Gin was about to lose his temper when he saw Itama's pitiful look, but he quickly decided there was no point in getting angry at a little brat. He crouched down instead and picked up the family photo from the shattered fra.
The image of the happy family of three left Gin feeling oddly emotional. The original's childhood mories were vague, and he didn't have a clear impression of his parents. But judging by the picture alone, the original must have had a very happy childhood.
"That's why… I hate war."
Shaking his head, Gin picked up the photo and was about to stand up — when he noticed another photograph hidden behind it.
The original's mories held no clue about this. Puzzled, Gin pulled the hidden photo out and studied it carefully.
It showed a boy and a girl, about eight or nine years old, standing on either side of a kindly old man. The elder rested his hands on their heads. From the bright smiles on both children's faces, you could see how close the three of them were.
Gin imdiately recognized the boy on the left as the original Uchiha Gin — but he had absolutely no impression of the girl.
She wore her long black hair to her waist, her skin pale, her blue dress neat, and her cheeks shyly pink.
The elder had a head of gray curls, his eyes gentle and kind, and his features bore an uncanny resemblance to Gin's.
Staring at the photo, Gin racked his brain, combing through every corner of the original's mories — but no matter how hard he searched, he ca up with nothing about the two people in the picture.
Flipping the photo over, Gin found two characters written on the back:
[Gin] [Hikari (Light)]
"Gin" clearly referred to the original himself. Then "Hikari"… must be the na of the girl.
"Uchiha… Hikari?"
Gin murmured the na to himself, but still couldn't find a single trace of it in his mories.
His brows furrowed. He had an unsettling feeling that there were huge gaps in the original's mories. Not only were his childhood mories blurry, even his recollections of the Uchiha massacre six years ago were fragnted and inconsistent.
Could the original have suffered from selective amnesia?
Had he chosen to erase the mories that brought him pain? That would explain why his mories of his parents' deaths and the clan's destruction were so incomplete.
"…Sorry…"
From under the blanket, Itama peeked out, seeing Gin's shifting expression as he held the photo. He assud Gin was furious.
He could sense that Gin's parents were already long gone, and smashing his only family photo must have reopened a deep wound.
"I have sothing to take care of, kid. There's food outside."
Gin didn't bother scolding Itama. He left the boy a simple instruction before hurrying out the door.
Itama hesitated, thinking he was about to get "justly punished." But when he saw Gin leave, he let out a long sigh of relief.
Wrapped in the blanket, he crept out of the room. When he saw the steaming plates of food on the table, his eyes softened with an unspoken emotion.
Out on the road, Gin walked toward the clan's gathering place, turning over nas in his head, trying to think of anyone who might rember sothing about his childhood.
That was when he suddenly realized — in the original's mory, he only seed to have any real connection to Tajima's family. With everyone else in the clan, it was as if they'd only ever exchanged pleasantries.
He could rember their nas, but when he tried to recall any shared experiences, there was nothing but faint impressions.
A chill ran down his spine.
Not just mory loss — even the original's sense of reality seed… wrong. What was the root cause of all this?
"How do you know what you see is real?""How do you know… you're really yourself?"
The words of the old jailer echoed in his mind, carrying a strange, ominous weight.
Gin took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down. Under the wary and disdainful gazes of his fellow Uchiha, he walked straight to Tajima's residence.
At the familiar door, he knocked firmly.
After a while, a servant opened it. Seeing it was Gin, the servant didn't even ask questions and simply let him in.
The floorboards creaked as Gin walked toward Tajima's study, thinking about how to phrase his questions.
On the way, he ran into Izuna, who had just co out of the study.
"Cousin, you haven't been to my house in forever. What brings you here today?"
After being defeated by a boy ten years his junior, Gin had avoided Tajima's ho ever since. Tajima's family had simply assud he was ashad to show his face.
"Just sothing I wanted to ask Uncle about," Gin explained.
"I passed out earlier today and noticed my eyes seem to have gotten stronger."
Izuna didn't think much of it. He had his own tasks to worry about and only exchanged a brief greeting before hurrying away.
Gin knocked lightly on Tajima's door.
"Who is it?" ca the cold voice from inside.
"Uncle, I have sothing I'd like to ask you," Gin replied.
creak~
Footsteps approached, and the door opened. Tajima dropped his stern facade and greeted him warmly.
"Ah, Gin. I thought you'd forgotten where I live."
Once they were seated in the study, Tajima spoke first.
"You just got out of the hospital, Gin. Why aren't you resting at ho?"
"There's sothing I wanted to ask you, Uncle," Gin said bluntly.
"Oh? About what?" Tajima asked, frowning slightly.
"…Do I have any relatives besides my parents and you?"
The question caught Tajima off guard. His brows drew together as he fell silent.
Gin waited quietly.
"…Why do you ask?" Tajima finally countered.
"I found a photo at ho," Gin admitted. "An old man who looked kind of familiar, but I didn't recognize him. So I wanted to ask you."
Tajima's expression darkened, his eyes flashing with a faint hint of resentnt.
"…You had a grandfather," he said heavily.
A grandfather? Could that be the man in the photo?
"But your father and your grandfather… did not get along. They stopped speaking to each other years ago," Tajima continued.
Seeing Gin's questioning look, he explained further:
"And your grandfather… died six years ago."
Six years ago again? Gin's heart sank. Tajima even claid his grandfather and family hadn't been in contact — so how did that picture exist, showing such a close bond between them?
"Then… may I ask how my grandfather died?" Gin pressed.
Tajima's shoulders slumped. His voice grew heavy, his figure seeming to shrink as if weighed down by mories.
"…He was killed. The night the clan was attacked. Six years ago."
(End of Chapter)
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