"I don't know about that."
The old woman helplessly shrugged. "I can't quite understand the specific chanism either, but the thing you brought out must be able to help you—if you don't understand it, just keep it for now. I believe you'll be able to use it soon."
"...Okay then."
Huai Shi put away the item, saying sowhat nervously, "Actually, my main purpose in coming here wasn't for this."
"The Phantom from yesterday, right?"
The old woman nodded knowingly, clearly having seen the Mountain Ghost Stigma on Huai Shi long ago, which made Huai Shi breathe a sigh of relief, his eyes filling with expectation.
"Such a hassle. If only Utopia were still around, we could have sorted it out directly by crossing the Rainbow Bridge through ti—"
Scratching her head, the old woman pondered for a long while, then suddenly snapped her fingers.
The scenery outside the window changed abruptly, as if they had arrived before a snowy mountain.
"Alright, go outside," she said. "You should be able to see it once you're out."
Huai Shi stood up, puzzled, pushed the door open, and saw the familiar snowy mountain outside, as if he'd seen it sowhere before. But soon he realized it was the sa snowy mountain he had co across when he first entered the Witch's Night.
When he turned around, however, he found that the cabin behind him had disappeared.
So he walked on, following the narrow path, passing the cave where he had once awakened, and crossing the place where he had fought the Hyenas in the past.
Eventually, he stopped by the river.
As he looked down at the ripples in the water, he saw his Reflection. It was no longer the visage of a Husky but had beco his own.
Yet, this visage was so unfamiliar he found it hard to recognize.
In the Reflection, the teenage boy's face hadn't changed, but... the expression in his eyes, the set of his brow, was different.
It made him seem as if he had been reborn.
His black eyes were serene and profound, glowing faintly with an inner firelight that swept away the lingering naivety of youth.
Even with the sa face, the sa expressions, no one could consider him a child anymore.
Unconsciously, it seed he had changed, and yet, perhaps he hadn't. He had simply beco sowhat different from the past.
Perhaps it was just growth.
Just a bit, just a tiny bit more mature.
When a ripple drifted slowly by, Huai Shi's Reflection gradually transford, revealing the contours of his forr self, leaving him stunned.
This was the Phantom from yesterday.
Now starkly different from today.
What astonished him even more was a sound from his consciousness, like bubbles bursting. Following that, in a daze, the broken fragnts of mories from his past erged from the darkness, rejoining, filling every void.
His long-lost childhood mories were being recollected. Not only that, but they continued to delve deeper, extending further back.
Until at last, from birth to the present, everything was vivid before his eyes.
The child who once walked the streets alone carrying a cello had seemingly beco completely different today. Yet, sothing remained the sa, threading through his short seventeen years, and it would continue into the Future...
The past, the present, and there would be a Future.
He was still alive.
After a long, long ti, Huai Shi couldn't help but let out a long sigh.
There were no plasma sparks or destructive breaths expelled, yet he felt the restlessness and gloom in his chest were drawn out with his breath from the depths of his lungs.
A refreshing coolness spread through his lungs as he breathed, making him unable to resist stretching his body and hearing the crackling sounds inside him.
It was as if he had finally stepped from a prolonged juvenile phase into maturity; the Mountain Ghost Stigma grew rapidly. In the end, layers of dark green hues overlapped in the gash on his chest, as if it were about to blossom.
Doesn't this look a bit more like sothing now?
Huai Shi looked down, gazing at the Reflection of his forr self, and couldn't help but grin, giving his forr self a thumbs-up.
"Keep it up, Huai Shi!"
And so, the teenage boy in the Reflection smiled and raised his thumb, sending encouragent back to his future self.
「.」
In the hidden cottage, the Teenage Girl, who had been leaning by the window all along, watched soone foolishly grinning at their Reflection and couldn't help but shake her head and sigh.
In the end, there's still no sense of presence.
Fu Yi shrugged helplessly. "I feel it's quite fitting with my character setting."
"There are always side effects to evolution, I guess. It should be fine after leaving here."
Compared to this, the old woman beside her was rather astonished by sothing else. "There was no Sublimation after all?"
Could it be that I've estimated wrong? she pondered. Managing the operations of the Sea of Silver, even just having such an experience should have sufficed to complete the Sublimation.
"Hm? That feeling like I was about to float?" Fu Yi was surprised. "I thought I caught a cold… So it wasn't? Ah, I feel like I've missed out on a lot of money!"
"...If your own consciousness wasn't rejecting the change, Sublimation wouldn't stop."
The old woman saw through Fu Yi's pretense at a glance and wasn't displeased, just curious. "To cling to your ordinary identity to this extent is rare indeed—are you one of those who detest Sublimators?"
"No, I actually quite envy them."
Fu Yi thought for a mont, then said earnestly, "But it's that kind of… superficial envy, you understand? Rather than being a Sublimator, I find it more convenient being an ordinary person."
Envy, desire, yearning.
Sure, she had felt such emotions, but at best they were the kind one feels when sighing while watching TV, much like admiring a handso explorer, respecting people who've beco Heroes, or envying those cool characters who can suavely light up a cigarette amidst bullets and battles.
She knew she could never be such a person; she didn't have that Talent, nor did she have a dream that required her to beco such a person.
Although occasionally she had so minor impulses, in reality, that's all there was to it.
"What's with the kids these days? One after another, they are either frighteningly stubborn or irritatingly sensible," the old woman raised an eyebrow. I originally thought...
She fell silent for a mont and then said earnestly, "I thought you would need so Transformation."
"I actually think so too."
The Teenage Girl sighed softly. "But not long ago, I realized that, in fact, what I desire least is Transformation."
She didn't need to change. Even if her parents' affection had shattered, even if they divorced, even if her mother planned to remarry and was having another child... Even though many tis her efforts went unrewarded, driving reality further from what she hoped for. Life doesn't always turn out as one wishes. But she could understand all of that.
The reality that belonged to her was already perfect enough. Everything was predestined; everything had fallen into place long ago. There was no need for her to gild the lily. Even if it was too hard to accept, that wasn't an excuse to resist and deceive herself.
She just needed so ti, a little space of her own, a place where she could temporarily escape from everything, and a friend who could help her leave it all behind.
Just like running away from ho, one day you must look back at the road leading back. She was well aware of this and didn't plan to put that day off too long. Just for a little while. Just a brief night of freedom, and she could return to face everything that she needed to confront.
Like a child who had run away from ho, willfully causing trouble, loitering in the streets, running, trying all the things her parents forbade. This was her night of freedom. Now, the Witch's Night had ended. It was ti to go ho, even if the world outside was magnificent and vast.
"I understand."
The old woman chuckled softly, affectionately stroking her hair. "You are stronger than I thought... But are you sure you really don't need my help?"
As she spoke, she glanced out the window at the young man grinning foolishly by the river, shaking her head and sighing. Encountering soone with such an odd train of thought, or perhaps a born scoundrel... he wouldn't understand even if it were Doomsday, would he?
"No need."
Fu Yi withdrew her gaze from that silhouette. "I've changed my mind."
"Oh?"
"He really is a good friend, better than I had imagined..." She fell silent for a mont, then suddenly added, "It's a pity I'm not."
It was too easy to deceive soone like him. Fu Yi knew this all too well. If you smiled at him, he would smile back. If you were his friend, he wouldn't guard against you... If you asked, he would give. As much as he could. He never let people down.
That was exactly why she didn't want to voice her most pathetic request.
Would he agree? No, the question should be, would he refuse? And then, would he stay faithful to this affection? No, would he betray it? And then what? Would she find happiness? Most importantly, would *he* be happy?
That's not right, is it? Isn't love supposed to be mutual? If it's just one-sided taking and relying, doesn't that make one a beggar?
Thinking back carefully, it seed like from the past until now, she was always trying to rely on others. Relying on her father's indulgence, her mother's support, her own appearance to be liked, her authority to overlook rules, and then, her clever words to gain friends... especially in her loneliest tis.
Maybe she was good at this; maybe relying on others wouldn't draw criticism from anyone. But for so reason, she didn't want to rely on those things anymore.
Just looking at that silhouette outside the window, just comparing herself to him, she knew that living like a parasite offered no happiness. It was just begging...
In the silence, as if sensing the girl's dejection, the old woman held up a box and offered it. "Smoke?"
Fu Yi reached out, but the box was pulled back.
"Not giving it to you."
The old woman grinned, like a child who had successfully played a prank, and patted her head. "You're still a child. Have so tea instead."
A cup of warmly fragrant tea made its way into Fu Yi's hands.
The old woman suddenly said, "Evelyn."
Fu Yi responded, "Hmm?"
"My na is Evelyn, of the Cheshel family," the old woman smiled and told her. "My registered na is [Period]. Although this introduction is a bit late, I hope we can be friends."
"I, I..."
Fu Yi was stunned for a long mont. Eventually, she lowered her head, her eyes misting over as if becoming a bit red. "My na is Fu Yi... Yi, as in 'to rely on'..."
"Fu Yi, I understand," the old woman said, firmly taking her hand and shaking it, nodding happily. "Then we are friends. Please feel free to rely on , even though our ti together has been so fleeting."
She paused, her expression turning solemn and dignified, her voice serious as she asked, "So, finally, I have one question for you—"
After a brief, unsettling silence, her lips suddenly curved into a tender smile. "—Did you have fun?"
Fu Yi stood rooted to the spot. After a long mont, she nodded vigorously.
"Yes!"
And so, the old woman's smile beca one of reassurance, filled with joy and satisfaction.
The old woman reached out and gently embraced the girl in front of her.
"Then let your smile show, my friend."
She kissed the girl's forehead and whispered her farewell, "I hope that after a long ti, we will et again at the Origin Spring. You are about to embark on your own journey, and I will return to my own abode. But before that..."
She winked, like a child about to play a prank, and smiled as she told her, "I've prepared a surprise for you—"
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