Chapter 116: Walking With You

The special training proceeded daily until half a month before the Lunar New Year, when Kirigaya Nuo was allowed to rest for three days.

Of course, it wasn't because her results were too outstanding—although her results were indeed shockingly outstanding:

Crow, this veteran mercenary who had wandered in the Middle East and Africa for many years, privately sighed with emotion that Kirigaya Nuo's willpower, learning speed, and talent made her absolutely the raw material for a top-tier assassin.

She even regretted that she "shouldn't just be a member of a Nihon yakuza organization," and ought to go to "a larger stage, serving various overseas regimes, royal families, and private military companies."

The real reason for the rest was:

The Nihon Go Institute's professional Go player evaluation for her was fast approaching.

This was an order personally issued by Gekka-ki, letting her return to the city to adapt to the daily atmosphere a bit:

"Lest she carry a body full of murderous aura, scaring those Go-playing bookworms and exposing her true colors."

With Xu Yunzhou in tow, Kirigaya Nuo strolled on the bustling streets of Edo.

She changed into an everyday outfit without any aggressiveness: an off-white turtleneck cashmere sweater, a pleated wool skirt, and black ankle boots.

Her long hair fell loosely over her shoulders, and wrapped around her neck was a soft camel-colored cashmere scarf.

Her whole person looked like a pure, pretty high school student carrying a bit of scholarly air, blending perfectly into the noisy city around her.

But looking at the bustling flow of people, flashing neon lights, and exquisite shop windows along the street, Kirigaya Nuo felt it was dull and tasteless.

"Teacher, having no training... is so boring."

She said softly in her consciousness, her tone carrying a trace of undetectable irritability.

"Indeed."

Xu Yunzhou responded.

Over this past month, through Kirigaya Nuo's perspective, he had silently absorbed a massive amount of combat techniques, firearms knowledge, disguise arts, and anti-tracking methods.

He was extremely satisfied with the practical value of this "instance," feeling his safety awareness and emergency response capabilities had gone up several levels.

He even suspected that the completely natural, freely retracting and releasing acting skills of the future Shen Mingyue were learned by himself here, and then taught to her.

However, at this moment he had an indescribable feeling.

After all, that blood-dripping nightmare just now was too real, forcing him to look at this young girl before his eyes with scrutiny and vigilance.

Kirigaya Nuo keenly perceived something:

"Hmm? Teacher these past few days... doesn't seem very happy. Do you have some dissatisfaction with me?"

Xu Yunzhou smiled:

"Your observation skills are really good."

Kirigaya Nuo responded matter-of-factly, her tone as calm as reporting training data:

"A few days ago, I was just taught the instantaneous analysis of micro-expressions and micro-movements. Although Teacher hides it very well, your breathing rhythm slows down slightly by 0.3 seconds at specific keywords, and there are occasional 0.5-second pauses when thinking... all implying there's something on your mind, and it's not a small matter."

Xu Yunzhou:

"..."

It seems I really need to properly study expression control, otherwise being with this humanoid lie detector, I truly can't hide even half a bit of a secret.

Kirigaya Nuo's gaze aimlessly swept over the myriad of signboards along the street, suddenly stopping at one place.

It was a shop with an ambiguous storefront and hazy pink lighting.

The window displayed posters of scantily clad women in alluring poses, and the katakana on the signboard read "High-Class Fuzoku Shop · Dream Salon."

(TL: Fuzoku = adult entertainment or sex industry establishments.)

"Teacher, there's a fuzoku shop over there."

Kirigaya Nuo's tone was calm, like introducing a convenience store or bookstore,

"How about... I take Teacher inside to broaden your horizons?"

She ultimately thought Xu Yunzhou was unhappy because she trained too much and gave him the cold shoulder, so she wanted to find a way to compensate a bit.

Xu Yunzhou almost choked on his own saliva:

"How old are you! And you're a female! Will they even let you in?!"

Kirigaya Nuo thought seriously, seemingly feeling that made sense, so she pointed to a traditional shop not far away hanging a cloth curtain with the character "Yu" (hot water/bath):

"Then... there's a sento over there, I can definitely enter that, right?"

(TL: Sento is a traditional Japanese public bathhouse.)

She paused, her tone still flat without ripples, as if discussing an academic problem:

"Take Teacher to tour the women's bathhouse? Consider it... a benefit for you?"

Xu Yunzhou:

"...In your heart... Teacher is this kind of person?"

Kirigaya Nuo subconsciously tapped her pretty face with her finger:

"Uh... isn't that the case?"

She recalled that day at Gekka-ki's hot spring villa, how Teacher stared unblinkingly at Gekka-ki's astonishing figure, her tone extremely certain.

Xu Yunzhou:

"..."

He sighed with emotion, truly one slip leads to eternal regret; he overperformed that day...

He hurriedly changed the subject, turning his perspective to a giant poster wall of a movie theater across the street.

"Let's go watch a movie."

Kirigaya Nuo:

"Oh... those are all deceptive stories..."

She clearly lacked interest in fictional emotions and plots, feeling it wasn't as interesting as reviewing actual combat cases.

But pausing, she still compromised:

"Forget it, if Teacher wants to watch, then let's watch."

She looked up at the poster wall:

"What does Teacher want to watch?"

Xu Yunzhou's gaze swept over those Nihon movie posters, whether hot-blooded, horror, or romance, and ultimately froze on a poster with a warm and cute art style—

"Stand by Me Doraemon."

"This one!"

He thought in his heart: Warm up this tsundere a bit, soften this heart that is being tempered harder and harder by slaughter training.

Use childlike innocence and friendship to fight against the erosion of darkness.

Looking at that blue robot cat and Nobita with a smile so bright it was a bit silly on the poster, Kirigaya Nuo was silent for a moment.

Then, she nodded gently and walked toward the movie theater ticket counter.

Xu Yunzhou instructed in her consciousness:

"Also buy a large portion of potato chips and cola!"

Kirigaya Nuo:

"Got it Teacher, why does it feel like I'm taking a little kid out to play!"

Her tone carried a trace of helpless indulgence, but her face held a very, very faint, almost invisible smile.

The movie started, the lights dimmed.

The story began with laughter—that useless Nobita who always got zero on tests, was bullied by Gian and didn't dare fight back, and when encountering trouble would either escape or cry, met the blue fatty who came from the 22nd century future.

The magical four-dimensional pocket, various unconstrained gadgets, absurd yet warm daily life.

Hugging a large bucket of potato chips, Kirigaya Nuo ate in small bites, her eyes focused on the silver screen.

Xu Yunzhou could feel that her body relaxed slightly, that invisible cold outer shell quietly melting a corner in the dim light and shadow.

However, when the plot progressed to Doraemon having to return to the 22nd century because his mission was completed, and facing parting with Nobita—

The hand Kirigaya Nuo used to hold the potato chips froze.

The audience in the entire theater was sobbing in low voices, yet she was exceptionally quiet.

Only Xu Yunzhou could hear her ask softly in her consciousness:

"Teacher, when will you leave me?"

She paused, her voice very light, yet carrying a cold, almost paranoid certainty:

"Like Nobita... when I possess happiness?"

She let out a low laugh, that laughter appearing somewhat bizarre, even grim, in the dim theater and sad soundtrack:

"Hehe, then Teacher will never be able to leave."

Because I will never be happy.

Happiness is too luxurious; I dare not want it, and I cannot afford it.

A person like me... only deserves to live in the dark, keeping company with blood.

Xu Yunzhou was silent for a moment; he could feel Kirigaya Nuo's bewilderment and despair.

He thought of that photo he saw in the cloud drive—the Xu Nuo ten years later, a twenty-six-year-old woman, wearing a black Chinese-style stand-up collar shirt, standing under the road sign at the exit of the Shanghai-Binzhou Expressway.

Her brows and eyes were still exquisite, but the look in her eyes was completely different.

That wasn't the look of an assassin.

It was the look of having seen enough darkness, yet still choosing to look toward the light.

It was the look of finally reconciling with the past, reconciling with the world, and reconciling with herself.

So he said gently:

"I have seen what you look like ten years from now."

He described that photo from the future,

"Very happy, very calm. When looking at people, your eyes are relaxed, warm."

"Feeling that there's nothing major in this world, able to handle anything—not the kind of handling by forcing yourself to be strong, but truly feeling... it's nothing more than this."

"All the difficulties, all the nightmares, all the blood and darkness... have passed."

Kirigaya Nuo lowered her head, her long eyelashes casting shadows under her eyes:

"That kind of me... really exists?"

"My hands are already stained with blood, shouldn't the future waiting for me be judgment and prison?"

"Or... more directly,"

She twitched the corners of her mouth, that smile somewhat cold,

"A certain bullet, a certain knife, an accident in a certain dark alley."

"This is the ending I should have."

The light from the silver screen reflected on her pale and exquisite side profile.

Her eyes were empty, as if she had already seen her destined end.