Hidden Assassin

July 29, 2000, Tsukichi's house in Tokyo, Japan.

Buntaro's mood has been a little low recently.

Kaoru returned to Japan this month after completing her three years of study in China.

For Buntaro, Kaoru's return was originally a good thing. Of course, he has always been reluctant to think about why it is good. Pity, love, whatever, anyway, everyone knows that the marriage contract between Xun and Tian Yuzheng is just a formality. These thoughts are irrelevant.

Of course, although everyone grew up, the most important thing in Buntaro's heart at this time is not related to love and compassion. Three years ago, Xun and Tianyu got engaged symbolically, and then went to Jianghai, the reason was to learn Chinese martial arts from an unknown master, but in fact, no one took this reason seriously, but after only one year in China, Afterwards, in the martial arts competition in front of the head of the family, Kaoru, who was originally not ranked high among his peers in terms of strength, defeated all of them with one move, and almost defeated him with one move by the most powerful Chi Yingqianhuan, which almost became a shock for the entire month. A major event for the Chi family.

He has always been the leader of his peers since he was a child, and he will not easily admit defeat. In that defeat at that time, Kaoru's strength was indeed superior to his, but in terms of the gap, at least he believed that he was indeed too strong at that time. If you underestimate the enemy, otherwise you won't be defeated so simply. Because of the humiliation of that defeat, he has been training hard for the past two years, leaving the others far behind. He has the idea of ​​​​competing with Xun again in his heart, but for so long, he has never had a chance turn up.

For two consecutive years, everyone wanted to see Kaoru make another move. In order to prove whether her strength has really become so strong, Buntarou has this idea, opponents of the same age have it, and maybe the elders and the family head also have it. However, it seems to be deliberately avoiding such things. During the three winter and summer vacations, Kaoru either found excuses to stay in China and did not come back, or took advantage of Tianyu's relationship. It is simply impossible to find anyone. Although this is already a modern society. The girl who is engaged will not be completely regarded as another family member, but the marriage contract between Xun and Tianyu Zhengzheng itself is a bargaining chip for the Yuechi family to get closer to Gao Tianyuan. It's not good to overdo it.

So, two years have passed, and Xundi's path to university has not yet been decided. Now that he graduated from high school, he came back from Jianghai this time, in a sense. It should also be regarded as truly getting rid of China. arrive home. This feeling is naturally different from her feeling when she came back from winter vacation and summer vacation, but the problem is that Kaoru's feeling seems to be different.

Growing up together, Buntaro couldn't understand this girl like his own sister very well. Since the death of his mother, Kaoru's heart has been in a cold and autistic state, and he is indifferent to others, himself, and everything. Faintly, when he occasionally looked at that perfect face like a porcelain doll, it was inevitable that he would feel pity in his heart. But at that time, everyone was young, and he couldn't think about it, so he could only practice hard. One day, I will be able to help her and change something.

As the daughter of the family owner, Xun has not received any preferential treatment since she was a child, and her aptitude is not very good. When her mother died, her heart was closed. Every day is to practice and practice. This method of practicing harder than anyone else has not brought obvious results. Many times he even got himself covered in bruises and was reprimanded by the ninjutsu master. As the strongest among his peers, Buntaro sometimes wants to help Kaoru. But Kaoru's practice method is not wrong, and the degree of assiduousness is no less than anyone else's. As Buntaro who also believes in hard work and harvest, how can he make better suggestions? I can only think that Kaoru has no talent , but in any case, he is a model among this group of trainers after all, occasionally winning in the competition, and seeing the cold but slightly yearning gaze that Kaoru casts on him, can bring him great satisfaction. It was best that she envied him, and perhaps adored him.

Whether this kind of thinking is objective cannot be confirmed, but from the moment Kaoru defeated him two years ago, this dream collapsed. He couldn't tolerate this feeling, so he trained hard to get his reputation back. However, when Xun came back this time, he found that even the cold feeling of self-closing seemed to have changed a bit.

She still has that indifferent expression, and still maintains a slightly alienated attitude from everyone. She exercises every morning and eats with everyone. girly. After returning home, she made some small changes to the small yard where she lived in her spare time, which may be the most surprising thing to everyone.

As the daughter of the head of the family, the only difference between Kaoru and everyone else is that she has a separate small courtyard by herself. She used to live here with her mother. After her mother died, she was left alone as a girl. Yuechi Masaku didn't come here, and servants came to do simple cleaning every day. The yard is not too big. When the two mothers and daughters were together in the past, it was tidied up elegantly. After the woman who was the mother died, she gradually did not make too many decorations. Xun lived alone, and the house used was only two. The living room, the living room and her bedroom are simply furnished, better than nothing. The two trees in the yard have not been looked after for a long time, and all the fish in the small pond have died, but they have not turned into stinky puddles. Carrying some rubbish, which was used by Kaoru for training before, after she went to China, she never disposed of it. The rest of the rooms were almost all locked and dusty.

However, when she came back this time, she cleaned up the garbage in the yard silently on the second day, probably because she couldn't find the keys she had placed indiscriminately before. On the third day, she smashed the originally locked keys in the yard The door, and when people passed the small courtyard, they could see the figure of the girl knocking and reinstalling the lock inside.

As Tianyu Zhengzheng's fiancée, the current Xun naturally has a privileged status. However, when others asked her what she was going to do and whether she needed help from workers, she just shook her head indifferently. It was obvious that she was doing something right now. She doesn't want others to intervene. In the days that followed, the girl moved all kinds of furniture from the room to the yard by herself, and even emptied out her mother's bedroom. Once when Buntaro passed by, he saw a girl in a white top and a blue dress dragging a large cabinet out of the room. The empty cabinet looked big, but it was not heavy. The girl moved it to the yard and put it away. When looking back at the room, Buntaro suddenly had a feeling that some kind of indescribable longing seemed to be mixed in this beautiful face that still had no expression. This longing seemed to be the same as when she looked at him when she was a child, but At that time, his eyes were always cold and cold, but now this cold feeling has completely lost any negative emotions in it. He suddenly felt a little dazed. .

Perhaps she grew up and began to face up to her own life. he told himself so.

After the things were emptied, it took several days of cleaning and repairing. The girl wore a headscarf and a mask, and cleaned the dust and cobwebs all over the room. The old and damp tatami mats were replaced with new ones one by one. Don't hurry to rush to work. After working for a while every day, I sit on the porch and drink a cup of tea. It doesn't feel like doing tiring work that ordinary girls don't know how to do, but just a kind of leisure and pastime. , relaxed and comfortable, contented.

I almost renovated the inside and outside of the house, and then moved the furniture in one by one. These things are new and old, and the old ones have been carefully cleaned and repaired. After half a month, the whole yard seems to be empty. It has taken on a completely new look, just like when the mother and daughter lived here together. The weeds in the corners of the yard have also been pulled out, the garbage in the small pond has been fished up, and the water has been changed. With the addition of two lotus plants moved from the outside, there is a somewhat elegant atmosphere.

During this period, many people paid attention to the small courtyard, and secretly guessed that Kaoru had been working as a handyman for three years after going to China for three years. Tsukichi Masaku also came to see it, and probably thought that her daughter began to pay attention to the quality of life. He didn't say anything, anyway, he will be a member of Tian Yu's family in the future, as long as Tian Yu has no objections, everything is fine. Kaoru also went out a few times, bought some things and put them in the room, small electrical appliances, even a TV, and some comic books. She also practiced every day, but the time was not long. Strange Chinese boxing, running, etc., more often, just sitting in the yard thinking about things, quietly, not knowing what to expect.

It was only today that Buntaro finally knew what she had been cleaning and cleaning carefully for more than half a month, what kind of longing and anticipation it was...

Yiming, a Chinese boy of the same age as Xun, arrived at Yuechi's house with his simple luggage and lived in the room that Xun had carefully arranged. It was the largest bedroom in the small courtyard. It was Kaoru's deceased mother who lived there many years ago...