Crossover: A Different Inuyasha

Bingli picked up the empty bottles one by one and stacked them into a cardboard box in the corner.

Shirley squatted down beside the low table, carefully stacking the overturned bowls and plates one by one, then carried them to the sink, turned on the tap, and began to rinse them.

The water splashed loudly for a while, then she turned it down to a soft murmur, which could be clearly heard in the quiet room.

As they worked, Shirley slowed down her movements. She turned to the side, letting the water rinse away the residue on the plate, before speaking in a light and casual tone.

"Hyouri, Mom doesn't want to hear about the Nura Clan anymore. Tell Mom how you're doing in the Eastern Country?"

After learning that Bingli had gone to a foreign country, Xueli became even more depressed than before. She was kicked out by her best friend from Tiangou Mountain, who was disappointed in her. Otherwise, she wouldn't be in such a sorry state.

"Is everything alright there?"

Bingli was bending down to put the last bottle of wine into the cardboard box when she heard this, and her tear-streaked face broke into a bright and radiant smile.

"pretty good."

Little Snow Woman walked to the sink, took the freshly rinsed dish from Snow White, wiped it clean with a dry cloth, and placed it on the drain rack next to her.

"The accommodations at the shrine are very spacious. I was assigned a south-facing room, and I could see the trees on the back mountain as soon as I opened the window."

"The things I usually do aren't too tiring—in the morning I join everyone for morning prayers, learn spiritual arts, and tidy up the house."

Bingli continued working, stacking the cleaned plates, and said, "There are a few other people in similar positions to me. Everyone has their own duties and responsibilities."

She smirked, "Sometimes we bicker over little things—like who should clean the north corridor, or who forgot to bring in the dried clothes—but it's nothing serious. A good night's sleep will fix it."

Shirley didn't interrupt her, but simply fished the bowls and plates out of the water one by one and handed them to her. The soft sound of the flowing water gently enveloped Shirley's voice.

"We gradually became more familiar with each other, and we would eat together and go out to run errands together. If one of us was in a bad mood, the others would quietly bring back some food and leave it at the door."

Bingli lowered her voice as she said this, "It's like... being at home."

She wiped the last bowl clean, put it back on the drainer, turned around, and met her mother's quiet gaze.

Shirley reached out and gently tucked her daughter's slightly disheveled hair, damp with tears and sweat, behind her ear. Her voice carried an emotion that was hard to define, whether it was relief or something else entirely.

She simply said, "That's nice."

"Mother……"

Bingli's eyes reddened again. Looking at the tired and drunken face in front of her, a wave of bitterness washed over her once more.

"I don't want to go to the East, nor do I want to go back to the Nura Clan. Neither place is my home."

She didn't know why she said those words at that moment.

But once she said it, Bingli realized she didn't want to take it back.

Shirley looked at Bingli's wet, unwavering eyes and smiled gently.

Her smile lacked the usual nonchalance worn down by life, and there was no hint of drunkenness; it was simply a clean and pure expression befitting a mother.

"Then I'll live with Mom for now."

Sherry said casually, reaching out to stroke her daughter, "I'm fine with staying as long as I want, who cares about the Nura Clan or anything like that!"

As if remembering something, she said in a lighthearted tone, half-jokingly, "If the Eastern Shrine blames me, I'll just pawn my body to them."

Bingli was still sniffling when she heard this. She was stunned for a moment, then burst out laughing. Her eyes were still wet, but the corners of her mouth were already curving up.

"No way."

"Both the priestess and the god are very good people."

Shirley reached out and flicked Bingli's forehead. "You idiot, a good person doesn't wear the word 'good person' on their face."

"and--"

Sherry had heard some rumors about the two monster organizations from the East and West sending "sacrifices" to the Eastern Kingdom.

Hearing her daughter say this, the mature woman, Xue Nu, who felt her charm hadn't diminished, pouted and said, "Are you saying that Mommy isn't charming enough?"

"Of course my mother is beautiful."

Looking at her mother, who was still a great beauty even when she was disheveled, Bingli answered without hesitation, quickly and confidently.

"But the Lord God... seems to prefer younger ones."

The Snow Woman thought of the women in the shrine, who were almost all radiating youthful energy.

"Ahhh—Mom is still so young!" Shirley reached out and pinched Bingli's cheeks, gently pulling them apart, feigning anger. "That god, he really doesn't understand the goodness of a mature woman at all."

Bingli made two "uh-uh" sounds as she was pinched. In the midst of the joke, Shirley gradually pieced together the image of Inuyasha in Bingli's mind.

After a busy day, it's time for a relaxing bath. The bathroom at home isn't big, with old tiles covering the beige walls.

The bathtub wasn't very spacious either; when the two sat facing each other, their knees almost touched.

The water level was just above my shoulders, swaying slightly from the rising steam.

Shirley leaned against the edge of the bathtub, her head tilted back. Her slightly wavy long hair, damp with steam, clung to her neck and shoulders, and water droplets slid slowly down her fair and delicate collarbone.

She squinted as if she were drowsy, but her gaze moved slowly through the rising white mist, finally landing on Bingli's face, who was looking down at the mountain peak floating on the water with envy in her eyes.

The swirling steam softened the outline of her daughter.

The lines of the shoulders and neck were stretched and smoothed by the hot water, and the water surface below the collarbone rippled slightly, shimmering with a thin layer of luster.

For the first time, Shirley looked closely at her grown-up daughter. After a moment of silence, she suddenly asked, "Do you want to have a child with the God?"

Bingli froze, her mouth slightly open, choking on a lot of the bathwater from both of them.

"Cough cough, Mother, what are you saying!" Little Snow Maiden coughed, her ears turning a visibly red.

"What can't we, mother and daughter, say to each other?" The still pure and innocent Shirley approached her even more innocent daughter with the air of a seasoned pro.

"Mom, I didn't have that thought." Bingli couldn't resist her mother's affection. She lowered her eyes and looked at her slightly curled knees in the water, but the image of a red figure involuntarily surfaced in her mind.

He turned his head slightly in the corridor, his voice tinged with amusement; he stopped by the stone steps, and felt the warmth of his palm as he reached out and pressed his hand to her head. In the end, it all boiled down to one sentence—he was certain of his feelings.

Bingli's face turned even redder.

His entire face was submerged below the water's surface, with only his eyes and the top of his forehead showing. Bubbles rose sporadically from his lips, bursting into tiny splashes on the water's surface.

Looking at her daughter's expression, Shirley knew the answer.

She sighed softly, "The God has quite a few women. I don't know if it's right or wrong for Mother to fall in love with him."

"But there's one thing you need to be sure of."

As someone who had been through it all, Shirley reached under the water and grasped Bingli's wrist, which was tucked into her chest, and pulled her towards her.

Bingli lifted her face following that force, and water droplets fell from her forehead and eyebrows.

"No matter what, don't let yourself have any regrets!"

Chapter 104 The Cross and the Vampire

In early April, the crowds in front of Tokyo stations were more congested than usual.

The wind blew through the tall buildings, lifting the short skirts of a large group of high school girls, revealing a pleasing sight.

Some daring girls even modified the school uniform skirts.

When the wind blew, they covered their front, but couldn't stop the hem of their skirts from swaying in the back.

This makes people who are living a comfortable life sigh with heartfelt emotion—this is perhaps the true meaning of summer.

A bus was parked at the edge of the platform, its engine humming softly, occasionally emitting a puff of white smoke from its exhaust.

"The bus to Yanghai Academy is about to depart. Passengers who need to board, please hurry!"

The announcement, accompanied by static, came from the loudspeakers above the platform and echoed several times throughout the waiting area.

Kagome Higurashi stood by the bus door, carrying a small travel bag in her hand.

Today she was wearing the uniform of Yanghai Academy—a dark green suit jacket with a neat cut, a white shirt underneath, and a light gray bow tie at the collar.

She wore a gray plaid pleated skirt that fell above her knees, revealing a section of her calves encased in white mid-calf socks, and a pair of dark brown round-toed leather boots.

The soles of my shoes made a soft tapping sound as they stepped on the concrete floor of the platform.

Kagome looked around for a while, and when she didn't see anyone, she stepped onto the car.

The car door closed gently behind her, making a muffled thud.

There were very few people in the car. There was no Inuyasha, no priestess, only an ordinary-looking boy wearing the same school uniform as him.

'A monster or a normal human?'

Kagome was somewhat surprised, but considering the purpose of her trip, she didn't dwell on it.

She glanced twice at the somewhat sinister-looking driver with a small mustache in the driver's seat, then found a window seat and sat down.

'What a pretty girl! Are you in the same year?'

The school uniforms in island nations are unique, with each high school having its own distinct uniform.

The father found a high school admission notice on the road, and Aono Tsukine was able to enroll in Yokai Academy. Looking at the radiant Kagome, he didn't dare to go up and greet her.

"We're about to depart, please be seated." The driver, whose true form was a sly demon, glanced at the two people in the rearview mirror, gave the routine greeting, and then muttered to himself.

He remembered that one of the three Hades, the chairman of the academy, had spoken to him about one person. How did it become two people now?

Moreover, that human girl possessed extraordinary power.

However, considering the recent turmoil, even the Kingdom of Otogi, where one of the three great Hades resides, has been repeatedly attacked by human priestesses.

He rose to power in Hong Kong and was one of the three Kings of Hell. He founded the Huang family's Dongfang Bubai, but was defeated and his current fate is unknown.

'Life is getting harder and harder for monsters; when will it ever end?'

The sly driver adjusted his hat brim and stepped on the gas.

The bus started.

The platform outside the window began to recede, and the figures of people waiting for the train, the station sign, and the branches of the roadside trees slid past the edge of my field of vision one after another.

Sunlight filters through the still-green canopy of trees in spring, casting dappled shadows on the car windows and across the seats and floor inside the carriage.

A breeze blew in through the half-open window, carrying the scent of grass and earth, brushing against Kagome's hand resting on the windowsill, cool yet with a hint of warmth.

She turned her gaze away from the train door, and the view outside the window changed from the station rooftops and lampposts to the cherry blossom trees lining both banks of the river.

The branches droop low, and the flower clusters are layered upon layered.

As soon as the wind passed, petals fluttered down, carried by the airflow towards the car window, then flung off with the car's speed, tumbling and falling into the roadside ditch, drifting downstream.

"You promised to come together and spend more time with me, Inuyasha, you lying little dog."

The boy's broken promise made the girl, who had officially entered high school, murmur complaints. She crossed her arms and became unhappy.

"If I find out you're philandering again, I'll report you."

After saying that, Kagome immediately shut up, feeling that what she said sounded like a child throwing a tantrum.

She turned her head to look at the beautiful scenery outside the window, and didn't say anything more.

After a moment of silence in the carriage, the driver asked in a low voice, "Are you all new students at Yanghai Academy?"

“Yes.” Sitting in the front, Aono Tsukine glanced at the school acceptance letter in her hand and answered with a smile.

Upon hearing this, Kagome straightened up, turned her head from the car window, and responded towards the driver's seat, "Yes, I'm going to study at that monster academy."

She asked curiously, "Driver, are you a monster too? Or a faculty member at that academy?"

"Yokai Academy—"

Aono Tsukine quietly repeated the word in her seat.

He secretly glanced at Kagome briefly, then quickly looked away.

'What is she saying? Yokai Academy...isn't it just a regular boarding high school?'

He glanced at the girl by the window again out of the corner of his eye—dark uniform, gray plaid skirt, natural expression, frank tone, completely lacking the excitement or secrecy typical of niche enthusiasts talking about their inner circle.

'So she's not a social butterfly after all... she's just an otaku girl who loves anime and manga.'

This conclusion made Aono Tsukine, who was in a square, feel inexplicably closer to someone, as if she had found a trace of a kindred spirit, and her tension dissipated somewhat.

The cunning driver, whose true colors had been exposed, didn't try to hide anything. "I'm not a faculty or staff member. I'm just a porter at most."

That's right, they are the porters who receive lucky individuals randomly selected by the chairman and send them to the Yokai Academy for a survival adventure.