bookbashuk Page 118
Page 118
“No, it’s a vibrant forest, and the sky is so clear it’s as if it’s never been polluted.” Although Yuzhu didn’t understand why Orange asked that, she still answered truthfully.
"————, what's going on?" After hearing Yuzhu's affirmative answer, Orange was a little confused.
"So, you and Arisu are both wrong. The Rin-chan that you and the sisters from other worlds saw, as well as the Rin-chan that Arisu and I saw together, is not the real Rin-chan."
Chapter 265 The Fifth Law - Green
However, before Orange could finish sorting out her thoughts, Aoko, who had already placed her hand on Yue Zhengling's heart, raised her head, looked Orange and Youzhu back and forth with a reproachful gaze, and then said the following words.
Then, Qingzi released her hand, and a pendant was placed on Yue Zhengling's heart.
"Qingzi?" Orange looked puzzled. She knew that Qingzi was keeping the pendant, but what use was it to take it out now?
"Ayumi, and my sister, do you know what? I've always known what your plans are." Aoko's words made both Ayumi and Touko frown.
They were extremely familiar with Aoko, but it was precisely because of this that they sensed the subtle disharmony in Aoko now.
"Qingzi, stop—!" Orange, as a blood relative, felt her blood boiling, and at the same time, a realization told her what would happen next.
But it was all too late, or rather, it was all over a year and a half ago, when the three of them finished reading Yue Zhengling's manuscript in their grandfather's cave.
"Circuit, reconnect." Aoko's voice rang out in the ward, then she raised her right fist.
Yuzhu was completely unable to move her body and could only stare in astonishment at the scene unfolding before her.
Orange did the same, but the difference was that in the instant her body was frozen, she released the "shadow cat" hidden in her shadow.
Magic is the pinnacle of human ingenuity.
But magic is a solitary existence beyond the heavens, a sin unrelated to the stars and humanity.
"—Listen, primate of all things!" Aoko's shout, delivered with all her might, carried outside the room, and the rainy weather outside the window vanished completely with those words.
Outside the hospital, Kiritsugu Emiya looked up in astonishment at the suddenly clear sky. Then, his magic circuits began to operate at high speed, and excruciating pain surged through him like a tidal wave, causing him to stagger and fall to the side.
When Hisako Maiya noticed that Kiritsugu Emiya was unwell, she immediately hugged him. She looked at Kiritsugu in surprise and asked in a panic, "Kiritsugu! What's wrong, Kiritsugu!"
She could feel the intense heat emanating from Kiritsugu, a temperature far exceeding normal human body temperature, which even gave her the illusion that Kiritsugu was burning.
"Time—time is out of order—" Large drops of sweat were constantly sliding down Kiritsugu Emiya's face. Because of the special nature of the Emiya family's magical crest, he could clearly sense everything that was happening above the hospital.
Time there is being accelerated continuously, not by two or four times its own speed, but by the entire space being accelerated to near the speed of light, or even exceeding the speed of light, to the point of being stripped away from this world.
The crows that had been watching them flew towards the window like bullets after sensing something was wrong at the hospital.
But no matter how hard it tried, it couldn't get close to that window on the top floor of the hospital, as if it were a completely different space from the outside.
The space inside the ward is twisting and collapsing, with the hospital bed at the center, and all the scenery is crumbling.
When everything before her eyes returned to normal, Orange saw an endless, boundless starry sky.
Yuzhu was still standing opposite her, but now Yuzhu showed an expression she had never seen before, a mixture of surprise, admiration, and longing.
"Isn't this scenery beautiful!" Aoko's voice suddenly rang out, and Touko and Yuzu turned around at the same time to look at Aoko standing behind them.
Behind them, Aoko stood with her arms crossed, looking like a sage.
Orange looked at Aoko's bright red hair and her blue eyes, which were even more beautiful than the starry river beneath her feet, and her expression became complicated.
"Heh, Orange, it seems you understand now~" Although her age hasn't changed at all, Aoko doesn't give off the feeling of a fourteen-year-old girl at all, looking at her older sister with a half-smile.
“You’re not the only one who has gained access to the future, or rather, I gained access to the future even earlier than you.” Aoko stretched out her hand, and the starry sky began to rotate, the trajectories of the stars drawing arcs.
“This is—the Fifth Law.” Yuzhu murmured to herself as she watched Aoko’s actions.
“Yes, this is the Fifth Law.” Orange smiled with relief, speaking in a tone that was both proud and regretful. “Is this why you don’t want to inherit the Fifth Law? Because you already possessed it, is that it, Aoko?”
“No, Orange,” Aoko waved her hand, denying Orange’s words, “This is a one-time opportunity, an opportunity that my future self will obtain at the cost of giving up the Fifth Law.”
Upon hearing this unexpected answer, both Yuzhu and Orange's expressions changed drastically.
"Qingzi, do you know what you're saying?! What kind of price is this?! What did you exchange it for?!" Orange looked at Qingzi in disbelief.
Seeing Orange's astonished expression, Orange smiled and said, "This is the price for waking up Ling-chan. Originally, I shouldn't have been the one to do this, but Youzhu gave up the opportunity, and Orange, your possessiveness is too strong, so I had to do it."
"Qingzi, what do you mean?" Youzhu frowned in dissatisfaction. When did she give up the chance to wake up Yue Zhengling? She herself didn't even know.
“Oh, Ice Face, those six months when you had the pendant were an opportunity,” Aoko said, turning her hands behind her back and quietly looking at Yuju. “But you didn’t have that desire at all, so you didn’t notice, right? There’s some kind of force watching us all along. If you had that desire, the pendant would have responded long ago.”
"Is this the result of your so-called response?" Yuzhu couldn't understand at all. Even now, Aoko seemed to be explaining, but the more she explained, the more confused she became.
"No, this is just the way a seed blossoms and bears fruit. I am Aozaki Aoko from the future, and that is why I am standing here after looking back on everything."
Aoko captured all the starlight, and the area around Yuzu and Touko became pitch black. The only place that was still glowing was the halo formed behind Aoko.
"And the orange that received the prompt first, the orange that Lingjun chose, although it was one step ahead of me, judging from this result, I still surpassed it." Qingzi turned around and looked at the halo behind her.
The scene inside the circular space gradually changed, finally revealing the sleeping Yue Zhengling.
"Hey, Orange, do you know why I call Ling-chan Ling-chan instead of calling her Ling-kun like you do?" Qingzi turned around and winked mysteriously at Orange.
"————" Orange remained silent, staring intently at her younger sister.
"Now, let me show you the real Yue Zhengling. After seeing this, no one—whether it's Youzhu, Chengzi, or me—will be able to back down, and Yue Zhengling will wake up after this."
"Fifth Law - Blue! Reverse Flow - Last Arc!!" Qingzi slapped her hands together, and the halo spun rapidly, causing Yue Zhengling inside the halo to disappear.
Then, a small cry—
Chapter 266 Listening to Things You Don't Know - Zero
Title: Listening to What You Don't Know—Before It's Born, It's Zero
The three of them were now on a dock, and the crying sound came from an old man holding a baby.
The old man was robust and stood like a javelin in front of the dock, his eyes fixed on the sea.
Beside him sat a large mahogany box, its antique color immediately revealing its rich history.
The old man gazed at the sea for a while, then, holding the baby in one arm and carrying the wooden box in the other, he headed towards the town.
"Qingzi, what is this?" Orange looked at the images with confusion, not quite understanding what had happened.
The three of them are not moving at all, but they are moving along with the old man as if they were actually there.
"This is Ling-chan's real self, Orange, just keep watching." Qingzi had a mysterious smile on her face, her eyes following the baby in the old man's arms with great interest.
"Could it be—" Noticing Aoko's gaze, Yuzhu seemed to have made a connection and also looked at the baby.
The pace of change accelerated. An elderly woman with a baby settled in the town and opened a Chinese restaurant. When she saw the name of the restaurant and the style of the house, Yuzhu showed an expression of "I knew it."
Orange, on the other hand, frowned deeply, because she felt a sense of disharmony in these accelerated images.
The sense of disharmony reached its peak when the baby grew up.
Orange could obviously tell that this restaurant was where Yue Zhengling lived.
She didn't recognize the old man, and she didn't think much of the baby. After all, in her memory, Yue Zhengling was a boy, but when the old man bathed and changed the baby's diapers, she clearly saw that the baby's primary sexual characteristics were those of a girl.
However, as she watched the baby girl gradually learn to crawl and walk, and her chubby little face slowly mature, Orange sensed something, but couldn't quite understand it.
After all, that guess was too absurd.
As the baby girl grew up, it was time for her to go to kindergarten. For the first time, she wore a small yellow round hat and a dark blue school uniform. She was completely unafraid of strangers and waved goodbye to her grandfather who was taking her to kindergarten.
During lunch, I opened the lunchbox that I had prepared with my grandfather. The fork stuck in the cherry tomatoes made my eyes squint from the sourness.
In class, he drew a sun with a yellow crayon, and then used black, red and yellow crayons to draw two people, one big and one small, holding hands. He smiled and told the teacher that it was him and his grandfather.
During the spring outing, the leader walked ahead, shouting "Ding Dang Tang!" as he walked, admiring the cherry blossoms in full bloom on both sides. Led by the teacher, he shouted loudly at the top of the mountain.
At a small summer sports meet, the little girl with short legs ran hard and crossed the finish line, winning the flag that represented first place. She gave her friends a big V sign and smiled radiantly.
In autumn, sweet potatoes are baked in the kindergarten garden using leaves collected from sweeping.
In winter, wearing thick clothes and thick gloves, we had a snowball fight with our classmates.
Every day, she holds her grandfather's hand to go to school and then holds his hand to leave school; there is never a trace of gloom on the little girl's face.
During spring break, summer break, winter break, and statutory memorial days, the little girl would always pester her grandfather to teach her this and that. The little girl would either sit by the chessboard and play Go with her grandfather, or watch her grandfather cook in the kitchen with shining eyes.
On this day, she sat on her grandfather's lap, his big hand on her little hand, gently playing the erhu.
"Grandpa, are you sad?" The erhu always carried a faint sadness in its sound. For the first time, the smile on the little girl's face disappeared. She tilted her head slightly and looked at her grandfather with her round eyes.
Grandpa didn't say anything, just chuckled, reached out and touched her face, saying, "I'm not sad, I just miss home a little."
The little girl didn't understand any of this, and tilted her head, saying, "Home? Isn't home here?"
The old man was stunned for a long time before finally giving a bitter smile and saying, "Yes, home is here. My home and Lingling's home is here."
After saying this, the old man raised his head, looked at the full moon on the fifteenth of August, and tears streamed down his face.
That day, the little girl learned that tears are salty.
On the day of her kindergarten graduation, she held her graduation certificate and took a photo with her grandfather outside the kindergarten gate. After receiving the photo, she carefully put it into a box deep in the cabinet, with a satisfied smile on her face.
That night's events left little memory for her, who was carefree and happy.
She started elementary school, and her grandfather still held her hand as she walked home from school with her backpack. However, this time her grandfather no longer held her hand. Every day, she was led by her teacher and accompanied by a police officer, and her classmates waved goodbye to her one by one.
Back home, she opened her schoolbag, finished her homework for the day, washed her hands, picked up her apron, went into the kitchen, and clumsily helped her grandfather.
At dinner time, while eating the dinner that her grandfather had specially prepared for her and watching him busy in the shop, she gradually quickened her eating pace.
After finishing her meal, she tidied up her things and ran into the kitchen, saying to her grandfather like a little adult, "Grandpa, I'm here to help you!"
Then, ignoring her grandfather's advice, she carried the tray on her head and slowly delivered the dishes to the guests' tables. She nodded as the guests greeted her kindly, feeling incredibly happy to be able to help her grandfather.
Spring passes and autumn comes, cold comes and summer comes.
As she grew a little older, her range of activities expanded. Although she still needed adult supervision, she could no longer miss out on cherry blossom viewing in spring, waterside activities in summer, maple leaf viewing in autumn, and snow viewing in winter.
Especially on New Year's Eve, I would go with friends to a distant shrine to participate in "Hatsumode" (first shrine visit of the year) and pray for my grandfather and myself.
Strangely, no matter how much she begged, her grandfather, who usually obeyed her every word, refused to come to the shrine with her.
On the first day of the new year, after having a breakfast that was no different from any other day, she and her friends, accompanied by her parents, went to the municipal temple to watch the "Baqi" ceremony.
(Fun fact: The so-called "Baqi" refers to a large-scale religious ceremony performed through rituals to eliminate misfortune and pray for a better year. It is a kind of large-scale "misfortune removal" and is mainly aimed at the city, region, or even national level. For example, the ceremony held at Ise Grand Shrine is aimed at the entire Japanese mainland.)
She hung up the new year's ema (votive plaque) and prayed that her grandfather would be healthy throughout the year. With the amulet she had obtained, she happily went home.
During dinner, Grandpa accepted the amulet she handed him with a subtle expression, then sighed, "Lingling, this thing isn't really that effective."
She tilted her head, her round eyes looking at her grandfather, "Grandpa, you can't say that, or the gods will be unhappy."
Grandpa gave a wry smile, but in the end he still kept it close to his body and put it away.
That day, she discovered that a smile doesn't necessarily mean happiness.
Chapter 267 Hearing Things I Don't Know - Part 1
Title: Listening to the Unknown – One Given, One Vanished
The little girl was already in fourth grade. On this day, she represented her school on stage to present flowers to a beautifully dressed older girl.
After she finished presenting the flowers, the woman hugged and kissed her. The woman then spoke into the microphone to everyone, saying, "Thank you so much to this incredibly cute little girl for the flowers. Today is truly one of the most memorable days of my life."
She giggled and happily walked off the stage. When she got home, she excitedly told her grandfather about it and begged him to give her a kimono exactly like the one worn by that girl on Girls' Day.
Grandpa just listened quietly, then pinched the bridge of his nose, and finally took her to the kimono shop in the shopping street to let her choose her first kimono.
On Girls' Day, she dressed up in her finest attire, wearing a pink kimono and carrying a rope bag, while walking around the backyard on a wooden raft.
Grandpa sat quietly under the eaves, watching his overjoyed granddaughter. There was a hint of conflict on his face, but it quickly turned into relief. "As long as she grows up safely, that's all that matters."
"Grandpa, what did you say?" The little girl, a little dizzy from spinning around, ran over and lay on her grandfather's lap, looking at him with a bright red smile.
Grandpa straightened the pearl hairpin in her hair and sighed, "It's nothing, as long as Lingling is happy."
The girl stared with her round eyes and reached out to tug at her grandfather's beard. That day, she discovered that her grandfather's words could sometimes be hard to understand.
Before you know it, it's sixth grade again, and you're about to leave another school. The girl, dressed in hakama, sits on a chair surrounded by a large group of friends who are chattering about where they're going to play during the graduation holiday. Only she rests her face on her hand, listlessly gazing into the distance.
"Ling-chan~ What's wrong with you today?" The girl sitting next to her, who usually gets along best with her, asked, looking a little strange.
"It's nothing." She frowned, showing no intention of explaining, and the large group of boys secretly watching her from a distance only made her more agitated.
Her grandfather is sick and can't come to today's graduation ceremony. Because of this, she has been in a bad mood since this morning.
Just then, the group of girls surrounding her gasped in surprise as a handsome young man in a suit jacket, with his hair slicked back, walked toward them.