"Obaa-chan, good morning."
Obaa-chan?
Yoshino's words made Kurumi feel a little surprised.
"Good morning... Yoshino."
A slow, hoarse voice entered her ears. An elderly woman walked out of the apartnt.
The elderly woman seed to be around eighty years old. She wore a plain gray kimono, her temples were white, and her withered skin had many age spots and wrinkles.
Perhaps because of her age, the old woman was slightly hunched over. In her hand, she held a four legged cane, making it seem as though her legs and feet were sowhat inconvenient.
"Are you going out, Obaa-chan?"
Yoshino asked. The old woman gently nodded.
"Mm... I just woke up and wanted to go for a walk."
"Hey, hey, you're going for a walk by yourself again? Yumi obaa-chan, you're already getting on in years. What if sothing happens while you're out alone?"
"Obaa-chan, should I go with you?"
"It's all right... This isn't the first ti. I'm only going around the park in town... I'll be back soon."
Yoshino and Yoshinon were sowhat worried. The old woman raised her free left hand, gently stroked Yoshino's and Yoshinon's heads, and spoke softly.
"Mm... All right."
"——Uya! Honestly, Yumi obaa-chan! You're treating us like children again. Yoshino-chan has already grown into a splendid lady, both in appearance and spirit!"
"Hehe... Perhaps. But in my eyes... you will always still be children."
"Uu——!"
At the little protest from the rabbit puppet, the old woman smiled faintly.
"I'll probably be back by noon... Yoshino, I'll leave lunch to you."
"Mm, I understand."
Yoshino nodded obediently.
"For lunch, I want to make the nikujaga you taught before, Obaa-chan."
"Is that so... I'll look forward to it, then... I'm off."
"Take care, Obaa-chan."
"Rember not to co back too late~"
After saying goodbye to Yoshino, the old woman leaned on her cane and left the apartnt with slow steps.
(Who is that elder woman?)
That question surfaced in Kurumi's heart.
Judging from her appearance, she was only an ordinary old woman with nothing special about her. Kurumi also did not rember the Spirits knowing an elderly person nad "Tsukino Yumi" seven years ago. She was very likely an ordinary person they had co to know after moving into this village.
And yet, for so reason, ever since that old woman appeared, Kurumi had been inexplicably concerned about her.
"..."
After hesitating for a mont, Kurumi left the apartnt and quietly followed behind the old woman.
Kurumi kept a distance of five hundred ters as she followed her. Although the distance was sowhat far, it posed no problem for a Spirit with excellent vision. Moreover, the old woman's speed was very slow, as if she were a film being played in slow motion. If Kurumi got too close, she might accidentally overtake her.
The old woman did not notice Kurumi. She strolled leisurely along the sidewalk, sotis stopping along the way to admire the town's entirely unremarkable buildings or plants as if in a daze. At tis, she also warmly greeted pedestrians and handed candy to children.
(Is she really just an ordinary obaa-chan?)
Kurumi began to think she had been overthinking things.
However, as ti passed, Kurumi gradually noticed a sense of incongruity.
Unlike the impression given by her appearance, the old woman's stamina was unexpectedly good. Although her steps were slow, she never once rested. After walking for such a long ti, Kurumi had not seen a single drop of sweat on the old woman.
And even stranger, although it was already noon and the sun hung high in the sky, the old woman showed no sign of turning back. Instead, she began choosing remote paths with few people, heading toward the edge of town.
The old woman left the town and walked into the deserted outskirts.
Watching the old woman enter the forest, Kurumi hesitated and stopped.
Having followed her this far, the situation had beco even more suspicious. Perhaps the other party had already noticed Kurumi and was deliberately leading her here.
However, since she had already followed her this far, giving up halfway would feel even more unpleasant. That thought pushed Kurumi to take another step and follow her into the outskirts.
Inside the forest, yellowing trees surrounded her. The similar scenery in every direction easily made Kurumi lose her sense of direction. But the old woman was not affected in the slightest. Like an old horse that knew the way, she advanced straight in one direction without hesitation.
(She definitely has a problem.)
Even on the rugged mountain path, the old woman's steps remained as steady as if she were walking on flat ground. Not once did she stumble. The cane in her hand seed less like a support and more like a cumberso burden.
The other party was absolutely not an ordinary old woman. Kurumi was now certain of that.
Finally, after so unknown amount of ti, Kurumi felt that they had reached a deep part of the forest, where there was no trace of human life at all.
Just as Kurumi was wondering where the other party was going, the old woman suddenly stopped.
(Have I been discovered?)
Kurumi hurriedly hid in the shadow of the bushes, held her breath, and cautiously peeked out.
At this mont, the old woman was standing before a mound of earth. It seed she had not noticed Kurumi, but had arrived at her destination.
The mound was not tall, less than half a ter high. The weeds and moss covering its surface showed that this thing had existed for quite so ti. At one end of the mound, a dead piece of wood as thick as an arm stood upright.
Rather than a mound of earth, it resembled a grave.
A naless mound.
(Could that be...)
So kind of guess surfaced in her heart, and Kurumi's heartbeat grew faster.
"It's been a long ti... Shido..." (TL:ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh)
Standing before the grave, the old woman spoke with indescribably complex emotion, as if sighing.
The mont the words fell, Kurumi sensed a faint fluctuation of spirit power from the old woman's body. Imdiately afterward, a thin veil of light covered the old woman. Then, at so point, the elderly woman had vanished, replaced by a young girl in the pri of youth.
The girl wore a sumr Tokiwadai school uniform, with a black coat of a completely different style draped over it. Her waist-length brown hair had mostly turned pale white. Her once elegant face now looked extrely exhausted and haggard.
(Yutsuki-san...)
Kurumi tightly pressed her lips together to keep her emotions from leaking out through her voice.
...
How long had it been since she last ca here?
Looking at the scenery around her, Yutsuki could not help feeling sowhat dazed.
She only rembered that, on so day long ago, in order to prevent Shido from being exposed to the wilderness as a corpse, she had run to this forgotten forest and made this simple naless mound. After that, she had never co again.
Thanks to the protection of this dense forest, the grave had remained so intact even after seven years.
"Sorry, Shido, for only coming to visit your grave after so long. And I didn't prepare any offerings either. If you don't mind, I'll give you this cane. Though I'm guessing you don't want it."
Sitting directly on the ground, Yutsuki placed the cane before the grave and said with a bitter smile.
"Has it already been seven years... Ti really passes quickly. Staying this long in a place where even birds don't bother to chirp must be boring, right?"
Gently stroking the rough dead wood, Yutsuki's face revealed a tender smile.
"Right. As compensation, I'll chat with you about what's happened these past few years."
"But where should I start... In any case, DEM has already been destroyed. Westcott, Ellen, and Artemisia,Ai Mulian were all killed by . I suppose that counts as avenging you."
"After that, for half a year, I worked with Ratatoskr's people and ran to every corner of the world before finally bringing Tohka and the others back."
"That was a truly awful experience. Unlike you, I couldn't seal Spirits directly. I could only beat them half to death, remove their Sephira Crystals, and then heal them. Before, I always thought sealing spirit power with a kiss was a joke. Now, from the bottom of my heart, I feel that if things could really be solved that way, it would have been wonderful."
"But the result was good. After their Sephira Crystals were removed, none of them had any risk of Inverting again, and their bodies gradually recovered and beca healthy. Now, I live with them in a small town not far from here. But speaking of that, there is sothing I have to apologize to you for..."
At this point, guilt appeared on Yutsuki's face.
"Although it may not have been impossible, your death was still a wound in everyone's hearts that they could not overco. To prevent anyone from developing PTSD, I used Michael to erase everyone's mories of you. No....I should say, I erased your existence from the world."
A self mocking smile appeared on Yutsuki's face.
"The ribbons you gave Kotori, the four leaf clover hairpin Tohka gave you, the comb you gave Mukuro, the manga you drew for Nia, the recording we made for Miku, the costics you bought for Natsumi, the clothes you bought for Yoshino and Yoshinon, the accessories you gifted Kaguya and Yuzuru, all the stuff at Origami's house... Everything related to you, everything that might beco a trigger for recovering their mories, I destroyed it all. But I don't regret it. Because precisely because of that, everyone can live happily like they do now. What do you think? Am I a terrible woman?" (TL:Of course not.....)
Lifting her head and looking at the leisurely blue sky and white clouds, Yutsuki murmured absentmindedly.
"Hey... Shido, if you were still alive, would you bla ? If I apologized to you... would you be able to... forgive ?"
TL:Ahhhhhhh author I will find you ahhhhhhh, I'm not strong enough to read the next chapter again....
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