That day’s unpleasantness didn’t seem to have brought them any impact, except that Fushiguro Toji never had any physical contact with Sakurai Hoshina.
The opposite of him was Okkotsu Yuta.
He was practically glued to Sakurai Hoshina at all times, as if he had skin hunger.
The curse as black as ink wrapped around the shinshi, then was easily dispelled, then kept clinging back again without end, as if it wanted to be entangled with her forever.
The obsession reflected by cursed power was frightening.
And the two children were completely unaware of it.
One was recklessly releasing possessiveness in a heart unknown to anyone, while the other opened her arms without any guard up, and in the process unintentionally removed the other’s curse binding.
The only one who could see the curse, Fushiguro Toji, kept watching coldly from the sidelines.
Ever since that accident, toward Sakurai Hoshina, his attitude had always been quite cautious, unwilling to easily take the next step.
…
…But other than that, in the Sakurai household’s life, he could not say he disliked it.
Originally, the sorcerer killer thought that the Myriad Realms Paradise Church was also just something that sucked the marrow out of bones and would not be any better than the Panshixing Church.
After all, they were rivals.
Wasn’t the jujutsu world’s Three Great Families exactly like that? Count one as one, they were nothing but a rotten garbage heap, sucking the blood of the weak, disgusting to the point of nausea.
…In the end, this halfway-formed religion and the strange shinshi were really fucking doing good deeds.
He leaned carelessly by the doorway, his side glance fixed on the shinshi performing rituals.
In the middle of the night, the 4-year-old shinshi didn’t sleep, just so that for a believer who couldn’t even afford to pay 2,000 yen, she could send them off in the hospital’s critical care ward.
“Baby… baby… I’m sorry… my baby…”
The woman who had been thinking of her daughter who died young until the moment of death lay on the hospital bed, her face carrying the weakness and pallor of someone dying.
“Mom.” The shinshi sat by the bed, her soft hands gently stroking the woman’s head, “Don’t be sad.”
Under the shinshi’s embrace, those eyes, numb from pain, were finally lit up, tears flowing down in great drops.
“Uu, uuu… you came to pick Mom up… baby… Mom misses you so much…”
“…Thank you, baby… with you and Liangshu, Mom is really so happy…”
The believer, who could not even afford 3,000 yen anymore, watched as his mentally disturbed wife smiled and closed her eyes in the shinshi’s arms. He opened his mouth, wanting to say something, and tears were already streaming down his face.
The shinshi let go of the gradually cold body in her arms, did not touch the believer who could not say anything and could only keep crying and bowing, walked to the doorway, and turned back with a gentle smile:
“…Even if there’s only one person left, you still have to live well carrying their love, Liangshu.”
She did not look again at the believer crying so hard he could not catch his breath, and gently closed the door, leaving the space to that separated couple.
Fushiguro Toji quietly followed behind the shinshi, watching her pay off the believer’s owed medical expenses, donate a sum for burial costs, and then anonymously send out a job invitation.
What that believer had previously paid her was nothing more than two wrinkled 1,000-yen bills.
The shinshi accepted the penniless believer’s money without ceremony, yet gave back something far beyond what the other had paid.
In Fushiguro Toji’s words, this was an absolutely huge fat sheep.
In the shinshi’s words, this was a fair transaction. The believer had given everything he could give, so the shinshi also returned everything she could give.
After finishing all this, Sakurai Hoshina did not seem to have any intention of going home to sleep either.
She wandered aimlessly to the park late at night and sat on the grass, looking up at the stars filling the sky.
Fushiguro Toji just silently followed behind her, saying nothing.
He had not noticed it before, but now, walking quietly in the uninhabited late night, he suddenly realized, this area had been purified by her to the point that it did not seem like the human world.
The crime rate was so low it was nearly zero, and cursed spirits were nowhere to be seen… countless shattered hearts had been carefully pieced back together by the shinshi, countless people had been pulled out of the mud, countless cursed spirits had disappeared without a sound into the earth.
Clearly just a child who had only just entered kindergarten, yet like a savior she kept doing good deeds, carefully protecting everything she could see in her hands.
Hard to understand.
“You don’t touch him?” he asked.
“Hm?” The shinshi turned back to look at him.
“That 2,000-yen believer. Didn’t he cry miserably?”
By this guy’s saintly personality, she should have been dispelling the other party’s pain, right.
“…Ah, him.” The shinshi turned her head back and continued looking at the night sky. “I can indeed make him quickly cheer up… but he doesn’t need that.”
Fushiguro Toji said nothing.
But the shinshi had already read his confusion.
“…Toji, he’s the same as you.”
“What people need is not only happiness. He just lost the most important person in his life, and from the bottom of his heart he feels pain and reluctance to part with them. For him, this kind of pain and reluctance is also very important, precious things… If I were to free him from this pain and calm his mood down, could his heart really feel happiness? Wouldn’t he feel pain over losing this pain?”
“…Toji is the same too. For you, pain, madness, and darkness, these negative things, are all part of you. When I touch you, even if you feel happy and energized, it also kills a part of yourself… That is not what I want.”
“People always tell others to stay happy and not be sad. But me, I hope everyone, I hope Toji, can do the things they want to do. You can live however you want, and even if you’re not happy, that’s okay.”
“Myriad Realms Paradise, if there are things you don’t like, then there’s no need to force yourself to do them. Even not wanting to make yourself happy is a life you chose yourself.”
“…That is my ‘Myriad Realms Paradise.’”
Fushiguro Toji looked silently at the shinshi.
Clearly he stood on one side, and she sat on the other, not even looking at him once, yet Fushiguro Toji felt as if he had been gently embraced.
What an incomprehensible guy.
He had never had such an experience before.
Not only being respected as a person, even the darkest emotions in his heart, the self-exile that only wanted to fall, every sharp edge, were all carefully cherished.
The other zero-cursed-power user in the world was someone completely different from him.
His own rebellious bones that respected no one.
Even the shinshi who cherished other people’s pain while ignoring her own.
Two such different people were now together, watching the same night sky.
Myriad Realms Paradise… huh.
Maybe… not bad.
…
“I have a son.”
The next day, while the shinshi was combing her hair, the man sitting in the corner with his legs spread suddenly spoke.
Sakurai Hoshina’s movements froze, and she looked at him in inquiry.
“He’s very talented. Ten million, do you want him?”
Sakurai Hoshina stared at Fushiguro Toji, but the man who was talking about selling his son averted her gaze, looking out the window with a completely indifferent expression.
The player’s fist hardened.
“Don’t just dump your son on the shinshi-sama because you failed at raising him, you bastard!!”
“Tch. It’s fine if that brat calls you mom.”
“Call me, mom?” The shinshi of the Myriad Realms Paradise Church, 4 years old this year, was shocked by the pervert level of this terrible adult: “Don’t say that kind of thing to a minor who’s 4 years old, you scum! My little brother is a cop! If you keep this up I’m calling the police!”
To be able to make the cult leader threaten him with calling the police, in a certain sense Fushiguro Toji was also strong to a ridiculous degree.
“Ah, suit yourself. Anyway, thanks to you, I’m also in a wanted state now, so one more crime charge doesn’t matter.”
This was what they called having too many debts to worry about.
Too scary, this man. He was simply the very name of having no dignity at all!
Damn it! In terms of being shameless, Player-sama had lost!!
“Damn it! Damn it!!” The shinshi-sama said in a huff, stomping her feet, “You won’t get a single cent from me! After school today, go pick up your son!”
“So, that means you want him?” Fushiguro Toji propped his face up lazily, turned his head to look at her, but there was a trace of seriousness hidden in his eyes: “Sakurai Hoshina, you want him, right?”
“…Do I even need to say that, stupid Toji!” The shinshi, still not as tall as his thigh, clenched her little fists with an indignant look, as if she was about to punch him apart with one blow, “If he’s family, then take responsibility properly!”
“…If you want money, you can use the black card I gave you however you want, don’t just casually put a price on family!”
Faced with the child’s accusation, the self-depraved adult looked completely unbothered, but at least he still responded: “Well… I only know how to use this kind of method. Don’t have expectations of a terrible adult, Sakurai Hoshina.”
Never having gotten anyone’s respect, not knowing what a family should be like, the warm world he had once barely touched had already vanished along with one person’s departure. Such a him was a stray dog that hated everyone, and had long since lost the ability to love and be loved.
“Even so, your asking price is too low!” The player didn’t even take his bait, and righteously pointed at his nose and cursed: “If someone wanted to buy Toji with money, even if it was 100 billion…! …I’d still consider it!”
“…So you’d still sell him.”
“That’s different!” The shinshi-sama, whose words had been pointed out, flushed red, and said something quite prosecutable: “Selling Toji, how can that be called selling… Toji can definitely escape, anyway trafficking people is illegal, and they wouldn’t dare call the police… then we’d split it evenly!”
“A honey trap…” The sturdy man laughed with some interest, his chest shaking, “Well, not bad, young lady. I’ll agree to it.”
“Hmph. Flattery is useless!” The shinshi-sama raised the corners of her mouth high, puffed herself up for a bit, and then returned to the main topic, “As for your son…”
“…If,”
“…If Toji doesn’t know what to do… if he doesn’t know how to face his family…”
Her voice carried a rare wavering.
“That kind of thing… I’m the same too!… To be responsible for someone’s whole life… something like that, I don’t know whether I can do it well.”
After all, she was an interstellar person with no concept of family.
Fushiguro Toji lowered his head and looked at her small figure.
“If Toji and my feelings are the same…”
“Then tonight, shall we go pick him up together?”
“If the two of us face it together, maybe it won’t be so hard.”
Author’s note: Toji surrendered at lightning speed!
I’m typing whenever there’s no reply!! Please, little angels, leave comments!
Thank you to the little angels who cast landmines or gave nutrient solutions during 2022-11-03 85:54:22~2022-11-04 12:19:35.
Thanks to the little angel who threw a landmine: Yao Mei, Sweet Tooth Cavity, Taro Ball Milk Tea 1 each;
Thanks to the little angels who gave nutrient solution: Yao Mei 30 bottles; Shuangjiu 19 bottles; 58120505 5 bottles; Zhixing, Gongque, Ye Se Bu Zhi 5 bottles; Yueli, Mingyuan 1 bottle;
Thank you all very much for your support, I will keep working hard!