[Hokage] A rose in mourning for the summer moon

Celery is starting to age this season, and purple cabbage and carrots are good choices.The discounted vegetables and fruits in the evening market are not so expensive, and you can pick the right ones if you choose carefully.

Carrying a bag of vegetables and a few autumn pears, plus a small bag of rice and flour, I pushed open the door.

"Xia Yue, you're back... hiccup!"

My father was sitting in the kitchen with several bottles of beer lying in disarray, three of which were empty, one half-filled, and one unopened.There was an unpleasant smell of alcohol in the air, a large part of which came from his non-stop belching.

"What... what does this expression mean, Xiao Xiayue? Why, do you look down on your old man, huh?"

He yelled at me with the professional provocation of a professional drunk.At this time, just ignore it.

I walked around him and started preparing dinner and tomorrow's lunch.

"I said, little Xiayue...do you have any money?"

"No." I started slicing the carrots, "Did you lose all your subsidy money again?"

"I'll, hiccup...will win it back!" he murmured, "that's my subsidy, hiccup—how ​​I want to spend it, I'll just—hicc—whatever I want! That's what I paid for The subsidy in exchange for one hand, you know, you can spend it however you want..."

He repeated these words he did not know how many times, and there were other illogical and incomprehensible sentences.

This is my father.

He used to be a very good ninja with a promising future. It is said that he himself is proud and full of ambition, and he even married a beautiful woman from Uchiha.But in the Third World War, he lost an arm and became crippled. Since then, he has been depressed and drunk all day long.His wife left him and threw him the baby oil bottle.He lives off a subsidy from his village, which he often squanders at the beginning of the month due to his addiction to alcohol and gambling.

If it weren't for his daughter's subsidy, he would have starved himself to death.

Sad man.

By meal time he was a little more sober.

"Xiayue," he opened his cloudy eyes, looking miserable after being beaten by fate, "Dad, I heard that you have been getting very close to the young man of Fuyue's family recently."

I served a bowl of rice for him and another bowl for myself.

"Is there such a thing?" he yelled, "You two play truant together, is there such a thing?"

"It's just practicing together."

"Don't be fooled by that kid, Fuyue is not a good thing...Xia Yue, you can't skip school, if you don't become a ninja, Dad won't have money to drink."

"You also know that your subsidy is not enough." I couldn't help but say, "If you can stop drinking, don't gamble, and find a decent job, you won't have to rely on my subsidy to live?"

"To say such things, Xia Yue really looks down on me!"

The frustrated middle-aged man first slapped the table angrily, and then suddenly fell down on the desk and burst into tears.

"Dad doesn't want to, and dad doesn't want to become the crippled look he is now! Your mother abandoned us, and dad and I are so useless... The acquaintances back then are all messed up like dogs, and that kid Fu Yue Such a prestige, the fate is really unfair... It would be better to die in the war back then, huh? Isn't it? At least my name is still on the memorial tablet. It's better to die early when I am reduced to the ghost I am now..."

Crying, he grabbed a bottle of beer and drank it again.

It was a headache.

I quickly finished my meal and ran out of the house, leaving behind the man who drank his sorrows.

The cool autumn night breeze blows on my face, helping my feverish brain to cool down.Telephone poles stand on the side of the street, leading to the distance one after another, like countless silent figures; the street lights are dim, the road is quiet, and the night sky is shining with clear stars.

"Student Xia Yue?"

I heard his voice first, then saw his shadow.The child's young shadow is projected on the ground, elongated obliquely by the light, as if from another unknown and mysterious world; there, he has grown up.

I was in a trance for a moment.

"Itachi-kun... Ah, I accidentally ran over to your house." I stood up straight, and sure enough I saw Itachi standing at the door of this house.The slender door frame is inlaid with plain white paper, so low-key that it doesn't look like the home of the patriarch of a big family.

The child came down the steps and came to me.

"What happened?" he asked.

After getting acquainted with Itachi, he can easily find sincere concern from his seemingly indifferent appearance, although that concern is still as indifferent as his tone.His whole body looks indifferent, only the pupils of his eyes are deep, hiding all the deepest emotions under them.

Is it true that itachi had such eyes when he was a child, or is it because I look back from the later time, the past and the future are overlapped by many years, and all the old people and things are transformed into the appearance of the future ?I can't say well either.

In memory, in impression, his eyes are always deep and silent.He is always deep and silent.

"Going for a walk after a meal is good for your physical and mental health." I said, "Where are you going, Itachi-kun?"

He must have seen that I wasn't telling the truth, but he didn't press.Itachi is not the kind of person to ask questions.

"I'm going to a dessert house, and my mother suddenly wants to eat the milk pudding there."

I noticed that he was holding a coin purse in his hand. It was indeed the one I had seen at Mikoto's.

"Oh... Indeed, I heard that people who are pregnant will suddenly want to eat something." I understand.This summer, in July, Mikoto became pregnant with her second child.I met her a few times on the street, she always had a gentle smile on her face, and sometimes caressed the position of her lower abdomen carefully.

Itachi nodded and looked at me.

"Want to go together?" he asked.

I was stunned, and was half a beat late before answering: "Okay."

It was less than eight o'clock, but the streets of the Uchiha clan were already quiet.We walked in the narrow alleyway, and the gray and black walls on the side exuded a damp and cold atmosphere, and the family crest of "Flame Tuanfan" was engraved on it at intervals.I have read the family crests of those nobles in the book, and they all have complicated lines without exception. Only the corporals who were appointed by them will have such simple family crests.Those crude designs all look like people born at the bottom, trying their best to climb up, holding on to the unwanted leftovers of the upper floors, and piece together this so-called "glory".

Now, one by one, this humble glory is carved on the cold and hard walls, also on people's doorways and lanterns, and embroidered on the clothes of all people who share the same surname; everywhere.

I have it on my back too, and itachi has it on my back too.

"Are you looking at Uchiha's family crest?" Itachi asked, "You don't seem to like the marks."

Childish voice, flat tone.I don't know how he found out about my emotions, he kept staring straight ahead without even looking at me.

"I don't like it very much." I paused, "I don't like it."

"why?"

"It's too ugly. It's too much to display it everywhere and embroider it on children's clothes because it's so ugly." I babbled nonsense.

Itachi didn't ask any more questions.I couldn't believe that he would be fooled by such a reason that sounded like nonsense, even though he was so young, so I couldn't help but look over suspiciously.

I saw his profile when he was a child.Dark eyes, soft lines, and the same soft, upturned corners of the lips.

He noticed me looking at him.

"Ah, that's right," he said.

I felt extremely speechless for a moment.

"Itachi-kun."

"what?"

"You answered too slowly."

"is it?"

"If you answer too slowly, it will appear fake."

"yes."

The corners of his slightly raised lips rose even more.

"Next time I will pay more attention." He said nonchalantly, with that soft, subtle smile, "Student Xia Yue."

My mood also suddenly felt subtle.

"correct."

When we walked out of the clan area and stepped onto the streets belonging to Konoha, the child spoke as if he suddenly remembered something.

"I don't like it either," he said.

What don't you like?My reaction was half a beat slower.In front of Uchiha Itachi, I always seem to react slower.

"Could it be the family crest? Doesn't Itachi-kun like it too?" I was genuinely surprised.

The child never said any more words.He walked forward, walked to the area covered by Konoha's street lights, and walked towards the direction of the increasingly bustling neon lights in the commercial street.

"If you don't hurry up, the dessert shop will be closed." He said, "Student Xia Yue, I won't wait for you."

I was confused for a second, and decisively abandoned my confusion in the next second.

"You don't need to wait."

I trot a few steps.

"I'll follow myself."

Maybe you will fall behind, maybe you will slow down for a long time.But step by step, I can always keep up.

From the past, to the present, to the future.