Chapter 65: Unfavorable Start and Change of Fortune

At first, everyone was a little afraid of the child.

Because on the day she was born, her mother died of complications during childbirth.At the same time, the volcano that the village had relied on for generations began to vibrate strangely.

Some people took this as a good omen, while others thought it was a warning from the gods.

"But what was the young child's fault? While the villagers disliked her, they didn't take her too far. The child lived with her remaining family and grew up." Mr. Konnosuke picked up his glass and shook it. "But as the child grew older, things started to change."

Because she was very quiet since she was little, and would occasionally stare at an empty place. When she could speak, something even stranger happened -

"Whatever a young child says actually comes true. If she keeps staring at someone's house, a death will happen there soon. Well, that's actually a pretty common anecdote, isn't it?"

"She can see it, right? A death omen." Mr. Benten wrinkled his nose and lit another cigarette. "As for the words coming true, it's probably a prophecy."

"Wow, you're really knowledgeable."

"You've already called it the 'Son of God.' If it's a fragment of a god, it should have this ability, right?" He glared at Mr. Konnosuke. "But I don't think those humans are that smart."

"yes."

Mr. Fox blew a puff from his pipe, as if sighing, but with a faint smile on his face.

"In a village that reveres the gods like this, this child has only two possible outcomes. Either he'll be worshipped as a deity, or he'll be completely exorcised as a bad omen. Little girl, guess which outcome this child will have?"

Several blurry images flashed before my eyes: ragged people cursing and throwing stones, a red sky, black crows resting on dry branches, and crimson magma emitting heat and the stench of sulfur.

"Hello, hello!"

I came back to my senses and looked at Mr. Benten: "Hmm?"

"What are you staring at?"

I squeezed the glass in my hand. "I was just thinking about Mr. Konnosuke's question." Under the bar lights, the water in the glass reflected a warm yellow shimmer. "I think... this probably won't be a happy ending, right?"

He held his chin with his arm resting on the table, his expression calm. "Yes, because she caused a fire in the village, the child was regarded as a bad omen, and then the angry villagers pushed her into the crater, hoping to appease the so-called 'wrath of the gods'."

"Tsk, the gods are angry, but they're giving back the gifts they received. Are these people idiots? It's really annoying."

"Don't worry, this story actually has a very happy ending." The purple-haired young man pushed his empty cup back to the table. "When the Yin-Yang Master returned to that land, the village had disappeared, along with the villagers."

Not long after the child was sacrificed, the mountain, which had been quiet for so long, suddenly erupted one night with a cloud of smoke and lava that blocked out the sun. The sleeping villagers had no time to escape before they were swallowed up by the revived volcano.

"You see, it's a very happy ending."

However, when he said this, he only received a roll of the eyes from Mr. Benten.

"Humph, that's nonsense. Then let me ask you, everyone is dead, how did the Yin-Yang Master know this story?"

"I don't know about that. I just heard it from someone. Maybe someone from a nearby city, or a survivor who happened to be traveling, told them?"

"……is that so?"

"Hey, you're not really believing Konnosuke's nonsense, are you?"

I smiled. “I don’t think it’s made up. After all, humans do this sometimes.”

He looked at me with an indescribable expression: "You're obviously not that old, why do you talk so old-fashioned?"

"Benten, have you forgotten? A Shinigami's age has nothing to do with his appearance."

"It's nothing to do with this. It's just that even before I became a Shinigami, I was isolated by the people around me." I turned around, placed the water glass on the table, and gently scratched the glass with my fingernails. "How should I put it... For souls without spiritual power, our existence might bring them discomfort. Whether it's our appearance or the spiritual pressure we release unconsciously, it's like miasma, for example?"

I couldn't help but laugh again, remembering my time in Rukongai. "My grandma, who took me in, was even called a 'ghostly old woman' by those brats. They said it wasn't enough for her to adopt one freak, but she had to pick up another disaster. But she didn't do anything wrong and was so kind to everyone. Why did they keep gossiping about her like that?"

"……so?"

I imitated Mr. Konnosuke and pushed my water glass to the edge of the table. “So I beat them all up.”

The fight ended with fists bleeding, and the boy who was taller and stronger than me and spoke the most viciously was seriously injured.

"Grandma and Toushirou are both gentle people, too gentle, but I'm different." Her nails scraped across the grooves of the glass, making a gentle, scraping sound. "I know, they're all watching me, waiting for me to get into trouble, for me to show I'm different from everyone else. That way, they can confidently point at my nose and say, 'Look, she's a disaster, a bad seed.'" And then, whether they want to drive me away or exclude Grandma and Toushirou, it can be done naturally.

"Wait, why has this topic suddenly become so heavy?"

"Well, don't mind~ So you left in the end?"

The fingers picking at the glass stopped, "How is that possible?"

At that time, Dong Shilang, who found out that I had beaten everyone, heard the boy with a sad face saying nasty things, and finally went up and punched him.

Suddenly I didn't feel so sad anymore.

"Of course, those guys got humiliated, and..."

"Are you an idiot? Or do you think we're just cowards?" The silver-haired, blue-eyed boy glared at me angrily. It was the first time he'd been so angry since we met. "How could I possibly abandon you? If that were the case, I wouldn't have reached out to you in the first place!"

"Oh, that expression." Mr. Konnosuke tapped his pipe along the edge of the table. "Did something good happen to him?"

"You could say that."

At this moment——

"Oh, excuse me~"

"Huh? Why is Konnosuke here too?"

The person we have been waiting for has finally arrived at Araeunji Temple.

Mr. Cong Yun did not come alone today. He was accompanied by a young man wearing a suit, glasses, and a side-parted hairstyle. He could blend in with ordinary office workers when standing at the Tokyo Station exit.

"Oh, you're the girl they were talking about, right? My name is Sanlunshan. Thank you for your guidance."

Miwayama...isn't that the last of the Big Four?

"Oh, Jiu Jing's sister, let me tell you, besides Konnosuke, the second person you should be careful of is this four-eyed frog."

"Who is the four-eyed frog, you rude crow!!"

"Ahahaha, it's become lively all of a sudden."

"Well, I'm sorry to have you see the unreliable side of my companions." Mr. Congyun, the only one who looked very elderly, felt helpless at the moment. "But when it comes to serious matters, they are still very reliable."

No, no need to explain, I get it, I get it. Seeing this scene, it really makes me think of the Tenth Division back then.

"Then come with me to the front line, little girl. Miwayama and Benten will go pick up the Witch of the East, and as for Konnosuke—"

"I'm on standby here~"

"...As you wish."

Although it is called the front line, we actually walked there because the so-called "front line" is just outside of Araenji Temple.

"The corpses of demons are buried here. I wonder if it's because of this that the barrier of the entire Arata-enji Temple is much stronger than outside. If the witch and Saburo are here, the Tengu will definitely attack this place first."

Mr. Cong Yun explained the surrounding situation to me as we walked.

"My colleagues will be implementing traffic control in Shinjuku and Araenji. What do you want to do, sister-kun?"

Yes, it was only after I left the house that I realized that Mr. Muyun and Mr. Miwayama were both police officers. Police!

I didn't expect that one of them looked like a big boss, and the other looked like a shady office worker, but they were both public officials. Mr. Cong Yun, in particular, seemed to hold a high position.

Have monsters actually infiltrated the human world so deeply? Oh no, I'm actually feeling a sense of crisis about Seireitei, who just started using TV!

"I can do anything. In my spirit form, ordinary humans can't see me."

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that." He rubbed his forehead. "In that case, please help them find any fish that have slipped through the net. Although it's a traffic control, there are still many young people who ignore the police's warnings and run around."

Following Mr. Musou's instructions, I used instant walking to weave between the tall buildings. It wasn't the weekend, so even though it was raining, both Shinjuku and Araeunji were bustling with traffic. However, this also had an advantage: from above, the traffic control routes were very clear.

It was a rainy day and the sky was already gloomy. Before we knew it, it was night.

Just as Mr. Cong Yun had said, after nightfall, figures with pitch-black wings appeared in the sky. They blended in with the dark rain clouds, and without exceptional eyesight, humans would likely not have noticed these growing numbers of "crows."

However, for some reason, the Tengu did not attack. Instead, they flapped their wings and floated around the traffic-controlled road, as if waiting for something.

"……strangeness?"

A female police officer who was guarding the street corner with me suddenly murmured this.

"What happened?"

The mature, black-haired beauty glanced at me. "I feel like there's a strange smell mixed in with the rain. Well, we have good noses, but there's no sign of humans or Zone-00 around here..."

"Yes, I smelled it too."

"Me too. I've been smelling this since a while ago." The brown-skinned, short-haired sister standing on the other side also said, "But you don't have any smell. Is it because you're a spirit?"

Hmm, aren't the monsters' five senses a bit too sharp? But when they say that, I feel a little uneasy.

Maybe it was because of the rainy day and there were too many monsters around, the miasma and spiritual power were mixed together, and I, who had just resumed my identity as a Death God not long ago, was a little numb to my perception of spiritual pressure.

"Hey, you've worked hard. Are you all right?"

"Ah, the officer's back!"

Speak of the devil, and here he is. Just when I was wondering when Mr. Cong Yun would come back, he appeared on the scene with Mr. Sanlunshan.

The battle seemed to start in an instant. After hearing what we said, Mr. Miwayama frowned, and at the same time, the short-haired patrolwoman fell down.

At the same time, Mr. Cong Yun waved his hand, and the invisible cold air froze all the rain and monsters!

"Damn it! It looks like Bishamon's research is going very well. This rainwater is poisonous! Get in the car!"

The moment the monster appeared, I rushed over first, unsheathed my long blade, and instantly cut off the head of a snake!

"Hello!"

"Ah, I didn't mean to!" I dodged the attacks of the other snakes and returned to Mr. Miwayama's side. "Uh, it was too soft. I accidentally used too much force."

Really, this feeling is much softer than emptiness!

"Huh?" He pushed his glasses up. "Never mind. Actually, you're doing the right thing. Monsters strengthened by Zone-00 have strong healing abilities. If you're going to kill them, you have to do it thoroughly."

The three female police officers are now all poisoned. According to Mr. Cong Yun, this thing is very likely to be highly toxic to humans.

"Miwasan, take the three of them to Kon and inform Benten. As for Kyujo's sister—"

"I'm fine."

He looked at me, his brows furrowed in a knot: "Stay with me."

Huh? Actually, I really want to meet those tengu still watching the show in mid-air.

"Huh? Why is Jiu Jing's sister Jun here?"

Just then, a soft, nasal and cute voice came from the sky.

"Is Winter Lion-sama not here? What a pity~"

I looked up and saw someone I had met last time. Jixiang was still looking cute as always, but the clothes she wore seemed even more revealing than last time.

Haha, is my luck about to change?

-----------------------

The author has something to say: What is the skin of the Arrancar and the upper hollow? It is steel skin (knock on the blackboard). Remember, this is the test point, to be tested (not)

My sister can easily cut off the Hollow like cutting melons and vegetables. It's just a monster, what's so difficult about it (Hey)

The story Konnosuke told was actually slightly modified by him. For example, why did he know that it was the "Son of God" but the villagers didn't? Who told the story to the Onmyoji when everyone in the village died? Remember what I said in the previous chapter? He was an Onmyoji when he was human.