[Hunter] Flowers and Hymns

Crosay is an ordinary town located in the Golichen Desert. It is really a very, very ordinary town with no other specialties except water shortage and poverty.There is only one pharmacy in this town, and there are only some basic medicines in it, not to mention advanced medicines such as mood suppressants, and there are only two boxes of painkillers that are almost expired.

Qi Ya and the others have been delayed in this small town for two days.

Originally, they only planned to rest here before going to other places, but Veronica's situation forced them to continue to delay here.

"Is she still having a fever?"

Seeing Xiaojie come out, Qi Ya leaned against the wall and asked.Xiaojie nodded, and looked around the room worriedly.

"Veronica... seems to have been having nightmares."

"Dreams are one of the withdrawal reactions of the mood suppressant she often takes." Qi Ya looked at the whistling sandstorm outside the window and frowned, "...Damn it, if I didn't just encounter a big sandstorm, I would still I can go to another place to buy some medicine for her."

At that time, when they first arrived in this town, they ushered in the annual sandstorm in the Golichen Desert. The violent wind and sand, with the tyrannical force of nature, roared on the desert day and night, which also made Crowe Residents of Say cannot leave their homes at all.Veronica's complexion improved a lot after taking the painkillers bought by Kiya, but she developed a high fever that night and fell into a deep sleep all the time.Apart from occasionally waking up to ask for a little water and medicine, there are very few moments of sobriety.The drowsiness was also restless, sometimes she sweated and shivered so badly that Qiya and Xiaojie had to wake her up from the nightmare to prevent her from convulsing in the dream.

Xiaojie sat down beside Qi Ya.Patted Chi Ya on the shoulder.

"Veronica will be fine, so don't worry too much, Kiya."

"Who, who is worried about her?"

"Huh? But I see that you have been in a hurry, Qi Ya."

"...I'm just annoyed by this sandstorm."

"is it?"

Young-jae scratches at his hair and asks another question before Ki-ya becomes annoyed.

"Veronica called Cosette in her dream... Qiya, did you mention her sister last time? Do you know what kind of person her sister is?"

"It's not a good person anyway." Qi Ya frowned, "I also read about Cosette from the family information, and I don't know much about it. However, you know why she is called a nightmare Puppeteer?"

"Is it because the puppet she made is particularly scary?"

"It's really scary." Qi Ya lowered her voice, "Although she is very famous in the human body collector circle because she likes to collect the hearts of living people, but now that I think about it, it shouldn't be...or it's not just a hobby. .”

"???"

"The hearts she collected were all put in the chest cavity of the dolls she made. It is said that she brought the dolls to life in this way. I don't know exactly how, because it's just a rumor. However, if the ability to read Think about it, the ability to read is often inseparable from the blood relationship. If the older sister is of the trait department, the younger sister is also similar. Most of the abilities of the trait department are very strange and cannot be deduced by common sense. The ability of the puppet to be alive is not surprising. When you think about it, her behavior of putting the heart into the puppet is worth pondering."

"In other words, Cosette has the ability to give life to dolls by giving them hearts, right?"

"I'm not sure, but this conjecture should be quite possible." Qi Ya thought about it, "But there is too little information about the Nightmare Puppeteer, so this is just an inference. I can't be sure."

"I always feel... that it can make a puppet come back to life, it's amazing."

"Let's forget about this kind of power." Qi Ya leaned against the door, "Before I asked Mi Ji to investigate the client who commissioned us to kill Cosette, and found that his brother asked someone else to kill Cosette three years ago. Although those killers were all killed and that guy died, the Nightmare Puppeteer seems to have disappeared after that."

"In other words, Veronica's sister is probably dead, right?"

Xiaojie asked.

Qi Ya thought for a moment.shook his head.

"I don't know, the Nightmare Puppeteer was also rumored to have disappeared in the first three years after leaving Meteor Street, but he still came out to do activities in 1999... Wait." Qi Ya paused, "In 1999... ...The Nightmare Puppeteer left Meteor Street in 1996, and there has been no news since then...Where did she stay in those three years? Why did she become enemies with that official?...I will let the inspector Mi check it out later."

Xiaojie also followed Qi Ya's example and leaned against the door.

"Veronica's younger sister seems very mysterious. By the way, Chiya, does she really look that much like Veronica?"

"It's just the face."

Qiya thought of the photo that was secretly taken again. In the photo, the girl was wearing a black nun's uniform, hugging the doll expressionlessly, looking at the camera with amber eyes, as cold as inorganic gemstones, Compared with the doll in her arms, I don't know which one is more like an inanimate object.

"That guy's eyes are completely different from the guy's eyes inside."

Those are the eyes of people in the dark world.

His kindred eyes.

……

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………………

Veronica was watching the bloody sunset outside the window slowly sinking below the horizon.Distant songs of praise came from the church in the distance, praising God and the kingdom of heaven.

"It's really special to watch the sunset from here."

said Cosette softly.Her black nun's dress was coated with a layer of warm color by the setting sun, and her amber eyes met the orange light, which was reflected into an almost unreal color.

A young man with black hair and black eyes stood behind her, and together with her looked at the horizon that was reflected in golden red.

"That's not how you see the view of the Laurel Tower, Miss Cosette." He calculated the time and smiled, "Ah, it just so happens that the time is almost here..."

He covered Cosette's eyes with his hands, and whispered softly in her ear.His wrist exerted a little force, and Cosette's body unconsciously leaned back. She subconsciously held his wrist to maintain her body's balance.

"...Mr. Kuroro?"

"Will you close your eyes now?" He whispered in her ear, "Five, four, three, two, one... that's it."

Accompanied by the eight bells ringing throughout Atlan, Cosette slowly opened her eyes.

Countless white pigeons fluttered towards the sky, their wings were immersed in the setting sun, and were dyed an extremely gentle orange.In front of the Laurel Tower, the fountain on the square began to sing. The clear water draws a beautiful parabola. Against the setting sun, the water droplets are reflected in extremely gorgeous colors. In the hazy water mist, there are tiny rainbows flowing.In the flowerbeds on both sides of the fountain, pure white flowers suddenly bloomed, and countless small white flowers formed a huge white rose pattern.

The sun sank below the horizon, leaving only a blood-red afterglow.The radiance shone on the white-flowered rose, dyeing it crimson as well.

"This is the sunset in Laurel." He said with a smile, "Only here can you see the 'twilight rose'. That kind of white flower is a single-petal variety among desert roses, and it only blooms when it meets water. Blooming, will wither soon. The urban designers of Atlan specially built them next to the fountain, and designed the flower garden in the shape of roses. At eight o'clock, the fountain made white flowers bloom, and the setting sun dyed them. This is Atlan A unique treasure. The truth of the 'Evening Rose', crimson in the setting sun of Laurel."

Cosette opened her eyes wide, silently watching the scene in front of her.

"so beautiful……"

Kuroro leaned on the railing with one hand, and turned to smile at Cosette. His side face looked extraordinarily handsome in the afterglow of the setting sun, and his black eyes were like obsidian. Light.Such a pair of deep eyes stared at Cosette, and suddenly reached out to help her up the crooked nun's hat.After holding her up, she didn't leave, and her fingertips stayed in her hair, drawing out a strand of flaxen hair.

"Miss Cosette..."

Before he could finish his words, two childish voices interrupted him in unison.

"" Cosette! "

The silver-haired twins rushed over from behind Cosette, pulling her skirt from left to right. The pair of twins looked like children, dressed in black clothes like mourning clothes, and the girl with long hair was wearing a Lolita dress. The short-haired boys in British-style long skirts and British-style suits all had garlands of white flowers on their heads, circling around Cosette.

"Here, Cosette!" The girl put the white flower bracelet on Cosette's left hand.

"Cosette, here you are!" The boy put the white flower bracelet on Cosette's right hand.

""Great, great, Cosette is the most beautiful! " said the two children to Cosette, holding hands and laughing.

"By the way, Cosette." The sister suddenly hugged Cosette's waist.

"The villain is here again." The younger brother put his arms around Cosette's waist from the other side.

""Shall we get rid of him? "" the two children raised their heads and asked Cosette with a smile.

In the bloody slanting light, Cosette slowly wrapped the rosary beads around her wrists, and smiled slightly. Because the light was against the light, half of her face was in the shadow, and it was hard to see what kind of expression she had.But only one thing stands out.

Her eyes did not smile.

"Okay."

Holding the faces of the twins, Cosette gently kissed the lips of the twins.

"Then please."

The twins clapped their hands happily, and the sleeves were slightly pulled up, exposing the ball joints of the wrists.They hugged each other and kissed each other on the cheek.Eyes made of tanzanite stared at each other's faces, and giggled.

"Then you have to do it well, sister."

"That's right, brother."

But Cosette just held the rosary beads made of blue agate, and watched with a smile.

There was a bottomless darkness in those amber eyes.

……

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When Veronica woke up, Chiya was eating a piece of bread beside her bed.Very hard black bread, the taste is not much better, he frowned slightly, swallowed the dry bread, and then came to talk to her.

"You're awake. How are you, are you feeling better?"

Veronica looked at him quietly, and Qi Ya raised the black bread in his hand.

"You are hungry?"

Veronica didn't answer.

She just stretched out her hand, gently stroked Qi Ya's face, and wiped the crumbs from the corner of his mouth.The amber eyes stared at him deeply, the eyes were as gentle as a sea, and Qi Ya was stunned by those eyes.Before Chiya could react, Veronica gently leaned over and kissed the corner of his mouth.

"Good morning, Cosette."

Veronica said with a smile.

……

……

……

Qi Ya froze.

He suddenly remembered a very important thing.

——The kind of sedative that Veronica often takes, besides the dreaminess of the withdrawal reaction, well, there seems to be another one...

Qi Ya turned his head stiffly, looked at Veronica who was hugging him, resting her chin on his shoulder, and gently stroking his heart.He could even hear the crackling of his neck bones.

——It seems that the withdrawal reaction is a hallucination...

Veronica smiled softly at him.

"What is it, Cosette?"

—Is it too late to run now?

Qi Ya thought with a blank face.

☆、September 2003, 9, Crosay