Chapter 192: Sayu, Played to Pieces
Kannazuka was a place of ridges and rivers.
From its rocky peaks, a spring trickled down the slopes—pure, cool water that eventually merged into a knee-deep stream. It flowed steadily down the mountain, becoming the main water source for the Kujou Encampment.
Its taste? Crisp and clean—straight from deep within the earth. You could scoop it up with your hands and drink it as is.
And that's exactly what Sayu was doing.
She knelt by the stream, carefully splashing the icy spring water onto her face, washing away the sand and Lavender Melon juice that had dried into sticky streaks on her cheeks.
Behind her, a few meters away, stood that terrifying man.
He was toying with the Lavender Melon in his hand, but Sayu could tell—he wasn't interested in the fruit.
He was watching her.
Cautiously, Sayu lifted her hips just a little and used her long, fluffy tail as cover. Then, like a cat peeking through her own legs, she glanced backward.
His gaze… wasn't on her.
The corner of her mouth curled up slightly.
Heh. Good.
The Shuumatsuban, hidden under the Yashiro Commission, was a secret organization few even knew existed. Their specialty? Handling matters that couldn't be handled in public.
And among them, Sayu was… a bit of a special case.
She was the last practitioner of a ninja style known as "Yoohoo Art"—a school famous not for combat, but for trickery and escape.
Sayu's techniques focused on substitution, deception, and most importantly... running away.
And she was really, really good at running away.
The moment leaves fluttered by, her figure vanished.
A gentle breeze swept through, and suddenly, a paper kite lay where she once stood.
With clever camouflage ninjutsu and her mastery of Anemo for concealment, Sayu could disappear in a heartbeat. Most people had no hope of tracking her.
Unfortunately, the people who could were exactly the ones on her "never mess with" list…
"Confirmed!" Sayu whispered triumphantly. "Escape route clear!"
She'd measured it: three full meters between herself and Bai Luo.
That was more than enough distance for a ninja like her to launch a watery getaway.
If she followed the stream downstream, she'd reach the Kujou Encampment. And once there, she could always call in a favor from the Tengu General.
With any luck, she'd be free of him.
Silently, she tucked the Sunsettia he'd given her into her pocket, then bit down on a thin straw-like reed hidden in her mouth.
Plop!
Into the water she went.
The chilly stream swallowed her up. She lay perfectly still beneath its surface, breathing through the straw like a little amphibian.
The water wasn't deep, it's barely enough to cover her small frame.
But thanks to her ninjutsu, all that could be seen from above were a few faint ripples.
She was invisible.
Bai Luo stepped toward the streambank.
Sayu's pulse spiked.
She didn't move. Not even a finger.
His eyes scanned the clear waters. And then… he lifted his head and looked downstream.
'Yes!' Sayu beamed internally. 'That's right! Downstream! Go on, go catch me!'
And like he'd heard her thoughts, Bai Luo turned and walked downstream.
Sayu silently celebrated her genius. She could almost taste freedom.
But then… he stopped.
Sayu's heart skipped.
"Guess I'll eat something before I go," Bai Luo murmured.
He walked back to the spot Sayu had been earlier, pulled another Sunsettia from his pocket, and began rinsing it with the spring water.
'Just a snack...?'
Sayu finally relaxed again. So long as he hadn't found her, all was good.
But something was… strange.
He wasn't eating the fruit.
Instead, with slow precision, Bai Luo drew a dagger and began slicing the Sunsettia into elegant, thin strips—so delicately it looked like art.
Not a single drop of juice was wasted. He even found a small container to save the syrup.
Sayu blinked from beneath the water.
'What in the world is he doing?'
Ten minutes later, Bai Luo finally finished slicing the Sunsettia.
He'd not only carved the fruit into impossibly thin strips, but also carefully collected the juice in a small container.
And then…
With a maddeningly calm expression, he began stuffing those slivers of fruit one by one into the straw Sayu had been using to breathe—yes, the same one cleverly disguised as a dried leaf stem.
And as if that wasn't enough, he poured the collected juice in too.
Admittedly, the mouth of the reed was narrow. While the fruit slivers slid in just fine, the juice didn't cooperate quite as much—it spilled over slightly.
But that was fine. Completely fine.
Once he'd crammed everything in, the surface of the stream was eerily still… for all of three seconds.
Then—
SPLASH!!
The water exploded like a boiling pot, bubbles and waves erupting as if someone had just thrown a wild cat into a tub.
Water splashed several meters in every direction.
Ten minutes later, calm returned.
A trail of small bubbles rose to the surface… and then, face-down, a small, fluffy figure floated up—limbs twitching, completely limp.
Several stunned fish floated up with her, pale-bellied and very much not swimming.
Bai Luo plucked the waterlogged Sayu out of the stream by her collar and laid her flat on the grassy bank.
She was still twitching.
Water poured from her mouth in a steady trickle, eyes rolled so far back they were nothing but whites. Her limbs gave occasional, pitiful spasms.
It wasn't clear if it was the cold water, the sudden fruit infusion, or the shock of both.
In short, she looked… utterly ruined.
But Bai Luo, unfazed, checked her breathing.
She'd live.
There would be no permanent damage, this incident would just leave trauma.
His real dilemma was the handful of small fish that had surfaced with her.
He had no container on hand.
His gaze wandered… to Sayu's oversized hoodie hat.
Then to the pile of stunned fish on the ground.
Then back again.
An idea struck.
He casually lifted Sayu again and gently pulled off her hood.
It was wide and bowl-like—perfect.
One by one, he dropped the fish into her hood, creating an impromptu aquatic bucket.
As for the giant leaf that had been resting on top of Sayu's head…
Bai Luo squinted.
It still hadn't fallen off.
Was it sewn on?
That thing must've been glued on with hopes and dreams.
With the last fish safely stowed, he glanced at the stream.
If he was right, some juice and fruit bits must've drifted downstream by now.
It's no big deal.
The stream would eventually flow into the sea. A little fruit flavor wouldn't hurt anyone, right?
—Or so he thought.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Meanwhile, further downstream…
"Move it, move it! The new general's arriving today! If we're caught slacking, we'll be on toilet duty for a month!"
A group of soldiers in shogunate armor hurried toward the stream with empty water buckets in hand.
Originally, they had better water sources. But ever since the scourge of the Tatarigami began affecting water quality, those sources had become unusable.
This spring, however, remained untouched by the corruption. Its water was pure, sweet, and had become the main supply for the camp.
After filling their buckets, one soldier frowned and peered into his container.
"…Huh?"
Floating at the top was something… stringy?
It looked like the flesh of some kind of fruit.
"Whatever," he muttered, waving it off.
They'd seen worse in the field. At least it wasn't a bug.
And more importantly—he didn't have time to be picky.
If he ran back and filled a new bucket, he'd be late.
The new general, Kujou Sara, was said to be terrifyingly strict.
And the last thing he wanted was to make a bad impression.
. . . . .
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