Chapter Fifty-Four Strengthened Resolve

  After a few days, I learned about my identity in this demon world. I was a little orphan girl who was rescued by the Great General Inu during the war and had lost her memory due to severe head trauma. Later, she was taken back to the Western Country by the Great General Inu for care. There was also a message received a few days ago, which read: "The power of the shrine maiden" with a sentence that made people scratch their heads.

  Looking up at the azure sky, my thoughts wandered to the heavens. Why did I feel a deep sadness and an urge to cry back then? What did that woman mean by saying that even her soul had vanished? What were those fleeting fragments that flashed before me?

  What am I? What is my purpose in life?

  "When will the cherry blossoms bloom?"

  When is the small mountain village in the mountains open?

  When will the cherry blossoms bloom?

  A seven-year-old child laughing and playing.

  When will the cherry blossoms dance?

  A seven-year-old child who loves to sing falls asleep.

  When will the cherry blossoms fall?

  When the seven-year-old child ascended to heaven...

  Singing the cherry blossom festival song, gazing at the petals drifting away with the wind. Cherry blossoms are delicate and fragile, just like that seven-year-old child, fleeting as the flying flowers. In my mind, I still remember the girl's faint words, where I found a sense of peace... "Cherry blossoms are forever uncorrupted, their fall is just finding their way back home."

  "......Kurenai, I've always wanted to ask where this is?" Xiao Ke flew up with those two snow-white small wings and asked with a frown.

  "This is the Western Country, now in Japan's Warring States period, which is over a thousand years ago from our era."

  "What?!"

  "Xiao Ke, don't shout so loudly, it will attract people... no, I mean, monsters." He waved his hand to signal Xiao Ke to keep her voice down. Honestly, he had no idea why God had also abandoned this glutton here, who only knew how to fight with him for food.

  "What are you doing?!"

  I covered Xiaoke's mouth and pulled it into my arms, whispering in its ear "Shh ~ don't make a sound, someone is coming."

  Female demon A: "Hmph ~ I said who's making so much noise ~ It turns out it's this lowly human brought by the Tooth King ~"

  Female Youkai B: "Oh dear~ Don't say that, this human girl is quite favored by Lord Sesshoumaru~"

  Oni A: "Hmph! Lord Killjoy will soon get tired of it, after all human life is so short and they'll die before long anyway."

  Female demon B: "Hehe ~ you're right, let's hurry up and go, if someone hears us, it'll be terrible."

  ……

  "Ah ah!!" After the two female demons left, a struggling sound was heard. Looking down, Xiao Ke's face had turned purple-red from being suffocated. Quickly releasing his hands that were covering it.

  "Cough cough!! Kurenai! Are you trying to kill me?!"

  "Haha, sorry little Koro." He dryly laughed a few times, and with a pained expression, took out a pack of candies from the Blood-colored Anthurium and handed it to her.

  "Wow! Candy! Awesome~~ The most effective way to keep a kid occupied is still giving them sweets."

  "Hey, Xiao Ke, I've been thinking that we both need to get stronger, become even more powerful." He said, looking up at the sky and muttering to himself.

  "Alas! Why?"

  "Only by becoming stronger can you avoid losing what's most important."

  "...I feel like I've lost something most precious to me, and once it's gone, it can never come back."

  …………

  In a place where no one could find, a pair of crimson eyes quietly gazed at the person. Thin lips drew a bitter smile, and the enchanting eyes slowly closed, completely different from the mischievous and charming smile he wore when meeting her in the courtyard of Alice Academy. He knew he could only silently guard her, for him... this was enough, it was the greatest blessing heaven had given him...