NOVEL WEB Chapter 18: Chapter 18: What Was That Pair of Eyes?
Let's rewind a bit.
When Hyuga Hizashi used his Byakugan to search for the source of the voice, he had actually seen Neji lying peacefully in his room. However, with his mind focused on Hyuga Kawa, who was speaking, he overlooked the immediate abnormality. Usually, after Neji vented his resentment, he would toss and turn in bed for a long time, unable to sleep. But tonight, Hyuga Neji, his hand wound bandaged, lay on his bed, staring blankly at the ceiling, and soon felt a strong wave of sleepiness overwhelm him.
The world after closing his eyes was as silent as death, a boundless black ocean stretching before him. Until, an ethereal voice seemed to come, as if from a distant land.
"..."
Hyuga Neji opened his eyes in a daze. Before him stood a dilapidated vermillion torii gate, its decaying rafters leaning precariously in the earth. Ahead lay slippery steps covered in green moss, and the ethereal voice emanated from the distance. Hyuga Neji instinctively lifted his foot and ascended the steps, passing the torii and the weathered komainu statues on either side. He continued up the steps, then through the stone path lined with swaying tree shadows, until the space ahead broadened.
A crumbling shrine appeared before his eyes. Rotten shimenawa ropes hung swaying, faded wooden plaques clattered against each other in the wind, and the vermillion characters written on them were blurred and indistinct. In the wide, empty space in front of the dilapidated main hall, four children held hands, forming a circle. Two children, their faces indiscernible, released their hands and each extended one to him. Hyuga Neji walked towards them uncontrollably.
The moment he grasped those two hands, a spontaneous joy rose within him. A smile appeared on Neji's face, and a laugh, not his own, escaped his throat. He looked at the blindfolded, black-haired girl sitting cross-legged in the center, surrounded by himself and the four other children.
"Kagome, Kagome (Bird in the cage, bird in the cage)"
The four children began to joyfully spin in a circle, singing a children's song in their innocent voices. Neji, in a daze, also began to sing.
"Kago no naka no tori wa (The bird in the cage, oh)"
The afterglow of the blood-red setting sun cast their shadows on the ground, enclosing them and the girl in a bamboo cage.
"Itsu itsu deyaru (When, oh when will it come out)"
The singing intensified, and the children quickened their pace. The long shadows of the bamboo cage tightened around the blindfolded girl in the center.
"Yoake no ban ni (On the night of dawn)"
"Tsuru to kame ga subetta (The crane and tortoise slipped)"
"Ushiro no shōmen dare? (Who is behind you?)"
The four children stopped, all looking at the girl in the middle.
"..."
Hyuga Neji also looked at the blindfolded girl in the center. As he gazed at her unfamiliar yet familiar back, his previously chaotic thoughts gradually became clear. The children's song, sung in innocent voices, still echoed, appearing especially eerie against the backdrop of the dilapidated scenery. Especially the bone-chilling coldness coming from the two hands he held, a surge of fear welled up in Hyuga Neji's heart. He suddenly understood the game and the meaning of the song.
—If the girl guessed who was behind her, then the person guessed would take the place of the bird in the cage as a scapegoat.
"..."
The blindfolded girl lifted her head, her rosy lips slightly parted. "Hyuga... Neji..." she whispered softly.
Hearing her utter his name, Hyuga Neji's entire body trembled uncontrollably. The two children beside him gently released his hands.
"No! I don't want to!"
He uncontrollably lifted his foot, walked in front of the girl, and knelt down. The four children gathered around, their gazes devout and fervent, as if witnessing a ritual. Finally, the girl raised her clasped hands and gently caressed Hyuga Neji's face, her thumbs pressing against his eyes.
Pfft!
Thick, crimson blood spurted out, gushing onto the ground with a wet sound.
"Ah!!"
Hyuga Neji let out an incredibly shrill scream, a pain so excruciating it felt like a red-hot steel rod being thrust into his brain. But after he put on the "blindfold," the four children once again held hands and spun in a circle. Their swaying shadows stitched him into the cage, and the joyfully eerie children's song resounded once more.
"Kagome, Kagome (Bird in the cage, bird in the cage)"
"Kago no naka no tori wa (The bird in the cage, oh)"
"Itsu itsu deyaru (When, oh when will it come out)"
The childish voices gradually transformed into a bizarre, indistinct language. A vast amount of visual noise permeated Hyuga Neji's retina, and distorted images began to flash before his eyes. Gradually, the scene before him began to change.
He saw countless people branded with hideous cursed seals on their heads, saw them standing in front of figures without cursed seals, and saw them tragically dying one after another on the bloody battlefield. He saw a person with the Caged Bird, whose face was indiscernible, slaughtering. He saw that person constantly digging out the eyes of others. He saw that person on an altar, clutching their eyes, silently writhing in agony.
He saw that person step down from the altar, carve something on a stone monument, and then walk out. Whether they had cursed seals or not, anyone who tried to block their path was utterly massacred with a mere lift of their hand. Even if someone raised a hand to activate the cursed seal, it still did not stop that person. Hyuga Neji saw that figure walk into a shrine. The survivors gathered outside the shrine, not daring to enter. In the silent air, only heavy breathing seemed to overlap.
Soon, the grand shrine was engulfed by flames. That figure emerged from the firelight, the flames licking their cheeks. And in that person's hand, they held an aged head, whose face still bore traces of fear, its pale, crimson spine dragging on the ground, leaving glaring dark red bloodstains wherever it went. That person stopped. Blood pooled on the ground, forming a dark red mirror, reflecting the terrified, horrified white eyes of others. And in those white eyes, reflected the blood-stained eyes of that person.
It was a pair of eyes unlike the Byakugan.
It was a pair of deep blue eyes.
Hyuga Neji stood at the very back of the crowd, unable to move or make a sound, always watching as a bystander. After experiencing the pain of becoming a "scapegoat," and now personally witnessing this slaughter, he felt a morbid exhilaration from the depths of his being.
However, in the next moment, that figure lifted their perpetually lowered eyelids, and their eyes met Hyuga Neji's. Hyuga Neji suddenly had a feeling. That person saw him. He saw two lines of thick, bloody tears flowing from those eyes, gradually sliding down that blurred face.
"Such a hideous clan has no reason to exist."
That person slowly raised a hand, their palm seemingly grasping a sword. A golden light spread upwards, piercing through the dark clouds in the night sky. "Purify the defilement," that person said softly, "Golden Wheel... Reincarnation Explosion."
The golden light descended, illuminating the black night. The fear of death materialized.
Bang!
Faced with such tangible death, Hyuga Neji almost instinctively dodged with all his might, only to suddenly open his eyes and fall out of bed before he could even react.
"..."
He stared blankly at the ceiling. The slight pain in his body finally pulled him back to reality. "What happened?" he murmured. "Who was that person?"
"And that pair of eyes..."