Kyoto Shenyin Love Story

Chapter 348 Night Shift

The wind on the lake is strong, especially at night, and the temperature is still low.Pulling back the coat he brought when he left, Soya looked at Kyoko across the driveway again.

The white-sleeved scarlet hakama flutters in the wind, it is light and thin, and it may not be able to withstand the night wind.

Noticing his gaze, Kyoko also looked over.

It is a strange thing to say that it is cold in summer, Sogu pulled the coat on his body, "Is it too cool?"

"It's okay." She raised her hand, pulled her long hair behind her ears, and waved her sleeves again, "It feels right to wear long sleeves."

"Fortunately, the Soul Festival is not in winter."

"Yes. However, the organization's operations do not distinguish between seasons, and they often operate in winter..."

"For example, when Tsukiyomi-sama was rounded up for the first time, it was still snowing."

"Um……"

While talking, another car came from the lane between the two of them and stopped in front of the barrier.

The psychics stood on the lane partition behind the toll window, and did not affect normal vehicle traffic. They only issued warnings to all kinds of spirits trying to pass through here to Kyoto, or intercepted and killed them if necessary.

Compared with daytime work, the night shift work at the intersection is so relaxing that it even makes people feel heavy about the future.

Most of the time, the spiritual sense person only needs to sit at his post. Compared with staring at the passing spirit body, the more important thing is how to keep himself awake all night and not fall asleep.

drop--

The barrier to stop the car had been lifted automatically, but the car didn't accelerate, it drove forward a little, and stopped again.

The young driver poked his head and glanced at the rear first.

The Biwa Lake Bridge is a toll road, and the traffic volume is not large, especially after late at night. He is the only car on this lane for the time being.

Another ordinary person with a lot of curiosity.

Zonggu remained calm, looking at the other party, just waiting for him to speak.

"I say……"

The driver looked at him, then at the witches standing beside the other lanes on the left and right, "Are these witches real witches?"

The psychics on duty at intersections are actually not obliged to explain to ordinary citizens, but when faced with inquiries, they usually do not ignore them, because standing guard on the side of the road is indeed too boring.

"Yes." Soya nodded.

"Are you with them?"

He nodded again.

The other party asked the common question of all people who would stop the car: "Then what are you doing?"

Sogu's expression remained unchanged, "Guide the direction for the lost souls."

"Hey." The driver laughed strangely, not taking his words seriously.

Most of the witches beside the driveway are young and beautiful, especially the one standing on the partition on the other side. He turned to the car window on the other side: "Can you guide me, a little lost lamb, by the way?"

Kyoko turned a deaf ear and stared ahead without blinking.

"..."

After all, it is a highway intersection. Stopping here is already a violation of the Road Traffic Safety Law. If it is ignored, the driver can only leave in resentment.

Soya glanced back, the red tail lights quickly disappeared on the bridge, and when he turned back, he found Kyoko looking at him.

"We really shouldn't be standing here."

He smiled and shook his head again.

"For us, this is the most convenient and safest place."

It is too convenient for the passing driver to strike up a conversation.

Jingzi nodded without saying a word, and looked forward again.

The night wind kept blowing, and it was past ten o'clock, but for the enlightened people on duty at the intersection, the night had just begun.

After standing for a while, Soya and Kyoko both sat down on their folding chairs. At this time, they didn't need to stand to keep themselves awake.

"Miss Sugawara..."

The maiden on the other side started a conversation with Kyoko, Soya took out his phone and glanced at the message he had just received.

Kirino: At which intersection is Soya? Hongko and I came to look for you.

"..."

He took a big breath.

And her next message came soon.

Kirino: Just kidding~
If it was one or two o'clock in the morning when sleepiness was the most likely, he would definitely thank Akane Kirino.

Soya: I was at a highway intersection where I would be hit by a large truck if I was distracted.

Akane Kirino didn't send another message for a long time.

buzz-

Hongzi: Really?Don't be scary.

Hongzi: Akane said she was going to Soya now, and if it was too dangerous, she would bring you back.

"..."

Soya: Let her stay at home.

Hongzi: Qian has already gone downstairs.

"..."

Self-defeating, Soya had no choice but to take a picture of the working environment on the spot and send it to Akane Kirino.

Kirino: Liar!
Soya: After all, it is a highway intersection, and the possibility I just mentioned cannot be completely ruled out.

Kirino: I just went to the altar to burn incense sticks for Soya.

Soya: Can you put it another way?

The two chatted for a few words, and Akane Kirino suddenly mentioned the photo he just posted.

Kirino: Is the miko on the left of the photo Sugawara-senpai?
Soya flipped up, and Kyoko was talking to the shrine maiden on the other side. In the photo, there was only her back view, without showing her face at all.

Soya: Hmm.

Kirino: Why is Senpai there?
Soya: We just lined up together.

Kirino: That's suspicious.

Soya: If it was intentional, I would have made myself work night shifts every day.

Kirino: Still suspicious.

After a few perfunctory words from Akane Kirino, Soya put away his phone, his mind drifting away with the lake wind.

She looked like she cared but didn't particularly care, how much had she already noticed...

"—Student Fang Ming."

Jingzi called softly to bring him back to his senses.

Sogu raised his gaze, and a figure staggered over from the middle of the driveway, with a broken body, two arms hanging down as if broken, and a dull face.

It was another spirit body on the verge of death, probably in a state between a resentful spirit and a wandering spirit.

Zong Gu came to a conclusion at a glance, and looking at his dazed state, he was not much different from You Ling.

Walking past the window of the toll booth, the staff sitting inside were unconscious, but the spirit body suddenly stopped and stared at the ground under its feet.

At least he still has some awareness, Soya thought again.

On the driveway on the ground, in addition to the guiding arrows, there are also warning texts left by spiritual power that only spirit bodies and spiritual sense can see:

[Do not disturb the people, do not enter the house, offenders will be killed without mercy. 】

Simple and brutal, but this is only the first warning to the spirits passing through the gate.

[Don't stay in Kyoto for a long time. 】

[Shrines and temples, those who enter die. 】

[Do not enter the Kyoto Imperial Garden. 】

The written warning on the ground was written by a spiritual person who was on duty a few days ago, and the contents were numerous and complicated, which almost restricted all places where the spiritual body could go after entering the capital;

However, there are not many spirits who can really obey, otherwise they would not need to be on duty at various intersections entering Beijing at night, and hunt and kill everywhere during the day.

While looking down, while moving his steps, the ragged spirit body took a long time to walk in front of Soya and Kyoko.

"Do you understand?" Zong Gu said.

"clear."

He stopped, his body was a little unsteady, and a smile appeared on his broken face, "Don't make trouble, I can understand."

Zong Gu looked at him, "It's too late to turn around now."

"Ah." He opened his mouth, as if he didn't know what to say, but he also had no intention of turning back.

It is only persuasive once, and it is useless to say more.

Soya exchanged glances with Kyoko on the other side of the driveway, and said, "Let's go."

"Ah." The spirit body stood blankly for half a minute, then suddenly nodded towards the place where no one was there, and continued to walk on the bridge.

The ragged figure swayed, looking as if it would be blown off the bridge by the lake wind at any moment, both of them looked back for a while.

There is a widely circulated saying among psychics: being able to "see" is actually a punishment.

From a certain point of view, the spirit body is the continuation of another form of life, but it is incomplete at the beginning of its formation. More or less, death will always make them lose something;
Sober and ferocious, gentle but dazed, the spirits are muddled, but will unconsciously transfer their own sorrow to the bystanders.

The more compassionate you are, the more painful it will be.

Some people choose to turn a blind eye, while others want to change everything from the source.

Kyoko turned her head first.

"If Huangquan does not return to its original order, this situation will not disappear."

"Ah."

Soya also turned around, met her firm gaze, and nodded again.

The two looked at each other and smiled.

Whether it is for himself or for her, he must restore the order of the other world to its original state, Soya said to himself again.

The night time passed slowly, and the first half of the night had not passed yet.

There are not many vehicles passing by the Piwa Lake Bridge, but the spirit bodies are not regular. Sometimes there are more and less, occasionally there is no spirit body for half a day, and the next moment there are spirit bodies passing by in groups.

When it was almost eleven o'clock, without warning, a large group of spirits emerged outside the toll booth.

The staff at the toll window yawned and looked back one after another, wondering why those witches suddenly put on an attitude of being ready for battle, holding a black weapon in their hands.

"Is that... a samurai sword?"

Soya waved his hand twice to get used to the feeling.

The weapon is not easy to hold, it is not the knife he usually uses, but is uniformly configured by the organization, but it will not cause too much trouble to use it.

"Everyone be careful—" one of the witches shouted, "Protect yourself first."

"Yes!"

Looking at the approaching spirit body, Soya held the knife in one hand, and took out his mobile phone with the other hand, and told the situation here to the spiritual sense guards on the other side of the bridge.

He is the liaison officer on both sides, and was determined by lottery before.

"Need support?"

"No need for now, you just need to be ready."

"Okay, please be careful."

"You too."

After hanging up the phone, Soya looked at Kyoko again.His eyes fell on the other witch beside her, and he resisted the idea of ​​asking her to stand by his side.

If you care about it, you will be chaotic, and if you cause other people to panic, it will be troublesome.

"Protect yourself first."

Kyoko looked over and nodded to him.

Soon, the spirit bodies rushed over mightily.

Zong Gu glanced roughly, and the number was about two or three hundred.

This kind of group of spirits often has one or a few leaders who are tough on the inside. Under their restraint, there are usually no disruptive individuals in the team. They only have the goal of reaching the capital in their eyes. .

And the leader of this team walked at the forefront, holding his hands high, indicating that he was not carrying any weapon that hurt anyone, and he was completely honest.

"We're just passing by, no malice—"

As he walked, he yelled, "Masters of spiritual sense, please raise your hands high—"

Everyone was engrossed, and no one put down their weapons.

Perhaps it was because Sogu was the only male among the psychics, and he was regarded by the leader as the leader of the psychics group at Qiaotou, "Please believe that we really have no malicious intentions."

"..."

Zongya glanced at the witches and saw that they were all looking at him, so he could only stand up.

Temporarily lowering the black blade in his hand, he looked at the leader, "You are the leader."

"Yes."

Zongya glanced at the team that stopped behind him again, "You stay here and let them pass first."

"no problem."

Obviously, it was not the first time that the spirit body in the lead had experienced this kind of situation, so he stood directly beside him and greeted the spiritual senses behind him:

"Everyone go over—"

The stagnant team flowed again, passed the toll booth in an orderly manner, and assembled on the other side of the road.

"Why do they listen to you so much?" Zong Gu asked casually.

"Because everyone wants to arrive in Kyoto alive and participate in the Soul Sacrifice...even though we are all dead." The leading spirit body said, "I used to... forget it in my early years. Some experience that brings everyone together."

Soya nodded without asking further questions.

After all the spirits had passed the toll booth and came to the bridge, he put down his weapon, and then signaled to the lead spirit who had been a "hostage" for a while to join them.

"I hope all of you can keep your original intentions."

"Thanks, bye."

The army of spirit bodies passed through smoothly, and there was no friction between the two sides, and both sides breathed a sigh of relief.

The priestesses looked at each other, the joy in their hearts was written on their faces.

"Too many...Fortunately, nothing happened."

"Yes."

"I'm really worried that there will be a sudden mutation of the spirit body."

"Even more terrifying is the chain reaction."

Putting away the samurai sword, Soya thought for a while, then contacted the liaison officer on the other side of the bridge, and told the other party exactly what happened here.

From the process to the result, he only stated the facts and did not put forward any opinions that might affect the other party's judgment.

"I see."

"be careful."

"Ok."

About ten minutes later, news of the peaceful passage of the spirit body army also came from the other side.

"No problem?" Kyoko has been paying attention to Soya's situation.

He nodded, "Yeah."

"That's good." She breathed a sigh of relief for her colleagues on the other side of the bridge.

"I heard from Ms. Noma that when she and Ms. Huai were on duty at the crossing of the county road, they encountered such spirit bodies passing by in groups. Among them, there would always be a few spirit bodies that would suddenly mutate without warning."

"I think, the spirit body team just now should not have been so stable from the beginning..." Zong Gu said.

After passing Lake Biwa, Kyoto is already in sight, and the spirit bodies that would mutate due to a small amount of pressure have already been eliminated halfway.

Jingzi thought it was true, and looked forward again.

And this was the only thing worth noting and recording in the first half of the night.

The rest of the hour or so was as peaceful as before, and it lasted until midnight, when the witches suddenly became agitated.

"It's finally time for supper...I've never felt so hungry at night before."

Some people brought homemade food, but most of them, including Soya, had no experience and could only wait for the supper arranged by the organization.

At five past zero, a small car stopped outside the toll booth.

A middle-aged man got off the driver's seat, opened the rear door, and then got out of a woman. The two looked like a couple.

The couple prepared by the car for a while, and when they came back, there was an open box in front of them, which was filled with rice balls and sandwiches of various flavors.

"What flavor is this?" Soya asked, pointing to one of the rice balls.

"Salmon rice balls."

"Is the salmon...wrapped inside?"

"Yes."

"I want two."

"Ok."

After bringing Sogu two salmon rice balls, the middle-aged woman gave him a bottle of drink from the cloth bag next to him.

"Coffee milk."

"Thank you."

"you are welcome."

Crossing the driveway, she continued on, letting Kyoko choose a supper.

"A plum rice ball."

"Okay. And coffee milk, please take it."

"Thank you."

Soya watched from the side, "Is one enough?"

Kyoko nodded, "Enough."

He picked up one of the rice balls, "We can each have half."

She smiled.

The middle-aged woman who distributed the supper had already walked to the other side, Soya sat down, tore open the packaging bag outside the rice ball, and bit down.

The taste is average, or very ordinary, but it is no problem to fill your stomach.

After eating the two rice balls gratefully, Soya drank the coffee milk and said to Kyoko, "Tomorrow night, I will bring the rice balls myself, including Kyoko's share."

She nodded, showing a thoughtful expression again.

"what happened?"

"Is it too late? Student Fangming has to go to Kyoto tomorrow night."

"Well... I can prepare earlier."

"Why don't you let me prepare tomorrow's supper." Jingzi said.

Zongya was startled, then quickly nodded, "Okay."

The middle-aged couple who brought supper to the spiritual sense practitioners on duty waited until everyone had finished eating and drinking, then packed up the packaging bags and milk bottles, and drove away.

The time has passed zero, and after the midnight duty started, fewer cars passed the bridge.

It is easy to feel sleepy after eating and drinking, especially at this time.After sitting for a while, Soya stood up, and so did Kyoko.

By two or three o'clock in the morning, there was not a single car on the road.

Because of idleness and sleepiness, the second half of the night seemed extraordinarily long.

The shrine maidens exchanged places with each other to relieve boredom, since Kyoko was not involved and Soya stayed in her place the entire time.

At four or five o'clock, because someone proposed to watch the sunrise, the priestesses became more energetic for a while.

"Wow……"

"For the first time, I felt that watching the sunrise would make people so moved."

"Is it possible to change shifts..."

"No, there are still three hours to come."

In the morning, the traffic on the bridge gradually increased again, and the sound of roaring engines made the witches have to brace themselves up.

It was finally eight o'clock, and they changed shifts with the next batch of psychics on duty, and then boarded the bus back. After a while, Soya and Kyoko began to nod and shake frequently.

After a while, the two fell side by side.

(End of this chapter)