fictional spring

When I saw the stacked gifts, I thought for a while about who was giving them.

According to common sense, after the guests send someone to send gifts, they will leave their names no matter what-I have seen some guests send gifts to the Fern Princess Oiran before, and that is what they did.

But now the guests who brought me gifts did not leave half their names.

Only the servants who brought the presents said: "My master ordered us to send it to Miss Muyue."

But when I asked them who this big spender was, they only said: "The master will come to visit you in person."

The servants who left this sentence also left their gifts in the shop, and the girls who had little contact with me on weekdays approached me curiously, asking me when I met such a big man.

Among the presents were sumptuous clothing, exquisite pastries, and expensive exotic ornaments.

After opening a few boxes slightly, someone exclaimed in a low voice.

A figure suddenly appeared in my mind, it was the man I met at the door of Fern Ji Huakui's room yesterday.

Maybe... maybe even he?

A strange thought suddenly came up in my heart, and my head started to ache. When I lowered my head and closed my eyes while holding my forehead, the fern Jihuakui and the proprietress Sanjin also came to the door one after the other.

It is not surprising that such a movement would alarm them, not to mention that it is raining today, and there are fewer customers in the shop than usual.

But even so, as soon as Fern Ji Oiran appeared, everyone's eyes immediately focused on her.

There was an indescribable change in her complexion at this time, and it was hard not to suspect that she would utter some sarcastic words or lose her temper the next moment as before.

But unexpectedly, she maintained that strange expression and stared at me for a while before she said, "Come over to my room."

Although the tone is a bit strange, the words are still commanding.

I saw a smile on someone's face, like -- gloating.

The proprietress Sanjin never dared to raise any objections to the decision of Fern Jihuakui, so when I was in a daze, she pushed me and whispered: "Hurry up!"

Fern Ji Huakui did not close the door after returning to her room. When I stood at the door hesitating, she urged: "Come in quickly, and then close the door."

After doing what she said, what he faced was the situation of being alone with her.

You can see her face as long as you raise your face slightly, Warahime Oiran didn't say a word, and I don't know what to say.

Thinking of the way she scolded others in the past, the thought of speaking was immediately dispelled.

If I was asked to guess what Huakui Jiji was thinking, I could only figure it out from the performance of the other girls just now, but when I think of their looks, they all tell me——

There's a good chance that Fern Princess Oiran will vent her anger on me.

Because she never likes someone who is more publicized than her, and she doesn't like to be put behind other people's names.

But after being silent for a long time, Fern Jihuakui didn't have the slightest intention to get angry at me when she spoke again.

She just asked me: "Do you know the grown-up?"

Fern Ji Huakui's tone was full of doubts, as if he was incomprehensible, but also as if he was questioning: "How could you know that adult..."

I did not speak.

My intuition told me not to speak, but my intuition probably told me the wrong way.

Bracken Princess Oiran, who didn't get an answer for a long time, reached out and pinched my cheek.

Her face is very close, and her eyebrows and eyes can be clearly seen from my angle-no matter how you look at it, it is also an extremely eye-catching beauty.

At this time, Fern Jihuakui's voice was also a bit displeased, she frowned and raised her voice: "I'm asking you a question, can't you hear me?"

"……sorry."

I subconsciously said these words again.

For such an answer, Fern Ji Huakui was obviously dissatisfied, and even raised her voice a lot: "I didn't ask you to apologize, I was asking about your lord!"

From the beginning to the end, she didn't mention the other party's name, but just called him "that adult".

For some reason, I suddenly realized this.

So I asked her: "The lord you mentioned...was the one who came out of your room yesterday?"

Hearing that Fern Ji Huakui let go of my cheeks, but her eyes still fell on my face, full of disgust: "Otherwise, who else?"

Logically speaking, I should shake my head, because he does not exist in my memory, but at this time, what I did was completely opposite to what I thought.

I nodded.

When I made such a move, not only Fern Ji Huakui, but also myself was stunned until she held my shoulder and widened her eyes: "How did you know that lord?!"

I am speechless.

Fern Ji Oiran's notoriety is not only because of her bad personality, but also because, once someone makes her unhappy, she will severely punish the other party.

In the Kyogoku house, there are often maids who can't bear the torture and commit suicide because of being beaten and scolded by her.

But even now she looked extremely angry, Fern Ji Huakui still didn't hit me, even though I couldn't say a word, at most she just stared at me viciously.

It's like... I'm afraid of something.

It's hard for me not to connect her reaction with "that adult" in her mouth, but at the same time, I also began to be puzzled—that person's various identities can make Fern Ji Oiran have such a What about the reaction?

No matter how much I think about this kind of question, I can't come up with an answer by myself, just like Waraji Oiran can't get the answer she wants from me.

I don't know how long it took, but she put me back.

Without even scolding, I returned to everyone's sight intact.

The gift has already been moved to my room by Mrs. Mitsu, and the girls who live in the neighboring house saw me come back, crowded into my room one after another, sat beside me and said to me with a smile: "Muyue is not alone. Don't you need so many things?"

I thought about it for a while, because I just came to Kyogokuya not long ago, and I have not yet received guests, so my room is not big.Looking at the pile of presents that took up almost half of my room, I nodded.

Seeing this, the smiles on their faces seemed to grow stronger, and they took my hand and shook it: "Then it's okay to give us some points, right?"

After asking such a question, they looked at me expectantly.

I nodded again.

Almost at the same moment, they ran away from me, and after picking among the pile of gifts for a while, they left contentedly holding what they were looking for.

My room suddenly became empty and quiet again. After I closed the door and tidied up a bit, I found that they had almost taken away all the more expensive things.

I'm not angry, and I don't mean to blame them, I just don't think it makes any sense.

After all, I have no use for them.

Few of the girls who were sold into Flower Street were able to redeem themselves and leave. This is what I heard from other people's chats. Most of the girls who were able to leave here relied on the help of the guests.

At this time, I suddenly had a certain question - if I want to leave here, should I also rely on the guests?

After all, this kind of question is still a bit far away for me, and the proprietress Mitsu also came to find me specially at night and asked me the same question.

She asked me when I met such a generous guest.

When I told Mitsu the proprietress that I met the man at the gate of Warahime Oiran, she also showed a very strange expression, and she looked at me so that I lowered my head.

"You..." Before leaving, she said to me: "You can take care of yourself, after all... that is the guest of Oiran Ji Ji."

The proprietress Mitsu is probably the one who knows Oiran Jiji the best, but even if she said this, Oiran Jiji's attitude towards me seems to be somewhat different from what she said.

Warahime Oiran didn't look for me specifically, nor did she do anything to me, but when she passed by the room where I was practicing shamisen, she sometimes stopped and taunted me.

Words such as "How can you be so clumsy!" and "Such a simple piece can be played like this, why don't you just stop learning it." Words like this often come out of her mouth.

Every time I stop the movement of my hands when she speaks, I lower my head and wait for her to finish speaking, and Huakui Jiji will stop when she says that she feels bored, and I can continue to practice after she leaves.

It's just that before I finished practicing a piece of music, the guest who brought the gift visited the shop.

Similar to the attire when we first met, he was wearing very trendy shirts and vests, the fabrics were expensive, and he wore a white top hat, which he took off when he saw me.

"Do you like the gift?"

His voice is gentle and refined, and the smile on his face is too accommodating, his every move is dignified and considerate.

As he said: "If you don't like it, I'll send you some other ones next time."

I shook my head: "No need."

Hearing this, he smiled, but that smile always made people feel unreal.

In fact, I haven't reached the time when I can formally receive guests, but because the guest told the proprietress Mitsu that he wanted to meet me by name, the proprietress arranged for us to meet.

I didn't know what he was thinking, and I didn't know what I should do at this time, but I brought my shamisen when I came-although I still didn't make much progress.

It's the only thing I've learned in the shop to be able to put on a show when guests come.

I don't know how he finished listening to this piece, because when I finished playing and raised my eyes to look at him, the expression on his face was enough to make me feel at a loss.

"You..." He was silent for a while, and then slowly said, "Did you just learn today?"

I shook my head, hugged the shamisen in my arms a little tighter, and said awkwardly: "I've been learning it for several months."

I don't know if it's because of my words or some other reason, his expression became even more strange, but anyway, I don't think that expression is happy.

He stared at me for a long time.

"what about others?"

The adult asked me: "Do you know other musical instruments?"

I don't know the reason why he asked this question, I only know that his tone has changed slightly at this time, and I don't know if he is expecting something, and the expression on his face is also the same.

"For example..." He gave an example: "Pipa?"

Hearing this, I blinked my eyes and subconsciously began to apologize: "I'm sorry..."

"Don't talk to me like that!"

Before he finished speaking, he was interrupted by the adult. His tone changed greatly in an instant, and his face also changed from tenderness at the beginning to gloomy—this time, I am afraid that I really made the guests angry up.

Because I don't know anything, the customer feels unhappy.

Such thoughts ran across my heart, making me unable to lift my head.

I thought that the adult would just leave, but to my surprise, he held my head up.

"Muzuki."

The voice calling my name was deep and hoarse, as if suppressing something, and it was tremblingly familiar at the same time.

He said to me: "Do you only apologize?"

Hearing this, I was stunned. He who said this sentence seemed to overlap with a certain figure in an instant, which made me fall into confusion.

Do we know each other or not?

I suddenly wanted to ask him such a question.

But I couldn't speak.

How can you know someone who doesn't even know their name?

Although I really wanted to lower my head, I couldn't do it because of the opponent's hand. I tightened my mouth and closed my eyes involuntarily.

The hand that was holding my head loosened suddenly.

What I saw when I opened my eyes was a face that seemed to have lost its soul.

It was clear that the expression on his face didn't change much, but for no reason, I felt that he was about to cry, so I touched his face uncontrollably.

——I made a disrespectful move.

If the lady boss found out, I would probably be scolded again.

But that adult didn't brush my hand away, nor was he angry, instead he held the back of my hand after a moment of silence.

"why?"

--what why?

Although I really want to ask this question, something in my subconscious stopped my thoughts, as if I was/manipulated at that moment, and I said something I had never said before.

"Because I think it should make you feel better."

It's not like something I can say.

Because I have never been so understanding, and never have I been so caring and meticulous.

I didn't know how to relate to others, nor how to respond to other people's expectations.

Just like my mother's worries when she saw me for the last time before she died, and what the proprietress of the previous shop did.

I have never been able to understand other people's thoughts and actions.

But on a certain day, such a reality has vaguely changed.

The only thing I can understand, is only one person.

So I asked him, "Can you tell me your name?"

I said to him: "Although it is logical that I shouldn't ask you such a question, but... would you like to tell me?"

Hearing this, the man in front of me opened his eyes wide, and his red plum-colored pupils clearly reflected my figure. At this moment, it seemed that I was the only one in his eyes.

He said to me: "No misery."

"No misery?" I repeated softly.

He was not angry, but seemed a little happy, and his red plum-colored eyes softened, and the arcs at the end of the eyes were gentle: "My name is Gui Wu Tsuji Mumi."

I still call him Wumi.

It is a big taboo to call guests by their first names, even I have always remembered this, but the reaction of the distinguished guest in front of me made me think——he seems to be very happy to hear such a address.

Because instead of refusing or correcting, he accepted so quickly that I felt—perhaps at some moment I don't remember, at a moment that doesn't even exist in my memory, We did meet.

So I asked him.

"Have we... met somewhere before?"

After asking this question carefully, Wu Mi's expression became a little complicated, as if he was remembering something, or rejoicing for something——

But he didn't speak.

So I'm not sure if I've seen it or not.

After a while, he said, "Maybe I have seen it in many places before, but you just don't remember it."

For some reason, the tone of Wu Mi’s words made me want to cry for no reason—even though the meaning of this sentence is actually like a joke.

But I suddenly noticed the sad meaning.

Not just from him, but from myself—as if there was some other me in my head, and that me was saying, "How miserable."

I wanted to refute that voice, but what I said fell into Wu Mi's ears.

I said: "No."

Wen Yan Wumi's expression changed again, he squinted his eyes, looked at me for a while without saying a word, and then said to me: "I'll come again next time."

I said sorry to him again.

But this time, he answered me.

"It's okay." Standing in front of the barrier door, Wu Yan paused, seeming to have remembered something, and said again: "Don't say any more."

I suddenly understood what the phrase "stop talking" referred to.

——It means stop saying sorry to him.

This meeting brought about some strange changes in me, as if I had gained something because of his arrival. I became more and more fluent when speaking with other people, and even occasionally participated in those lively topics.

It's a pity that I still can't play the shamisen very well.

There is only one person who is willing to listen to me play the whole song quietly. It has been more than half a year since our first meeting, and the girls who came to Kyogokuya at about the same time as me have started to come one after another. I have received many guests in succession, but I have always had only one guest——

No misery.

I didn't ask about the reason for the misery, but I asked Mitsu's lady boss. The lady boss looked a little complicated when she heard my question, but she just told me: "You just need to serve that adult well."

This kind of reaction can make me sure of one thing - Wu Mi probably said something to the proprietress...or gave her something.

Hearing me finish playing the shamisen, I took out what I brought to me today.

After I opened the box, I saw a pipa lying quietly inside.

"This is……"

"A gift for you." Wu Mi explained: "Maybe it's just that I'm not good at shamisen. Try another instrument, maybe there may be different results."

He was clearly a guest, but Wu Mi made me feel that he was tolerant and taking care of me.

He would quietly listen to me play the entire ugly piece, and he would also send me a new instrument, encouraging me to say that it was the shamisen problem.

Everything has a sense of unrealistic delusion.

Whether it's this Kyogoku House, the Wu Mi in front of me, or even myself, it all makes me feel--a strange sense of disobedience.

It's like... it shouldn't be.

The longer I spent with Wu Mi, the more obvious this feeling became, especially when I picked up the pipa and tried to play it——

no difference.

I have never learned the pipa, and I don't know how to play it. I tried to play it under the helpless and encouraging sight, but the results I got were not satisfactory.

It’s still ugly—much worse than the shamisen I’ve learned for a long time.

This kind of cognition suddenly made my heartstrings tense, but for some reason, at a certain moment, the strings in my heart seemed to be broken suddenly.

Because Wu Mi showed a strange expression.

An expression like disappointment and boredom.

The great panic rose from the bottom of my heart for some reason, and it reached the peak when Wu Mi told me that he was going to leave first today, even though the words he said were the same as usual, but I felt——

No, there is already a difference.

"No misery."

When he walked to the door, I suddenly stopped him.

Hearing the voice, Wu Mi stopped, but he didn't turn his head or speak, until I asked him: "Are you still coming?"

I found out what was wrong.Wu Mi did not say when he would come next time.

Maybe it will be a few days or ten days apart as before, or maybe... never come back.

The latter thought sent chills down my spine.

Only then did I realize that such a big change had taken place in my emotions. Feelings that I had never had before had piled up in this short time together. The overly straightforward and strong feelings made me a little out of breath. .

"Do you want me to come again?"

After a while, I suddenly heard such a question.

And at times like these, I answered, "Hope."

The feeling of looking up at another person's back gave me a chill, but at the same time, I suddenly realized something, as if my heart was tightly strangled, and I opened my eyes wide.

The things you do without misery...

It seems to have some kind of strange meaning.

Sometimes I feel that he is gentle and considerate, but sometimes those performances give me chills—it’s not that there’s anything wrong with his actions, it’s because of me.

The figure that had appeared in my dream before had become more and more clear recently.

As if it was a replay of some kind of memory, that memory spanned a long time, the lean figure with arched body and coughing, and the straight-backed young man sitting across from me.

We have met and separated many times, and every time I wake up from the dream, I will never forget it for a long time.

Wu Mi did not lie.

What he said as a joke at that time was actually the truth.

We met and parted countless times before I could no longer remember what it was.