Page 281
"I don't like ghost stories."
"Isn't Xinchun-chan a shrine maiden?" Yang Kui Chitose leaned close to her ear.
Matsumae Shinchun didn't pay much attention to her intimacy. She grabbed the violin case beside her and began to slowly pack up her violin.
"When I was a child, the place I lived in was too big. As a shrine maiden of the Matsumae family, I had to run back and forth between the courtyard and the shrine every day. Although they were both at home, I was still afraid of the night road in between. Over time, I developed a fear of the dark."
"No one's with you tonight? You're a young lady!"
"No. As the daughter of the head of the family, independence is also very important."
Chitose Yang Kui was moved: "I thought it was an excuse that Kokoharu-chan used to evade me that night, but I didn't expect it to be true."
"How could I lie to you? Chitose, you are my good friend."
Seeing the other person's smile as warm as the sun, Yang Kui Chitose felt that she had misunderstood Xinchun again, and guilt surged in her heart.
I shouldn't have been so suspicious of Xinchun.
Xinchun is just a simple and gentle young lady.
"Let's go play by the creek."
"why is that?"
"Anyway, I have nothing to do now, and it's cool over there! Let's go."
"But the creek is beyond our range. Akai-sensei will be angry."
Yang Kui Chitose frowned and shook her short hair, "She's angry, so she's angry! And Xinchun, don't you think Akai Muzi still has bad intentions towards Brother Shu? Humph, I won't listen to her~"
Matsumae Shinharu smiled at Chitose's cute look.
"Chitose is jealous."
"No sister likes to see her good brother being touched by other women, okay!"
"That day, Qiansui was jealous like this?"
"Of course! So Xinchun, please stop hugging Brother Shu like that, okay~ I still treat you as my good sister!"
"Ah."
"Well, let's not talk about this anymore. Let's go to the creek. I know there's a good place nearby!"
"That instrument" Matsumae Shinchun glanced at the violin case in her hand.
"It's okay, it's okay, just put it here, no one will take it, I'll put it here too, let's go, let's go! Stop wasting time!"
"Hey! Slow down!"
Chitose Haruki ran out of the end of the practice area holding Matsumae Shinharu's hand.
The two secretly climbed over the fence and came to the other side of the forest, upstream of the Karuizawa River.
When the wire mesh blocked the two of them, Yang Kui Chitose climbed over it in just two steps. She wanted to take care of Xinchun, but she didn't expect Xinchun's hands and feet were also very agile. He climbed up the wire mesh in a few seconds and then jumped down from the height.
This shocked Yang Kui Chitose.
"Chitose.? Why are you staring at me?"
"Xinchun-chan doesn't look like a pampered young lady at all. How come she is so good at fighting!"
Matsumae Shinchun smiled reservedly, "I also took self-defense lessons when I was young. I asked an elder from the clan to be my teacher. I also learned some kendo and judo."
"Then will Kokoro-chan still fight?!"
"It's not a fight, just self-defense."
"The eldest daughter of the Matsumae family is so amazing!"
"No la."
The two girls continued to move forward.
Passing through the grass and stepping over dead branches, the two soon arrived at the stream that Yang Kui Qiansui mentioned. This is at the foot of the mountain, and there is a small waterfall.
Water cascades down from the scaly rocks on the top of the mountain. The water below is fast-flowing, yet clear enough to see the bottom.
Matsumae Shinharu squatted on the shore, reached out to touch the flowing water below, and the cool feeling rushed straight to his heart.
This is the most refreshing feeling on a hot summer day.
"This"
"Hehe, what a great place!"
"Hmm! How did Chitose find out?"
"I saw it on SNS. Someone said there is this place on the back mountain of Karuizawa. So I went here to take a look during my free time. Sure enough, there is this place! Not many people know about this place now~~"
Touching the cool water with her hands, Matsumae Shinchun looked at her own reflection in the ripples of the stream and smiled.
She probably understood why Chitose had dragged her here.
This is really treating yourself as a true good friend.
There is such a pleasant place and I want to share it with myself as soon as possible.
She also felt like playing at this time.
She took off her shoes and socks on her own initiative, stepped her snow lotus-like little feet on the green grass, then sat by the river and put her toes into the stream.
A cool feeling spreads throughout the body.
Matsumae Shinharu played with the water with her little feet. The waves of the stream surged and flowed between the girl's pink toes.
She looked very happy.
"Xinchun's feet are so pink and white."
"is it?"
"Hmm," Yang Kui Chitose also noticed the red string on her ankle, "and why does Kokoroharu-chan have a little bell tied to her foot?"
"this?"
Matsumae Shinchun gently lifted her right foot and floated to the surface. Her entire lotus foot, with water and a string of bells, was exposed to view.
"Ah."
"This is a foot bell my mother made for me. It's for my protection. In the past, the foot bell would allow mothers to locate their children, but now it has more symbolic meaning."
Matsumae Shinchun started playing with the water with her feet again.
Just like a child.
"Kokoharu-chan must have been very lonely when she was little."
"How do you talk about this?"
"Because I asked Brother Shu about Xinchun-chan later, and Brother Shu told me your previous story, Xinchun-chan."
Chitose Yang Kui's eyes turned to the small bell on her best friend's ankle.
Talking about the past and her mother, Matsumae Shinchun felt a little sad, but she still smiled and answered:
"It's in the past."
"It is precisely because Brother Shu is a student of Xinchun's mother that Xinchun has a special feeling for Brother Shu."
"Hmm." Matsumae Shinchun stopped playing with the water and supported her hands on both sides. "Teacher Fujii told me a lot of things about my mother, things about my mother that I didn't know."
"Why did Xinchun-chan's mother leave?"
"I'm not sure. No one in the family wants to talk about these things. But it seems that after my mother left, my father seemed to have become a different person because of family matters."
"Xinchun is so pitiful."
Matsumae Shinchun encouraged Chitose Yang with a smile: "Chitose is more pitiful than me! But aren't you still so happy now?"
"Me? I'm different. I've had Brother Shu and the dean since I was a child. After Brother Shu left, I still have my current adoptive parents."
Yang Kui Chitose took off her shoes and socks and sat beside her to play with her feet in the water. She stared at her reflection in the water.
"Everyone is still taking care of me. I feel at home. It's lively every day at home. I feel very happy helping my father run the hot spring shop every day. I wonder if you have ever had this feeling, Xinchun."
".Home?"
"Correct."
The two of them stared at the stream at the same time, remaining silent.
"Very rarely," Matsumae Shinchun replied in a low voice, "I can still feel it from my aunt. I see my father less and less. The last time I saw him was a year ago."
Yang Kui Chitose was silent for a long time again.
"I understand more and more how you want to be Shu's brother or sister. Okay, Xinchun, hug Shu a little bit in the future, just for a little while. I can agree to it. But! Just don't do it in front of me! I will still be jealous and unhappy."
Matsumae Shinharu showed a happy expression that Chitose understood her.
"Chitose is so cute."
"Brother Shu also likes to praise me like this."
As the two chatted, Matsumae Shinchun remembered something and asked:
"By the way, Chitose, do you know what Mr. Fujii was doing in downtown Tokyo today? Purchasing musical instruments?"
".Go find Jiuhuayue."
"Looking for Xiaoyue?!"
"Yes." Yang Kui Chitose hugged her legs and buried her face in her knees, "She said she wanted to go see a performance by Jiuhuayue."
"I see."
"Hmm? Xinchun, aren't you jealous?"
"Jealous? Why are you jealous?"
"Brother Shu is also your brother now," Yang Kui Qiansui said in pauses, as if he was a little reluctant, but forced himself to be willing, "He is also your brother!"
"That's right. But Mr. Fujii went to see Xiaoyue because they were friends, right?"
"Why would Xinchun think so?" Chitose was curious.
"Why?" Matsumae Shinchun wondered, "Isn't that exactly the case?"