Ne touchez pas à mon homme

Chapitre 14

It's started again... without warning, the conversation between Xiao in her childhood and that mysterious boy...

Why is the scenery in front of me shaking again...? I'm perfectly lucid right now, I'm not dreaming...

Under the eaves of the courtyard, where honeysuckle vines hung, the shadows of Icefin and Akatsuki stretched and twisted with the invisible air, as eerie as a dreamer's fantasy. Faint shadows gently overlapped before my eyes—it was clearly Akatsuki from five years ago, assuming a not-yet-mature karate stance, fighting against another boy with utmost focus and strength.

I couldn't make out the opponent's face, but I could tell that his opponent was about the same age as me. Although I knew nothing about karate, I still felt that the child's methodical moves were not those of an eight or nine-year-old. Unlike the all-out effort of Akira, that child was like a cat effortlessly toying with its prey!

But why does it feel so familiar? The way the child's slender black hair swayed near his neck, the way those strands of deep black hair contrasted sharply with his overly pale skin, was so similar to that unfamiliar figure I saw in my dream!

A boy with a hard, resolute beauty, exuding an unapproachable arrogance like ice crystals; very long hair framing his forehead; a tall, imposing figure—"Red Leaf..." I unconsciously whispered that name... "I won't give up! Let's compete again tomorrow!"

You're leaving tomorrow.

"Oh right... I need to go back to my parents' place! But it's okay, we can go together!"

"..."

"Anyway, Icefin isn't nice to you, Firewing ignores you, and your parents aren't here, so it's fine if you come with me!"

"idiot."

“You’re the idiot…” Childhood Xiao clenched his fists, seemingly shouting the other person’s name, but his voice was drowned out by the waves of argument—those were the voices of Bingqi and Xiao beside me.

The illusion of five years ago twisted without warning, and the argument between Icefin, who was holding the latch, and Xiao rudely intruded. The space-time in front of me was like being manipulated by a broken remote control.

"It's all your fault!" That was Icefin's shout. "What does it have to do with me!" That was Akatsuki's blunt retort—why did it feel so familiar? This kind of argument...it seemed like it had happened before! What was the argument about? Just five years ago, on the very day Akatsuki left!

The phantom from five years ago relentlessly invades, like a malfunctioning television screen, endlessly switching between yesterday that has long since vanished and today that seems to have gone awry...

A sudden alarm bell rang in my mind. The truth I held onto suddenly began to tremble, like a small patch of blue sky reflected at the bottom of a well. There was an invisible glass wall in front of me, deliberately blocking something—it was taboo, something I absolutely could not think about… It was… taboo… The voice echoed repeatedly in my mind, but as if something was about to break free, my head throbbed with an almost numb pain…

The argument from five years ago, the argument now, the voices of silencing, and the timely, mournful meows of a cat... Stop... please stop...

Before I knew it, I was already walking towards Icefin and Akatsuki. But a sudden, intense dizziness washed over me, and the feeling of falling returned—exactly like last night's nightmare: I stared blankly upwards, plummeting into the despair of the well's bottom. The last thing I saw was the unreachable blue sky, the silhouette of the grass on the well's edge, and Akatsuki's face from my childhood. At that moment, I saw his expression incredulously—a look of fear, surprise, and pain—he was desperately reaching into the well, calling out someone's name, or rather, he was just uttering meaningless, sorrowful syllables—he wasn't calling for me…

Is it a dream? Will I wake up at the crucial moment? Or is this reality? Where will I fall? Will I become a sacrifice to the dragon god, sleeping at the bottom of a thousand-foot-deep well...?

Suddenly, the downward momentum stopped abruptly—someone grabbed my hand! It was a touch that couldn't be more real.

Looking up along her arm, I saw overly pale fingers and long bangs that almost obscured her eyes; deep within her almost alluring phoenix eyes, a faint, demonic golden-blue light flickered. Had she already grown to be about my age? When she sparred with Xiao, she was still a child—a face that should have never appeared in my life, so why did she possess such a natural and familiar air, like the passing of spring and autumn?

“Red Leaf…” I whispered the name. In an instant, the illusion of the well vanished, and I felt the solid ground beneath my feet. Above me, a soft, continuous rustling sound—I knew without looking that it was the gentle rustling of loquat leaves—was present. The well curb, polished smooth by time, was right beside me, and on the other side of the well, there was that slender figure, a figure whose familiarity and strangeness mingled with contradictions.

"Red Leaf! You're the Red Leaf, aren't you!" I called out again, my voice distorted. But he remained oblivious, his back to me, as if I weren't calling his name at all. I took a deep breath. "Please let Xiao go, Red Leaf! You don't even exist, do you? Xiao is bewitched by your illusion. No matter what you really are, he won't be free until you explain!"

A barely perceptible tremor, like a gentle breeze caressing a flower bud, passed through the red leaf. His long bangs swayed as he turned his beautiful, slender eyes. Why was there such a frozen look in those bewitching eyes, shrouded in a thin, golden-blue light? It was as if he were accusing me of lying…

Yes, I was indeed lying—Xiao wasn't the only one trapped in the labyrinth of memories, unable to escape; Mingming, and I were too…

"You still can't compare to Xiao." It was the first time I heard Hongye's voice after he grew up. Five years later, his voice had lost the delicate quality of his childhood. Although it wasn't deep, it was surprisingly cold and cold. "Your eyes can't see the truth."

I have eyes that can see into the other world, yet I cannot see the truth? What exactly is this so-called truth?

"Please... Red Leaf!" I slumped down against the loquat tree trunk, hugging my knees to hide my barely suppressed rage. "Who are you... Red Leaf..."

The wind brushed through the red leaves' hair, like an invisible caress. Across the well, the icy boy silently watched me, then slowly, very slowly, raised his arm. His slender fingers, already possessing a man's firm strength, casually traced an almost melancholic arc before fixing unwaveringly in one direction—where, in that shimmering golden-blue light, like the pupils of the red leaves, lay a place that would never harmonize with my family's courtyard, that frail maple tree!

"It's all Icefin's fault! You hit her on the head with the door bolt!" "Don't you even think about who caused this!" An anxious voice clearly entered my hazy consciousness, mixed with increasingly shrill meows. My eyes once again captured images of the real world—Icefin and Xiao frantically surrounding me.

“I know…the truth…” Slowly rising to my feet, I pushed aside Icefin and Dawn beside me and stepped into the cacophony of cats' mournful cries, like the desperate wailing of cicadas in the midsummer afternoon. Deep within the courtyard, already bathed in gentle sunlight, in that corner where the sun would never reach, lay the direction the red leaves pointed—that maple tree…

"Want to know who Red Leaf is?" Ignoring the dirt wetting my fingers, I started digging. My self-deprecating smile at that moment was perhaps as frantic as the cats' meows filling the courtyard. Because Red Leaf was right here, beneath the thin layer of soil, silently slumbering…

At this moment, Icefin and Xiao, who had been stunned by my strange behavior, came to their senses and hurried across the courtyard. They tried to pull my arm away, but their expressions changed when they saw what was buried in the soil under the maple tree—a faded, deep red brocade bag. From the decayed parts, small, pale, lime-like hard lumps were faintly visible. They were lifeless skeletons, reflecting the scorching sunlight in a desolate way.

“No wonder he wouldn’t respond when I called him Red Leaf… because Red Leaf isn’t even his name.” I bent down and gently touched the corpse hidden in the dim red brocade. “How could I forget it? I was so heartbroken when it died… and I was still regretting why I didn’t treat it better, why I didn’t give it a name like Xiao did…”

"This is... Hongye?" Xiao's voice trembled uncontrollably. "You mean... Hongye is dead? Don't be ridiculous, he was a boy! These are clearly animal remains!"

Yes, this is the "Red Leaf" that Xiao mentioned, but that was a name Xiao voluntarily gave it—unlike its kind who would avoid this old house haunted by ghosts, it appeared so proudly under the rose trellis in the courtyard, its pure black figure carrying an awe-inspiring, inviolable dignity, yet its golden-blue eyes held an indescribable loneliness. After we got to know each other, it became so docile, yet still cautiously perched on my lap. How could I forget it—the lost cat that suddenly appeared five years ago, wanting to approach humans, yet harboring helpless suspicion and apprehension!

Icefin's eyes widened in disbelief. He gently tugged at the hair on his forehead, as if the pain of uncovering the forbidden truth was indiscriminately descending upon him: "Strange... how could I have forgotten it completely? It's just that, the cat that drowned in the well back then! Firewing and I buried it here together. That was five years ago, the day Xiao left. Just like today, I even had a big fight with Xiao..."

Like a horse that has broken free of its reins, memories raced through five years—the well bed surrounded by a crowd, me crying, Icefin arguing incessantly while clutching Xiao's soaked clothes, and the small corpse abandoned to the side...

Damp, short black fur; golden-blue eyes devoid of their deep, fiery light; a cold body no longer able to respond to my calls…

I always called out "Come here" so casually, never thinking of giving it a proper name; I spoiled it by saving my own food for it, yet I teased it, treating it only as a precious toy. This is my Red Leaf... I covered my face in bewilderment—how could I forget? This sad memory from not long ago, like something stolen but unexpectedly returned, is presented to me so clearly!

But Xiao still couldn't accept Icefin's explanation. He violently pulled up the other's shirt: "How can you say that too! What cat! Red Leaf is a human! He's a human!"

Icefin stared into Xiao's eyes and coldly pried his fingers apart: "So do you still remember why we argued on the day you left? Do you still remember why Firewing cried back then?"

Xiao's pupils contracted instantly, and he stared blankly at his empty hands, bewildered and at a loss. Icefin calmly straightened her disheveled clothes, her voice carrying a subtle sharpness: "Because that day, you, soaking wet, were pulled out of the well along with the cat's corpse! It must have been you climbing that loquat tree recklessly, causing the cat on the tree to fall into the well too!"

"No!" Xiao shook his stiff red hair violently, denying it loudly. Perhaps it was because he couldn't forgive himself for killing that innocent cat that he subconsciously replaced the cat with a human image; but why can I also see the figure of the boy named Hongye?

Ignoring Akatsuki's pain, Icefin stepped forward: "Then tell me, what is the truth? Tell me!"

"Hongye is human!" Xiao shouted explosively, still stubbornly insisting. He ignored the icy gaze of the ice fins, bent down and grabbed the decaying brocade bag containing the bones. "You can't fool me... This... How could this possibly be Hongye!"

From the gaps in the remaining threads, pale bones fell in disarray, yet they trailed a golden-blue light—Ice Fin and I froze for a moment—and once again, that tall, aloof figure appeared…

From Icefin's expression, it was clear that he too felt a conflicted sense of familiarity with the unfamiliar boy's face, especially those demonic eyes that shimmered with a thin, golden-blue light. However, Xiao, clutching the brocade pouch tightly, seemed oblivious to the reason for our change in attitude, only shouting repeatedly, "What's wrong! Speak up, you lot!"

It turns out, Xiao can no longer see that person...

"Although he brought this upon himself by climbing that tree and falling into the well, this outcome was of my own choosing." The phantom of the cat boy, whom Akatsuki called Momiji, spoke in a deep, though not broad, voice, "because what falls into the well is a sacrifice to the Dragon God, and he must obtain a sacrifice, whether it is Akatsuki or me."

"Why..." I stared at the cat-boy's calm and indifferent face, "Why is this?"

"Because even you haven't seen the real me." The cat-boy slowly but arrogantly lowered his head. "Except... Akatsuki."

Besides Akatsuki? No wonder it appeared under my rose trellis five years ago, because it wanted to find someone who could see its true self! No wonder it always approached me with suspicion, saying with a cold expression that my eyes were useless, because even though I and Icefin have the ability to see through the other world, we are still no match for Akatsuki's simple intuition that sees the truth directly!

Not wanting the only person who knew the truth about him to die—that was the proud demon spirit boy's most thorough and purest thought!

But now the person he risked his life to bring back can no longer see him! Xiao frantically called out my and Bingqi's names, not understanding why we suddenly fell silent. He didn't possess eyes that could see people who no longer belonged to this world...

“I have dedicated myself to the Dragon God, along with… the memories of you all with me.” The cat-boy slowly shook his head, strands of black hair swaying across his forehead. “But why do you want to remember? Your longing will bind me, and I can no longer see you!”

A plaintive cat's meow suddenly escaped between the pauses in the boy's voice, like the urgent sound of a string, blaming and urging something. In an instant, an unprecedented look of surprise spread across the cat-boy's calm face, and a suffocating whisper escaped from his pale throat: "Dragon... God!" Instantly, Hongye's body radiated a strong golden-green light, as if the shadows were swallowed by the midday sun, and the light freely penetrated that slender, golden-blue crystal-like figure!

It's become transparent! Icefin and I both know very well: this is a sign of the undead disappearing—is the enraged dragon god punishing his disloyal servant!

"Red Leaf!" Ice Fin and I exclaimed at the same time. We reached out in vain to hold onto the boy's disappearing figure. However, at this moment, Xiao unexpectedly dropped the remains and used the branches hanging from the loquat tree to leap onto the top of the wall!

In those dazzlingly agile movements, Xiao reached out her arm towards the dark shadow hidden among the dense branches and green fruit, and from there came a heartbreakingly faint meow! The cat I had searched for two whole days without success was so easily located by Xiao. Rather than saying Xiao had extraordinary senses; it would be more accurate to say that the cat was simply waiting for Xiao to come!

The loquat tree branches rustled, and Xiao's figure suddenly disappeared from my and Bingqi's sight!

"You'll fall into the well!" Icefin reacted first, turning and running towards the courtyard gate leading to the well. Could it be the Dragon God's wrath? Has that dark fury already spread to Akatsuki? He wants to exploit the cracks in Akatsuki's heart, using a cat as bait to easily take Akatsuki's life! Following Icefin, I ran towards the well outside the wall…

God...please stop blaming them! Your punishment has been severe enough, for the people most important to them will never see them again...

"Then, we'll call you Little Black!" Xiao's excited voice came from inside the room, while Icefin beside him snorted disdainfully, "Does Xiao really think we'll give this cat to him?"

I smiled slightly—at that moment, when I saw Xiao's figure disappear from sight, my heart almost sank, but what came into view was this scene—leaning against the well railing, Xiao, with his dark skin, revealed his bright white teeth, making a victory sign with one hand, and in his other hand, a small kitten lay.

That must be a kitten that has recently been separated from its mother—short black fur, a proud expression, and those familiar, deep eyes that reflect a faint golden-blue light…

Was this your plan? You've been waiting for the day they'd reunite, haven't you—so gentle after all, the lonely dragon god who lives alone deep within the Well of a Thousand Abyss…

I turned to look at Icefin; his gaze had passed over the crimson shadows of the roses and quietly settled on the slender red maple in a corner of the dimly lit courtyard; on the surface of the freshly turned earth, Nadeshiko swayed gently beneath the snow. The dazzling sunlight made me squint.

The early summer midday sun still burned brightly and lonely, and in the room where no light reached, Xiao's energetic voice kept coming: "It's decided! Xiao Hei is the best name! Don't you think so, Hongye..." This call turned into a confused soliloquy the next second, "Who... am I calling...?"

"Bone Fantasy" (complete)

Strange Tales of Honeymoon Hotels

My great-aunt's behavior is truly unpredictable. She hadn't contacted us since my grandfather was still alive; in fact, our two families hadn't been in touch for decades. But just recently, she suddenly called to invite us to her wedding. We should have prepared a gift for such a joyous occasion, but she didn't mention the bride and groom at all. Even stranger, she told us younger relatives to attend, but deliberately excluded my grandmother.

At that time, my cousin Bingqi, who was a month younger than me, and I had just received our middle school entrance exam results. Getting into our school's high school was no problem, and our families had been planning to take us on a trip to relax. Coincidentally, my great-aunt lived in the picturesque water town of Wuque, and her family had run a guesthouse for generations, making it the perfect place to unwind. This time, my father took Bingqi and me—because my grandmother wasn't invited, and naturally, my mother and aunt couldn't go either; my uncle Chonghua kept complaining about how busy he was at the hospital and how envious he was of my father, who taught at a university and had holidays.

Icefin, however, kept saying that this matter was strange. This year there was a leap month, so the wedding date that my great-aunt mentioned happened to be around the Dragon Boat Festival. Who would choose to get married at this time? I didn't care about his words at all—Wuque Town is a famous honeymoon destination, attracting tourists from all over the world all year round. Some even come here specifically to hold weddings with a water town theme! As for me, I love seeing beautiful brides the most!

Wuque Town truly lived up to its reputation. We entered the town by awning boat. Two small rivers flowed through the town, one horizontally and one vertically. The "crossroads" where they intersected was the bustling center of the town. My great-aunt's guesthouse, "Zhefang," was located here, surrounded by water on two sides, with an excellent location.

After disembarking at the private dock of "Zhefang," we were greeted by a tall, robust, white-haired old gentleman. Watching him effortlessly carry his suitcase into the house, Bingqi and I secretly guessed that probably many young men in the city these days aren't as sturdy as him.

At first, we thought he was the owner, but it turned out he was just the "head chef." It turns out the owner of "Zhefang" had passed away a long time ago, and the person in charge was his wife, his great-aunt. Normally, the head chef shouldn't be out greeting customers, but even though it's the off-season, there are still quite a few honeymooners. Because the great-aunt's children all work in the city, the only person helping out is her granddaughter, "Musk," who's on summer vacation—they're severely understaffed. Since we're not outsiders, we didn't need to be so formal.

No wonder Icefin and I felt something was off when we arrived—there was absolutely no festive atmosphere for an upcoming wedding. Apparently, the shop was too busy and had to keep things simple. However, the head of the household was genuinely surprised when he saw the gifts my father presented. I really didn't understand what he was so surprised about—lotus and acacia flowers made by Grandma, symbolizing marital harmony; a pomegranate-patterned makeup box from Sashoji Temple; a Kagawa brocade with the design of a hundred sons achieving success, etc. While not particularly expensive, they were all appropriate gifts for newlyweds. Icefin and I even recited a lot of auspicious sayings as instructed by our families, but the head of the household stammered for a long time without responding, only telling us to deliver the gifts directly to the proprietress.

"Don't you find it strange, Firewing?" While Dad went to the inner room to see my great-aunt, Icefin whispered in my ear, "I heard from the head of the household that only my great-aunt and her granddaughter live here. Who is the one getting married?"

"Who knows!" I said nonchalantly. My great-aunt was my grandfather's cousin, right? My grandfather's relatives were always so strange! Who can blame him when my grandfather, who passed away a long time ago, was a weirdo himself? What's worse, Icefin and I inherited all of my grandfather's traits and always encountered all sorts of strange things.

As they were talking, Dad came out, looking confused. "Um... Icefin, come with me. Your great-aunt wants to see you. As for Firewing... you can go play by yourself."

"What kind of talk is that! It's so disrespectful!" Icefin gave me a troubled look, as if he wanted to say something. I ignored him and kicked aside the luggage in front of me: "What's so great about her! I don't even want to see her!"

Ignoring my father's scolding for my rudeness, I stormed out of the living room and wandered aimlessly along the old corridor of the "Zhefang" house. The aroma of cooking wafted from the kitchen in the backyard; it seemed dusk was approaching. The head of the household was probably preparing dinner for the guests returning from their sightseeing trip. Having nothing to do and curious about who was getting married, I decided to go find him and ask. As I fumbled my way to the kitchen in this unfamiliar building, a flash of red sleeve appeared around a dimly lit corner of the corridor.

Is that the bride's wedding dress? What a beautiful pomegranate color! And it's embroidered with such exquisite floral patterns. The person wearing this must be the bride! Overjoyed, I chased after that splash of red.

But when I reached the end of the corridor, I had to stop—it was a dead end! There was clearly no way to go, but I couldn't see the bride in red anywhere. Where had she gone? I looked around suspiciously, and then I caught a glimpse of a thin, bright red line drawn straight across the back of my foot—when did I get injured? It didn't hurt at all!

I gasped, taking a step back. The thin, scarlet line disappeared from the back of my foot, but stretched out on the dark floor like a wound constantly oozing blood. This "wound" extended to the smooth wooden wall. I stared intently before regaining my composure, patting my chest—it was startling! It was light shining through the crack of a double door!

I casually pushed open the door, and the setting sun streaming in through the west-facing window painted the entire room a vibrant red. However, I didn't find the sunlight particularly harsh, because a figure conveniently blocked the light from my view. Although I could only see a silhouette, the alluring profile and graceful figure holding a fan and gazing out the window clearly indicated a beautiful young woman.

.

So there was someone here! "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" I apologized repeatedly and prepared to leave the room, but then a thought struck me—could she be the bride from before? I turned my head and squinted, trying hard to see her face clearly: "Sister, are you going to be the bride?"

"Oh? Is this a proposal?" The beautiful woman leaning against the window slowly turned around. Because of the heat, she loosened the buttons of her diagonally-buttoned blouse, idly fanning herself, and lazily leaned against the windowsill. "It's nice to have such a heart, but I'm not interested in children!"

Only then did I realize that she wasn't wearing a red wedding dress, but rather a blue tie-dyed garment typical of the water towns. The pomegranate pattern, matching the shop's name, indicated that it was most likely the uniform of a maid at "Zhefang." The guests hadn't returned yet, giving the maids a brief respite from their busy schedules. Looking more closely at the room's furnishings, the dressing table and cabinets against the wall were also in the style of a maid's dressing room. If I wasn't mistaken, the beauty before me was likely my great-aunt's granddaughter—Musk Deer.

I quickly apologized, "You must be Sister Musky Life... I'm so sorry... I..."

"Oh? You know me? So you're from the Kagawa family?" Sister Musashi stood up. She was quite tall and had a great figure, walking with a graceful gait. But even when she reached me, she didn't stop. She just bent down and squinted at me. I wasn't used to the feeling of someone's breath on my face, so I couldn't help but take a step back: "What are you doing!"

Musky Sister let out a mocking chuckle: "What? Upon closer inspection, it's actually a girl!"

This older sister's behavior is really strange. Does she even need to scrutinize boys and girls so closely? But Sister Musky completely ignored my puzzled expression: "So you're my distant cousin now. Where's your brother?"

"Huh?" I didn't immediately realize who Sister Musk was referring to. Because Icefin and I always encountered strange things, my grandfather gave us nicknames that symbolized powerful mythical beasts, and raised us according to the old customs of Kagawa, hiding our genders. In particular, he forbade us from calling each other "siblings" in front of strangers of unknown origin, and only allowed us to call each other "Firewing" and "Icefin".

But, Sister Musk can't be considered a complete stranger, can he...? I nodded: "Icefin is with my great-aunt."

In an instant, an indescribable expression flashed across Sister Musk's face. I didn't understand the meaning of that expression, but I continued, "My great-aunt invited us to the wedding banquet. Are you the bride, Sister?"

"Don't even mention it!" Sister Musk's voice suddenly rose, and she violently tossed her long hair. "A bride? As soon as I'm off university, I have to come back here to take care of this old-fashioned shop. I don't even have time to find a boyfriend, let alone a bride!"

Although I was a little startled by her sudden anger, I still persisted and asked in a low voice, "So... who exactly is the bride?"