Supernatural/Anime Crossover: Where Did My Romantic Comedy Go?

In the end, it turned into ashes and disappeared with the night wind.

Kujo Toru did not stop it, because he was quite familiar with the technique of this arrow.

Looking in the direction the arrow had traveled.

A figure dressed in a white shrine maiden robe and crimson hakama stood there, slowly retracting the wabi-jutsu in her hand.

The shrine maiden was hunched over, her face etched with wrinkles from the passage of time, and she was looking at Kujo Toru with a complex expression in her eyes.

Although things have changed and it's hard to recognize her now, Toru Kujo still saw the familiar features of her from her youth on her face.

Didn't realize so much time had passed?

Kujo Toru felt a pang of sadness.

Not long ago, the two were fighting side by side against the Ama-no-Kurakumo, but when they met again, they were already very old.

It will more or less evoke feelings of nostalgia for the past.

In this light, it's quite normal that the spiritual energy in that Demon-Slaying Arrow was much weaker than before.

After all, it's hard to expect someone who has aged to this extent to stay at their peak.

The priestess seemed to share the same sentiment, and sighed softly:

"Fifty years have passed, and Lord Kujo, you still look exactly the same as you did back then."

"Has so many years really passed in the blink of an eye?"

Kujo Toru calculated very quickly. When he first came here, it was the fifth year of Eishō. Counting back fifty years, that would be the first year of Eiroku.

In two years, a certain sixth-day demon king will defeat the number one archer of the Tokaido in Okehazama.

Shaking his head, putting those matters behind him, Kujo Toru decided to first catch up with an old friend:

"You've aged a lot. How have you been these past few years, Kikyo?"

"Huh?" The elderly shrine maiden looked on in surprise. "Lord Kujo, you must have mistaken me for someone else. I am Kaede!"

"what?"

Kujo Toru narrowed his eyes, unable to reconcile the image of the little girl in the pale yellow kimono who disliked him from years ago with the shrine maiden before him.

Volume 1: Chapter 215 (4K) A Seventy-Year-Old Woman Actually Applys Makeup in Front of the Mirror

"I'm sorry I didn't recognize you just now."

The two strolled side by side through the forest, and even now, Kujo Toru still finds it hard to accept the fact that the shrine maiden beside him is actually Kaede.

Even though age and aging can indeed have a significant impact on a person, but...

Looking at Feng again, Kujo Toru recalled how she hadn't even reached his waist back then, and felt an urge to sigh.

"Lord Kujo, are you thinking about something very rude?"

Feng, who had become a grandmother, was very perceptive. Carrying He Gong on her back, she suddenly turned her head and glanced at him.

Kujo Toru's expression remained completely unchanged.

"No, I was just wondering if you were cursed during a battle with a monster."

“A curse?” Although she didn’t know why Kujo Toru suddenly thought of this, Kaede still fell into deep thought:

"I don't think so. After all, Kikyo-nee has defeated most of the powerful monsters in the area over the years. I usually just deal with the small monsters that I missed just now."

"Why are you suddenly asking this? Is there something wrong with me?"

Feng's expression turned serious.

She knew about Kujo Toru's abilities.

If a curse had been lurking within you for so long without being discovered, it would be quite normal for him to find it out eventually.

But when exactly?

Feng has begun to recall the monsters he has encountered in the past, carefully screening the possibilities among them.

Then she heard Kujo Toru say in an extremely relaxed tone:

"There's no curse, I'm just asking."

If there is no curse, then why would Lord Kujo ask this question?

Feng pondered for a moment, then his eyes narrowed as he considered a possibility:

"Lord Kujo, you don't actually think that my current appearance is due to a curse that has caused my face to become unrecognizable, do you?"

"..."

"Don't stay silent now!"

The wrinkles on Feng's face deepened even more.

After fifty years of trials and tribulations, she had long since shed her youthful naiveté and become a respected and composed shaman in the village.

He has always remained calm in the face of adversity.

But at this moment, she seemed to have transformed back into that little girl who used to run around everywhere.

Following closely beside Kujo Toru, she chattered incessantly to him:

"You really are going a bit too far. People look very different when they get old compared to when they were young..."

Step out of the forest.

A village sits at the foot of a mountain, with dozens of wooden houses scattered around.

Moonlight streamed down, and the river flowed around both sides.

The air was very quiet, and a peaceful and serene atmosphere enveloped the village.

"Compared to back then, the terrain around here has changed quite a bit."

Kujo Toru followed behind Kaede, walking along a seemingly random mountain path towards the shrine behind the village.

After looking around at the surrounding scenery, I regretfully couldn't match it with my memory.

"Over the past fifty years, the situation has become increasingly chaotic, wars have become more frequent, and the terrain has been greatly damaged by the invading monsters."

Feng gave a simple explanation.

Kujo Toru nodded.

No wonder he didn't recognize that this was the forest next to the village when he first landed.

"In another fifty years or so, the world will be at peace."

After Tokugawa Ieyasu finished the Siege of Osaka and initiated the Genna era of peace, he completely quelled the chaos.

These ordinary people at the bottom of society, whose lives are precarious, can finally breathe a sigh of relief.

"It'll be another fifty years or so......"

Feng sighed.

She wasn't surprised that Kujo Toru knew, since Hiyori Iki and Kujo Toru had never hidden the fact that they came from five hundred years in the future.

She was just a little helpless. Ever since she could remember, the world had been in war, and it was still in war now, with more than fifty years of war to come.

It seems I won't live to see the day of peace.

The atmosphere was somewhat heavy.

Feng didn't want to continue discussing this topic; knowing the future of history wasn't always a good thing.

Fifty years is still too far for humankind.

It's like the distance between an ordinary person and a god.

Feng glanced furtively at Kujo Toru's face, which was exactly the same as in his memory, and felt a pang of sadness.

"By the way, is there something you need this time? Didn't Iki-nee come with you?"

Although she knew that Hiyori Iki was actually from a later era, she still habitually referred to her by the name from back then.

However, even though fifty years have passed, since Hiyori Iki is Lord Kujo's priestess, she should be similar to Kikyo and not likely to turn into someone like herself, right?

Thinking about this made Feng feel a little depressed.

How did I end up becoming an old woman?

"Nothing much, I just came to visit an old friend."

Kujo Toru casually brushed off the fact that he himself had not been able to return to the modern world.

As we chatted, the sound of the waterfall came from ahead.

The two had arrived at the shrine.

The appearance here hasn't changed much; it's still exactly the same as it was fifty years ago.

If I had to point out a difference, it would probably be that the house is noticeably older.

But that makes sense, considering that with Kikyo, a powerful priestess who can even handle great demons, in Yueyi, Jiulin, and Liuji, it's unlikely that any demon could survive to come here and cause trouble.

Feng skillfully led Kujo Toru to the rear hall.

This was the room he shared with Hiyori Iki back then, and it was also Kikyo's room.

The furnishings remained unchanged, still as simple as ever.

Apart from two boxes in the corner and some pottery jars, there was nothing else.

"The bedding is in the box, please make your own bed." Feng rubbed his lower back.

"I'm too old to do this kind of thing."

Kujo Toru nodded; he couldn't bring himself to ask Kaede, who was already sixty years old, to make his bed.

That's utterly terrible.

"In that case, I'll head back to the village now. Please rest here in peace. Sister Kikyo has gone on a journey to exorcise demons and will be back around tomorrow."

With that, Feng closed the door again and turned to leave.

The conditions at the shrine were really quite poor.

It was fine when she was young, but as she got older, making her sleep in the shrine would be torture for an elderly person, so she moved to the village a long time ago.

At times like this, she would envy her older sister greatly; having a talent for spiritual power meant being able to do whatever she wanted.

She had no doubt that her sister would outlive her.

But this is good too, at least I don't have to send my sister off with my own hands, but can pass away in her arms.

After Feng left, the shrine fell completely silent.

Moonlight streamed in through the window.

According to Kujo Toru's perception, the Shikon Jewel did not seem to be in the shrine.

It's likely that when Kikyo was traveling, she considered that Kaede's spiritual power would be insufficient to deal with the powerful demons who came for the sake of the jewel, so for her sister's safety, she took her along.

Looking at the familiar furnishings inside the wooden house, they were exactly the same as before.

It's hard to imagine that what he considers a week has actually been fifty years here.

Walking to the wall, the wooden box was unlocked. Kujo Tetsu reached out and lifted the top cover, taking out the outermost layer of bedding.

At the same time, a faint fragrance of white plum blossoms lingered around the nose.

Although it's just the cheapest face powder, the fragrance clearly has a hint of herbal scent, making it quite elegant.

Kujo Toru curiously peered into the box, where several small porcelain bottles were placed in the corner, emanating a fragrance.

There was even a box of lip balm.

However, judging from the fact that these were all pressed at the bottom of the box, they probably weren't used very often.

Kikyo can even do makeup now?

Kujo Toru was somewhat surprised.

While makeup is a very common thing for girls, when it's applied to Kikyo... well, let's just say it's not...

His impression of Kikyo was still that of a shrine maiden wearing an undergarment, sitting under a waterfall, enduring the impact of the water to temper herself.