Mãi bên cạnh Người (Always by your side)

5. Overlap

Summary:

She hadn't reached that stage yet. But time and tide waits for no one.

Especially for those have lives like them, it's a real luxury.

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Aoi loves to throw herself into the wild where there is not even a single human appreared.

Many years ago, it had been just a strange hobby of an active, freedom-loving girl, who had been excessively curious about everything in the world. But, over time, especially after the losses in family she'd experienced at such a young age, it'd changed, to become a strange desire, a need, or a wish, to isolate herself from the troubles between people, from unnecessary ties or relationships in society. In short, she was almost on the verge of becoming an antisocial.

And over the years, aspects of the concept of "freedom" in her thinking have also gradually changed. Now, what Aoi considered "being free", has become... a lot more open than before, to a degree so wild, and terrifyingly naked, in any sense that anyone who knows about this side of her can even imagine.

From just running, climbing, breathing quickly while surfing across the grasslands, Aoi began to think of free-falling, from the sky-high old trees, with the posture looked not really safe for a eight years old young lady.

After realizing that luxuriant foliage and branches were still too many unnecessary protections, she began to aim for other goals. After a while, the choice this time was the cliffs, where nothing can hold her, right below was the fast flowing stream, since she didn't want to be in unharmed situation anymore.

And then, throwing herself from the sheer cliff into the cold water so hard, to the point it felt like enough to tear apart the flesh of an adult, that was not enough, because she no longer trusted in any material object, or any other clothing on the body. And... yes, in the end, that 10-year-old girl, with a grand desire to feel as much pain, coldness, and excitement as possible, something was too much to make an adult passed out, threw herself for the first time down below, with a thin, naked body, and almost felt Death touch the back of her neck as soon as she was successfully drifted ashore a moment later.

Since then, Aoi has considered it the most enjoyable game of her life. And started to tweak it a little bit, to be a unique kind of practice, that no kid her age had the guts to do.

Still have to throw herself with the same conditions as the original, but before each jump, she must always wait until at least one fish, or any school of fish, swim over, then rushed down to hunt them with a wooden spear prepared in advance.

As soon as it hit the surface of the water and shattered the direction of everyone's movement, wiping away the pain from the impact, the waves blocking the view, and the feeling of suffocation when surrounded by the cool, slanting currents of water. As many of them as possible, bring them ashore for dinner, and repeat the process until the day's quota is fulfilled.

...Yes, it was something that sounded really like an idiot and lacking of sense. But to Aoi, that thing attracted her like the way honey kills flies.

Because she didn't like to rely on her own advantages, or mere skills, to hunt creatures that were clearly below her. That feeling when she herself was at a disadvantage in the cold, as they struggled in the air after the two sides met, made the confrontation much more fair, and those efforts would be much more meaningful.

Come to think of it, maybe it was partly due to being involved in that game as just a child, Aoi was really used to facing enemies that could single-handedly stir up the great ocean just by waving. Waves slapping or suffocating on the battlefield is no longer a problem for this ninja girl, because after hundreds of times dropping herself into the unknown, unless they cut off her head, if there were still teeth to bite weapons and take them up, Aoi would not stop crossing the sea to move forward.