Bang -

The rain pounded on the umbrella in the darkness without stopping.

"It's closed."

Under the other umbrella, Hikaru Takikawa looked back at Naruse, "It seems that this place is not open to the public at night." ”

"So it seems." He looked at the stone tablet engraved with the text [Tsuji of the Six Paths] at the entrance of the Liudao Zhenhuang Temple, "The junction between the underworld and the human world is also the point where you get off work." ”

"Haha."

Hikaru Takikawa turned the umbrella in his hand and came back from the closed temple gate, "Then let's go to the front and have a look." ”

"Hmm."

The two left the Liudao Zhenhuang Temple and continued to wander forward.

After dinner and cleaning up, Starfish and Takikawa Moon were going to take a bath, and Takigawa Mitsuki was extremely thoughtful and pulled Naruse out for a walk.

The two had just come out for a while.

The rain kept knocking, converging down from the eaves on both sides, weaving into a crystal beaded curtain.

The lights from the roadside shops shattered, and the occasional sound of rushing water could be heard behind them.

"The car is coming."

Naruse stood on the side of the road and pulled Hikaru Takikawa again.

When the car drove past, the two continued to walk forward.

"The houses in Kyoto are so dense, it feels like they're crowded together."

"It's like staying in the country for a long time, going to the city."

"Really?"

"Tokyo is also crowded."

After a while, the road extends to the right with a small branch.

"Barbershop."

The characteristic red, white and blue lampposts in front of the barbershop swirl and stand out in the alleys where there is not much light.

"Let's go this way." Hikaru Takikawa said and walked in.

"Do you know the road?" Naruse quickly followed.

"I don't know. But with the spring sea here, you won't get lost. ”

"I don't have that confidence myself."

She looked back and smiled at him.

As they passed by the barbershop, the two looked inside, and there happened to be a barber cutting the hair of a customer.

Hikaru Takikawa didn't stop and continued to walk, "I feel like my hair is a little long, and I'm going to fix it a little when I go back." ”

Naruse followed her, "This length is fine. ”

"It's a little bit of a barrier to my eyes......" Hikaru Takikawa said, lowering her head, "Look." ”

He didn't see anything, "Hmm." ”

"Gotta cut it."

"Hmm."

Going all the way down the alley, the two soon walked to another road, and Naruse looked left and right, "Do you still want to go shopping?" ”

"Almost." Hikaru Takikawa turned his umbrella, "Let's go back." ”

So he went to the right.

After walking for a few more moments, Naruse suddenly turned around and led her into another alley.

"I said that with the spring sea, I won't get lost." After walking for a while, Hikaru Takikawa said when he stopped in front of the guesthouse.

Naruse took the umbrella, "Let's go inside." ”

"I'm back~"

She shouted inside, Takikawa Tsuki came down the stairs to greet her, and starfish was bathing.

Naruse went to the living room to sit down, and Hikaru Takikawa followed her sister upstairs and came down after a while.

"Tsuki is ready to go to bed."

"So early."

"I'm tired today."

"Yes...... When she came back, Sister Yue already had an expression of wanting to become a Buddha. ”

"Haha."

The living room of the B&B has been converted into a bedroom, but there are still a lot of things, such as a TV.

Turning on the TV, Hikaru Takikawa took the remote control and pressed it a few times, and then handed it to Naruse.

"There's nothing to see."

"Listen to it." He leaned against the glass sliding door, listened to the autumn rain in the courtyard with both ears, and had little interest in TV programs.

"Is Chunhai going to sleep here at night?"

"Of course." The upstairs room had two beds, but one of them already belonged to Takikawa Tsuki, and he had no intention of sleeping in the other bed.

Hikaru Takikawa patted the tatami mats, "Then I'll sleep here too." ”

"Whatever you want."

After a while, the starfish came out in a yukata after taking a bath.

"How does it feel?" Hikaru Takikawa asked.

"Huh...... It's okay. The bathtub isn't too big, but it's comfortable to soak. ”

"Let's take a bath in the spring sea, I want to sleep after taking a bath."

"Hmm."

Naruse then went to take a bath.

He had seen the bathroom when he came in the morning, and it was decent in all aspects, and there was nothing special about it.

After washing his body, he sat down in the bathtub and enjoyed the hot water.

There is only one lattice window in the bathroom, just next to the bathtub, and the enclosed yard outside.

On a dark and rainy night, you can't see anything.

Naruse closed his eyes and leaned against the bathtub until Hikaru Takikawa came to the door.

"Chunhai, I've received the news."

"It's Naoko."

"Well, I didn't open it, though."

"I see, let it go."

He was almost done, got up and left the bathtub, changed into the yukata provided by the homestay, and returned to the living room.

“……”

Looking at the three-bed futon spread on the ground, Naruse looked at Starfish and Hikaru Takikawa again, "Are you ready to sleep?" ”

"I'll go to sleep after taking a shower - I can lie down if I can't sleep."

He didn't say much, picked up his phone and looked at it, and Naoko sent him a photo that was half a puppet and half her.

Naoko: I'm done with another one.

He replied to the message, and Hikaru Takikawa got up to take a shower.

"Where are you going to sleep?" Starfish asked suddenly.

Naruse looked and pointed to the furthest futon.

"Oh."

Starfish got into the quilt in the middle, and when she saw him looking at her, her face suddenly turned red, and she sat up again, her blonde hair draped over her shoulders.

Naruse looked at the phone again, "You go to sleep first, leave me alone." ”

“…… I'm not sleepy yet. ”

The TV was still on, and Naruse sat on his futon, his attention wandering between the two screens and the starfish.

At one point, she suddenly asked:

"Are you going out tonight?"

Naruse was stunned for a moment, then smiled, "Are you hungry?" ”

"No!" Starfish hurriedly denied, "It's just...... Ask. ”

He glanced out at the courtyard.

"If you feel hungry before you go to bed, you can go out."

Starfish nodded slightly, but did not speak, as if she had just mentioned it completely casually, and she herself did not have much intention of going out.

The two were speechless, she lowered her head and fiddled with her phone, and Naruse looked at her twice.

From last night when the two of them went to eat skewers together, to now sitting together in yukata, and then sleeping in the same room, the restoration of their relationship with each other is not an exaggeration to describe it as coming in by leaps and bounds.

Of course, he would not refuse such a change, but he could not easily accept it.

Does she really not care about what happened before?

In contemplation, Naruse unconsciously touched his earrings.

When he came back to his senses, he found the starfish staring at him, or rather, at his earrings.

“…… Stud earrings. ”

"Studs?"

Starfish looked away and looked over again, "You...... Do you also wear studs? ”

Naruse pinched it one last time, let go of his hand, and smiled again, "Isn't it weird?" ”

"No, it won't." Starfish immediately shook his head, and hesitated a little, "...... It's a little weird. ”

The strange thing is not that he has already had studs, but that he has chosen to have studs, and Naruse understands what she means.

"When I was in Tokyo, I couldn't make friends for a while, so I made another group of 'friends.'"

Naruse looked at the TV, "In order to be gregarious, I also went to get studs." ”

Starfish looked at him stunned.

Is it the same thing for him in Tokyo?

“…… Was it when you first entered high school? ”

Naruse looked over, "No, it's when I was in middle school." Before I even went to high school, I said goodbye to those people completely. ”

“……”

It's still not quite the same.

She lowered her head, and Naruse looked at her ears hidden between her blonde hair, "Starfish's studs, did those hot girls take you to fight?" ”

Starfish looked up and answered.

“…… Weird, isn't it? ”

He smiled, "No. ”

Studs, manicures and the like are not as eye-catching as her blonde hair at all.

And after watching it for a long time, he even felt that it was very suitable, although the literary girl who stayed in Aomori was a completely different view.

- Maybe it's because he hasn't seen the starfish for four years, and the gap in the middle is enough to digest such a change, and Morimi watched as the starfish suddenly dyed a black hair blond.

“……”

He looked at her, and she looked at him, and it had not been many years since they had gazed at each other's faces so directly and for so long.

The sound of rain in the yard and the sound of the television were all cut off by an invisible barrier.

In the silence, Starfish heard her own heartbeat.

Plop, plop –

“…… I want to see your studs. ”

Naruse was a little surprised, but he didn't refuse, tilted his head, and pointed one ear at her.

The starfish emerged from the bed and approached on its knees.

The black studs were hidden under the short hair, which was still a little wet, and it was impossible to tell what the material was, as if they were embedded in his earlobes.

She touched it slightly, drawing his sideways glances, and their eyes connected.

Starfish opened her lips and moved a little closer.

"Soak so comfortably - what are you doing?"

(End of chapter)