Hoshino Fujiko curled up and pressed his heart with both hands.
She was depressed and laughed at herself silently. She never expected that Keisuke Aoi would lead to such a result, so that she even missed the last farewell to Megumi Ozawa.
Hoshino could no longer judge what was right or wrong, so she fell into a deep sleep to put the pain behind her.
In a deeper dream, she saw a dark, suspended lake.
The lake is full of black petals, swaying in the water.
"Mountain, mountain,
Stand quietly,
The wind carries the clouds passing by,
Why don't they stop?
The mountains want the lakes to sing for them.
The lake sang,
The wind, the clouds,
Look, you are already in my arms."
She heard a cold tone singing the nursery rhymes that her weeping children had hummed before. Following the singing, Hoshino gradually drifted towards the lake, and seemed to be about to fall into the embrace of the lake.
And the moment her fingers touched the lake water, the whole fantasy was shaken.
There was a roar of gold and stone clashing, as if the entire lake was about to overturn, and the invisible majestic force set off huge waves in the lake.
"Wow——"
The black petals surrounded the starry field, bringing with it a fragrant and sweet fragrance like blood, covering her sight, and in the next moment, everything disappeared without a trace.
Immediately, lanterns lit up at Hoshino's feet, and at the end of the light, the Toyatsu Shrine that she had seen with her own eyes was reborn from the fire and appeared in front of her again.
The quaint worship hall stands quietly in the darkness, its outline illuminated by lights.
There was a faint, majestic divine voice echoing in the darkness.
Hoshino Fujiko walked towards the shrine, and then came to the cash box again.
She looked at the door inside the worship hall, and there was blood coming out of the closed wooden door.
Suddenly, a key flew out from her waist and headed towards the door.
This was a key that Qing Keisuke forged for her with spirituality and soil when she first arrived at Osawa Mountain. He once said that this might help her find Weizi.
"Crying son?"
Hoshino jumped over the cash box and the barrier, and broke the rope inside the worship hall.
Note that there were sharp iron thorns inside the rope that cut her palm, and bright red blood dripped down her fingers. Her blood fell on the wooden floor, and black branches and leaves sprouted out.
She ignored these abnormalities and the pain, but walked up the narrow stairs until she reached the door, stretched out her hand and pushed it open.
The shrine, which had not been opened for many years, made a "squeaking" sound and was then slowly pushed open.
Hoshino held her breath subconsciously, she saw——
Clusters of black flowers bloomed on the ground, blooming ferociously and beautifully, filling the air with gorgeous brilliance, sometimes dancing like wild snakes.
She felt a little uneasy in her heart, but she staggered through the sea of flowers alone and reached the end.
Here, there is a wooden coffin without a top.
Weeping son lay quietly inside, with pure white flower branches spread under him.
The crimson chains tightly bound the wooden coffin, preventing Hoshino from getting close.
"Weeping son!"
Hoshino shouted loudly, but couldn't get a response.
The world in the shrine began to blow with strong winds as she shouted, and suffocating disasters were brewing here to destroy everything.
Hoshino held his head in pain, and before he was destroyed, he jumped to the wooden coffin and hugged the weeping child.
…
Hoshino suddenly sat up from the bed, breathing violently, and the pain in his body quickly dissipated like an hallucination.
"Huh...huh..."
"Weeping son..."
Is everything in the dream within the dream real?
Hoshino Fujiko rested for a while before leaving the tatami.
She didn't know how long she had slept, but her body had become very weak, and there was no sound of Ozawa Sonoko outside, so she went to take a look at Ozawa Sonoko's room.
Ozawa Sonoko, who looked like a middle-aged woman, also curled up on the bed and fell asleep after being tired from crying.
Hoshino looked at her deeply, turned around, left and went downstairs.
The time now is about five o'clock in the morning, and it's still dark.
She went to wash up briefly first, then walked into the kitchen and started preparing breakfast.
Ozawa Takuto moved out of Ozawa's house early and lived in a temporary base camp for young people.
The death of his parents completely tore apart the relationship between the three brothers and sisters, so much so that Ozawa Takuto even abandoned his responsibilities as an elder brother.
Hoshino turned on the gas, rolled up his sleeves, and prepared to start processing the ingredients.
Some of the ingredients in the refrigerator are spoiled, but there are still vegetables, eggs and quick-frozen wild boar meat.
She lives alone, and cooking is a necessary skill. She is not completely pampered just because she is the eldest daughter of a chaebol - after all, that means having to interact with others for every meal.
She set up a casserole and cooked rice porridge for two people.
While the porridge was cooking, I also made stews and fried meat.
The taste is not that good, after all, she has no pursuit of it.
After making breakfast, she returned to the second floor and woke up Ozawa Sonoko.
"It's time to eat." Hoshino said.
"……smoke?"
Ozawa Sonoko was weak and opened her eyes blankly.
"Have a meal."
"smoke!"
Ozawa Sonoko suddenly hugged Hoshino and started crying hoarsely again.
Hoshino's body stiffened at first, then slowly put his hand on Ozawa Sonoko's head and stroked her hair.
The hot meal dissipated some of the sadness and gloom. Ozawa Sonoko originally wanted to support her sister's tenacity, but when she was looked at by Hoshino's cold eyes, she gradually became softer and weaker, letting go of her inner strength.
"I'm sorry, Xun."
"It doesn't matter."
"What should we do in the future?" Ozawa Sonoko asked hesitantly.
"..."
Hoshino paused for a moment, and then said to her: "After eating, I will take a bath and continue to sleep."
"……oh."
Hoshino didn't know why he wanted to take care of Ozawa Sonoko. Maybe it was because of Ozawa Megumi, or maybe it was because following Ozawa Sonoko could ensure his own safety.
After breakfast, Ozawa Sonoko was about to take a bath, but as soon as she got a change of clothes and walked into the bathroom, she ran out crying and hugged Hoshino by the sink.
"My mother used to put hot water on us..."
Hoshino had just cleared the dining table and was about to wash the dishes, and felt a little helpless when he heard this.
——She is not good at comforting others.
Fortunately, Ozawa Sonoko just held her and cried for a while, then she went back to the bathroom with her head down.
Hoshino turned back silently and looked at Ozawa Sonoko's back. He waited until she turned into the bathroom, then looked away, turned on the faucet and started washing the dishes.
There is a glass window in the kitchen that faces outside. You can see that the sky is gradually getting brighter at this time, and there are a few screams faintly heard in the distance, and then they quickly disappear without a trace.
After a while, Hoshino finished washing the dishes, reached out and took two handfuls of water and slapped it on his face to calm himself down.
Because of the scene in the dream, she planned to visit the burned ruins of Toyatsu Shrine again.
But for safety reasons, should she take Ozawa Sonoko with her...