Chapter 212: The Past of Parents, Full of Strange Clues...
"A cat-like creature... I already had a general idea that it was a pathetic kind of yokai."
Viewers have seen some analysis in Sumeru's past to varying degrees.
"But it really doesn't feel real."
Wishes, emotions, love, and hate are all things that cannot be seen or touched.
"In that case, let's see what makes this foreign monster so moving to the gods?"
Navelette glanced at Mainkuhn's reddened cheeks and finally nodded in approval, "For a more thorough truth."
...
"Where is it! Where is it?!"
My memory begins with a group of innocent and clear children's voices, mixed with scattered footsteps.
"Where's the cat? Dad promised I could have one!"
“Miss Miyoko! Don’t run! You must walk gracefully and slowly. Also, you must call him Father. Father is a commoner’s term. You must always maintain your dignity…”
"What does it matter!"
The image finally came into focus: a neatly dressed, black-haired little girl wearing a black hat and waving a bat-shaped fan jumped into the room and pounced on the bamboo basket on the table.
"Wow!!!"
"Wow."
Only after the little girl screamed did everyone see that there were a few fluffy little balls moving in the basket.
"It's a kitten! So who is Mainkuen's father?"
Paimon immediately widened his eyes and went to look for it.
"Silver-Gray Maine... Silver-Gray Maine... Huh? I don't think I'm here? That's strange, could it not be here?"
"...No, Paimon, look at that little girl's face!"
"What's wrong with her face? Traveler, she looks so cute, she'll definitely grow up to be a great beauty...?! She looks familiar?"
"Kitten~ Kitten~"
The little girl happily tiptoed, gripping the edge of the table and trying to look up.
"So many! Can't I just raise them all? Anyway, my family is quite wealthy."
"No, Miss Miyoko."
The servant behind her gently refused.
"You carry the hopes of the entire family on your shoulders; you can't spend too much time playing around."
"Ugh, I hate that phrase."
The little girl shrugged rather inelegantly, but as if it were a habit, she didn't refute it. She simply put her little hands into the fluffy ball and pulled out an orange one.
"Meow……"
"I want this one!"
She excitedly pressed the orange kitten against her cheek, "Little Sun, its name is Little Sun!"
"Meow?"
The girl's smiling face and the kitten's bewildered expression were displayed in the video, and the opera house instantly erupted in noise:
"This...this isn't a Maine Coon! Or rather, this little orange isn't his father??"
"No, this is definitely his father."
Leosley broke out in a light sweat.
"What makes you so sure? The cat in the video can't just jump out and prove it!"
"because……"
Leosley's gaze lingered on the girl's face, scanning her forehead, eyebrows, nose, cheeks, and lips. There was no mistaking it; although there might be slight differences due to gender and temperament, but…
"They look so alike."
More and more people noticed this, and Siegwen compared the children in the video with Mainkuhn as she watched.
"The muscle lines are almost identical, could they be mother and child?"
"If they are indeed mother and child, then the orange cat is very likely to be his father."
Navelette murmured as she watched the other kittens in the basket being carried away by the servants, leaving only the girl and her newly chosen pet in the house.
There is no second cat.
So why is Maine Kuhn Maine?
Seeing the cold sweat beading on Leosley's forehead, Navelette ultimately swallowed the question.
…
"Hello, little sun. I'm Miyoko, the best, the most wonderful Miyoko. Remember me!"
The little orange cat showed no sign of being a monster. It wouldn't drink from a milk bowl placed right in front of it, and only learned to lick it after Miyoko gently touched its little head into the bowl with her finger.
"Ugh, that's so dirty."
Disgusted, the girl wiped the milk smeared all over the kitten's face. After thinking for a moment, she finally picked it up from its nest and gently tucked it into the sleeve of her hunting robe.
Chiori crossed her arms. "Eboshi hat, hunting robe, bat fan, this set is truly classic."
"What is it?" Xia Worei, who wasn't very familiar with Inazuma culture, asked.
"Onmyoji, never heard of them? That's normal. Even in Inazuma, they're almost extinct, though some of their techniques are still passed down among the sea monsters."
"Wouldn't that be terrible?"
"It's alright. I heard from Ayaka that the Sea Demons are also going to disappear."
As the two were talking, the little girl hopped out of the room where the cat was kept, her little hands tucked into her sleeves, her eyes smiling.
"Miss Miyoko, Miss Miyoko."
Servants kept reminding her in whispers along the way.
"You can't walk like that. You have to be dignified and elegant."
"But I'm happy!"
She pouted, somewhat reluctant, but the girl obediently slowed her pace and gracefully moved little by little to the door.
"Dad! I'm here... cough, the students are here for class."
The middle-aged man in the room frowned. "Don't add 'la,' Miyoko. Also, you should call me teacher at this time."
Kavi hesitated for a moment, "Inazuma's academic family is so strange?"
"Yes, teacher."
But Miyoko was clearly used to it. She obediently knelt on the tatami, clutching her bulging sleeves, her eyes darting around nervously.
“But it seems that kids everywhere like to daydream in class.” Seno smiled as she secretly slipped her hand into her sleeve to pet the cat. “Like me, I’ve also secretly brought Tinari to the classroom before.”
"...I'm just auditing a class, don't make it sound so weird, okay?"
"Miyoko."
The middle-aged man had a stern face and spoke in a serious tone.
"Reiterate the key points from the previous lesson."
"yes."
The little girl bowed slightly with a serious expression, but gently released the kitten under the table, cradle-like in her hands and rocked it gently.
"Onmyoji, originally created by our Kinokami family, was popularized by our ancestor Harunosuke five hundred years ago... He sealed the great demon tanuki and created the Onmyo Bureau. In short, it was very powerful, but it fell into decline after the war, hehe."
The middle-aged man nodded somewhat disapprovingly, but still let her off the hook, saying, "You didn't mention the most important point."
"Yes!" The girl immediately adopted a serious expression. "I, Miyoko Yuugami, as a direct descendant of Harunosuke Yuugami and the rightful successor of Onmyōdō, have the responsibility to make the family great again and revitalize it!"
"great."
Her teacher finally showed a faint smile and gave her some advice.
“Miyoko, you are the most talented child in our family in five hundred years. You must take on the responsibility.”
"..."
The girl didn't speak, but the kitten under the table picked her up with displeasure, telling her to keep shaking it.
"Hmm, that's not difficult."
She grabbed the cat's tail with one hand, and used the other to hastily fold the talisman in front of her into the shape of a small paper figure. With a whoosh, she blew on it, and the paper figure flew up, waving vividly at her father.
"Yin-Yang techniques are simple; I'm no worse than my ancestors."
"That's it! Miyoko, it's unbelievable—"
Her father finally burst into laughter, "You've already surpassed me at such a young age!"
Amidst the joyful laughter, the little girl silently caught the kitten's slapping paw.
"I'm so bored..."
"Yin-Yang magic? Original?" Liu Yun wiped his glasses again and again, then suddenly flew into a rage. "Nonsense! This immortal can see clearly that it is clearly a celestial technique from Liyue, personally taught by the Emperor!"
"Perhaps there were some omissions in the transmission."
Gan Yu still remembers the rice farmer from five hundred years ago, and the despair and sorrow he felt when he was studying.
"But Harunosuke is a good person who cares about the country and its people. He wouldn't hide the truth and boast about himself in front of his juniors..."
Regardless, Miyoko currently believes everything her father says.
"Honor, revival, responsibility... alas."
What a heavy burden... and I still have to fulfill it.
Meow~
The little sun is calling out; is it hungry?
……etc! ?
It was too late; her teacher had already pulled the little orange cat out from under the table, veins bulging on her forehead.
"Playing with toys will only ruin your life! Miyoko! I really shouldn't have given you this!"
"No! Dad!"
The little girl jumped up nervously to snatch it.
"I just want Little Sun to keep me company! Dad, you know, there's no one to play with. I study and practice spells all day long by myself. It's so hard to finally have a friend..."
"You're friends with an animal?!"
Unexpectedly, the father became even angrier upon hearing this and threw the kitten to the ground.
"A disgrace to the family!!"
"dad!!!"
The audience screamed in horror, "No way?! This is outrageous! A child being punished for making a mistake is the least you can do, why kill a cat?!"
As the kitten was about to die on the spot, the audience couldn't bear to look away, but for a long time they didn't hear any screams.
"...?"
A pair of equally young hands reached out, covered in dust and calluses, yet steadily caught the little orange kitten that had been knocked down.
"Meow?"
"master."
A boy dressed as a servant immediately released it, knelt down, and kowtowed to the middle-aged man.
"Young Miss... will be sad."
"Yes, yes!"
Miyoko paused for a moment, then stammered as she followed up, roughly attempting a threat, "When I'm sad, I won't study! I won't learn barrier techniques, talisman construction, shikigami contracts, archery, tea ceremony, swordsmanship, waka poetry, yokai books, or family history..."
The courtyard was deathly silent, with only the endless stream of course titles echoing in the air.
"Shut up!"
But the head of the household stopped her, looking at the servant before him with a curious expression:
"Who are you?"
“Reporting to your master, I am A-Zhu. I have no surname. I was bought by the steward when I was six years old and have been sweeping your courtyard day and night for three years.”
"She's the same age as my daughter, and she speaks quite logically."
The head of the household looked at the girl's tense face, and then at the young servant kneeling on the ground, motionless, letting the kitten play on his back.
"Lift your face up and let me see it."
The boy silently looked up, revealing a pair of bright golden eyes that were somewhat fierce, like those of a wild beast.
It's unpleasant.
"come over."
The head of the family summoned him, then swung his arm and slapped him hard across the face.
Snap!
Do you know why I hit you?
"Because I was disrespectful, sir."
"Hmph, you know what's good for you, kid."
The head of the household was finally satisfied and waved his hand, "Take the cat and get out of here. Don't let it happen again."
"yes."
He bowed respectfully and retreated with his cheeks red and swollen, only to be casually called back at the last moment.
"Kid, report to the guard team tomorrow."
"With such agility, it's a pity she's a servant."
The boy immediately turned around, knelt down, and kowtowed in gratitude.
"Thank you for your appreciation, my lord... Ha."
The wind blew away his disdainful sneer.
"Meow—meow—"
The kitten got hungry quickly and started meowing incessantly on the way home.
"What are you howling about, you idiot?"
Ah Zhu put her little finger in its mouth and let it suck on it.
"Your master is a big idiot, and you're a little idiot. Don't you know that when you have no power to resist, you have to be as quiet as a dog to avoid death?"
...
"I'm an idiot too."
The cook recognized the cat as the young lady's cat and generously served it a large bowl of warm goat milk. The cat couldn't finish it, so Ah Zhu drank the rest herself.
"So this is what goat milk tastes like. It's not that great."
As he said this, he frantically suckled the kittens' goat milk. The kittens went hungry every two hours on average, and by the time Miyoko returned from class after dark, he was almost vomiting from overeating.
"Little Sun! Ah... and you too, A-Zhu, I want to thank you!"
The young lady took out a fresh cake from her bosom. It was a pinkish-white cylinder wrapped in green leaves, and she had never seen it before.
I can't eat anymore, do I still want to eat?
"..."
"Meow!!"
Amidst the kitten's screams, A-Zhu vomited all over the floor.
"Huh? Hey? Did you drink Little Sun's... Hey? But that's cat's..."
The young lady seemed a bit confused, but thankfully she didn't scream and run out to call for help.
A-Zhu wiped the crumbs from the corner of her mouth in a disheveled manner. "Shut up! I didn't drink it!... I'll clean up myself in a bit."
"Wow, your attitude is suddenly so bad, it's completely different from how you are with my dad."
"Huh? It's one thing for me to put on an act in front of my master, but now I have to put on an act in front of my slave too?!"
A sudden surge of inexplicable anger welled up in A-Zhu's heart, perhaps out of shame and annoyance at being discovered, or perhaps because the anger had never truly subsided.
"What makes you any different from me? Does being dressed in fine clothes mean you're not a prisoner? You're nothing more than a slightly higher-ranking slave! Damn it, damn it—"
He wanted to wipe the liquid splashed on his body, but he couldn't find a handkerchief or even a clean cloth, so he could only let it dry in the wind.
"...Damn it! I'll get my hands on all of you sooner or later...all of you..."
"All of them, all of them what, kill them?"
"right!"
The boy named Bamboo has a violent temperament that belies his name.
"I'm going to kill! First, I'll kill your father, then your parents who sold me out, then the steward, guards, officials, comrades, soldiers, officials, and even gods who beat me! I'm going to turn Inazuma into a world where everyone is equal! There will be no more oppression and humiliation!"
"ah……"
The girl was startled. She stared blankly at the boy who had suddenly gone mad, as if she had seen a new world.
"The way you are..."
"What's wrong with me looking like this? Terrible? Disgusting? Whatever! Idiot! We're all going to die!"
"...You must have suffered a lot of injustices."
...
"ah?"
"Stop for a moment."
Navelette suddenly called out to Narcida and asked Raymondo again for confirmation.
"Sample B is a cat skull, right?"
"Meow--"
The little orange cat stood among the stunned children, yawning, looking somewhat superfluous.
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