Nioh Masaharu leaned back in the scarlet wallpaper-clad hallway, his eyes staring unblinkingly at the portrait on the opposite wall, but his attention was focused on the room behind him with a hidden door—a few minutes earlier, Nao Saotome, covered in dirt and ice, had been moved in, still unconscious.

"Save her, please......"

The boy who carried Nao on his back fell down after saying such a sentence, although he had not yet reached the point of coma, but he was also in a trance where he would lose consciousness at any time, and I am afraid that it would be impossible to recover enough to be able to think in a short period of time, so it is impossible to know how the two of them ended up in such a situation. The only thing that could tell the process of injury was his abrasions all over his body and his body temperature that had almost dropped to 35 degrees.

Even though his injuries were relatively minor, he was still like this, not to mention that his skin had lost his blood and showed a transparent white Nao.

Hisaburo Hino, who has been a housekeeper here for decades, said that the altitude of this generation is higher, and although there are volcanoes and hot springs, it can basically be regarded as a snow-capped mountain area, and coupled with the continuous sea of trees, the number of people who die every year due to getting lost and straying has reached a staggering number, and among these deaths, the number of people who freeze to death is more than twice as high as the number of people who starve to death. People like Nao who were able to find someone's mansion and be rescued on a rainy winter night were as lucky as being protected by the gods.

Although Hino's words in the Kansai dialect were as easy as a joke, he still felt a chill of fear when he heard it.

If the two of them get lost in the woods, after tonight, there may be no Saotome Nao in the world.

The silver-haired boy closed his eyes, his hands trembling a little as he clenched into fists in his trouser pockets.

"You're still here, boy. ”

Kazumi Kurosawa, who looked a little tired, gently pushed open the door and walked out, smiling at Nioh Masaharu as if she was used to it, but quickly lowered the corners of her mouth again.

"How is she?"

"It's mainly a coma caused by the cold," Kurosawa sighed, "It wasn't going to be so strict, but she had consumed quite a lot of her body before, and she was injured, so her body temperature dropped so quickly." But I'm already very lucky, if I wait for another twenty minutes and wait for the body temperature to drop below 30 degrees, I'm afraid that even the gods won't be able to save them. ”

"Is it really cold...... Nioh curled one of his lips, but the expression didn't look like a smile at all.

He came to this "Crow Mansion" with Yanagi to get together, originally to see the martial arts festival that Nao had been talking about for a long time, and by the way to see if he could meet the guy who led the members to the training camp, but after getting off the train, he felt that there was an inexplicable feeling surrounding him, not bad but not very good, just like the premonition that he was about to meet the old man but would fall into some events because of the old man, especially after feeling the temperature in Tateyama that was much colder than the city. He was still smiling at Yanagi at the station and saying that the stupid guy who never caught a cold would definitely break the record, and now it seems that the damn premonition is much stricter than expected.

"It's a guy who is about to die if he freezes casually, and he says he's looking forward to meditating under the waterfall, which is really stupid. ”

"But her physique is quite good, if she hadn't been injured before, I'm afraid she wouldn't have lost consciousness so quickly. Kurosawa Kazumi spread out her long curly hair and combed it with her fingers, with a faint approving look on her face, "The extensive abrasions and bumps didn't cause her any actual damage, the only thing that was serious was a wound on the back of her waist that was cut open by a stone, but it only hurt the muscles, if ordinary people were afraid that even the internal organs would flow out." ”

Kurosawa's words succeeded in making Nioh's face turn blue, even more severe than when he first saw Nao, who was covered in bruises, and even his shoulders kept shaking, and he was about to rush into the room to see her for the last time. His appearance seemed to delight the beautiful woman beside her, and she burst out laughing, slapping him on the shoulder as she laughed.

"You can go in and see her, but don't move her body~ The ambulance won't arrive until at least tomorrow, and before that, it's not a joke in case the wound collapses. I'm going to see another teenager. ”

"Thank you so much, Kurosawa. Nioh let out a long breath and bowed heavily to Kurosawa Kazumi, "If it weren't for you, we really don't know what to do." ”

"Ah, they all said they were going to call me 'Kurosawa-sensei,' and anyway, I'm also a health teacher in middle school. ”

Kurosawa Kazumi waved his hand with his back to Nioh, and suddenly turned around the corner when he walked around the corner, "By the way, don't uncover the quilt, that girl is not wearing clothes now~"

Nioh, who pushed the door, stumbled when he heard this.

Heiji Hattori is in a much better situation than Nao, at least his consciousness is clear, and although he still has some slurred speech due to the cold, his coherence and thinking ability have returned to him. As soon as he became conscious, he explained the reason for this situation to Yagyu, who was taking care of him, and promptly used the phone number of the Western-style pavilion to contact Toyama Kazuha and Sakamoto Shumi in the martial arts village.

The two girls were already so anxious that they not only called the police, but also notified the search team in Tateyama District, and even gathered all the members of the kendo club of Kyokata Middle School, Aikido Club and Kabido Middle School to find the missing two. Under Hattori's guidance, the two canceled their applications to the police and the search team, and called back all the students who had been driven to search the mountain. However, due to the previous earthquake and rain, the road to the Raven's House was damaged by mudslides, and both ambulances and school buses did not arrive here until at least the next day.

"Hey, is there a mistake! What if the ambulance can't reach that big sister dies!"

Some of the big-tongued Hattori yelled at the other end of the phone.

"Even if you say that, I can't help it!!"

He Ye was so aggrieved that he was about to cry, "Pingci, is it really so strict, can't you even wait for tomorrow?"

"Of course, Yan zhòng is dumb! Not only can't you move at all, but you're covered in blood, and your whole body is broken!"

"And how are you?, are you hurt?" and Ye's voice trembled, "It can't be...... You've broken your bones, haven't you?"

"Ah, I'm fine. Pingci's voice seemed a little weak, "Total, in short, ......"

Just as Hattori was about to say something, a sudden roar from inside the microphone almost pierced his eardrum.

"Hattori Heiji——!!" Shumi Sakamoto roared menacingly in a profound soprano, "If Nao has anything long and short, you can die for me——!!"

"Hey, calm down......" Heiji Hattori said helplessly.

"There won't be any three long and two short~"

Kurosawa Kazumi, who suddenly appeared in the room, intercepted the earpiece in his hand, and in a few words, stabilized Shumi and succeeded in saving Heiji's ear. Yanagi Hirushi, who was sitting leisurely on the side with a cup of coffee, glanced at Kazumi Kurosawa, who had been uninvited, and narrowed his eyes a little suspiciously.

After the scarred Nao and Hattori entered the door, apart from Nioh, who had always had a good relationship with Nao, why did she, a woman who claimed to be a junior high school health doctor, arrive at the scene as if she had predicted the first time they appeared, and began to enthusiastically solicit the two of them for help when they did not ask her for help...... The frostbite and scratches on Nao and Hattori's bodies are not beyond the reach of he, a doctor's descendant.

Although such an attitude is understandable for a licensed doctor, the worry and complicated look she sometimes exudes in the treatment of the two are worth playing. Although she hid this complicated relationship well, she did not avoid his two eyes that were hidden by lenses and would not be discovered by others even if they were seen closely.

Are these things really just a coincidence?

It's not that he's suffering from a strange illness like detective novel poisoning, it's just that he feels the same way when Nioh utters that "ominous premonition" - especially after learning that Hattori saw the light from the woods where visibility was barely a few meters and was guided there.

From the vicinity of Martial Arts Village, which is 10 kilometers away, can you see the lights of the Raven Pavilion?

If Hattori isn't seeing the lights of the Raven House, then what?

And while Yagyu was holding on to suspicion, Nioh Masaharu was standing in the guest room across the wall, staring at Nao's peaceful sleeping face in a daze.

Falling asleep, Nao lay on the fluffy bed, her body covered with soft, warm feathers, revealing only her shoulders, which were slightly red from the rise in temperature. The damp red hair curled like seaweed around her sweaty neck, the skin exposed in the gaps in the ends of her hair was white and transparent, her cheeks were as crimson as if she had just taken a bath, and her face was slightly puffed up against the pillow, she was extremely weak and harmless compared to usual.

Although he had been with her for nearly a year, when had Nioh ever seen her so gentle and tranquil?

This kind of innocent sleeping face like a baby can't help but smile from the bottom of your heart when you see it.

"Really...... Good boy. ”

The boy stretched out his hand, and his fingers, which were slightly rough from tennis training, moved, and gently brushed the girl's cheeks as if he had been seduced, and the strange touch he experienced for the first time made his eyes narrowed pleasantly, and the turquoise pupils overflowed with tenderness that even he himself had not noticed.

He still remembers the small animal with golden-green apricot kernel eyes found in the cardboard box in the open space on the corner of the street before moving from his hometown to Kanagawa, looking at him with two fleshy claws on the edge of the cardboard box, ignorant but innocent. He brushed his fingers over its fur as he did now, and the soft, slippery, fluffy touch of a feather seemed to remain in his fingertips to this day, just like the feeling of the girl in front of him, and the strange but soft feeling in his heart filled his chest like foam.

"It's like Ji Tai......"

Nioh lowered his head and leaned close to her face and muttered softly.

The girl's sweat-soaked hair was pressed tightly against her cheeks, and her slightly open lips repeated slightly rapid breathing. Nioh lowered his head to notice Nao's state, and was stunned for a moment and quickly put his hand on her forehead, the heat between the palms of his hands made him frown, and after feeling the cool temperature on his forehead, Nao, who was sleeping, suddenly unconsciously stretched out a hand from the quilt, and put it on - or grabbed the hand of the young man on his forehead, and his expression gradually relaxed.

Nao's movements made the silver-haired boy's pupils widen suddenly, and the expression on his face was almost unbearable.

Although he knew that Nao's movements were unconscious, the heart in his left chest was pounding like a monster running by. He stared blankly at Nao's face, who was close at hand, and felt as if something was peeling in his chest, and the surging emotions that followed almost overwhelmed him, making him almost unable to breathe.

And when he came back to his senses, his lips were almost close to the girl's closed eyes.

“......”

Nioh took a deep breath, straightened up, and gently pulled off Nao's palm on the back of his hand, wrapped it in his palm and shook it vigorously, his honey-colored lips pursed into a self-deprecating smile.

"What am I doing......

He covered his eyes and laughed.

After settling in the two people who had suddenly become extra, time passed like flowing water, and by the time everyone in the villa had gone to sleep, it was past twelve o'clock in the night.

The scarlet wallpaper and the long-wool carpet are well isolated from the sound of a qiē, each person can only hear the sound of their own breathing and the sound of raindrops hitting the window, and occasionally the sound of the wind like a small cry enters the room through the gap in the window, which makes people feel a little creepy in this dark canyon.

Nioh Masaharu didn't go back to his room to sleep, but moved a chair and sat at the head of Nao's bed and dozed off. In addition to Nao, who was not worried about the fever he was starting, the main reason was that Nao was clutching his hand tightly, like a drowning man grasping a straw, and as soon as he let go of it, he would let out a small beast-like whimper uneasily, and even his brows were tightly furrowed. No, in order to let the sick girl sleep peacefully, the silver-haired boy had to let him hold on to it in addition to smiling bitterly.

Nao in a coma doesn't know what she's done, but for the unconscious Nioh, it's the equivalent of "luscious pain."

After the hour hand turned a half of the way on the dial, Nioh, who had woken up at night for not knowing how many times, was finally completely awakened by the sound of the chime, and at the same time, there was a miserable scream of a young girl.

Nioh bounced off his chair as if he had been set on fire, and immediately looked at the girl on the bed, greatly relieved after confirming that she was still fine, but his face did not relax because of this, and turned his head to look at Yagyu and Hattori, who had almost broken through the door, and Hattori Heiji, who rushed in with his eyes open.

"It seems to be in the yard. Hattori patted his cheek, and his slightly cyan eyes gleamed with a solemn light.

"Indeed," Yanagi frowned, too, "It sounds like the actress from yesterday." ”

"Oh, it seems that yesterday's 'ominous premonition' is not over yet. Nioh yawned ruffianly and lifted his already stiff left hand, which was still being clutched by Nao, "But our detective lady can't work yet, so please!Yanagi~Sheng~"

"No," Yanagi pushed his glasses and gestured to the empty side, "someone has already rushed out." ”

While the two were talking, there was a commotion in the courtyard. Almost all of the people gathered in the Western-style building were at the scene of the mournful screams, and Hattori could be heard shouting "Don't come near him!" in the distance, and the rest of the people gasping in horror.

Yanagi's eyes flashed behind the lenses, and before Nioh could speak, he turned and walked out of the room, following Hattori's footsteps towards the courtyard.

Tiny snowflakes began to fall in the gloomy sky, but the ground still showed traces of last night's rain. As soon as Yanagi stepped out of the villa gate, he could feel the faint smell of blood mixed with the smell of earth rushing towards him. Smelling this ominous smell, he couldn't help but look at it, and walked quickly through the stunned crowd to the courtyard.

A few meters away from the suspension bridge in front of the mansion, a black body lay silently there, the winding stream of blood pooling into bundles, staining the puddles of water on the nearby ground a maroon.

"Not anymore. ”

Pingji, who was half-squatting next to his body, withdrew the hand that was pressed on the other party's neck, and shook his head heavily, "The face is stiff but the body is still soft, and the presumed time of death is around four o'clock in the morning, and the cause of death is a blow to the heart by a sharp weapon." ”

"No, the time of death should be between three and four o'clock in the morning, and generally speaking, the temperature of the body of a fat person decreases more slowly than that of a thin person. ”

Yanagi stood behind Hattori and said expressionlessly.

"Of course I know!, but the temperature outside is so low, the temperature of the corpse will also drop quickly, and the time for the two to cancel out is about the same!" Hattori rubbed the ends of his messy hair, turned his head to look at the people with different colors behind him, "Hey, which of you has a camera?"

"I, I have, I'm going to get ......"

A somewhat scruffily dressed man raised his hand timidly. But before he could make a move, the girl beside him slapped away his raised hand fiercely, and shouted to Pingji with willow eyebrows upside down: "You're not a party attendee, are you?

"Who am I?" Heiji stood up and raised his eyebrows, "It doesn't matter who I am, what matters is this aunt, you don't want to destroy the scene to prevent others from getting the camera, can it be that this Ojisan's death has something to do with you?"

"Y-What are you talking about!Why do you have to do something with me!" The girl in the goth loli costume stomped her foot angrily and shoved the man next to her, "Tsujimoto, go get the camera! I want to see what you pretend little devil is going to do!"

"Thank you so much. ”

Heiji bared his teeth without smiling, turned around and continued to look at the somewhat strange crime scene.

The death was Okawa Grind, who was called "Uncle Lewd" by Ayoka Raiyama yesterday, and the cause of death was being stabbed in the heart with a dagger and dying. The murder weapon was still inserted in his chest, but his posture was very strange - the backstab was on the left chest where the heart was, but his hand was tightly grasping the clothes on his right chest, and his left hand was holding the tip of a black umbrella.

But why exactly did he do it?

The only thing that can explain a qiē seems to be only one reason.

"It seems to be a message of death. ”

Yanagi, who had a full view of the qiē, said to himself, and Hattori Heiji nodded in agreement from the side.

The author has something to say: I wrote it in the middle of the night last night and sent it to the manuscript box.

Try to add another chapter today (or tomorrow morning)

Whoop - I have to go for an injection tomorrow, and I will go for a re-examination the day after tomorrow, the trouble of the real Kassan~

Try to write a little ambiguous...... I found out that I really don't have romance cells!

Please try your best to shoot ~ Don't slap your face.