Uchiha Sasuke’s Collapse Chapter 055

“Mhm.”

A detached voice came from inside the room. Mei pushed open the door, but when she saw the room that came into view, she froze.

Even with the incandescent light on, the entire room felt dim. The walls seemed to have been repainted, giving off a cold rock texture, uniformly black and gray, like a溶洞.

The window frame was half-covered by dark curtains, and when the moonlight shone obliquely, it cast fragmented shadows on the floor. Beside it, a plain black screen was outlined with silver threads depicting a round fan.

Under the window was a dark wooden shelf piled with various scrolls, looking very similar to the “Uchiha Style” scroll Sasuke had thrown to her earlier. Next to the scroll cabinet, leaning against the wall, a漆黑剑架 held the sharp Grass-Cutting Sword, and above it hung an old cloak speckled with some dust.

There were no comfortable cushions or decorative paintings in the entire room. It was stark and cold, like a cultivation cave from a novel or manga, completely unlike a private resting space. Instead, it resembled a dojo for torturing souls.

Mei felt no warmth in the room; instead, it was filled with an bone-chilling cold and a deep-seated, unhealed pain.

Sasuke leaned against the gray-hemp tatami mat, calmly gazing at the two girls outside the door.

“Sasuke… your place, is it done too?” Mei hesitated. This room had been a familiar, cozy sight not long ago, but after Sasuke’s transformation, she suddenly had the illusion of having nowhere to stand.

“Mhm.”

“Do you need me to add some bedding…” Mei couldn’t help but ask, looking at the “dry” room before her.

“No need.”

An expected answer.

Mei found herself getting somewhat used to Sasuke’s rejections.

Thump thump thump…

A series of hurried footsteps came from the stairwell. Then, Kiana, with a super-long box on her head, ran up from around the corner.

But as soon as she came up, she saw the three people inside the room looking at her in unison, none of them speaking.

Kiana shrunk her neck, and whispered, “Um… Sasuke, I think this is your stuff? Someone just knocked and said it was for ‘housewarming’ or something messy.”

She rarely didn’t use Sasuke’s nickname, probably because she had just messed things up, so she had devolved from pufferfish form to paramecium form.

“Eh?”

Housewarming… Could it be his companions or friends who wished Sasuke well?

She wondered what kind of friends a person like Sasuke would have.

Sasuke frowned slightly. He reached out a hand, and Kiana felt a suction from the top of her head. Then, the box in her hands vanished.

Then, at a speed difficult to capture with the naked eye, the Grass-Cutting Sword sliced open the box.

“A fan?”

Kiana was a little surprised.

Yes, to be precise, it was a tuan shan, a round fan with two pairs of six-magatama gourd-shaped patterns, and a chain attached to the handle.

This was the Uchiha clan’s ancestral treasure – the Flame Fan.

It had disappeared with Madara’s departure, but later, during the Fourth Great Ninja War, Obito and Madara successively used this fan. After Madara’s resurrection, the fan vanished again.

Sasuke hadn’t deliberately searched for it.

The Uchiha clan no longer existed; what was the point of finding a fan?

As for why it appeared here now… Sasuke didn’t need to think to know whose masterpiece it was.

Reaching out to pick up the fan, sure enough, there was a sticky note underneath: “You have no idea how much trouble it was to pick this thing up from the ravaged battlefield.”

Flipping it over, the back read: “I guessed you wouldn’t be used to using something like this, so I made a small modification. It can be used not only with chakra but also with Honkai energy.”

“…”

“Sasuke?” Mei called softly.

“It’s a family item, nothing.”

Sasuke casually hung it on the wall, then looked at Mei: “It’s getting late. Didn’t you say you were going to the mall?”

“That’s right, Mei, after we finish shopping, let’s go to that German restaurant we went to last time, hehe…”

Kiana tried her best to make her eyes full of innocence and ignorance, wanting Mei to forget the trouble she had just caused.

Mei gave Kiana an annoyed look, but thankfully, she didn’t really have the heart to starve the husky-Kiana she had raised for two months.

“Let’s go. The car is downstairs. We’ll go straight to Lalaport, put the things in the car after we buy them, and we can eat there.”

After speaking, Mei went back to her room to change her clothes. Once everything was ready, the four of them set off together.

Lalaport was a super mall located in Changkong City, Far East, boasting over three hundred and seventy shops, including but not limited to famous brands like Banana Republic, BREE, Coach, Diesel, and Ships. As a rich young lady like Mei, she was naturally a regular customer there.

“Fresh Kobe beef, for four people… well, let’s get ten portions first, that should be enough for New Year’s Eve…”

Mei pushed the shopping cart, selecting items from the refrigerated display cases on both sides of the mall. Kiana and Bronya next to her didn’t settle down. Seeing that Mei wasn’t angry anymore, Kiana no longer suppressed her nature and mercilessly bickered with Bronya beside her.

However, this time the conflict was clearly instigated by Bronya.

“Sister Mei, if Bronya may speak frankly, ten plates of sliced beef will not be enough to fill the stomach of a certain single-celled organism. It will probably only be enough for her to whet her appetite. Let’s just throw her out and eat by ourselves.”

“You hateful midget, you can’t monopolize Mei’s delicious food!”

“If you are willing to sign a legally binding guarantee to reduce your meals to half of Bronya’s, then Bronya will agree to let you sit at the table?”

“╬”

“You just moved in yesterday and you want to kick the mistress of this house off the table?”

“It seems a certain white rice bucket hasn’t realized her status as just a pet fed by Sister Mei.”

The girls bickered, while Sasuke lagged behind them, quietly watching them.

Vaguely, a subtle feeling arose in Sasuke’s heart. Watching them, it was as if he saw his past self.

Kakashi, I never thought I would one day become someone similar to you…

…

Changkong City, Izumi District, Izumi-cho, 3-chome, 5-banchi, 7-go. At an abandoned factory, a petite figure lingered under the moonlight. She kicked the rusted remains of a Titan that had turned into scrap metal.

“Tsk… This smell, Bronya hasn’t been roasted, has she?”

“No wonder more than a third of the Titans Mother had stationed in Changkong City disappeared when she brought Mother here. I thought she had betrayed Mother.”

“No corpses or blood… Looks like she’s still alive. Was she captured by the enemy?”

“Don’t worry… Grandpa Himeko is coming to save you.”

“Hahahaha!”