Leaving the Nine-Person Dojo

"Fu Hua, these trees…" Shu finally chose to open the conversation gently.

Although he knew Fu Hua was a strong person, his main image of her was the Fu Hua from the original game, who had weathered ten thousand years of hardship.

But the person in front of him… in Shu's eyes, she was just a young woman still finding her way.

Someone who would lose sleep over two small worries, someone who would wonder if she'd done something wrong, and seek someone out to confide in about her troubles.

How strong could such a Fu Hua really be?

Especially now, when Fu Hua had lost…

"I planted them myself, with seven disciples from the dojo, ten years ago…" Fu Hua reached out to stroke the willow tree at the front, her eyes lowered.

"Ten years ago… you must have been really young then, Fu Hua." Shu managed a weak smile. He really didn't feel like smiling, but he still tried to use his own smile to lift Fu Hua's spirits.

"Yeah… I was about the same age as Sushang is now." Fu Hua's fingers traced the rough bark of the willow, her touch even gentler than when she'd examined the katana.

As tender as stroking someone's face.

Looks like the smile tactic wasn't working.

"Are they… Fu Hua's junior disciples?" Shu's smile stiffened, but he kept it plastered on.

"My students." Fu Hua sighed, still kneeling in front of the trees. "Shu, I know you're trying to comfort me. Thank you, but… right now… I just want to be alone, okay?"

Shu's smile faded, silent.

After a long sigh, Shu patted his butt, sat down cross-legged next to Fu Hua, and silently looked up at the trees with her.

Fu Hua was right. More than his empty words, Fu Hua needed some quiet time to sort through her thoughts.

A soft breeze drifted through, causing the branches and leaves of the trees to sway gently.

It wasn't even autumn, but leaves, some still green, others withered, drifted down from above.

A slender, vibrant green willow leaf softly landed in front of Fu Hua, falling without a sound, just lying there peacefully.

Fu Hua remained kneeling. Shu could only see her vaguely from the corner of his eye, unable to discern her expression.

Pain? Sadness? Shu couldn't read any specific emotion, but he could feel a nameless sense of oppression in the air.

Leaves continued to fall. Shu remembered seeing this place from afar last night, and there definitely weren't this many fallen leaves then. It was only from this morning until now that the ground had accumulated a thin layer of fallen leaves.

Shu stopped glancing at Fu Hua and focused his gaze on a small pile of leaves in the corner of the yard.

The leaf pile wasn't close by. Shu narrowed his eyes, making out the various types of leaves in the pile, carefully gathered in a sheltered corner.

The gentle breeze blew past, not disturbing a single leaf in the pile.

A large broom leaned against the leaf pile. It was an old-fashioned broom made of rice stalks and bamboo branches. Shu guessed it was almost as tall as his chin.

It looked like someone had been sweeping here regularly, diligently sweeping up every fallen leaf and piling them in that sheltered corner every day for the past month.

And the spotless main hall, the neatly folded bedding and yukata, the clean kitchen layout he'd seen when he went to the kitchen…

Who else was here?

Only Li Sushang, a seven-year-old child.

After the Honkai outbreak, it was Li Sushang who had taken care of this deserted dojo, spanning thousands of square feet, making it so orderly.

It was a seven-year-old child, using cleaning tools much taller than herself, who had kept this place, except for the absence of people, almost exactly the same as it was before the Great Honkai Eruption.

She was just a child… No one would have asked her to do this, no one had told her to do it.

Shu couldn't help but look back. At this moment, Li Sushang was sitting quietly on the doorstep, hugging the sword that hadn't been renamed yet, her small head tilted up, gazing at the hazy gray sky in the distance.

Life serene, as if no one were around.

The gentle breeze continued to brush against Shu's face, neither hot nor cold, just passing over his skin naturally, like a silk veil.

Suddenly, Shu found it hard to imagine how Li Sushang had spent this entire month in this deserted dojo after the Great Honkai Eruption.

He pictured Li Sushang under the trees, carefully sweeping up every fallen leaf with that big broom, recalled seeing Li Sushang dozing off in the main hall, leaning on a mop this morning.

And the small stool in front of the kitchen stove and refrigerator, Li Sushang struggling to open the water valve while standing on that stool…

But the strongest image was the one before him: Li Sushang sitting alone on the doorstep, only her sword for company.

A hero is always solitary.

Li Sushang must have said that to herself, right…?

…Damn it, so the person who needed comforting and company the most wasn't Fu Hua, but Li Sushang, who was already getting used to being alone?

Shu felt like he was losing it.

Shu didn't know what Li Sushang felt when she saw Fu Hua and the others, didn't know what Li Sushang was thinking when she'd approached him so concerned last night after seeing him acting suspiciously in the yard.

Shu only remembered that from last night until noon today, he'd let Li Sushang believe he'd taken away the sword that was her constant companion.

Thinking about what that sword meant to Li Sushang…

So he hadn't just taken away a little girl's favorite toy.

He'd taken away the precious last straw in the hands of a fragile person drowning, hadn't he?

Shu subconsciously looked down at his palm. If Fu Hua next to him didn't need quiet, his hand would have already smacked his own face.

Maybe I'll slap myself later when no one's around…

Shu thought silently, then turned to look at Fu Hua.

Just then, Fu Hua, still looking down, spoke softly.

"Shu, if one day, you suddenly realize… that some people have left your life forever, people who were important to you, but who didn't occupy much space in your memories… what would you do?"

Shu opened his mouth. He had an "answer" ready to blurt out, but quickly, he too became lost.

People important to him, who didn't occupy much space in his memories…

Did Shu have people like that around him?

Shu searched his memories, and suddenly, he looked at Fu Hua. He thought of Kiana and the others.

He did have people like that around him…