Sunlight spilled onto the empty playground, carrying an unreal calmness. Imari Kurumi blinked, looking at her companions who were equally dazed, then at Kanjuro standing not far away. She couldn't help but ask in a low voice: "Mr. Kanjuro... this... what exactly happened? Was the ritual... successful? Why do I feel... like there's no particular change?"
Minase Aoi also frowned deeply. She tried hard to recall, but only felt a mess in her mind, with only some vague fragments about "fighting evil" and "necessary sacrifice," as well as a... weird feeling of her body seemingly being emptied and then mysteriously filled. She looked at Kanjuro with a complex gaze, containing both residual reliance and incomprehensible unease.
Shiraki Rie still had that cold appearance, but her slightly furrowed brows showed her inner confusion. She felt that her body seemed to be fine, even... more energetic than before? But this was completely different from the expected fate of an "offering."
Reika Kitami felt the surging new life force within her body that belonged to her and no longer needed to rely on external forces. Her mood was complex to the extreme. She looked at Kanjuro, the man who had pulled her back from the edge of eternal sleep but had used the method she found most unacceptable.
"Kanjuro..." Her voice carried a hint of trembling, "Seeing that true dark bible appear, seeing that massive energy... I thought... you were really going to sacrifice the lives of everyone here in exchange for my existence."
Kanjuro burst out laughing upon hearing this. That smile appeared exceptionally bright under the sun, as if the world-shaking dark ritual just now had nothing to do with him.
"Sacrifice everyone? Kitami, you think too poorly of me." He shrugged, his tone relaxed. "I just borrowed their power a bit. Those thousand women, they just had a... well, a rather in-depth 'exchange' with me. I absorbed the physical energy and a tiny, negligible bit of life force that naturally flowed away during the process, just like collecting dew, and then infused this gathered vitality into your body to reshape the foundation of your existence."
He walked up to Kitami, his gaze calm. "This way, not only are you alive again, but you've also completely broken free from that damn eighteen-year cycle. You'll never need to look for a new body again. See? Isn't this great?"
"I knew Papa was the best!" Yui Yuigahama cheered, lunging forward to hug Kanjuro's arm, her face beaming with a happy smile. Yukinoshita Yukino and Miura Yumiko also walked over; though they didn't speak, their eyes held a sense of relieved gratification. In their eyes, although their father had used some "special" methods, the ultimate goal was to save someone, and it didn't seem to have caused any actual deaths. This could practically be considered "doing a very good deed~."
Reika Kitami looked at Kanjuro's matter-of-fact expression, then at the girls who were leaving one after another as if they had just woken from a dream. The sense of dissonance in her heart grew stronger. She stared intently at Kanjuro and asked the most critical question:
"Kanjuro, you went to such great lengths to set up such a massive scheme, even invoking the real dark bible... What exactly is your purpose? Is it really... just to save me?"
Kanjuro looked at her questioning gaze and suddenly laughed—a smile that was somewhat cynical and elusive. He reached out, dotingly ruffling Yui Yuigahama's hair, then pulled her by the shoulder. Facing Kitami, and as if announcing to everyone, he said:
"My purpose? If I had to say..." He paused, his lips curling into a playful smirk. "At first, I might have really just wanted to... sow seeds far and wide. After all, I'm a complete daughter-con!" He tightened his grip on Yuigahama without hesitation, and she cooperatively snuggled into his chest, her face flushed with happiness.
He then looked at Kitami, his tone much more casual. "As for you, Kitami, it's just that I didn't want to see you die like that. After knowing each other for so many years, I guess I'm somewhat... used to you? There's nothing else to it, so don't overthink it."
This explanation casually reduced a grand ritual that affected thousands and invoked the dark bible to the whimsical acts of a "daughter-con's sowing behavior" and "not wanting an acquaintance to die." The logic was so absurd that it was impossible to refute.
Imari, Minase Aoi, and Shiraki Rie listened in stunned silence. Imari couldn't help but confirm again, "Then... Mr. Kanjuro, what you told us before about the sacrifices... was that fake too?"
"Sacrifices? That wasn't entirely fake." Kanjuro looked at the three of them, his gaze holding a hint of scrutiny. "To guide and stabilize that massive life force and perfectly infuse it into Kitami, we indeed needed three 'core hubs'—the so-called 'Crimson Daughters.' They needed to possess relatively pure traits and a certain connection."
He pointed at the three of them. "The three of you—Imari's pure trust, Minase Aoi's complex karma, and Shiraki's special bloodline—happened to meet the requirements. As for why you were chosen..." He shrugged. "Maybe it's just because you look a little bit weaker physically than ordinary people? Easier to guide and... well, 'mark'?"
His words were half-true and half-joking. But as Imari, Minase Aoi, and Shiraki Rie thought back carefully, it was true that during the final stage of the ritual (or that "dream"), they seemed to feel a strange link and a flow of energy. It felt as if their bodies were being emptied and then refilled. Although the process was blurry, upon waking up now, aside from some confusion in their memories, their bodies seemed fine. Instead, they felt a sense of... lightness as if a heavy burden had been lifted, and an unprecedented clarity.
The three looked at each other. Although they still had many questions, Kanjuro's explanation, combined with their own feelings, seemed... plausible? At least they were alive, and it didn't look like they had lost anything substantial.
A dark ritual that seemed capable of destroying heaven and earth finally ended in a manner akin to a farce.
Kanjuro got what he wanted (perhaps?), Kitami gained a new life, and the others seemed to have lost nothing. Only the dissipated real dark bible and Saeki Kaori—who sat slumped to the side, her faith completely collapsed and her eyes hollow—silently spoke of the potentially hidden, unknown truths behind this "redemption."
But some things had quietly changed. Looking at Kanjuro's harmless-looking smiling face, the chill in Kitami's heart lingered. Was what he said really everything?
Reika Kitami looked at Kanjuro's nonchalant manner, as if everything was under his control, and the chill and doubt in her heart did not dissipate. She opened her mouth, wanting to ask something more.
Kanjuro, however, seemed to see through her thoughts. He shrugged indifferently, interrupting her unspoken question. "Alright, Kitami, whether you believe me or not is up to you. It's about time; this farce should end."
As his voice fell, the air beside him distorted slightly, and Jeanne, clad in black light armor with silver hair and red eyes, stepped out as if from the shadows. Her crimson eyes scanned the "peaceful" playground before finally landing on Kanjuro, her lips curling into a sarcastic arc.
"I didn't expect that the great Lord Kanjuro, who stirs up such storms, would actually end up doing something that... could barely be called a 'good deed'." Jeanne's voice was cold, carrying a trace of imperceptible playfulness. At least, on the surface, there were no mass deaths, and the goal had been achieved.
Kanjuro shrugged, his posture lazy. "A good deed? Not really. It was just a whim. I wanted to save her, so I did. As for the method..." He glanced at the girls who were gradually walking away as if sleepwalking and chuckled. "It wasn't a loss for me either. In fact, you could say... the harvest was quite bountiful." The deep meaning in his words was chilling.
"Then am I the only one who got hurt in the end?!!!" A shrill scream broke this eerie "peace."
Saeki Kaori struggled to her feet, her hair disheveled. She glared at Kanjuro with crazed eyes, her finger trembling as she pointed at him. "Kanjuro! You liar! You demon! You've been deceiving me from the very beginning! Using me! And to think I trusted you so much, treating you as the messenger who would guide me to the truth!!" Her faith and ambition had completely collapsed, transforming into the most extreme resentment.
Kanjuro looked at her indifferently, his gaze calm and steady, as if watching a farce that had nothing to do with him.
"Deception?" His tone was flat. "Did I not teach you some of the most basic and simple Black Magic? I let you experience power beyond the mundane. Although..." He paused, mercilessly revealing the final truth, "the copy of the holy bible of light (Pseudo) I gave you was indeed a fake I casually forged."
"Where exactly is the real dark bible?!!" Saeki Kaori asked hysterically, like a drowning person clutching at a final straw, her eyes filled with greed and unwillingness.
Looking at her stubbornness, Kanjuro suddenly found it somewhat laughable. He raised his hand and lightly tapped his chest with his fingertip, his tone carrying a declarative calmness:
"Right here."
"From the very beginning, the real dark bible had already merged with me during that hundred-person ritual eighteen years ago; I've completely mastered it. And I have long since signed an eternal contract with the primordial power of chaos." He recalled the demonic form he had just displayed, his lips curling slightly. "What you saw earlier was just a partial manifestation of my power."
Watching Saeki Kaori's face turn instantly pale, he continued with the final blow, crushing all her fantasies. "As for the 'real dark bible' that appeared during the ritual and amazed you... yes, it was indeed the actual thing. However, I only temporarily manifested it from the depths of my soul to give you... and the others, a single look. Like showing a candy wrapper to a child who craves sweets, nothing more."
His casual words were like the sharpest of knives, completely shredding Saeki Kaori's last shred of hope.
The supreme scripture she had always pursued had long been in someone else's possession. All her efforts and ambitions were, in his eyes, nothing but a game to play with children when bored.
"No... impossible... how could this be..." Saeki Kaori staggered backward, her eyes completely losing their luster, leaving only boundless despair and emptiness. Everything that gave her life meaning was ground into dust by Kanjuro at this moment.
-- 0 Flowers Requested -- Kanjuro stopped looking at her, as if she no longer existed.
His gaze swept across the people with their varying expressions—Kitami, who had gained a new life but was in a complex mood; the dazed and confused Imari, Minase Aoi, and Shiraki; and his daughters, who always stood by his side.
"Let's go," he said indifferently, as if everything that had just happened was truly just an insignificant play about to end.
The sunlight continued to shine on the playground as if nothing had changed. But the life trajectories of some people had completely deviated from their original paths during this "redemption" and "game" orchestrated by a demon, sailing toward an unknown future shrouded in shadows.
And Kanjuro remained that eternal youth, carrying his unfathomable power and elusive thoughts as he continued his long and twisted journey.
Kanjuro, with his signature, unfathomable nonchalance, prepared to turn and leave the playground that had just weathered a storm but seemed to have regained its peace. His daughters naturally followed him, as if everything that had just happened was merely a routine interlude.
Reika Kitami stood where she was, unmoving. She gazed at Kanjuro's back, her eyes no longer filled with the initial anger and despair, nor the pure joy of being reborn, but with endless confusion and... a complex sense of relief.
In her mind, images from eighteen years ago surged uncontrollably. Back then, the sun was just right, and the young Kanjuro's smile was clean and warm. He would patiently listen to her talk about her interest in the occult and clumsily comfort her when she was occasionally down. That time was one of the few truly shining memories in her long and twisted life. It was precisely because of that deep-seated trust and love that even after learning the truth about the taboo ritual, she still chose to believe in him, and even... willingly became a part of his plan, which ultimately led to the manifestation of the holy bible of light and her eternal curse... She had always believed she was thoroughly betrayed and used by Kanjuro, and she had suffered and hated him for eighteen years because of it. But now, seeing him go to such shocking lengths to set up this scheme, using a method she despised to forcibly pull her back from the brink of extinction and grant her a true new life... she suddenly felt that while the "betrayal" might have been real, Kanjuro might not have been entirely heartless toward her.
(Maybe... he had no choice back then?)
(Maybe... in that heart of his, long since soaked in darkness, he always kept a small place for me?)
(Is this... enough?)
She didn't dare, nor could she, press Kanjuro further on how he truly viewed her in the depths of his unfathomable heart. The answers she might get could be crueler than she imagined, or perhaps... meaningless. To be able to escape the eternal curse, to continue to "exist," and to know that he didn't view her as absolutely nothing... for her, who had struggled in the darkness for eighteen years, the feeling welling up in her heart now was actually a twisted, bitter sense of satisfaction.
(Let it be... Kanjuro. This is... enough.)
Just as the struggle in Kitami's heart began to subside, Saeki Kaori let out a blood-curdling accusation. She stared fixedly at Kanjuro's back, her eyes burning with an all-consuming hatred. "Kanjuro! You bastard! I hope you die a horrible death!" Her dreams, her ambitions, and everything she pursued had been easily toyed with and crushed by Kanjuro, leaving only boundless resentment.
On the other side, Minase Aoi also gradually cleared her thoughts from the confusion. She looked at Kanjuro, her voice trembling with an unbelievable coldness. "So... everything you told me before... about the accidental killing, about being hunted by black mages... it was all a lie, wasn't it? You... you really did kill my younger brother, Minase Taki, with your own hands, didn't you?!" Although her body felt a strange sense of connection to Kanjuro due to the previous "Magic Replenishment," once her reason returned, the cruel truth made her feel as if she had fallen into an ice cellar.
Imari Kurumi lowered her head, her hands tightly clutching the hem of her clothes. Her voice was so soft it seemed it would shatter in the wind, filled with a resigned sorrow. "I think... yes. Mr. Kanjuro has been deceiving us all from the very beginning. The so-called ritual, the so-called sacrifices, the so-called enemies... they were likely all lies he made up." She looked up at Kanjuro's back, her eyes brimming with tears yet holding a heart-wrenching stubbornness. "But... what can I do when... I've already fallen hopelessly in love with him..." Even knowing it was a lie, a deception, the "love" that had sprouted within those lies and been carefully nurtured had already taken deep root and could not be pulled out.
In stark contrast to them was Shiraki Rie. Her cool face, far from showing resentment or fear, was flushed with a strange tint, and her eyes sparkled with a near-fanatical light of worship. She was also Kanjuro's daughter, and the resonance of their bloodline gave her a natural affinity for him. In her eyes, for Papa Kanjuro to be able to set up such an exquisite scheme to save someone (even if the method was bizarre), to control such immense power, to toy with everyone in the palm of his hand, and finally to settle everything so casually—wasn't this a form of ultimate strength and... tenderness? (He didn't really hurt most people, did he?)
(So Kanjuro's father... is such an... amazing and gentle person.)
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