stared blankly at the mound of dirt in front of him, which was only emitting green smoke, but there was no more anomaly. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

Asa and I just stood stupidly—until there was no more smoke coming out of the mound that was the flower bed.

Fortunately, the green smoke didn't come out for a long time, only about five or six minutes.

"Uh...... Are we getting a little nervous? Asa asked, turning his face strangely, "It doesn't seem like it's dangerous—"

"Go see?" I asked for his permission.

"Well......" Asa hesitated, "Okay?" There's no smell of gunpowder after all—maybe we're mistaken," he said, carefully coating himself with an ice armor, "Sakura, don't move, I'll go take a look." ”

With that, he strode forward - without giving anyone a chance to object.

Woo! Dead Asa, still so careful, still never forget to protect ...... Alas, I was so touched to say.

"Sakura—" Asa leaned over to look at the mound for a moment, "these flowers—can they be plucked?" He asked, pointing to the flowers and plants on the mound.

"Pull it out!" I nodded.

It's a pity to see those familiar flowers and plants being pulled out, but if there is any secret to the mound that serves as a flower bed, it must be buried underneath, right? I can't help it......

。。。。。。。。。。。。。

"Sakura, what do you think this is?" After quickly clearing the mound and confirming that there was no danger, Asa called out to me to stand beside him, pointing to the pile of white ash in the middle of the mound and asked.

"It looks like something has burned to ashes—" crouched down and gently twisted it with his hand—it was still hot, presumably freshly burned.

"Of course I know it's burning ashes," Asa scratched his head helplessly, "I was trying to ask—what does this mean?" ”

"People don't know......" I shook my head in confusion.

And ......" Asa crouched beside me, grabbed a handful of white ash with his hand, and let the tiny ash run through his fingers. It burned so thoroughly - it doesn't make sense? ”

"Huh?!" I don't understand.

"Look—" Asa pointed to the mound of earth he had just dug up, "it was buried in the soil at least half a meter deep, and it burned to ashes so quickly—how could it burn so well?" And it burns so fast?! Kindness...... Wait a minute! He frowned suddenly. I think I've seen ...... somewhere."

Where have you seen it?

Yes, he said that it was as if I had seen something similar somewhere.

…… Not a thing. yes!

"Masked Man!" Asa and I cried out in surprise, then denied together, "No, it's a masked man's piece of meat!" ”

Right! It's the masked man's meat, the masked man's meat that Mr. Frank showed me at the orphanage!

That piece of flesh that I applied a little bit of Dao magic and quickly burned and turned to ashes!

Thinking of this, I suddenly felt a wave of nausea - could it be that there are masked people buried here?! In the courtyard of my house, there has always been a Taoist sigil that has been painted. The masked man who burns at the slightest opportunity?!

"Uh......" Asa looked at me with a strange expression, apparently thinking the same thing as me, "it should be...... No way? As he spoke, he pulled a few times through the ashes with a branch of the flower on one side, "I feel like if it were the Masked Man, there would be more ashes burned." ”

"Hah! Oh yes! Slightly reminded by Asa, I also knew that I wanted to be crooked, "How can my mother bury a body in the yard?" But ......"

――But the burning method should be the same as that of the masked man, right?

Once a condition is triggered, it will immediately burn into ashes.

That...... Why did the mother design such a mechanism? Is it to burn the secret that he left behind so that he doesn't let himself be discovered, just like the masked man hides secrets?

"Huh? What is it?! Asa was suddenly surprised to pick something out of the ashes—a long, slender object the size of a thumb.

"Oriental books?" I curiously took the thing - it was the spine of the book that had not burned out.

And it is standard to wrap it with a thread. Paper, the specifications of the Oriental book.

――It seems to be true.

“…… This is the secret left by Mrs. Sakurayuki? Flipping through the spine of the book, which no longer had any information to tell, Asa sighed in disappointment. They were all burned? Pity! ”

"Looks like we got it wrong somewhere......" I nodded in equally disappointment, "maybe it's not the right way to open?" And then it burned all......"

Alas, failed.

I never imagined that the secret that my mother had left behind would simply disappear.

Mother...... You designed so many mechanisms, what do you want to leave for your daughter?

Woo! I'm sorry...... It's my daughter, I'm not good! How is it possible to open the mechanism in the same way twice? ――I really should have taken a closer look at the blue brick just now.

Lost took the burned book corner from Asa's hand, and sighed again in frustration, "Forget it! I reluctantly smiled at Assa, "It's all burned out anyway—it seems that it was providence that made my sister and I not know my mother's secret!" That's fine! I shrugged my shoulders lightly, "I used to think that this secret must be very unusual, but now I don't know anything. It's easier! ”

"Hah!" Asa laughed, "Yes! It must be God's will. It burned so thoroughly that it wouldn't be possible for us to even want to know—uh! Wrong! His eyes suddenly lit up on the corner of the book in my hand. Shouting happily, "Sakura! Wrong! ”

"Huh?!" I was stunned.

"You think, since it's burned so thoroughly," Asa exclaimed excitedly, "why hasn't this corner been burned?!" ”

"Huh? I guess it wasn't burned out, right?" I said, glancing at the corner of the book. After all, it was buried in the earth and burned—ah! ――”

I understand!

――Since it was buried in the earth but burned so completely, it must have used the same Taoist technique as the masked man.

How could it be possible to burn this corner of the book with the burning of Taoism?!

It's going to burn to the point that there's not even a book corner left!

That's-

Before I could think clearly, Asa had already swooped down on the pile of ashes, and hurriedly rummaged through it with his hands: "Since that corner of the book was deliberately left, it must have been to make people think that the Oriental book containing the secret had been burned—on the other hand, what if the secret had not been burned?" It must be hidden under the ashes—ah! He cried out in surprise as he excitedly lifted a black stone to me. See! There's a black square stone! ”

"Huh? What is it?! "I'm excited to take a closer look.

"This-I don't know-" Asa looked at the stone in his hand in confusion, "but I think I've seen this in Sakura's room."

It was a flat, square black stone. There's a grooved bevel on one side.

"What a black stone!" When I could see what it was, I knocked Asa angrily and amusefully. "Stupid! - This is called an inkstone! Sister, I use it to write oriental characters! ”

"Huh? Writing?! "I'll just tell you what you do with a black stone on your bedroom table—I wondered what your taste was at the time." ”

"Huh?" I was stunned, "At that time? When? Have you ever been to someone's bedroom?! How I don't know—ah! You! ”

Asa's target for stealing into someone's bedroom is definitely underwear, my underwear! - Dead perverted! It's disgusting!

。。。。。。。。。。。。

"Now, Sakura, what can this inkstone do besides writing?" Asa snorted and chirped and rubbed her cheeks, which had just been beaten by me, and wanted to get closer.

"Dead pervert!" I glared at him fiercely, "Get out of here!" ”

"Whew!" Asa obediently shrank back.

Hum! If it weren't for my sister now, I would have had something. I'm going to beat you up!

Look down at the inkstone in your hand - En...... This inkstone should only be used to sharpen ink when writing, right?

I turned it over and looked at it for a long time - it was a very ordinary inkstone, the edges were flat and smooth, and there was no decorative engraving, and the faint ink on the surface only indicated that this inkstone had been used, and it didn't look like a deliberately left pattern at all.

But if there is any difference from the inkstone in someone's bedroom, it is only that there is a small spherical groove at the bottom of the inkstone in the hand, which is just enough to put the right eye of the brass lion that has just been used to break the brick wall - it really happens to be put in! The inkstone and the lion's right eye are fittingly close to the gap.

――What is the point of putting the brass lion's right eye?

"Na-Sakura, your mother, Lady Sakurayuki, is a genius," Asa, who had been silent for a while, flattered me again, "she's as smart as you are!" ”

"Nonsense!" I continued to be angry.

"Ugh!" Asa looked around uninterestingly. "This isn't a simple compliment—Lady Sakurayuki's mechanism is so cleverly designed!"

"So—where is the ingenuity?" I asked.

"You didn't notice? Until this -- this inkstone -- every step is a must! Asa deliberately made an exaggerated look, "Whoever it is." If you hadn't followed the steps designed by Mrs. Sakurayuki, you wouldn't have found this at all! ”

"Huh?" I was stunned, "Is that so?" ”

"Yes!" Asa pointed around, "If you don't find the carved Dao slab, then the brass lion will never have made the right eye - and then it will not be possible to find the patterned green bricks on the kitchen wall; Even if he accidentally finds the patterned blue bricks on the wall, and even the person who finds it gets the glass cherry blossoms in your hand - he will only find a pile of ashes that he thinks are burning secrets; If you find this mound of flowers directly, I guess you will also find a pile of burning Oriental books, right? Even if, even if oh! Asa paused, pointing to the inkstone in my hand, "Even if he found it in no order—he didn't know that the groove on it contained the right eye of a bronze lion—and that he didn't even know that there was a brass lion wrapped in plaster!" ”

"Yes!" I nodded approvingly. "It's really interlocking—ah! Interlocking is an Oriental word - meaning a ring with a ring......" Seeing that Asa was puzzled, I hurriedly explained. Then he said, "I don't know what the use of the lion's right eye embedded in the inkstone is." But really, none of these links are missing! ”

"Well, that's why your mother, Lady Sakurayuki, is a genius!" Asa then exclaimed, "From the stone slabs to the bronze lions, to the walls of the kitchen, and finally to the inkstone in the mound, it seems that every point is not complicated, but it is these uncomplicated concealment techniques that bring these unrelated things together to keep it a secret, and even if a single hiding spot is discovered, it will be fine—what the hell does she think?!" That's amazing! ”

"yes, it's not relevant—"

Yes? Something unrelated? Come together?!

When I heard Asa say this, I couldn't help but think.

――Is it really irrelevant? (To be continued)