Suburbs of Tokyo, Japan, Tsukiike's house, night.

The light sprinkled by the stars rippled in the huge old house in the mountains and forests, like water mist, like honey locusts, the time was not too late, and the figures of people walking in twos and twos could be seen between the quiet old mansion roads. Dressed in kimonos, clogs, and short swords, and dressed as a samurai, the courtyard is lit up everywhere, and there is a faint sound of peaceful old Japanese waka.

“…… The river beach is clear and clear, and there is a forest of catalpa trees planted on it. In the dead of night, I was shocked to hear the song of a thousand birds...... The song that describes the scenery of the Yoshino River, this is the one I like the most, what do Nishida-kun think? ”

"It's a quatrain for the ages, plus the singer's singing skills and the artistic conception of the performance, it's really the most classic one in the song, but personally, I prefer some of the short songs of Ruoshan Mushui......"

"Wakayama's song, I know that there is a singer in Shinjuku who sings very well, and if I have time another day, I want to listen to it with Nishida-kun......"

This is the speech of two men walking on the road, and we don't need to understand the specific meaning, just know that they are meeting prostitutes in a more elegant way and not homosexuals. One of the two people who spoke was named Buntaro Sato.,At present, he is quite optimistic among the younger generation of the Tsukichi family.,The other is called Nishida Naoya.,It's an agent who has only joined the Tsukichi family in recent years.,Loyalty.,Recently, he has made many contributions in various missions.,Although it's still a newcomer in terms of time.,But it's already very valued.。

Things gather by like, people are from groups, they are all relatively outstanding young people, and Buntaro has a good relationship with him, and he joined forces with him to do a single task in the field a month ago, and he is back today. made a report to the headquarters, and only then did he return to the old house in Yuechi's house. Along the way, they talked very happily.

The atmosphere in the inner enclosure of Yuechi's house is peaceful. Lights were shining from the courtyards, and the road was full of shadows, and even though it was a summer night, it didn't look hot surrounded by trees, and a few young people greeted Buntaro who was approaching. Turning the road, the two men stood around the corner for a moment as a small car passed, and Buntaro looked for a while into a courtyard not far away. The yard was black and hollow. There are no lights, and after the death of Yu Shoucang four years ago, this small courtyard has almost become a forbidden place for the Yuechi family.

"I heard that Sato-kun ...... to Kaoru Lady"

“…… Have you seen her? ”

"When she passed by at the beginning of this year, she swept the floor in the yard and took a look at it from afar." Nishida Naoya smiled, "It's really a girl as clear as jade." ”

"yes...... Buntaro sighed, "let's go." ”

"Sato-kun and Kaoru-san grew up together?" Turning the back course, Nishida spoke again, and Buntaro nodded.

"Childhood sweetheart." Nishida sighed. "Can you tell me about her?"

"Interested?"

"Interested." He smiled and nodded, "Anyway, what a beautiful girl." ”

"Actually, there is not much to say, since she was a child, her character has been relatively strong, since the death of her wife. The head of the house didn't care much about her either. It became cold, and then I went to China. Something happened, and when I came back...... That's how it becomes......"

"China?"

"Nishida-kun has heard of it, too. Kill the people of the Imperial Guard, who is her teacher. ”

"Oh?" Nishida's eyes lit up, "That person ...... now"

"It's dead." Buntaro smiled, "Kaoru fell in love with that person, so since he came back, he has been reluctant to contact others, even if the marriage contract with Takamagahara is only symbolic now." Such a state, counting...... It's been four years......"

Talking about Kaoru with the other party, Buntaro lost his interest for a while, and soon after, the two parted ways at the intersection and went in different directions. All the way back to the small courtyard where he lived, he sat in the corridor, looking at the starlight in the sky, his expression was slightly stunned.

Four years is enough time for a person to really become mature from young, and it is enough for a person to really see the gap between obsession and reality, the first time to kill, the first time to go to a well-guarded place to steal the items needed, things are easier than imagined, this is the result of years of hard work, there have been times of arrogance, but gradually it has precipitated, and can see the distance between themselves and others more clearly. I remember the autumn four years ago, Kaoru returned to Tokyo from China accompanied by Tianyu in a regular way, and since then she has begun to live in that small courtyard with an almost secluded attitude, occasionally going out to sweep the floor, exercise, sometimes in the early hours of the morning, when the sky is not yet bright, someone will suddenly see her figure in the dense forest of the Tsukichi house, and suddenly disappear, sometimes she will go to the periphery of the monitors, and suddenly appear in a certain screen, which often startles people, like ghosts, and thus fills the dead spots of several monitors.

In the beginning, every morning and dusk and noon, she would go to the dining hall of the Tsukichi family to eat, and sometimes in rainy or snowy weather, if she was lucky, when she passed by the small courtyard, she would see the scene of the girl sitting quietly in the corridor of the room, and Buntaro had seen that when the heavy rain fell, she sat on the edge of the corridor and ate the rice balls in her hand in small bites, chewing slowly, and blending perfectly with the surrounding environment. However, the scene of eating with great care and not wasting a grain of rice gives the impression that it is not so much enjoying lunch as it is an act of trying to sustain one's life by eating.

Although it is weird, almost everyone has such a perception to a greater or lesser extent, such a beautiful and almost perfect girl, every movement has a kind and pleasing beauty, and the whole world is integrated, but her every action has been reduced to its original meaning, every grain of rice, every dish into the mouth, is just to be decomposed, absorbed, and maintain the continuous operation of this body. In this sense, she has become almost a simple animal, although she can feel extremely beautiful in every gesture.

She stopped talking. Without talking to anyone, meals were delivered to the small courtyard. The time spent away from home has also become less and only occasionally. There are also appearances, sitting in the hallway, cleaning in the yard, standing in the woods, looking out at the scenery from the top of the hill. Just like paper, there was some text at first, and then the words gradually faded and became pure white paper. Then even the blank paper itself will fade, and it will become transparent, and even the concept of transparency will gradually disappear. It seems that in the process of her occasional appearance in the yard to clean up the fallen leaves, the people around her are disappearing one by one, and finally the whole world becomes quiet, and even she will die.

Gradually, she gave people such a feeling.

As a fiancé, Tianyu Masanori has been here a few times. Gradually, I was a little helpless, and I was probably powerless. Two years ago, he had a rough idea of what was happening in China, and that night he got drunk and rushed into that small courtyard. A lot of words were said in front of the silent maiden. Then he strengthened himself and reached out to hug her. At that time, the girl waved her hand. I extinguished the lamp next to me.

At that time, the first thought that flashed in his heart was that Kaoru was shy, and it was the training instinct of many years that saved him, and the next moment, his whole person was knocked out, and the wall of the house was completely broken, and the full force of the girl's spirit was condensed in the darkness, like the sea under the night, the first moment it was still calm, and the next moment it was a tsunami of murderous aura surging out, if it wasn't for the haste with both hands, this force would explode directly in the chest, I'm afraid it would be really dead.

That night, in the moonlight, when he collapsed in the small courtyard, and watched the girl push open the door, put on her shoes, and walk towards him like a quiet death, the silver light that fell on the girl clearly told him that the distance between them had really become impossible to close the gap.

Childhood......

Thinking about these things, he got up from the hallway, walked to the simple room, and after a moment, pulled out a small old iron box, and took out an old yellowed photograph from it. Under the faint light of the stars, there are many children in the photo, because the scene is too big, each of them seems too small and too small, so small that it is like the place that has been washed by time in his memory, only in the corner of the photo, he can find the girl who is not only beautiful, but also has a little smile, the photo has been blurred, but he can clearly know that the little girl is indeed smiling.

Trained as a ninja since he was a child, he has always been very boring, and there are not many opportunities to take pictures, and this is the only photo he has of Kaoru.

The distance between Kaoru and Kaoru, he thought, was indeed a time when it was not so big. When everyone was young, Kaoru's mother never died, or before Kaoru went to China, the distance between them was not too far, Kaoru at that time admired him, envied him, and he always enjoyed this gaze, occasionally trying to help each other, but always gave up because of poor results. Kaoru was a little girl with no talent, he thought at the time.

Now that I think about it, I may not have had a good impression of Kaoru at that time, or I was too proud of myself as a child, if I could have enjoyed that kind of gaze a little less at that time, and really helped Kaoru, if I could have clearly faced this good feeling at that time, everything would have changed now. Life is like this, it constantly leaves an immutable imprint on you, the imprint is laid, missed, even if everyone is close at that time, there will never be a chance to make up for it in the future......

"Sato, Sato......" In the dark, someone shouted on the road outside, he thought about it, took the photo back into the iron box in his hand, collected his mood, and walked out of the room, the person outside the courtyard looked like he was about to leave: "Ah, why didn't you turn on the lights, I thought you didn't come back." ”

"Just arrived."

"You're all waiting for you, and you're going to tell us about this operation, haha......" the man whispered, "We've got some good bottles of wine......

Since he was a child, Buntaro has a good relationship with these people, and he went to the appointed place shoulder to shoulder, and listened to the person next to him talk about the trivial matters of the recent period: "Kiyono they can't come over, it's very busy outside, I heard that the stock over there has been a problem with Ikezakura Weaving recently, and I haven't come back at this time today......"

Walking all the way, I passed the small courtyard where Kaoru lived, like the previous time, there was a black hole inside, there was no light, and Kaoru had already fallen asleep, he thought about this, and his mind wandered slightly. The man next to him looked at his expression: "I don't know about Kaoru yet, right?" ”

"What?"

"I really don't know? I thought your level would know something. Kaoru went out yesterday. ”

"You say...... What the! ”

Buntaro raised his voice, and the man repeated: "I'm out, I heard that I've been to Tokyo, it's been four years, but it's the first time she's left here, and I don't know what's going on, so I really want to go and see it...... What do you think? Let's go over tomorrow and look for her? ”

Well, I confess that I went to Warcraft to take a look, I was guilty, I repented......