The wind and rain continued, causing the sliding door of the entrance to sway back and forth and make a rattling sound.
After putting on her raincoat, Kirino Keiko tidied herself up a little, nodded to her husband who was waiting, and looked at her daughter again.
"We're going back."
"Yeah, be careful on the road."
"If the power goes out, go to bed early."
"I got it."
Kirino and his wife walked into the rain, and their figures merged with the darkness outside. They could only see a bright light from the flashlight and countless streaks of rain in the light beam.
It wasn't until the light was no longer visible that Akane Kirino closed the door and turned back to the living room.
After the candle-lit night talk, the other three were cleaning the candles on the table, scraping away the melted wax remaining on the table with their fingernails or bank cards.
"Let's clean it up tomorrow. It's not glue or anything like that. It can be easily removed."
"Is it idle? Or do you really plan to go to bed now?" Using the light of the desk lamp, Zonggu scraped off a small piece of melted wax, touched the mobile phone on the table with his arm, and pushed it towards her.
"Put your phone away."
"Hey, this is not my mobile phone."
Kirino Akane took out her mobile phone, which had several kinds of pendants on it, "Look, mine is here. Mom's mobile phone must have been left behind."
"Then just tell her, so you don't have to look everywhere."
"Uh-huh."
Soya lowered his head again and continued to scratch the spots on the table with the black card used to pay wages, but out of the corner of his eye, he saw Kirino Keiko's cell phone light up.
Buzz——
【Caller: Qian】
"..."
As soon as the bell rang, the phone was hung up. Kirino Akane didn't look at anyone, pretending that nothing happened, and was about to call her father again.
"I just went out for a while. They probably haven't arrived home yet. It's not convenient to answer the phone wearing a raincoat. Send a message or contact me later." Zonggu reminded.
Akane Kirino thought for a moment, "Then I'll just send it back. Mom will be bored at night without a mobile phone."
"It's pitch black outside and it's raining heavily."
"It's not a big problem."
"It's better for me to go." The night was dark and the wind and rain were fierce, but Zonggu was still worried about her going out alone.
She was stunned for a moment, then nodded quickly, "Okay."
But as soon as he left the living room with his mobile phone, Akane Kirino followed him, "I'm not worried about Soya going out alone. I'll go with you."
"..."
Who is worried about whom?
Zonggu didn't bother to talk to her anymore, so he put on his raincoat and waited at the door.
There was only one raincoat left, so Akane Kirino shook it off twice before putting it on, stepped into her rain boots, and said to Anko who was following her: "We'll be back soon."
"All right."
Hongzi looked at the two of them, pointed at the door with her mobile phone, and did not force herself to hold up an umbrella to follow.
"I'm going out~"
After closing the sliding door, Akane Kirino walked into the rain and heard the sound of pattering filling her ears.
Raindrops hit one after another, and her bangs were quickly soaked by the rain. She pulled her hat forward, slightly adjusted to the darkness in front of her, and then found that Zong Gu seemed to be looking at her.
"Let's go."
"Um."
The surroundings were almost completely dark, with only a faint light reflected from the clouds, allowing her to barely distinguish where the road was and where the walls or trees were.
Walking out of the yard, the blind street lamps and even the lamp posts were nowhere to be found, and it was still dim in front and back.
"Sogu..."
The dark figure in Mohu in front stopped and said, "Hmm."
Akane Kirino walked to him in three steps and two steps at a time. She explored the darkness with her hand, first touching the cold and wet raincoat, and then his arm.
"Can Soya see it?"
"I can barely see the road."
"Me too." She grabbed the cold arm and moved her hand down until she held the warm hand. "You have to lead the way."
Zong Gu just struggled a little, but he couldn't shake her away in such darkness, "Can't you just stay at home?"
"Can't~"
He sighed.
"cannot--"
"I heard."
"Then go forward."
The two of them continued walking forward.
Leaving the alley where Kirino's old house was located, Kirino Akane kept walking and looked around, but could only see a large area of darkness.
"There was really a power outage nearby."
"Um."
"We don't know how widespread the power outage will be."
"It's not too big. At least there's no power outage over there in Jingzi."
Walking along the familiar road to Kirino's house, even if you can't see anything clearly, you won't get lost because the distance is so close that there is no chance of getting lost.
Walking up the winding stone path, before half way, Zonggu felt the cell phone in his pocket vibrating.
"Found."
"What?"
"Ms. Kirino found that her cell phone was missing."
The vibration continued and the bell rang. Kirino Akane touched his thigh through the raincoat.
"...Don't touch it."
"Where is the phone?"
"It's not here. And it will be there soon. Don't worry about it."
"All right."
Soya quickened his pace, Kirino Akane followed closely, and the ringing of the cell phone quickly subsided.
One stone step at a time, as we walked, a flashlight suddenly lit up in the darkness in the distance.
"It's mom...it should be mom, right?"
"I guess so."
The two of them continued to walk up, and the beam of light kept swaying and getting closer.
After a while, the two sides merged into one place.
"..."
Walking alone on a dark rainy night, she suddenly saw two ghost-like figures standing in front of her. Kirino Keiko almost threw the flashlight over and opened her mouth to call "husband".
Fortunately, Akane Kirino spoke faster, "Mom?"
"Akane?"
She raised the light, and what was revealed from under the hood of her raincoat was indeed her daughter's pretty face, and next to her was Zong Gu.
Her heartbeat slowly returned to normal, and she took a deep breath, "Why don't you turn on the lights?"
"There's no flashlight over there."
After illuminating the faces of the two people, the light moved downwards and fell on the hands held together by the two people.
Kirino Keiko couldn't help but raise her eyebrows, "Have you finally reached this point?"
"No." Zonggu immediately denied.
"What?" Akane Kirino asked.
The spotlight shone on Zong Gu's face, and two eyes converged: "Ask Zong Gu."
"..."
Soya was a little helpless, "Miss Kirino..."
Kirino Keiko smiled. The scene in front of her was enough to make her happy, so she did not continue to embarrass him, "What are you two doing here?"
"Come to give mom's mobile phone." Akane Kirino said.
"Ah, it turned out to be over there. I was about to go over and get it."
The three of them were all wearing raincoats, and their mobile phones were still in Soya's pocket, making it inconvenient to hand them over. Kirino Keiko turned around and walked back.
"Let's talk about it later."
Arriving at Kirino's house, Soya pulled up his raincoat, took out his cell phone and handed it to Kirino Keiko.
"Why are there two missed calls... Akane?"
"Ah, haha... we're going back." Akane Kirino put on her hat and turned around to leave. Before she could go out, she came over and pulled Sogu, "Let's go now."
"Wait a moment."
Kirino Keiko stopped Soya and put the flashlight into his hand.
"Leave it to Zonggu. I hope you will not disappoint my expectations."
"...If Kirino-san is talking about the flashlight."
"Oh, don't you understand this very well?"
"We're going back first."
Kirino Keiko stood at the door, watching the two children return the same way and gradually walked away.
After taking a few steps, the flashlight was transferred to Akane Kirino's hand, and the beam of light pointed toward the sky.
"Follow the road."
"Got it."
With a flashlight illuminating the road, the two quickly returned to Kirino's old house. Anko and Asagiri Suzu had completely cleaned the melted wax on the table. One was looking at his cell phone, and the other was playing around with Kirino Akane's treasure collection.
"So fast."
"I'll be back as soon as I send my phone back." Zongya said.
"What should we do next?" The desk lamp was bright enough. Akane Kirino turned off the flashlight and put it in her treasure box. She quickly picked it up again, thinking it would be better to carry it with her.
"Everyone wash up and then go to bed."
"Hey, before Souya went out, he said he didn't plan to sleep now."
"I changed my mind."
"But I'm not sleepy yet."
"Then give me the flashlight." Zonggu stretched out his hand.
"Why?" Kirino Akane asked, but the flashlight was directly given to him.
Zonggu turned on the light and left the living room, "Wash up."
Chaogiri Suzu also stood up and followed without hesitation.
Kirino Akane and Anko looked at each other. The power outage restricted most entertainment. There was nothing else to do, so they could only choose to go back to their rooms to rest.
"How much battery does Hongzi's cell phone still have?"
"About sixty percent."
"Hey, I only have 20%."
When they came to the bathroom, Soya and Asagiri Suzu had just finished washing and came out with flashlights.
When they passed by each other, Zong Gu glanced at them each and said, "Good night."
Kirino Akane held the desk lamp and asked, "It's so early, can Soya really sleep?"
"I can always fall asleep when I lie down. At least Ling is already sleepy. She hasn't slept well in the past few days."
"Okay...good night."
Watching the two of them go upstairs, Akane Kirino found a place to put a lamp and took a shower with Anko.
"You can apply some of this on your face after washing your face." She pointed to a small bottle in front of the mirror, "But mom said it's too early for me to use this."
"Because Qian's skin is very good and doesn't need maintenance yet... Look, it's tender and smooth." Hongzi stretched out his hand and pinched her face for a while. It felt soft and she couldn't put it down.
Kirino Akane sighed, held her face with one hand, and looked at herself in the mirror, "No matter how beautiful a woman is, sooner or later some of her will turn old."
"...Stop watching those boring evening dramas."
"Hahaha."
Playing and joking, the two of them stayed in front of the sink for a long time.
One moment, they were observing each other's skin, worrying about some trivial blemish; the next moment, they were studying some skin care products together, applying them bit by bit on each other's faces and the tip of their noses.
Until a certain moment, the desk lamp placed aside suddenly became a little darker.
"Hey, is the battery going to run out..."
"It's been open all night."
As if darkness would fall at any time, both of them panicked, put down the bottles and jars in their hands, and hurried back to the room upstairs.
Lying on the quilt, the lamp was dim but not completely extinguished. The two looked at each other and laughed at the same time.
"..."
Listening to the faint laughter in the next room, Zonggu turned over in the darkness.
"Does it take so long to wash your face?"
In the dark room, there was only a little light coming from the window. He lay there for a while, preparing for sleep that was too early, when he suddenly heard something other than the sound of rain.
The footsteps stopped at the door, and then Akane Kirino's voice sounded: "Soya, are you asleep?"
The only right choice was to keep silent, and that's what he did.
This is not the first time she has been harassed in the middle of the night. Usually, if she doesn't get a response, she will basically stop there.
"——He was pretending to sleep. I saw the light of the mobile phone just now."
"..."
But today, some people are talking nonsense and fabricating things out of thin air.
"Soya——"
Akane Kirino opened the door and walked in, followed by Anko.
"I'm almost asleep. What's the matter?"
"The lamp is about to run out of power."
Zonggu opened her eyes and looked at the dim desk lamp in her hand, "The last time I charged it was before I went to Kyushu. I used it for so long today. It's normal to have no power... Pillow?"
Only then did he notice that she and Hongzi, who came in later, were holding pillows in their arms.
"What are you going to do?"
"I can't sleep." Akane Kirino opened the closet, took out another quilt, and spread it on the floor, "Come here and chat for a while."
"I'm already sleepy."
Hongzi dragged the quilt towards him, lay down, and covered him with a thin quilt, "Then you go to sleep first."
"I dare not sleep with a nympho."
"..."
Hongzi stretched out her foot and kicked his leg through the quilt, then didn't take it back.
Putting the desk lamp over the gap between the two quilts, Kirino Akane also got into the quilt and lay down on the other side.
Zonggu looked at the dim light and asked, "Whose idea was this?"
"Mine." Akane Kirino said.
Zong Gu didn't completely believe it. His intuition told him that there should be a lot of Hongzi's "contribution".
After all, she was easy to incite, and even though she was persuaded and pushed by Hongzi, she still thought it was her idea.
"What do you want to talk about?"
"Whatever, like my plans for next month." Kirino Akane turned over and held up her phone to show him the time, "Look, there are still more than two hours until next month."
Souya then remembered that today is the last day of July.
"Are you planning...what are your plans?"
"Turn around first." Hongzi was lying on his side, taking off his glasses and placing them in the middle, so he narrowed his eyes slightly when looking at him.
Zonggu turned his head, looked at the two girls under the yellow light, and turned around.
Hongzi smiled, and most of her thoughts were spent on restraining her impulsive thought of getting closer to him, so that it took a while before she remembered what to say: "I'm going to stay at my grandma's house for a few days, and then I'll be with my family again."
Souya knows about traveling, right?"
"I know. When will we go?"
“We’ll go when the typhoon is over, the day after tomorrow or the day after tomorrow.”
Soya hummed, then looked at Kirino Akane, "What about you?"
"I'll go with Anko to stay at her grandmother's house for a few days first, and then we'll see how things go." Lying on the quilt, Akane Kirino swung her legs up and down, "Speaking of summer, the most important things that can't be ignored are the Summer Festival and the Fireworks Festival.
I want to investigate summer festivals in nearby cities and attend more!"
"The formats of summer festivals are mostly the same. Don't you get tired of them?"
"You have to participate in this kind of thing to know."
Sogu nodded, and when she looked over and wanted to speak, he added, "I remember there is a Tanabata Festival in Kyoto."
"Hmm." Kirino Akane's attention was immediately attracted, and she talked about various activities during the Kyoto Tanabata Festival, as well as her previous experience of attending the Tanabata Festival.
When she had finished talking, he brought up a new topic at the right time: "Is the 'Five Mountains Sending Fire' very lively? I haven't seen it with my own eyes."
"lively!"
When talking about the five mountains sending fire in mid-August, Akane Kirino was so excited that her mouth was dry as she talked about it, but she was still tireless.
"I heard that there is also a fireworks display held on Lake Biwa."
"Yeah! You know a lot, but I have participated in them all. The Lake Biwa Fireworks Festival is..."
She told it with gusto, and Sogu nodded and agreed.
Hongzi suddenly put her feet up, "Having said so much, what are Zongya's plans for the summer vacation?"
"I have no plans for now."
He moved his legs back, "Because this is my first time to spend summer here in Kinki, I want to hear the opinions of experienced locals first."
As he said that, he nodded to the "experienced local" behind her. Akane Kirino accepted it calmly, but also felt a little bit proud that she couldn't hide, "What else does Soya want to know?"
"Um...where did you just say that?"
"Look, he wasn't listening seriously at all!" Hongzi revealed the truth.
"I'm still digesting it."
"Then let's stop absorbing it first." Hongzi pressed her legs hard, "I heard from Akane that Soya seems to be going to Kanto for a few more days. When will he leave?"
Sure enough, it was for this matter...
"It's not for fun." Soya shook his head, "Tsukiyomi and I... Tsukiko have serious things to do."
"By serious business, do you mean visiting the local Tsukuyomi Shrine?"
"Um."
Hongzi looked at him for a while, as if she wanted to say something, but held back, and asked instead: "When will we set off?"
Of course it is when it is inconvenient for you.
Of course Sogu didn't say it directly, "It depends on the situation."
"What's going on?" The person asking was Kirino Akane.
"This is complicated: things like the weather, mood, and the organization's arrangements."
Hongzi looked at him, "If you decide on the itinerary, remember to tell me and Qian."
"I told you, I'm not here to play."
"Well, so we won't delay Zonggu's schedule. We will just go there together and then go about our own business. Is that okay?"
"..."
Zonggu pursed his lower lip, lay down again, and looked at the ceiling.
Having already been to the beach together, Akane Kirino's desire to go to Kanto is not very strong. The key is Anko.
"You just said when you were going to grandma's house."
"The day after tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, forget it so quickly..." Hongzi suddenly understood, "Is this an exchange?"
Zong Gu did not respond, but said: "I suddenly remembered that Ling has always said that she wanted to go to the countryside to visit. Can you take her with you?"
Hongzi nodded, "Of course..."
"I'll go with her."
"Okay." Kirino Akane was very happy, but Anko hesitated for a while before nodding.
"After staying in the countryside for a few days, I will also go to Kanto when Anko goes to travel. In this way, I should have returned to Kinki when you come back." Soya tilted his head and looked at her, "At that time
We can play together again.”
"...that's really nice to say."
Hongzi buried her head into the pillow and sighed, knowing everything in her heart.
It's just that he has given her enough benefits.
"whatever."
－－－－－－Digression－－－－－
Good morning. It's really cold this year. It's already mid-May and I'm still wearing a thick coat.