Kyoto Shenyin Love Story

Chapter 1
The sky was gray, and it was raining lightly.

Just over a month after the new year, along with the damp feeling, Jinhu City on the east coast of Lake Biwa is still cold.

A hazy light mist hangs over the low bushes, floating in the air.The path paved with stone steps winds upwards, connecting several nearby houses, and at the end is a single-family villa.

The sky was dark, and the lights in the room on the second floor were turned on early.

"tired……"

In front of the desk, the girl in pink home clothes put down the automatic pen, leaned back, and straightened her stiff arms.

Her long hair fell down and hung on the back of the chair, shaking as she turned her head.Open the curtains, the water vapor outside the floor-to-ceiling windows is hazy, and the terrace is humid.

"Is it still raining?"

After staring out the window for a while, Kirino Akane withdrew his gaze, and his eyes fell on the notebook in front of him again, but his slumped body slid down a little.

Taking off her glasses, she glanced at the desk calendar in the corner of the desk.

The red star marks a day at the end of February, and below it is her own note:
[Entrance Exam! 】

Half of the last semester of Form [-] has passed, and for students like her who have long set goals, the preparation for the exam starts before the summer vacation.

"There is still more than a week."

There is not much time left, but it is not urgent, at least she does not have much tension in her heart at this time;
It's just that she can't relax completely, after all, the private high school she wants to go to is still a bit difficult for her.

"Danhai High School... It would be great if I could take the exam earlier."

After continuing to post for a while, Akane Kirino closed the notebook, got up and walked around the room, sat on the bed again, picked up the doll bear next to the pillow and hugged it in her arms, staring straight out of the window.

"Not right..."

There is a strange feeling.

"Is it because I studied too long today?"

Akane Kirino shook her head.

wrong.

This feeling, which is difficult to describe clearly at once, started yesterday evening.

But at that time, she didn't take it seriously, she just thought it was because she had been cleaning the old house in the afternoon and was too tired.

"Or...pre-exam syndrome?"

Looking at the wet terrace outside the floor-to-ceiling windows, her hand touched her chest unconsciously, but she paused suddenly.

"Eh……"

Touching through the clothes again, Akane Kirino lifted her collar and looked down at the inside.

——The mahogany amulet hanging on his chest disappeared.

pat, pat.

Open the long-handled umbrella, and the fine rain slaps on the umbrella surface like a drumbeat.

It was much colder outside than in the house, Kirino Akane let out a sigh of relief, and a cloud of white mist immediately rose in front of her.Looking back at the closed door, she wrapped her sleeves around the cold umbrella handle and walked straight down the stone path.

"If it's not there... no, it must be there!"

The unknown means there is still hope, and Akane Kirino embraced the expectation, and at the same time tried hard to remember when was the last time she habitually touched that amulet.

The small mahogany amulet, only a few centimeters long and not as thick as her thinnest little finger, was strung on a red string, with an indecipherable pattern engraved on the surface.

It was a gift from her deceased grandma.

The toddler cried a lot and behaved a little abnormally, but he quickly recovered after putting on the amulet and never took it off.

She is 16 years old this year, and it is almost the same time that this amulet spent on her neck, which is of great significance;

The bedroom, kitchen and bathroom at home could not be found, so she could only hope in the old house that was just cleaned yesterday.

The drumbeats were messy, and Akane Kirino was absent-minded, walking along the stone steps to the bottom, and was awakened by a sudden cold wind.

She raised her eyes, and a black figure was walking by.

It was a slender woman, her whole body was wrapped in a black robe, and her black hair hung down, almost dragging to the ground.

In stark contrast was her pale, bloodless face.

"..."

Akane Kirino stopped involuntarily.

If the woman felt something, she turned her head slowly and looked over with a blank expression on her face.

Oops……

She hurriedly avoided the panic-stricken sight, lowered her head, clutched her umbrella and hurried away.

And the man kept watching her back until she disappeared around the corner of the path, without showing any more expressions on his face.

"weirdo……"

On the other side of the corner, Akane Kirino retracted her head when she saw the solitary figure moving forward in the rain.

After walking a few steps, she suddenly stopped again.

"Wait, doesn't she even have an umbrella?"

Turning around and returning to the intersection, there was no one on the trail when we came.Turning her head to look at the old Japanese house not far away, she felt a little regretful.

"It would be great if I noticed it sooner... Is the person I have never seen before, someone's relative?"

Going straight along the mottled and neat wooden fence, looking up, the other end of the misty rain is the old house of the Kirino family.

The old classical Japanese-style wooden house occupies a large area, and it is the house inherited from her father's elder brother, uncle, from the previous generation;
It's just that my uncle's family had moved abroad a few years ago, and her family had another residence, so the house here was vacant.Occasionally, relatives from far away come to stay here temporarily for a few days, and the cleaning work falls to her.

The house is spacious, the yard is not small, and there is a vegetable field behind it.

A large number of trees, flowers and plants are planted on both sides of the walkway in the front yard. Every spring, the green trees and red flowers complement each other, making it fresh and eye-catching.It was cold and bare at this time.

Under the gray-white sky, the black branches stretched out their teeth and claws, in strange shapes.Akane Kirino looked up as she walked, until she walked into the yard, only to find that the main door of the house was opened a little.

"Eh?"

Did you forget to close the door yesterday?
She hurriedly quickened her pace, and as soon as she entered the entrance, she bumped into a figure.

"..."

He is tall and thin, and the clothes that cover his body are in tatters, so dirty that the original color cannot be seen, and they are attached to the body after being wet by rain;
The long and messy hair almost completely covered the face, and the little face that was revealed was not clean at all, it could only be seen that it was a man.

tramp?
Seeing the man who broke into the house turned around, Akane Kirino immediately took two steps back vigilantly, and at the same time raised the long-handled umbrella in her hand.

"who are you?"

There were some water spots on the floor, probably dripping from his wet body.

"As you can see……"

For some reason, she preconceived that the tramp should be quite old, but his voice sounded very young, with obvious fatigue.

"I'm just a homeless person. I haven't eaten for several days and I want to borrow some food to satisfy my hunger."

After seeing her, the homeless man stopped his deep steps, and retreated while explaining.

The two passed by, Kirino Akane was still holding an umbrella that didn't have much deterrent effect, and he didn't stop until he retreated to the door.

"Can I have something to eat?"

His actions reassured Akane Kirino a lot, but she didn't let her guard down because she was alone after all.

"Sorry, no one lives here, and there is no food at all."

Turning the tip of the umbrella, she pointed out of the yard again.

"But go out on the small road over there, and there is a ramen shop at the intersection on the right. Uncle Daisuke there is a very good person. Just tell him 'make it up later', and he will understand what it means."

"That is to say..."

“Free ramen.”

"Really." Hearing that there was free hot food, the tramp raised his voice a lot, "I see, thank you."

"you are welcome."

"excuse me."

It wasn't until he exited the porch and didn't forget to close the door that Akane Kirino was really relieved.

Through the frosted glass, she saw the blurry figure outside fading away, and she also made a decision.

"After you find the amulet, let's go to Uncle Daisuke to have a look."

My uncle's family immigrated abroad, leaving a lot of old clothes at home, and gave a few pieces to the homeless. Presumably he wouldn't know about it—even if he knew, he probably wouldn't care.

"You sound so young, why did you become a homeless man... Where is the nearest relief center?"

Thinking about the homeless man, Akane Kirino went into the back room and began to look for her lost amulet.

There are many rooms on the upper and lower floors of the Kirino family's old house. She doesn't need to look for each one from the beginning. The focus is on the Japanese room that was just cleaned yesterday afternoon.

"It must be here..."

Opening the sliding door, she prayed secretly in her heart, completely oblivious to the fact that in the yard outside the house, the homeless man who had just left had gone and returned, and was quickly approaching here;

Scanning the floor under her feet, she regretted not putting on her glasses when she went out.

Fortunately, there were not many things in this Japanese room, and what was on the floor was clear at a glance. She quickly saw the small wooden talisman that fell at the junction of the edge and the Japanese room...

And that blob of "something" floating on the edge, only a few steps away from the amulet.

"what is that?"

Looking up, Akane Kirino opened her mouth slightly, staring blankly at the cloud of "smoke".

The general outline is close to the shape of a human, and the face of the person can be vaguely seen from the position of the head. The facial features are dark and terrifying, but they can be regarded as having a nose and eyes...

ghost?

The world view was impacted, and she froze in place, not knowing whether she should be surprised or afraid first.

And the cloud of smoke suddenly shook again.

"..."

It's looking this way?
It started to move.

It floated this way.

"Eh...wait..."

Akane Kirino suddenly felt something was wrong, and wanted to escape, only to realize that her legs were completely out of control, and she couldn't use any strength.

Just at this time...

"—can you see it?"

She turned her head, and the owner of the young voice just now came to her side at some point, still holding the long-handled transparent umbrella she had placed in the entrance.

"..."

Terrified and dazed, Kirino Akane forgot how she reacted, and he seemed to say something;
When she regained consciousness, she was already holding the handle of the umbrella in her hand.

"Since you can see, use this as a weapon."

"……arms?"

"Let's call it this way, the specific details are up to your imagination. In short, just like you planned to use it against me just now, use it to play its role."

The cloud of "smoke" was getting closer and closer, and it had already floated in front of her. The much clearer appearance was even more terrifying, but her attention was involuntarily focused on the right hand that was holding the umbrella handle and was also wrapped by the other hand.

"Almost there—the head is where it hurts."

The young homeless man whispered, and suddenly exerted force on her hand. She passively raised the umbrella in her hand, and stabbed forward with that force.

The plastic umbrella tip pierces one of the black holes in the head impartially.The human-shaped smoke stopped immediately, and dissipated in a blink of an eye.

Vaguely, she seemed to hear a sob.

"This is just the lowest level of wandering spirit."

That hand quickly let go, and then grabbed the umbrella in her hand, "Even if you let it go, it won't affect anything."

Doubts surged in her heart, and the mournful moans in her ears hadn't completely dissipated, but Akane Kirino asked a repeated question.

"who are you?"

"As you can see……"

His voice was tired, and his answer was the same, "I'm just a bum."

"It suddenly rained heavily outside, and I want to borrow an umbrella."

　It finally passed the review, and the title of the book had to be changed. .

　　
　
(End of this chapter)