After an accident, the entire Hechuan Yukishu family turned into ghosts.
He had no choice but to shoulder the burden. He went from being the person everyone looked after to the one looking after everyone else, spending all day fussing over his older siblings.
Maybe ghosts came with some strange brain-dimming effect. Hechuan Yukishu's once-brilliant, clever family elders had all gone practically stupid. All they knew how to do was roll around on the ground, over and over and over again
Hechuan Yukishu: "..."
Oh, right. They also went "Aah, aah."
Hechuan Yukishu: "…"
"It's okay, everyone!" The little boy wiped his tears and proclaimed, "I'll definitely get you all back to normal!"
And so Hechuan Yukishu slung a box onto his back and set out on a long journey to find a doctor.
He met a strange man dressed in red and wearing earrings. The man seemed to have gone through the same thing as him.
After Hechuan Yukishu talked his ears off, the older brother packed his own big brother into a box and took him away.
He met a miko dressed in all sorts of strange clothes. She seemed to have a lot on her mind.
Hechuan Yukishu patted her shoulder to comfort her, only to be chased all over the place by her dog.
He met a smooth-talking medicine peddler who seemed especially eager to sell him all kinds of unregulated products.
Hechuan Yukishu... Hechuan Yukishu turned and ran.
"Is this my punishment for never going outside, Great Deity?"
Hechuan Yukishu knelt before the statue, sniffling. "Why? Why meee, "
"Why do I keep running into weirdos?!"
The Great Deity thought it over, clapped his hands, and decided to give the little tyke in front of him a chance.
After that, Hechuan Yukishu met even more weirdos.
Once upon a time, there was a little boy who lived at a shrine. His older siblings came down with a strange illness.
There was nothing else he could do. He strapped a box to his back and set off with his family in tow, looking for a doctor who could cure them.
He kept walking, and the road stretched ever longer. More and more people joined him along the way.
Until one day, the little boy awoke from a long, long dream.
And became a white crane.
Possibly an alternate timeline: White Crane Blade
Theme: Unity is strength