Request

Lifting the corners of his lips a little, Hiko stroked the boy's head. But after looking at the already deceased Kuzu, his slightly elevated mood fell again. With a sad sigh, he took out a sealing scroll from under his white cape and unfolded it, by printing out a roll of white cloth.

Standing up, Hiko spread the cloth on the ground. Stretching out his hand to the corpse of the boy, he paused when he saw Samato sitting next to the corpse, with an uncertain, but wanted to say something face. Sighing once again, the man asked.

- What's the matter, kid?

Opening his mouth slightly, Samato wanted to say something, but because of uncertainty, the words did not come out. Hiko waited a few seconds, but without waiting for an answer, muttered something to himself. Lifting the corners of his lips, he asked in a calm tone.

- Samato, calm down, just say what you want.

After a little silence, the boy, biting his lip, said uncertainly.

- Print.

Not understanding, Hiko raised an eyebrow.

- What's the seal?

Looking at Kuzu's body, Samato took a deep breath and said more confidently.

- Please, let me put the cursed seal on Kuzu. It's my fault that he died and I want to do something for him to ease my guilt. If, thanks to my seal, byakugan Kuzu stays with him, then part of my sin will fall off my shoulders.

When the boy's words reached Hiko's ears, a lightning bolt pierced his body and he, widening his eyes, shouted in surprise, causing Satoshi, immersed in thoughts, to jump.

- What did you say?! The cursed seal, how do you know it?! This is the secret of the clan!

Internally shrinking, Samato tried to imitate the face of the child who revealed the terrible secret, answered.

- Well, this, you know who my future wife will be, right? Um, somehow, it happened by accident, once Mori-dano taught Yuko-chan the cursed seal and she, as usual, did not want to do it. Although usually, when I'm with her, she studies. So one day, when I was visiting Mori-dano, he came into our room and said that he would give me the opportunity to learn the cursed seal, but with some conditions. - Seeing that Hiko's face was still full of uncertainty, Samato added. - Don't worry, Uncle and father also know about it. They will tell it to the elders and you won't have any problems.

Still unsure, Hiko considered what he should do. On the one hand, if the boy is telling the truth, then everything will be fine. On the other hand, a strange feeling prevented him from deciding to do it. The inner Samato cursing him, seeing the indecision of the man in front of him, said, trying to be as convincing and sad as possible.

- I'm asking you, please, this is the only thing I can do for Kuzu. My father told me many times that when your loved ones die, they put a heavy burden on your soul and you need to lighten this burden a little. I think if I help Kuzu at least in preserving his eyes, then my load will weaken a little. Please, please! The elders definitely won't mind.

Hiko, whose reverie was broken by the mention of the elders, sighed.

- Okay, but are you sure your seal is correct?

- Yes, I have already put her several times under the supervision of her father in the morgue, and he said that everything is fine. - Again feigning uncertainty, Samato added. - Um, but will be necessary that no one is following me. My father said it was a secret and I could only seal it in the presence of an elder and no one else.

Looking at Kuzu's corpse, Hiko sighed to deactivate byakugan and stood up and added.

- I understand, don't worry, Satoshi and I will go some distance away. As soon as you're done, give me a sign and I'll come.

Approaching the confused Satoshi, Hiko picked him up from the grass in his arms. Glancing at the boy left with the corpse, he nodded and then jumped up a tree, disappearing into the thick of the leaves.

Sitting on the young and soft grass, Samato turned his gaze away from the lush trees with thick branches, afor which Hiko left. Focusing his gaze on the corpse in front of him, the scientist strangely did not pay attention to anything.

The neighborhood was plunged into silence, which was interrupted by the rustle of leaves disturbed by a weak night breeze, or the chirping of crickets. This idyll lasted for several tens of seconds, until it was interrupted by a sigh of relief, followed by a whisper of a curse.

- How tired I am of this…

Looking at the corpse of the boy in front of him, Samato face of which early expressed signs of uncertainty, was replaced by an expression of fatigue, with a touch of easy calm.

"For more than 4 years, I have been trying to portray a child with varying success. And such moments of loneliness and lack of outside observation are really rare."

After sitting relaxed for a minute, not thinking about anything and not caring about his facial expression, Samato looked at the endless sky, slightly hidden by foliage, in which the stars were already beginning to be seen. After looking at it, a couple of unrelated thoughts slipped through the scientist's head.

"In my world, i've rarely seen so many stars... Someday, becoming something more perfect, I will reach them and maybe even go further..."

But having reached this thought, Samato abruptly stopped his stream of consciousness. Lowering his head and looking at Kuzu's corpse, his relaxed face was replaced by a serious one.

"Hiko could definitely have suspected something. But due to some circumstances, he didn't blame me and even covered me up. Apparently he owed too much to Ame, or something else. Also, due to my lack of a visible motive, some doubts may arise. Tc, it's a pity that I don't have a fast-eroding poison. It will be necessary to conduct some research in this direction. Okay, let's move on to what this was all about."

After finishing the thought, Samato activated the byakugan. After looking around and seeing that Hiko was sitting with Satoshi near a small fire, he relaxed a little. Quickly opening two flasks from a large scroll lying nearby, one of which contained a pair of eyes and taking a pair of medical instruments, along with new gloves, Samato approached the head of the corpse.

Taking off his blood-stained gloves and putting on new ones, he laid out all the things taken next to him. Looking at the warm, but already slowly starting to get cold body, Samato stretched out his hand to his eyes.

Putting his fingers to his eye and opening the eyelid, he pressed a little on the edges in order to open it more strongly. Taking the scalpel with his free hand, Samato carefully began to trim the four straight muscles holding the eye on the sides into the eye sockets.