Before coming to the shrine for formal worship, you must first pass by the torii gate.

This red archway building is usually huge and majestic. Takayama heard from his elders that the torii gate in Shinto is the boundary between the human world and the divine world. Walking through the torii gate is like stepping into the realm of the gods.

The two of them arranged their clothes outside the torii gate, nodded in the direction of the shrine to express respect for the gods, and then took a step forward with a solemn mood.

This is not the first time that Takayama and Ikoma have visited a shrine in Tokyo. In addition to individual private activities of the members, sometimes the operation also organizes coming-of-age ceremonies for members.

They walked on the road to the shrine and tried to keep to the left. It is said that the middle of the road is the path walked by the gods. The sounds of people around them became much fainter after entering the torii gate. The trees planted on the left and right were lush and growing well. It was quiet.

When you think about it, you can seem to hear the chirping of birds and the chirping of insects.

Although some people have always said that worshiping gods is sincere and does not require any fanfare, but Gao Shan believes that the necessary sense of ritual is more conducive to calming people's hearts. In fact, after entering the torii gate, the disturbing thoughts are indeed

Much more stable.

They washed their hands at the hand water house and finally stood in front of the temple's money box.

"Ah," Ikoma said softly, "I seem to have forgotten my coins."

"I'll lend it to you," Gao Shan said.

In anime or TV dramas, even if you put in large coins or banknotes, they still lost a few five-yen coins.

Five yen. Make a connection.

Fate is a very wonderful thing. It affects the whole body.

Just by joining Nogizaka, Takayama was able to see a different world and get to know different people from all over the world. Nishino, Gogeng, Ikoma, etc.

She has gained and experienced different things, including joy and frustration, good and bad. She finds them all precious.

The thrown five-yen coin bounced twice on the wooden crossbar of the money box and fell into the box, making a crisp sound of metal collision. After ringing the bell, the two clasped their hands and bowed.

For some reason, when Gao Shan closed his eyes, he thought of Nishino and Wu Geng.

The "fate" between those two people must be stronger than anyone else's. She thought.

——

As the head of the family, Asuka's father did not feel comfortable eating the breakfast at the Saito family. Not only because of Shi Xiao's request to stay here for two days, but more probably because the wife and daughter at home were almost 180 years old.

Ten degrees of elbow.

He stared with dissatisfaction at the shy expressions of the two people in front of him, who looked like newlyweds, while sipping the miso soup in the bowl so loudly that even Mother Bird frowned.

The silent pressure exerted by the bird father was finally accepted by Shixiao. After breakfast, Shixiao fled upstairs, and the little bird hurriedly stuffed the fried eggs into his mouth and followed.

"You scared Shixiao-chan." Asuka's mother said helplessly.

"If she was really frightened, she wouldn't stay in our house shamelessly." Bird's father was very angry. This is the New Year. She stays at other people's houses during the New Year and disturbs her. My wife doesn't understand the atmosphere.

"It's okay, don't worry." Mother Feiniao heard what her husband meant and stood up to clean up the dishes and chopsticks left by the two of them.

"How can it be okay in this situation, and how can I feel at ease?"

"Asuka...you should understand in your heart." Asuka's mother looked at the unfinished miso soup left by Asuka and smiled.

She knew in her heart that although Asuka had been lost for a long time after returning from that Fujitsu trip, Asuka had indeed grown up.

Perhaps, they no longer need to worry too much about future events.

——

After the phone was turned on, it showed that it had received many messages from members. Most of them asked where she and Xiao Asuka had been. However, Ikoma asked her early in the morning if she wanted to go out to visit the New Year.

After my phone automatically shut down last night due to low battery, I borrowed a charger from Feiniao. After plugging it in, I ignored it and didn't turn it on until this morning.

Shixiao understood that these were the concerns of her sister and her friends.

She knows everyone, Ikoma, Takayama, Fukawa, Ikuta, Hinaka, Hashimoto...

However, no one knew about her. I don’t know why, but I suddenly felt a little lonely.

Perhaps it was also because of this reason that he accepted Asuka too easily.

"...Shixiao is not my sister." She whispered. She always felt that a small hole had been opened in her heart, and she felt empty. I wonder if her sister hiding inside could feel her little loss.

"Shixiao, let's play with this."

Xiao Feiniao came in holding her brother's game console and cassette.

Shuxiao hurriedly carried the phone behind her back, a little panicked. This was a rather meaningless move. Perhaps, she just wanted to use it to hide her little thoughts.

"What's wrong?" Asuka asked cautiously.

"...It's okay," Shu Xiao shook her head, pursed her lips, and said with a smile, "Let's play together."

——

"What does it say?"

Ikoma looked sad and spread out the note, with the word "fierce" clearly written in the middle.

"..." Gao Shan didn't know how to comfort her, "Fortunately, it's not serious."

"Xiao Shi, this is not a comfort at all."

"Haha..." I could only laugh sarcastically.

"What about you?" Ikoma stretched his neck and saw the words "Sueyoshi" in Gao Shan's hand.

There are two people, one is "bad" and the other is "bad". The results are quite subtle.

"It's much better than me anyway." Ikoma was still worried about it. He ran dejectedly towards the tree in the shrine, trying to tie himself to the sacred tree, hoping to use the power of the gods to resolve the bad luck, but he accidentally bumped into it.

other people.

"I'm sorry." Gao Shan rushed over to apologize. But Ikoma's eyes widened in surprise, "Maimai?"

Gao Shan took a closer look and saw that it was indeed Fukawa. He was wearing a gray coat, with black-rimmed eyes, his hair falling in front of his body, and his makeup was different from before. It seemed that he was dressed plainly on purpose, so it was no wonder that the two of them didn't notice.

she.

"Maimai, are you coming to pay homage too? Tell me in advance." Ikoma said rather dissatisfied. It seemed that her invitation text message had been sent to many people.

"Sorry, I didn't plan to come before," Fukawa said. "Although I have made up my mind, I still feel a little uneasy, so I came."

Uneasy? Gao Shan frowned.

"By the way," Ikoma clapped his hands, "Maimai, what lottery did you draw?" He looked very interested.

"Well..." Fukawa's expression was quite subtle.

"Is it also a bad thing? Or a big bad thing?" Ikoma asked.

What are you expecting? Gao Shan complained in his heart.

Fukawa had no choice but to smile bitterly and start drawing lots——
Chapter completed!