Orange knew that he had changed.
In the past, she lived in seclusion, had almost no friends, and only did things that interested her. If she had no interest, she would not take the job no matter how much money was offered. If she had an interest, she would desperately promote it, even if it was for free.
But now, it's different.
She is always alone, but unknowingly, a group of people with distinct personalities gather around her, including Shinji Matou, Sakura Matou, Fujino Asagami, Mikiya Kurogane, Shiki Ryougi, Kirie Mujo, and Shiki Tono.
Perhaps since that encounter three and a half years ago, her life has become more and more fulfilling, with more and more ties, but also further and further away from her dreams.
Orange had a dream, her first dream was to inherit the family business and become the fourth magician. After breaking up with her family, she found a new dream in the Clock Tower - to live like an immortal.
So she is always alone, not staying in one place for too long, not getting too involved with anyone, just like a gust of wind. Because if you have too many ties, you can't leave - if you can't be detached from the world, you are not an immortal.
"I should have left you sooner."
In the hazy smoke, Orange sighed softly.
"You can't leave. You haven't paid your debt yet."
Shinji exhaled, not letting the smoke obstruct his and Touko's view.
"I regret it." Orange closed his eyes.
"It's not too late to regret now. Anyway—" Shinji smiled, "—do you really regret it? If you're determined to leave, no one can stop you."
Orange's face showed a rare trace of embarrassment: "Can't you just let me go once in a while?"
"As you wish, my lady." Shinji bowed slightly, "Then, lady, would you like to hear my opinion on immortals?"
"I'm all ears."
"The Chinese character for "仙" (仙) is written in Chinese characters—" Shinji carved a "仙" character in the air in the manner of drawing runes, "with a mountain next to the character. To understand this character, we need to focus on people and mountains. Mountain people go up the mountain to cultivate the Tao and ignore the things below the mountain, but cultivating the Tao does not mean becoming an immortal. To become an immortal, one needs to go down the mountain and enter the world, cultivating oneself and others. Didn't the ancients say that there is no place in life where one does not cultivate. In my opinion, being obsessed with the mountains will inevitably lead to inferiority."
"This is sophistry." Orange shook his head. "Left man, right mountain, isn't it just a man climbing a mountain?"
"Going up the mountain doesn't mean you won't come down. If you really can't come down after going up the mountain, why is the character for '仙' not recognized as a human character with a mountain character at the bottom? Unlike Latin characters, each Chinese character in the pictographic system has a deep meaning."
"Why not write one person on each side?"
"Because going up the mountain to practice cultivation can stop most of the immortal cultivators. You have already passed this level, so don't always think about retreating from the world and living in seclusion. Just let nature take its course."
Shinji looked seriously into Orange's eyes, which were as beautiful as her name.
"Sister Orange, are you happy? If not, you can leave at any time, I will never stop you."
"Why are you still talking about this now?" Orange laughed at himself. "If I'm not happy, I don't have to worry about it."
"That's all. In life, the most important thing is to be happy and content."
"You're saying all this just to tie me to your pirate ship." Orange glared at Shinji with a reproachful look.
Shinji touched his nose and said, "You are the free wind, no one can tie you up. But please don't forget, this is a sailboat, it will follow the wind, are you willing to be its driving force?"
"Since you sound so nice, I'll just agree to it reluctantly, Captain." Orange found that she was becoming more and more helpless with Shinji. "But I have to warn you, if I find that you become an obstacle to me-"
"—You can kill me or chop me up, it's all up to you." Shen Er's words were of great weight and powerful.
"Remember what you said today." After saying that, Orange turned and left.
"Wait a minute, about the Tohno family..."
"Don't worry about it. I'll take care of it."
"Huh?" Shinji was stunned. "No, you don't have to do this for me..."
"You're just being sentimental." Orange snorted.
"What is that?"
"Dolls are imitations of humans, and the strangeness of humans is my research subject. Mystical eyes, supernatural powers, hybrids, I want to use my hands to reproduce the wonders of the Creator. To do this, I need a lot of materials, and the Tono family is a treasure trove for me."
When talking about the dolls, Orange's expression was fanatical, and her whole body was filled with shocking courage and charm, which made Shinji's heart flutter and a little worried at the same time.
"You're not going to dissect them."
"That's not necessary. They are all human beings, and there is no difference in their basic structure. I just need to draw a few tubes of blood, cut some subcutaneous tissue, and then have them cooperate with me in a few experiments. It will not cause any harm to their bodies. I guarantee it in the name of the 'Grand Title' puppeteer. You can rest assured now."
"Still no."
"Don't you trust me at all?" Orange's face turned cold.
"It's not that I don't trust you, but I'm worried about your safety. I recently received a rumor that I don't know if it's true or not - the people from the Holy Church seem to be targeting the Tohno family."
"Those religious lunatics?"
Most magicians do not like the Holy Church, which denies magic on the surface but secretly intends to bring all mysteries under its jurisdiction, and Orange is no exception.
"What are they doing here?"
"It is said that they are hunting down an ancient Dead Apostle named Michel Roa Fadanyan."
"Akasha's Snake! Infinite Reincarnation!" Orange finally changed color.
This is a special Dead Apostle. His strength may not be the strongest among vampires, but he is definitely the most difficult to destroy. His ability is just like his title "Infinite Reincarnation". He can reincarnate his soul into other humans when his body is destroyed.
"So, there might be a reincarnation of Roa in the Tono family?"
"Yeah." Shinji nodded.
Roa is the biggest boss in the story of "Tsukihime". The problem is that "Tsukihime" has five world lines, and there are a total of nine endings, except for the Bad End that cannot be completed. Depending on the world line, Roa's reincarnation object is also different, it may be Toono Shiki, or Toono Shiki.
Just when Shinji was considering how to further remind Orange, Orange suddenly took off his glasses and became cold and stern.
"That's great news, the best news I've heard today, if it's true."
"Huh?" Shinji was dumbfounded.
This reaction is wrong. Why would Orange be so excited about this guy whom the church finds difficult to deal with, to the point of having to use iceberg mode to suppress him
"Why, you don't understand?"
"not understand."
"The fact that the church's agent did not show up proves that Roa's soul has not yet revived. If I remember correctly, he seems to be a very powerful magician in the Middle Ages who turned into a dead apostle. The soul of a sleeping magician, you must know what this means."
As Orange said, every reincarnation consumes Roa's power, so Roa will fall into a deep sleep after reincarnation. As time goes by, his soul will slowly revive, and gradually erode and merge, eventually replacing the reincarnated body and becoming a new generation of Roa.
Roa has been reincarnated in this way for 17 times and has lived for at least 800 years. The knowledge he has accumulated is a treasure mountain for magicians. Orange wants to open the door to the treasure mountain before Roa's soul is revived and obtain the treasure from it. After all, there are too many ways to obtain information in the mysterious world.
The question is—
"How are you going to find this treasure mountain? What if you can't open the door to the treasure mountain?"
Orange already has the answers to these two questions.
"Shiki's eyes are very good at capturing invisible things. As long as Roa's reincarnation appears, it will not escape her eyes."
"If I can't open the gate to the treasure mountain before he revives, I will let Shiki kill him. Infinite reincarnation does not mean immortality. With Shiki here, killing him will be easy.
Shinji was really impressed. Orange was worthy of being Orange. She had thought of everything.
Shiki and Shiki's eyes have different focuses. Shiki is good at killing physical objects, while Shiki is good at killing invisible things, such as diseases, barriers, concepts, ghosts, etc.
It is no exaggeration to say that Shi is Roa's nemesis.
PS: In "Kara no Kyoukai", Shiki killed the dual existence of Mujo Kirie and the ghost of the girl who jumped off the building, killed Fujino's appendicitis, killed the future seen by Kuramime Rika, and killed Araya Soren's barrier. Shiki is good at killing invisible things, which was designated by Mushroom.