[Comprehensive] A murder caused by a feather

Yuko Kinoshita knew clearly that she was dreaming.

The world in the dream is absurd and frightening, and the gray-black|toned world seems to be collapsing.Yuko kept running forward, avoiding the fallen buildings and the elongated black shadows, and kept chasing the bright yellow | butterfly in front of her.The sound of heavy breathing "chucked" sounded, and she heard an unreal sound, which seemed to tell her to run faster, and run faster.

She exhausted all her strength and single-mindedly chased the butterfly in front of her.

Why run?Where are you going?

She didn't know, but the obsession in her heart made her unable to stop.

She must run forward.

>>>

Last night, Yuko ran back home and got the sandalwood box on the desk in sister Yayoi's room.She kept running, following the yellow butterfly to the place she usually passed by on her way to school.

There was an extra room in that place at some point, and Yuko remembered that when she saw this place not long ago, it was clearly an abandoned meadow.At the beginning, she complained to Hideyoshi that this place was wasted.

Maybe it was some kind of blindfold, Yuko didn't think too much, she rushed in holding the box, and the two children in the store led her to the room where Yayoi was placed.

The shopkeeper who traded with her was not there, but the butterfly seemed to be a communication tool, and Yuko Ichihara's voice came from there, instructing Yuko what to do next.

Ichihara Yuko asked her to open the box and stuff the beads inside into Yayoi's mouth.

Yuko Kinoshita did so without hesitation.

After that, Sister Yayoi's body seemed to be hanging open, and the big hole penetrating through her abdomen was finally closed. If it weren't for the crack marks on the bathrobe, it would be impossible to tell that she had been seriously injured.

The blood stains on the yukata were very obvious. After Yuko asked Doro and Quanlu to take care of her sister, she went home and brought clean pajamas and a change of clothes to the shop.

After going back and forth, Ichihara Yuko also returned to the store with April [-]st.

This is a store related to "wish", and the price paid is linked to "wish", no more, no less, absolutely fair.

Yuko wiped Yayoi's face, hands and feet carefully, changed her into loose pajamas, folded her daily clothes and put them beside the bed.Yuko didn't know if her sister would have something to do next, so she didn't take Yayoi home forcibly, but let her stay.

Then, it was time for her to pay the price.

The beautiful shopkeeper "Dimensional Witch" Yuko Ichihara, who finished her work, leisurely invited Yuko to treat Yuko with black tea and desserts on April [-]st. Her red eyes still revealed the wisdom and mystery that can see through people's hearts.

"Your wish has come true," the shopkeeper took a sip of black tea slowly, with a smile on his lips, "It's time to charge the price for your wish."

Yuko didn't speak, she stared at the tea stems standing up in the water of the black tea cup, and suddenly remembered what her sister said when she was a child.

'When making tea, if you see the tea leaves standing upright, it means that something good will happen today. 'My sister said it was what grandma told her.

At that time, sister Yayoi had just been brought back from the countryside by her parents. Yuko and Hideyoshi were not familiar with this sister who was airborne, but that warm smile dispelled their uneasiness.

The second daughter of the Kinoshita family is the one who is the most acquainted. She started to remember things when she was very young, so she remembers the scene when her sister came to the house very much.

vividly.

"Take it." Yuko kept looking at the tea stem without raising her head, and said in a low voice, "No matter what the price...take it."

She's already, ready.

"Then, I accept your ten-year lifespan."

>>>

Probably because there were too many things last night, so Yuko tossed and turned for most of the night, and fell asleep very late.So when she woke up in the morning, the hour hand of the clock on the wall pointed straight up.

Hideyoshi was probably the same, anyway, when Yuko went downstairs, she happened to see Hideyoshi busy with lunch in the kitchen.

"Good morning, Hideyoshi." Kinoshita Yuko greeted her younger brother as if nothing happened, pulled out the chair feebly, propped her chin with one hand, and wondered what she was thinking.

"It's getting late, Yuko-san," Hideyoshi replied without turning his head, his slender figure was not like a boy at all, "I'll take the bento to Yayoi-san later."

In fact, Hideyoshi already knew where his eldest sister was last night, but he couldn't see the house in the open space at all.

He didn't have a wish to be fulfilled no matter what the cost, so he couldn't get into that store.

After the lunch was brought out, Gemini started to eat in silence.They ate neither fast nor slow, and the expressions on their faces were numb as if they were coping.

"Sister Yuko...what is the price for you?"

Kinoshita Yuko did not respond to Hideyoshi's question, the expression on her face remained unchanged.

Then, her eyelashes fluttered twice, and she put down her chopsticks.

"I'm stuffed."

Until she picked up her lunch and left the house, she still didn't answer Hideyoshi's question.

Hideyoshi, who was left behind to clean up the dishes, grasped the bowls and chopsticks in his hands, and his face, which was cuter than a girl, showed a sad expression.

>>>

Today is a normal day.The wind is sunny, the sun is shining brightly, the air exudes the heat of summer, and the breeze blows a little heat, gently blowing the hair on the temples of passers-by.

Kinoshita Yuko ran fast with her lunch box, she pushed open the door of Miss Yuko's shop, said "Excuse me" loudly, and hurried inside.

Can't stop it.

"Where's my sister?" There was no one on the bed in the room where Yayoi's sister was placed, except for the pajamas that Yuko had put on for her last night.Yuko raised her head, and asked April [-]st who was panting after her with a blank expression.

"Ms. Kinoshita and Ms. Yuko are in the reception room." After saying this quickly, April [-] was about to say "I'll take you there" when she saw this hot-tempered girl drop her lunch box and turn around just go.

At that time, on April [-]st, I remembered that this lady had talked with Miss Yuko in the reception room last night.

Although she remembers the way, it's quite rude to do so... What's more, Ms. Yuko and another Ms. Kinoshita are talking inside.

So April [-] didn't care about the bento box that fell on the ground, and ran after it.

>>>

"There are a lot of things you need to pay for your wish," Ichihara Yuko bent down, touching Yayoi's pale face with her slender fingers, and gently scraped her beautiful nails, "The power that doesn't belong to you is involved. Is it taking your life? Even that is not enough."

Yayoi's long eyelashes trembled, she raised her eyes, her lips were tightly pressed.

"...Isn't that okay too?"

"Of course." Miss Yuko straightened up, tapped her fingernails on the table, and made a crisp "click" sound, "If you really want to realize this wish, you must exchange it with your most important thing."

"My... most important thing?" Yayoi lowered her eyes, thinking about her most important thing now.

Family, friends, and...the connection with Shirasaki.The last one was gone, and that's what she was struggling with now.The "equivalent exchange" that Ms. Yuko said probably meant things like family or friends.

Yayoi Kinoshita hesitated, she stretched out her hand to caress the teacup, and slowly traced the texture on the surface.

"Is my life...not important enough?" she asked softly, her stroking turned into a light scrape.

After losing her life, her family and friends will disappear. She can no longer let her cherished people see herself, communicate with the normal world, and taste her favorite desserts...

Isn't that enough?

"Things that can be easily thrown away are not the most important things to you," Yuko said with a light smile, her long straight black hair slipped from her shoulders, "What I want is the most important thing."

"Most important" and "important", two words that sound similar, actually have completely different weights.For many people, life is the most important thing, but they may have more things than life.

Responsibility, love, sense of justice, morality...the composition of these things makes human beings a unique existence, and everyone has a scale in their hearts to measure themselves.

Maybe they don't know what is "the most important", even Yayoi Kinoshita is no exception.

She didn't know what she would pay if she insisted on making a deal with Miss Yuko.

That must be something she can't bear.

but……

——She is not reconciled.

It was impossible to just accept the fact that Shirasaki had left.

"Miss Yuko...can you tell me what it is?" The red-brown long-haired girl put her ten fingers on the edge of the table and clasped it firmly.

"That is……"

The black-haired witch's lips parted slightly, and she said the cruel price in a flat voice.

>>>

The girl with short reddish-brown hair rushed into the reception room in a hurry. She didn't even knock on the door, and pushed it away.

Yuko seldom does impolite things. Although she is very unruly at home, she always has the best manners when she is out of the house.Yuko's politeness will never be criticized whether it is for elders or unfamiliar classmates and friends.

Of course, if it is in front of familiar people, Yuko is definitely the most presumptuous one.

"Sister!" Yuko, the elder sister, locked her eyes on Yayoi who was staring at the black tea cup in front of her in a daze as soon as she entered the door. As for Miss Yuko who was leisurely drinking black tea opposite her, Yuko directly ignored it.

Yayoi, like a puppet whose locks have been activated, returned from a lifeless state to its original gentle state, and a soft smile appeared on the corner of her mouth.

"Yuko, you have to knock on the door when you come in," she said, her green eyes looked at Miss Yuko, who was enjoying the aroma of black tea, "Sorry, Miss Yuko, for disturbing you last night."

"Welcome to come again next time," Yuko Ichihara put down the teacup, showing a half-smile expression, "No matter what kind of wish, I can make it come true."

Miss Yuko's words coincided with the white, long-eared and red-eyed Chubby, but Yayoi's impression of the two was completely different. Apart from the image problem between the two, there must have been a change in Yayoi's own mentality.

At that time, Yayoi thought that no matter how big the difficulty was, she had to solve it by herself, and she absolutely could not take such a shortcut.

At first, she really thought so.

And now...

Her heart shook.