"House of Lost Souls? What's that?" Matsuda Jinpei was no longer sulking; he leaned in to listen to Kisaragi Chiyo tell stories while eating a bowl of beef curry stew.
"It's a kind of house that welcomes guests warmly and makes them feel prosperous."*
Kisaragi Chiyo explained with a smile. She turned her face toward Matsuda, upon noticing a bit of curry sauce on the corner of his mouth, she very naturally pulled a handkerchief from the wide sleeve of her haori and reached out to wipe his face clean.
"You'd better take good care of Little Jinpei's handsome face," Hara Kenji said, blinking his eyes as he teased Matsuda Jinpei.
As expected, he thought, his childhood friend had always had a mesmerizing face from when they were little. So it made sense that Chiyo-chan would like Matsuda.. Ah, she had clearly shown that she liked him just as much before; thinking this way made Chiyo-chan truly greedy.
Hara thought with a smile; although he felt proud, he also couldn't help but feel a little bit jealous.
It is said that anyone who comes to the House of Lost Souls can take anything they want from within.. but I have also heard of someone who only sought temporary shelter from the rain and took nothing at all. So, in the end, the House of Lost Souls gifted them a single bowl.
"A bowl?" Matsuda Jinpei said, his voice muffled as he bit into a potato.
Yes." Kisaragi Chiyo nodded. "In the story, a kind woman received a bowl—a bowl used for holding rice, but the amount of rice would never decrease.
"So, this is something from the House of Lost Souls?" After listening to the story, Hara Kenji looked at the pot he had picked up on the way back with entirely new eyes; at the time, he had never imagined it had such an origin.
"I can't be sure." Kisaragi Chiyo had never seen the House of Lost Souls with his own eyes; all he knew were the stories.
"I think.." During the conversation, Matsuda Jinpei had already finished a bowl of beef curry stew. He set down his bowl and looked at the two people beside him with a serious and earnest expression.
The most important thing right now is.. how to deal with all this curry, isn't it?
Kisaragi Chiyo: ".."
Kisaragi Chiyo fell silent, because he also didn't want to eat beef stew with curry for an entire month.
How about we ask the Class Monitor?" Hara Kenji fully exercised the initiative of seeking out the Class Monitor whenever there's trouble, proposing an idea: "If the Class Monitor is working overtime right now, we can just give these curries to the officers in Investigation Division One as a late-night snack.
As for the reason.." Hara Kenji's eyes crinkled as he flashed a sly smile. "We'll say it's a gift of spicy, steaming, super delicious curry to thank Officer Date for his past help, to show our appreciation to the hardworking officers of Investigation Division One who are working overtime to ensure the safety of the people of Tokyo!
Kisaragi Chiyo nodded in agreement, finding one point particularly agreeable. Morofushi Hiromitsu's curry recipe was indeed excellent; even a kitchen disaster like Matsuda Jinpei could cook up such delicious curry.
Of course, Matsuda's success was likely largely due to the fact that Hara had prepared and washed the ingredients in advance. Even the measurements for the curry and water had been prepared beforehand, so Matsuda Jinpei only had to add them to the pot in order at the specified times.
There's one more question." Matsuda Jinpei's furrowed brows slowly relaxed. "So, who should deliver this curry?
After he asked this question, Matsuda Jinpei noticed that Hara Kenji and Kisaragi Chiyo beside him both suddenly fell silent and turned their heads in unison to look at him.
Matsuda Jinpei: ".."
*
Moist, warm steam filled the entire shower stall, water rippled against his arms as Kisaragi Chiyo sat up, bracing himself with both hands on the sides of the bathtub. As he moved, the excess water in the tub overflowed, spilling onto the floor.
The young man's wet hair clung to his skin; at a time like this, the hair covering his forehead felt uncomfortable. Therefore, Kisaragi Chiyo brushed it all back, revealing those beautiful heterochromatic eyes.
Round water droplets slid off his skin as he stood up, the damp sensation enveloped Kisaragi Chiyo entirely; however, this was different from being in the rain; it was a sensation that could wash away fatigue, relax a person, make them let down their guard.
Kisaragi Chiyo picked up a dry towel prepared nearby to wipe the water from his hair and body, but when he reached out to take the clothes that Hara Kenji had so attentively prepared in advance, his movements faltered for a moment.
It wasn't the kind of pajamas Kisaragi Chiyo usually wore; to be precise, it was an ordinary but soft-to-the-touch white shirt. But it was just a shirt, it was clearly too large for him.
It was not until this moment that Kisaragi Chiyo finally realized what that cunning, gluttonous Evil Spirit was actually up to.
The young man stared at the shirt in his hands for a full ten seconds before finally shaking it out and putting it on.
This shirt was excessively oversized; worn on the body, the cuffs already covered most of his palms, leaving only a segment of pale fingertips exposed. As the hem hung down, the length of the shirt reached just about the level of the young man's thighs. It barely covered his buttocks; with even a slightly large movement, it would be almost no different from exposing himself.
Kisaragi Chiyo looked at herself in the bathroom mirror and fell silent. Looking at her current attire, her brain, made languid by the hot water, could only think of four words: ready-to-eat.
"Hara Kenji." Kisaragi Chiyo said the name of the Evil Spirit with a half-smile, half-laugh. He knew the other party was waiting outside right now, he knew the other party would definitely be able to hear his voice.
It was something that had to be faced sooner or later. Kisaragi Chiyo did not make him wait for long; after tidying her clothes, she twisted open the bathroom door and stepped out with large strides.
Hara felt that the scene unfolding before his eyes at this moment was far more stimulating than anything his imagination could have conjured up.
"Chi.. Chiyo-chan." Hara Kenji felt that his cheeks must be bright red. He covered his face with both hands like an innocent, shy student, yet he couldn't resist the temptation and couldn't help but peek through his fingers at the young man who was drawing closer and closer to him.
The temperature, enveloped in fragrance, came to a halt at a distance of a single step.
“Hara-kun.” Kisaragi Chiyo smiled as she slowly pried the fingers away from her face, looking at him with a beaming smile, “Are you going to carry me to the bed?”
Hara Kenji gazed at the face so close to him, his own reflection mirrored in those beautiful heterochromatic eyes. The red lips were soft, because he had just finished bathing, the young man radiated a warm aura all over his body.
"It must feel so good to be held, right?" Hara Kenji's throat bobbed as he swallowed. He felt an intense thirst in his mouth, his heart was thumping incessantly, clamoring for something.
The Evil Spirit reached out and embraced the young man, bringing him to the bed.
The young man was likely doing it on purpose; he wore a loose-fitting shirt with the top three buttons left unfastened. With even the slightest movement, the collar would slip, exposing a large expanse of skin from his shoulders to his chest to the open air.
"Kisaragi.." Hara Kenji called out the other's name with a hoarse voice. He cupped the young man's face, lowered his head, began to kiss those long-coveted lips with devotion and care.
He felt as though it had been a very long time since they had been this close; he had almost forgotten what the young man tasted like.
His tongue skillfully slipped between her lips, as Hara skillfully curled around her tongue, tugging at it, gradually making the young woman's very breath tinged with his own scent.
"Do you like it?" Pulling back from the lips, Hara Kenji affectionately kissed Kisaragi Chiyo's eyes and cheeks. He used his fingertips to gently stroke the other's earlobe, only stopping once it had turned a blood-red color.
"I like it.." Kisaragi Chiyo panted lightly. No matter how many times it happened, he was always able to find his limit by the other person.
Every single time, he felt that he had improved a little more than before. But every single time, he was kissed until his head was spinning, before long, he lost his composure.
"This is only the beginning." Hara Kenji smiled as he lightly kissed the other's lips, his hands never remaining idle for a single moment. He pushed Kisaragi Chiyo down onto the bed, his hands sliding unhindered beneath the hem of her shirt.
..
Things didn't go all the way to the final step, but basically, all the kissing that needed to be done had been done, all the touching that needed to be done had been done.
Kisaragi Chiyo lay in the soft bedding in a daze, still somewhat unable to recover from what had just happened.
Well, he had still been thinking too simply. Every time he thought his endurance had improved, Hara Kenji always managed to come up with new tricks.
Chiyo-chan, Chiyo-chan.." The shameless Evil Spirit called his name by his ear again, "One more time, one more time.
"I refuse." Kisaragi Chiyo turned over, facing the Evil Spirit with the back of her head.
"Is it really not okay.." the Evil Spirit's voice sounded quite pitiful.
"No, I'm already very tired." Kisaragi Chiyo was not lying; he truly didn't want to move a single finger right now, he no longer had the strength to keep playing along with Hara Kenji's games.
"It's alright.." Hara laughed softly, reaching out to roll Kisaragi Chiyo over, his dark purple eyes gazing down at the young man.
“Chiyo-chan just needs to lie there.” The Evil Spirit's seductive voice came from above her head. "It's only once.. I'll make Chiyo-chan feel good too."
After saying that, he used that handsome face to put on a pitiable expression, as if refusing him were an unpardonable sin.
Kisaragi Chiyo really loved that face; otherwise, she wouldn't have half-acquiesced to his persistent clinging right from the very beginning.
So, Kisaragi Chiyo agreed to Hara's request, just as expected.
And so,
..
What a cunning and hateful evil spirit!
-----------------------
Author's Note: *The setting of the House of Lost Souls is derived from the movie "The House of Lost Souls at the Cape"
Thank you for the support, my little angels. Mwah everyone ^ 3 ^
Chapter 114
On a certain day, the weather was clear, it was another day of rushing to meet a deadline on the brink of death.
Kisaragi Chiyo emerged from his wardrobe workspace, his raven-colored hair looking slightly disheveled and his face pale. Beneath his misty gray eyes, there was a faint dark tint, making him look exactly like a patient recovering from a serious illness, or perhaps a ghost haunting a haunted house.
The young man walked toward the bed with unsteady steps and threw himself down onto it. Spreading his hands, he grabbed a pillow and pressed it directly over his face to block out the light. He didn't even have time to take off his Haori jacket before he closed his eyes, falling into a deep sleep in less than half a minute.
By the time Kisaragi Chiyo woke up, the sun was already high in the clear blue sky, the sunlight shone directly through the glass window onto the desk, making the cover of a hardcover book resting upon it scorching hot.
Today is a rare day of good weather; after three consecutive days of heavy rain, the damp, musty moisture had filled this old house.
During those few days, Kisaragi Chiyo felt like a rusted machine, her entire body feeling so heavy that she didn't want to move. She only wanted to find a suitable, comfortable place to curl up, find an interesting novel to pass the time, or simply close her eyes and sleep the whole day away.
So, naturally, Kisaragi Chiyo did nothing during those three rainy days. The blank paper remained blank; on the computer, he couldn't even be bothered to create a new empty document.
Of course, it can't be said that he did nothing at all; at least Kisaragi Chiyo was picked up by the waist by Hara Kenji, who couldn't stand to see his lazy demeanor, carried downstairs to join Matsuda Jinpei, the three of them sat around together to bake a box of cookies.
Of course, the main force behind making the cookies was still Hara-kun; Matsuda Jinpei and Kisaragi Chiyo only handled the assisting and tasting.
"Curry, curry, who says you can't put curry in cookie dough?" Matsuda Jinpei asked, holding a box of spicy curry and arguing his point.
No." Hara Kenji stood at the kitchen entrance with his arms crossed, his eyes fixed tightly on the box of spicy curry in Matsuda Jinpei's hands, once again rejecting Matsuda's request with cold, ruthless, dictatorial finality: "I said no, so no.
"Someone who only causes trouble instead of cooking should get far away from my kitchen." Hara Kenji gave a cold, disdainful snort and pointed a finger, signaling Matsuda Jinpei, who had already ruined three of his cookies, to move further away.
"Am I being kicked out too?" Kisaragi Chiyo, who had also been driven out of the kitchen by Hara, blinked slowly and pointed a finger at herself.
Hara Kenji: "Yes."
"Kisaragi." Hara-kun rarely called his name with such a tone.
Kisaragi Chiyo raised her head and looked at the Evil Spirit who was watching her with a half-smile. Today, he was wearing a light denim-blue top, with his long sleeves rolled up to his elbows, revealing his sleek forearms, his long black hair was tied back at the nape of his neck with a white camellia-colored ribbon.
I baked five plates of cookies in total." Hara Kenji's thin lips parted slightly as his eyes crinkled, his dark purple eyes looking at Kisaragi Chiyo with a smile. "Three plates were ruined by Little Jinpei.. As for the remaining two, I wonder where they've gone?
Kisaragi Chiyo: ".."
Where did the remaining two plates go? Where else could they go? They're in his stomach, of course.
Baked cookies get eaten, just as fish in a river get caught by people.
Hara Kenji was not misled by Kisaragi Chiyo's serious-sounding nonsense; he just stared at the young man with a smile, as if he had already seen through his true thoughts.
It's just that I have a sweet tooth.
"Chiyo-chan, you should also fix that bad habit of eating sweets as if they were a main course." As Hara-kun spoke, he suddenly took a few steps closer, leaning down and pressing his face close to him.
The suddenly enlarged face made Kisaragi Chiyo instinctively want to recoil, but the other person seemed to have anticipated his reaction, raising a hand to grip his shoulder a step ahead of him.
"Kisaragi.." Hara lowered his eyes, their breaths mingling together. In the next second, Kisaragi Chiyo felt something soft land on the corner of her lips, a brief touch that left a lingering sensation of wetness as it pulled away.
Kisaragi Chiyo's eyes widened slightly, it wasn't until the other person released her shoulders that Kisaragi belatedly realized that she had just been licked by Hara Kenji.
Why a lick?
Kisaragi Chiyo suspiciously touched the corner of her mouth. Could it be that when she was eating cookies just now, she had left some crumbs behind? Was that why Hara-kun had managed to find the true culprit who had eaten two plates of cookies?
He had clearly planned to pin the blame on Matsuda.