Chapter 125
She clutched her heart, and collapsed to her knees, utterly exhausted.
Mom, mother, is an identity that guides and nurtures people.
Fuyuki thought, if she felt such affection for this child the moment she saw him, why couldn't she take on this responsibility?
In any case, since Nakajima Atsushi is the most beloved child of this world's consciousness, and she is responsible for protecting the balance of this world, they will inevitably have frequent contact.
Taking on a role and doing what she should do, simply considering her age, she, who is several hundred years old, could certainly become the mother of this child who is only a few years old...
The Saniwa, who is still a child himself, is imagining things so happily.
"...Mom? No." Atsushi Nakajima was stunned for a moment. Even though he hadn't learned much, he knew that the person in front of him who had only hit him a little couldn't be his mother.
"Is that so? If you need a mother and don't care about gender..."
Dongshu wasn't persistent; accompanied by a ray of blue light, she quickly filtered through a large number of people in her mind.
There are many suitable mothers in the citadel, which is perfect for a child who has no one to look after him.
And if possible, if the stray dog isn't paying attention... the blue light in his eyes became more and more obvious, and Fuyuki squinted.
Could she also take the child back to be her colleague?
It's still a great idea!
With the crisis outside her, her thoughts began to wander.
"What?" The boy's puzzled voice brought her back to reality.
Fuyuki grabbed Nakajima Atsushi's hands, and as she looked down, she saw her own fair hands clasped together with his slightly scarred hands. Her gaze lingered for a moment.
The question that had once crossed my mind resurfaced.
Must beings favored and blessed by the world endure such hardship? Countless wounds, countless pains, countless sorrows…
Is this a necessary condition for people who will grow up in the future?
Is this kind of pampering truly pampering?
She didn't understand, perhaps like herself, that although she was loved by her mother, she was suffering endless pain in a corner that her mother couldn't see.
A body pierced by swords, a world breached day and night in fear, a face that can never grow up...
We are all children of the world, so...
"Based on our appearances, you can call me 'older sister,' okay? I'm older than you."
A strange sense of determination arose in my heart.
Dongshu patted his head, trying to calm the child's frightened mind.
Atsushi Nakajima shook his head: "It's not my sister..."
He rejected the title, and Fuyuki tilted his head in confusion: "Why?"
She seems unreliable; she can't even handle the role of an older sister...?
Dongshu scratched his head in distress.
“I have an older sister,” Atsushi Nakajima said with certainty, blinking as if recalling something with a touch of melancholy. “But she just disappeared too, everyone disappeared, and I can’t find anything…”
Fuyuki had a gut feeling that something was wrong.
She frowned and asked gently, "What's your sister's name? Can you tell me?"
Atsushi Nakajima didn't hesitate; in fact, he seemed to yearn for it. He said:
"Yuko Nakajima".
Fuyuki: "?"
This naming pattern is very familiar...
Dongshu's brain froze for a long time before slowly starting to function again.
...So even this child chosen by the world has been corrupted by the system?
She hesitated for a moment, then looked into the clear eyes before her and said slowly, "Did your sister... say anything to you? Something that made you very happy?"
If you're a mission taker, then what would impress the child in front of you?
"What did you say?" The innocent child was confused for a moment, looking at the unusually friendly person in front of him, and did not hide anything that was not important.
He said, "My sister told me that she would always protect me and always love me... I was so happy when I heard that... But she said I can only have one sister, so I can't call you sister. I only have one sister, only one sister who loves me and will always protect me, only one you. You can't be me. There's only one, I can only have one..."
His face was beaming with happiness.
He kept repeating "there is only one," and soon the color in his eyes dimmed, as if he were under a spell, and he kept repeating those four words.
After that, I was unable to think of anything.
Fuyuki remained silent, looking at Nakajima Atsushi in front of him. There were quite a few fine scars on his body, his hair was a little messy, and his clothes were not clean... This did not seem like someone who was well protected and loved by the sister he had mentioned.
“No, that won’t happen.” She grabbed Atsushi Nakajima’s shoulders. “Atsushi, how can you only have one sister? I have one too. Me too.”
Why can't she be this child's older sister?!
The blue light gradually converged to form a clear data chain.
She... could also become Fuyuki Nakajima, couldn't she?
“But—” Atsushi Nakajima wanted to retort.
“No,” Fuyuki interrupted him, “Anyone who loves you and is older than you can be your sister, right? How do you define it? What kind of person does your sister have to be to be called your sister? It’s up to you to define it, isn’t it?”
Atsushi Nakajima had no siblings in the blood sense.
He knows.
He had never seen his brothers and sisters in the orphanage, so his sister was not just a title bound by blood ties, but a relationship built on emotion.
Atsushi Nakajima's lips moved, and in the girl's eyes, he frowned in pain: "I don't understand."
"Who is right?"
Being inexperienced in the ways of the world, his only environment was the small, enclosed space of the orphanage.
All the concepts that the individual "Nakajima Atsushi" knew were implanted and brought to him by others.
He understands nothing; he does not possess all the knowledge that exists in the general public's sense.
Fuyuki seemed to have seen through this.
“It’s okay, it’s okay if you don’t know. If you just want one older sister, then you can only have one older sister.” Fuyuki said to him slowly. “It’s not that you have to be the older sister to be nice to you. It’s just a title, just a relationship.”
"And from now on, I will protect you and love you; that will be my responsibility."
The identity card within her body was growing increasingly hot; perhaps it also acknowledged this claim? The city itself was hoping she would do the same.
A smile curved his lips into an exaggerated arc.
To guide as an elder.
Fuyuki has a new goal and a new task.
Although all of these decisions were made in order to make the world more stable.
However, this was the first time she had used this role as an elder.
What were they guiding him for? The world and the city held certain expectations for him, but those expectations…
She herself didn't know how to prevent her expectations from falling to the ground or even being shattered.
“Atsushi.” Fuyuki grasped his hand, feeling the vivid scars in her palm. She could clearly feel the uneven texture left by the congealed wounds on his skin.
"Come on, smash it. Use all your strength, punch it, and shatter this thing completely." Fuyuki placed Nakajima Atsushi's hand on the barrier, which was originally meant to protect them, but at this moment, it became their target.
“We’re about to leave this place. It’s really strange to just stay in this tiny space,” Dongshu closed her eyes. For some reason, she could feel the barrier around her shrinking, and her body quickly felt the pressure from the shrinking space.
Her spiritual energy was inexplicably restless. Under the influence of these two factors, Dongshu was not feeling well at the moment. She forced a smile and said, "This is not the real life that should belong to you."
He wanted to leave, but after entering this place, his power seemed to have reached its limit; the exertion he had just experienced was too great. So, he could only gamble on the person he was protecting...
Atsushi Nakajima.
Being protected is also the only possibility of breaking through the barrier.
That's what she thought.
And that's often exactly what a stray dog thinks.
“Leave?... But Yuko-neechan hasn’t come looking for me yet…” Atsushi Nakajima was confused for a moment, but then suddenly shook off her hand. “Yuko-neechan said that if I ever got lost, as long as I stayed where I was, she would definitely find me…”
He looked up, and the little child, though covered in wounds, had a determined look in his eyes: "I will wait for her, I must wait for her, only she will protect me..."
Immediately afterward, a strange yet familiar blue stream of data flashed past his eyes, and his voice changed from excited to mechanical, all his emotions vanishing in an instant.
“My sister, only she will protect me. I must wait. I want to be with her forever, always, always…” He held his head and murmured to himself, “I will always be Yuko’s brother.”
He is an obedient child. For his sister, for himself, and for his family, he will never leave this place.
They made a promise, so the good boy Atsushi Nakajima will always keep his promise and stay in the same place, without moving, until Yu Nakajima arrives.
Fuyuki watched him go mad.
She's such a nice child, and we were just arguing about the roles and titles of "mother" and "sister."
Now it seems as if all I care about is this one thing; I know nothing, care about nothing, and possess nothing else…
but.
Dongshu lowered her head, then raised her hand to tuck the strands of hair behind her ear. Her vision was completely unobstructed, and the soft strands of hair tickled her cheeks, constantly interfering with her thoughts.
She herself... seemed to be acting strangely.
Looking at this scene, Fuyuki couldn't calm down.
never mind.
Dongshu advised himself in his heart.
What sister, what elder, what leader—what does that have to do with her…?
The world was silent for a second.
The next moment, spiritual energy surged everywhere like a tide, and the aura belonging to the original body flashed by.
What followed was an endless collapse; the barrier shattered, and the blue fluids were forced to retreat like a tide, making the space feel cramped.
Fuyuki watched as Nakajima Atsushi clutched his head in agony, his entire body scanned by an extremely weak barrier, while a faint, indistinct tiger-like figure lay on the ground behind him, hissing softly.
At the same time, she clutched her heart, collapsed to her knees from exhaustion, but was caught by a pair of hands in time.
The Saniwa's mind was still in a daze as her body was passively pressed against a warm chest, and a familiar voice quickly reached her ears:
"Master, were you having a lot of fun in the other world...? You even made a complete mess of yourself..."
—
The warm Honmaru was suddenly awakened by the master who opened the passage. Yamato no Kami Yasusada, who was the first to notice the situation, became the best candidate to go and provide support.
He frowned, yet he also seemed somewhat anticipating meeting his other master.
However, after the light faded, what he saw was his thin, disheveled, and dilapidated master.
Yamato no Kami Yasusada's pupils contracted, and he rushed out instantly, reaching out to catch Fuyuki's body as he staggered.
He closed his eyes briefly, trying to keep his voice steady and as gentle as ever: "Master, were you having a lot of fun in the other world...? You even managed to make a complete mess of yourself..."
Bitter.
His master, another master, was completely unprotected.
Every master of the swords and blades was accompanied by his swords.
...He gripped the key, unsure of what to do.
Feeling utterly weak, Fuyuki blinked in confusion. Everything had happened so suddenly that she hadn't been able to process it yet.
At this moment, both body and mind are still processing the fact that they have just been controlled.
They've become too lax.
When did... even she herself fall victim to it?
"I didn't play." She came to her senses and denied Yamato no Kami Yasusada's words.
The tsukumogami's eyes were obscured by his hair, so Fuyuki couldn't see the light in them. She only heard his gentle voice tremble after she said one sentence: "We failed to protect you... Master..."
Blood flowed from the tiny, scattered wounds, making his battle clothes no longer clean, but he paid no attention to the soiled fabric; his eyes were only on the marks that shouldn't have appeared on his fair skin.
He held the Saniwa tightly, but dared not exert any force, maintaining this state of tension. The sound disappeared, and the entire environment became dark.
Dongshu raised her hand, and a dense, stinging pain appeared on her skin. She didn't stop, her gaze sweeping over it indifferently.
At this moment, she also understood why Yamato no Kami Yasusada's emotions were so unstable when he saw her, but she couldn't say anything.
After a long silence, she pressed her cheek against the other person's. Feeling the moisture disappear completely, she slowly spoke, "Don't be afraid, Anding, don't be afraid."
"I will stay with everyone until our spiritual energy is depleted."
As long as spiritual power exists, Fuyuki exists, the Saniwa exists, and the Tsukumogami (spirits/ghosts) exist...
They will live together forever.
Fuyuki closed her eyes slightly and snuggled into Yamato no Kami Yasusada's arms. The feeling of emptiness was not pleasant, but finally touching a familiar person made her body relax quickly.
And immense fatigue swept over him like a tidal wave.
She spoke softly and skillfully, coaxing Yamato no Kami Yasusada. She had her own gentle way of dealing with the restless spirits.
After a long while, when the faint breath beside her had stabilized, she raised her eyes and said, "Let's take him out."
The dark eyes glanced at the path to survival that had been torn open by the main body—a spatial rift that stood out prominently in a world dominated by nothingness.
“It still has to be ‘me’,” she sighed. “An Ding was also sent here by ‘me’, wasn’t he?”
"Hmm." Yamato no Kami Yasusada didn't hide anything. He held Fuyuki steadily with one hand, and with the other hand, following her command, he lifted Nakajima Atsushi up like a cat.
Fuyuki touched Nakajima Atsushi; the child had fallen into a deep sleep, and the aura of data no longer lingered on him.
She let out a long breath; that was just right.
The main body solved a lot of problems.
Only you can save yourself.
“This child…” Yamato no Kami Yasusada looked at Fuyuki’s appearance, casually adjusted his posture, and put both of them in his arms.
"Yes, you must protect him," Fuyuki said with a smile.
"Hurry up, the crack is shrinking." She patted the spirit's shoulder.
"Yes, please hold on tight." The moment he leaped in, Yamato no Kami Yasusada pressed Fuyuki's head into his arms.
In an instant, light shone brightly, so bright that people couldn't open their eyes.
Spacetime turbulence and spatial rifts created in the void are extremely dangerous.
Protecting his two children, Yamato no Kami Yasusada also needed to free up one hand to hold a sword and fend off the strange enemies that suddenly rushed out.
Fuyuki grabbed his shoulders, and as expected, it was all... data fluid.
etc.
She squinted, and through a faint glimpse, she caught sight of two figures.
One black. One red.
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