"Ah... it's nothing... some sand got in my eyes..."
The sky hung unusually low, dark clouds covering it like a tattered net.
Yuya's maids waited outside Princess Kaguya's great hall as usual.
They laughed and teased one another, full of anticipation.
Their eyes strayed toward the hall from time to time,
waiting for that perfect figure, like an immortal descended to earth, to appear.
And when he finally came into view,
a smile rose to every last pair of lips.
Seeing that figure of peerless grace had always been their greatest joy.
They went to greet him as usual.
He approached them,
his sleeves fluttering, his posture even straighter, his white robes purer than snow.
But when he passed them, he did not pause at all.
He simply walked straight past.
At the same time, as he passed, an intangible atmosphere settled over them.
Every maid felt her chest tighten for no apparent reason.
The words already on their lips were forcibly swallowed.
Everything around them was quiet,
so quiet that they could hear only his footsteps,
receding farther and farther away.
They simply stared blankly as he passed before their eyes.
In that moment, they seemed to have lost even the ability to speak.
"Huh... why are you crying?"
"You too... why are you crying too..."
Only after he had walked far away
did all the maids belatedly realize
that two trails of clear tears had slipped down their cheeks without them noticing.
"I don't know. Looking at His Highness the Crown Prince's back just made me feel a little sad."
One maid shook her head.
Yuya's emotions had unwittingly affected them.
As they watched his slight figure, they suddenly felt a sense of loneliness.
He was all alone,
as though he had set foot on a road cut off from the world.
No one knew where that road led.
Yuya's vision blurred for a moment.
He had no idea how he had made it all this way.
It was as though all the strength in his body had been stripped away at that moment.
For a time, he felt as though he had lost his pillar of support.
The text appearing before his eyes,
the cold ticking of the countdown to Princess Kaguya's death...
and that maid's words kept echoing in his ears,
lingering without fading.
He recalled scene after scene from his time with Princess Kaguya,
those memories sealed deep within his mind.
"Stop bawling. Cry again and I'll throw you out."
The woman threatened him fiercely.
"Waaah, waaah~"
But all she got in return was louder crying from the child in her arms.
Her lovely brows knitted together,
but she did not actually throw the child away.
Suddenly, she changed the way she held him.
Sure enough, the child in her arms immediately stopped crying
and began looking at her with a silly giggle.
"So that's how it works..."
She murmured to herself.
Having never held a child before, she learned how to hold Yuya for the first time.
"Are you going to eat or not?"
The woman asked.
"Abba, abba~"
"Enough babbling. Eat your food!"
"Abba, abba~"
The child shook his head like a rattle drum.
"Hmm? So you haven't grown any teeth yet?"
At a loss, the woman looked at her own chest for a while, considering it,
then immediately shook her head
and began chewing the food before feeding it to him.
This was how she had fed Yuya his first meal.
"Why aren't you asleep yet?"
The woman asked impatiently.
It was late at night.
The child was brimming with energy, his eyes as wide as brass bells,
showing no sign of sleepiness.
The woman thought back to her own childhood.
"Let me tell you a story."
She held the child in her arms.
"Hmm? Why do you like burrowing into my chest?"
The woman was puzzled, but did not give it much thought.
After all, what ulterior motives could a little child possibly have?
"Once upon a time..."
As the woman's voice slowly filled the room,
the child finally drifted off to sleep.
This was the first time she had coaxed Yuya to sleep.
From then on, she told him this story every day.
Those were the first few months after Princess Kaguya had found Yuya.
His conscious mind still could not suppress his infant instincts.
It had led to many incidents that left one unsure whether to laugh or cry,
a time of little regrets, pain, and happiness.
Thinking back now, he realized there had been so many details he had once overlooked.
Yuya's vision grew blurry, and his nose suddenly stung.
It felt as though something had built up inside his heart, oppressing him until it hurt.
"Mother, Mother, I want those candied hawthorns..."
"All right, I'll buy them for you."
A mother and son passed by them.
"Strange. Why have I never seen little Yuya make a fuss?"
The woman muttered softly.
The child before her had grown bigger.
Only a few months had passed, yet it felt as though a year had gone by.
He already looked nearly three or four years old.
He was growing ever more beautiful,
delicate as carved jade, exquisitely pretty beyond belief.
Yet he was also exceptionally well-behaved.
The little boy simply held her hand quietly, neither fussing nor making a scene.
"Wait here for a moment."
The woman said.
The child obediently nodded and waited quietly where he was, without asking why.
Soon, the woman returned,
carrying armfuls of candied hawthorns and toys,
and stuffed them all into the child's arms.
The woman nodded in satisfaction,
not noticing the child's utterly speechless expression.
"Do you like them?"
The woman asked.
"I do..."
"Do you know when to come back?"
The woman straightened the young man's clothes.
The child of those days had already grown into a graceful, handsome youth.
He had grown increasingly tall and straight,
his features refined and striking.
The woman arranged his clothes until they were immaculate.
This was her young man.
But he was spending more and more time away...
"I know..."
The young man nodded,
though a flicker of impatience crossed his eyes, which he concealed well.
"Go on."
But how could the woman, who knew him so well, fail to notice?
She said no more
and let him leave.
After he left, however, she still could not rest easy.
At first, she worried that he might encounter danger
and would always follow him secretly.
Later, she would always watch him secretly with her Byakugan
until she was truly certain
that her young man was so outstanding...
He had grown into someone adored by countless girls...
From then on,
she began sitting alone in her rocking chair,
humming the little tune the young man had given her,
waiting day after day for his return...
There had never been any need to deepen her connection with the God Tree during the day...
That was only the woman settling for less after sensing his annoyance.
As all of Princess Kaguya's emotions and thoughts from that time flowed through their bond,
the feelings bottled up in his heart could no longer be contained,
and his tears all but burst their banks.
Yuya slumped on the floor with his back against the wall,
as all the little details he had once overlooked echoed through his mind...
She had known everything all along,
yet she had never said a word...
Without him even realizing it, Princess Kaguya's love for him had seeped into her very bones.
But her temperament, her domineering nature, her pride,
had made her bury all of it deep within her heart.
She had acted as though she couldn't care less, as though none of it ever mattered.
He stared at the text floating before his eyes,
at the countdown that kept ticking away.
[Warning: your bonded companion, Kaguya Otsutsuki, is being consumed by an unknown energy] [Time until complete consumption: 1 year, 105 days, 7 hours, 27 minutes, 17 seconds]
"Princess Kaguya..."
"How could I live without Princess Kaguya..."
Yuya choked up, his voice hoarse, unable to contain his emotions.
Before you continue