Kamiyagawa: "Madam, apart from this supernatural photo of the suspected doppelganger, have there been any other strange things that happened to you?" ”

"The other ......," Himetsuki hesitated, "I don't know if that counts." ”

"Let's hear it first."

"I've recently ...... It seems that I often dream about it, and I dream of a Kumatori. ”

"Kumatori?"

Kumatori, or the face of Kabuki performances.

When Kabuki performs, you apply a thick layer of white powder to your face and dip your fingers in the paint, which is called Kumatori.

Each type of kumatori represents a specific type of character or personality trait, and is broadly similar to the face mask of Peking Opera.

Listening to Kohata Himezuki's brief explanation of the terminology, Kamiyagawa asked, "What kind of Kumatori is it?" ”

"Can I draw it, can I give me a pen and paper? It is best to have a colored pen with three colors: red, blue, and brown. ”

"Wait a minute."

Of course, there is paper and pen at home.

If you have a colored pen, I don't know if there is one in the fawn room, but the book drawn by the girl in my impression is not colored, and is only outlined with a pencil.

And she generally likes to hide her drawing tools with the notebook she is still drawing.

In the end, for the sake of convenience, Kamiya went to get a box of crayons that Saiori occasionally played with.

"Is crayons okay?"

"Yes."

Kohata Himetsuki picked up the pen to paint, she has good drawing skills, and she has obviously been specially trained.

As a woman who married into a famous Kabuki family, calligraphy and painting are just basic skills for her.

Seemingly casually sketched on a white piece of paper with red crayons, he sketched the composition of the blood vessels and muscles of the human face, but in a few minutes, Kumatori had a prototype.

And the color red is also said in Kabuki Kumatori.

Courage, justice and recklessness are generally represented.

Kamakuma and Ichikuma in Kokuma are usually positive characters, that is, the faces of good people.

Himezuki Kohata put down the red crayons, picked up the blue one again, and continued to sketch.

Blue, which represents villains and treacherous in Kumatori, is like the evil minister and the pranakuma.

The characters painted in red and blue are half good and half bad, both good and evil.

But before it was over, Himezuki Kohata picked up the brown crayon and continued to draw.

Brown is a special color among Kumatori and symbolizes ghosts.

Rustling.

The traces of crayons continue to smear the paper.

When Kohata Himezuki finally stopped, Kamiyagawa raised his eyes and carefully studied the mask-

The eye sockets are a hideous and rough flying red line, and the cheeks are outlined with blue lines and brown lines.

Vicious, mysterious, mysterious, weird.

The extremely complex patterns make it difficult to describe the feeling of this Kumatori in a single word.

"Normally, Kumatori wouldn't be that complicated. And, in fact, I've never seen Kumatori like this. In my impression, there is no such thing as a tricolor Kumatori. I don't know what this one represents, but I did dream it many times. ”

The wives of famous kabuki families have many hard requirements.

One of them is that I know a lot about the culture of Kabuki.

Since Kohata Himetsuki said that this kind of Kuma mask does not exist in reality, it should really not exist.

……

"Madame, I have made clear what is going on with you. Since I received your money, I will investigate this photo and this Kuma face mask next. You can go back first, leave your contact information, and your home address, and I will contact you as soon as there is progress. ”

"I'm sorry, Mr. Kamiya."

Kohata Himetsuki bowed, changed her shoes at the entrance, and thanked her again before leaving.

"Doppelganger, ......"

Kamiya stood at the door, silently watching the figure of the lady holding an umbrella and drifting away in the rain.

Wait until the client disappears around the corner.

"Aba!"

The little old man appeared, restrained his breath at the signal of his master, and escaped into the [nothingness] to chase out the door.

Then a purple and white undergarment floated out from Kamiyagawa's side.

"Is it really okay to let her go?"

"After receiving the money, they didn't even do the deposit, and directly left 20 million. As long as there is no problem with the money, it is no problem. Kamiya pointed to the box of cash in the reception room, and then shook the Kuma mask in his hand, "And, aren't you curious about this thing?" I think this Kuma is also a kind of mask in a sense, right? ”

Prajna knows what Kamiya is talking about.

The commission that woman brought always felt like something strange was going to be involved.

For example, the weird Kumatori noodle sheet.

And if Kumatori can be counted as a mask, then there may be some benefit to Prajna.

So far, the third mask of Prajna has not been completed.

But......

Kamiyagawa doesn't understand the doorways in Kabuki, but he knows a little bit about the strange story that was born from the story of "everyone's ladies".

She knew that Prawakakuma was a complete Okuma in Kumatori.

It's the bad character.

What stereotypes.

Hum!

……

Kohata Himetsuki returns home from Arakawa.

Today, her husband has no performance schedule, and it is a rare day off.

But for Kohata Himetsuki, the so-called rest day is not really a rest, she found time to go to Kamiya in the morning, but there is still a lot of work to be done.

Today's schedule is to specialize in calligraphy and learn about current affairs.

In addition, things like tea ceremony, painting, cooking, etc., are also her daily compulsory courses.

After all, the Kabuki family is a famous family, and as a member of the family, especially the wife of the head of the family, she represents the face of the Kohata family. Usually you have to deal with the upper class big people who watch Kabuki performances, and when you communicate with them, you must show the appearance of a famous family, and the self-cultivation is to show off at critical moments, to give your husband and the family a long face.

During the holidays, Kohata Himetsuki also needs to greet some relatives and friends for her husband, and this is when the calligraphy she learned comes in handy. On weekdays, I also need to learn cultural knowledge to enhance myself, so that I can be worthy of chatting with my husband.

After copying calligraphy in the study for a long time, Kohata Himezuki heard movement in the living room.

She walked out and saw her husband and mother-in-law returning home with their two daughters.

Her husband, Tamen Kohata, is a handsome man, but he doesn't treat his wife as gently as he seems.

"You're back."

"Hmm."

Kohata Tamon glanced at his wife, turned around and went upstairs into the room.

The mother-in-law walked straight past her and left without looking at her.

Only the daughters were still in the living room.

Kohata Himetsuki knows that her mother-in-law has always had an opinion about her.

It's been there since before.

The main reason before was to have children.

As the wife of a kabuki, one of the first conditions to be met is to be beautiful.

Only those genes that are beautiful enough can give birth to good-looking children.

In addition, Kabuki is an industry because all actors are men, and men are not women.

A family like the Kohata family needs a boy to inherit the mantle.

And Kohata Himetsuki has only given birth to two daughters over the years. For the wives of Kabuki, not being able to give birth to a boy is the original sin.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

Kohata Himetsuki bowed to her mother-in-law.

In addition, because of "another incident" that happened before, the mother-in-law of the Kohata family has become more and more prejudiced against her daughter-in-law.

But things have already happened, and Kohata Himetsuki can't make up for anything else, whether it's her fault or not, all she can do is apologize.

Seeing her husband and mother-in-law enter their respective rooms, Kohata Himetsuki got busy again.

She had to prepare dinner, and then she had a lot of chores to do.

All the housework in this mansion is done by herself.

It's funny to say that the Kabuki family is indeed wealthy, but there is an extremely twisted hard rule-

No domestic servants can be hired in the house.

And the husband is a "humanoid national treasure", and his body is expensive, so he will not participate in any work, and all the housework must be completed by the hostess herself.

……

After dinner.

After cleaning up the dining room and kitchen, Kohata Himetsuki called her two daughters out and gave them the words she had written in the afternoon, so that her sisters could copy them.

The two children of the Kohata family, although not boys, were unable to learn kabuki with their father.

But after it is still a famous family, it is also necessary to have the appearance of a famous family.

Therefore, some of the skills that should be mastered by famous families cannot be left behind, and Kohata Himetsuki usually supervises them to learn these and lead by example.

The two girls in the family silently wrote with a brush, and after a while, the eldest daughter was probably annoyed and threw the pen on the table.

"True Bow, what are you doing?"

"I won't write it."

"How can this be, today's homework has not been ......"

"Homework, it's not calligraphy, cooking, tea ceremony, I don't want to learn that!"

"Nonsense, you're a child of the Kohata family, you must ......"

"I don't want to be like my mom!"

Some shrill shouts filled her eardrums, and Himezuki Kohata became in a trance.

Things in front of me became distorted, as if covered with a gray mist.

In the mist, a mysterious and strange face slowly poked out.

Hideous red eye color, blue cheek lines, and brown mysterious embellishments.

Kumatori, who can't tell what it is.

The tricolor Kumatori opened his mouth in the mist: "You regard it as your responsibility to train your daughters to become qualified and famous families, because you are the prequel to your children. ”

"I ......"

Himetsuki Kohata didn't know how to respond.

She saw the mist in front of her change into a smooth mirror, reflecting her own face.

You can see that your eye sockets are painted with hideous red lines.

In the next second, Kuma canceled the loss, and Himetsuki Kohata stood in his hall again.

It's just that the two daughters are no longer at the table.

As if she didn't remember what had just happened, she muttered softly, "There's still a lot to do." ”

And then I got back to work.

Yes, there is still a lot of work to be done.

The housework is not done yet.

And tomorrow her husband is going to perform, and as a wife, she has to start preparing tonight to plan tomorrow's performance.

The night was still long.

Himezuki Kohata continued to work, and only the clock was still clattering in the living room.

The hands on the dial move tirelessly according to the established route, endlessly, day after day.

And at the same time—

I don't know where the Kamiya River is located, but it is standing on top of a dark wasteland.

Because it had rained during the day, his feet were muddy, and the cold wind of the night blew his clothes and black hair.

Click.

Kamiya edited a text message on his phone and sent it to Kanoya's line.

[I may not be back tonight, but I'm at home, and you can cook and eat by yourself.] ]

[I'm already home, do you want to leave food for Master?] ]

The fawn replied in seconds, and by the way, he also sent a Nara deer expression of unknown significance.

[No, you don't.] ]

[Master, what are you going to do?] ]

[Earn 20 million for your family.] ]

After dealing with the apprentice, Kamiya picked up the supernatural photo again and looked at it.

It can be clearly seen that in the photo, there are red lines on the face of the smiling little hata Himetsuki.

"Things are starting to get interesting."

Kamiya let out a standard villain exclamation.

……

Himetsuki Kohata had a dream.

I dreamed that when I was a girl, I was about sixteen or seventeen years old.

Her father was also a kabuki performer, and he was somewhat famous, but not from a very family.

When she was about fourteen years old, Himetsuki's father told her that he planned to marry the Kohata family.

The Kohata family is an absolute famous family, and if Ji Yue can join there, it will be an absolute high climb. Entering Kohata's house, it is a mansion incense car, splashing wealth and wealth, and it will also bring great convenience to the development of her father's career.

Of course, this marriage is not a particularly good match.

But fortunately, Ji Yue gave birth to a good face.

Moreover, compared to girls who were not born in Kabuki families, she also has an innate advantage.

Ji Yue has been trained to learn the knowledge of Kabuki since she was a child, high etiquette, tea ceremony calligraphy and painting, and as a Kabuki wife, she will be competent.

In the dream, Ji Yue, who was still a girl, was kneeling on the edge of the bookcase and sobbing.

The reason was that his father was not satisfied with her recent progress in learning.

The father's face was no longer clear in the dream, but the voice was still terrifying: "How can you marry into Kohata's family like this!?" Do you know how much effort and effort it took me to get the approval of the Kohata family? That's how you repay me!? ”

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry ......"

Ji Yue just cried and apologized.

She didn't know how long she cried, but she suddenly saw her father's face become hideous.

The strange Kumatori of the three colors covered his father's place somewhere.

That hazy fog reappeared.

The majestic and strange Kumatori mask swallowed the mist and slowly spoke: "You regard it as your responsibility to meet your parents' expectations, because you are the continuation of your parents. ”

This time, Himezuki Kohata saw her face again in the strange reflection of the mist.

Not only the red lines, but also the blue patterns on the face.

She seemed to be becoming like that Kumatori.

"Don't!"

Kohata Himetsuki sat up in shock.

She had gone to bed at about two o'clock last night, and now it was getting dark outside.

Today, my husband is going to perform, and as a famous role in Kabuki, Kohata Tamon performs more than 300 times a year.

Ji Yue will be busier on such a weekday.

(End of chapter)