……

Long.

Until the sun sets, the surroundings gradually darken.

The lights of the butterfly house turned on, and the warm yellow light shone softly through the frosted glass, shining softly on Shanyi's back, illuminating his stunned side face.

Shanyi still stood straight, looking out at the dark road outside the gate, which had no light.

Suddenly.

His ears twitched slightly.

Tread, tread...

“…！” Shanyi's dull eyes moved, and he saw a figure staggering towards him on the dark road in the distance.

The heart that had been dormant suddenly beats.

Is it a senior brother?

His eyes were a little blurry, so that he couldn't see the figures on the road clearly.

But he felt that it must be the person he thought...

Just when the tip of his nose was sore, and he was about to run that way crying.

Trample.

The visitor staggered, leaning on crutches, to a position where his face was barely illuminated by the light of the butterfly house.

Gray hair poked out of the darkness, revealing in the light, and the tired old man was on crutches, his eyes looking at Shanyi who was walking in this direction.

Shanyi's steps towards the front stopped, and he looked at Jigoro, who was drooping his eyelids due to aging,

“… Master. He screamed in a trance.

The two of them, both with tired faces, stood in the faint light and on the dark road, one after the other.

The two people, one old and one young, looked at each other and were silent for a long time.

At last.

Shanyi, whose eyes were already ruddy, could no longer hold back the sourness in his heart, he clenched his fists, and tears filled his eyes.

"Woo-woo-wow——!!"

Closing her eyes, my wife Shanyi ran towards Jigoro, hugged her master, half-knelt on the ground, raised her head, and cried.

Boom! The crutches in his hands were thrown away.

The two hugged each other and cried.

……

……

Meanwhile.

Fuji Attack Mountain.

A black uniform, holding a cylindrical electric lamp in his hand, patrolled the path of the wisteria forest.

"It's over again... How many people died in the ghost mouth of Fuji Raid Mountain this time..."

Hidden eyes tired, he looked around:

"Poor boy, everyone is fighting for their lives against ghosts..."

There seemed to be some self-deprecation in his tone:

"It's just me, I'm so old, I can only cower and do logistics..."

The light flickered with his steps, flickering in and out.

He is a hermit who patrols the vine attack mountain on a daily basis.

Then.

Swish!

A swift black shadow flashed past him, sending a breeze that blew the black cloth he used to cover his face.

“… Miscellaneous! Yin was stunned for a moment, quickly turned his head in shock, turned his head and looked around, his face was surprised, and he was faintly pale:

"What's that?"

The electric light in his hand shone in the direction the wind was blowing, but there was nothing there.

Goo.

He swallowed a mouthful of saliva, looked around, and unconsciously retreated.

No way...

After looking around in horror, I was scared into a cold sweat and waited for a long time.

He was relieved to find that nothing seemed to have happened.

Turn your head, spread your legs, and start running down the hill quickly.

Even his own patrol work has become just a casual glance, and then quickly leave.

Suddenly.

Trample.

Yin's footsteps paused, and the electric light in his hand swayed slightly due to the sudden stopping.

Cold sweat ran down his forehead.

He stood there and thought for a moment.

- I... On the run?

His palms were sweating, and his breathing became rapid.

Pupils twitched slightly.

In my head, the screams I heard in the past seven days kept ringing.

After being silent for a while, he casually tore off the wisteria branch beside him and stuffed it into his arms.

Turning around, he clutched the lantern in his hand, and resolutely walked towards the road up the mountain with a resolute expression.

……

Mountains.

There is already no area covered by wisteria flowers.

Smack.

Yoshito Tomioka, who was expressionless, stopped and bowed slightly, and the haori on his body rose as he stopped suddenly.

He had been running around the edge of the wisteria forest in the vine attack mountain for a week, and gradually narrowed the search range upwards.

Finally, at this moment, I found my goal.

After clutching the Hinawa knife at his waist, he raised his deep eyes and stared at the unfamiliar Fuji Raid Mountain in front of him.

That's right.

The dark shadow that passed through the invisibility just now was him.

During the day.

When Aoi Kanzaki told that there was a ghost who had eaten more than fifty people in Fuji Raid Mountain, Tomioka sensed that something was wrong.

His eyes lowered slightly, and memories flooded back.

Six years ago.

That's when I went to the final selection by myself.

That year, he was seriously injured by a ghost on the first day of the selection and was taken care of by other swordsmen, and it was not until seven days later, when the selection was over, that he woke up leisurely.

That year, in order to save the rest of the team from dying in the selection, a swordsman named Rabbit almost single-handedly wiped out the ghosts of the entire vine attack mountain.

That year, none of the swordsmen who participated in the selection died.

- Except for the Rabbit.

Sand... Sand...

Tomioka stepped on the soft soil, straightened his waist, and walked straight ahead.

That's what he's been thinking for six years.

Not a single ghost was defeated, but he was rescued, and he did not pass the final selection at all.

In this way, he naturally does not deserve to be a swordsman, let alone be called a "pillar".

It really should be a column.

It's a rabbit.

- His best friend who died in the final selection for some reason six years ago!

Right now.

Tomioka raised his head, his eyes as dark as the waters of a quiet lake looking ahead, and the calm water reflected a large green figure in the distance.

He knew why.

Click.

The blade is blue and the sharp blade inscribed with the words "Demon Annihilation" is quickly unsheathed, reflecting Tomioka's rare expressionless face.

"Hiss——!!" The corners of his mouth suddenly overflowed with white steam, his brows furrowed vigorously, and his calm lake-like eyes became turbulent.

The corners of his mouth were slightly bitten, and his black hair was lowered, covering his gloomy expression.

He retreated slightly.

"The breath of water."

"Pick-up."

Uproar——!

Like the sound of waves cascading on top of each other, it rolled up from the blade of the knife and turned into a line of water waves that suddenly set off.

Tomioka's eyes were firm, and a white mist filled the corners of his mouth:

- "Life and flow." ”

……

……

Afar.

Narrow Foggy Mountains.

In front of a clearing.

The fog filled the surroundings, and a huge round stone with a thick rope tied to it sits here.

Thirteen looming human figures, surrounding the stones, slowly emerged from the mist.

Their faces, or bodies, carry disaster-dissipating masks carved by Scales Zuo.

Thereinto.

A young man with long flesh-colored hair with a narrow scar on the right side of the mask on his face was sitting on a round boulder.

All thirteen of them stared straight in a certain direction, standing still.

Long.

“… It's getting stronger. Rabbit stretched out his hand, his long flesh-colored hair swaying slightly, and took off his mask, revealing his silver eyes, and he looked straight in that direction, muttering in his mouth.

Smile:

"Bravery."

I flipped through the comics again, and I found that the rabbit and the real mushroom were not the same class...

(End of chapter)