Ding――――

The wind chimes blown by the summer breeze sound like a girl's whisper.

"Uh-huh......

The monster sage let out a ** that did not match his identity -- it was like a lazy cat's low roar, a humming sound that can only be found when it is pleasant.

In fact, she's pretty comfortable right now.

「…… Cool!"

expressed his mood simply and directly in one word, and a bright smile appeared on Yakumo's face.

If Yuyuko is a lightly dancing ink-dyed cherry blossom, then she is a tulip that blooms proudly, although it may be inferior in elegance, but when it comes to gorgeousness, it is even better. All in all, she is also an outstanding beauty.

"Sure enough, I still have to eat shaved ice in summer!"

As she says, she is taking the last bite of shaved ice with a high sense of satisfaction. For Yakumoshi, it is indeed a pleasure to eat this cold dessert in the summer.

However, the girl sitting across from her didn't seem to think so.

「……」

Yuyuko of Saigo Temple sat opposite Yakumo Murasaki, and her face was always indifferent. Of course, this did not tarnish her beauty by half a point, but it is not difficult to see that her emotions are not high.

Yuyuko's silence is enough to make most cheerful guys fall into the embarrassment of being overwhelmed. It's a pity that Yakumo Purple is not among the majority, I don't know if this gap monster didn't notice the emotions of the undead girl, or deliberately ignored it. She always maintains a warm attitude, whichever way it is, it can be called remarkable.

"Yuyuko, you like it too!"

"Is that so? …… That's how it feels."

It is not an exaggeration to say that this is not an exaggeration to describe coldness. Instead of getting angry, Yakumo laughed happily.

It feels like that--when you see the big mountain-high empty bowls on the table in front of Yuyuko, anyone will think that this sentence is full of "persuasiveness".

Even when she said this, she didn't forget to put the shaved ice in her mouth with a spoon.

"Hehe......"

Yakumo's eyes looked outside, and the room they were in could clearly see the scene of the cherry blossom garden.

Then, inadvertently, she saw the wind chimes on the eaves outside the hallway.

"The wind chimes you heard here...... This wind chime, this scenery, is really nostalgic......

It's really nostalgic--As soon as these words blurted out, Zi's original smile disappeared immediately. The curvature of the corners of the mouth was soothed by some unknown emotion for a moment.

But then she realized her omission, put on that kind of free and sunny smile, and immediately changed her words.

"Oh no, it's summer! It's like summer!"

However, it has to be said that such an obvious and clumsy conversion method really detracts from the prestige of the monster sage. If it was Yakumo Purple, it would have been more perfect.

But for some reason, she just couldn't do it. It can be said that her efforts were completely in vain.

Because the undead girl who is sensitive and delicate in her heart has heard a certain word said by Zi very clearly.

Missable?

Words that should have no deep meaning caused inexplicable ripples in the depths of Yuyuko's heart.

…… It was not a positive emotional swing, but a swirl of negatives.

"Wind chimes... Like summer?"

The girl's murmur was palpably confused. Her eyes, which should have been crystal clear, revealed an unusual darkness.

She just stared at the empty bowl on the table...... There was nothing in it except shaved ice that had been turned back into water due to the weather.

"Ahh It's ...... melted."

It's obviously very ordinary.,There's nothing special at all.、But it made Yuyuko fall into deep thought.。

Already--what... There's nothing left......

There was nothing left in my body. But she (purple) could see in me something that didn't exist—she couldn't help but think so.

The first person Yuyuko had ever seen before she realized it was Yakumo Murasaki, and she would always remember the time when she met the youkai of this realm.

Among the scattered cherry blossoms, there was a person who had been watching the westward demon when the girl spoke to her for the first time. She was so happy and so sad, and said with a smile, "I miss it."

Yuyuko didn't understand what the nostalgia in Purple's mouth meant.

All she knew was that the words that belonged only to purple were frightening and thought-provoking at the same time.

"Ah, yes. I just found something interesting over there."

Are you reluctant to interrupt the conversation, or do you really think the other person will be interested? Purple took something out of nowhere and put it in front of Yuyuko.

"The cicada molts."

That lifelike posture is just like a real cicada. What Purple took out was the shell left behind by the cicada's feathering.

But no matter how realistic it is. In the end, it's just an empty shell, and it doesn't know where it's going, and you can only get a glimpse of the past from it.

「…………」

Again, wordless silence.

"Yuyuko?"

"I...... I don't think it's funny."

The girl's answer seemed to surprise Yakumo Murasaki, and even the seasoned youkai sage showed an embarrassed expression.

"Hey... Is that so?"

Looks like I'm mistaken...... bar.

With a little doubt, she said. Judging by her slightly confused gaze, Yuyuko's answer was really beyond her expectations. Or rather, the girl's reaction was not the same as she was familiar with.

Why is this happening...... There should be no one who knows better than the Yokai Sage.

However, it is different from Fang Cai's suddenly. Although Yuyuko's reaction this time was still cold, but under that cold appearance, I am afraid that there was a fiery emotion.

It can be seen from her intolerable series of words.

Although the speed of speech is not fast, and the tone is not strong, it contains a compulsion that cannot be ignored.

"I don't understand what you're talking about since just now......

"Purple... You come here a lot, but you don't seem to be looking for me."

The overly sharp words finally made the smile disappear from Purple's face, but that alone did not make Purple lose patience. What really made her lose her normality was the series of rhetorical questions that followed.

"The flower...... You put it there, right? All you care about is the Westward Demon, right? You're just trying to find an excuse to come here, aren't you?"

Yuyuko's eyes lost their brilliance, and her face, which was lifeless like a puppet, was indeed quite suitable for her. However, although this beauty is extraordinary, not many people want to get close to it.

That's not the beauty that the living have, and naturally no living person wants to approach it. …… Of course, there's nothing wrong with watching it from a distance. For a while

Hearing Yuyuko's words, Yakumo Murasaki could no longer hold back her true emotions - this gaffe would not appear again for hundreds of years...... It was like this until the appearance of a certain man.

"Don't say it..."

---Completely different from the cheerful one so far, Purple's voice suddenly deepened.

In fact, this is the first time Yuyuko has heard her speak in such a gloomy tone.

「…… Huh?"

"That's ...... It's not like Yuyuko at all."

"W--"

Yuyuko is already completely speechless.

If there was one word to describe her current look, it would probably not be more appropriate than the word "heartbreak".

When Purple said these words with a cold expression, looking at her with a mixture of disappointment and sadness, Yuyuko did feel that something deep inside her heart was broken.

But that's far from the end.

Heartbreak is accompanied by sorrow, out of sorrow comes pain, and finally from pain comes anger is born.

Driven by rage, Yuyuko let out a hysterical rant at Purple for the first time in her life - not only for the first time, but also for the last.

"What do you mean it's not like?!"

「？！」

"You've always been like this--what the hell do you know about me?! Who are you talking to?!!

Yuyuko poured out the doubts that had been accumulated in her heart since she could remember, and compared to the excitement of the undead girl, there was obvious regret on Purple's bewitching beauty.

"No! I just--"

However, now, there is no point in saying anything.

The undead girl had turned and walked away.

"Yuyuko!"

Her shouts didn't keep the girl.

Looking at the girl's back gradually moving away, Zi sighed. To be honest, she would rather go to the moon and fight those enemies one more time than face the current situation.

It was the first time the monster sage had seen the kid so angry.

Yakumo Purple understood the reason why she was angry, and it was definitely not the girl's fault. If I have to say it, I made a very stupid mistake.

Even youkai sages can be blinded by emotion.

She understood the reason for the girl's anger.

「…… Stupid."

She couldn't help but smile bitterly, and the self-deprecation in it was almost overflowing.

It is self-evident to whom this slander is addressed.