yayoi looked at the sleeping girl and said softly, "Is it you who is crying?"

Yayoi threw the shovel into the corner and looked at the corpse of the cursed spirit that was beginning to disperse like embers left after being burned by fire. "The mission has been completed. Please call the police later."

•

Early the next morning, a yellow cordon was put up in the abandoned warehouse, the warning lights on the police cars were spinning, and the surrounding area was filled with piercing sirens.

The local police station received an anonymous report and found a female body in an abandoned paper mill awaiting demolition. The body was buried under the cement floor on the first floor of the warehouse.

The girl's body was well-preserved, her hair and cheeks were very close to when she was alive, and the school badge on her high school uniform was not damaged.

After a simple investigation, coupled with DNA comparison, it was basically confirmed that her name was 'Mika Nijima' and she disappeared a year ago.

The speed of modern information dissemination was very fast, coupled with the media's deliberate reporting and the public's attention, the next morning, this matter was reported on the morning news channel.

Yayoi sat behind the dining table, her cheeks bulging, chewing the fried fish in her mouth.

Sitting opposite were Junpei and his mother Nagi Yoshino. Junpei's expression had changed from 'too shocked' to 'forget it, just be happy.' His mother sitting next to him was smiling broadly.

"I asked, why my brat has gone out more frequently recently and comes back dirty every day." Nagi looked teasingly at the red-haired woman sitting in front of her, "So it's you, little redhead."

"Long time no see, Sister Nagi." Yayoi's expression was still calm, "Sister Nagi is as beautiful as a flower as time goes by."

"Uh-hmm." Nagi raised her chin and her nose almost turned up.

The boy was stunned and asked, "You two know each other?"

Nagi lit a cigarette for herself, and after receiving a look of protest from her son, she put the cigarette butt in the ashtray and extinguished the spark.

"I went to high school in Tokyo." Nagi said slowly, "She was still a little red-haired girl at the time and lived next door to me."

"A woman's 18th transformation, a dwarf girl turned into a beauty~" Nagi held her chin, smiling with her eyebrows crooked, "How is Haruna-san?"

Yayoi's hand holding the chopsticks paused, "Mom passed away many years ago."

"..."

"..."

"Gomenasai! Mom, she didn't mean it..." Junpei, an honest child, was the first to apologize for his mother in a panic, which made the child very nervous.

"It doesn't matter." Yayoi said, "I'm not angry."

Nagi: "..."

Junpei: "..."

"Then... are you alone now?" Nagi looked at the thin little redhead. The little redhead grew up into a big redhead. She was taller than before, her face was much prettier than before, and her figure was also... cough.

Nagi thought of the dwarf little redhead who would call her "Sister Nagi" many years ago with a blank expression on her face. She didn't like to laugh or talk. Haruna-san often worried that she would be bullied in school. But Nagi, who was still a high school student, knew who was being bullied and it was not the Amamiya family’s little red-haired girl who was bullied. If that little bastard with evil intentions was not beaten to death, then Amitabha.

She remembered that this little redhead was not good at making friends. When she was in kindergarten, there was a little kid who liked her, but he caught an insect and tried to get close to her. As a result, not only did he not attract the little red-haired girl's attention, but he also caught the person's face-breaking punch with his face. Her face remained blank all day long, and her expressionless look was not at all like that energetic little girl of that age.

She didn't like pretty dolls or pretty floral dresses, but she was more interested in cats, and she was also a cat sucker.

She was not easily bullied by others, but she was always alone.

But it was very lonely to be alone.

"My mother passed away three years after my mother and 'father' divorced, and I still have a younger brother." Yayoi said, "Although we are not related by blood, we are very important family members."

Nagi was not sure whether Yayoi's mother had remarried, and it was obviously not easy to ask questioned now.

"Sister Nagi, are you still smoking?" Yayoi looked at the extinguished cigarette butts in the ashtray.

Nagi received a look of protest from her son full of condemnation, 'still smoking'. It sounded like his mother had a bad habit of smoking before he was born, and she was caught!

Nagi touched her hair with a 'hahahaha' sound, and then her face suddenly turned fierce. She stretched out both hands to pinch the redhead cheeks, rubbed and pinched them, and said fiercely, "Children, please don't interfere with adults' matters!"

"Oh, don't worry about it." Yayoi let Nagi mess with her face, "Sister Nagi, who is as beautiful as a flower, please let me go."

Junpei: "..."

Nagi smiled happily, "The naughty kid is talking nonsense."

Yayoi: "Didn't you ask me to say that?"

Junpei: "..." I didn't expect you to be such a person, mom.

"Fortunately, it's you." Nagi breathed a sigh of relief and let go of Yayoi's face, "I thought my son was going to be a gangster recently."

Junpei: "...mom!"

To be honest, he felt that working as a gangster was safer than Yayoi-san's job.

Nagi gently touched Yayoi's hair with a gentle look, "You have been a lonely child since you were a child, but you look very good now."

"Yeah." Yayoi bowed her head obediently.

"Remember to inform Junpei if there is any work in the group." Nagi winked at her, "This guy promises to do everything for you."

Junpei: "...mom!" I have already said that I'm not a gangster, and Yayoi-san is not a gangster either!

"Aren't you worried about Junpei breaking someone's legs outside?" Yayoi raised her head, blinking her amber eyes.

Junpei: "..."

Nagi subconsciously put her hand into her pocket, trying to feel for cigarettes, but came up empty. Then she remembered that her cigarettes had been confiscated by her son.

"If your leg is broken, just break it." Nagi said.

Junpei: ??? Am I your biological son?!

If it was not confirmed that this was his biological mother, he would suspect that he had picked up.

"But it's really over when your heart dies." Nagi raised her head and her eyes fell on the ceiling, "Junpei is a very stubborn kid. Most of the bad things will be hidden from me. He is very sensible, but sometimes he is a fool."

"To be honest, I'm worried too, but worrying is of little use. Putting something too heavy in your heart will only drag you down and Junpei down." She had seen the changes in her son in recent days, and was surprised and happy about it.

"The school is just a small water tank. There are seas and other water tanks outside. Junpei, of course, can't stay in a water tank all the time. I don't like him staying in a water tank either, but... he wants to go to the water tank or the sea. It's up to him to decide." Nagi said softly, "I cannot complete life for him."

"Mom..." Junpei's eyes were a little dazed, and a sour feeling spread up his nose like a tide.

"So, please don't be polite." Nagi's expression was serious and decisive.

Junpei: "..." I already told you that I’m not a gangster anymore!

Yayoi smiled. The neighbor sister who used to like to smoke had her long hair cut short. The girl became a mother. A mother's love was gentle and sometimes decisive. She loved her child but had to be cruel. She forced herself to look at the child's leaving figure and hold back the sourness and sadness in her heart.

'Mom, do you think so too?'

Yayoi left the address and contact information of the high school to Junpei, "If you really want to study in the high school, then come."

After four years of high school, she didn't necessarily want to be a sorcerer as her future development direction. She remembered Satoru saying that 'Nanamin' is a strange man who treated sorcerers as shit. He studied in a high school. He dropped out of school halfway through, and after becoming a salaryman, he suddenly plunged back into the world of curses.

"Are you leaving?" Nagi smiled.

"Yeah, I want to go back and pet the cat. I'm a little tired." Yayoi shrugged.

Nagi stood at the door of her house and waved to her, "Come and play when you have time."

"I will." Yayoi waved to her.

She saw a mother standing at the door, with her somewhat thin children next to her. The morning sun cast their shadows shallow and long, and the shallow rays of light fell on their faces, reflecting the gentleness and bustle of the day.

It looked very much like a mother who returned to her hometown with her red-haired daughter many years ago.

＊＊＊

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

• Omake •

When she returned to Tokyo, there was no cat, and the cat was taken away by the rotten orange. There was only a certain uncle who used her brother's body to confess.

•

#Responsibility-free small theater:

Uncle: Enchant me, Megumi Fushiguro!

Yayoi: Don’t even think about it! Yuji likes girls with big breasts and big butts! [pupil earthquake.jpg]

Toji: Do you have one billion? Don’t even think about it if you don’t have one billion!


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