Soya and Kyoko, who were taken back to Jiaoban as bad high school students, were immediately recognized after showing the agency's card to another policeman who seemed more senior.
"Oh, I'm so sorry for delaying your work..."
Zong Gu said it was OK. After all, his so-called investigation of supernatural incidents did not exist, it was just an excuse to try to escape just now.
Then, out of curiosity, Zong Gu asked the other party again whether the police knew about the Lingjuezhe organization were actually only a few.
"Yes, it's a minority. I just know the existence of 'you'."
The middle-aged policeman who was in charge of the Jiaoban nodded, and the police who had just brought them here have continued to patrol.
"After all, 'you' and 'we' are responsible for different 'groups' and rarely deal with each other."
"What are different 'groups'... so said."
The misunderstanding has been resolved, and when Zong Gu said he wanted to leave, the middle-aged policeman said he wanted to take them back to the station.
"No. Thank you for your kindness, but there is no need to worry."
"But it's still a bit far from Jiaofan to the station... and your girlfriend looks in a bad condition."
“…”
Soya turned around, and the shaking Kyoko was holding up his spirits and said, "I am his companion."
The middle-aged policeman raised his eyebrows, looked at the hands they were holding together, and nodded with a smile.
"OK."
After leaving Jiaofan, Soya pulled Kyoko and did not go far.
He understood that her condition was almost at its limit.
"Find a place to rest."
"Um……"
"Can you still move?"
She lowered her head, her eyes half open and half closed, all relying on him to control the direction of her progress.
"no problem……"
"I can't hear Kyoko's voice anymore."
"I said no problem..."
Walking on the sidewalk, Zong Gu looked at both sides of the street, his eyes constantly searching.
"Did Kyoko slept last night?"
"No……"
"Why?"
After a brief silence, her voice became lighter.
“…unwilling to give up.”
Zong Gu turned his head, and the umbrella hanged down, and he could only see her tightly pursed lips.
He turned back.
“But it’s not OK to not sleep.”
"Um……"
After leaving for a moment, Zong Gu stopped.
“We’re here.”
With a strong spirit, Kyoko raised her head, raised her umbrella, and looked ahead.
In front of you is a fast hotel.
“A single room.”
Wearing a uniform and skirt, Kyoko didn't have the energy to take a shower. She just took off her shoes and lay on the bed, and fell asleep quickly.
Half of her face was deeply trapped in the pillow of the single bed, and the other half was covered by her long hair. The extreme fatigue made her sleep deeply.
No matter what she experienced, what she was thinking, or whether she was willing to tell him these things, she could only wait until she woke up to know.
“…”
Retracting his gaze, Zong Gu, who was sitting at the table, held his head and looked at the rain outside the window.
The rain is getting heavier and heavier.
It's around 10 am now.
"Last time Acheng said that I will be reinstated if I missed for a few more days this semester..."
......
It's dark, not just because of the weather.
The lights were not turned on in the room, and the curtains were pulled up, so I couldn't see anything clearly, and it was quiet. So in the five or six minutes after I woke up, Kyoko thought Soya had left first.
Buzz —
Until she heard a vibrating phone, she got up and touched the light at the head of the bed.
With the light, she vaguely saw Zong Gu lying on the table in front of the window, his body undulating slightly, and I wonder how long she had been sleeping.
Buzz —
The cell phone on the desk vibrated again.
And this time, he woke up as well.
“Um…”
Kyoko immediately wiped her damp eyes, lay back to the quilt, and turned her back to him.
While awake Zong Gu picked up his phone, he also noticed the lit bedside lamp.
"Kyoko?"
"……Um."
"So you're awake."
Zong Gu slept sorely and his back hurt. He got up and moved his limbs, then turned on the main light in the room.
He looked at the head of the bed and looked at Kyoko, but she suddenly pulled up the quilt and covered her eyes or the entire face.
“…”
Zong Gu didn't think much about it, thinking that the lights were dazzling.
"Sorry... are you going to turn it off?"
A muffled "No need" came from the quilt.
Only then did he have time to read the news.
Kirino: It’s already five o’clock. Haven’t Soya and Sugawara senior sisters come back yet?
Kirino: We will only wait until half past five?
Zong Gu immediately replied, asking the three people who were still waiting in the school to go home first.
It was already this time, and he had no need to go to school again. What's more, it was faster to get home from the Biwa Lake Line.
The message sent quickly became read, and Akane Kirino replied "OK".
He put down his cell phone, and Kyoko at the head of the bed also pulled down the quilt and was looking at him.
"Have you had enough sleep?"
She nodded.
Zong Gu walked to the window and completely opened the curtains. The lights were turned on in the room, making it look darker outside.
On the street below, traffic became relatively dense. The headlights illuminated the water-stacked ground, and occasionally there would be a sound of a loud horn.
"Go back?"
“Where to go.”
Zong Gu looked back and knew in his heart that she was willing to speak at this time.
He sat on the table by the window. When he was about to open his mouth, he felt that the distance was too far, so he simply pulled the chair and sat by the bed.
"Kyoko has a quarrel with her family."
"Um."
"Father?"
"Um."
"Why?"
She was silent for a few seconds, "Because of Tamako."
Soya remembers that Noma Nan seemed to mention Tamako yesterday, but she didn't know the specific situation.
"What's wrong with Tamako?"
Kyoko looked at him and said, "I want Tamako to practice more in all aspects and prepare for inheriting the shrine... just to prepare. But my father was very angry and would never agree."
“…”
He was stunned, "Let Tamako inherit the shrine..."
She lowered her eyes, her lips opened and closed, and she didn't know how to speak.
"I……"
But after all, I have to say it out loud.
"I want to... always follow Soya's classmate."
“…”
Zong Gu raised his eyes and said nothing for the time being.
After saying the most difficult sentence, her subsequent words became smooth again.
"When Soya is preparing to leave Kinki and look for the traces of the remaining seven Thunder Gods, I will leave with you.
Classmate Zong Gu said before that you plan to complete all your studies before embarking on a journey. If the plan remains unchanged, Tamako at that time had grown to the age of being able to stand alone. So, I hope that after I leave, Tamako can come.
Dominate the social affairs of Fuyun Shrine.”
Soya looked at Kyoko and said not to talk about the fact that she planned to follow her, but asked her the most concerned point and the most core of the problem:
"So, the reason why Mr. Sugawara felt angry and refused to agree was that he felt that Tamako could not bear such a heavy responsibility?"
After all, my sister Kyoko is really outstanding.
As for the different personalities of the sisters, it is currently vaguely developing towards Akane Kirino. Tamako, who has nothing to do with her steadiness, will probably be difficult to reach her sister's level in the future - of course, this is not an absolute thing.
"No. Not exactly."
Kyoko shook her head.
Since then, there has been an unprecedented confusion in her eyes.
"The more critical reason is that Yuzi is also a spiritual enlightened person.
If she will dominate the social affairs of the shrine in the future, then everything I do in the institution will fall on Toshiko exactly... My father said that we cannot let Toshiko become an 'agnostic'."
Zong Gu immediately frowned, "'Alien'?"
"Walking for institutions, dealing with various spirits in the world, moving away from gods and close to ghosts, occasionally facing the danger of death... In the eyes of ordinary people like my father, they are just 'averses'."
"If that's the case, aren't Kyoko and Miss Noma all 'outside'?"
Kyoko sat at the head of the bed and closed her eyes.
"That's right... When I understood what a spiritual enlightened person is, I began to be obsessed with using my natural ability to expel evil spirits and protect the peace of the world as much as possible...
But in my father's eyes, this is an "outlier".
And I am an excellent ‘anomian’. I inherited the shrine, and Tamako and I are the best arrangement.”