There was darkness in front of me.

I couldn't see my fingers, there was no light in the art classroom and corridors, and it was dark outside.

There was a man standing in the middle of the teacher.

Xia Jing tentatively called Fang Yuan's name: "Fang Yuan......?" ”

Although Xia Jing asked verbally, he could see that the silhouette of the person in the middle was very strange, and he did not look like Fang Yuan.

The man standing in the middle of the classroom was wearing a wide, long-sleeved shirt that looked like a hanfu.

Without a sound, the woman who was suspected of wearing Hanfu made a strange move.

"Stand down, Anais."

A voice stopped the woman.

Although her voice sounds pleasant and girly, the way she speaks is less like that of modern people.

"Look at you came so early, you shouldn't be an outsider."

"But, Miss—"

"I told you, step down."

The woman seemed to relax the strength of her shoulders.

If you open your eyes and take a closer look, you can see the more detailed parts in the dark.

The woman standing in the art classroom was indeed wearing Hanfu. However, the kimono was covered with a Western-style apron, and the dress looked like a servant of a wealthy family in ancient times. Judging from his appearance, the other party is slightly older than Xia Jing, but it should be less than twenty years old.

In any case, the space for girls and the school is not commensurate at all.

However, there was no figure of the girl who had been talking to the woman before, and Xia Jing looked around the art classroom and found something lying on the synthetic floor of flax oil.

- It's people.

The man lay on his back as if unconscious, slumped on the floor.

He was wearing the uniform of this school. The eyes were slightly open, empty and unfocused—poof.

Xia Jing's heart twitched violently.

Buzz, buzz.

In the piercing silence, voices came from the pocket of the fallen figure. As if echoing that sound, there was also a beep waiting to be answered on the mobile phone in Xia Jing's hand.

Familiar looks. No, it's just familiar.

Fang ...... Beauty? ”

Fang Yuan.

I said goodbye at the entrance and exit of the school building about fifteen minutes ago, and then I made a suspicious phone call five minutes ago, and then the person Xia Jing was dialing now was lying there.

Why? Xia Jing asked himself.

Why did the person who fell to the ground have Fang Yuan's mobile phone...... Wrong.

Why did Fang Yuan fall to the ground?

With his eyes open, it was as if he wasn't breathing.

"Fang Yuan!"

Xia Jing ignored the strange woman standing in front of him and rushed forward.

He threw down his phone and hugged Fang Yuan.

Fang Yuan, who was picked up, leaned back with gravity. Xia Jing, who hurriedly went to hold his head, felt the blood touch in his palm.

I don't feel a breath of breath.

"Huh...... Hey, what's ......?"

Fang Yuan did not respond.

"Miss, now, what should I do?"

The woman above her head spoke in an emotionless tone, as if she were reading the lines from a script.

What's going on?

A woman who has never known her life. Suspicious characters. Fang Yuan, who didn't move. The phone call just now. It's hard to connect the current situation with your own thoughts. What the hell is going on here? What is the situation now? I don't understand. I really don't understand.

"You...... What exactly is ......?"

Xia Jing raised her face and asked the woman.

"It's you...... Kill Fang Yuan? ”

"It's not us who do it."

The reply came from the other direction.

"I'm sorry. We couldn't stop it from happening...... I didn't expect to cause death. ”

Lives? Fang Yuan is dead? Deceitful. How could such a thing happen.

All of this feels so unrealistic. I even have the illusion that I am dreaming.

Ignoring Xia Jing's feelings, the girl's voice continued: "But in fact, I like this baby very much. ”

"Miss?"

"It's fate, too. Anai ...... From now on, my family will wear mourning clothes. ”

Words with unknown meanings came to my ears. At the same time, Xia Jing noticed one thing.

I heard the girl's voice, but I couldn't see her anywhere.

"What...... It's you! The guy who just spoke! Where the hell are you......"

"Here."

Xia Jing looked in the direction where the voice sounded, and it was empty.

The woman called Anai nodded to the girl's voice and walked forward. Passing in front of Xia Jing, who was hugging Fang Yuan with a blank expression, he walked all the way to one of the desks in the classroom.

Placed there was a hemispherical object covered with a white cloth.

The woman hugged the object and briskly untied the white cloth.

It was a bell-shaped cage woven of wire—a birdcage.

Merely......

In the cage was not a canary, but a maiden's head.

"Woohoos......!"

Xia Jing couldn't help but scream.

A sharp gaze through the longitudinal lattice seams. High nose bridge, thin lips.

Magic? Magic? Although this kind of vocabulary comes to mind, somehow there is a sense of reality that tells me that "this is not the case". Calm down and think about it, this is obviously a picture that is beyond reality, but there is an inexplicable sense of realism.

"Miss, let this, the man's ......"

"It doesn't matter."

The girl's bright red lips opened. It seems to be laughing, and it seems to be sympathetic.

"It's a courtesy. At least that's what I think...... This young man came here because he noticed that something was wrong with this baby, right? In that case, is it reasonable not to let him witness what I am going to do next? ”

After a few seconds of silence, the woman finally replied, "Understood." ”

The woman unscrewed the handle of the birdcage. The fence was loosened from the chassis, and the girl's head was unobscured.

After opening the birdcage, the woman turned around and walked to the corner of the art classroom, touched the huge white wooden box against the wall, and opened the lid with a clatter. She reached in, and out of the box was a giant axe.

"Please, get out of the way."

The woman leaned her face forward and looked at Xia Jing.

She had eyes that were dull, empty, and as if she had lost her will.

"Uhh......hhhh

Xia Jing made a speechless voice and hugged Fang Yuan tightly.

Fang Yuan began to lose temperature and became cold, and his body felt as if he was gradually taking away his body temperature.

"Don't, come here......"

Shaking weakly from side to side, Xia Jing couldn't stop the fear in his heart.

That's the fear of the unknown.

Whether it's a woman in Hanfu, a girl with only a head, or a cold Fang Yuan, everything is beyond the scope of understanding.

"Don't ...... Come here...... Don't come over ......."

"Please, get out of the way."

The woman said it again.

The breath on Xia Jing's nose had a flower-like fragrance, but he couldn't feel his body temperature.

"I can't help it."

The woman stretched out her hand towards Fang Yuan's body, cold fingers slid through Xia Jing's palm, and then ...... effortlessly

took away Fang Yuan.

"Ah......h

Is it because fear makes the body weak, or is it because the woman has overwhelming power? Maybe it's both. Fang Yuan disappeared from Xia Jing's hands, and the woman stood up with Fang Yuan in her arms.

"Let me see what she looks like."

The girl said. The woman moved Fang Yuan's face in front of the girl.

"This baby is really Peugeot...... I will never forget her face for the rest of my life. ”

The woman asked Fang Yuan to lie flat on the floor again.

The girl's voice was as if she were praying to someone.

However......

After a moment of silence, Fang Yuan's body crawled up.

"Ahhh......h That's what happened. ”

The girl caressed her neck and Fang Yuan's seams as if she had suddenly realized.

Her gaze cast to Xia Jing's side.

Her dark eyes were like drops of ink falling on washi paper.

"Xia Jing, you are a happy person...... Be proud. ”

- Why does she know my name?

Xia Jing lost consciousness before this doubt arose, because his consciousness rejected the situation in front of him.

The summer vision was completely plunged into darkness.

So what the girl said next, Xia Jing didn't hear it.

Fang Yuan...... I'm proud of you, too. ”

Girl—Yaya said with her hand on her chest.

"Miss, congratulations, you have completed the ceremony."

Woman-Anai said as she bowed respectfully.

……

After Xia Jing regained consciousness, the first thing he sensed was the smell.

A grassy smell.

Xia Jing noticed that the object that stimulated his sense of smell was a bamboo mat, because although he was not used to the smell, he had a sense of déjà vu.

The smell that I don't usually have a chance to smell is linked to the memory of returning to my father's hometown to save relatives one year. He remembered that the house was old-fashioned, and that he had slept on it as a child.

It's just that the atmosphere of nostalgia turns into a sense of disobedience in a blink of an eye.

- What is this place?

Xia Jing climbed up. He was placed in a bedroom with the same bamboo mat as his grandparents' house, and slept under a quilt.

After looking left and right around the environment, he found that not only was the light dim, but his vision was blurred, and he couldn't see anything clearly, as if it was because he didn't wear glasses. Reflexively groped on the bamboo mat next to the pillow, and I also touched something, which was glasses. He tried to put it on his face, and the outline of everything became clear through the lenses, and it seemed that the glasses were indeed his own.

There is a door in front of you, and when you look back, there is a shoji mist. It was unusually quiet, and no sound could be heard in my ears.

Xia Jing used his dizzy head to think about what he had done before he fell asleep.

School at night.

Fang Yuan, who was in the same class, called.

A wonderful woman who happened to meet after hurrying away.

Fang Yuan, who turned into a corpse.

The maiden in the birdcage, and—

“…… Am I dreaming? ”

What I still remember in my mind is a series of experiences that cannot be equated with common sense. It seems that I dreamed of a strange dream of insanity, right? That's enough, is there something wrong with your head? If I talked about this with Fang Yuan, I don't know if she would laugh it off, or start a temper! The likelihood of feeling angry is relatively high, and it seems that it is better to keep it secret.

"That's not right...... Slowly. ”

Even if it was a dream, I've woken up now.

So, what is this place I'm in right now?

Xia Jing stood up, his steps a little staggering. He tried to look at the time in his pocket but couldn't find his phone, he was still wearing a school uniform, only to find that his coat had been hung on a hanger in the groove of the beam above the door. Xia Jing walked over and flipped through it, only to find the wallet, and the contents of the wallet were intact.

Am I being kidnapped? Or is it an accident that causes memories to be confused?

Just when Xia Jing hugged his head and thought hard about what to do, there was a sound behind him.

Xia Jing turned around.

“…… Are you awake? ”

A woman's voice appeared on the other side of the mist along with the breath.

"Are you...... Who? ”

Because the situation is stronger than people, Xia Jing's way of speaking naturally became stiff and clumsy.

There was a moment of silence. After a while, the person outside the door sighed and said, "I'm going to open the door." ”

Sand –

The door opened with the sound of wood rubbing. The hallway outside the door faced the courtyard, and the cold air suddenly poured into the room. The outdoors is a white world. Before you know it, a thin layer of snow has accumulated.

The figure of the person who opened the door in the snow made Xia Jing's eyes widen in surprise.

For a moment, Xia Jing thought that he had recognized the wrong person.

Because the other party was wearing a Hanfu that was very commensurate with this ancient style house, it was completely different from the daily dress that Xia Jing was familiar with, and his expression was also very heavy, as if he was upset about something.

But, her slightly slender stature and the hair tied to the back of her head, and—

"Good morning. It's night, though. ”

There are some big ways of speaking, Xia Jing undoubtedly has an impression of these.

“…… Anno? ”

He blankly called out the name of his classmate, Yasano.

"Are you Anno? Why do you ...... Will you do this dress? ”

After nodding slightly, she squeezed out a dry smile and said, "Come here, I'll explain it to you." ”

Anno beckoned to Natsu Jing, just like he did when he called someone in class.

Xia Jing did not refuse the reason for beckoning and the means to resist. Just when his mind was full of question marks, with a stunned expression, he left behind An Ye, who was wearing Hanfu.

Anno took Natsu Jing to a bedroom.

"You wait here."

After Anye left this explanation, he disappeared to another place, leaving Xia Jing alone.

The floor of this room is covered with a bamboo mat, and there is a shelf behind the main seat. There was a scroll hanging on it without any sloppiness.

A fluorescent lamp hangs from the ceiling, a kotatsu stove is placed in the center of the room, and a small television is placed next to the shelf. Although it is an ancient decoration, it is inexplicably rich in a sense of life - Xia Jing, who has such feelings, suddenly felt a little dry when he saw a cage of oranges on the kotatsu.

I was curious about the date and time, but I couldn't find a clock anywhere.

Just when Xia Jing thought to himself, could he turn on the TV and watch it by himself......

"I've kept you waiting."

…… Anno, who returned to the room, opened the door.

— and there's another person with you.

The other party is a young girl. You should be the same age as yourself, right?

She wears Hanfu like Anno. However, Anno's hanfu feels more orthodox, and it is a light green color decorated with a hydrangea pattern, while the kimono worn by the girl is a plain red.

It's like a flame, or it's a red like blood.

In contrast, her belt and hair are jet-black that could be mistaken for green or blue.

The girl has a fresh and beautiful facial features. She has fair skin, large, piercing eyes, a straight nose, and beautifully shaped lips. It's a beautiful girl who walks down the street and attracts everyone to look back.,Maybe she's even more eye-catching than Akijin.。

"Did you wake up? Summer view. ”

The girl said. Although his voice is inexplicably immature, his tone is particularly arrogant and domineering.

There was a sense of déjà vu.

Why do you feel that? Doubts have just come to mind......

"It's cold, sit in."

…… The girl invited Xia Jing to sit in the kotatsu.

"No...... Wait a minute, the point is how I could ......"