Chapter 503. Lightning That Smashes the Darkness
It was like a bolt of white lightning suddenly appearing between the dim heaven and earth.
Much like Tamamo Cross, who shattered the world's prejudice against gray-haired horses, Shirogane Miyuki's efforts were not in vain.
Everyone saw it—the power belonging to Jinenji that he had drawn out, and Jinenji's will... clearly, Jinenji possessed such power and held no particular fear of killing. Yet, he had always faced the villagers with honesty and kindness, never losing his temper, and never using that power to oppress the innocent.
"—"
A heavy silence hung over the village. All the villagers stood with their mouths agape in astonishment, watching the images on the light curtain in the sky of them joining forces with Jinenji to save Shirogane Miyuki.
Feeling suffocated, every person's eyes held regret and guilt. The Village Chief stood looking up at the sky, as fatigue and realization washed over his body and mind.
"All this time... what have we been doing?"
Muttering to himself, the aging Village Chief took a deep breath and turned to walk away... Behind him, the silent adults understood the goal of this journey. Their consciences had not been completely obliterated by this dark era; they intended to mend their ways and apologize to Jinenji.
Had it not been for Shirogane Miyuki, even if they had discovered their mistake, they would at most have used actions to signal their attitude; they would never have offered a verbal apology for the sake of "saving face." But now, looking at a man like Shirogane Miyuki, how could they have the face not to engage in a thorough reflection of their past crimes?
"Truly, I am really grateful to you, Shirogane-kun..."
By the time the massive wave of villagers arrived at the thatched hut, Jinenji and his elderly mother both had tears welling in their eyes. What kind of tears they were, the mother and son found difficult to describe clearly. They only knew that a bridge had been built over a cliff, and from then on, everything was open and bright.
"Jinenji!"
When the villagers called out his name and arrived with hearts overflowing with sincere guilt, Jinenji could finally no longer hold it back; he wailed loudly. In all his years of living, this was the first time he had experienced this kind of happiness, the manifestation of joy.
「"Cough, cough..."」
「Slowly opening his heavy eyelids, Shirogane Miyuki saw the Village Chief guarding his bedside. In his shock, ignoring his own pain, he tightly gripped the Village Chief's hand. "Chief, the culprit isn't Jinenji! It wasn't Jinenji!"」
「"I know, I know." The sensible Village Chief nodded repeatedly. "It's been hard on you. It was us who misunderstood you. At the time, we thought you were on Jinenji's side, so we treated you like that... You saved the children; we have failed you."」
「"Chief!"」
「Shirogane Miyuki spoke at a rapid pace: "The misunderstanding with me is nothing, but everyone must clear the misunderstanding with Jinenji too! Discriminating against him just because he is a half-demon—that is absolutely wrong!"」
「"In this Warring States period, there are so many countries fighting each other, but we don't hate every single person just because some people have killed, right?"」
「"Conversely, it makes absolutely no sense to chain hatred to all demons just because some demons kill people—Jinenji is an innocent, good child. Why should he be treated differently just because of his status as a half-demon?"」
「Shirogane Miyuki was very anxious, fearing that a violent conflict might break out between the villagers and Jinenji. Although the villagers had many faults before, their fundamental nature was not truly evil; their bullying of Jinenji was merely born out of fear of demons and a desire for retaliation.」
「"I know, we all know now, good lad." The Village Chief comforted him. "Rest assured, we have all understood. Jinenji is indeed a trustworthy, good child."」
「Inside the room, Shirogane Miyuki and the Village Chief conversed.」
「Outside the door, there was the silhouette of Jinenji gingerly approaching while holding medicine.」
「Hearing Shirogane Miyuki's heartfelt words on his behalf, Jinenji froze in place. On his honest face, a smile unconsciously appeared, mixed with tears of joy.」
In a coastal village, the half-demon Shiori and her mother held each other. They were happy for the bright future of Shirogane Miyuki and Jinenji, but they also sighed for their own dim future. Compared to the villagers in Jinenji's village who still possessed a conscience, the villagers on her side were entirely devoid of any heart. Even if they heard Shirogane Miyuki's words, it would be impossible to change their attitude toward the mother and daughter.
"...That guy, he's got quite the knack for this."
With a complex expression where surprise flickered amidst relief, Inuyasha couldn't help but remark emotionally. If there were no one around him, he would certainly be applauding
Shirogane Miyuki right now. At this moment, he was filled with goodwill toward Shirogane Miyuki.
"Hey, Inuyasha, did you also face a lot of discrimination and bullying like Jinenji when you were little?"
Kagome, her maternal instincts showing, nudged Inuyasha with her elbow. "If you want to talk about it, I can listen. You'll feel much better if you let it out, you know?"
Inuyasha's face turned red, he gave a huff, and shouted to cover his embarrassment: "Shut up, idiot!"
This immediately caused Monk Miroku and Sango to exchange a look, flashing mischievous, knowing smiles at the sight of his tsundere behavior.
"..."
At some point, a murderous aura had appeared around Sesshomaru. Looking at Jinenji's situation, he thought that perhaps his younger brother, Inuyasha, had suffered the same experiences as a child, and his mood instantly turned gloomy. As the older brother, it was only natural for him to beat his disobedient younger brother, but if he let others bully his brother, wouldn't that be an insult to Sesshomaru's pride?
Jaken gulped, finding it difficult to swallow. "Lord Sesshomaru has suddenly become very scary."
「The injuries Shirogane Miyuki sustained were very severe.」
「He was not a peak human who could fight a hundred alone like Ayanokouji Kiyotaka; his physical fitness was originally quite ordinary—aside from being very resilient to fatigue, he was average in every other way.」
「With such physical stats, to survive the pursuit of a snake demon, his break-limit speed was achieved by heavily overdrawing his spiritual power and squeezing his physical body.」
「Consequently, the load on his body was immense. Even with the support of Jinenji's medicinal herbs, he wouldn't get better for quite a while.」
「When Kikyo returned from her hunt, she saw Shirogane Miyuki in this state. After listening to the villagers recount the process, she didn't say much.」
「She simply said, quite plainly, that she had experience taking care of people, so she would handle looking after the bedridden Shirogane Miyuki.」
「It wasn't a forceful tone, but those simple words were enough to make even Jinenji back away.」
「Clearly, he was the one who wanted to take care of Shirogane Miyuki the most—the one who wanted to look after his only true friend.」
「From that day on, the contact between Kikyo and Shirogane Miyuki became very frequent.」
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