Chapter 4: Meeting Yan Sheng in a Dream & Daily Rant...

I really wanted to tell Yoriichi to give up on this brother who was full of jealousy towards him, but considering the brother-complex nature of the other party, I didn't say anything.

As someone who is obsessed with his brother, I understand Yoriichi's heartfelt respect and longing for his older brother. Because of this, I also know very well how much damage revealing this cruel truth would cause him. This makes me unable to destroy the feelings that are so precious to Yoriichi. I can only watch helplessly as he continues to respect and love his older brother, who is so jealous that he wishes he had never been born.

So how am I, a brother-obsessed person, supposed to save you, a brother-obsessed person?

I'm really worried that Yoriichi will suffer when he encounters Kokushibo in the future!

Seeing the warm and gentle smile on Yoriichi's face as he looked at the flute, a sense of mission suddenly welled up in my heart. I will protect the little angel's smile. Yoriichi, don't worry about being a brother-obsessed brother. I will never let your brother hurt you.

Yes, as long as Yoriichi can stop Kokushiro from becoming a demon, he can be his best friend for life, even if it's just one-sided.

Anyway, his brother is a repressed pervert; no matter how much he resents his younger brother, he won't show it. Even if he accidentally reveals a hint of jealousy, Yoriichi probably won't notice, so this fake brotherly relationship can still be maintained.

As expected, we still have to kill Muzan. We must eliminate him before he bewitches Kokushibo, and only in this way will Yoriichi not regret his life because his brother has become a demon.

Having made up my mind, I looked at the dark night outside the window and said to Yoriichi, "It's getting late, let's go to sleep. You can sleep on the outside, okay?"

Although Yoriichi and I were both children at that time, we couldn't sleep in the same bed, so I laid out two sets of bedding. The platform was also big enough that it was very spacious for two children to sleep on.

Yoriichi put away his flute and obediently went to sleep in the outer bedding. I also crawled into the blankets by the window, said "Goodnight," and began to silently refine my chakra.

While refining chakra while sitting is more efficient, I can't sleep, and staying up late all the time is bad for my health. So I can only refine chakra while lying down, and I can go to sleep whenever I feel sleepy, so as not to delay tomorrow's work.

"……good evening."

I heard Yoriichi's slightly delayed "goodnight" in my ear, which made me chuckle softly. Even a little slow-witted Yoriichi is quite adorable.

I slept without any dreams.

Feeling refreshed after waking up early, I made an extremely simple breakfast and then dragged Yoriichi into the mountains to set traps for prey. I had to improve our meals; otherwise, I'd be turning green with envy if I kept eating millet rice and pickled radishes every day.

Once we got to the mountains, I started making traps. Digging pits is quite strenuous, which is really not friendly to a seven-year-old, so I made more than a dozen of the simplest and most primitive rope traps, just waiting for the prey to walk into the trap.

Yoriichi watched me work quietly the whole time. I was sure it was the first time he had ever seen someone make a trap. This was something that was quite novel and interesting for a child, but his eyes remained completely unmoved. He only offered to help by handing me rope or sharpening the bow stick when I was busy. He never asked about the trap once. He was so calm that he didn't seem like a child at all.

Considering that Yoriichi didn't start speaking until he was seven years old, and before that he was even treated as deaf and mute, I genuinely feel that his autistic tendencies are quite severe, and at times like this, he needs love and companionship.

Yoriichi's mother really did a great job in this regard, as did Kokushibo. Although I don't want to admit it, this older brother definitely played a very important role in helping Yoriichi open up his closed heart.

And then there's the real song, that girl who's always so talkative and has such a lovely smile, holding tightly to Yoriichi's hand, which is like a kite with a broken string...

This is also what I need to do. Since I have taken over the role of the singer, I must hold Yoriichi's hand tightly like she did. I must also become stronger, strong enough that I won't be killed by demons. I will never let Yoriichi suffer that heart-wrenching tragedy ten years from now!

It took me half a day to set up the trap. During that time, I used a stone as a shuriken to shoot down a passing pheasant and took it back for a meal. Only then did I feel satisfied and go home with Yoriichi.

On the way back, I picked several kinds of herbs that are commonly found in the mountains, intending to make them into medicines to sell for money. That way, I could supplement my household income and buy all the necessary seasonings like oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, and sugar. Otherwise, I really couldn't stand eating bland food every day.

While I was gathering herbs, Yoriichi quietly picked up a lot of firewood. It warmed my heart. We've used a lot of wood for cooking and boiling water these past few days, and I was planning to chop some firewood this afternoon, but now he's thinking of bringing firewood home. He's so considerate.

So Yoriichi is truly an angel. Although most of the time his expression is indifferent and his voice is calm and even, as if nothing can get into his heart, in fact, he has a very warm world inside him. Just getting close to him makes you feel warm inside.

I'd like to specifically criticize Kokushiro Tsugikuni here; only a jealous person like him wouldn't appreciate Yoriichi's good qualities.

Or perhaps he could sense it, but his heart was consumed by intense jealousy, causing him to ignore this brotherhood that shone brighter than the stars in the night sky.

It was probably only after Yoriichi's death, when he saw the flute his younger brother had kept on his person for over seventy years, that his pure feelings for his brother were rekindled.

But so what? Even though tears welled up in his eyes without him realizing it, the bond between him and his brother had been severed with a single stroke.

*

Under the scorching sun, I saw a boy practicing kendo.

It was a child who looked extremely similar to Yoriichi, except that he didn't have the red mark on his forehead and his hair looked straighter; otherwise, they were almost identical.

No, that's not right. Their eyes are different. Yoriichi's eyes always seem somewhat empty, while that child's eyes are very bright.

He stood in the courtyard, holding a wooden sword, swinging it again and again. Sweat poured down his face, soaking his kendo uniform; he must have been practicing for a long time.

Nevertheless, his sword strikes were still powerful, and his movements were extremely precise, without the slightest hint of laziness or perfunctoriness. His eyes revealed a tenacity that was completely unlike that of a child his age.

Wait a minute! This child must be Jiguo Yansheng!

I suddenly came to my senses and realized that I was dreaming. Then I remembered that the World Consciousness had said that my dream was connected with that of Tsugikuni Iwakatsu, so this child was not fake, but the real Tsugikuni Iwakatsu!

Thinking about the harm he would cause Yoriichi when he grew up, I suddenly felt an itch to touch him.

He stepped over, intending to teach him a lesson, but seeing the face that resembled Yoriichi's, he hesitated. Moreover, Kokushibo hadn't made any substantial mistakes yet, so would it be inappropriate to continue fighting like this?

Especially since the other child is only seven years old, I feel like if I punch him, my integrity will be shattered. It's like bullying a child.

I stopped and hesitated, while Kokushiro Iwakatsu continued to swing his wooden sword intently, as if he didn't see me at all, until the sun was high in the sky before he finished his kendo practice.

"Are you new here?"

With sweat beading on his face and breathing heavily, Tsugikuni Iwakatsu finally turned his gaze to me. Despite being a little kid, he spoke with the commanding tone of a superior, which was quite annoying.

"Go get me a glass of water."

I didn't want to pay any attention to this brat, but I was stunned when I saw the wooden knife he had put aside. There were two large patches of bright red blood on the handle of the wooden knife.

I subconsciously looked at Ji Guoyansheng's hands. His still very young hands were covered in blisters, and they looked painful. But the child didn't show any sign of pain, as if he had long been used to this kind of pain.

In that instant, I suddenly understood why Kokushibo felt disgusted when Yoriichi smiled and said he wanted to become a samurai like him.

To give an example, if I were to spend countless hours studying, pulling all-nighters and doing endless practice tests until I felt nauseous, and then a friend who never studies suddenly came up to me saying they wanted to go to the same university, flashing a naive smile that comes from someone who's never experienced the hardships of studying. I'd probably feel a bit nauseous too.

Of course, I won't keep my thoughts to myself like Ji Guoyansheng. I'll grab the guy by the collar and make him apologize to my 53 practice exams, my Huanggang exams, and all the papers I've written until my hands are calloused!

You haven't even done a single test paper and you're already delusional enough to think you can get into the same university as me. You're completely disregarding all my hard work and the pain I've endured for my dream. What a joke!

Then, the other person, who had never studied or experienced the hellish senior year of high school, suddenly got into a top university that was even better than mine... I felt like my mentality was about to collapse!

At this point, that person felt that this precious talent was meaningless, so he casually threw his exam results aside and stopped studying. Instead, he only thought about playing all day long... Haha, I'm so envious and jealous of this talent that I can get good grades without studying. You're just wasting your talent like this. Let's end our friendship!

Anyway, I definitely never want to see that person again in my life, no matter how good our relationship was before.

Seeing the other person reminds me of my own failures. I've tried so hard, why is it that the results I achieved with blood and tears are still inferior to those of someone who never even tried? Is talent really that important? Why should it be given to someone who doesn't cherish it and completely wastes their talent? Fate is so unfair!

Just thinking about these things makes me feel like my heart is filled with acid, it's so sour it's unbearable.

Lemon, lemon, lemon, lemon, lemon, lemon, lemon, lemon...

Well, thinking about it this way, I feel quite sorry for Kokushiro Tsugikuni, especially since the person who caused him to completely break down was his own younger brother whom he always thought was inferior to him in every way. It must have been even more unbearable for him.

No! Why should I pity him? It's Yoriichi who's pitiful. He's being envied just for showing off his natural talent. He's the most innocent one.

Ultimately, it's all Tsugikuni Iwakatsu's fault. If I were in his situation, I would have never met Yoriichi in my life, or if I did, I would have stayed far away to avoid further mental trauma.

As for Iwakatsu, he likened Yoriichi to a unique sun, unable to bear its scorching light yet yearning for it from the bottom of his heart.

He abandoned everything, chasing the sun like a moth drawn to a flame, sacrificing his family, his wife and children, his human identity, and even his samurai dignity, but in the end, he gained nothing.

She only realized on her deathbed that her true wish was to become Yoriichi, but in the end she went against her brother's path. Even in death she questioned why she was so different from Yoriichi. It was truly tragic.

Actually, I think Kokushibo doesn't really understand Yoriichi. If he truly understood Yoriichi, he probably wouldn't have had that dream.

Admittedly, Yoriichi's talent was indeed terrifyingly high, but there was nothing that could be done about it; it was a cheat code personally given by the author. If you're not happy about it, then so be it.

Yoriichi's somewhat withdrawn personality, while making him an angel in my eyes, is probably considered a minor flaw by others.

Speaking of which, Katsumi Tsugikuni's filter for Yoriichi is a bit too strong!

Like a unique sun, a person favored by all the gods, a person as blazing and dazzling as the sun—using so many beautiful words to describe Yoriichi, Iwakatsu, are you sure you really hate him?

This level of admiration is comparable to that for Madara Uchiha, who seems to have a built-in beauty filter!

Anyway, based on the future I see, Yoriichi, when he grows up, will be a noble, upright, and righteous swordsman, but I always feel that he is a bit silly, just like the Water Pillar!