(AN: This is a summary of Uehara's existence. Uehara being both a dragon and a surin isn't something like 50/50 where he only inherits some traits from surins and dragons. He has the best of both demon races. The pure and immense chakra that surins have as well as the tough physicality and strength that dragons have. The only flaw is that being a hybrid causes too much strain on his essence, causing his existence to be extremely unstable due to his soul and his infantile body being unable to handle such power. As a result, he will have to consume the blood of other living beings to stabilise his own existence. Yes he can shirk off the need to drink blood once he gets stronger but he would need to reach the Fifth Gate, which will take him a very long time to reach judging by his current speed of gaining strength. Another method to shirk the need for blood would be to become a host to a yokai. By allowing a yokai to enter his body and reside in it, he would become stronger both in soul and body and the burden caused by being a hybrid would be drastically reduced. The last method that was recently revealed would be for him to awaken his Mandala, otherwise known as The Eyes of Rebirth. If he can awaken them, then by default he will become stronger. How does this work? Well we heard from Volkarin that when he awakened his mandala, he was able to kill a god, albeit a weakened one. But we can see that having the mandala increased his strength drastically. We can also assume that when he awakened the mandala, he was severely injured at that time, meaning, awakening the mandala healed him completely on top of granting him great strength.)
Back to the novel…
Shikibu watched everything from start to end. She was mesmerised by the sheer focus Uehara had shown when preparing the scroll parchment. Even now as he was unconscious while still in the lotus position, she watched as his three clones were hard at work in turning the parchment into a proper scroll.
Gently placing her zither on the lush grass, she got up and began making her way over to Uehara. As she got closer, she unconsciously slowed her steps as she was worried that the clones would attack her. But she was surprised that even if she was just a stone's flick away, the clones didn't even spare her a glance.
She continued walking over to Uehara and when she got to him, she got down on both knees.
Her hands began shaking at the moment.
[What am I doing!]
She glanced to the side and noticed the clones were not paying attention to her and were focused on their task.
She turned to look at Uehara again and her will strengthened.
[He must be uncomfortable like this.]
She gently moved his body and laid his head on her lap. She was surprised when he didn't react at all. Even his breathing didn't change.
She quietly muttered to herself.
"Is he always this carefree?"
The first clone heard her and responded.
"Pfft! Carefree? I'd bet my left nut he's the most hard-working demon out there."
The second and third clone looked at the first clone. The first clone looked at the two clones and shrugged.
"What? You know I'm right. Even as he's sleeping right now, I bet he's in his mindscape training how to decrease the amount of hand-signs he needs or something."
The second and third clones looked at each other and nodded.
""That's true.""
Shikibu looked at the interactions between the clones and she almost thought she was in an illusion. The first clone looked at her reaction and snickered.
"First time seeing us clones? We're very different aren't we?"
Shikibu still couldn't speak. One minute, these three clones were working like a well-oiled machine and in the next moment, they had a complete personality change that was completely different from Uehara's.
The third clone looked at the first clone.
"Remember First. We have work to do."
"Third's right. You know how grumpy elder brother Uehara gets when things aren't completed on schedule."
The first clone sighed.
"Fine, fine. You have a good point brother Third."
The third turned his head towards Shikibu.
"We heard you had written a book called Tale of Genji. Elder brother won't tell you this so I'll say it in his place. He's interested in reading it but won't ask you for it since he's 'busy' all the time. At some point in the future, give it to him."
The first clone chimed in.
"Yeah that's right! Give it to elder brother so that we can read it as well!"
Shikibu had by now calmed down. She looked at Uehara who was sleeping peacefully on her thighs.
[He's quiet but too smart and mature for his age. Compared to them…]
She looked at the three clones. The first clone was looking at her with stars in its eyes. The second clone had a tired expression on its face, almost as if it would sleep at any moment. The third clone looked vastly similar to Uehara. But instead of a blank expression, it had a very serious no-nonsense look on its face.
Shikibu giggled a bit when she saw the vast difference between Uehara and his clones. Gently scratching Uehara's cheek with her thumb, she spoke.
"Tell you what. If you tell me more about this elder brother of yours, I'll give him my book."
The three clones looked at each other. It didn't take long before the first turned towards Shikibu.
"Let's not waste anymore time. We agr-hgjghgkdjd!"
The third covered the first's mouth.
"Tell us what you want to know. Then we'll decide whether or not we'll accept your proposal."
Shikibu let out a smile. She was trying so hard not to laugh at the sight before her. Interacting with Uehara's clones was a refreshing experience as they actually acted like the children they were supposed to be.
Trying not to giggle at the struggling first clone, she spoke.
"I'm interested in why all of you call Uehara elder brother."
This time, First managed to escape Third's grasp and spoke out.
"Because he's elder brother! That's why!"
The second clone sighed and lied down on the grass with its hands behind his head. When he heard the first's answer, he already knew they weren't going to be working on the scroll anytime soon.
Meanwhile, Shikibu was surprised by the answer of the first clone. She could see the respect in his eyes and it truly intrigued her.
"Oh? What do you mean?"
The first clone crossed its arms.
"Hmph! Like I said-ow!"
The third clone whacked the back the of the first clone's head.
"What First means is, eldest brother was conscious during the time he was forming. His spirit had already seen the world for four decades before he was finally born. That's why we refer to him as eldest brother."
Shikibu's eyes widened. What the third clone just described to her is one of the rarest phenomena that can happen during the birth of a demon. Demons can be born in one of two ways. It can be either through a normal reproduction or through the gathering of energy. Although the requirements for the birth of each demon race may be different, they're all consistent on one fact. All need nature energy.
Nature energy exists all over the planet. When a demon is about to be born, all nature energy within a certain radius will start slowly gathering. That energy will then aid the demon in creating its body and then finally, its consciousness. Depending on the density of the nature energy, the process may take a few months to even decades.
But here's what's unique about Uehara's situation according to Shikibu.
[Instead of his body forming first, was it his consciousness that formed? Does that mean that for forty-years, he was alive and observing the world? That would explain everything.]
Looking at the sleeping Uehara on her lap, she sighed.
[Just what did you see in those years that made you like this?]
(AN: For those of you that don't understand, it wasn't exposed that Uehara was reincarnated. Rather, it was said that while he was still forming, he was conscious. It is similar to those novels where the main character is conscious in their mother's womb. Except in this case, Uehara's process lasted an entire forty-years instead of nine months. Remember that when he was still Shawn Dillon, he died at the age of forty-one. So his life on Earth is being treated as his time in the womb. Maybe his life on Earth was a fluke or a trial period and that his real life was waiting for him here? Maybe the Earth was just treated as stage one of Uehara's life for all we know. Anyway, this is all the information we have for now. Maybe we'll get some more information about this phenomenon in the future. And another thing. When the clones say they also want to read Shikibu's book, it doesn't mean much. It's simply that if Uehara reads it, then the next time they're summoned, they'll have the knowledge of the book.)