After choosing a big adventure at Lupine's Bar

Natsume was crying, sobbing softly, only the corners of his eyes and nose were red, but his whole body was twitching.

The older man on the side took off his coat and put it on him, covering half of his face, squatting halfway, looking up at him, waiting for him to finish crying.

The already small cry gradually disappeared completely, and after a moment of silence, a nasal voice came out in the clear wind, "...thank...thank you."

"Ah, I didn't do anything." Mingyin smiled and narrowed her eyes.

Natsume had known him for a while, and felt that this probably wasn't a sincere smile.

Immediately afterwards, the man continued to ask questions, with a chuckle.

"Can you tell me where your home is? I'll take you back."

Summer was stunned.

Mr. Mingyin knew the address of the relative's house that he was now entrusted to, and even sent him back more than once.

So, right away he understood what was going on.

The sour feeling in my heart spread, rippled in the night, and gently melted in my heart.

"I don't remember exactly, but I probably know how to get to my home."

"Well, then take me to have a look."

This time, Natsume adjusted the oversized thin coat, put his arms in it, folded the cuffs, and took the initiative to hold Mingyin's hand.

First, he just squeezed his little finger, hesitated for a while, and closed his palm, forming a small semicircle.

Natsume was probably a little below Mingyin's shoulders, and the two of them held hands, keeping a close distance, and deliberately walked at the same pace, with the guide walking half a step ahead.

I always feel that it would be nice if this road never ends.

Natsume Takashi gratuitously raises the idea of ​​a classic scene in a shojo manga.

Of course, he didn't know it when he was a child at that time. This feeling is generally called a bad premonition.

"Is this the place? The name tag hasn't been removed yet..."

Mingyin stroked the word "Natsume" written on the nameplate at the door with her finger, followed the stroke with her index finger all the way down, and paused for a few seconds at the end of the last stroke, without taking it back, but half-closed her eyes and suppressed her expression.

"What's wrong?"

"No...it's okay," Mingyin smiled, "Maybe there are homeless monsters living in it, and I feel a wave of monster power."

"Is it strong?"

"I can only say that it's not difficult to deal with right now..." Mingyin first lifted Natsume who didn't have a key, and asked him to step over the railing and then turn over.

"You can enter from the yard." Natsume pointed to the small yard next to the gate, which was a corridor.

The child hesitated for a moment, "Why don't you go back and take a look at the appearance, to be honest, you are already satisfied."

"Huh? It's all here... It's really just a little monster, nothing will happen." Mingyin reassured.

He took off his shoes and stepped onto the wooden corridor wearing only his socks, "Excuse me."

Natsume also put the shoes under the corridor and whispered, "I'm back."

Then the collective was choked by the dust and coughed a few times.

As soon as you walk in, you will see the reception room. The room is empty, and the furniture has been taken away long ago. Only the cabinets, tatami mats and crayon drawings left on the wall are left.

"Hey, did you draw this when you were a child? It's so cute, like a child."

Mingyin walked up to the graffiti in a few steps, squatted down, and pointed sideways to Natsume.

"Ah, I miss it so much... I drew it when my father was still there..." Natsume laughed unconsciously, rubbing his fingers lightly on the edge of the painting, "Don't I look like a child?"

"Well, how should I put it, it's true that you are still a child regardless of your physical age or mental development, but Guijiang, you are a little too sensible..." Mingyin touched the child's head, "If in the future, I can meet you A willful object is fine."

Natsume blinked and said something he would never have said before.

"Mr. Mingyin, can't you?"

There was a pause in the middle, but I tried my best to start the conversation.

"The object of self-will is Mr. Mingyin, isn't that okay?"

Mingyin didn't reply immediately.

This made Natsume flustered, and even began to regret that he would not ask such a question based on the atmosphere when the other party had already put the assumption in the future.

"Well, this..." Mingyin pinched her chin with her fingers, staring at something in the distance, "Sorry, I probably can't."

"I don't know when I will suddenly disappear from your memory."

"Eh?"

"For humans, our existence is unstable. If you don't see it for a while, you will completely forget it."

He tapped Natsume's forehead with his right index finger.

"Although I haven't tested what happens to humans like you who are born with the ability to 'see', it probably will be the same."

"You still remember me now, just because we have had too much contact and see each other every day."

"However," he chuckled again suddenly, and changed his tone, "If you ask this question, it means that you have already learned how to be 'willful'."

"It's a good change."

Natsume touched his forehead and pursed his lips shyly.

Suddenly, something moved when the tatami was lowered.

Like rats running around.

"It seems that I accidentally woke up."

Ming Yin said such a sentence with a blank face.

Then, he bent down and made a gesture to lift the tatami mat.

Natsume swallowed nervously.

The moment a slit was opened, a white rope jumped out before Natsume could react, but immediately fixed its head in front of Mingyin, spitting out bright red snake letters, almost reaching Mingyin. the tip of the nose.

"Good evening." Mingyin greeted with a smile.

The little snake didn't speak, but just opened its ripe red eyes, fixed there, spitting out snake letters from time to time, almost like a sculpture.

"We don't intend to disturb, just want to see this house..." Mingyin said again and again, looking around, and then saw something that was a little bit abrupt for this almost empty room.

An incense burner on the middle countertop of a cabinet fixed at the other end and two empty picture frames.

Originally, there should be photos, which are common items used in small families to pay homage to relatives.

But logically speaking, the photo frame should be handed over to Natsume along with the photo, or thrown away directly, not just left here.

"Do you have any photos of your family?" Mingyin turned around and asked.

Natsume shook his head blankly.

This is a little strange.

Then Mingyin became suspicious of the snake demon who happened to live here suspiciously.

"You..." Ming Yin had just said the first word when she was interrupted by Natsume.

"Yes, yes, it might be this! Under the tatami mat...ah, it doesn't seem to be, this is a group photo..."

Natsume found a photo from under the lifted tatami and showed it to Mingyin.

"...?" Mingyin and White Snake moved their heads together.

"I always feel...it seems to be my father and mother. I remembered it when I saw the photo..." Natsume looked at the two men and women in high school uniforms on the left and right in the photo, and turned his eyes to the person in the middle.

"Eh."

Xia Mu's eyes widened, and he turned his head slowly, looking at Ming Yin beside him.

The person in the middle looks exactly like Mingyin.

At the same time, Natsume has only now discovered that Mingyin actually looks similar to her mother when she was a girl.

But at this moment, Ming Yin didn't hear what Natsume said.

He was completely distracted by the photo and the words written in the white border below it.

[Introduced my lover to Mingkong, it's great to be able to get along happily!He really doesn't like this type of thing. 】

The name is empty.

なくう (Nakuu).

From the head, from the heart, something is about to come out.

His eyes flickered, and he unconsciously turned to Natsume next to him.

Natsume's name is empty.

When I said this name in my heart, my head was about to explode, and too much information flooded in in an instant.

On the contract mark on the waist, there are black traces.

He tried hard to control his consciousness not to sink, and rushed to the side as if suddenly awakened, and the little snake that started to circle him up and down suppressed the volume and spoke.

"Deng Guo, take this child away, please."

"Take it to his relative's house, and follow the smell to find it. The traces on the road have not dissipated."

"Sorry, I didn't expect this to happen... Help me one more time, this time must be the last."

The white snake, which had never even hissed before, let out a "tsk", and at the moment when its body became huge, it bit Natsume's collar, which hadn't reacted yet, and flew out the door while throwing the child on him , into the air.

This is the last time Natsume met Akane in her restored memories.

I had a fever all day, couldn't move, couldn't go to school, and couldn't confirm what happened and whether the "promise" was still going on.

After another day passed and the fever subsided, the existence of "Mingyin" disappeared completely from his memory.

After Natsume came back to her senses, the purpose of entering was Akane who jumped over the window, stepped on the tiles and ran to the eaves, jumped down and then flew the back of the coat.

And the light-colored soft hair and the black marks like birthmarks on the exposed nape of the neck.

"…bright…"

"Mr. Mingyin—!"

On the other side, Odasaku who was on the road by instinct.

According to what he knew about Mingyin on May [-]th, if he was seriously injured or terminally ill, he would probably leave quietly by himself without attracting anyone's attention, and go to a place where no one could find him.

Like a house cat who knows its own death is coming.

Then, sure enough, Oda Saku really found a person standing under the dark red in front of the torii gate of an abandoned shrine in the back mountain forest, looking up at something.

"May [-]th."

He called in such a flat tone, like an ordinary greeting.

Hearing this, Ming Yin slowly turned sideways, her cheeks had already climbed up to An Wu's face, and she showed a smile that "May [-]th" would not show.

"Odasaku."

He said so.