Chapter 139: The Swing and a Familiar Person
In the shadows, several ominous and unknown existences were communicating through an unusual method.
"Gyūki is dead."
A rational voice sounded within the darkness.
"And Yaksha Oni is dead as well."
A trace of melancholy entered its tone.
"We have lost two Great Yokai-level combatants."
"Yaksha Oni brought it upon himself."
"Exactly. We clearly told him not to make an enemy of that man. He only needed to destroy the Spiral Seal at Kinkaku-ji. Why go out of his way to provoke him?"
"I agree."
"This was Yaksha Oni's mistake. Worse, he exposed us."
One voice after another rose from the darkness, all of them pushing the blame onto Yaksha Oni.
"Enough."
A cold voice rang out.
It was the same voice that had once intimidated Yaksha Oni, Gyūki, and the other unknown terrifying beings.
"Shut your mouths."
In an instant, the darkness fell silent.
Seeing that the owner of the cold voice had grown angry, those hidden existences obediently ceased their clamor.
"Do not forget our common goal."
The cold voice continued.
"We exist to weaken Onmyōdō and resurrect our master, not to gather here and shift responsibility. Of course, I also know that some of you have long wanted to act alone. Some of you have already forgotten our master's affairs and are eager to establish your own factions."
"We would not dare."
"That accusation is too severe."
"We gathered here with no selfish motives."
"Our master's resurrection is our lifelong wish."
"Everything we are doing now is preparation for the master's return."
One after another, the ominous presences that had just been shirking blame hurriedly expressed their loyalty.
"Is that so?"
The cold voice clearly did not believe them.
"Ever since we used Yamata no Orochi to severely wound Onmyōdō, I do not know whether it was intentional or not, but the word 'master' has rarely appeared in our exchanges."
Its tone grew sharper.
"Gyūki intruded into the Ise Saigū to provoke that man. Yaksha Oni accepted our mission and went to Kinkaku-ji. At least they did something."
The voice chilled.
"That is far better than you sitting here spouting nonsense and blaming the dead."
The hidden existences fell silent again.
None of them knew what to say.
"Hmph."
The cold voice did not continue making things difficult for them.
It knew very well that although some among them wanted to build their own forces, many were still loyal to their master.
Gyūki and Yaksha Oni had belonged to that category.
"The Yokai planted beside Hagoromo Gitsune has just sent news," the cold voice said. "Imperial Princess Ryōyū appeared at Nijō Castle and has completely fallen out with the fake."
The darkness stirred.
"Now, that fake must face the combined pressure of Imperial Princess Ryōyū, Imperial Princess Shōshi, the two Imperial Princesses from a thousand years ago, along with the main forces of Onmyōdō."
The voice paused.
"And that man will certainly act at the critical moment."
"In that case, the fake's chances of victory are not high," the rational voice said.
"Correct," another ominous voice replied. "In the end, this matter is the same as the supernatural incident Gyūki planned last time, when we intended to frame the golden-haired fox hiding in the Imperial Palace."
"It has failed."
"And both failures are related to that man. Overlooking him was our greatest mistake."
"Sigh. There was nothing we could do about that."
Another voice sounded helpless.
"Who could have believed beforehand that he had truly reincarnated and returned? His soul had clearly scattered. Almost everyone thought the fake was his final remnant."
At that moment, a crisp and pleasant voice interjected.
"I did remind all of you about this matter before."
The voice carried a faint smile.
"So do not blame me."
"Kiyohime, rest assured. We are not that unreasonable."
The rational voice spoke again.
"We are merely pained by the losses from these two operations. You know this as well. Even when we used Yamata no Orochi to severely wound Onmyōdō, our losses were not as great as these past two times."
A pause.
"As for Gyūki's incident, the blame clearly lies with Tamamo-no-Mae."
On a cherry blossom branch within the Imperial Palace, a blue bird stood quietly.
Hearing this, a faintly humanlike sarcasm flashed in its eyes.
These fellows are addicted to framing others.
They are even blaming Lady Shōshi's actions on my master.
If I had known, I would have added more fuel to the fire earlier.
If these despicable things had mobilized a few more of their kind, he might have wiped them all out in one stroke.
That would have saved me from hearing this filth.
A few minutes later, the blue bird seemed to hear something unexpected.
Its expression shifted from surprise to shock.
Then it could not help muttering to itself, "Are these fellows really not afraid of death? They still dare to trouble him again..."
After a brief silence, it spread its wings.
"I should tell Master about this first."
The blue bird flew toward the inner garden of the Imperial Palace, searching for its master, Tamamo-no-Mae.
Meanwhile, after leaving Nijō Castle, Ryōyū walked aimlessly through the streets crawling with Yokai.
It seemed she had not decided where to spend the night.
Whenever the Yokai smelled the scent of human blood on her and tried to bare their fangs, she merely waved a hand.
Their bodies turned to ash before they could approach.
"That is..."
When passing by a public park, Ryōyū suddenly stopped.
Her gaze fell on a swing woven from vines.
After standing there for a moment, she walked over and slowly sat down.
The instant she touched the swing, her eyes wavered.
A scene from long, long ago surfaced in her mind.
Back then, she had been sitting on a swing just like this.
He had stood behind her, pushing her gently.
The carefree laughter from those days seemed vivid even now, as though everything had happened only yesterday.
It seemed that her first meeting with him had also happened under similar circumstances.
At that time, he had said...
"Little princess who ran away from home, do you need my help?"
A familiar voice.
A familiar tone.
That familiar gentleness.
For an instant, it felt as though time and space had overlapped.
Ryōyū suppressed the excitement and melancholy surging in her heart.
Tears slowly gathered in her eyes.
But she did not turn around to look at the person she had waited for across more than a thousand years.
She only lowered her head slightly and answered with a voice carrying a faint sob.
"Mm."
A pair of familiar hands, warm and gentle, touched the swing behind her.
Then they pushed softly.
The cold night wind brushed past Ryōyū's cheeks.
The swing began to sway.
A thousand years ago, after arguing with her father, she had shaken off her guards and left the Imperial Palace alone.
At her lowest moment, those same hands had comforted her.
A thousand years later, nothing had changed.
It was still the same.
.....
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