newbobooks Chapter 21 Epilogue After the Nightmare Ends (1)
Chapter 21 Epilogue After the Nightmare Ends (1)
"Ah! Where am I...?"
Ming's consciousness awoke amidst a sea of flowers. The moment he opened his eyes, he saw a very quiet, peaceful, and fragrant flower field, as holy and serene as the Garden of Eden described in the Bible, unfolding before him.
"Huh? Where is this..." Ming stood up and wandered aimlessly through the sea of flowers, searching in confusion.
Gradually, Ming unconsciously arrived at the depths of the sea of flowers, as if something was attracting him and making him keep walking forward.
Finally, Ming arrived at the pure white church in the middle of the sea of flowers.
The church was like a building from a fairy tale, making people feel incredibly at ease and sweeping away their anxiety. Out of curiosity, Ming walked up, gently pushed open the door, and entered the church.
As soon as Ming entered the church, his gaze was immediately drawn to what was in front of him. There, a figure stood with his back to him, a figure so familiar that Ming couldn't help but stop in his tracks.
The figure was a chestnut-haired girl, probably around 15 years old, with double braids. She was wearing a black school uniform that seemed out of place in the church setting, and was looking up at the church's skylight, as if waiting for someone.
Ming stared at the girl before him, momentarily lost in thought. After a while, he softly called her name.
"Sawa...is that you?"
Hearing Ming call her name, the girl turned around with a smile, her amber eyes filled with tenderness as she met Ming's gaze. The atmosphere in the church became quiet. It was Sawa who spoke first:
"Ming, you're here~" Sawa's voice was clear and melodious, like heavenly music.
Ming thought to himself, 'Sawa...is it really you? Didn't you already...?'
He was so excited that he could hardly speak, but his body kept moving forward, and his eyes unconsciously became moist, as if tears could flow at any moment.
Just as Ming slowly approached and reached out his left hand to touch Shahe once more, suddenly, a fire broke out and turned the church into ruins in the blink of an eye.
Ming watched this scene in horror, and then saw that the veil in front of him was instantly engulfed in flames, turning into a roaring [Refinement] failure [Elf] standing in front of him.
"Aaaaaahh ...
"Sawa, no!" Her body was gradually consumed by the flames, as if every inch of her skin was being roasted on a grill.
Feeling the pain, Ming screamed and woke up from his desk in the back row. It was already time for school to end. The crimson sunset shone on Ming's desk in the back row and on his face. He had lost count of how many times tears had welled up in his eyes. His cloudy black pupils and the black spots on his right eye, which was covered by a medical eye patch, made him feel as if he was about to shatter at any moment.
"Am I... asleep again?" Ming, who had just woken up, rubbed his already wet eyes and looked around the classroom, which was now empty because everyone had gone home early after finishing their graduation exams. After confirming that no one was there, he pulled up his school uniform collar and looked around.
Then, the burn mark on the chest where the attack occurred in the dream appeared, and the inscription simply blinked as if it were nothing out of the ordinary, and the burn mark disappeared.
"Sure enough, ever since Sawa left, my body always sees her again when I sleep, and then she hurts me. It's been three days already. I haven't slept for almost two days in order to prevent this scene from happening again during my graduation exam today."
Ming tilted his head back and muttered to himself in the empty classroom, like a priest in prayer, trying to enumerate his sins, but he could never help but think of that girl.
'This might be... punishment for not protecting him properly.' Ming thought to himself, squatted down, put the items from the drawer into his handbag, and prepared to leave.
As Ming stood up to leave, he inadvertently saw the seat where Sawa had been sitting, as if she were still in the world smiling at him and inviting him to leave school together. But every time Ming was about to get close, her shadow would disappear.
At this time, Ming's body would tremble, and the flames called "Cruelty" would burn him at high speed. He felt empty inside. Ming didn't know why, but this feeling was new to him, yet it made him feel extremely uncomfortable.
After a while, Ming walked out of the campus and quietly walked alone on the path home. But the person who had accompanied him was no longer by his side, leaving Ming alone to walk alone.
Slowly, Ming walked to the door of the mountain house that held so many childhood memories for him, and then pushed open the door and walked in.
"Is this... Brother Ming... Are you here to help Shahe again?" As soon as I walked in, a gentle voice mixed with a lot of fatigue came to me.
Hearing this tired voice, Ming glanced ahead and saw Yamada Saori standing in front of him, her face now full of wrinkles and her hair turned white in just three days.
"It's alright. I also had my reasons for going home early that day. As long as you don't mind, I can come here to help until we find the missing Saho," Ming said with a forced smile.
On the morning of the first day after Sawa disappeared, Uncle Iwahira and Aunt Saori came to the Okamine house together and asked at the door if they had seen Sawa the day before. Because he couldn't tell the truth, Mei had to lie and say that he left early the day before because Kurumi would be going home with her. And coincidentally, Kurumi also disappeared the day before.
After school, Ming walked past Shan Da's house on the way home and instinctively went in. Seeing how depressed they all looked, he offered to come over every day to help ease their sadness, since he had experienced it firsthand himself.
Later, although Uncle Iwahira felt bitter, he did not refuse and worked with Aunt Saori here.
"Thank you very much, little brother Ming." Although Aunt Saori felt bitter, she still managed to force a thank you to Ming.
Upon hearing this, Ming nodded slightly and then began to help with the work. Only when he was working could Ming feel a sense of fulfillment and the illusion that Shahe was still by his side, which made him feel at ease.
Time flies, and it was already 10 p.m. Ming finished all his work, said goodbye to Aunt Saori, and left the mountain house, exhausted.
Under the moonlight, Ming walked alone on the quiet street, his fists clenched slightly. He recalled Mio's particularly ugly smile back then, and his nerves, which had finally calmed down due to the pressure of work, tightened again.
"So, my power isn't enough after all? If I only have... the power of an elf, it's not enough... To become stronger, I can only..."
As Ming was thinking this, he unknowingly walked back to the entrance of Gangfeng Mansion, picked up his handbag, and was about to go back to his room.
"Wait, elder brother!" Just as Ming was about to walk back to his room, his younger brother, Kotaro Okamine, called out to him.
Upon hearing the sound, Ming turned his head, his face reverting to a cold expression, and looked at Kotaro, saying in a detached tone:
"what's up?"
Seeing Ming's still indifferent face, Kotaro's expression faltered slightly before he said, "Brother, this is a letter from Father in Tokyo. He says that your plan to go to high school in England has been settled."
A flicker of joy flashed in Ming's eyes, but it quickly returned to its coldness. He reached out and took the letter, saying:
"I understand," Ming said calmly, turning to go back to his room.
As soon as he returned to his room, Ming locked the door, tore open the letter packaging, pulled out the letter paper, and began to read it.
“Xiao Ming, ever since you came back the day before yesterday, you’ve been telling me and your mother that you don’t want to continue attending Lai Chan High School anymore, but instead want to study in the UK.”
"Although we don't know what happened to you, we checked and found that two spacequakes occurred in your area the day before yesterday... The name of the girl named Nayama Uchisawa was among them. Is that why you chose to give up staying in Japan? Or is it something else? We don't understand, but you must have been very sad when you wrote to me back then. Even we didn't know whether we should agree with your idea for a while."
"However, after much deliberation, I have agreed. From the day you were born, Orihime and I promised that we would ensure you live a free and happy life. So we made a deal with a partner in England. You just need to fly to England two days before the end of summer vacation, and we will take care of your school enrollment..."
Ming looked at the letter in his hand and felt a little moved. He could also see in the letter the complex emotions that Wu Yilang felt when he wrote it, including his worries and struggles, and how he finally reluctantly agreed.
After reading it, Ming sat cross-legged on the bed. He wanted to reply, but for a moment he didn't know what to write. In the end, he only managed to write a short sentence at the bottom of the envelope:
"Thank you, Father..."