The boss crossed the partition, placed the steaming white porcelain bowl on the wooden table, and handed the chopsticks to 23-year-old Tomioka Giyu.
"Eat slowly. It's very cold outside today and there aren't many customers coming. It's okay to stay a little longer."
Giyu Tomioka, who didn't know why he was here, held his chopsticks in confusion.
The familiar smell of the fish soup in the bowl was blown by the cold wind, and a few snowflakes drifted in from time to time through the wooden door, as well as the busy figure of the owner of the table and board shop across the way, triggering his long-lasting memories: he had been to this shop.
The first time was two days after he met Tanjiro.
After coming out of the mountains, Tomioka Giyu received the order from the tiger and came to Kitanojo Station to deal with a "bear eating man" incident.
Of course, the so-called "bear" is a ghost transformed by a hunter, otherwise it would not be his turn to take care of this matter.
After the incident was resolved, Tomioka Yoshiyuki had a meal of radish salmon with an unforgettable taste in this restaurant.
[It seems that I ate with someone...but who was it? Why can't I remember? 】
Tomioka Yoshiyuki felt like his brain was like an invisible fog, and he had forgotten many important things.
However, delicious food comes first, so these trivial matters can be put aside for the time being.
His expression was relaxed, and he waved the chopsticks with his right hand to gently wave away the steaming heat in front of him. He placed the nichirin sword at his feet with his left hand, intending to eat first and then think about other things.
The reason why Tomioka Giyuu can't forget this store is simply because the bowl of soup in front of him tastes almost exactly the same as the radish and salmon soup that his sister made in his memory.
In other words, it feels like home.
Therefore, I'm afraid there is nothing more likely to make him smile than the bowl of fish soup in front of him.
Without saying "I'm ready", this kind of opening remarks, and without polite words of thanking the boss, Tomioka couldn't wait to reach out his chopsticks to the almost crystal clear radish slices. As for the fish, he planned to save it for last.
But just when the radish soaked in soup was less than one centimeter away from Yiyong's teeth, the cold winter wind suddenly rushed in - the wooden door of the restaurant was knocked open by an agile figure and fell heavily against the wall.
.
Tomioka Yoshiyuki stopped moving.
He could see clearly that the person coming was a young man wearing a turtle-shell haori and a Demon Slayer uniform underneath. He wore a hollow cat mask on his face and a Nichirin sword on his back.
[Are they the team members who are looking for me? Are there other ghosts nearby that have not been eliminated? 】
Tomioka Giyuu waited where he was without moving. As a water column, although he was not popular, it was normal for someone to come to him to report, although it was not very common.
And that person did rush towards his direction.
But unexpectedly, the opponent's charging posture did not slow down due to the close distance. Instead, it went faster and was about to collide with Yiyong's body.
【Something went wrong with the breathing method? Can't you stop?】
Tomioka Yoshiyuki immediately made a judgment and was about to force the opponent to brake, but the man suddenly jumped up and flew over his head nimbly.
"Sorry, sorry! It's an emergency, please borrow it."
When Tomioka Giyu turned around again, the man had disappeared, but cool snowflakes blew directly into his face.
The wooden wedged window behind the stove was pushed open by force, exposing the wind and snow outside. The salmon and radish soup bowl on the table overturned, and there were some deep footprints on a piece of fish. The boss cooked it
The big iron pot for the soup suffered a similar fate.
【Today...can't you eat?】
Tomioka Giyuu watched dumbly as the soup dripped along the table and onto the floor, and he suddenly felt an indescribable loss in his heart.
【Obviously this is the last time.】
A strange idea suddenly flashed through Tomioka's mind, and he successfully captured it.
【No, why should I say the last time? 】
Just as he froze in place, waiting for his boss to come out from behind the partition to deal with the mess in front of him, someone poked him gently on the back.
"rich."
Then came the second blow.
It was a touch between soft and hard. It would not be mistaken for an attack, nor was it a light touch by mistake, but a finger pressing slightly hard on his spine.
"Gang."
At the third blow, Tomioka Giyu turned around and looked at him with a pair of translucent deep purple eyes, as if the prank had succeeded.
"Mr. Tomioka."
The sound was as clear and gentle as pearls falling on the ice, but it shattered all the fog in Tomioka Yoshiyuki's heart. He suddenly understood what had happened.
His angle of view began to get lower, his arms and sleeves slowly shortened, and the Nichirin sword at his feet disappeared.
The purple-eyed girl opposite still folded her arms and chuckled, as if she was watching an interesting performance. Her wide translucent butterfly-patterned feathers were like fluttering wings, and together with the purple hair tips, they were gently swaying in the wind.
.
In just three seconds, the 23-year-old Giyu Tomioka successfully shrank and transformed back into the nearly 10-year-old Giyuu Uchiha.
If he looked straight forward, he could only see the girl's shoulders.
"Butterfly?"
Yiyong called out the girl's name, and the confusion contained in it was clearly audible.
"Oh, although I have heard my master talk about your situation and I have made some preparations, I am still a little uncomfortable seeing Mr. Tomioka with such a cute face. What should I do?"
Butterfly Ninja squinted his eyes and leaned down slightly, seeming to enjoy the terrain advantage brought by his height.
She stretched out her right index finger from the wide sleeve of her butterfly robe, and slowly, at the speed of a slug, poked it towards Yiyong's left cheek, with a sly smile in her eyes: "I'm sorry, I really can't bear it anymore, but I can't.
Can you let me——"
Yiyong pinched her finger and said in a tone of embarrassed alienation, "Am I dreaming?"
Otherwise, it is impossible to explain everything that appears in front of you.
The wind and snow suddenly stopped, the body suddenly shrank, and the boss disappeared like a ghost. In an instant, only the two of them were left in the shop that had been a bit smoky before.
"finally……"
The butterfly ninja tugged hard, trying to pull his fingers out of Giyuu's hand, but failed.
She didn't know if she remembered something bad, but a light blue blood vessel clearly appeared on her forehead, and her confidence increased unconsciously when she spoke.
"Are you just realizing it now? Seeing that you are still as slow as before, I feel relieved at last. Even if you die, some things will not change, which is a kind of comfort."
"Then you are a figment of my imagination."
Yiyong did not let go of his hand, his eyelids drooped, as if he felt happy and disappointed at the same time.
He remembered.
After the live snake ate Wan Snake's head, it separated into a bunch of smaller snakes and slowly ate away at its body. Several people sat on the back of the big snake and continued to the Kingdom of Water.
Considering that being on the back of a psychic beast was not suitable for practicing dangerous swordsmanship, Yiyong took out his summer homework and wrote it. As a result, after writing less than two pages, he didn't know what happened and became drowsy.
Of course, this may be fatigue caused by the sudden evolution of his Sharingan.
But then came the dream just now.
Although his expression remained calm, for those who are familiar with Yiyong, his loss at this time can be said to be "beyond words."
"What's wrong with dreams? Mr. Tomioka, the more taciturn a person like you is, the more attention you have to your dreams."
Butterfly Ninja sat down next to Yiyong, "Before I died, I listened to lectures by some cutting-edge psychiatrists. There is a popular saying from Europe: 'Dreams are the fulfillment of wishes.' For example, like you
Such a depressed person can often only do what you really want to do in a dream. At this time, instead of feeling disappointed, why not think carefully about the meaning of this dream? It may help you see clearly what you really think.
."
(Freud's "The Interpretation of Dreams" was published in 1899, and Butterfly Ninja died roughly in 1915, around the third year of Taisho.)
"A dream is a dream."
Yiyong was noncommittal, "What wish can it fulfill?"
As he spoke, he pinched the bridge of his nose hard, eager to wake up.
Even if it was just a dream, he was still not ready to face another teammate.
Among the nine pillars, Butterfly Ninja had the best relationship with him (you can imagine how bad his relationship with the other pillars was), but Yiyong always felt that the other pillar liked to tease him, and he would do it without saying a few words.
Will be angry.
"Mr. Tomioka, you see, you are running away again, and this is not okay. Those who dare to face the enemy may just be motivated by the atmosphere, but those who dare to face themselves are true warriors."
"..." Not being confused by the provocative method, Tomioka Giyu asked: "Why can't I wake up?"
"Don't you feel that you are hot and cold at the same time? The weather in the dream is not the cause, but the result. Outside you are not simply asleep, but in a coma with a high fever."
Butterfly Ren took out a thermometer from nowhere, looked at the reading carefully, and sighed: "In short, until your fever subsides, you can only stay with me and can't go anywhere. Alas, Alas, you
It seems that I have made up for the time I never went to the Butterfly House to heal my wounds before. Sure enough, what I owed in the previous life will still have to be paid back in the next life. This is a kind of karma."
"This is impossible, my body..."
If there is a transparent world, if he is going to get sick, he should find some signs.
"Your coma may not be pathological, but psychological. After all, diseases are sometimes a way to force you to rest. The more people like to force themselves when they are awake, the more likely they are to suffer from their own body in unexpected times.
Betrayal. To be fair, I have never seen anyone who lives a more tiring life than you, so this situation seems to make sense."
"How do I wake up?"
Hidan's head still needs to be carefully guarded, and there are many dangers on the sea, so Giyuu really can't rest assured.
"The more you resist, the less you can do. You have to be patient and accept treatment."
The Butterfly Ninja's index finger swayed from side to side like a lost second hand, and then his eyebrows drooped slightly, "Does Mr. Tomioka hate talking to me that much? It's obviously not like this before."
【But you are fake.】
Yiyong didn't say anything, and sat down a little depressed: "Just say what you want to say. Just let me wake up quickly."
"You and Immortal Sichuan really have a good understanding of each other when it comes to passively confronting doctors."
In the sleeves of the robe that Yiyu couldn't see, the Butterfly Ninja's fists clenched suddenly and then released palely, and then the conversation got back to the right track.
"Let's start with dreams. Let us first assume that if 'dreams are the fulfillment of wishes' is a truth, then Tomioka, can you guess the reason why you dreamed of me?"
"Resurrecting you is one of my most important things at the moment. I was thinking about the carrier not long ago."
Yiyong thought for a moment and tried to apply the template given by Butterfly Ninja.
"Under such circumstances, it should be normal to dream about you. I hoped that you would be resurrected, and you would be resurrected, even though it was in a dream."
"Then why here?"
The butterfly ninja pointed at the roof and drew a circle, "Why do I appear here? Although there are not many occasions for us to appear together, there are also many. Obviously we can meet at the master's home or at the training ground, but here we have
What’s special?”
"..." Yiyong remembered, "We once had lunch together here."
The "bear eating man" incident was handled by the two of them together, and they ate here after it was over.
It was there that the two of them got to know each other initially and revised their views on each other (mainly Butterfly Ninja).
"Is that all?" Butterfly Ninja asked, "Does this place have no other meaning for you?"
"...my last meal."
Yiyong continued, "I also ate here because the taste makes me nostalgic. I knew I was going to die soon, so I came here specially."
This was something Butterfly Ninja didn't expect, and he was obviously a little surprised.
"But what does this mean?" Yiyong looked at her doubtfully, "It's just an impressive place, and it shouldn't have anything to do with wishes."
"When you say this, you are oversimplifying the human subconscious. All the clues in dreams are riddles, and the answer lies in your memory."
A smile flashed across Butterfly Ninja's eyes: "When I was still alive, you would bring wounded people to Butterfly House, but never go in for treatment; at the Zhuhe meeting, we didn't have much chance to talk. Here, we rarely
A place where you can chat. Let me tell you, Tomioka, the reason why you dreamed that I appeared here is because you have something very distressing that you want to talk about. But considering that you are a big sap who rarely asks others for help.
, that’s why I ‘take the initiative’ to help you solve your problems. You see, this is also a manifestation of desire.”
Yiyong was silent for a moment, but still denied: "But I don't think I have anything to say."
"I said, dreams are wishes suppressed by you in your subconscious mind. The denial made by your conscious mind is not recognized here."
Seeing that Giyuu still had a "whatever you say will be what you say" expression, the Butterfly Ninja's smile became stiffer.
"Since you are embarrassed to admit that you want to talk to me, why don't you tell me about the dream before. If I guessed correctly, you should have some guesses about the identity of that person. His feather pattern, and Tomioka, you go there
The pattern on the left half of the haori I’m wearing is almost exactly the same.”
"...The man just now was wearing Qiu Tu's clothes, but it didn't look like him."
Yiyong said thoughtfully.
He didn't know he was dreaming before and couldn't remember where he had seen the other person before, he just thought he looked familiar, but now he can easily deduce the relevant information.
"Oh, is there something wrong?" Butterfly Ninja asked in guidance.
Yiyong: "If it is Qiu Tu, his face should be a fox mask, not this cat style. Moreover, Qiu Tu's knife should be hung on his waist, but the man is carrying it behind his back."
He paused, "In this part, he is more like my brother Uchiha Itachi. When he worked for Konoha ANBU, he dressed in a similar way."
"What do they have in common?"
"No." Yiyong thought about it for a moment and replied seriously: "Qiu Usagi feels to me like a more serious Anjurou. But Itachi may be more like Tokidou. They all like to be in a daze."
"Ara, what I'm talking about here is not their character, but what they mean to you. In fact, this is not difficult to judge at all, right?"
Butterfly Ninja's eyes lit up, and he summed up accurately: "For you, whether it is Qiao Rabbit or this Uchiha Itachi, they are your 'brothers' in every sense, right? So, we can think that the fight just now
The person flipping your soup bowl is actually a combination of your two brothers, right?"
"Yeah. But what does this have to do with wishes? Especially Qiang Rabbit."
Giyuu still questions Butterfly Ninja's psychoanalytic theory.
"If your statement is correct, then both the weasel and the rabbit should have taken off their masks to meet me, but he ran away. How could this be my wish?"
"No." Butterfly Ninja shook his head, "Who they are is only part of the story. What they do satisfies your wishes."
"You mean, I hope that my brother will knock over my favorite food."
Yiyong rarely showed his half-moon eyes and was a little speechless.
"The correct explanation is that you want to be punished by them."
Butterfly Ninja said simply: "What you are doing or planning to do may be opposed by them or even harmful to them. You may be able to accept this trade-off when you are awake, but your subconscious cannot accept hurting them.
That's why in the dream, the carrot and salmon, which almost represents all your happiness, was knocked over by this combination of 'brothers'. Their departure and alienation from you are the second round of this punishment.
"
Hearing this, Yiyong subconsciously wanted to deny this outrageous statement, because he had never thought of doing anything bad to Qiu Rabbit or Itachi.
But immediately, he remembered something, his face turned pale as if it had become colder, and he sat in his seat distressedly.
Butterfly Ninja smiled with satisfaction. She held her cheek with the heel of her palm and leaned on the table. She asked softly: "Now, do you want to talk?"
"I might..." Giyu gritted his teeth and said, "let something similar to Kibutsuji Muzan appear in this world."
"Are you talking about the body that was eaten by a shark?" Butterfly tolerated it, and his expression was not as relaxed as before.
"Well," Yiyong raised his eyes, his eyes trembling in a rare way, "So, did I disappoint Qiotu? That's why he didn't want to say anything more to me?"
"I have said that this is your own subconscious. It's not that Qiang Tu is disappointed with you, but that you are disappointed with yourself. You just expressed it in a dream with the help of another person's attitude."
The Butterfly Ninja pressed his eyebrows, and then comforted him with a warm voice: "Actually, I asked you when I was in the underworld. The rabbit was reincarnated not long after Tanjiro completed the Fujirai Mountain trial, so you can't
Disappoint him. Even if Qiutu really knew about it, you can't be blamed for this. Who would have thought that Tsuji Mukai was in the Infernal Hell but reached out to another world? None of us can
With the ability to predict the future, it is normal for such omissions to exist.”
After hearing this, Yiyong's expression did not improve at all, but became even colder.
"Now that you have explained it clearly to me, it's time to let me wake up. This matter must be dealt with as soon as possible."
"Is the explanation clear?" Butterfly Ninja blinked, "It's still early. You want Qiantu to 'punish' you, and you seem to have an explanation; but what about your biological brother?"
This time Yiyong directly showed his shame.
"Itachi has a terminal disease. But the person who can potentially cure him is a guy who can kill dozens or even hundreds of people if he lives for just one more day."
Butterfly Ninja understood immediately: "So you have decided to kill him, but in this case, the hope of saving your brother will be reduced by one point, right?"
"..." Yiyong didn't answer, his eyebrows tangled together.
"Do you have any other ideas?"
Butterfly Ninja asked tentatively.
"You want this Orochimaru to cure your brother's disease, but you also want to kill him?"
Yiyong subconsciously reached out and touched his eyes.
This is an idea that he would not have thought of, and would not have even been considered in the past, because it involves the principle of righteousness——
He will use others, such as making friends, to improve the resolution of the breathing method, but he will definitely compensate for it, such as feeding, guiding training, and meeting other people's needs. In this way, he will have a clear conscience.
But the idea of using others and killing them at the same time - even if Orochimaru is a villain, how is this behavior different from that of a ninja?
But having said that, at present, this Orochimaru is still Itachi's best hope for survival.
[Why is he a person like Kibutsuji Muzan? 】
When Giyuu thought about what Orochimaru had done - using a hundred lives as payment for Wansha's appearance, he became extremely angry.
This anger is partly due to the mountain-like bones in Wan She's body, and partly because Yiyong had to make a difficult choice.
The Sharingan, which had already accumulated pupil power to a critical point, evolved under this situation.
Immediately afterwards, under the influence of the Sharingan, Giyuu immediately did something that violated his own principles.
He used a rather despicable word game to "cheat" Orochimaru's information from Wan She, and then "killed the donkey" to get rid of Wan She.
And Giyuu also knew very well that what he did to Wan She was exactly the replica of what he was eager to do to Orochimaru in his heart——
A dark thought occurred in his mind:
Either forcing or deceiving Orochimaru into diagnosing Itachi and then getting rid of him.
When those Sharingan eyes opened, this thought was so vivid, as if things would definitely go as Giyuu wished!
But after turning off the Sharingan, Giyu returned to normal and was shocked by his potential dark side.
"Although I and Immortal Sichuan can do this kind of thing without any psychological barriers, it still feels a bit incredible to think that you want to do this."
The butterfly nin reached out and put his hand on Yiyong's shoulder, "It's not a good thing to say, but you inherited this from your parents..."
"The Sharingan," Giyuu said, "is a kind of blood inheritance limit."
"Yes, this 'Sharingan' seems to make some unexpected changes to your brain and thinking due to your emotions during evolution. For you Tomioka, this change is too sudden. It may be this
A hidden danger of the blood inheritance limit. It’s best to be careful when using it.”
Butterfly Ninja smiled again, "Personally speaking, I don't like Tomioka that you have changed too much in this kind of personality. Just because you deceived a snake, you got yourself into a coma with a high fever.
, it’s really hard to imagine what would happen if you really tried to use any tricks on this 'Orochimaru'. A swordsman with a water tone still cannot achieve this level."
"But Itachi's illness..."
This is still a problem that Yiyong cannot avoid.
"You are really slow."
The Butterfly Ninja launched another personal attack, with a shadow of anger floating above the bridge of his nose, "Since you are going to resurrect me, have you never thought of asking me to help him see a doctor?"
"This is another world." Yiyong emphasized seriously, "The number of cells in the human body is different. The entire medical theory..."
"I can learn." Butterfly Shinobi looked very interested in the knowledge of this world, "I can't wait to start research."
Yiyong retorted again: "But Dr. Tsunade has been studying for decades, and she is not sure."
"However, I have been studying for less than twenty years, but I almost cured Wu Ke!"
It seemed that the Butterfly Ninja couldn't bear it anymore, and his smooth forehead covered with veins leaned forward, as if a barrel stuffed with cannonballs was piercing the volunteer's face.
"Mr. Tomioka, I know you have always had a low opinion of yourself, but can you have some confidence in others? Considering that we will be getting along for the second life in the future, can you make people a little more comfortable in this regard? You don't want to
Are you going to be hated by others again? Isn’t it?”
Yiyong was not affected by the invisible threat and remained silent for a moment, then suddenly said: "You are not my dream, right?"
"Oh?" Butterfly Ninja was startled, brushing his hair and stepped back from Yiyong, "Why did you say that?"
"If you were just my dream, you wouldn't agree to what happens after my resurrection."
Yiyong looked serious, "You just said that you asked about Qiu Tu in the underworld. If you were just a dream, you wouldn't be able to do such a thing."
"Then have you ever thought that it was just your wish that I would say what I just said?"
Butterfly Ren analyzed calmly: "It was you who hoped that I could try to save your brother, and it was also you who hoped that Qiantu would not blame you. Dreams are the fulfillment of wishes, so that's why I said that."
"That's the key."
Yiyong caught the flaw, "What's the 'subconscious'? 'Dreams are the fulfillment of wishes.' If you were really just a dream, you wouldn't be able to make sentences with words I've never heard of. Besides, if you were created by dreams to satisfy me,
If you have a wish, you won’t say things like ‘I don’t want to be hated anymore’.”
Butterfly Ninja was speechless for a while, and then his smile bloomed like a flower: "Ara ala, Mr. Tomioka, you actually saw through it! It seems that Xiaobanai said that you are stupid and so on, it is really just his personal prejudice."
"Did Yihei say that?" Yiyong's focus fell on strange things.
"It's not important."
Butterfly Ninja waved his hand, "Actually, since you have mastered more than half of the Moon Breathing Sword Form, I have entered the depths of your consciousness from the underworld. Logically speaking, this is not possible, but you see, with the civil servants in the underworld
Maintaining good interpersonal relationships has such unexpected benefits.
"Originally, I thought Tomioka would have an easier time living in a child's body, but I didn't expect that you would still be able to carry the whole world on your own. You should know better, Zhu.
There are nine strokes in Chinese characters, and no building can be supported by a single pillar."
"But I never heard you talking to me, Mingming Xingshou..."
It was obvious that Xingjulang only shouted in his heart, but he could hear it outside.
"Compared with his voice, the rest of us combined are no match for him."
Butterfly Nin put his hand on his forehead, "If you hadn't dreamed of me today, and I happened to be living in your subconscious, I wouldn't have been able to meet you so early."
As she said that, she put her fingertips against her cheek, "Actually, I shouldn't have appeared so early. I should have waited and seen what you imagined me to be like in your dream. If you think too much about me,
I’ll just ask them to open a back door for me to go back to the underworld.”
"..."
Yiyong waited for a few seconds before spitting out a few syllables: "Thank you."
He knew that Butterfly Ninja appeared just to enlighten him about his tangled psychological problems.
"Those Europeans say that politeness is about dividing boundaries. Sure enough, Tomioka, you are still eager to keep a distance from me."
Butterfly Ren said in a strange tone, but then she changed her tone and said, "But if you really want to thank me, just have more confidence in my medical literacy and learning ability. It is better to place your hopes on someone you can trust than to
It's better to leave it in the hands of a villain who doesn't take human life seriously."
"I see."
Yiyong also made a decision, "I won't dwell on this matter anymore. I will find a carrier for you as soon as possible and resurrect you."
"Go at your own pace, I don't mean to rush you."
The butterfly ninja took out a pocket watch and shook the watch towards Giyuu, "Just in time, it's almost time."
"What time?"
As soon as Yiyong finished speaking, he suddenly felt like he was pushed hard by someone, and he quickly fell backwards. Then his body continued to sink, as if he had fallen into a bottomless pit.
Yiyong opened his eyes.
Kito Suigetsu and Ranmaru were staring at him with worried expressions, and Kyuubi was lying on Kito Suigetsu's head, also paying attention to Giyuu's face.
"I'm awake, teacher, I'm awake!" Gui Deng Shuiyue shouted in surprise, "The fever has gone away."
Ranmaru added: "The eyes have returned to the gentle color before."
"I'm just saying that it's a normal evolution of those eyes, so you don't have to worry about it."
Kyuubi flicked his tail proudly, looked down at Giyong and said, "Kid, don't sleep, we're at the place."
Yiyong first touched his eyes. The soreness and pain had disappeared, and he felt completely normal. It seemed that the sequelae of being suddenly stimulated to evolve had been basically resolved.
He closed his Sharingan, sat up, and looked at the huge silhouette in the mist due north.
He knew that he had finally reached the last stop of his journey.
【But, does Yihei really have to say that to me? 】
There are five to six chapters left until the end of this volume