"…So it is already spring."
A gentle breeze swayed through the air. Warm sunlight brushed across her cheeks.
Stepping once more onto the streets of the small town, Kurumi could not help falling into a slight daze.
To be honest, Kurumi's mories of when she had left were extrely vague. She only rembered that a few months ago, in autumn, she had hidden alone in the depths of the forest and cried her heart out. After that, after so unknown amount of ti had passed, Kurumi left the town in a daze, t up with Naia, who had co searching for her, and returned to the underground facility.
Grief. Helplessness.
Numbness. Decay.
Resignation. Calm.
After several months of letting ti settle the many emotions in her heart, Kurumi had finally cald down enough to try facing the reality before her.
Just as her clone had said back then, she had to keep living. Otherwise, it would be the sa as denying everything Yutsuki had given for her. Even if there was no longer any obsession or attachnt left in her heart, she still had to seriously consider the life that ca next.
What should she do?
Where should she go?
After thinking painfully for a long while, Kurumi ultimately decided to co to that small town once more. She would go to the ho Yutsuki had spoken of, and see the current lives of the Spirits.
It was a little embarrassing to talk about, but when Kurumi stated her decision, the artificial intelligence nad Naia seed to have been prepared for it long ago. Without another word, it took out luggage and a ticket, briefly told her a few things to watch out for, then swiftly and decisively sent her out from underground.
That attitude was almost like kicking a shut in NEET out of the house because she had been living off others for too long. Kurumi suffered a small blow from that.
Thinking of this, Kurumi could not help sighing. By the ti she ca back to herself, she had already arrived before the Spirits's ho.
Unlike the brand new luxury apartnt building in Tengu City, what stood before Kurumi now was only a two story wooden house. The house was not exactly shabby, but it could not be called luxurious either. A narrow garden path, only two or three ters wide, surrounded the wooden house. Looking around, the only things that added a touch of color to this plain ho were the few cherry blossom trees in the courtyard, now in full bloom.
Kurumi turned her gaze to the wooden sign beside the gate. The na of the house was written there.
"Tsu....ki...no?"
Reading the kanji on the sign sowhat awkwardly, Kurumi did not quite understand its aning. When she ca here last ti, she had only dared to observe from a distance, so she had not noticed such details.
"In any case…"
—Ding-dong.
After pressing the doorbell and waiting for a short while, Kurumi began to regret it.
If she only wanted to understand the Spirits' current situation, she could have hidden in the shadows and observed them as before. Coming to the door so suddenly was not only easy to make the other side suspicious, it could also cause unexpected problems during conversation.
However, just as Kurumi was about to retreat, a blue haired woman holding a rabbit puppet opened the door.
"U-Um… I do not an any harm… My na is Yoshino… If you are in any trouble… I will do my best to help!"
Looking at Yoshino, who was flusteredly trying to comfort her, Kurumi felt a complicated emotion rise in her heart.
Once upon a ti, this girl had only been a little child whom Kurumi could tease and toy with. But now, Kurumi herself seed to be the one being treated as a child who needed concern.
(I am no longer the sa Tokisaki Kurumi as before…)
While feeling a little sorrowful, Kurumi also could not help feeling slightly relieved.
The death of Ryougi Yutsuki—Tsukino Yumi—did not seem to have broken them.
"Pleased to et you. My na is… Tokisaki Kurumi."
Kurumi did not intend to explain her identity or reason for coming. After briefly giving her na, she secretly observed Yoshino's reaction. After all, she knew very little about the Spirits's current lives, and she also did not know whether Yutsuki had told them about her.
"…Tokisaki Kurumi?!"
Sure enough, the mont she heard that na, Yoshino's eyes widened in surprise. After exchanging a glance with Yoshinon, she could not help saying happily,
"You really are… Kurumi-san?"
"My, my~ What a miracle! We were still wondering how to contact you, and then you showed up on your own!"
Seeing the two's reaction, Kurumi furrowed her brow in confusion.
"Um… Do you know ?"
"Mm…"
Yoshino nodded.
"Obaa-chan ntioned your na in her letter."
A letter?
Before Kurumi could ask, the rabbit puppet put on an old-fashioned tone and said,
"Kurumi is the granddaughter of an old friend from long, long ago. Maybe she does not rember, but I even held her when she was little. After that disaster, Kurumi's parents both passed away, and the girl herself disappeared. If one day you et that child, I hope you can care for her in obaa-chan's place—Honestly, Yumi obaa-chan too! She should have told us about sothing like this much earlier!"
After hearing Yoshinon's grumbling complaint, Kurumi, with her understanding of Yutsuki, imdiately understood the situation.
(Not a single sentence is true… But for , it is the best possible explanation.)
Pressing her lips together slightly, Kurumi cald herself down, shook her head, and gave a bitter smile.
"To be honest… I am not very clear about it myself. After waking up in an orphanage, I had forgotten many things. It was only recently that I rembered I seed to still have people I knew."
Hearing that Kurumi had lost her mories, Yoshino did not seem surprised. Instead, she said sympathetically,
"I see… Then these past years must have been very hard."
"…Is Yumi obaa-chan well? I would like to et her."
Kurumi let the previous topic pass without giving an answer. Then, taking a deep breath, she pretended not to know anything and deliberately brought up the question she had already known the answer to.
Hearing this, Yoshino's expression imdiately dimd. After hesitating for a long while, she carefully spoke.
"Um… Kurumi-san… Please listen calmly… Obaa-chan… is no longer here."
"—!"
Kurumi staggered back two steps. As if greatly shocked, she pressed a hand to her chest and kept breathing deeply.
Of course, that reaction was not entirely acting. Even after several months had passed, hearing those words still made Kurumi's heart twist in pain.
"Kurumi-san?!"
"I am fine…"
Kurumi shook her head and asked in a low voice,
"May I ask… when did it happen?"
"Last autumn. Back then, everyone was just as confused as you are now, Kurumi-chan."
After saying that with a helpless sigh, Yoshinon seed to suddenly rember sothing and asked curiously,
"Speaking of which, back then, Tohka and Origami also t a girl nad Kurumi. Was that you?"
"Mm… At that ti, because the bus had a breakdown, I only stopped here for a short while and then left. I never thought…"
Kurumi had naturally prepared an answer for this question long ago. She nodded, then smiled with a little self-mockery and regret.
Looking at Kurumi's forced smile, Yoshino opened her mouth but fell silent. For a mont, she could not think of any suitable words.
"…I am sorry. I lost my composure."
After calming down sowhat, Kurumi said apologetically.
"Is obaa-chan's altar here? I want… to properly say goodbye to her."
"Mm… Of course."
Yoshino nodded softly and brought Kurumi into the house.
Seeing that she had successfully avoided Yoshino's suspicion, Kurumi secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
(This should be enough, right? Yutsuki.)
Kurumi murmured silently in her heart.
(From now on, I will stay here in your place and continue watching over them, preventing them from rembering the tragedies of the past, protecting their growth. This is probably… the only atonent I can make.)
'Hmph, there is no need for such complicated reasons. You know better than anyone that all she wanted was for you to live well as an ordinary person.'
'Needing to find a reason just to convince herself, 'I' really am troubleso.'
Kurumi instinctively lowered her head. The shadow beneath her feet was silent, like a puppet without a voice.
She knew that what she had just heard was only her own illusion.
Her spiritual power and Angel had completely vanished on the day Yutsuki left.
Kurumi could not help showing a self-mocking smile.
"Right… I almost forgot."
When they reached the entrance, Yoshino suddenly stopped and turned to look at Kurumi.
"What is it?"
Kurumi asked, a little nervous.
"No, it is nothing… I just thought that, at a ti like this, obaa-chan would probably do this…"
A trace of sadness and nostalgia flashed through Yoshino's eyes.
She took a deep breath and smiled at Kurumi.
"Welco ho, Kurumi-san." (TL:Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh)
'Welco ho, Kurumi.'
In that instant, the scene before Kurumi overlapped with the sight deep within her mories, and her vision began to blur on its own.
"Mm… I'm ho", Kurumi answered with a teary smile.
The Reality She Want To Protect-Normal End.
TL:it just...so peak....ah....I love finding gem novel like this...
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