Toyokawa Shoko doesn't want to become a witch

Page 228

"Of course I agree."

The Lost Tale: The Lost Child - Chapter 272: An Interlude in the Rain

Even after parting ways with Yuuki and Kasumi, and walking home hand in hand with Mutsu, Shoko still felt it was all unreal.

The assembly was left to her to manage.

Are they serious?

However... it becomes much easier to find people on my own.

As Xiangzi walked down the street, he took out his phone, opened the chat app, and tapped on the chat box with the contact name "Nagasaki Motoyo".

Scrolling up reveals a long string of chat bubbles on the left, which is the history Xiangzi saw after removing someone from the blacklist. Scrolling to the bottom shows a few greetings Xiangzi sent not long ago.

Are you ok?

Are you there?

Can you see it?

......

no reply.

It seems she's been blocked by Su Shi instead.

Xiangzi sighed and put his phone back in his pocket.

I'll ask about accessing the archives tomorrow.

=========

In the gloomy, rainy sky, colorful umbrellas are the only things with color in this gray world. Many movie scenes use this method to highlight the importance of the person holding the umbrella.

But those umbrellas are not movie shots, nor are they metaphors for the only colorful things in a cold world; rather, they are bait used by carnivorous plants to catch flies and insects.

Under the umbrellas, holding them up, were a group of faceless dancers.

They danced in the rain, with umbrellas overhead enveloping Chihaya Aine and Shiina Tatsuki, their laughter echoing in the air.

I sing in the rain~ I sing to my heart's content in the rain~

"What song are they singing? It sounds so familiar." Ai Yin twitched her ears, feeling that the songs these familiars were singing sounded somewhat familiar.

What a wonderful feeling! So pleasant I can't stop!

Suddenly, one of the dancers holding an umbrella left the group, and a blade protruding from the umbrella flew towards Aine like a dart as the umbrella spun.

"Newbie, don't just stand there like an idiot!"

Just as Li Xi was about to get angry, he turned around and instinctively blocked the attack launched by the familiar for Aine.

Dang dang dang 7 1san+<冥死氿棋删私a——！

The blades and the katana sparked in the rain, falling sparsely at Aine's feet.

"I'm not standing still." Ai Yin, with a few strands of wet hair in her mouth, turned back and stuck her tongue out at Li Xi. "Your hand isn't healed yet, so calm down for a while. I can handle witches of this level."

[Witch's Name: Ngin'in the Rain]

Difficulty level of the task: Normal

Intelligence: The nature of this is a dance; the witch's true form and her familiars are no different, blending in and dancing with them. The familiars regenerate very quickly, and the battle will never end unless the witch is found and killed.

The barrier showed no signs of movement, human activity in the surrounding area had been brought under control, and no new victims had appeared; therefore, it was classified as Normal.

Ai Yin trudged through the rain and charged toward the familiar that had thrown the blade at her.

"Wait, if you can't find the main body, everything you do will be a waste of effort!"

"I already know which one is the original!"

"what?!"

Don't worry!

Ai's voice, along with hers, suddenly entered the group of dancers surrounded by umbrellas.

Raindrops pattered on the colorful umbrellas. The dancers twirled the umbrella handles, making the umbrellas swirl like flowers in the rain, splashing water all around. Blades hidden inside the umbrellas mingled with the rain and flew towards Ai Yin.

Are you looking for death?!

Lixi was about to shout that, but the next scene startled him so much that he swallowed his words back.

Rain and blades danced in the air, weaving together intricate patterns resembling those in a kaleidoscope, constantly shifting with the rhythm of the music.

The sky is so gloomy, yet my mood is so bright.

Amidst the clash of swords and the shadows of battle, Aine seemed to have found the rhythm of music.

"I sing in the rain~ I dance in the rain~"

Ai Yin sang the lyrics of the song, and danced with the dancers as the kaleidoscope patterns changed, passing through a sea of ​​flowers without a single petal touching her.

She leaped through the gaps between the blade trails, inching closer to the dancer who was mingling among them—the one who looked slightly different. All the dancers were faceless, and the one Aine was approaching was no exception, except that her dance steps appeared more agile, freer, and more spontaneous.

It's as if all the dancers are writing an essay in a routine manner, but she wrote a casual essay or prose according to her own whims.

It was this very aura that exposed its true nature.

Ai-yin deftly dodged the flying blades in the rain, using the back of her blade to block those she couldn't avoid. The clanging sounds were like the rhythmic clatter of cymbals.

She finally approached the witch's true form, the blade slicing through the rain, drawing an arc created by the splashing raindrops.

when--!

The blade was caught between the umbrella ribs.

The witch couldn't keep up the act any longer and used her umbrella to block Aine's sword. Then, her slender figure leaped into the air, spinning around and twisting the umbrella handle, causing the umbrella head to spin rapidly. The spinning umbrella caught the nodachi, and the powerful torque generated flung the sword directly out of Aine's hand.

The katana, taller than a person, flew out spinning.

"Lixi! Help me out!"

The dancers immediately twisted their umbrella handles, forming a menacing circle around Aine. The witch herself, holding a broken umbrella, spun in the air, twisting her slender waist, and flung the bladed umbrella tip at Aine.

The thin blade sliced ​​the falling water droplet in two, leaving it with a clean, neat cut, like a sliced ​​apple.

Boom!

There was a muffled thud, like someone had kicked something.

Just as the witch's toes had not yet touched the ground, and the blade was only inches from Aine's neck, the katana that had just been twisted away spun back.

"okay!"

Aine's eyes flashed, she gripped the hilt of the flying sword, and took a step back to the side, narrowly avoiding the spinning blade.

Ding.

She took up her katana, assumed a new stance, and flicked the blade upwards, knocking the umbrella from the witch's hand.

[See cut]

In the blink of an eye, the familiars belatedly tightened their encirclement formation, attempting to protect their master.

A ring of blade light flashed.

【Air Blade Spin】

The familiar's body separated into upper and lower parts due to inertia.

As the rain subsided, Aine sheathed her sword, aimed at the witch's neck, pushed the sheathed sword out a bit with her thumb, and lifted her heel off the ground.

【Air Blade Iai】

锔——!

A faceless head fell to the ground.

The falling rain gradually became transparent, and the gloomy sky revealed the blood-red setting sun. The witch and her familiar's bodies, like faded paint, were gradually washed away by the fading rain.

jingle.

The seeds of lamentation fell to the ground.

"I'm ngin'in the rain, just ngin'in the rain~hemhemhem~"

Aine picked up the Seed of Lamentation, humming the music she had heard in the Witch's Barrier, and turned to face Riki and the lamp that was coming in from outside the alley, shaking the Seed of Lamentation.

"All done, Lixi, Dengdeng. I did a pretty good job this time, right?"

The Tale of the Lost: The Lost Child - Chapter 273: What Can Effort Solve?

"All done, Lixi, Dengdeng. I did a pretty good job this time, right?" Aiyin grinned, revealing her cute little tiger teeth.

"Hmm..." Deng nodded absentmindedly.

"It's alright." Lixi walked up, rubbing her hand which hadn't fully healed yet.

Aine glanced at the gruesome burns on her hand.

“I’m telling you, we don’t need to be in such a rush to defeat the witch,” Aine frowned. “You’ve only been back for a day, and your hand isn’t even fully healed.”

"It doesn't matter," Li Xi said indifferently.

"Sigh." Aine sighed, hands on her hips. "Not to mention Rana's unpredictable appearances, we need to think of a solution for Suze."

Su Shi......

The name was like a cold wind blowing by, making the alleyway particularly desolate at dusk. Li Xi turned his head away, and the lamp silently lowered its head.

Aine looked at them, puzzled.

Does Nagasaki Motoyo know who she is? Why can't we even mention her name?

"What's wrong? Why are you all so quiet all of a sudden?" Ai blinked in confusion. "Didn't we agree on how to win Su Shi back when we were on the ship?"

While it's true that people should have some time to cool down after an argument, isn't this cooling-off period a bit too long?

Including the week of school trip, it's been about half a month.

"...We can manage on our own without her." Lixi twisted her wrist uncomfortably. "Her magic is very popular in the Reed Plains, so we won't have trouble finding teammates."

"Nonsense, if Su Shi were here, your hand would have been healed long ago." Ai Yin put her hands on her hips. "Li Xi, you can't always be so stubborn."

"Tsk."

"Humph."

Ai Yin huffed angrily.

Then she noticed that the lamp hadn't said a word.

"Dengdeng?"

"..."

"How did things turn out like this after I talked to my benefactor alone today?" Aine looked at her, puzzled.

Li Xi raised an eyebrow.

benefactor?

Xiangzi?

"Huh? What's wrong?" Deng belatedly looked up.

“…Sigh, it’s nothing.” Ai Yin sighed, shook her head, and tossed the Seed of Sorrow to Li Xi. “Now that the witch is taken care of, that’s it for today. Shall we all go home?”

Lixi caught the Seed of Sorrow and threw it back.

“This is your spoils,” she said.

Lixi's meaning was clear: this was the witch that Aine killed, and the spoils should go to Aine.

“Just because it’s my spoils of war, I have the right to decide what to do with it.” Ai Yin shrugged. “Li Xi, you’d better heal your hand quickly, or we’ll be no different from a half-human now.”

“...I’m not that fragile.” Li Xi said irritably.

"If you don't want it, just throw it away. Anyway, don't give it back to me." Ai Yin came back to her senses, stuck out her tongue at her, and made a face. "I still have one at home."

Lixi exhaled two streams of hot air from his nostrils and reluctantly put the Seed of Sorrow back into his pocket.