Bang, turn on the old flashlight, the light flashed twice, and soon stabilized.

Standing at the gate of the courtyard, Naruse took a random look around and found nothing.

The girls were all gone.

- They are playing hide and seek.

In the first round, they hid, and he looked.

"I'm starting to look for—"

Naruse felt that he must have drunk too much to agree to play hide and seek with the lights off in the dark, or in such a large yard.

If no one is found within five minutes of the start, then the next round will be the first person to be found.

Naruse walked inside, no one responded to his greeting, the yard was quiet, and the charcoal fire in the grill glowed red.

In order to avoid having to relight the fire later, he had just added a few more pieces of charcoal to it.

"Is there anyone here......

Although it felt like no one would hide in a messy warehouse, Naruse still went over to take a look, thinking that some people were quite thoughtful.

The light of the flashlight pierced the darkness of the warehouse, swept it around, and found nothing.

"There are a lot of bugs in this kind of place, so no one should hide here...... Cockroaches, centipedes or something. ”

He "muttered" loudly, but there was still no movement inside.

It seems that there is really no one.

Turning around and leaving the warehouse, Naruse continued to move forward.

I just turned around the yard with a flashlight, but I still didn't see half a figure.

At night, they didn't dare to hide outside.

Looking at the time, half of the five-minute "capture period" had passed.

Let's go and have a look at the house.

Walking into Morimi's house, where the lights were all out, Naruse started to look for it from the entrance.

“……”

Naoko cowered in the corner of the hallway, blinking, as if she didn't expect him to shine on both sides as soon as he entered.

Looking at each other, he held up his finger and motioned for her to be silent.

“……”

Naoko was stunned for a moment, smiled again, and nodded slowly.

Naruse removed the light again, allowing her to continue to "hide" in the darkness - after the hide and seek began, the hider could no longer move his position, otherwise it would be too unfair to the lone seeker - and he continued to look inside.

Opening the doors of the rooms on either side of the aisle in turn, time was limited, so he could only glance at it and look for the next one.

And he hadn't seen Morimi open a few rooms here, and there was a faint musty smell inside, and the girls probably didn't want to hide in this kind of place.

When he came to the living room, he went in and walked around, and the flashlight swept over, but he still didn't find anything.

Staring at the grill with red fire light on the edge of the living room, Naruse suddenly reacted:

In the first round of hide-and-seek, they are not familiar with the dark environment, and they will definitely slowly search for the past, as long as they hide in the last place where they will be found, they will definitely be able to drag on for five minutes.

And that place is the second floor of Morimi's house.

He glanced at the time, and there was less than a minute left.

Leaving the living room quickly, he walked in the direction of the stairs, and as he walked outside the bathroom, he suddenly heard a slightly rapid sound of water coming from inside.

“……”

Naruse was stunned for a moment, and immediately expelled a certain imagination that came to mind almost instantly.

The electric light in his hand had just subconsciously shone through, and as soon as he moved away, trying to pretend to notice anything, the sound of a starfish came from inside.

"Don't come in! I'm here...... I'm ......"

“……”

Naruse looked at the sky, not understanding why she thought she would go in at such a time.

In the silence of each other's speechlessness, the murmuring voices gradually became quieter.

After a few moments, Starfish opened the door and poked its head out, with a crying expression on his face.

"It doesn't count......"

Naruse removed the light and didn't look at her, "How doesn't this count." ”

"Woo......"

"Have you been hiding here just now?"

"No, I was hiding upstairs just now, and I drank a little too much......"

Naruse motioned for her to say no more.

"Are they all up there?"

“…… How can you ask me? ”

"No matter how much time I spend finding them, you'll be looking for them in the next round."

“……”

The shame of being found at the convenience of the time had not faded, and the starfish wanted to cry a little again.

"It's all in Kazuha's room."

"I knew it."

Naruse went upstairs and went straight to Morimi's room, where the remaining three people were really hiding.

"It's been more than five minutes." Hikaru Takikawa said.

Naruse raised his flashlight and swept over the three people inside, "I've found the starfish." ”

"Huh...... In the bathroom? ”

"Hmm."

"I told her to endure it a little longer. Did Harumi break into the bathroom directly? ”

“…… How is that possible? ”

Naruse began to wonder if they had misunderstood him.

"When I used to play hide and seek, Haruhi would do that." Hikaru Takikawa said.

It turned out not to be a misunderstanding.

“…… Don't talk about things at that time. ”

"How could Chunhai not be shy at that time."

"Don't talk about it......"

The four of them went downstairs and regrouped, and Naruse handed the flashlight to the starfish.

Seeing her bitter face, Shangzi said, "I'll accompany the starfish to find it." ”

After all, in fact, the first person to be found was actually her.

"No...... I'll find it. ”

Starfish didn't want to break fairness and politely declined her kindness.

"Then go ahead. The starfish went to the gate of the yard first and waited, and they couldn't peek. ”

"Hmm...... Thirty, twenty-nine......"

"Let's go over and count down!"

A little caution on the starfish was immediately punctured.

Waving a flashlight, she walked out of the house and counted down loudly to the gate of the yard.

"Thirty, Twenty-Nine......"

Several people in the darkness immediately looked for a place to hide.

"Where to hide?" Takigawa Tsuki's voice.

The first to respond was naturally her sister: "I can't hide upstairs anyway." ”

"I'll go to the kitchen and hide." Morimi said.

"I'll look down the stairs...... The moon follows me. ”

Nausee pulled Naoko and came to the living room in the dark.

"This was discovered all at once, right?"

"It's okay, hide here."

Naruse took out his phone and took a photo, then pulled Naoko to the corner of the living room, there was a cabinet next to it, and he sat down against the wall and the cabinet.

"It's not hidden, but if you don't notice it at first glance, you won't pay attention to it again."

Naoko smiled, "Just like what I just thought." ”

She sat down too, between his legs, close to him.

Outside the house, the countdown of starfish has also ended.

The two of them held their breath in the darkness, listening to her movements.

Not yet......

Naoko pricked up her ears and listened carefully, but suddenly she was stunned, and raised her hand to press the not very honest hand on her waist.

"Starfish are coming."

"I'm listening."

Naruse didn't move either, just hugged his girlfriend.

The two waited in the dark, and soon heard footsteps outside.

"She's in." Naruse whispered.

Naoko didn't say anything, twisting her hips back and shrinking back to fit him more closely.

“……”

She felt it almost immediately.

Naoko's face was hot, and before she could make the next move, the footsteps outside suddenly became clearer.

Starfish walked into the living room.

Click, click.

Along with the sound of her footsteps, the bright spots of light cast by the flashlight also moved quickly around the living room.

Suddenly, the lights swept this way.

The two of them held their breath and did not move, looking together at the shadow of the cabinet projected on the wall.

There is also the shadow of Naoko's half shoulder.

“……”

The light stays fixed here for a second or two, like a century.

Although it was just a game, Naoko's spirit became extremely nervous, and she felt any movement around her with all her heart, and her chest fluttered.

What she couldn't ignore more than the light shining on this side was the further change that was clinging to her back.

Harumi seems to be getting more excited......

Finally, the flashlight was removed.

Footsteps rang out again.

After a slight turn in the living room, the light of the flashlight swept around twice irregularly, and the starfish did not pay attention to the corner here, and quickly turned around and left the living room.

The two people hiding behind the cabinet finally breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed a little.

But there are also places where you can't relax.

Naoko put her hand behind her.

"Naoko...... Not! ”

By the time Starfish found Morimi in the kitchen, five minutes had already passed.

With a flashlight, it took her a lot of time to find the Takigawa sisters hiding together.

"Where did Naoko and Harumi go......"

I searched upstairs and downstairs for a long time without results, and finally the two of them came out by themselves.

"Eh, why are you in the living room...... I obviously looked for no one just now. ”

"The starfish didn't look very carefully."

Naoko smiled slightly, stood behind Naruse, and hid her right hand behind her back when the flashlight shone.

"It took more than five minutes for the starfish to find a leaf, so the next round is the starfish to find it." Hikaru Takikawa said.

"I know......"

"Wait a minute, I'll go to the bathroom." Naoko said.

"Then turn on the lights now......"

"No need to open it!"

Naoko immediately refused, and the thickness of one hand was dripping down her fingertips.

(End of chapter)