My brother and I were startled for a moment, but my brother immediately threw away my hands and ran towards the sea of ​​fire without hesitation. I froze on the spot and didn't realize what happened.

Some villagers stopped my brother, and my brother's crazy look and calm words appeared in my mind at the same time. I walked slowly over, but some villagers stopped me. My clear eyes became blurry again, and the surrounding people

It was so noisy that I couldn't catch what my brother was shouting.

The night passed quickly, and no matter how hard the villagers tried, the fire continued to engulf the house.

I stood behind my brother and watched the house burn.

The burning smell irritated my eyes and nose.

The fire didn't disappear until early in the morning. The house was burned into ruins, and the location of the house could only be barely seen. The villagers left one by one, leaving only my brother and me. I wanted to go up and talk to my brother, but my body couldn't

Can't move.

The brother dragged his body, slowly approached the ruins, and then started running. He was looking for something. He eagerly rummaged through the ruins, the dark wood and the earth, which exuded an unpleasant smell.

A villager told me that his father was dead in this unprovoked fire.

Finally, my brother seemed to have found something. It was a mask... a mask of a ghost... I had seen it before, hanging there in my father's room.

I once asked my father one evening why I couldn't wear this mask. My father told me that it was not a mask, but a shikigami.

Shikigami...

My brother was making gestures that I had never seen before. The weak firelight was still burning around the house, but he didn't care.

"This is not my shikigami," my father said thoughtfully.

Isn't it...his father's shikigami?

Just as my brother's spiritual power disappeared into the mask, a blond brother wearing the red ghost mask appeared. He obviously didn't look like a bad guy, but the snake behind him gave me an ominous premonition.

He seemed to be saying something to his brother, but the brother just lowered his head and stretched out his hand. The young man also stretched out his hand and shook his brother's hand.

I couldn't guess what my brother was going to do. I didn't even know why things turned out like this. I obviously didn't do anything wrong... Why did my father die? Why did the house burn down?

My feet were soft, but I still had to walk towards my brother step by step. When I was about to touch him, the young man looked at me.

"Miss Azi, I advise you not to touch your brother at this time."

For some reason, I just can't believe this so-called shikigami.

"Who are you?"

The young man just smiled and didn't answer.

I could only muster up the courage again: "What are you going to do to my brother?!"

The young man finally lowered his head and looked at me and said, "I am a monster, Hannya, and now I am Master Xi's shikigami. It seems that Miss Azi doesn't know anything."

I was stunned for a moment, I really didn’t know anything. Yokai Hannya? He was my brother’s shikigami? Could it be that my brother had summoned a shikigami before this? Then why didn’t my father let my brother use it?

Looking at Prajna's look, I still had a glimmer of hope: "Then... you know my father..."

"He's already dead." Prajna said with a smile, "I saw him being burned to death by the fire with my own eyes. However, I also want to tell Miss Azi something else about you..."

"Prajna." My brother's voice interrupted Prajna's words.

"If you don't let me tell you, I won't let you tell me." Prajna's glazed eyes rolled, "I didn't expect that you would actually like her."

Prajna's eyes stopped on the fox mask on his brother's head.

"...Like it?" My brother turned around to look at me, his hand covering the fox mask, "Who would like a half-demon like her?"

I looked at my brother's mouth and said these words. He was as tall as me, but there was a coldness in his green eyes, and there was an unexplained disgust.

Half-demon...am I half-demon?

This sentence finally gave me a sense of reality.

My legs couldn't help but tremble, and my brother's hand pulled off the fox mask. As the mask fell, I couldn't help but kneel on the ground.

I don’t believe...my brother who was still talking and laughing to me before...

"Brother..." My scalp hurt, and I looked into my brother's green eyes.

"Do you remember what father said to us?" My brother asked me expressionlessly.

I was in so much pain that I couldn't speak. I only saw my brother's mouth opening and closing: "We are a descendant of the Genji family. I thought that if we stayed anonymous like this, they wouldn't find us. But in the end, it was because of you that that man died.

Already."

My brother was talking in my ear. If his hand hadn't been pulling my hair, I wouldn't have been able to support my body. I couldn't understand or remember anything.

"It's all because of you, it's all because of the snake demon Konguri. The snake demon who gave birth to us two is our mother in name." My brother's words echoed in my ears, "It is taboo for an onmyoji to fall in love with a monster.

, we are still left with such a disaster. However, if there were no monsters, if there were no Genji, we would not be like this now."

I opened my mouth and couldn't say anything. I just pulled my brother's sleeves with both hands. I didn't know about Genji or the snake demon. I only knew that my brother was my last family member. I wanted to be with him... no matter what.

Well, I don’t even want to be abandoned.

"You must have never imagined." My brother pulled my hair harder, "You are the only one who has inherited all the demonic power of that snake demon, so I hate you more than the others."

I stared aimlessly at the still-unclear sky. Suddenly, a drop of water fell on my face.

"Didn't you say you like me the most?"

My brother let go of his hand, and I collapsed on the scorched earth, watching my brother leave.

"Okay, let me see what your likes are like."

I didn't cry, but my vision became blurry. Was it raining...? If it were normal times, I would have been sitting under the eaves with my chin propped up and listening to my aunt telling stories, or playing chess with my father, or just quietly with my brother.

Sitting on the ground.

I don’t know why, but my consciousness is getting blurry, and even the people I want to see have become blurry. It’s raining heavily, and it’s early morning again. No one will come here at all. Maybe tomorrow morning

, they can see my body.

Is everything my brother said true? I can feel the vague aura of disgust. But I am lying to myself, I want... a complete family. I am greedy for the warmth of home...

When I saw the fox mask thrown aside by my brother, I struggled up and walked a few steps, then knelt down next to the fox mask. I was about to reach out to pick it up, but was picked up by a big white hand.

.

I looked up at him along the hand, and a pair of purple eyes came into my eyes, with a smile on his fair face. This was a man wearing a bamboo hat, and he was wearing white clothes.

"You always look like this when I see you."

As he spoke, he squatted down, took off his hat, put the mask in my hand, and stretched out his hand to wipe my face.

"It's not like you have a good story now."

As he said that, he picked me up. It was really strange... Although most people's arms are warm, this person's arms were cold.

The man with purple eyes took me to his home, and asked several maids to take me to change clothes. I followed the order at a loss, and finally appeared in front of the man like a perfect item.

"You are..." I was full of surprise, but his fingers pressed my lips.

"Shh, let me think about the last time I saw you."

Last time? Has he seen me before? There is nothing in my mind now, and the things that happened before are still appearing in my mind.

The man withdrew his hand and sat down by the window: "You seem to be much more docile than before."

After much hesitation, I chose to ask him: "Have you seen me before? Then...have you ever seen a boy who looks the same as me? That's my brother..."

The man stopped looking at me and turned to look at the scenery outside the window: "At dusk three days ago, one of Genji's onmyojis arrived here. Likewise, you will see Genji Xi here at dusk three days later."

Yuan Zhixi? Why does he know his brother’s name? My father has always told me that I must never tell my real name, especially my surname...

"...Why do you want to save me?" I asked uneasily, but now I can't do anything.

The silence in the room was interrupted by the sound of a maid opening the door. The maid placed a bowl of noodles in front of me and left.

"Please use it." The man turned to me and said, with a smile on his face.

I stared at the face in front of me and gritted my teeth: "Then, are you an old acquaintance of my father?"

It was very quiet inside the house, mixed with the sound of rain outside.

"If I say yes, will you choose to believe me?" the man asked me with a smile.

Even my father's old acquaintances cannot be trusted. My father has told us many times that we must never reveal our identity as a Genji. But now that the matter has come to this, I don't know if there is any other way...

"You can call me Yamatahara, but I don't like this name." The man sat closer to me with interest, "As for why I want to save you, I just think it's fun."

"What do you mean...?" I didn't understand and was surprised by the answer.

The man chuckled and stood up and left, leaving me alone in the house. Hunger drove me to reach out to the bowl of noodles, and the tiredness after eating was overwhelming. I curled up, and it was home in my dream... I hadn't been touched yet.

The burned down home. My brother is still kind to me... I really don’t want to wake up...

But……

This is no longer true... Brother, he... must be in pain now, must be as painful as me... That's why he said such things...

But……

...If it’s like before, I will definitely be rejected, right? What should I do?

"Azi?" My father sat next to me and looked up at the raindrops under the eaves, "Ah, it's raining again."
To be continued...