Getting up alone, he went to the window and stood for a while.
After the New Year, there are sometimes wind and snow, and until the end of the holiday, it is difficult to have a completely sunny day in the Kinki area, and dark clouds often envelope Lake Biwa.
This is still the case today.
After an unknown amount of time, a pair of hands reached out from behind and hugged him.
"Can't you sleep again?" Hongzi whispered.
"No." Zong Gu held her hand, "I just got up."
"It's only six o'clock."
"It's not too early, I have to go to school today."
The vacation has ended, and the last semester of first grade will begin today.
Hongzi lowered her head and leaned against his back, "Do we still need to go to school?"
"Of course. Life has just begun. If we become idle now, we will go crazy in less than a hundred years."
She said no more, just hugged him tightly.
Zonggu turned around and kissed her forehead.
After a moment of tenderness, Akane Kirino woke up on the bed.
"Zonggu, Hongzi..."
"Good morning." Zong Gu sat on the edge of the bed and touched her face, "It's time to get up."
She looked at him for a while, then closed her eyes and rubbed her cheek against his palm.
"It's cloudy again."
"Um."
"Are you happy today?"
"well enough."
"It's 'okay' again."
"Better than 'bad'."
Holding his hand, Kirino Akane buried her face a little deeper.
The two of them got up and changed clothes. Zonggu left the room and went to wash up first.
Before going downstairs, he stared at the door that would never open again.
Ten days have passed since I returned from Huangquan.
He returned to his fifteen-year-old body, and his three girlfriends all received cursed immortality. Asagiri Suzu entered the underworld and stayed in another world forever.
The separation seems like yesterday.
"..."
Shaking his head, Zonggu went downstairs to wash up and went to the kitchen to prepare breakfast for three people.
"After the opening ceremony, I don't want to go home directly. Do I want to go shopping somewhere?" Akane Kirino asked during the meal.
"good."
"Where do you want to go, Soya?"
"It will be all right."
Kirino Akane and Anko looked at each other, inevitably feeling uncomfortable with his negativity, but they couldn't let him stop thinking about it.
"Then let's talk about it then..."
Zong Gu looked at them, lowered his head and continued eating: "Don't worry, I will adjust."
The two looked at him again and said nothing more.
After finishing breakfast, the three of them went out to school together.
After getting on the tram, two stops later, Kyoko also squeezed into the same carriage.
Soya: "The new semester has begun."
"Well." She looked at him for a while, "How are you today?"
“Not too good.”
She pursed her lips.
"Just kidding."
Zong Gu smiled at her, took her hand again, and squeezed it gently.
"I have decided: starting from today, I will start a new life."
After being silent for a while, she looked at Asagiri Suzu and Anko who were looking at her, and Kyoko nodded.
Drop - drop -
The car door is closed.
"Tamako will start school today too."
"Well, mother drove her to school."
"The vacation just ended, can you get up in the morning?"
"Yuzi slept with me last night. She had to get up even if she couldn't get up."
"Bad sister."
"..."
Kyoko pinched him lightly.
There was a fine wind blowing outside the window, and the tram continued to move forward while shaking, passing one stop after another.
"Omi Naniwa Station—Omi Naniwa Station, here we are—"
When we arrived at the school, the stairs up the mountain had been cleaned.
The three girls walked in front, followed by Soya. After climbing for a while, a figure caught up from below and put his arm directly on his shoulders.
"Sogu...I'm sorry! I recognized the wrong person...eh..."
Fushimi put his hand on his and quickly took it away, looking at him in surprise: "Are you Soya?"
Looking at the three girls who turned back in front, his tone became more certain: "You are Zonggu."
"Who else could it be?"
Fushimi breathed a sigh of relief, put his hand on his again, and kept his eyes on his face.
"We haven't seen each other for only half a month, and I feel like Zonggu has suddenly become much younger... like a middle school student."
"Just a middle school student."
Zongya smiled a little complicatedly, "I took the improved version of APTX-4869 and became what I was when I was fifteen."
"Come on, there is no such medicine in reality... unless you give me one. Is there any more?"
"Yes, I have."
Souya picked his nose a little.
"Whoa!"
Fushimi quickly evaded.
The three people in front turned around again and continued walking up.
Soya followed, and so did Fushimi.
"Forget it, Zong Gu has always been mysterious. Even if you suddenly turn into a woman one day, it wouldn't be too strange."
"You accepted it too quickly... I hope everyone can be like you."
When he arrived at the school gate, his eyes glanced at the "Opening Ceremony" sign, and Fushimi suddenly realized that something was not quite right.
"By the way, Asagiri-san didn't come to school with Soya?"
"..."
Fushimi looked at Soya. He turned away and looked at the other side. After a while, he turned around.
"Ling dropped out of school."
"Eh...why?"
"Why do you have so many questions?" Hongzi looked back at him.
"Ah, sorry."
"It's okay." Zonggu shook his head, "Ling has her own affairs and can't come to school."
"That's it."
Sensing that there seemed to be something hidden, Fushimi didn't ask any questions.
When they reached the second floor, Jingzi separated from several others.
Arriving on the fourth floor, Zonggu passed the classroom without entering. He handed his schoolbag to Hongzi and said, "I'm going to the staff room."
"I will accompany you." Akane Kirino said.
He shook his head.
Arriving at the staff room, Shibasaki Makoto quickly noticed him and was stunned for a moment. After two or three seconds, he asked: "Sotani?"
"Shibasaki-sensei." Soya walked over.
Shibasaki Cheng looked at him for a while.
"We haven't seen each other for half a month, and I feel like Zong Gu is much younger. Is it my imagination?"
Zonggu pursed his lower lip.
"I'm here to tell you about Asagiri Suzu's withdrawal from school."
"What……"
Arriving at the classroom and looking at the two empty seats in front of her, Hongzi was stunned.
When he came to his senses, Soya returned to the classroom with Shibazaki Makoto.
"Soya."
"I just went to tell Cheng about Ling dropping out of school."
"That's it..."
He sat down, looked back at her, and touched her face: "Don't show this expression. I have already said that I must be determined to start over and live a good life."
"Are you going to forget the bell?"
"I will not forget her. I will continue to live in this world with my share of Ling until the day my life ends."
Hongzi's eyes turned red, "You are dead, what should we do?"
"I don't know now..."
Zong Gu turned to look out the window, "When I die and go to Huangquan, I will work with Ling to find a way. She is a god now, and she still has such a long time, she will definitely find a way..."
Hongzi didn't say anything, she held his hand tightly and lay down on the table.
After a while, when everyone in the classroom had arrived, Shibasaki Makoto announced to the students that Asagiri Suzu had dropped out of school.
"Eh?"
"Why……"
"Drop out of school at this time..."
The reason Soya gave him was a family incident, but Shibasaki Makoto didn't ask in detail and relayed it in his exact words.
"...That's it. Ah, it's almost time. Let's go to the auditorium for the opening ceremony. It's still snowing outside. If you feel cold, remember to bring your coat."
It’s already the third semester, and at the opening ceremony, the acting principal’s speech focused more on the graduating third-year students. Even the first-year students listened absentmindedly.
Almost twenty minutes later, the opening ceremony ended.
“It’s so cold in the auditorium, and it’s so cold outside!”
"I told you to wear your coat."
Soya took off his coat to Anko and braved the cold wind to return to the classroom. Shibasaki Makoto said a few more words, reminding him not to be late tomorrow morning, and announced that school was over.
"Sogu, let's go and have fun together. Everyone is very concerned about your sudden youthfulness...especially those girls."
Fushimi came over again and asked him to play with him. Several girls also looked at him expectantly. Hongzi shrugged and expressed his casualness, but she and Akane wanted to go with them.
It seems that everything is the same as before, nothing has changed.
"OK."
Zonggu agreed.
Fushimi went to call for friends again, calling people everywhere.
When I left school and went to the station to wait for the tram, almost half the platform was full of people who wanted to play together.
"Where are you going?" Kirino Akane asked.
"I don't know where I'm going, so you just follow me."
She held his arm and said, "Because my husband is going."
Zonggu shook his head, "I don't know either, let's see what Fushimi arranges."
After waiting for a while, the tram finally pulled into the station.
Soya stood in the back. School was out at this time and there was no one on the tram, so he could always squeeze in.
There is still snow falling in the sky.
Inadvertently, he glanced back, and his eyes immediately froze.
"..."
There is a figure standing by the lake, with its back facing this way.
"Soya?"
Walking into the car, she found that he was still standing there. Akane Kirino greeted him, "What are you looking at? If you don't get in the car, the door will be closed."
"You guys go over there first."
"Eh?"
She was stunned for a moment, but the beep sounded and the car door quickly closed.
"Why didn't Zonggu get in the car..." Hongzi squeezed over from the side.
"He said let us go there first..."
"Eh?"
The two of them looked at Zong Gu on the platform, and then saw him turn around and walk towards the guardrail, support himself with his arms, and roll over.
"ah!"
Kirino Akane closed the window, but the train had already started.
Watching the tram leave the platform, Soya walked down the stairs, crossed the road, and stepped onto the snowy lake shore.
The two sides of the bank are vast, except for the deep lake water.
"haven't seen you for a long time……"
Soya stepped on the snow and stopped beside the man, "Tsukuyomi-sama."
Tsukuyomi turned his head and looked at him for a while.
"Long time no see. How are you lately?"
"Not very good."
"I think so." He smiled and quickly stopped, "Sorry, I kept it secret from you for so long."
Zonggu shook his head.
"I've heard this sentence once."
Tsukuyomi pursed his lips and didn't ask who told him.
"A lot of things happened."
"Um."
The surface of the lake is blue, and the Cangshan Mountain is covered with snow. Zonggu looks at the other side of the lake, which is completely white.
"Master Tsukuyomi must have been in the underworld at that time, I think I saw you."
Tsukuyomi nodded.
"I want to see the results with my own eyes... whatever they are."
"Did Tsukuyomi-sama leave after me?"
Tsukuyomi turned to look at him, "You want to know about her situation."
"Um."
"She's probably okay."
"Is it just 'probably'?"
"When Huangquan is completely restarted, I have to come back here."
"Yeah."
Zong Gu took a deep breath and exhaled a cloud of white mist, which filled and spread in front of him.
Buzz——
Akane: What are you doing?
"..."
Before replying to her, Soya turned to look at Tsukuyomi: "Will Tsukuyomi-sama come back this time and stay?"
He shook his head.
Soya: I want to walk by the lake for a while.
Qian: Why didn’t you say just now that Hongzi and I can accompany you?
"Absolutely." Tsukuyomi smiled, "There aren't many places I want to go."
"Then where has Tsukuyomi-sama been during this time?"
"Takamagahara."
"..."
"It's unbelievable."
Tsukuyomi bent down, grabbed a ball of snow and held it in his hand.
"I didn't expect that she would do something like that, use the means of destroying the gods and cutting off the source of the power of faith to force the gods of Gao Tianyuan to appear in the world... You also know what happened after that. My father went to the lower world.
Mother took her back to Gao Tianyuan and took me back with her."
"Yeah……"
Zonggu was silent for a while and asked: "How is the teacher doing now?"
"It's good." Tsukuyomi said, "The gods of Takamagahara reshaped her divine body, and so did I. Can you see that?"
Zonggu looked at him and then shook his head.
"It's not surprising if you can't see it."
Tsukuyomi threw it hard, and the flying snowball quickly lost its trace and did not fall. "But she has not completely forgiven her father, and now she lives alone."
Zonggu shook his head again, not knowing what to say.
"It's a pity that you are not a god, otherwise I would really like to take you to Gao Tianyuan."
"I have no chance in this life. Let's do it in the next life."
Tsukuyomi laughed and looked far away.
Soya looked at him for a while and said, "I feel like Tsukuyomi-sama has become a lot more mature after returning to Takamagahara. He has the feeling of a serious Tsuki no Takako."
"Regaining the divine body has many impacts...and after all, I have experienced so many things in this human world." Tsukuyomi's smile grew brighter and he shook his head, "Among the eight million gods in the sky, few are more mature than me.
.”
"Takamagahara...no, it's nothing."
"You were trying to say something rude like 'Takamagahara is going to die' or something like that."
"I didn't say it."
The two looked at each other and laughed at the same time.
"Okay - after talking so much, it's almost done."
Tsukuyomi took a deep breath and said, "I'm here to say goodbye to you this time."
Soya nodded and looked at the sky again, suppressing the reluctance in his heart: "Is Tsukuyomi-sama going back to Takamagahara?"
"No."
Tsukuyomi shook his head, with a slightly subtle expression on his face.
"In the past, I have been escaping, and I even deliberately cooperated with my mother and used you as a shield... Now, it's time for me to fulfill my unfulfilled responsibilities."
Zonggu was startled for a moment.
"Do you still remember the prophecy left by Zhilei?"
"Remember. That was..."
"Yes, that prophecy comes from Takamagahara. But it is not so much a prophecy as a warning to my mother... In the end, both of us were stabbed to death by my mother's sword. It is not surprising that she would misunderstand it - the prophecy said
The person is actually me."
Tsukuyomi looked at him, "Next, the place I want to go is Huangquan."
Zong Gu moved his lips but was speechless.
"If nothing else, the next time we see you will be a hundred years from now."
Tsukuyomi smiled and said, "I guess you are not willing to leave this original body behind... You must be reluctant, right? Otherwise, I can create a body for you now that will not age."
Zonggu shook his head.
Although he has gained immortality, his situation is somewhat special and his body will still age. Even so, he does not want to leave it behind now.
"Then let's wait until it's worn out. Since you've cooked so many meals for me this year, I promise to rebuild a fragrant body for you."
"Tsukuyomi-sama..."
"Don't show such an expression. I'm not going to die. That's it."
Tsukuyomi came over, gave Soya a last hug, and patted him on the back.
"goodbye."
Zonggu raised his hand and hugged Kong.
"..."
Looking around, he was the only one left on the snow-covered lakeside.
When Tsukuyomi reappeared, he was already in the middle realm of the underworld.
After crossing the Huangquan Army Formation and landing on the square, he walked up the steps step by step. When he reached the top, someone was already waiting for him.
"haven't seen you for a long time."
Chao Wu Ling looked at him blankly.
"Why……"
"I'm here to take your place."
Tsukuyomi looked around a few times and knelt down in front of her, "This brand new Huangquan is really good, thanks to you. I can save a lot of things in the future."
Asagiri Suzu was a little disbelieving: "Replace me...?"
"Well, because this was my original responsibility. Now, this is my active request... Don't worry, I am a god and I have restored my divine body. This process is much simpler than yours at that time. I will teach you how to
I did it, sister.”
"..."
Seeing her confused look, Tsukuyomi smiled again.
"Also, my mother is living a good life in Gaotianyuan now. She will no longer suffer the pain that happens every day, and her body has been reshaped. Before coming down, she asked me to say hello to you."
Hearing him mention Yin Xie's beauty, Chao Wuling was silent for a long time and nodded slowly.
"That's good."
"Okay, without further ado -"
Tsukuyomi stood up and said, "Let's start preparing for the handover ceremony now. You still have the three artifacts in your hand, where are they?"
Chao Wuling looked up at him.
"The main hall."
One after another, the two people walked towards the main hall.
Not long after, a brilliant light once again lit up in the dark underworld.
...
On the shores of Lake Biwa.
"...It's so cold."
After nearly half an hour of cold wind blowing, Zonggu crossed his arms and prepared to return to the platform not far away.
Tsukuyomi suddenly disappeared after saying goodbye. He always felt that something else would happen, so he kept waiting here.
After taking a few steps, a call came from behind.
"bright."
"..."
Soya stopped.
The wind and snow by the lake were still blowing, making him jealous.
"……bell."
Two figures ran toward each other, and there was a rustle in the snow.