The dim moonlight shines through the window and onto the neat white floor tiles, emitting a faint shimmer.
On a wooden chair in the center of the room, a white-haired old woman was lowering her head, her silver-white hair hanging down on her wrinkled face. She was carefully folding paper cranes in her palms under the moonlight.
Under her body, hundreds of paper cranes had submerged her feet, like a hill piled high.
Suddenly, she seemed to sense something. She raised her head and looked at the bright moon outside the window. Her cloudy eyes were filled with unprecedented clarity!
"Little Youli..."
She murmured to herself.
"Grandma He in Room 32, it's time to go to bed~" the nurse's voice came from outside the door.
Grandma He seemed to have not heard her words. She stood up from the wooden chair tremblingly, stepped on the sea of paper cranes with her feet, walked slowly to the window, and pushed the window open with all her strength.
"Grandma He, I'm coming in!"
The sound of the nurse turning the doorknob sounded.
Grandma Crane looked up at the moon and slowly closed her eyes. The next moment, her body turned into paper cranes one after another, dissipating in the air!
These paper cranes seemed to come alive, vibrating their wings, like a large white cloud, flying up into the dark night sky from the open window!
The nurse opened the door.
When she saw the empty room, she suddenly froze on the spot.
"Grandma Crane, Grandma Crane?"
She saw the open window, walked over blankly, raised her head, and saw a cloud of snow-white paper cranes rising slowly, facing the bright moonlight, and disappearing into the clouds...
…
Osaka.
The paper crane lying in Yurina's palm trembled slightly.
Under Yurina's gaze, the paper crane flapped its wings and flew. Even though there was a blackened bullet mark on its back, it did not affect its movement at all, and it floated straight towards the sky.
The moment she saw the bullet mark, Yurina finally understood why she had no wounds on her body after she was kidnapped by those gangsters in the warehouse and shot...
Originally she thought the opponent missed the target, but now it seems that the paper crane hidden on her body helped her escape.
Yurina watched the paper crane fly into the sky and disappear behind the clouds. A moment later, a huge cloud of paper cranes rolled out from under the night sky and rushed straight towards Yurina!
These paper cranes surrounded Yurina, like a snow-white crane wind slowly rotating. Yurina stood in the center of the group of cranes, looking at everything at a loss.
Then, these paper cranes gradually gathered in Yurina's right hand, and her body was disassembled, turned into pieces of white paper, and folded together automatically...
The outline of a sheathed white paper knife appeared among the cranes.
Seeing this scene, the yellow-robed oracle frowned slightly.
"Sure enough..." The corners of Amamiya Haruki's lips raised and he breathed a sigh of relief, "This knife is on your body."
As the paper crane disappeared, a complete white long sword was quietly held in Yurina's hand, with shallow creases remaining on the scabbard, spreading like a spider web.
Yurina's black hair was spread behind her. She stood in the rain, staring blankly at the knife in her hand, as if she was seeing the white cranes folded in her palm by Grandma Crane with a smile.
This is the Futsu sword that Yuri Kurotetsu left to her.
The third of the nine swords of Fujin, [Qianhe].
"Another sword master appears?" The yellow-robed oracle frowned and looked at the young Yurina. After a moment, he shook his head, "No, she has not become the sword master yet, this sword is just protecting her..."
"you are wrong."
The corners of Amamiya Haruki's mouth raised slightly, "Since this sword came to her on its own initiative, it means that she has the qualifications to become a sword master. She is only one step away from drawing the sword once before becoming the real Fujin sword master."
"But she hasn't drawn the sword yet, has she?" The yellow-robed Oracle stared at Yurina, "What if she herself is unwilling to become the master of the Fukutsu sword?"
Amamiya Haruki seemed to have thought of something, and frowned slightly.
The yellow-robed oracle shook Amamiya Haruki away, faced the young Yurina, and spoke slowly:
"You are Yuri Kurotetsu's daughter, right?"
"yes……"
"how old are you?"
"Thirteen."
"Then do you know what the knife in your hand is?"
Yurina was startled. After hesitating for a moment, she still shook her head in confusion.
"That is the Fujin Sword that represents disaster and curse. Every master of the Fujin Sword is destined to die violently, and there is absolutely no good ending." The yellow-robed oracle said calmly, with a sense of majesty in his words, "
The moment you pull it out and become the master of Fujin Sword, you will be wanted from the [Pure Land], become a [Fierce Ghost] level wanted criminal, and be hunted by the Oracle... just like your father.
From now on, you will no longer be able to live an ordinary and happy life. You will always be like a mouse hiding in this city, and we will eventually find you and kill you.
The god you believe in will never protect you again, and this country will become your enemy.
Do you...really want to be a ‘evil person’?”
The yellow-robed oracle paused for a moment and continued: "You are still a child. There is no need to embark on this extremely evil path. Give me the knife and you can continue to live your life happily. God
The adults will continue to protect you, and you can grow up safely..."
Yurina hugged [Chizuru] and stood alone in the pouring rain. The rain wet her messy black hair. She quietly looked at the beautiful long knife in her hand, as if she was thinking about something.
Have you grown up safely...?
A miserable smile appeared on Yurina's face.
The word "stability" had never appeared in her thirteen years of life... It wasn't until she came to the Black Wutong Club that she briefly realized what home was, but now, everything was shattered again.
Brother Nanaya, Brother Xiaojin, and Brother Amamiya, they are not ordinary people. Even Uncle Kyosuke has turned into a mysterious person suspected of being his father. They are all wanted criminals.
As a child growing up in this country, the only thing that gave her warmth and made her feel sincerely happy was a family composed of so-called "evil people"...
"Good people" left her covered in bruises, but "evil people" gave her warmth and laughter.
She raised her head and looked behind the yellow-robed Oracle, at the hundreds of people kneeling on the ground like ants, her eyes full of complex colors.
Are those dog-like people lying on the ground really what "humans" should be like? Is this what the gods want them to be? Is this the result of the gods' protection?
Do the gods really care about their life and death?
If you care, where were the gods when she was kidnapped by gangsters and beaten? Where were the gods when her home was ransacked? She and Grandma He were forced to live in a container without enough to eat.
At that time... where were the gods?
Yurina can hardly tell what is good and what is evil.