Akane Kirino pressed it a few times, but there was still no flame in the lighter on her hand.
"It's broken." Soya said.
"Let me see..." The kitchen was pitch black. With the light of her cell phone, she took the old plastic lighter in front of her, shook it twice, frowned, "There is no oil inside."
"That's no different from being broken, it's not a liquid-filled one." Zong Gu looked at the "baby" lighter in her hand and the candles on the table. These were all taken by her after the power outage. Look at her full His face looked excited, and he even suspected that it was her power outage.
Fortunately, there are lighters available in the kitchen.
Pick.
The flames rose and lit the candles that had been precipitated for more than ten years. A warm light appeared on the dining table, covering the people around them who were excited or calm.
It seems like an instinct passed down from ancient times. When facing the flames, humans always feel obsessed, and some people are especially so. Akane Kirino stared at the candle with some emotion for a while, then moved it to the center of the dining table. Then he said, "Stay up with the meal."
At her request, Zong Gu and Hongzi turned off the lights of their phones. The kitchen, which was only illuminated by candlelight, was very dim, although it didn't affect eating.
"It's very atmosphere?"
"Yes." Soya didn't know what atmosphere she was pursuing, and was only glad that the power outage occurred after the rice was cooked.
Buzz —
Kirino Keiko quickly called and asked about the situation at her daughter's old house. She said that the power outage was regional and speculated that it was a typhoon that destroyed the nearby power supply facilities. If it was fast, it would be repaired tonight.
After being reposted by Akane Kirino, the first person to breathe a sigh of relief was Yuedu.
Kirino Keiko said to her daughter again: "Dad just called and asked, and the staff in the town are already working on the emergency repairs."
"Do you need me to help?" Akane Kirino asked.
Kirino Kyoko's reaction on the phone was almost exactly the same as Soya in front of her: "It's not your turn to help, stay at home honestly."
The former also gave another piece of advice: " Stay by Zong Gu."
Akane Kirino responded with a smile, "I understand."
Dinner continued, and Zong Gu ate much faster than usual. He put down the bowl in less than two minutes and got up and left the kitchen.
"Where are you going?" Akane Kirino asked.
"Nowhere to go. I'll go back to the room upstairs to see if there is no power nearby."
"Do you need a candle? The treasure box... there is one in the iron box." She changed her words quickly.
He smiled, "No. I'll get down soon."
"All right."
Using his cell phone to shine under his feet, Zong Gu returned to the room upstairs and stood by the window and looked around for a while. As Kiriko Kirino said, the power outage area was not small, at least it was dark near Kirino's old house and there was no light.
Turning around and leaning against the windowsill, he called Kyoko again, and it took a while before he could get through.
"Student Fangming."
The two contacted each other once in the afternoon. At that time, Kyoko was in the shrine, surrounded by worshipers who were hiding from the rain at the club office, which was very noisy; but now she was very quiet and could not hear any noise, so she should have returned. It's home.
"Good evening." As soon as he heard her voice, Zong Gu unconsciously relaxed, "Have you eaten?"
"Um."
Kyoko then closed the door, turned around and leaned back, panting slightly, "I just returned to the room after receiving a call from Fangming classmate."
Zong Gu pursed his lower lips, and understood that she didn't want to contact her too much in front of her family, especially her father.
"Is there a power outage in Kyoko?"
"No." There was a hint of surprise in her tone, "Is there a power outage on Fangming's side?"
He looked outside slightly, "It seems that this is the case at the moment, and the range is quite large, so I want to ask Kyoko."
"Everything is normal here. Is Fangming in trouble?"
"Well... I'm in a big trouble now."
"What's the trouble?" Kyoko's expression subsided and then asked.
The wind and rain outside the window were howling, and Sogo whispered softly: "I can't see Kyoko."
“…”
Her heartbeat suddenly accelerated a lot, and her face seemed to be warming up. She took a breath and walked slowly to the edge of the bed and sat down.
"I want to see you too."
"If it weren't for the rain, I'd come here in the afternoon."
Kyoko smiled, "I've heard this in the afternoon."
"Is that true?" Zong Gu groped and walked to the desk, pulled open the chair and sat down, then touched the charging lamp, and narrowed his eyes in the sudden light.
She listened to the slight movements over him and asked after a while: "Have you had dinner at classmate Fangming?"
"I've eaten, the electricity is shut down during the meal..." Zong Gu said, and suddenly looked back.
Kyoko asked about other things again, and he answered them one by one, and finally said, "Don't worry, it's just a power outage, maybe it will be restored tonight. Don't worry."
She nodded unconsciously in the room where she had only her own, "Well..."
"I should go to wash the dishes." Sonogu said.
“…”
Kyoko was slightly stunned, then responded, "Yeah, bye."
He did not hang up the phone directly, "When will Mr. Guanyuan and Mrs. Guanyuan be away from home? I still want to try the dishes made by Kyoko again."
Although her mood was a little complicated, she still laughed.
"I will pay attention to such opportunities."
"I'm looking forward to it. Bye."
"Yeah, bye."
Putting down his phone, Kyoko fell back, looking at the ceiling under the goose yellow light, smiling for a while, frowning for a while, and an inaudible low sigh sounded in the room.
My sister's voice came from outside: "Sister, I'm going to take a shower."
She turned her head and looked at the door, "Well, Yuzi, let's wash first."
"I want to wash with my sister."
Kyoko smiled and sat up again, "Okay."
On the other side, Zong Gu hung up the phone, then picked up the desk lamp and walked out of the room.
"It's time to wash the dishes." Hongzi in the corridor learned and explained again, "Zong Gu has been on it for too long, so I just came up and took a look."
"Hold it." He didn't say much, gave her the desk lamp and walked to the front.
Hongzi immediately followed, took his arm and shone it on each other's feet with a desk lamp.
"Is the power outage on the senior sister's side?"
"No. We are just not very lucky." Zonggu looked at her, "Hongzi's parents called?"
She nodded, "Mom is a little worried and wants me to go back."
"Should be, I'll give it to you."
"I won't go back." Hongzi put it closer and shone it on him with a lamp, "No one wants me to go back."
Zong Gu suddenly narrowed his eyes, "Then I'll go to Hongzi's house to rest tonight."
"Okay." She didn't believe it, "Sleep in my bed and smell it."
After going downstairs, Akane Kirino saw the desk lamp in Hongzi's hand and was slightly stunned.
"Just." She blew out the candles left on the table, "I'll use this later."
"What are you thinking?" Zong Gu walked to the pool and found that the dishes were almost washed.
"You will know later." Akane Kirino smiled mysteriously.
"I'll wash the rest."
Nodded at Wuling, rinsed his hands clean, stood aside, Hongzi stood on the other side with a desk lamp.
"Just put it here." Zong Gu signaled.
"It will be troublesome if you are wet and short-circuited by water." She insisted on holding the desk lamp just to accompany him in the kitchen with justification.
After staying for a while, Aka Kirino picked up the candle and lighter, pulled Aogiri to the living room first, and only Yuedu was still sitting at the dining table in a daze.
He was disconnected from the Internet and power, and he couldn't even watch the TV. It was too early and it was far from time to go to bed, so he was a little confused and at a loss;
Although Hongzi frequently winked, he didn't notice it until Zong Gu finished washing the remaining dishes and packed them into the cupboard.
"Do you want to keep staying here?"
"No...I'll go to bed."
The god who had nothing to do finally went dazed and turned to the upstairs.
Soya and Hongko came to the living room. Akane Kirino was using her mobile phone to collect the treasures in the iron box, while recalling the memories and introducing the Tomiri-ling.
"You are here." She immediately stopped introducing, put the things in her hand into the iron box, and looked at them expectantly.
"What are you going to do?" Zong Gu asked.
Hongzi put down the lamp in the middle of the table and shone the light on him intentionally or unintentionally.
"Have Soya heard of the 'Hundred Story'?"
"Is it the game where the ghosts will appear when they light a hundred candles, and say a strange story and blow out one until they blow the candles completely, and the ghosts will appear?"
"Yeah." Akane Kirino nodded, "Let's have fun too."
He turned the table lamp to the other side and illuminated the objects in the iron box, "Isn't there only two candles here, how to play with it."
"You can cut the candle into small pieces. And we are relatively few, so we can change it to "Ten Tales".
Before Zong Gu could do it, he looked at Hongzi and Chaowuling again. Both of them looked at him, obviously they had agreed.
"Okay. But I have nothing to say about."
"It's good to say anything, it doesn't have to be a weird thing."
The two candles that Akane Kirino collected in her childhood were very long, and the complete one was 20 to 30 centimeters. But many years have passed, and she herself doesn't remember where it came from.
"Well, this kind of candle...is probably taken back at a banquet. It's not important, cut it first." She took the candle and was about to cut it into small pieces, because she had to use a knife, and finally, Sogou was finally
I did it for my behalf.
Cut two candles into ten small candles about the same length, each of which is three or four centimeters long, enough to burn for a while.
First light two candle heads, roast each other's bases and fix them on the table, then bake the other small candles against the candlelight for a while, burn out the wicks, and then fix them on the table in the same way. Soya and Akane Kirino
Let’s do it together, and soon ten burning candles stood up on the table.
The candlelight shook slightly, and the living room became much brighter.
"So, who will start?" Akane Kirino looked back and forth at the people around her.
"Since it was your suggestion, of course it starts with you." Sonoya said.
"Okay." Akane Kirino waited for his words, but did not refuse. She clicked them one by one, "I'll say first, and then follow the clockwise order, then Hongzi, Soya and Ling, no problem, right?
?”
"no problem."
"Ahem." She cleared her throat and then began to tell.
[That's right, in a night when the wind blows and you can't see your fingers, Hongzi walks alone on the way home...]
"Hey? Wait a minute, why is it me?"
"Don't be afraid, it's just the same name."
[I don’t know why, there is no one on the road, and the street lights are broken...]
"It's a power outage."
"Don't interrupt!"
[Zong Gu... No, Hongzi felt very scared, so he speeded up and wanted to go home early. But he had to pass a cemetery on the way...]
“A long time ago, there was indeed a cemetery nearby.”
"bell……"
"You keep going."
[Graveyard...What cemetery? No, passing by a cemetery... Cough, when passing by the cemetery, Hongzi was very scared and her pace became faster. At this moment!]
Hongzi shook for a moment.
[Hehehe... Cough. At this moment, a strange laugh suddenly sounded behind Hongzi, which scared her so much that she ran away without looking back. As a result, the strange laughter kept following her. Why
I can't get rid of it either. Run and run, Hongzi ran for more than ten minutes... Well, after running for half a minute, Hongzi couldn't run anymore.]
Zong Gu couldn't help laughing, and the candlelight in front of him shaking.
[I had known that I would have practiced running more often. Hongzi felt very regretful, but her body had no strength anymore. Her steps slowed down and she didn't dare to stop. She dragged her body and walked forward barely. The laughter behind her became more and more.
Becoming closer, getting closer... Suddenly!]
Hongzi looked at her steadily and took a deep breath after a while.
[——The laughter stopped.]
[Hongzi couldn't help but look back, and there was nothing behind the darkness. It was an illusion. She thought about this in her heart, and when she turned around, she found that there was a figure in front of her.]
"Who?" Hongzi blurted out.
["Who?" Hongzi asked. The man didn't speak. She slowly approached and realized that it was a scarecrow.]
[How could the scarecrow in the field appear outside the cemetery? Hongzi is very curious, but she wants to go home even more. Just as she was about to leave, the scarecrow suddenly spoke: "Wuwuwu..."]
【The scarecrow actually cried!】
"Why?" Hongzi asked.
[Why does the scarecrow cry? Hongzi stopped again. "What's wrong with you?"]
[The scarecrow sobbed and cried sadly, as if she was talking about something again. Hongzi couldn't hear it clearly, so she got closer.]
Akane Kirino winked, and Hongko was unmoved, so she moved to her side.
["It's gone..." Hongzi almost came to the scarecrow's face before she could hear its whisper in tears.]
["What's missing?" Hongzi asked it.]
["It's gone...my body is gone..." It turns out that the scarecrow was not a scarecrow, but just a soul placed on it. Its original body was separated and hidden in different places in the cemetery.]
【Hongzi decided to help it recover its body.】
Hongzi pursed her lips and muttered: "Go home quickly..."
【The cemetery is very big, crows and bats fly around, vampires and ghouls are everywhere…】
"Who dares to go in?" said Zong Gu.
[Okay, the above are all Hongzi's imagination. In fact, there is nothing. There is only a tomb in the cemetery... This is nonsense, right? Forget it, don't worry. According to the scarecrow's prompt, Hongzi found its left leg first.
So moved out.]
Hongzi frowned when she heard this.
[The magical thing happened: the left leg merged with the scarecrow's body, just like it grew from above. The scarecrow thanked Hongzi and then told her the location of another part of her body.]
【Hongzi decided to help it find its complete body before going home.】
[The second one found is its head, which was bloody and one missing eyeball. The maggots were drilling through their nostrils and rotting violently.]
“…”
Hongzi frowned even more, looking like she was almost unbearable.
[Take your head to the scarecrow, and it was indeed integrated, and its voice became louder. It then told Hongzi that its torso was in a pit filled with fallen leaves on the west side of the cemetery.]
[Hongzi continued to search and found the scarecrow's torso, right leg and arm that cut off both hands. After they merged together, the scarecrow became more like a human being.]
"There are two hands left." Hongzi whispered.
[Yes, only two hands were left. So Hongzi asked the scarecrow again, where his hands were thrown. The scarecrow started crying again.]
Akane Kirino paused, took a deep breath, glanced at Hongzi quickly, and then told her.
[Tears that were brighter than blood kept flowing out of the scarecrow's eyes. Hongzi didn't know what was going on, so she asked it what was going on.]
[The scarecrow refused to tell her, just cried. Hongzi approached again, wiped off the blood and tears from its face, and comforted her gently.]
“…”
Zong Gu smiled, and Hongzi rolled her eyes gently.
["Sir Scarecrow, where are your hands?" Hongzi asked again.]
[The scarecrow's mouth moved, as if she was saying something. Hongzi couldn't hear it clearly, so she got closer.]
Akane Kirino approached Hongko a little closer, and Sogo pursed his lower lip.
["What did you say?" Hongzi asked.]
[The scarecrow opened his mouth again, but Hongzi still couldn't hear it clearly.]
[She gets closer, "Where is it?"]
[The scarecrow spoke again, and suddenly a piece of skin fell off his face, and words and wriggling maggots came out of his mouth.]
[And this time, Hongzi heard it very clearly: "In..."]
The voice gradually faded, and Akane Kirino suddenly raised her hands and reached towards Hongzi who was listening attentively.
“Here!”
"ah--"
The long-simmering fear erupted suddenly, and Hongzi immediately screamed and retreated repeatedly. Zong Gu grabbed one of his ankles, and she screamed and kicked him a few times before stopping.
"Hahaha!"
Seeing the expected results, Akane Kirino was very satisfied.
Zong Gu shook his head, but he had to admit that she was very well imitating the horror atmosphere, and the red boy with tears in the corner of his eyes was a proof.
"Sorry, Hongzi, are you okay?"
Rusting his chest, Hongzi shook his head, climbed back to the low table, and then looked at Zong Gu.
"Your hand..."
"fine."
Looking at her, Akane Kirino reminisces about it for a while, and finally remembers that there is one thing that has not been completed.
"call!"
She blew out a breath, extinguished the nearest candle, and looked at the terrified Hongzi.