The end of the curtain

?The wooden clogs made a crisp "da da da" sound as they dragged on the bluestone floor, and the skirt covering the ankles was like a touch of gorgeous clouds.

The man wearing the ghost mask led the girl in the turquoise floral bathrobe wearing the fox mask, walked through the streets and alleys trying to avoid the bustling crowd, and finally settled at the beginning of the alley.

In the small stall that has just been set up, the water in the dark brown wooden basin is shining sporadically under the candlelight, and goldfish of different colors are jumping under the water.

An exquisite fox mask covered his delicate face. The man let go of the girl's hand with a smile. His soft laughter was sly and sly, as if coaxing a child who was having a temper tantrum: "Be good, I will take you later." Go to the temple fair."

The girl was startled for a moment, then she stopped talking, just stood obediently to the side pillar and leaned on it, watching the man's childish mischievous appearance, keeping a quiet silence.

You really have the heart of a child...

As he said that, the tall man had already turned his back and squatted down, the corners of his lips raised high under the dim light and shadow covered by the mask.

When the goldfish at the bottom saw someone coming, they all swam quickly in fright, and they knew at a glance that they were not safe enough to be fished away.

The man with a gentle smile was holding a goldfish made of a thin layer of paper, and his blue eyes were slightly curved into a light smile, shining brightly.

The paper goldfish is easy to break if it is stirred quickly in the water, but the man sinks the goldfish to the bottom of the water skillfully. When a goldfish with orange color comes to the side of the goldfish, the man holds his breath Gently scoop up the goldfish.

The child, who was already a little distressed at the moment, saw it because he had tried for a long time without success, and immediately laughed happily: "Ah, big brother is so amazing!"

The man lightly smiled and caressed the child with a pure smile, and handed over the paper bag with the goldfish wrapped in it: "Ah, a child crying like a cat is not good-looking, you have to listen to your mother's words when you give goldfish."

The child took the paper bag with a pleasant smile, nodded repeatedly and said "thank you", and then led the mother away.

The girl slightly widened her pitch-black almond eyes, looked at him in disbelief, and whispered in a whisper, "Well, I didn't expect Okita Souji-kun to be such a gentle person." Just now She could really see in her eyes that the chief executive's tenderness towards the child was out of love, not like the captain of the Shinsengumi Ichiba who always said "I'll kill you" at ordinary times.

"That's an exaggerated statement. Am I really that scary?" The chief executive pretended to be injured, Sakurai gave him a blank look, and nodded mercilessly.

I now feel that the "deputy devil" Toshizo Hijikata is not scary at all. I was lucky enough to meet Souji Okita's tricks to understand what it means to be miserable.

She is a good validator in her own right.

"Ah, if you put it this way, it seems that Xiaoxu really knows me very well." The chief executive casually tore off the ghost mask he was wearing, and then revealed the handsome face that made people want to chop off when they looked at it. With a playful smile, "The chief executive is so scary, so let's try."

Saying that, the big hand stretched out without hesitation, Sakurai turned around and was about to dodge habitually with a calm face, but the chief executive easily grabbed her wrist and dragged her directly to the middle of the lively crowd.

Hey, what do you want to do again...

The closer to the gate of the shrine, the more sparse the number of lanterns hanging on the hemp rope became. Occasionally, only a few people wearing various ghost masks walked by quietly, hardly making any sound.

To go to the mountain to watch the fireworks at midnight, you have to pass through this shrine with a history of nearly a thousand years. Perhaps it is the reason of the Meng Lan Pen Festival. Everyone tries to go up together before dusk or when there are many people. It is rare now. Those who dare to go up the mountain.

The road up the mountain is not like the modern clean cement path. There is only a dirt road that is not too big or small. I don’t know how many years it has been trampled on. On both sides of the dirt road are dense and lush forests, and a string of white shrines. Yubi.

Even the occasional lanterns, even with faint candlelight, are not enough to illuminate the road ahead.

Holding a paper bag of Kopeito in Sakurai's hand, he followed behind the swaying chief executive with shallow steps.To be honest, although she should be an atheist as a doctor, she always has a ghostly feeling when she looks around, and she always feels a little hairy in her heart.

This guy, why did he have to play until so late before going up the mountain...

"Ah, the moon is really round tonight, isn't it the most suitable for doing interesting things?" The general manager's voice with an unknown smile suddenly sounded, which surprised Sakurai unexpectedly.

"...No, it's not!" Knowing that nothing good would happen if he said that, Sakurai didn't react for a while and just remembered denying it again and again.The general manager just turned around with a chuckle, a pair of dark green eyes glowed with a slight fox-like charm, if there was nothing there.

"Ah——" Then, he lazily opened his mouth like a child, and cast his eyes on the bag of Kopeito in Sakurai's hand.

The perfect side face was bathed in the soft silvery moonlight, giving it a vaguely thrilling beauty.

Sakurai frowned sullenly, this situation made her feel uncomfortable and unnatural, so she stuffed Kopeito into his hand and said, "Let's go quickly, it's already late." After finishing speaking , she walked forward quickly without looking back at the chief executive, because she knew that the chief executive would follow.

There will be many people on the mountain, but the tranquility here is a bit too much, almost a deadly silent atmosphere.

So he walked alone for a while, but suddenly felt the footsteps behind him disappearing at some point.Dazed and stopped, he raised his eyes and looked forward. There was no one there, but there was still a long way to go.

Blurred moonlight, smoke cage tree shadows.

After confirming that there was no one following behind, a chill rising from the soles of his feet really made Sakurai shudder.After finally forcing himself to be courageous, Sakurai slowly turned his head to look.

...No one... Okita Souji, when did you see me... You are not planning to run away alone and want to play tricks on me...

"Shusha——" A cool evening wind blew by, and the lush branches beside them made a rustling sound as they rubbed against each other.

...Hey, Souji Okita, you are too disrespectful...I'm not just...You, come out quickly, what the hell is this place...

"Shusha——" There was no response from anyone, but there was always turmoil. When I turned around unintentionally, I seemed to catch a glimpse of a black shadow passing by the woods in front of me at an extremely fast speed.

……

"——Sousuke Okita, get out!!!" Finally unable to bear the eerie feeling of being alone, Sakurai opened his throat angrily, not knowing whether it was because of fear or anger. yelled.

You insisted on dragging me up the mountain in the middle of the night, but now it's good that I didn't give you candy just because you wanted, but you ran errands by yourself, and you threw me here on purpose, didn't you? !

After waiting for a long time, there was still no response, but Sakurai was so angry that he couldn't vent his anger. He raised his eyes and saw a half-sized stone on the side of the road, and kicked the poor stone away without any image.

Seeing the stone flying to the right and directly submerged in the half-human tall grass, Sakurai just vented a little anger and was about to turn around and beat the chief executive out, but in the next second he heard Qingling falling into the water with a "boom" He stopped abruptly at the sound.

Why?Is there any water here...

The clear sound made her calm down. Although Sakurai hesitated a little, she still walked towards the bush quietly after several hesitations.

Gently pushed aside the grass and stepped in with a relatively small step. Just when I was depressed when I became so curious, I accidentally saw a half-foot-wide gurgling water standing in front of me. A tall and slender figure.

Fortunately, the moonlight is quite clear tonight. Although the details cannot be clearly seen, Sakurai still saw the person with his back to her wearing a pink kimono and a beautiful bun, and she was holding a There is a long strip wrapped in dark linen.

Girl, at this time, there should be no other girl who would be left halfway by her companions like herself.And looking at the clothes, that girl looks like the eldest lady of some family.

"Miss..." Sakurai didn't speak out of kindness, but just wanted to ask.But she made it clear that she was asking the girl, but the girl completely ignored Sakurai's intentions and didn't even turn her head to look at it.

Sakurai was a little puzzled, but walked towards the girl involuntarily.

Sakurai was still a few steps away from her, but the girl suddenly and slowly turned her face to the side. After a glimpse, she saw a delicate and familiar face that was especially beautiful under the moonlight.

"Qianhe..." The familiar name was subconsciously murmured in her mouth. Before Sakurai had time to think about it, the girl suddenly turned around and quickly unwrapped the object wrapped in dark linen in her hand. , revealing a Taidao with a dark brown handle.

In just a few seconds, Sakurai's eyes widened suddenly, and at the same time, the sharp edge accompanied by the reflection of Qinghui Yuehua stabbed at her fiercely.

Reflexively, Sakurai hurriedly turned around and avoided, and just circled behind the girl, just thinking of a name in his mind, the girl prepared to strike again with a murderous backhand.

Those dark brown eyes with a vaguely sharp color were full of cruelty, but at the same time, the corners of his lips evoked a smile that didn't match the deep eyes.

Sakurai saw that he was absolutely unable to escape this knife, but unexpectedly, the girl's knife tip stopped steadily when it was only a tiny bit away from his neck.

Then I heard footsteps coming from outside the bushes, calm and powerful.

A slight annoyance appeared on the girl's face, but she seemed to be holding back something.But she just skillfully inserted the gleaming sword back into the scabbard, but when she was about to turn around and leave, she stretched out her slender right hand towards Sakurai——

Pushing hard, Sakurai fell backwards with an unbalanced center of gravity, but out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of the girl's nimble figure flashing across the treetops in front of her, and disappeared.

In the next second, there was only a "plop" sound of falling water resounding through the entire forest, and an icy coolness quickly drowned him.

In the river that was neither deep nor shallow, it was hard to feel the bottom and barely stand firm. While Sakurai was taking a big mouthful of fresh air, his unbiased gaze just happened to see the condescending general who looked down at him with a somewhat inexplicable expression on his face. manage.

——Who am I provoking? ! !He was attacked for no reason and almost lost his life. Before the person left, he was unwilling to push himself into the water and almost suffocated to death! ! !

"Ah, Xiaoxu is really leisurely, take a bath in the river at night~" The chief executive's expression of holding back his internal injuries is very funny, Sakurai is almost so angry that he can't wait to climb up and slap him kill him.

Who do you think caused this? ! !

The current was not very fast, but Sakurai didn't have much support after all, so he couldn't move rashly for a while, and it was not bad to be able to stand firmly in the river that passed his waist.

The boss's beautiful blue eyes were curved into smiling arcs, but at the same time he stretched out his hands to Sakurai, like a child who wanted to be hugged.

"What are you doing?" Sakurai gave him an angry look, not realizing what the chief executive meant.

"Ah, that's too much. Fortunately, I still want to pull you up. It seems that it doesn't have to be so unfeelingly heartbreaking." It looked like he was about to turn around and leave without looking back.

……you!You... Damn it!

Gritting his teeth, Sakurai put his hand on it without hesitation even though his face was full of resentment. ?