My personal opinion on Gensokyo

Turning sideways, Ai opened the drawer of the TV cabinet under the TV, put the game controller and other things in it, and pushed the drawer closed.

Ai then turned on her heel once more and quietly made her way to the kitchen to start preparing breakfast for herself and Kaguya.

As the noise came from the kitchen, Kaguya, who was sleeping soundly on the tatami with her arms as a pillow, woke up in a daze.

Propping up her exhausted body, Her Royal Highness the Princess of the Moon City stretched without any grace, yawned loudly, sat down at the table with sleepy eyes, and waved drowsily towards the kitchen.

"Ai, Shang Yang, good morning... huh..."

"Good morning, Shang Yang hasn't come back yet."

Ai's faint response came from the kitchen.

"Oh, yes, I forgot..."

The princess, finally regaining some consciousness, rubbed her temples and began to think. Then, as if she had thought of something, Kaguya asked curiously in the direction of the kitchen.

"Shang Yang seemed to say that he was going to find two monster sisters living in Hell... Ai, do you think Shang Yang-kun will bring us back those 'sisters'?"

In the kitchen, Ai was so scared when she heard Kaguya say this that she almost dropped the bowl.

What are 'sisters'?

The black-haired girl complained in her heart about the princess's gossipmongering, then picked up the tray and walked out of the kitchen.

The tray contained Western breakfast items such as toast, milk, fried eggs, bacon and vegetable salad.

Putting the tray on the table, Ai was sitting down, picking up the toasted bread with fried eggs and bacon, and whispering to the curious Princess.

"Shang Yang has already told me what Kaguya said."

Seeing that Ai didn't have any interesting reaction, Her Royal Highness the Princess pouted unhappily, then turned her attention to breakfast and began to fill her stomach.

After breakfast, Kaguya and Ai cleaned up the dishes, and then Her Royal Highness the Princess comfortably got into the kotatsu, turned on the TV connected to the network a thousand years later, and started looking for anime to watch.

Before the princess could curl up in the kotatsu and enjoy herself on the soft and warm wool blanket, Kaguya's waist was supported from both sides by soft and white hands and she was pulled out of the kotatsu.

"Don't lie down while watching animations, your spine will be deformed."

Pulling out the princess who was curled up in the kotatsu, suppressing her unwilling resistance, Ai without hesitation made Kaguya, who was taller than herself, sit upright.

"...Why is Xiao Ai also like this?"

The princess, who was pulled out of the kotatsu and forced to sit up straight, pouted again, looking very dissatisfied.

"You two are becoming more and more like a couple."

"If you care about Kaguya, you will be like this."

Ignoring the princess's complaints, she retorted with a sentence similar to the gray-haired young man's, then climbed the stairs back to her room. After a while, the black-haired girl, having changed out of her warm cashmere pajamas at home and into a shirt and jacket that was easy to move in, walked down the stairs.

The girl's delicate white feet were covered with black knee-high socks. She didn't wear cotton shoes either. She walked through the corridor with her black knee-high socks on, sat down at the entrance, took out her own small casual sports shoes from the shoe cabinet and put them on.

Ai stood up, opened the door and was about to go out.

"Love, where are you going?"

Kaguya, noticing the movement in the corridor, pushed open the door to the living room, leaned out, and saw Ai about to go out. The princess asked curiously.

In Her Royal Highness's memory, the black-haired girl seemed to rarely go out alone.

"I'm going for a walk," Ai turned sideways and looked at the confused Kaguya, explaining softly, "I'll be back soon."

"Do you want me to accompany you?"

Her Royal Highness is very concerned.

"It's okay," the black-haired girl felt a warm current flowing through her heart when she heard the princess's caring words. A gentle smile appeared on her pretty face. To reassure the princess, she further explained, "I just wanted to go see the cherry tree."

Walking out of the hot spring villa, the black-haired girl walked alone along the rugged mountain road of Mount Yoshino, taking small steps towards the depths of Mount Yoshino.

Mount Yoshino is quiet and chilly in the morning. It is early spring in March. The sun shines on our bodies, and although there is a hint of warmth, it still cannot resist the coldness in the mountains.

Even so, the tender buds of grass and trees have emerged from the soil, bringing a touch of spring to the deep mountains that have experienced a long and cold winter.

However, the bitterly cold wind in the mountains had no effect on Ai. In fact, if she hadn't been concerned that her pajamas and cotton slippers would easily get dirty by the dust outside, Ai would have simply worn them and gone out.

The temperature and climate of the human world had nothing to do with the black-haired girl as early as fifty years ago.

For the immortal black-haired girl, fifty years ago meant "not long ago", but for Ai, she always had the illusion that the fire in Kyoto happened a thousand years ago.

Although, the feeling of love has not changed at all.

The immortal species has a long life and its soul is also immortal. Everything the immortal species has experienced and the emotions it remembers will be the same as it was at the time when it is recalled, no matter how long time has passed.

Deep in Mount Yoshino, there are cherry trees planted by Ai. They are the cherry saplings that Ai and Shang Yang brought back when they last went to Tang State. After decades of growth, the cherry saplings have grown into a cherry forest in the depths of Mount Yoshino.

When we came to the deep mountains, Ai saw from afar that green buds had grown on the branches of the cherry trees not far away, and they were full of vitality.

Ai walked slowly towards the cherry trees and carefully grasped a branch.

After carefully observing the green buds on the branches, the black-haired girl showed a look of joy.

"We'll have a lot of cherries this year."

Feeling delighted, Ai raised her soft, white hand, stretched out her round, tender, white index finger, and gently brought it close to her lips.

Phew.

The white teeth gently bit the tender white tip of the index finger. The black-haired girl frowned slightly and applied a little force to bite a small wound on the tender white tip of the index finger.

Bright crimson blood instantly gushed out from the bite wound.

Ai raised her bleeding white index finger and gently wiped it on the trunk of the largest cherry tree. A trail of blood appeared on the trunk of the cherry tree.

PS1: See if I can edit another chapter.

Volume 3: Above the Moon Sea: Chapter 68: The Cherry Demon Tree, a Little Anxiety

Something strange happened.

The bloodstains that Ai had smeared on the trunk of the cherry tree quickly disappeared with a sizzling sound, just like...

It's like the cherry tree is sucking the blood of love.

Seeing this scene, the black-haired girl looked calm. For Ai, this was just a common thing.

Then, the black-haired girl walked towards another cherry tree and wiped the trunk as well.

There was no sign of anything hanging from the trunk of the cherry tree.

After a moment of hesitation, Ai retracted her tender white index finger and looked at it. The wound that she had bitten had already recovered as before, and the index finger was still white and soft.

Forgot to bite it again...

Ai then remembered that her body had a very strong recovery ability and no matter what kind of injury she suffered, she could almost fully recover within seconds.

The black-haired girl has stained the cherry tree trunks with her blood many times over the past few decades. Each time, Ai would carefully smear her blood on each cherry tree trunk.

But for some reason today, Ai seemed a little absent-minded.

With a sigh, Ai Xiaobu walked to the center of the cherry forest. Then, the black-haired girl raised her fair right arm and gently stroked her fair right arm with her left hand. The snow-white skin of her right arm was immediately cut by the girl's sharp nails, and a large amount of blood instantly gushed out from the wound, flowing through the snow-white skin of her right arm and dripping onto the soil.

As the deep red blood of love dripped into the soil, a strange change occurred. All the cherry trees seemed to emit a blood-colored mist from their trunks, looking extremely weird.

The weird cherry tree.

After a few seconds, Ai put down her fair right arm, the wound on her snow-white skin having completely healed. Watching the cherry trees gradually return to their normal appearance, Ai nodded slightly, left the cherry forest, and continued along the rugged mountain road towards the top of Mount Yoshino.

These cherry trees were created by chance by the black-haired girl. In fact, they are also related to the Fujiwarakyo fire fifty years ago.

Back then, Ai dug out her damaged heart with her own hands and threw it into the deep pit where she was buried. She then stuffed Shang Yang's demon heart into her chest, abandoned her human body, and became an inhuman creature. Later, Ai was rescued from the abyss of hell by Shang Yang. When she left the burning Fujiwara-kyo, the girl found the broken heart she had when she was a human being and took it away from the deep palace of Fujiwara-kyo.

Love did not allow its human heart to remain in Fujiwara Palace and be buried with the burning palace.

Even if it is a heart that he no longer wants.

For the next few decades, Ai kept the broken heart in a pine box. Strangely enough, even after decades, although the heart was broken, there was no sign of decay.

This is understandable. When the girl was executed, her hatred for Emperor Jitō, her hatred for Fujiwara no Fuhito, her hatred for the royal family, and her hatred for the Fujiwara palace condensed into a huge resentment. This resentment has been condensed in this broken heart, keeping it from decaying for thousands of years.

Later, when she went to Tang State, Ai brought back several cherry tree saplings and planted them deep in the mountains of Yoshino. Then, the black-haired girl had a sudden idea and buried her broken heart in a wooden box next to the roots of the cherry saplings.

As a result, ordinary cherry trees turned into these strange cherry monster trees, which required the girl to feed them with her own blood once before each fruiting, so that they would bear cherry fruits with a blood-colored luster.

Ai really likes the cherry fruits produced by this cherry demon tree.

Later, the gray-haired young man who occasionally saw these cherry fruits was stunned, and in the following decades he also helped to take care of these cherry trees.

Apparently, the fruits of these cherry demon trees seem to have other uses for Shang Yang.

Yoshinoyama, the top of the mountain.

By the time the black-haired girl reached the top of Mount Yoshino, it was already morning. The severe cold that permeated the mountains had receded, and the climate had become a little more comfortable.

A chilly spring breeze blew, blowing away the girl's long black hair.

Raising her hand to tidy up her hair that was messed up by the wind, Ai's dark red eyes looked towards the old Fujiwara-kyo in the distance at the foot of Mount Yoshino. Of course, the old Kyoto is now a ghost city occupied by ghosts and monsters.

The black-haired girl stood silently on the mountain, gazing at the ruins of old Kyoto looming in the distance.

Sometimes, the current peaceful and happy life would make the black-haired girl feel a little unreal, but real life is indeed like this. If you count carefully, Ai and Shang Yang, these two young men and girls with a wonderful fate, have been together for more than fifty years.

To Ai, these fifty years or so were not a long time. Not only because she had become an immortal and had lost the sense of the passage of time, but more importantly, the girl felt that living with the young man made the passage of time pass particularly quickly.

The feeling of love has not changed at all.

She was still the girl who loved the young man with gray and messy hair from Tang Kingdom to the core.

No, perhaps a part of me has changed unconsciously.

The black-haired girl, who had already achieved the happy life she had longed for more than fifty years ago, only wanted to live a peaceful and happy daily life with the young man she loved and the princess of the Moon City forever.

No matter what happens in the future, the girl knows that she will always be with her sweetheart, and this feeling will never change.

However, although the girl has been surrounded by the young man's tenderness and the sweet happiness he brought her for more than fifty years, there is still a little uneasiness in her heart.

It can't be said to be uneasiness, but rather a little confusion.

This little confusion has always been hidden in the girl's heart, and she has never taken the initiative to mention it to the young man.

The girl wasn't worried that the young man would distance himself from her after she brought it up, and she didn't think so.

But the girl still cares more about her lover's feelings.

Thinking of this, Ai sighed softly, feeling a little lost.

She herself didn't know why. Shang Yang had gone out alone before, but this time when Shang Yang went out, Ai inexplicably felt uneasy.

The girl gently pressed her slender white hand on her chest, feeling the strong beating of the heart that originally belonged to the young man with gray hair, Yin Ling7, but now belonged to her.

The mountain wind blew up the dust, caressing the girl's beautiful face, which looked a little sad.

Ai subconsciously closed her eyes, raised her bare hands and rubbed them gently, then opened them again.

A cold touch suddenly spread across the soft white skin not far from the eyes.

Ai looked at her own slender white hands in confusion.

There was a trace of ice that was about to melt on the snow-white and soft skin.

Seeing this bit of ice debris, the black-haired girl raised her head and looked at the gloomy sky that had suddenly become overcast.

Snowflakes slowly fell from the cloudy sky.

Looking at the flying snowflakes, a hint of realization flashed in the black-haired girl's dark red eyes.

"Snowing……"

Volume 3: Above the Moon Sea: Chapter 69: Encounter, Help, Meeting

As the girl left the top of Yoshino Mountain and headed back to the hot spring resort, countless snowflakes drifted down. The heavy snow that began to grow heavier landed on the mountain forest, and the tall trees in the forest were covered with a thin layer of white snow.

This is a heavy snow in early spring and also the last heavy snow in this winter that is about to pass.

The weather in the mountains always seems to be unpredictable, but the changes in the weather have no effect on love. The girl still walks slowly along the rugged mountain road back to the hot spring resort deep in Mount Yoshino.

However, although the sudden heavy snowfall would not have any impact on love, it brought extremely troublesome situations to the farmers and people living in Mount Yoshino.

"Old man, what should I do..."

While walking on the rugged mountain road, the black-haired girl suddenly heard an old voice full of sorrow coming from afar.

The black-haired girl, somewhat confused and curious, walked through the deep mountains and forests, looking for the direction where the sound came from.