Beichuan Si had a brief chat with Gangye Yoshiko before leaving.
But he wasn’t on his way to visit the Inagaki family; instead, he found himself once again at "Inagaki’s Longhouse."
In the sightline of Beichuan Si, there stood Shindai Kanari with her ponytail and petite fra, stationed beside the path of the longhouse.
She was still dressed in that tattered little red-and-white coat, her gaze sweeping the surroundings without pause.
Even though there were hardly any people coming and going, she never stopped searching for a certain figure, clutching the broken Hyakunin Isshu cards, casting a lonely silhouette.
Then—
She caught sight of Beichuan Si approaching from afar.
Shindai Kanari’s expression changed, and with a turn of her tiny body—
Thump!!!
She fell to the ground with a painfully familiar thud that made one wince just looking at her.
The song cards scattered across the ground, and Shindai Kanari scrambled to collect them, like a poor little creature desperate to escape Beichuan Si, not even bothering to pick up the ones farther away.
Next, she felt herself lifted into the air and, before she could react, found that Beichuan Si had picked her up off the ground like a kitten.
His icy gaze made the diminutive Shindai Kanari tremble.
With Shindai Kanari looking on, pale-faced, Beichuan Si simply put her down and explained, "Don’t worry, I don’t plan on doing anything to you. I ca here just to return sothing."
"Return... return sothing?" Shindai Kanari, who had been silent, finally spoke.
Her round, pitiful face scrunched up, her neck shrinking inwards, still looking quite scared.
"Yes. Return sothing."
Beichuan Si picked up the fallen song cards from the ground and handed them to Shindai Kanari, along with the card he had been carrying.
Shindai Kanari noticed this detail.
Instead of being happy that her lost cards were returned, her little mouth pouted, and she stood there crying.
"Big brother... big brother just wants to banish Kanari away, doesn’t he! Right from the start, Kanari knew! The dark, scary thing on you... it’s so frightening!"
She sobbed, her small shoulders heaving, looking utterly heartbroken.
No wonder she had run away upon first seeing Beichuan Si.
It turns out Shindai Kanari had sensed the aura of death on Beichuan Si from the beginning.
Fearing that Beichuan Si might drive her away, it was natural for her to flee at the sight of him.
And, having scared Beichuan Si’s ’friends’ in the longhouse yesterday, now seeing Beichuan Si made her feel even guiltier.
"I don’t have that intention," said Beichuan Si, trying to sound as kind as possible.
Though his words were still firm, Shindai Kanari detected no malice in the young man before her.
She hesitated for a while before finally nodding gently, holding the song cards closely to her chest once more.
That pitiable look would soften anyone’s heart.
After accepting the song cards from Beichuan Si, feeling a bit bad for the misunderstanding, she placed the cards down and brushed off her ragged cotton jacket, bowing earnestly to Beichuan Si.
"I’m sorry, big brother."
She stamred, "Yester, yesterday... I scared your friend. I’m really sorry."
Shindai Kanari also knew that Beichuan Si was the person who, aware that she was the spooky Spiritual Body from the day before, still ca to return her song cards, so she didn’t hide her identity, admitting it directly.
But to Shindai Kanari’s surprise, the Beichuan Si in front of her just waved his hand with an indifferent look, saying, "You don’t need to apologize."
"Huh?" Shindai Kanari’s mouth hung open, clearly not understanding.
"The person you scared isn’t , why apologize to ?" Beichuan Si countered.
"But, but—" Shindai Kanari’s little face turned red.
Could that really be the case?
The young girl couldn’t help but scratch her head.
"If anyone truly owes an apology, it’s them to you, for entering the longhouse without your permission and just for their own amusent," Beichuan Si continued.
This completely confused Shindai Kanari.
As she gestured with her hands, she muttered, ’That’s not right, that’s not right, it’s not my longhouse, it’s Jing’s longhouse...’
Jing?
Hearing this na caused a flicker in Beichuan Si’s expression.
Could this person be the one Shindai Kanari had made a promise with?
As Beichuan Si pondered this, Shindai Kanari had managed to clear her thoughts and again bowed to Beichuan Si: "In any case, I’m truly sorry. I scared your friend, and you were still willing to return the song cards to ... thank you so much, big brother."
Shindai Kanari bowed her small body, the worn red-and-white jacket shaking along with her, looking even more pitiable.
Beichuan Si waved his hand to indicate it was nothing and asked, "My na is Beichuan Si, what’s your na?"
In fact, Beichuan Si knew Shindai Kanari’s na, but considering this was their first real interaction, suddenly calling her by her na would indeed be abrupt, hence he deliberately asked.
"My na is Shindai Kanari," the little girl replied weakly.
After the two introduced themselves, Beichuan Si began to reveal his true purpose, asking:
"Kanari, right? You do understand your current state, don’t you?"
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