Kyoto Shenyin Love Story

Chapter 300 Typhoon ([-])

Because there are no restrictions on the subject matter and genre, Hongzi, who was the second turn, told a story with a warm tone.Near the end, the three audience members were still unmoved. She first showed a warm smile, and she didn't know if it was to comfort herself from the fright she had received from Akane Kirino's colorful and interactive strange stories.

"call……"

She let out a long breath, the candle just flickered a bit, so she had to get closer and blow it again.

The second candle went out with it, and a wisp of white smoke rose from the wick, which quickly dissipated.Akane Kirino looked at Soya who was opposite: "It's Soya's turn next."

"Ah."

Soya responded, but then stood up, "I'll go get something to drink."

"Okay, I want juice."

"Maicha." Hongzi said, standing up too, "I'll go with you."

"Where's the bell?"

"It's all right."

The two left the living room with the lamp.When they came to the kitchen, Hongzi found out four cups familiarly, washed them clean, Sogu opened the refrigerator, first poured two cups of fruit juice, and then poured two cups of barley tea.

There is still cold air in the sealed refrigerator, "I don't know when it will be powered on."

"Whether the power supply is restored or not, Akane's plan is to finish ten strange stories before going to bed." Hongzi took a sip from the glass first, then smiled a bit when seeing Zonggu pick up another cup of barley tea.

"I don't even know what to say." After taking two sips, he filled his and Hongzi's glasses again, closed the refrigerator, and prepared to return to the living room.

However, Hongzi held him back, wanting to be alone with him for a while longer, "You can tell any story, it's just to pass the time...for example, Soya's own business."

"The matter between me and Kyoko? There is a lot to talk about."

"..."

She stretched out her other hand and twisted it gently on his arm, "I want to hear something else."

Zong Gu was thoughtful, but just when Hong Zi thought he was going to say something, he picked up the tray and said, "Go back."

Back in the living room, Akane Kirino was holding a black object to bake on the candle, when Soya approached, she realized it was an old pen.

"Mr. Kirino's?"

"No. I forgot where I picked it up."

"Why do you pick up everything?" Sogu shared fruit juice and barley tea for the three of them and himself.

Holding the blackened nib in front of her eyes for a while, she closed the cap again and threw it back into her treasure chest, "Hmph, Soya is one of them. Are you ready for the story?"

"Don't worry."

Sogu took two sips of barley tea, put down the cup, and caught a glimpse of Hongzi staring at him from the corner of his eye.

"I don't have any stories to tell. I can only talk about what happened in the children's welfare home. It's not necessarily interesting, but it's more impressive."

"Okay." Akane Kirino welcomed this very much, hoping that he would talk more about the past, Hongzi next to him also thought the same.

Chao Wuling drank the juice silently, looked at him, just waiting for him to talk about their past.

Zong Gu lowered his gaze, and before speaking, he had already selected the candle he was about to blow out: "That happened when I was 14 years old..."

[That was when I was 14 years old.

One day, Suzu and I went to school as usual, and we stayed until the school was about to close, and then came back from school...Society activities?No, Ling and I didn't join any clubs, we just didn't want to get in touch with people, and we didn't want to attract attention.If you still don’t understand, forget it, don’t worry, it’s not important for the next thing.

I continued.

After returning to the orphanage, I found that everyone was busy and seemed to be looking for something. There was an eleven or twelve-year-old child who was crying very hard.

Teacher... Well, it's Teacher Tachibana.Teacher Ju told me and Ling that the child's mother came in the afternoon. Although she didn't take him home, she brought him a lot of snacks and toys, coaxing him to stay in...

Cough, back to toys.

One of the toys is missing.Although it was new, the kid said it was his favorite thing.That's how it is with small children.He cried so much that he had no choice but everyone in the orphanage to help him find him.

Did Ling remember, that was the matter.

Ling and I went back to the room to put down our things and helped to find them.But the orphanage is not big, and the range of activities that the child can move is very limited, and the staff have been looking for it for a long time before we came back, but they still haven't found it. I think there is little hope.

Throwing things is actually not uncommon in orphanages, because those who live with them are immature children... No, it's not carelessness.I mean, things aren't lost, they're "taken"...yes, stolen.

That was my hunch at the time.

The presence or absence of malice has nothing to do with age, mature people just can control and hide it.For the children in the orphanage, the most common way to vent their malice is to deliberately XZ up other people's things, and then decide whether they can be recycled according to the degree of malice.

Can't understand?Throw it into the toilet and flush it away with water, which is called non-recyclable.Just hiding under the bed... It's good to understand.

What the child lost was a panda puppet, which was said to be bought by his mother from the Panda Park in Tokyo, and the workmanship was very delicate.Well, I like pandas too...don't interrupt.All in all, that stuffed panda is about the size of your pretty head, not something to be flushed down the toilet.

So I started looking for other places that are easier to recycle, but not easy to find, such as the roof.

Near the back door of the orphanage, there is a single-storey warehouse with a flat roof, three to four meters high, and few people usually pass by it.In the room where Suzu and I lived, we could see the roof terrace from a distance.

When I went back to the room, there was a mass of black and white on the roof over there.

I called a few boys to help move the ladder out of the warehouse, then climbed up to have a look, and it really was the panda puppet.

I threw down the panda doll, but they ran away with the doll.

When I put down the ladder, dragged it into the warehouse, and then went back there, the child was very happy. Not only did he generously lend the panda puppet he just found to others, but he also distributed a lot of snacks for them to take. The child who came back with the puppet as a token of gratitude. 】

Having said that, Soya paused for a moment.

[However, those snacks are not for me: no one told him that it was the puppet that I found and took down. 】

Akane Kirino and Hongzi were silent for a few seconds, looked at each other and then at him, waiting for the follow-up.

Soya let out a long sigh and blew out the candle.

"Eh……"

The two were stunned at the same time.

"Finished?"

"It's over."

"So, I was so impressed... Is it because I didn't get any snacks?"

"Otherwise? I can remember this matter forever."

"..."

Akane Kirino hesitated to speak, she just opened her mouth for a long time, but didn't know what to say, finally she just said "Okay".

There were seven burning candles left on the table, all healthy lengths, which would last a good deal of time.Soya spoke so dryly, drinking barley tea, Akane Kirino looked at the last narrator of the first round: "Ling, it's your turn to speak."

Chao Wuling looked at her, "Do you have time to ask?"

"No, it doesn't matter if a story says all these candles burn out."

The fourth narrator nodded slightly, and then spoke:
"The panda puppet lost in the story just now was actually thrown on the roof of the warehouse by the child himself.

After he got the toy, he showed it off everywhere, but no one wanted to talk to him.So he hid the puppet, pretended to lose it, and immediately got everyone's attention. At the same time, he told all the children in the orphanage that he got a cute panda puppet. "

Soya drank the barley tea without a sip, keeping his expression on. Kirino Akane and Hongzi were a little dazed.

"The next day, the panda puppet really disappeared. It can't be recycled."

Zhao Wuling didn't care how the audience felt at this time, picked up the third blown out candle, pressed it on the selected flame, and extinguished it, announcing that the story ended here.

"..."

The atmosphere suddenly became a little dignified.Akane Kirino was still thinking about it, and then looked at the other three people.

"It's my turn again?"

"Yeah." Soya nodded.

She took a deep breath, then fell back, "I want to take a break."

All three have no opinion.

The sound of wind and rain outside was constant, Sogu got up and walked to the edge, the sliding door was closed tightly, but he didn't open it, and then he found some rainwater seeping in from the floor.

Hongzi walked behind him holding the desk lamp, Kirino Qian also walked over, and immediately saw the water stains on the ground.

"what."

She fetched a towel, dried the water stains, and spread the towel on the floor.

"Check around the house."

"Is the end of 'Ten Stories'?"

"No, the candle can burn for a long time, come back and continue."

Soya looked at the low table with candles again, and sat alone in the candlelight towards Kirin, silent like a night watchman who had gone through countless years.She looked at him too, shaking her head to indicate that she would not be part of their patrol.

"Then I'll leave it to you."

"Ah."

Before the patrol started, Akane Kirino fetched a stack of towels to hold.The desk lamp was handed over to Soya, and he walked in front, looking at doors and windows, checking as he walked, while Hongzi and Akane Kirino took care of the aftermath.

"Is it ten o'clock?"

"It's just after eight o'clock."

"So early……"

"After dinner, we only had a round of weird talks."

Soya held the desk lamp and mainly illuminated his feet—even if there was a leak on the top, it would inevitably flow down.

After walking around the outside, Akane Kirino and Hongzi threw down a few towels, went back inside, and began to check the rooms on the first floor one by one.

Keiko Kirino has paid close attention to the commonly used rooms. The doors and windows are stable, and the occasional water seepage is the side that welcomes the wind and rain. Some waterproof measures have been taken in advance.

Upstairs, everyone's rooms are on the leeward side, and there is no problem.

"..."

Tsukiyomi lay on the floor in a daze, and after being illuminated by Soya for a while, he turned over and turned his back to them.

"Then what power supply facility, can it be repaired tonight?" He felt that he had rested enough time and had recovered to his best competitive state, and was still waiting for the moment when the power supply was restored.

"You might as well see for yourself." Zong Gu said, but he had no news either.

Akane Kirino and Hongzi didn't understand why, but Tsukuyomi was silent for two seconds, "That's true."

"Look at what?" Akane Kirino asked.

"News." Soya said.

"Oh. But the news is not so timely, is it?"

"Being able to see a little news related to it is enough to comfort him."

Before leaving Tsukiyomi's room, Akane Kirino glanced back, Tsukiyomi on the ground did not take out her mobile phone, but pinched something hanging on her chest.

Back in the living room downstairs, Zhao Wuling was still sitting where she was.The candles burning on the table didn't seem to have changed in any way, but compared with the candles that were extinguished earlier, it was obvious that they were shorter.

Tong Yeqian sat down next to her, listening to the wind and rain outside, belatedly asked: "Doesn't Ling feel afraid to be alone?"

She shook her head.

Kirino Akane attributed the reason to the candlelight on the table, "Just looking at it makes people feel at ease... Is it because of the light or the heat?"

She asked herself and answered: "I think it's because of the light."

"Humans in ancient times lived without a fixed place. At night, they could only rely on flames to scare away wild animals. Over time, they formed an instinctive dependence on flames. When they saw flames, they felt a sense of security... I watched it on TV. of."

Kirino Akane often puts her unconstrained guesses in the name of TV programs, and only if he or one of the reds approves will she add the sentence "I think so too", and this time may be no exception.Soya didn't bother to delve into it, he just said "Maybe."

"Never mind that." Akane Kirino stretched out her hand and quickly passed over the candlelight, as if restarting some kind of ritual, "Let's continue."

"Well, now it's your turn."

She looked at the remaining six candles, "If there is another round, there are still two left. Do you want to light two more candles to make a full circle?"

"No need." Soya said, "The last two stories will not take turns, it's all voluntary."

"fair enough."

Akane Kirino nodded and coughed again, "Then I'll start."

【One day, Hongzi...】

"--Wait a moment!"

With his own lessons learned, Hongzi directly objected, "Change your name."

【Well, there is a girl named Yoshikawa...】

"Cy!"

Under Akane Kirino's compromise, the impure strange talk will be restarted.Her choice was still Horror and Strange Talk, and then Hongzi talked about an incident she encountered when she went on a trip with her family in middle school.However, Akane Kirino was very supportive, sometimes questioning and sometimes amazed, which made her improvise and put forward many new conjectures.

Then there is Zong Gu, who told the story of a certain spirit body he met when he was wandering in the underworld, which is generally the memory of his magnificent life.

"Why hasn't the spirit body from the Warring States Period dissipated?" Akane Kirino focused on this.

"Because it's in the Underworld. There's a dead silence there, but it can keep the spirit alive." Zong Gu explained.

"Okay. And then, what happened to the samurai?"

"After the memory, the pride surged up, and it mutated."

"Uh-huh?"

"Take a samurai sword that I don't know where, and chased me for a long time."

"Eh……"

Soya blew out the seventh candle, "Of course, the end result is like this - I let him extinguish it completely."

Afterwards, Asagiri, who spoke, told the love story of a garden geisha.There are many details in it, as if she saw it with her own eyes, but in the end it ended in tragedy. Akane Kirino was a little sentimental, and Hongzi burst into tears when she heard it.

After two rounds, only the last two candles are left on the table.The lights are flickering, and the dim light can only illuminate a small area, and the remaining length is not much, but it is enough to accommodate two more stories.

Akane Kirino looked around, "Do you want to talk?"

Soya shook his head: "If you want to talk, just start."

"Okay~"

"—Wait a minute." He interrupted her suddenly, listening intently, "There is a voice."

"what sound……"

"Shh."

"..."

Everyone fell silent, holding their breath.Soon, Akane Kirino also heard the seemingly invisible noise in the sound of wind and rain.

Da da da……

Like footsteps.

Getting closer.

She looked in the direction of the sound.

Two dark shadows stood at the door of the living room, coldly looking at a little candle here.

"ah--"

Clap, the flashlight came on.

"It's really lively." One of the shadows came over, it was Kirino Keiko.

"mom!"

Akane Kirino turned her surprise into joy, and Hiroyuki Kirino also came over and illuminated the residual candle on the table with a flashlight.

"I'm a little worried, so come and have a look."

Kirino Keiko crossed her arms, her hair on her forehead was a little wet, and the couple came here wearing rain ponchos.Because of the typhoon, almost no guests will come to the door, and the izakaya is not open today, and the two have been staying at home before.

"What is this for?" She gestured to the candles on the table.

"Hundred Monogatari! Because there were not enough candles, it became 'Ten Monogatari'."

She smiled, looked at the four children at the table again, and greeted a few words.

Hiroyuki Kirino checked the doors and windows with a flashlight, and smiled slightly when he saw that there were towels on the floor.

There is a light beside him.

He looked back and saw Soya coming with a lamp.

"is that OK."

"everything is fine."

Hiroyuki Kirino walked in front, and the two went around the old house and checked it again.When returning to the living room, Kirino Keiko sat in Soya's place and joined the children in the "Ten Stories".

"...and then the guest said: 'I don't believe in pure friendship between a man and a woman anymore—unless one of them is ugly.'"

"Haha."

Akane Kirino smiled, but then she noticed that her mother gave her a quick look and sighed again.

"Eh?"

After blowing out the candles, Keiko Kirino looked back at her husband and Soya beside him, "There is one last story, Hiroyuki, tell me."

Hiroyuki Kirino walked behind his wife, but didn't sit down, just stood.

"I met a woman I liked in high school more than 20 years ago. I fell in love with her naturally, got married after college, and had a daughter. I am very satisfied."

After that, he bent down and blew out the last candle on the table.

Akane Kirino let out a wow.

"..."

Kirino Keiko was a little helpless, looked back at her husband, and wanted to laugh, but finally just bumped him with an elbow, and then stood up with the table.

"Okay, that's the end of 'Ten Stories' - it's time for the children to go back to their room and sleep."

(End of this chapter)