"What would you say if you saw a beast?" I asked after a moment's thought.

"This..."Xiao Qi was suddenly speechless, "Actually, I don't know, I just want to see it." ”

"If you could see it and give it back, would you start working as a cobbler again?"

“... Why do you ask?"

"Because, inexplicably, I think you are very similar to the beast," I pinched my chin with my hand, "Look, the beast who wants to be a dancer has no audience, and you have good craftsmanship but you don't have the courage to leave the lattice, and when you meet each other, you both have your wishes come true." You have become its audience, and it has pushed you from behind, but now, the beast that lost its red umbrella probably doesn't dance anymore, and you lack self-confidence and shrink back into the office building where you finally left. ”

"Is it possible to see it?" Xiao Qi said, "I just came to you with the attitude of giving it a try, after all, City A is so big, it is not easy to find a monster, and maybe it has already left City A." ”

"I can't say either, but I have to give it a try. I said, "It's just that you'd better think about what you'd say if you actually saw it." ”

I asked Xiao Qi to come to the store at the same time tomorrow, and I still have to make some preparations to find the beast.

"Beast?" It wasn't until lunchtime that the drunken youkai in the store finally finished one after another, and Tsubaki went to take a shower, and was sitting on a chair with wet hair on his head, "Is that the guy who always tells lies?"

"You know it?" I put a dry towel over her head, "Dry your hair, or you'll catch a cold." ”

"I don't know, I've just heard of it. Tsubaki said, "When I used to attend a yokai drinking party, I heard other yokai talk about the beast, and it was said that it wasn't like this, it was a straightforward youkai, but then I didn't know what was going on, and I started to like to lie." ”

"Do you say it occasionally, or do you lie all the time?"

"Surely it won't lie forever," Tsubaki rubbed his hair with a towel, "it seems that it always likes to say that it is good, that it is ugly and beautiful, that it is unpalatable and that it is delicious, that it is also very generous if it is stingy, and that it is excellent for useless people." ”

Forehead... In this way, maybe the beast's encouragement to Xiao Qi is just crooked.

"You don't really want to help that man find the beast, do you?" Tsubaki said, looking at me.

"Well, I want to try it. I spread the paper spirit flat on the table and took out the summoning pen, "I've never tried to call a youkai with this. ”

"Doesn't that mean it's risky?" Tsubaki tapped his finger at the paper spirit, "You don't even know what a monster is like yet, what if it hurts you?"

"I've thought about that too," I said, "so I'm going to write another name just in case." ”

"Another youkai?"

"Well, I'll go to the time gap first, and it's really a bit troublesome to go back and write the name every time..."

After returning to the museum, finding Zhu Yan who could be used as paint, making it into dark red ink, and supplementing a few commonly used doors, I opened a blank page, solemnly wrote down the name of Chongming Bird, thought about it, and wrote the name of Lu Shu on another page, and finally, the word "beast" appeared on the paper spirit.

Unexpectedly, the first call of the ghostwriter turned out to be a monster that had never been seen before.

After returning to the Tianbei grocery through the door of the paper spirit, Tsubaki was chatting with several youkai, yes, I had only been away for less than an hour, and the store was crowded with youkai again.

"I'm here to write to you. Tsubaki beckoned to me, "Come on, come on, they've been waiting for a long time." ”

“... Good, good..."

It was already one o'clock in the middle of the night after writing the last letter, and Tsubaki had already fallen asleep in a group, so I closed the door and shook my sore arm, planning to go to sleep for a while first, and then call the beast when Xiao Qi came.

Wrong...

In case the beast is really telling lies, then Xiao Qi might as well not see it.

Thinking of this, I washed my face with cold water, shook my drowsy head, sat down at the table again, and flipped the paper spirit to the page that said False Beast.

I'm feeling a little nervous... What if the call fails? What if the beast is a particularly ferocious youkai, but it's in trouble... But it probably won't, the monster that likes to dance should still be relatively gentle? But if it's really telling a lie, how can I tell Xiao Qi...

After hesitating for half an hour, I gritted my teeth and stomped my foot, come on! Whatever comes out, how can I not give it a try?

Placing my hand on the place where the name of the beast was written, I could feel the paper spirit heating slightly.

"The dancer of the red umbrella, my name is Ye Ke, and I call you in the name of a ghostwriter. "I closed my eyes as the paper spirit had told me, and imagined in my mind what it was like to be related to the beast, and described it in my mind.

The handwriting on the paper spirit is getting hotter and hotter, and it feels like the palm of the hand is on fire, if you follow the information found in the gap in time, when the burning heat of the palm disappears, you will know if the call has been successful.

I opened my eyes.

"It's strange that the ghostwriter is looking for me. "The tiger-eared and tiger-tailed beast described by Xiao Qi was standing on the table in front of me, obviously only ten centimeters tall, but with a condescending expression. It has delicate facial features, bare feet, and the only thing that goes in and out is that it does not hold a red umbrella.

"You know this umbrella, right?" I got straight to the point, and I didn't say a word of greeting.

When Xiao Qi left yesterday, I asked him if he could leave the little red umbrella in the store first, maybe he could find any clues from the umbrella, although he hesitated, but finally agreed, and told me many times to take care of it.

The beast obviously didn't expect the red umbrella to be here with me, and its tail was visibly shocked, and its eyes changed from disdain to panic.

"How... How could it be—" It muttered to itself, slowly walking over to the red umbrella and holding out my hand, but I lifted it up with my fingertips.

"Do you know this umbrella?" I asked again.

"Why is it in the hands of the ghostwriter?" the beast looked like it was about to cry.

"Do you know?"

“... Know. It finally answered my question, "This is my umbrella, but I gave it away not long ago." ”

"It's Xiao Qi," I gently placed the umbrella in front of it, "he's come to look for me." ”

The beast looked down at the little red umbrella, "Even if he finds you, what can he change?" ”

"He's going to work in another city, and before he leaves, I want to say sorry to you, and I want to return the precious red umbrella to you, as well as the gift he made for you. Listen to him, you have a dream of being a dancer, then this umbrella should be very important to you. "No matter how excessive Xiao Qi said at the beginning, hearing this, maybe the beast will feel a little more comfortable?

However, I didn't get the response I expected.

"As I said, even if he finds you, it won't change anything. The beast looked up, and it was obviously a smiling face, but it looked like...

Saddened?

(End of chapter)