Shion was a little uncomfortable being looked at like this, but after all, curiosity overcame the embarrassment.
She simply took the rice ball, sat down on the stone on the other side of Ning Xue, and then stared closely at the half mask on Ning Xue's face.
"... Why are you wearing a mask?"
She finally asked, her tone less angry than before and more pure bewilderment.
"You don't even take it off to eat... isn't it troublesome?"
Ning Xue swallowed the food in his mouth and explained casually, "Personal habits."
But this explanation failed to satisfy the curious miko.
She curled her lips and muttered, "Mysterious..."
Ning Xue didn't answer the call and just continued eating rice balls quietly.
In this way, the atmosphere fell into stagnation for a while. After a while, Ning Xue took the initiative to speak, breaking the silence, and asked a question that he was more curious about.
"What is your prediction... specifically?" He turned to look at Shion.
"Is it bound to happen, or... just a possibility?"
Shion I didn't expect him to speak first, let alone ask this question.
When the prophecy was mentioned, she couldn't help but look negative.
She lowered her head, looked at her toes, remained silent for a while, and then slowly spoke.
"What I saw... was the appearance of death." Her voice was very soft, with a kind of heaviness that was inconsistent with her age.
"When a person is close to me, or I have a deep interaction with him, sometimes I will suddenly see the picture of death in the future.
It was very clear, as if it really happened before my eyes... But apart from the picture, I couldn't perceive anything else, and I didn't know the specific time or place, only the ending."
There was a pause at this point, and the hand holding the rice ball clenched unconsciously.
"In the past, I tried reminding and trying to change... but it was useless. The prophesied pictures would always come true in various ways. It was like being pushed by an invisible hand. No matter how hard I struggled, I would slide towards the predetermined end point."
She raised her head, looked in the direction of the shrine, and continued talking.
"But this morning... I saw Ashitaba again, and there were several guards... if they followed, they would all die."
Ning Xue was sitting on the other side, listening quietly to Shion's story, his expression under the mask was not clear.
His mind began to think.
According to the literal description, his ability to see the appearance of death is more like a law of cause and effect?
Let me tell you the result first. As for the reason, is it like automatic completion?
But why can he change? Is it because he is not the person in the original plot?
He thought of the people who survived yesterday because of his intervention.
He was reborn, so he shouldn't be able to interfere. After all, his body belongs to this world. If it wasn't his body, it would be his soul.
"You said that this morning to drive them away, to take the risk on your own and change the death scene you saw?"
Ning Xue gave up thinking and continued to ask, and he hit the nail on the head.
Shion didn't deny it when he heard this, he just said softly "Yeah".
I know they won't listen... but at least, keep them away from danger, maybe..."
There was deep powerlessness in her words.
"They are still behind." Ning Xue suddenly said, breaking her gradually depressed thoughts.
Shion looked sharply at Ning Xue.
"What?"
"Your guards." Ning Xue pointed in the direction from which he came.
"They have been following us not long after we set off. But with their foot strength, I'm afraid they have been far away now."
Shion After hearing this, the blood on her face quickly faded. She stood up suddenly and looked towards the distant jungle.
At the same time, in the jungle.
Ashitaba wiped the sweat from his forehead and his chest heaved violently.
Behind him were several guards with swords.
But the faces of these guards were full of exhaustion at this moment. They had already exhausted their physical strength after running for a long time.
"Ashitaba Master... can we... really be able to keep up?" A young guard gasped, his voice hoarse.
Ashitaba didn't answer immediately. How could he not know? With their speed, how could they catch up with a ninja?
Only the belief in protecting the witch supported him to move forward.
"... rest for a quarter of an hour." Ashitaba's voice was low and firm.
"Then, continue."
Beside the stream...
"They... still came." Shion's voice was trembling, and he sat back on the stone. The rice ball in his hand seemed to have lost all its flavor.
"I knew... I knew they would do this... Why don't they always listen?"