Zonggu turned over and made a little movement, and the girl on the bed looked over again.
"Soya."
"Um."
"Are you sleepy?"
"..."
There were so many things on his mind that he didn't feel sleepy yet, but it was time to sleep now anyway.
——He won't sleep, and neither will the curious beast on the bed. The two of them have been chatting for more than two hours since they laid down.
"Well, I want to sleep."
"It's almost time..."
A light lit up in the darkness, "Hey, it's already three o'clock in the morning!"
"..."
Zonggu closed his eyes, "Although I won't go to school tomorrow, if I get up too late, I won't be able to sleep at night... Don't forget, there is an entrance exam the day after tomorrow."
Akane Kirino immediately dropped her phone.
"……Good night!"
"Good night."
He was also getting sleepy, and kept convincing himself with the excuse that "all you need to know about the results of external things is enough", but the actual situation was that the more he thought about it, the more energetic he became.
He opened his eyes again and looked at the ceiling where he could see nothing.
In the middle of the night, when there is no talking, everything is completely silent. When vision temporarily takes a backseat, the slightest sound in the darkness becomes obvious.
Snow fell outside the window, accompanied by the low whistle of the cold wind.
"..."
Zonggu's attention was unconsciously focused on the bed, listening to the subtler breathing.
Slow and regular, probably asleep.
He turned over slowly, trying not to make a sound, and turned his back to the bed.
As a child who grew up in a child welfare institution, it was not the first time that he had experienced sleeping in the same room with a girl, whether he wanted to or not;
On Kirino Akane's side, on the other hand, according to her, he was the first person of the same age to enter this room - the Kirino family's old house had so many rooms that boys from relatives had no chance to come here.
If she had no defense against him, when she walked into the room, she showed him the bamboo sword hidden on the bed and bluntly said that she had practiced kendo for several years;
But if he really had evil intentions, the deterrent of premature exposure would be useless.
Is it natural?
Zong Gu does not want to use this one-sided attribute to define any girl. After all, he has grown up with many people of the opposite sex and has seen another side of them that they never show to outsiders;
He only hoped that Kirino Akane could treat him as a member of the opposite sex a little more seriously, at least with some sense of distance, otherwise he would occasionally feel at a loss as he regarded her as a benefactor.
Apart from getting his life back on track as soon as possible, he has no extra thoughts now.
"..."
After wearing it for more than a week, the amulet on the chest no longer had any sense of existence. Zonggu held it in his hand and exhaled slowly.
In the final analysis, the main reason why things have fallen into this situation is my body that constantly exudes the aura of underworld. But tracing the source, the blame lies with Izana, the mother goddess of creation who escaped from underworld thousands of years ago.
Beautiful head.
If it hadn't been for her, I wouldn't have fallen into hell;
If he had not lived in hell, he would not have eaten the food there and become contaminated with the atmosphere of hell. Even after escaping, he would still have to face endless pursuit.
More importantly, if he had not disappeared, the teacher at the welfare home would not have taken the blame and resign, and he would not have even left any clues for contact.
【"Like me?...You are really bold."】
Holding the amulet tightly, Zonggu fell into a deep sleep without realizing it.
"Teacher Tachibana..."
Glancing at the ground, the sleepy Akane Kirino closed her eyes again and continued to sleep.
...
Boom, boom, boom——
"Akane..."
"Akane——"
"Akane!"
"Well..."
Her head sank into the pillow, and despite the constant calls outside the door, Akane Kirino showed no signs of waking up until her body was shaken.
She opened her eyes drowsily and saw the person standing at the head of the bed, and she immediately woke up.
"Zong..."
"Shh."
Zong Gu raised his finger to signal her to be silent, and then pointed at the door of the room.
"Akane, are you in there?"
"Ah... I am. Sorry!"
Kirino Akane rubbed her face to help herself wake up faster.
"I just woke up..."
Kirino Keiko who was outside the door also breathed a sigh of relief.
"Really, didn't I tell you not to study too late... Why did you lock the door?"
"secret!"
"Really? Give Qian five minutes to hide the secret. Mom will come in and clean the room later."
"..."
Zonggu's eyes suddenly widened.
He had just woken up, and now he was thinking about how to jump off the second-floor balcony in a secretive way.
But the sun shines brightly after the snow, as if it makes everything invisible.
"Okay~"
Kirino Akane glanced at him and continued to respond with gestures to reassure him.
"Sleep for another half hour and get up—"
"If you sleep too long during the day, you won't be able to sleep again at night."
"It's okay."
Kirino Keiko didn't insist, so Souya felt relieved, "Akane, dad is going to drive us to Kyoto, don't let him wait too long."
"Hey, Kyoto?"
"Go to Yoshida Shrine and pray for Akane's entrance exam tomorrow. Didn't Uncle Sato say it's very efficacious?"
"I see……"
"That's it, get up early."
After muttering a few more words, she finally went downstairs, and the two people in the room breathed a sigh of relief at the same time.
"Soya."
Kirino Akane sat up and looked at Soya who was tidying up the bedding on the floor in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, "Do you want to come with us?"
"Kyoto?"
"Yeah. After going to Yoshida Shrine, you can also go shopping in Kyoto."
"Not going."
Zonggu shook his head and refused simply.
"All right."
Kirino Akane didn't care, lifted the quilt, and got out of bed.
"Whether I go or not, Souya can't appear in my room now. I'll go downstairs first to give Souya a chance to get out."
He took a deep breath and said, "Please."
She smiled and looked at the blue sky outside through the gap in the curtains.
"With such good weather, the evil spirits should have been wiped out."
Zong Gu stared back, and the dark clouds in his heart dispersed a lot.
"Well...everything is probably going well."
Akane Kirino didn't even change her clothes, so she went downstairs in pajamas with her hair messed up from sleep.
Things seemed to be going well from the beginning, "Where's Dad?"
"Akane, my hair..." Kirino Keiko was a little helpless, "Dad took the car for inspection and will be back soon."
Her daughter came over and hugged her waist, "I'm hungry."
"Go and wash up first..."
The two of them went to the kitchen together, and of course she couldn't see her daughter constantly waving behind her, signaling Souya to take the opportunity to leave.
After finding the hidden shoes and tiptoeing away from Kirino's house, Soya was exposed to the sun again, and it was inevitable that he felt a little guilty.
"It would be troublesome if I lost my job at the izakaya..."
There was a faint sound of an engine from the other side of the house, and it seemed that Hiroyuki Kirino, who had driven for inspection, had returned here.
He returned through the stone path he had taken last night and didn't meet anyone else until he entered the courtyard of the Kirino family's old house.
About half an hour later, he saw the newly dressed Akane Kirino outside the yard. The Kirino couple driving a car were waiting at the intersection.
"Soya, do you want to visit Kyoto?"
The snow-covered yard shone in the sunshine, and the two looked at each other and smiled.
"Next time."
After the Kirino family left, Soya was about to go back and continue his self-study when he suddenly noticed something unusual among the bushes beside the road.
"..."
Pushing aside the snow and looking at the miko with bruises all over her body and her eyes closed, he suddenly had another extreme guess about the outcome of last night's storm.