Everything was back to normal, as it had been before the night.

If anything, it was probably because her mother was relieved and left her job behind and returned home.

Nothing has changed.

Kotori Yu Maki and Uwano separated and no longer came closer.

Perhaps it should be said that it has never been close, because it is always the real night that comes forward.

With the departure of Maya, such a restitution is so natural.

School, lunch break, school, physical education, home economics...... In all kinds of things, both of them have returned to the beginning.

There was no one else around the little bird Yu Maday, just like he was alone at the beginning.

……

This went on until school was out one day.

When the bell rang, the little bird who had already silently packed his schoolbag was really daylight, got up and just walked out of the classroom.

"True Day."

「……」

The familiar voice behind him made the little bird Yu Mayu, who had stepped out of the classroom with half a foot, stop.

She glanced back.

"True day, I thought, can you go to a place with me this weekend?" Uwano was behind her, smiling as hard as he could, inviting her.

"I ......"

"The one I invite is the true day." As if he had anticipated what she was going to say, Uheno opened his mouth to block her refusal.

「……」

"Okay, this weekend, just once."

「……」

Uwano said sincerely.

The little bird Yu Mayu stood at the door, frozen and didn't know how to respond.

She's never been good at this.

「…… And me?"

"That's right, and the real day." Uwano Hotaru nodded earnestly.

……

The appointed time has come.

"True Day, you're here."

Far away, the little bird Yu Matsu saw Uwano waving to welcome her arrival.

「……」

In her greeting, the little bird Yu Zhentian grabbed the hem of her skirt a little overwhelmed and walked over.

"It's been so long, and I'm still so cramped after seeing me."

「…… Nope."

"Huh?"

"Not long."

After a whispered rebuttal, he raised his voice in the voice of Uheno's inquiry.

"With U and No-san, it's Maya, not me. 1」

"That's right...... Okay." Uwano smiled and nodded, and then, skipped the topic.

"Okay, anyway, today, I want to go to a place with Masa."

「…… Where?"

"I'll find out when I wait for the real day."

Uwano walked over to the side of the little bird Yu Mayu and took her hand.

「……」

The completely frozen little bird Yu Zhenday, was led away like this.

……

"...... here?"

Kotori Yu looked at the shop in front of him.

All kinds of strange things, of course, the most conspicuous, of course, are the gorgeous long dresses of various styles.

The style is Lolita.

"Maya's dress is Lolita, right?"

Uwano's amazed gaze swept over the various lolita dresses in the store.

Then, he turned his gaze to the side face of the little bird Yu Maday, who was also looking at the store.

"I searched online for a long time, and finally found the dress I had glimpsed in this store and that Maya wore before."

Uwano pointed to the doll in the cupboard wearing a black Gothic Lolita dress.

"That's it, right?"

「……」

Actually, in Uwano's finger

Before he came out, the little bird Yu Zhenyu saw the long dress at a glance, the most often worn long dress on Maya.

When it first appeared, this was what Maya was wearing.

"It's still here......

"What?"

Vaguely, Yu and no heard the little bird Yu Zhendayi muttering.

"No, no."

Little Bird Yu Masahiro immediately shook his head and denied it.

"Uwano-san...... What did you bring me here?"

"Just tell me to cut the firefly." Uwano said with a smile, and then, "Actually, this is not the end goal, it's just, I thought, if it was Maya, she would love it here, right?"

"......" Birdie Yu Maji acquiesced to this statement.

"So before you go to your final destination, stop by and have a look. By the way, I still have a doubt......

Uwano suddenly remembered a question and asked at the little bird Yu Mayu.

"Did you buy that long dress from Mayday?"

「……」

"Okay."

Kotori Yu Mayu didn't know how to answer, however, in her silence, Uwano looked like he had already received an answer, and nodded easily.

I don't know what kind of answer it is.

"Alright, let's go, to our final destination."

……

It's a shrine, a ...... A slightly dilapidated shrine.

It was small, and perhaps deserted, untended, overgrown with weeds, hidden in the branches of the woods.

Walk through the old gray stone torii gate and walk through the stone slab approach, which is only a few meters long, and you will arrive at the main hall of the shrine.

"It's ...... here," the little bird Yu Maji looked around hesitantly.

"Shrine." Uwano replied, "It took me a long time to find this place, and it should have been deserted, and I couldn't even find it on the map. You see, the cash drawers are gone."

"There may have been a cat that hid in the cash box and was taken away." The little bird You Zhenyu suddenly said something inexplicable.

"-Huh?" Uwano looked at the little bird Yu Mayu for some reason.

「…… Nothing." Kotori Yu Zhenyu denied it in a low voice, and then asked, "Uwano-san, what are you doing here?"

"This ......" Uwano soon stopped bothering with the inexplicable and wonderful words of the little bird Yu Mahi, "because—"

She glanced at the shrine here, and finally, she replied.

"This place, Maya told me."

「…… Really?"

"Hmm."

「……」

「……」

This deserted shrine is hidden in the woods, and the dense shadows of the trees cover everything here, making it seem very quiet.

The two people who were originally talking may have been affected by the atmosphere here and became extremely quiet.

Uwano waited quietly for the reaction of the little bird Yuma.

The little bird tour is really daytime, and it is silently looking at everything at the shrine.

It is the true day that breaks this quiet.

"I want to ...... I've already said it......

"What did you say?"

As if he didn't know anything, Uwano was still smiling at the words of the little bird Yu Maji.

The sound of the true day is a little muffled in the environment here.

"Uheno-san, I've already said it, the real night you're looking for is gone. Why do you keep mentioning her today?"

"Ah...... That's what I mean......" Ukano seemed to realize it.

The little bird Yu Zhenday lowered his head.

"If you're looking for Maya, I'll go first."

She took a step.

But......

"No, I'm looking for the real day."

Uwano grabbed her hand.

「…

…」

"That's right, don't doubt it, I'm looking for the real day."

The birdie swims in the real day and turns again.

"Then why do you always say it's really night?" She asked.

"If you want to say this......

"Answer me."

"Okay, okay...... If you have to ask." Uwano nodded, "But, please answer me a few questions first."

「……」

Uheno is anti-guest-oriented, and he doesn't wait for the real day to refuse.

"The first question is what I just asked, is the long dress on the real day and the real night from that store?"

「……」

"Why didn't Masahiro answer me?"

"—how would I know?"

"That's not right." Uwano shook his head, "That's not right."

「……」

"It should be said, how could the real day not know."

「…… Why do you say that?" In front of him, the face of the little bird You Zhenday had no undulating expression.

Uwano did not respond to Kotori Yumashiro's rhetorical question, but continued to ask the next question.

"The second question is, why does the real night appear?"

「…… I don't know."

"It's still not right, the true day knows." Uwano quite accurately denied the claim that the little bird Yu Masa.

「……」

However, after the negative, there is no further explanation, but continues to ask.

"The third question is, why is the real night exactly the same as the real day?"

「……」

"Why does the real night know so much about the real day?"

"Why is Maya always with Maya and can't act alone?"

"Why—"

"-That's enough, Uwano-san!"

Uwano stopped, and she looked at the little bird Yumahiro, who had her head down, and finally couldn't help but shout in the midst of her one question after another.

"Huh? What's wrong? True day?"

"How did I know about the real night?"

"-No, you know."

"I don't know!" The little bird Yu Zhenyu suddenly raised his head, and for the first time, he stared at a person with an expressionless face but full of coldness.

Uwano faced this look directly.

She nodded.

"Well, I don't know. So...... Let me tell the true day."

"Did you buy the long dress of the real night? - No, but Makai saw it at that store, right?"

"Why did the real night appear—because that's the wish of the real day, right?"

"Why is the real night the same as the real day—because ......?"

Uwano paused, stepped forward, and grabbed the face of the little bird Yu Mahiro who wanted to escape.

"True night is true day, right?"

「……」

"Perhaps it should be said that the real night is another appearance of the real day, the real day imagined by the real day, and the true day expected by the real day."

「……」

"That's why the real night knows so much about the real day, so the real night can't do without the real day."

「……」

"In the final analysis, the true day and the true night are one."

「……」

In the midst of Umano's approaching words, the irrefutable Kotori Yu Mayu fell into a long silence.

After a long time, the sound of the wind blowing through the trees passed by my ears, and in the shady shrine, the light spots that penetrated the shade of the trees were shaken by the wind.

The little bird Yu really spoke.

"Even if it was, so what? - The real night is gone, Uwano." The little bird Yu Mayi shouted at Uwano in front of him.

"It caused trouble to my family, so the night disappeared. Even if it is, what can it be? There's no point in talking about that now, you

The real night I'm looking for is gone, I'm the real day, and the bird is the real day—"

"No, how could it be pointless." Uwano shook his head.

"What's the point?" Mahiro quickly asked.

"Because—" Uwano always looked directly into Masahiro's eyes, and his gaze seemed to see through her.

"The night isn't gone."

"How so? It's already been—" Birdie Yu Maji subconsciously wanted to retort.

However, Uwano smiled and looked away, his gaze seemed to lock on to something.

"The real night is there, always next to the real day, but the real day hasn't found it."

「……」

Kotori Yu Masato looked over, but saw nothing but the dilapidated shrine.

Uwano said to himself.

"Because the real day has lost hope in the real night, it can't be seen. But, having said it, the true night and the true day are one, so how can the real night disappear like this?"

「……」

"As long as the day is there, the night will not disappear."

「……」

"Of course I can understand the real day, because my mother's worries have hidden the real night, but oh, I can't hide it, I know the real day, and I know the real night, I can see it."

「……」

"Actually, today's agreement is really asking me. Whether it's that shop or this shrine, it's all Maya told me."

As he spoke, Uwano waved his hand towards the empty space over there.

After saying hello to Maya, she turned around again, facing Maya.

"It's day, it's night."

"Because I want to communicate with others, but I am afraid to communicate with others, because I want to show myself but I am afraid of being seen by others, because of the separation between the expected self and the actual self, ah, there is a real night."

"The true night born in your desire."

"Maya's personality looks completely different from Maya's, but that's just the surface."

"The true night is the true day that the true day hides in the heart, the most real, unreserved, and unaffected by anyone's gaze."

"The real night won't just disappear so easily."

"Rather than disappearing, I want to accept her...... No, it should be said, accept yourself. Accepting yourself is the right thing to do."

"As for Masa's mother's worries......

Uwano stared at the little bird Yu Maday, as if staring at somewhere outside the movie screen.

"Did you open your heart and talk to your mother?"

「……」

The little bird Yu Madayi was deeply silent.

"Have you tried to communicate with people at home when they're troubled?"

「……」

"Tell me that you don't."

"Didn't even think about confessing at all."

"So, it's not so much that the real night is gone, it's better to say that it's the real day that you actively rejected the real night."

"But—"

"You can't refuse, because the real night is a part of the real day."

"So, don't cut the night out again, okay?"

"I'm worried about the real day these days, I'm worried about this self-separation, this self-denial, self-loathing......

"True day, don't run away anymore, please face the real night, at least, try to learn to communicate with others, right?"

"Let's start by talking to my mother."

「……」

Uwano walked out of the shrine, leaving the bird Yumashiro alone.

In her mind, U and No's words echoed over and over again.

Her gaze swept over and over again the shrine she was in.

"The true night is the true day that the true day hides in the heart, the most real, unreserved, and unaffected by anyone's gaze."

"It's the expected day."

"Yes...... Listen to the true day of her wishes."

「……」

Yes.

The real night is her, the one she is looking forward to.

The little bird Yu Matsu stepped forward and walked to the main hall where he prayed to the gods.

This deserted shrine not far from the school, where she once stood, made a wish to the gods, and poured out her long-awaited appearance without reservation.

In response to her, it was the real night.

"Finally figured it out?"

The little bird Yu Maya turned around, and a few steps behind her, Maya, who was dressed in black Lolita and looked the same as her, suddenly appeared out of thin air, standing there calmly.

「……」

The little bird Yu Zhenyu looked at her as if he were looking at herself.

"I don't need to explain it to your mother, do you?" Maya asked.

「…… No, I'll do it myself." Masahiro replied.

"That'll do."

Maya nodded, and suddenly dissipated again.

……

Uwano re-entered the shrine and saw a girl wearing a black Lolita.

"Coming back?"

"Hmm." Toyou nodded at Uwano who came to her.

"Is it true day or real night?"

"It's a bird's swim."

"Snort."

Uwano was amused by this statement.