33: Chapter 29 Yaerin

In her haze, Kaiwen only felt something warm and soft pressed against her lips, and immediately afterwards, an extremely bitter liquid was forcibly passed in through the gaps of her teeth.

"Cough...!"

The bitterness on the tip of her tongue made her whole body shudder, and she instinctively wanted to breathe, but was choked by the medicinal broth and started coughing violently.

She forced her eyes open, her vision a blur of overlapping images, vaguely seeing only a pink mass and a delicate face close at hand.

In her panic, she had no time to think, subconsciously raising a hand to push the person in front of her and scrambling backwards in a fluster.

"Cough, cough-cough..." Kaiwen covered her mouth and panted heavily, wiping away the lingering bitterness at the corner of her mouth, blinking desperately to refocus her vision.

When she finally saw the person before her clearly, she froze completely in place.

"Yae... Sakura?!"

The pink-haired girl she had pushed away sat on the tatami mat, currently gently covering her own lips with a slender index finger, her fair cheeks tinged with a very faint pink.

Looking at this action of hers, Kaiwen's mind exploded with a bang.

Just now... was that... with the mouth...?!

"You... just now..." Kaiwen pointed at her, stammering heavily, "How could you..."

"You recognize me?" Yae Sakura tilted her head slightly, her tone unbelievably calm, "Apologies, you were unconscious too deeply just now and couldn't swallow the medicinal soup. If it wasn't passed over like this, the medicine would have choked into your trachea."

In this ancient miko's view, this seemed to be merely an ordinary life-saving action, making Kaiwen, whose mind was full of modern junk thoughts, seem somewhat making a fuss over nothing.

Kaiwen tugged at the somewhat loose white undergarment on her body, then looked at the quaint and dry wooden house, feeling her mind in complete disarray like a pot of porridge.

"Where is this? Weren't we just at Chiba Academy?"

Yae Sakura tilted her head slightly, her eyes filled with clear confusion.

"Chiba Academy? Is that your hometown? But these topics can be discussed later."

Before Kaiwen could breathe a sigh of relief, Yae Sakura had already picked up the wooden basin holding warm water beside her, took the wrung-out cloth towel in her hand, and approached her directly.

"Come on, take off your clothes."

"Ha?!" Kaiwen was so startled she almost jumped up, hurriedly clutching her collar tightly, "Undress, why take off clothes?!"

"You broke out in a cold sweat just now, and your undergarment is completely soaked." Yae Sakura's eyes were clear, her fingertips already resting on Kaiwen's knot fasteners, "If you don't wipe clean and change, you'll catch a cold and get sick. Don't move, I'll help you wipe your back."

Yae Sakura leaned extremely close, her body carrying a faint scent of cherry blossoms and herbal medicine.

Kaiwen could clearly feel the other person's exhaled hot breath pressing against her neck, and those warm fingers had even probed into her neckline.

"No no no! I can do it myself! Really! I can move!" Kaiwen's face burned as if it were on fire, clutching her clothes for dear life and refusing to let go.

She raised her head, quietly looking at Kaiwen.

That head of messy white hair hung over Kaiwen's shoulders, looking somewhat dazzlingly white in the dim light of the wooden house.

Looking at the flustered white-haired girl before her, Yae Sakura's gaze experienced a slight trance for a moment, as if through this face, she saw another figure.

"Kallen..." she murmured extremely softly, without even realizing it herself.

However, the moment this murmur fell, a cold whisper suddenly resounded in Yae Sakura's mind:

[No, Kallen died long ago! In your world, there will never be any hope again, Yae Sakura!]

Yae Sakura's body stiffened violently, her complexion turning pale in an instant.

"Lady Miko, it is time for the meeting." The hurried footsteps of a maid came from the hallway outside.

As if waking from a dream, Yae Sakura withdrew her hand, put the cloth towel back into the basin, stood up and bowed slightly to Kaiwen: "I'm sorry... I lost my composure. There is food on the table, please rest here at ease."

When she walked to the door, her movements paused, and she turned her head to ask softly:

"Right, since you know my name, what is your name?"

Looking at that lonely pink figure beneath the porch, Kaiwen pressed her temples: "... Just call me Kaiwen."

"Kaiwen..." Yae Sakura recited the name in her mouth once, "I remember it."

The footsteps in the corridor gradually faded away.

Kaiwen let out a long sigh of relief, supporting her softened body as she walked over to the wooden basin.

Her gaze swept across the clear water surface, reflecting a face that was excessively delicate, along with a mess of white hair.

No wonder Yae Sakura had that kind of look earlier... These white hair and blue eyes were practically carved from the same mold as her.

Changing into the miko attire prepared beside the table, Kaiwen went out carrying a giant rice ball larger than her face.

...

"This rice ball is meant for a troll, right..."

Holding the rice ball, Kaiwen wandered aimlessly around Yae Village while taking bites.

The sunlight was wonderful, but everything around exuded strangeness.

By the path, a few pink cherry blossom petals drifted down in the wind.

However, Kaiwen stared fixedly at those few petals; the trajectory of their landing, and even the angle of their rotation, were surprisingly identical.

In the distance, several Yae Village villagers dressed in ancient attire walked past. Their movements were somewhat stiff, and their faces seemed veiled in a layer of mist, making their features completely indistinguishable.

Sure enough... this is a fake space.

Suddenly, Kaiwen felt a chill run down her back.

She abruptly turned her head, only to see a spiritual body of a little girl around ten years old with pink twin tails floating suspended above the ancient stone tablet by the path.

A little-girl-shaped spirit body was staring fixedly at the rice ball in Kaiwen's hand.

Kaiwen: "... Want some?"

The little girl only then realized she had been discovered. Her little face flushed red, and she hurriedly pressed her hands together in front of her chest, pleading with a crying tone:

"Big Sister! Please help me! Release my older sister from the curse of the nightmare!"

After saying this, that spirit body quickly dissipated as if feeling shy.

"Wait! I'll share half the rice ball with you, at least make things clear!" Kaiwen waved her hand, but before her eyes there remained only scattered flowers blown by the wind.

Kaiwen lowered her head to look at the half-eaten giant rice ball in her hand.

Yae Sakura was trapped in the nightmare reincarnation of Kallen's death, and she herself happened to have the face of the Kaslana family...

Kaiwen rubbed her aching temples, the corners of her mouth twitching slightly:

"Wait a minute... Could this plot be asking me to act as Kallen's substitute to save the miko?!"