The mountain was somewhat quiet after dark, with only a few occasional insect chirps.

The winged youkai spoke for a long time, and suddenly laughed dumbly, and at the same time raised its wings and jumped from where it was standing to the branch closer to the cherry blossom stream.

"I know, you're actually waiting for the Fengyue God, right?"

————————————————————

"Why? Why? Why, why!! ”

The original turquoise water of the pool turned a turbid color, and the waves swelled and lapped on the stone bridge, and it only took a moment for the stone bridge to crack one after another.

The sky was tightly obscured by the demonic aura that filled the sky, and this area seemed to enter the deepest night in an instant.

The demon wind howled and rolled up the trees in the mountains, and the sound of the wind mixed with a question like a cry made Qiao Xi pause in place and unable to act.

"I've been waiting for a long time, a long time, and you haven't come back!"

"Why did you abandon me?"

"If I'm strong enough, can I keep up with you?"

"It's so cold...... I'm so cold, Mistress Joe. ”

"I don't want to, I don't want that."

"It's so cold in this water, Lord Qiao, come here and stay with me."

"Never leave, stay with me like this!"

————————————————

How happy the days we were living together in the shrine at that time, how desperate I was when I found out that I was abandoned.

Some people learn to tolerate while waiting, while others become demons while waiting.

————————————————

If a youkai tells Sakura-ryu that she was abandoned while she was waiting at first, Sakura-ryu will definitely not believe it, and she will even laugh at the other party.

- How could a gentle monster like Lord Qiao abandon himself?

But she waited too long, so long that she gradually began to feel worried, and when someone told her that you had been abandoned, she unconsciously believed it.

It's as if you've been guarding a flower and want to wait for it to bloom, and you wait, wait, wait, and wait for a long time before it opens, and then someone tells you that this plant won't bloom.

- Even if you don't want to believe it, you can't help but doubt it.

Isn't it true that this plant doesn't bloom?

Otherwise, why hasn't it bloomed for so long?

At this time, Sakura-ryu seemed to be waiting for the flower that had never bloomed, and when someone else said this, she began to think wildly.

- Even though Jiaotu's memories have been passed down for thousands of years, Sakura-ryu is still just a cub who has never experienced anything, and she can't tell the truth from the other party's words, but she can't help but feel terrified.

- Did Master Joe abandon herself?

He's already out of here, right?

Otherwise, why don't you have a monster to tell you?

They don't want themselves, do they?

Do you think you're too annoying?

"You're waiting for the god of the moon to come back, aren't you?"

"He's not coming back, he doesn't want you anymore."

"You're too weak."

The winged bird youkai said this as if gloating, and saw Sakura-ryu suddenly raise his head.

The eyebrows and eyes of a five- or six-year-old girl are delicate enough to be painted, and a pair of blue eyes like the sea are dripping ink at this moment.

"Now, if I become strong, won't he abandon me?"

The harpy was stunned by Sakura's sudden change in breath, and then became a little excited.

He let out an impassioned cry.

"Of course! If you become strong, you will be able to keep that Moon God by your side! ”

"I want to be strong......"

Sakura's eyes widened and she muttered:

"How do you become strong...... Strong enough not to be abandoned. ”

"I can help you."

"Okay."

"Well, in exchange for ......"

——————————————————————

Qiao Xi saw Sakura's memory.

When everyone was still together at the shrine, the warm, glowing fragments of memory, and later, the large expanses of dark, bloody memories struggling in the mud.

He couldn't help but clench the folding fan in his hand, and all the emotions he had imagined before coming became difficult at this moment.

"Not ......"

"It's not like that......"

He explained weakly.

But Sakura-ryu, who has fallen into madness, probably doesn't want to hear it at all.

- Or rather, Qiao Xi was not there when she wanted to hear it, and now that Qiao Xi is back, she doesn't want to listen to it anymore.

"It's too late...... It's too late, Mistress Joe. ”

The wind lifted the waves, and the cherry blossoms were on top of the waves, showing a crying and laughing expression towards Qiao Xi on the stone bridge.

She's an adult youkai now.

She looks like a teenage girl, with long blue hair pulled up behind her back, a shell-like ornament on it, a small azure sleeve on her body, and a long fishtail hidden under her skirt, just like sitting in a clam shell held up by the waves, elegant as the most gentle Yamato Nadeshiko.

Qiao Xi looked up at her.

"The concubine body is a monster in the depths of the sea, and it is for the Jiaotu Sakura Stream, Lord Fengyue God, come on."

The girl in the splash smiled coquettishly, and controlled the pool of water soaked in venom to rush towards Qiao Xi.

Qiao Xi's fingers tightened again and again, but in the end he just stepped back.

- Can't do it.

There was no way he could make a move towards Sakura.

He had picked her up since she was a cub, and had spent countless days and nights with her, even laughing at Qiao Xi for being an adopted daughter.

- With such an existence, how could he have done it.

After a few times, sensing Qiao Xi's retreat, the cherry blossom in the water splash laughed.

"Ah, that's not going to work, Lord Fengluna."

Her voice flickered near and far, and she spoke something akin to mockery without emotion.

"The pool will come down the mountain. It's supposed to be a place where humans live, right? ”

"Well, it's said that Lord Fengyue God likes humans very much, so ......"

"How do you choose?"

"Is it to watch those humans die, or ......"

- What about killing me?

Master Joe......

"The concubine body is a monster in the deep sea, it is for Jiaotu Sakura, Lord Qiao, come to ......"

- Kill me!

……

Qiao Xi's eyes widened and she looked at Sakura-ryu who fell from the sky weakly in dismay.

The light cyan mussel shell splashed in the water and sank, and Qiao Xi caught the falling fishtail girl.

"You ......"

- You can have avoided it.

"Mistress Joe......"

The girl smiled slightly, interrupting Qiao Xi's words.

"Master Joe, can you help me pull my hair again?"

“…… OK. ”

- Absolutely.

Qiao Xi grabbed Sakura's hand tightly, and the clothes and hair on her body were soaked with water, looking very embarrassed.

With a gentle movement, he brushed the wet strands of hair from the girl's cheeks, dried them with demonic power, then pulled them up little by little from the ends, and finally fastened them to his ears with shell clips—as he had done so many times before.

Sakura looked at him quietly.