I transformed into a demonic spider lily.

"Blue, you didn't catch any prey again today, did you?"

Above the altar, where the bonfire was burning, six young children sat on stone benches. One of them, a girl with light green hair, excitedly pulled two fish from a wooden bucket beside her and said to the blue-haired girl who was less than half her height, "What a coincidence! I was lucky this afternoon and caught two extra fish at the bottom of the river."

"Fish, fish..."

The little girl named Lan stammered.

"Call me 'sister,' and I'll treat you to fish."

The girl with light green hair tried to seduce him.

"Fish are so cute, why eat them?"

Lan raised a fatal question.

"Sister Asagi, Ran is a mermaid and can't eat fish."

A girl with flaxen hair standing next to her reminded her.

"Oh no, I forgot about that again."

Asagi tapped her head lightly, then looked at the flaxen-haired girl and asked, "I didn't have time to prepare any other prey, Moegi, do you have any extra prey?"

"How could there possibly be?"

After saying that, Meng Huang looked at the two boys next to her. These two boys were also children, and they looked almost identical. The only difference was the color of their short hair. One had orange hair on top and green hair on the bottom, while the other had green hair on top and orange hair on the bottom.

"Orange, Green, what about you?"

Asagi asked the two boys.

"We only have venison from the day before yesterday."

The two boys, Orange and Green, picked up half a deer leg. After being roasted over the campfire, it was almost ready to eat, but it was still only big enough for one person to enjoy.

Their lives could be described as extremely impoverished.

"How about I give my share to Lan?"

A girl with short purple hair spoke to Asagi.

In her hand was a wild rabbit, which looked to have very little meat on it, even worse off than the two brothers above.

"Ah, ah~"

Seeing this, Asagi was troubled for a while, but finally decided to say to Orange and Green, "How about we exchange today? I'll give you my share, and you can give the venison to Blue. Blue has a natural resistance to fish, both psychologically and physiologically."

"……I see."

Orange and Green said in unison.

They chose to heed Asagi's advice without any dissatisfaction, and the atmosphere was very harmonious, with a touch of warmth from the burning campfire.

"If my brother were still here, we wouldn't have to worry about this kind of thing at all, or my sister, or even if everyone were still here..."

The atmosphere suddenly plummeted to freezing point when Asagi uttered those words.

Upon hearing this, Meng Huang lowered her head deeply and said, "My sister and brother left together. They didn't want to stay here alone."

"...Will my brother come back?"

Lan tugged at the hem of Qiancong's dress.

"Yes, they will definitely come back."

Asagi gritted her teeth and finally squatted down to hug Ran.

But the other children all looked away.

Toast, toast—

Just as they fell silent, footsteps suddenly came from below the steps of the altar. The person making no attempt to conceal it seemed to be telling the children that someone was coming.

Upon hearing the noise, the children panicked and tried to run away, but there was no time to spare. Asagi immediately stepped forward, and the children hid behind the other party. Although it was of little use, at least they felt calmer.

"Huh? Why are there only six?"

Under Asagi's tense gaze, two figures walked up the steps. One was a woman in white and crimson hakama, and the other was a woman in black with crimson accents. As she looked at them, she said the same words mentioned above.

Clearly, the two figures who walked up at this moment were Kikyo and Higanbana. The latter was very puzzled because she remembered that fifty years later, it was still these six half-demon children, and now it was them again. She didn't expect there to be more than a dozen here, but at least one or two more would be nice.

"Who...who are you?!"

Asagi asked.

The unfamiliar face she had never seen before made her instinctively wary, but then Asagi noticed that the shrine maiden in white robes and red hakama had a strong smell of blood on her, as if she had been through a difficult battle.

Thinking of the fact that the only demons on Hourai Island who could fight her were the Four Gods of War, Asagi lowered her guard slightly, at least judging that the other party was not an enemy.

and……

Since they are shrine maidens, they should not be bad people. Having received the shrine maiden's favor in the past, their initial goodwill towards the shrine maiden immediately rises to a friendly level.

Are you the only ones here?

The other shore flower's gaze swept over the group of half-demons before her.

"……Um."

The other half-demons didn't dare utter a sound when faced with the demon, Higanbana, except for Asagi, who shrank her neck and barely managed to give a reply.

Higanbana wanted to ask more questions, but Kikyo's body suddenly trembled. She quickly checked the situation and saw that the demonic energy and spiritual power remaining on the mark on the other's back were clashing and producing a corrosive effect.

"plz follow me!"

Noticing the mark on Kikyo's back, Asagi quickly ran down the steps, waved to Higanbana, and gestured for her to take the shrine maiden with her to a certain place.

Higanbana grabbed Kikyo's arm and followed Asagi in a princess carry. Although she didn't know Kikyo's intentions, she knew that Kikyo was harmless to her.

Upon arriving at a house in the village, they found a simple bed and some old cabinets nearby. Higanbana placed the bellflower on the bed and turned her head away. She saw Asagi rummaging through the cabinets, clearly looking for something, but unable to find it for a moment.

"What are you looking for?" the spider lily asked.

"Herbal medicine, this is my sister's room. She knows more about herbal medicine than we do. When we were injured, she was the one who helped us stop the bleeding and apply medicine. Although she has been gone for a long time, I remember that before she left, she told me that there were pre-prepared herbal medicines in her room that we could use."

As Asagi explained, she rummaged through the cabinets, finally looking up at the most conspicuous one, which she had to stand on tiptoe to reach.

Seeing this, Higanbana went over and helped Asagi open the cabinet. The unique scent of herbs immediately wafted out, and the latter quickly said, "This is it! Just apply it to that shrine maiden's back. Sister's herbs are very effective. I heard she learned them from another shrine maiden."

The red spider lily picked up the sealed herbs. She glanced at the bellflower lying on the bed, then said to the asparagus, "If it's alright, could you please leave for a moment?"

The following scenes may be unsuitable for children.

"Hmm." Asagi walked out, puzzled.

"Those children..."

After Asagi left the room, Kikyo sat up from the bed, clearly also curious about Asagi and the others.

"Don't move around."

"...No, no!"

The red spider lily sat down beside the bellflower and, ignoring the latter's resistance, directly removed her clothes; the blood-stained robe almost blended into her skin.

After her outer garment was removed, Kikyo didn't struggle. With her back to the spider lily, she covered her chest with her hands and whispered, "That scar is very unsightly..."

The red spider lily gently lifted the bellflower's robe, revealing her pure, translucent skin, as white as snow, torn open by four grotesque claw marks, the flesh and blood ripped open, even revealing her pale ribs.

"What are you still putting up with?!"

Upon seeing this, Higanbana's hand trembled slightly. Although she often used these hands to pass through other people's chests, she couldn't help but feel uneasy about Kikyo's injuries.

"Kikyo! If I didn't personally pull open your clothes, would you still not have told me?"

The red spider lily couldn't help but question the bellflower.

“…I’m sorry.” Kikyo lowered her head. She couldn’t find a reason to make excuses, so she could only apologize to the spider lily.

"Shouldn't you apologize to me? I don't care whether you live or die!"

The other shore flower was furious for a moment, but after she finished shouting those words, she finally calmed down and continued, "If you continue like this, I will never talk to you again for the rest of my life. Remember, a lifetime, not a day, not half a month, or even a season, but a lifetime where even if you cook for me, it won't make a difference!"

"sorry."

Kikyo didn't want the spider lily to worry, as she had already hindered it several times and didn't want to become a stumbling block on its path again because of herself.

"I told you not to apologize to me."

If you apologize again, I won't have any reason to get angry.

Then, the red spider lily unwrapped the sealed herbs. Knowing that the bellflower's injury couldn't be delayed, she gently scooped out a piece with her fingers and applied it to the latter's back.

Feeling the coolness from the fingertips of the spider lily, Kikyo couldn't help but tremble. It was a feeling she had never experienced before, a tingling sensation that spread deep into her heart.

Kikyo had never felt this way before...

"Ha~ Now you know it hurts? Serves you right."

Even so, the spider lily slowed down its movements, deliberately avoiding the area where the bellflower was seriously injured, and applied the medicine indirectly, hoping that the other party would suffer less pain.

After applying the medicine, Higanbana pulled a white ribbon from inside Kikyo's clothes. It was originally Kikyo's way of binding her chest, but it had been broken by the claws of the beast. There was also a roll of gauze for bandaging. So she said, "I knew you would carry something like this with you. But to be honest, I thought you wouldn't get hurt, so why would you carry something like this?"

"Actually, this is not gauze used for bandaging."

Kikyo offered a brief explanation.

"……what?"

"Of course, it can also be used for bandaging, but I didn't use it that way before."

"Completely incomprehensible."

The red spider lily couldn't understand what the bellflower was saying, so she lowered her head and carefully unwrapped the gauze, wrapping it around the wound on the latter's back until it was completely bandaged.

During this time, the other shore flower also said in a sarcastic tone, "What are you trying to hide in front of me? With your weak body, even if you posted it, it might not be 404."

"That's Miss Yukiji."

Today, Kikyo still couldn't understand what the other flower was saying, but she could tell that the other flower was talking about her figure. Even if she couldn't beat the other flower in terms of figure, she could still crush Yukiji.

"Oh, so you've learned to torment Yukiji too?"

The spider lily gave a wicked laugh, then tied a ribbon in Kikyo's back to form a bow. However, the four brightly colored scratch marks gradually made her smile fade. She gritted her teeth and said, "Four War Gods, I will never let those bastards get away with this."

"Um……"

Kikyo echoed in agreement.