This Goddamn World

That last meal was a joyless affair, brought to a hasty end.

Shinji was no bleeding-heart saint. He had no idiotic notion that eating someone's food meant he had to avenge them. At most, he would leave a little extra money for the food and lodging when he left.

Hidan, meanwhile, didn't think anything the old man had said was even worth mentioning!

So his son had died. Big deal!

In this world, when did a day ever pass without someone dying?

After dinner, Shinji and Hidan returned to their room to rest. The old man's daughter-in-law took her child back to her parents' house, probably to avoid gossip.

Before they knew it, night had deepened.

Shinji suddenly opened his eyes, ready to slip out quietly.

To his surprise, someone was sitting outside the door, seemingly waiting specifically for him.

"It's late, young man. Where are you off to?"

"Hm? Were you waiting for me?"

Shinji was a little puzzled, but in the moonlight, the old man's face looked perfectly calm.

"You and that companion of yours are both ninja, aren't you?" Rather than answer Shinji's question, the old man posed one of his own, his tone certain.

"Our village is terribly out of the way. Even merchant caravans rarely pass through, so we don't see many unfamiliar faces. Not long after you entered the village, I hid myself and started watching you."

Shinji raised an eyebrow slightly. "Why?"

The old man sighed. "I was scared."

Shinji looked thoughtful, as though he had understood something.

Then the old man continued, "I wasn't sure whether your arrival would bring harm to this village. So even knowing you might be dangerous men, all I could do was approach you myself, ask a few questions, then pretend I knew nothing and bring you home."

"You were afraid that tragedy would happen again?"

"Ah, we'd finally managed a few peaceful years. Once bitten, twice shy. How could I not be afraid?"

"So you're here to stop me?" Shinji asked curiously.

"What could an old geezer like me possibly stop?" The old man shook his head. "I'm just taking a gamble."

"If I win, I go back to sleep. If I lose, I simply never wake up again. At my age, I've long since made my peace with that."

Shinji nodded. "No wonder you found an excuse to send your family away after dinner. You were afraid they'd get caught up in this?"

The old man said nothing. In truth, his original plan had been to keep these two outsiders settled, then take his daughter-in-law and grandson somewhere else to hide for a couple of days.

But it wasn't safe outside either. Wild beasts and bandits often prowled around.

One of them was old, another was a child, and the only young adult was a woman. If they really ran into wolves or tigers, they wouldn't survive.

Yet after spending these few hours with them and deliberately testing them several times, he had discovered that the situation might not be quite so bad.

The other fellow clearly looked like trouble, but the man before him had kept himself restrained and stopped his companion from lashing out several times. All of that proved this man could be reasoned with, and there was a fair chance he wasn't an indiscriminate killer.

That was why he had chosen to stay behind himself and find out what they wanted.

Age had only made him tougher. This was a man who understood things!

And he had guts!

That was Shinji's assessment of him.

The most fucked-up thing about this world was that ordinary people had no control over their own fate. It depended entirely on whether their "uninvited guests" came with goodwill or malice.

"Don't worry. I have no interest in this place. We'll leave once it's light."

"Then this old man can rest easy. Oh dear, look how late it is. Time for bed, time for bed."

Only after receiving that reassuring answer did the old man finally breathe a sigh of relief.

As for why the man had suddenly come out so late at night,

or what he was going to do, the old man didn't ask and had no desire to know. How could he not understand that the more you knew, the sooner you died?

All he needed was to make sure the man meant them no harm. That was enough to leave him perfectly satisfied.

But just then, Shinji suddenly asked, "Was that story you told tonight true?"

"Every word."

"Then do you hate those ninja? Or have you ever thought about getting revenge?"

"At my age, does it matter whether I hate them? Who could an old geezer like me possibly fight to the death, dragging a widow and her child along?"

The old man gave a bitter smile, then continued, "I've never thought about revenge. I wouldn't dare. All I want now is to spend my remaining years in peace and help look after the child as he grows up."

"I understand."

Shinji nodded gently, then left in a certain direction.

As the old man watched Shinji's retreating figure, a flicker of pain passed through his eyes.

Clearly, the grief of losing his son was nowhere near as easy to brush aside as he had just made it sound.

But no matter how much pain and resentment he felt, what could he do?

Afterward, the old man had indeed made discreet inquiries here and there and learned who those ninja were. But then what?

Of the two groups of ninja who had brought devastation upon the village, one had been Kirigakure spies from the Land of Water, and the other had been Konoha Ninja who had pursued their enemies here.

And the enormous fireball that killed his son had been unleashed by a Konoha Ninja trying to kill the enemy and protect his comrades!

His son had been accidentally killed in the crossfire by the ninja who guarded their own country. As a citizen of the Land of Fire, what could an old geezer like him do?

The compensation afterward had amounted to help rebuilding the village, along with some money and food.

And those who had died... remained dead.

That was war!

So they never even dared to think of revenge.

All they felt toward ninja was fear. Nothing else.

Even setting all that aside, who was he supposed to take revenge on?

The Kirigakure Ninja who had happened to flee here?

Or the Konoha Ninja whose fireball had accidentally killed his son?

From the former's perspective, it was wartime, and the two sides were enemies. Naturally, they wouldn't care whether villagers in an enemy country lived or died.

From the latter's perspective, facing an enemy meant going all out. If he held back for fear of harming bystanders, he might instead get his comrades-or even himself-killed!

Seen that way, it seemed no one was in the wrong.

Then who was really to blame?

Perhaps... it was this goddamn world!

"The moon is so full tonight..."

"Get out of my way! You're blocking me."

The old man had barely looked up and voiced his heartfelt admiration when he heard a door open behind him, followed by that rude command to move.

He shuddered in fright and hurriedly turned around, only to see Hidan's corpse-like face, looking as though he had just come back from a funeral feast.

"You... came out too?" The old man quickly put on a smile as he asked.

He had suddenly realized a serious problem: the "tiger" whose authority this fox had been borrowing... had just gone out and wasn't here!

Without that "tiger" to hold things in check, how was an old fox with no fighting strength supposed to face a wild wolf that had already been itching to slaughter him?

I'm done for!

Better back down and say something nice, quick. This fellow really doesn't look too bright. Maybe I can fool him.

Yet, to the old man's surprise, Hidan seemed to have no interest in him at all.

"You two stood outside the door yapping for ages. You think I'm deaf? Hurry up and move. Which way did he go?" Hidan demanded, utterly impatient.

The old man promptly sold Shinji out, pointing in one direction. "That way!"

"Say I'm stupid again and I'll kill your whole family. Got it?"

After shooting him a vicious glare, Hidan hurried after Shinji, his figure quickly disappearing into the night.

The old man wiped the cold sweat from his forehead after that warning. Then, as though something had suddenly occurred to him, he gritted his teeth, turned, and headed outside too.