"Sorry, I really can't deny that when you put it that way." Matsuda let out a low laugh. After confirming his own feelings at the very beginning, he had never once thought about refusing or resisting.
Sometimes, I also want to leave a cool impression in front of my sweetheart.
“..”
"So, are you angry with me?" Matsuda Jinpei turned his head.
"No," Yuan Gougou took a sharp breath and then exhaled, her expression and exaggerated movements making it seem as if she were trying to suck all the air out of Matsuda Jinpei's surroundings just to suffocate him.
“I said it from the very beginning.”
"If it were you, I wouldn't mind." Although Hara Kenji said this, he still looked somewhat displeased.
"The reason I'm unhappy is because you stole my lines, Little Jinpei." Hara Kenji said expressionlessly as he manipulated his tentacles to poke at Matsuda, only for the other man to dodge with a nimble movement.
*
The next day, the sky indeed poured with heavy rain, just as expected.
Puddles quickly formed in the slightly lower areas along the roadside. Raindrops the size of beans lashed against rooftops, plants, glass windows, creating a noisy, dense patter of rain.
Transparent, black, blue.. umbrellas, like mushrooms that cannot wait to sprout from the earth as soon as the rainy season arrives, were held by people, moving slowly and in an orderly fashion in different directions.
But watching such a scene for too long would eventually become boring.
Hara Kenji pressed his forehead against the balcony's glass door, looking down from his high vantage point with a sense of comfort at the humans who still had to go to school and work despite the cold, rainy winter day.
Matsuda Jinpei went out to buy lunch, while Kisaragi Chiyo had not yet woken up.
Perhaps because of staying up late last night, Kisaragi Chiyo slept exceptionally long today. She slept so long that Hara Kenji had already become so bored that he was playing cards with his own tentacles, he paced around the bed in boredom, repeatedly walking from the head of the bed to the foot.
After he had flipped through all the magazines in the room, looked out the window, spent half an hour counting exactly how many umbrella mushrooms were on the path, Hara Kenji finally couldn't take it anymore.
He walked to the bedside, looking at the large lump buried under the covers, where not even a single inch of Kisaragi Chiyo's head was visible, he began to feel a little worried.
Humans are fragile, Kisaragi Chiyo, especially when she was younger, needed protection even more. Therefore, one must watch her constantly, staying ever vigilant. Just like nurturing a plant—care, affection.. protection, not a single one can be missing.
Therefore, it was only natural for Hara Kenji to feel that he had an obligation to check on Kisaragi Chiyo's current condition, rather than wanting to see her sleeping face.
But after controlling the tentacles and carefully crawling onto the bed to squeeze through a small gap, he finally heard an extremely low sob coming from within—a sound so faint that it could easily be overlooked amidst the pitter-patter of the rain.
That suppressed sob was extremely brief, so brief that for a moment, Hara Kenji wondered if it was merely his own hallucination.
Otherwise, how could he have thought that Kisaragi Chiyo had never woken up, was hiding under the covers all alone, crying secretly?
Hara Kenji's mind went blank for a moment. Without thinking, he instinctively reached out and, using a bit of force, threw the quilt aside.
Under the covers, Kisaragi Chiyo curled herself into a ball, her eyes red and swollen, her face pale, her eyes glistening with tears.
His lips were tightly pursed, making almost no sound, like an oyster suffering the agony of being crushed by grit yet still keeping its shell tightly shut; his lower lip had already been bitten until it bled.
Crystal-clear tears slid continuously from his eyes, finally falling onto his clothes and staining them with a dark mark.
The sudden brightness before her eyes made Kisaragi Chiyo subconsciously lift her head. She stared blankly at the bewildered Hara Kenji, her face revealing distress and sorrow; her expression was bitter, like a bitter, expired pill.
-----------------------
Author's Note: Thanks to all the little angels for your support, mwah 030
Chapter 82
“Chiyo-chan?”
Hara Kenji's expression and movements both seemed somewhat awkward and flustered. He leaned over, reaching out his hand, wanting to wipe the tears from Kisaragi Chiyo's face, but halfway there, his hand froze in mid-air.
Kisaragi Chiyo turned her head away with great force, the hair on both sides of her cheeks sticking messily to her face because of the tears. She bit her lips tightly, unwilling to let out even a single sob. Yet, Hara Kenji was sharp-eyed enough to see that in the moment Kisaragi turned her head, the tears in her eyes continued to fall silently, like raindrops.
The air in the room grew damp because of the tears. Every breath passing through the lungs seemed to be laced with excessive moisture. It made Hara feel as though the organs in his chest were becoming heavy, a sense of frustration and oppression followed.
'What should he do now?'
Hara Kenji lowered his raised hand, his eyes downcast, staring at the small patch on the bedsheet that had been stained by tears. Those tears felt as if they had fallen directly onto his heart; even in his mouth, he seemed to taste the salty, sorrowful flavor, as if seawater were being poured down his throat.
“Kisaragi..” Hara Kenji tried to get closer again. With one knee pressed against the edge of the bed, he used both hands to support his body as he slowly moved toward Kisaragi Chiyo.
"Kisaragi." Hara called out again, his hands resting gently on Kisaragi Chiyo's shoulders. It was only then that he felt the youth's slender shoulders trembling with rhythmic jolts.
"What's wrong? What happened?" Yuan's movements were gentle as he patted Kisaragi Chiyo's back, stroke after stroke. Although the other person did not reject his closeness, she was unwilling to turn her face toward him.
She still chose to respond with silence, turning her back to him.
Kisaragi Chiyo refused to speak, but he continued to sob incessantly. He curled his body up with his knees tucked to his chest, like a snail caught in the rain, struggling to pull itself into its tiny shell. His sensitive and fragile antennae were exceptionally alert to every movement around him. Just one slight misstep would cause the snail, which had only just opened a crack in its shell, to retreat completely.
This is the future, he does not belong to the past.
According to what he had been told, he had simply encountered an accident that caused him to lose his memory and shrink. He was not truly his former self from the past, he could no longer return to the past, to that tiny village, or back to that familiar shrine.
Even in his current memory, he had only woken up as usual not long ago, preparing the ritual movements and offerings for the village ceremony together with his grandmother..
Even the sound of his grandmother telling him to run away from this place quickly remained vivid in his memory.. In fact, just by closing his eyes, he could smell the scent of burning flames, the thick smoke was laced with the smell of blood and the stench of rot..
Kisaragi Chiyo lowered his head, staring blankly at his own hands. He remembered following his grandmother's words, fleeing into the depths of the great mountains; he didn't dare look back, he had never run this fast before.. The wind whipped past his ears, his entire chest felt like it was about to burst with pain, yet he didn't dare stop for even a second.
A torrential rain poured from the sky, turning the mountain paths into a muddy mess, to the point where he would stumble almost every few steps. Yet Kisaragi Chiyo still did not dare to stop; he didn't even dare to think about what would happen to his grandmother, who was left alone after his departure; he didn't dare to imagine such a terrible outcome.
He could only run with all his might, toward the front, to leave this place, to seek help from the Mechano Family. If only he could go a little faster, just a little faster.. there would surely be a way.. Grandma was still waiting for him to return.
The rain fell harder and harder, his body grew colder and colder, his footsteps became increasingly heavy. Kisaragi Chiyo stumbled forward, but ultimately collapsed from exhaustion.
When he woke up again, he saw someone unexpected.
They were three children from the same village, Kisaragi Chiyo had some impression of them. The boy among them, who had a buzz cut, had a grandfather who was the village doctor; because he had gone into the mountains with his grandfather to gather medicinal herbs since he was a child, he was very familiar with the environment in the mountains.
The other two girls were sisters three years apart in age. Their mother had passed away from illness a few years ago, their father was a hunter. Therefore, when Kisaragi Chiyo saw the double-barreled shotgun in the elder sister's hands, she was not surprised.
Those three children, just like Kisaragi Chiyo, had escaped from that disaster by relying on the protection of their elders. Although they had no specific purpose, leaving this place was the only thing they knew they had to do.
So, upon learning that Kisaragi would be heading to the Mechano Family to seek help, they chose to go along without hesitation.
*
Hara Kenji wrapped his arms around Kisaragi Chiyo's shoulders from behind, his palms slowly enveloping the other's cold, bloodless fingertips.
A furry sensation came from the other side of his cheek. Hara Kenji leaned his face gently against his, his back pressed against the other's chest, as he let out a soft, small sigh.
He did not wipe the tears from Kisaragi Chiyo's face, nor did he intend to say anything comforting; he simply asked, "Do you.. want to pet the puppy?"
Kisaragi Chiyo did not react; she hung her head, still deeply lost in her grief. That memory remained stuck in the moment when, while moving forward with hope, she was suddenly and violently dragged into a cruel end.
The future told him that he had failed. No matter how hard he ran, all his efforts had been in vain; he had not been able to save the village, nor had he been able to save his grandmother's life.
Everything was ruined.
Kisaragi Chiyo thought with a sense of self-loathing that if Grandma hadn't chosen to stay behind to protect him, she would have definitely been able to survive.
If he hadn't been chosen as a vessel by that man who burned down the shrine, none of this would have happened—or rather, if Grandma hadn't been so kind as to adopt him in the first place.
If he had just been eaten by a monster in the mountains, all those troubles wouldn't have happened.
Tears still burst from her eyes uncontrollably. Kisaragi Chiyo bit her lower lip, her vision blurred by the tears, because of her labored breathing, her head had already begun to signal a warning of oxygen deprivation.
Until, something furry brushed against the back of his lowered hand. Something moist, warm, slightly coarse licked his fingertips.
Kisaragi Chiyo instinctively pulled his hand back, then he heard a whimpering sound, seemingly right before his eyes.
Kisaragi raised his head with a dazed expression, his eyes heavily swollen and red, his entire face a mess from crying, as his nose twitched while looking at the incredibly large dog that had suddenly appeared before him.
".. Where did this dog come from?" Kisaragi Chiyo spoke, his voice hoarse and still carrying the remnants of a sob.
He turned his head in confusion to look around, but Hara Kenji's figure was no longer in the room, leaving only a large, tricolor black, white, brown dog with bushy eyebrows staring back at him.
Yuan.." Kisaragi Chiyo looked into the other's round purple eyes, after calling out tentatively, she immediately received a loud "Woof!
Very standard and full of energy. If one were to ignore the fact that this hotel prohibits pets.
Why do I hear a dog barking?
Just as Kisaragi Chiyo's sadness was interrupted, she was wondering what the relationship was between this dog and that Long-haired Wraith, the room's doorknob was turned from the outside.
Matsuda Jinpei walked in from outside carrying lunch, his body covered in moisture. As his gaze swept casually across the room, his sharp teal eyes behind his sunglasses fixed intently on Yuan Gougou, who was crouching on the bed.
Especially when Matsuda saw the obvious signs of crying on Kisaragi Chiyo's face, the chill in his eyes became so sharp it almost felt tangible.
*
Kisaragi Chiyo felt quite dazed, sitting on the bed with a blank expression, a Bernese Mountain Dog lying by his left side and a Black cat wearing white gloves held in his arms.
The dog's head rubbed against his arm, the cat's tail curled around his fingers. Kisaragi Chiyo lowered his head, watching the cat, which maintained an elegant posture while licking its fur, even while resting in his arms.
"Lord Cat God?" she whispered softly.
“I'm here.” The cat stopped grooming itself, its teal eyes shining like gems, brilliant even in the gloomy, dark rainy day.
“And me!” The puppy nudged Kisaragi Chiyo's arm with its head, refusing to be outdone. He whimpered softly as he rested his chin on Kisaragi's wrist, his tail thumping gently against the bed.
But Kisaragi Chiyo's gaze was subconsciously drawn to the puppy's thick, furry front paws.
"Do you want to try petting it?" As if sensing his thoughts, the puppy took the initiative to place its front paw into his palm.
Warm, Kisaragi Chiyo couldn't help but give it a little squeeze. The puppy's paws felt wonderful—plump and full of elasticity.
Although he had always called Matsuda Jinpei Lord Cat God, he had never imagined that the other man would actually turn into a cat.
The sudden transformation into a cat and a dog allowed Kisaragi Chiyo to briefly escape from her sadness.
"Thank you." Kisaragi Chiyo naturally knew why they were doing this, as her emotions surged, she couldn't help but feel a sudden sting in her nose.
Kisaragi Chiyo lowered her eyes, a single tear fell onto Matsuda Jinmi, the transparent droplet quickly vanishing into the soft black fur.
"Get some sleep." Matsuda Jinpei pressed his pink paw against the youth's fragile chest. Amidst the boy's dazed expression, Matsuda used a bit more strength to push Kisaragi Chiyo down onto the bed.
"I.." Kisaragi Chiyo lay back onto the soft bed following the force, staring blankly at the pure white ceiling. For some reason, he suddenly felt a surge of drowsiness wash over him.
"If you don't want to sleep yet, you can chat with us first." Matsuda Jinmi sat perched on Kisaragi Chiyo's chest with her front paws tucked, staring at her unblinkingly with teal eyes.
"Chiyo-chan can talk about anything she wants." Yuan Gougou also pressed closer, lying beside Kisaragi Chiyo with his head against hers, like a perfect self-heating hand warmer, attempting to surround Kisaragi Chiyo with his warm breath.
If you don't know what to talk about.." Yuan Gougou chuckled, "then I can tell Chiyo-chan fairy tales too.
Snow White, the Magic Stone, Palais Garnier..
Matsuda Jinmi: "?"
Although Kisaragi Chiyo did not understand the stories mentioned by the dog at all, judging by their names, they all seemed to be foreign stories. But unfortunately, Kisaragi Chiyo currently had no interest in listening to stories. Even if the first name sounded quite interesting, it still failed to move him.