The next morning——

"Huh." Accompanied by the sound of the glass door being opened, Futaba Cheng felt the cold wind as soon as he opened the door to the courtyard. Even though he was wearing a lot of clothes to keep out the cold, he still felt the coldness of winter.

.

"The temperature has dropped again, and judging from this, the Tenjin Festival shouldn't be held." Closing the door, Futaba Makoto walked into the yard, and the snow sank slightly and wrapped around his boots.

It's still early today and there's no one in the living room.

"Ha." After sighing, Futaba Cheng rubbed the frost on his gloves and continued walking forward.

After arriving on the street, the goose-feather snow was still falling and there were almost no pedestrians on the road. It seemed that because the temperature was too low today, no one was willing to come out.

At this time, the road was covered with snow, making it difficult to walk.

Futaba Cheng planned to go to the street to check the situation.

After walking arduously in the snow for a while, Futaba Cheng soon arrived at the commercial street. As expected, it was also covered in snow, as if he was wearing a layer of silver cotton clothes - many shop doors were closed.

, and the word "out of business" is written on it.

"It's so early, Xiaocheng." Some uncles who were still opening greeted Futaba Cheng.

"Well, the snow has fallen really suddenly these days." Futaba Cheng said.

The uncle smiled, then looked a little troubled: "Yes, the temperature dropped as soon as it was said to be falling... I had prepared a lot of things for the God Festival, but it seems that they are all unusable."

"Don't worry, maybe it will be fine in a few days?" Futaba Cheng comforted with a smile, but he knew better than anyone else.

With such heavy snow, if it were to be held, walking would probably be a big problem.

And no one wants to go out to attend a festival in the middle of winter, right?

"Oh, it's hard to say." After the uncle finished speaking, he suddenly thought of something and scooped out a piece of oden from the steaming pot on the side: "Come on, it's the best time to eat some hot oden in the winter.

.”

"No, no, no, no need."

"Have breakfast?"

"Not yet..." Futaba Cheng took it, there were many good things in it, "Actually, you don't need to give me so much."

"Anyway, there probably won't be many customers today. You can eat as much as you like. There's not enough left." The uncle replied with a smile.

Futaba Makoto ate it without ceremony. It was a very simple food such as a radish lucky bag and beef brisket. It had been simmered for a long time, and the food other than the lucky bag would disintegrate with just a sip. It was very delicious.

"Speaking of which, I just saw Nana's kid going to the mountain. It's somewhat unsafe to go to the shrine in such heavy snow," the uncle said.

Went to the shrine?

Futaba Makoto was stunned for a moment, but he probably understood what was going on, because there were many cats in the shrine, and Nana probably went to see the cats in the morning.

"I thought I got up the earliest." After Futaba Cheng finished speaking, he asked his uncle, "Uncle Adachi, what time did you see Nana?"

"About an hour ago."

"Then I'll go to the shrine too." Futaba Cheng smiled.

"Pay attention to safety, the freshly fallen snow on the mountain is relatively loose."

"Yes, I understand."

Before going to the shrine, Futaba Makoto also stopped by Grandma Goda’s grocery store to buy some cat food before going there——

"I heard that the snow will be heavier today, remember to come back early." Grandma Goda sat in the grocery store and used an old-fashioned oven to keep warm. When she heard that Futaba Makoto was going to the shrine, she gave her a few words of advice.

"Don't worry, I'll be back soon." Futaba Cheng smiled.

"Here, here's the money for cat food."

"Look for change in the cash box yourself. Old lady, I'm too cold to move now."

"If you're cold, you should go back to the kotatsu. It's not good to open a store in this weather." Futaba Makoto said after finding the change.

After hearing what Futaba Cheng said, Grandma Goda just smiled.

After leaving the grocery store, Futaba Makoto carried the bag and went up the mountain.

Perhaps because no one was cleaning the mountain trails, some places covered with snow and frozen into ice were not easy to walk on. Futaba Cheng almost fell down not long after he went up the mountain.

"I should have changed to a pair of non-slip boots." Futaba Cheng patted the snow on his body and continued walking forward.

It is difficult to walk on mountain trails in winter, especially when the steps are generally slippery. If the Neko Shrine has sufficient funds, it can hire people to clean the roads, but this is just a small shrine after all. It will be worried even if it cannot hold a festival.

Of course, there is no extra money to hire someone to clean it.

Of course, my uncle would still come over and clear the snow himself in the morning, but this year he was injured and hospitalized, so naturally there was no one to take care of the shrine.

"Meow~" Suddenly, a weak meow sounded, attracting Futaba Cheng's attention——

He turned around and saw that among the dead leaves, there was a white kitten curled up and shivering. Because its body was as white as snow, Futaba Cheng didn't notice it when he glanced over.

"Is it the cat in the shrine? Why is it here?" Futaba Cheng walked over quickly and picked up the freezing cat.

The super cold body temperature made Futaba Makoto realize that something was wrong. The cat might not be in good condition.

The cat just trembled and used its remaining strength to get close to Futaba Makoto.

"Come in first." Futaba Cheng stretched out his hand and unzipped his coat, then put the cat in.

The coat is very warm inside and the cat's condition seems to be improving a lot.

"It shouldn't be the cat in the shrine. After all, those guys will definitely not come out in such weather." Futaba Cheng held his belly with one hand to prevent the cat in his clothes from sliding down, and then planned to continue walking.

Go past the shrine.

Are there any cats here?

Suddenly, an idea flashed through Futaba Cheng's mind. He first glanced at the dead leaves, and then took a closer look.

No.

Futaba Cheng breathed a sigh of relief.

He actually didn't really want to see a frozen cat here, but wild cats live in groups, so he didn't blame him for thinking too much.

Go find Nana.

"Crack." His foot landed on the dead leaves, and with the sound of friction like a plastic bag, Futaba Cheng stepped directly on the air, and his whole body fell to the right uncontrollably!

Oops.

Futaba Cheng's eyes widened, and he lost control of his body and fell down.

With the sound of snow falling, Futaba Makoto rolled all the way down the steep slope next to the dead leaves, and finally hit his head firmly on a rock below.

"Boom." There was a muffled sound.

…

Futaba Makoto had a dream.

It was still that strange river, flowing with black and red water, and it was completely unclear what was hidden in it. On the other side of the river, there were red flowers on the other side of the river swaying automatically in the absence of wind.

Grandpa was standing on the other side of the river wearing a straw hat, and his expression at this time could not be clearly seen——

"What's wrong? Why are you running here all the time?" Grandpa's voice seemed a little confused.

"I didn't run away." Futaba Cheng scratched his head, but he forgot why he came here.

"Hey, why are you still a child?" There seemed to be a hint of sullenness in Grandpa's tone:

"As I said last time, I will let you taste the first-class swordsmanship of Futaba Clan Tenji!"

Suddenly, two black samurai swords appeared in Grandpa's hand, wrapped in red silk threads with a halo, which looked quite scary.

"I, I have a girlfriend!" After seeing his grandfather's double swords, Futaba Cheng was instinctively afraid, fearing that the old man would jump over from the other side of the river.

The samurai sword was slowly put down, and the old man seemed to be interested: "Oh? Who is it?"

By the way, who is it?

Futaba Cheng suddenly felt a little confused. He couldn't remember who his girlfriend was.

"I guess it's Nana's kid." The old man touched his chin and said.

"It seems so." Futaba Cheng said somewhat uncertainly.

"Hahaha, with your sickly body, who else would like you?" From the other side of the black river, the hearty laughter of the old man came.

Futaba Cheng hesitated: "There must be a few."

"several?!"

Futaba Cheng nodded, but he didn't remember their appearance... But then again, why didn't he remember anyone else except Nana?

"Hmph, he still looks a bit like my grandson. Go back, staying here is not suitable for you." The old man seemed a little happy.

"Eh?"

His vision went dark, and Futaba Cheng felt as if his body was sinking into a quagmire and he couldn't even open his eyelids.

Suddenly, in this dark space, a cry came: "A Cheng..."
To be continued...