When Uesugi Kiyoshi was holding a large cardboard box of kendo books to catch the train home with some difficulty, Nohara Kyoko had just finished making dinner.

She stayed at her uncle's house in Tokyo, her uncle was a financial clerk who worked like an accountant, and her aunt, Mrs. Yokota, was a full-time housewife.

Yokotano's income is not high, and he is considered to be at the bottom of the middle class in Tokyo, but because he and his wife have no children, they can spend a lot of money, so their life is not particularly difficult.

In Tokyo, the most expensive expenditure is education expenses, such as the one-year tuition fee of Uesugi Kiyoshi's Haicheng Middle School, which can basically take one-third of the annual salary of an ordinary middle class, not counting the additional cost of books, tuition and other messy expenses.

It really costs money to raise a child.

Raising Nohara apricots doesn't cost much money.

This little white rabbit has a cowardly personality, never reaches out to ask for things, and rarely speaks at home, for fear of causing trouble to his uncle and aunt, being kicked out and homeless, plus he attended a public school with very cheap tuition before high school, so adopting Nohara Kyoko basically did not bring any financial pressure to the Yokota family.

After high school, she was even able to earn some scholarships to support her family, but this money was usually taken away by her mean aunt, who would give her a few thousand yen a month in pocket money.

Kyoko Nohara is actually quite satisfied with this kind of life.

Mrs. Yokota is a little mean, she likes to tell her to do all kinds of housework, and from time to time she says something weird, which is not pleasing to her there, but she is under the fence, and it is nothing to be tired and tired.

Yokotano's character is cowardly, but he is also very kind to her, after all, he is her mother's own brother, if he didn't take in Nohara Kyoko, then she might have to go to an orphanage, and now she at least has a home.

But lately, Yokodano seems to have changed as a different person.

About three months ago, Yokodano came home from work one day and brought back a strange idol.

Ignoring his wife's objections, he threw the original Buddha statues in the small shrine of the family into the garbage can, put the newly brought back statues, and worshiped them devoutly every day.

From that day on, Yokodano changed.

He was indifferent to family affairs, treated Nohara Kyoko and Mrs. Yokota coldly, and every day except for work, when he came home, he knelt down in front of the statue of the god, like a devout believer.

In the past, Yokotano would give Nohara Kyoko a few thousand yen of pocket money every month, but since Yokotano's temperament changed greatly, he never said a word to Nohara Kyoko, and naturally there was no pocket money, which is why she was collected by a bad teenager.

Nohara Kyoko has been cautious at home recently, and her uncle and aunt are fighting a cold war, and if she doesn't pay attention to it, she will become a punching bag and be scolded by her aunt.

But she still did something out of the ordinary today.

She was in charge of making the dinner at the Yokota family, and today she secretly made the excess.

I don't know why, she was restless all day, as long as she calmed down a little, there would always be a smiling side face in her mind, she felt that it felt great to be saved by Uesugi Qing at that time, and that delicate side face had left an indelible mark on her mind.

Coupled with the gossip of her classmates, they are speculating about whether she has a relationship with Uesugi Kiyoshi, which makes her shy and a little expectant - she has grown up so old and has not had intimate contact with men of the same age, and now she is fifteen or sixteen years old, and she has a hazy good impression of Uesugi Kiyoshi, who is already very good and saved herself from the sea of suffering, is not a very outrageous thing.

But Kyoko Nohara has low self-esteem, and what she thinks is not "Can I have a relationship with Uesugi-san?" It's like, "Am I worthy of a good Uesugi-san?" ”。

After thinking about it, she came to the conclusion that... Not worthy.

She didn't even dare to say thank you to Kiyoshi Uesugi.

She was very dissatisfied with her lack of courage, and after a long struggle on the way out of school, she finally decided that she must find Uesugi Kiyoshi when she went to school tomorrow and say the sentence "Thank you for saving me".

She was going to buy some small gifts as gifts, but she was too shy to know what Uesugi Kiyoshi liked, so she thought of a way to make more for dinner, secretly hide it in a bento box, and bring it to school tomorrow as a thank you gift for Uesugi Kiyoshi.

She had observed that Uesugi Kiyoshi always went to buy bread for lunch, and did not have the habit of bringing a bento.

After making dinner, some croquettes, fried chicken, octopus sausages and two delicate rice balls were neatly placed in the lunch box, the corners of Nohara's mouth curled into a shallow smile, she was still a little confident in her cooking skills, and hoped that the taste of these dishes would match the taste of Uesugi-san.

This is the case with Japanese bento, and the side dishes are usually this kind of convenient ready-to-eat dish that is not difficult to eat cold, but the specific taste depends on the cooking skills of the cook.

Covering the bento box and hiding it in the cupboard, Kyoko Nohara restrained her smile and began to serve the food outside.

She didn't dare to do these things in front of her aunt, Mrs. Yokota was mean and stingy, let her know about it, not to mention whether she would be scolded, and most of the bento would not be saved.

She decided to hide the bento first, and then come to the kitchen late at night to get it, anyway, the cooking and washing of dishes are all done by herself, and no one comes to the kitchen except herself, so it is quite safe.

After eating dinner in a silent and depressing atmosphere, at the dinner table, Yokotano and Mrs. Yokota were cold as frost, like strangers they didn't know, not a couple who had been together for more than ten years, Nohara Kyoko was cautious as if she were walking on thin ice, for fear of touching her uncle's brow and causing fire.

Fortunately, her personality has always been cowardly, and Mrs. Yokota only occasionally glanced at her with a cold and disgusted expression, and did not say anything more.

After dinner, after putting away the dishes, Kyoko Nohara returned to her cottage - the Yokota family is not large, a two-bedroom and dilapidated apartment, and the room where she lives is a utility room, only a narrow tatami and a desk, but this is also her only remaining private space.

Back in her cabin, when she had done her homework, she had been listening to the movement outside.

My aunt has been watching the TV series at eight o'clock in the living room, and my uncle is silent, and he doesn't have to think about it to know that he is worshipping that strange statue.

Time passed little by little, and in a blink of an eye, it was late at night, and Nohara Kyoko clearly heard two doors closing - this was her aunt and uncle returning to their room.

Since the uncle's temperament changed drastically, they have slept in separate rooms.

Nohara Kyoko waited patiently for another half an hour just in case, before tiptoeing open the door, looking left and right, and found that the living room was a black hole, and sure enough, there was no one.

Then, on her tiptoes like a thief, she prepared to sneak into the kitchen to pick up the bento box for Kiyoshi Uesugi.

Groping in the dark to the kitchen, taking out the lunch box that had been hidden before, Nohara Kyoko was slightly happy, and she was done, ready to go back to her room to sleep.

The moment she turned around, a creaking knock on the door rang in her ears.

She was shocked, covered her mouth, and hurriedly squatted down, she was short, her figure was blocked by the stove, and she should not be visible from outside the kitchen.

She turned sideways, and instead could see the living room.

It was her uncle's door that opened.

Some stiff footsteps sounded, and in the darkness, Kyoko Nohara saw a hazy figure staggering to the shrine in the living room, and knelt down with a thud.

It was her uncle, Yokodano.

Yokodano knelt in front of the shrine and kept prostrating, his figure rising and falling, but he didn't make a single sound, which looked very strange in this quiet night, and brought a great sense of panic to Nohara Kyoko.

In a panic, Kyoko Nohara's eyes met the idol in the shrine.

The upper body of the idol is naked, and the lower body is surrounded by a kimono that has been stripped off half, and the form is dissolute, and it can be seen that it is a man, but... No head.

It is a headless statue.

But in a trance, Kyoko Nohara felt as if the headless god was smiling at her.

How can a god without a head laugh?

She didn't know.

But...

It's laughing!