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I: The Flowers Are Not Sleeping
Chapter 2: Snow On Branches
Let's go see the cherry blossoms together next year.
***

March was the cherry blossom season. As time went by, the cherry blossoms would bloom from Okinawa in the south to Hokkaido in the north.

Cherry blossoms were in full bloom in the dark night, and the pink flowers were illuminated by the lanterns hung under the eaves. The halo of light was flowing, and the tree shadows were mottled on the cobblestone floor.

The weather in March seemed to still have the chill of winter, and there was still a thin layer of fine snow on the walls on both sides of the street.

Masamichi Yaga stood on the cool and dark street and sneezed hard, feeling a chill in his heart.

Masamichi Yaga, a Grade 1 sorcerer, currently served as the first-year homeroom teacher at Tokyo Metropolitan Curse Technical College.

Since becoming the first-grade homeroom teacher, Yaga had deeply felt that his luck was really bad. Among the only three first-year students in the Jujutsu High School, two were problem children with serious problems. The heir to the Gojo family who was born with Six Eyes, and sorcerer who was born from a commoner. The ability of these two guys to get into trouble together was almost astonishing, and it's very likely that Yaga, who was in his prime, would be pissed to death.

What made Yaga feel a little relieved was that among the three first-year students of the Jujutsu High School, Shoko Ieiri, the only female student, was a worry-free one.

At least she wouldn't cause trouble wherever she went.

The middle-aged man stood in the night breeze let out a melancholy sigh.

The cherry blossom season was perfect for slowly sipping wine under the trees in full bloom.

If he had some free time, Yaga might plan to go to Shinjuku to enjoy the cherry blossoms, but this year it was destined to be impossible. In other words, as long as he was the homeroom teacher of the two problem children, sitting leisurely under the cherry blossom trees and enjoying the cherry blossoms was destined to be impossible.

The phone in his pocket rang.

The familiar feeling of pulling out the cold.

Familiar phone ringtone.

Hehe.

The middle-aged man took out his mobile phone from his pocket without any hesitation. The ID 'Shoko Ieiri' was displayed on the screen. Yaga was a little surprised and his brows relaxed involuntarily. It was not Satoru and Suguru?

Yaga pressed the answer button on the phone. The person on the phone was silent for a long time before slowly speaking, "Good evening, Yaga-sensei."

"Good evening, Shoko." Yaga felt something was wrong with his female student, "What happened?"

"No... it's not a big deal..." The girl hesitated to speak.

"I remember that your mission is to recover special-grade cursed objects." Yaga said, "Did you encounter any trouble? There shouldn't be much problem with Satoru and Suguru there..."

Although the task itself was very flawed.

Problem children were problem children. The problems were big, but they were really strong. The two high school boys who were still underage have already possessed special strength.

There was a loud 'pop' from the phone, and his female student seemed to slap her face hard, making Yaga even more confused.

After a long time, the voice of Shoko taking a deep breath came through the phone, followed by a voice as calm as dead water, "Sensei, Satoru and Suguru are in trouble."

Yaga: "..."

Shoko: "Come and bail them."

Yaga: "..."

Shoko: "Hurry up. If it's a little later, Satoru will demolish the police station."

What needed to be worried about was not the two boys who were caught in the police station, but the police station that locked up the two high school boys.

Yaga: "..."

There's nothing wrong with that.

Yaga was very lucky that he had gone early. If he had been a little late, his white-haired student would have demolished the police station.

It was already late at night when the two troublemakers were taken out of the police station. Almost all the shops on both sides of the street were closed. The two boys who were fished out of the police station were not surprised to receive two fists on the head from their teacher.

Satoru Gojo, who was holding a freshly baked bun on his head, sneezed in the cool night breeze and put his hands into his pockets. Recalled the bright red hair, the strongest high school boy couldn't help but grind his teeth, "Don't let me see that redhead again!"

Suguru Geto patted his white-haired companion on the shoulder and sighed, "It's impossible not to meet her, Satoru."

"You two better give me a reasonable explanation." Although he really wanted to beat these two unlucky things, the top priority at the moment was to find out the situation.

In the past, when these two problem children got into trouble, it was either him or someone else who was unlucky. This was the first time that they got themselves into trouble like this.

The boat had capsized in the gutter.

Suguru sighed, "The special-grade cursed object we want to recover is in that area. Because of the seal, the aura is quite weak. Satoru's eyes are very good, but he can't detect the aura of the cursed object from too far away. We have to search house to house."

During the inspection process, they only need to conduct an inspection around the house. Satoru's eyesight was very good. Although there was a seal on the cursed object, there was still no problem within the range of a house.

In this way, the two people investigated the old Japanese-style house. The house looked a bit old. According to locals, the house was left from a time older than the Meiji era. During this period, the house was renovated several times. The owner's surname was Kawabata.

The son of the head of the Kawabata family died sixteen years ago, and Mrs. Kawabata also died in the fourth year after her son's death. The son left only one daughter, the granddaughter of the head of the Kawabata family.

The granddaughter got married fourteen years ago. The second year after her marriage, the master of the Kawabata family also passed away along with his wife. The granddaughter came back to arrange the funeral of her grandfather and never came back. Until last winter, the granddaughter came back again, seemingly planning to settled here.

Ah, that granddaughter also brought back a red-haired girl. The red-haired girl called her mother, as if she was her daughter, so she was the great-granddaughter of the owner of the Kawabata family who died.

Mother and daughter look nothing alike, but in a few years, the red-haired girl would become a beauty.

The neighbor aunt said so, and asked Suguru if he had a girlfriend.

Suguru Geto: "..."

Based on the wanton behavior of the two peers, Shoko seemed to understand, "So you two... broke into a private house?"

Satoru stretched his neck and said confidently, "We broke into a private house with good reason!"

"Isn't that still breaking into a private house?!" The other three people asked their souls together.

"We didn't make it." Suguru said quietly, "There is residual cursed power in that house, and it has been there for some time. Either there is a sorcerer living in the house, or there is a sorcerer who once lived in the house."

"I prefer the former." Suguru said, "From the information collected, no one has lived in that house for nearly ten years. The owner of the Kawabata family died more than ten years ago, and the curse has remained for more than ten years. It's easy for powerful curses to breed, but that house was surprisingly peaceful."

Except for the faint curse that permeated it, it was a completely ordinary house that was abandoned and then renovated, and the renovation was quite good. The courtyard was carefully trimmed, and a swing was hung under the cherry tree.

From the little redhead, Suguru couldn't feel the slightest bit of cursed energy.

"So I suspect that the cursed object is just stored in that house." Suguru said, "But it is just a suspicion at the moment, and we can only confirm it further first."

"I can't be sure whether there is a sorcerer or not." He could only confirm further.

"In the end, you were sent to the police station." Yaga's mouth twitched, "Ignore this for now, is it the owner of that family who sent you to the police station?"

Satoru squatted on the ground angrily and gritted his teeth, "That red-haired one..."

Suguru said tiredly, "This incident was originally caused by us being abrupt. When a girl sees someone she doesn't know trying to break into her home, shouldn't she be too vigilant?"

"Huh?" Satoru's sunglasses slid down a little, "Do I look like the kind of person who would do such sneaky things?"

Broke into a private house was already a sneaky matter. Shoko and Yaga looked at each other with dead eyes and silently complained in their hearts.

"Ignore these for now," Yaga said, "If the special-grade cursed object is not recovered, then you will have failed the mission."

The three minors were stunned for a moment, and finally turned to look at Yaga.

Satoru pushed up the small sunglasses on the bridge of his nose. Faced the first defeat encounter in his life, the strongest high school boy expressed strong dissatisfaction, "How can I, the strongest, fail the mission? Suguru, let's go!"

Suguru paused, "What do you want to do?"

His intuition told him that what his best friend was going to do was not a good thing.

"Break into a private house!" Satoru gritted his teeth, "This time we will definitely succeed!"

Suguru Geto: "..."

As soon as he finished speaking, Satoru's furry head was hit by his teacher's fist.

The middle-aged man retracted his fist and told the two problem children word for word, with a very fierce tone, "You are not allowed to break into a private house!"

He never wanted to fish for people in the police station again, especially his own students!

The instigator who asked Yaga to come to the station to bail people suddenly sneezed. The red-haired girl took out a tissue from the table, sniffed, crumpled it into a ball, and threw it into the trash can.

The night was already deep, and the cherry blossoms in the courtyard were dyed with a layer of ink color. The night wind blew gently, and the cherry blossoms on the branches fell down one after another.

"Mom?"

Through the paper door, Yayoi saw the light from the kitchen, and a shallow halo of light flowed on the paper door.

Yayoi opened the door and saw her mother who couldn't sleep at night and was tinkering in the kitchen.

Her mother turned her head and smiled softly when she saw Yayoi standing at the door, "Yayoi got up so early."

Yayoi blinked and her nose moved. The smell of red bean soup filled the kitchen.

"Red bean rice cake soup?" Yayoi said.

"Yes." Mother smiled softly, "This is the best time to drink red bean and rice cake soup. When I was a child, my grandma would make red bean and rice cake soup at this time."

"My grandparents and I were sitting together in the room near the courtyard, drinking red bean rice cake soup." Mother handed the serving of red bean rice cake soup to Yayoi.

Yayoi took the bowl from her mother's hand and carefully brought it to her mouth to take a sip of the red bean soup.

Really sweet.

Yayoi licked the soup at the corner of her mouth, and the slowly rising white mist filled the corners of her amber eyes with a faint mist.

Yayoi liked to eat sweet things.

"May I have your name?"

A long time ago, there was an older girl with the same hair color as her. She opened the door that separated her from the world. The soft pale gold color in the morning and the bright red color on her head broke into Yayoi's eyes.

"I don't have a name." At that time, Yayoi was not yet 'Yayoi', she was just a vessel made by someone.

The girl with the same color hair as Yayoi was stunned for a moment, with an expression on her face that Yayoi couldn't understand. After a long time, Yayoi realized that it was called sadness.

The red-haired girl put a small candy into her hand, "Do you like sweets?"

Yayoi shook her head, "I don't know."

The red-haired girl led Yayoi out of the room. Yayoi saw the world for the first time, and she realized that there was a cherry blossom tree in the courtyard in front of the room that had been closed to her. The pink flowers were heavy on the branches. The branches of the cherry blossom tree were bent, and a pale golden halo flows on the petals.

"This is cherry blossoms." The red-haired girl bent down and lowered her head to tell her

"Do you like cherry blossoms?" the red-haired girl asked again, "It's March now, and March is the season when cherry blossoms are in full bloom. I'll call you Yayoi, okay?"

"Okay." Yayoi said.

"Let's go to the room in front of the garden," Yayoi held the bowl, "along with red bean rice cake soup."

Let's go see the cherry blossoms together next year, Yayoi.

With her sister's words echoed in her mind, Yayoi lowered her eyes and took a sip of the red bean and rice cake soup in her hand.

'I like sweets and cherry blossoms, sister.'

Yayoi opened the paper door faced the room. There were no stars tonight, and the silver-white moonlight filled the entire courtyard. Compared with the brightness during the day, the cherry blossoms under the moonlight looked softer.

Yayoi ran to the room to find a blanket for her mother to put on. After turned on the kotatsu, she took out a pot of red bean rice cake soup from the kitchen. She and her mother each sat in the kotatsu, looked at the cherry blossoms, and slowly drank the red bean soup and ate the rice cake in it.

The woman sitting in the kotatsu held her chin with one hand, watched the cherry blossoms fell in the garden, and she gradually became trance-like. Her long black hair fell from her ears to her shoulders.

"Mom?" Yayoi called.

Mother came back to her senses following Yayoi's voice, turned her head, her eyes were still a little dull and confused, and it took a long time for her dark eyes to regain focus.

"Sorry, sorry, Yayoi." Mom smiled and waved her hands, "I was distracted."

Yayoi blinked, "Are the cherry blossoms so beautiful?"

Her mother paused, "Yes, mom... and dad, met in the cherry blossom forest in Shinjuku."

"At that time, mom and dad were not adults yet, and we didn't go to the same high school." Mom curled her lips, holding a white porcelain bowl filled with red bean soup in both hands, the dark red liquid reflecting the blurry face, "So we exchanged names with each other. I thought we would never meet again, but then we ended up working in the same company..."

"Then Yayoi came along..." The corners of her mother's mouth curved deeper, and then her brows relaxed, with a look similar to her sister's... sadness on her face, "I really like the red-haired Yayoi, but..."

"I also like mothers with black hair and black eyes." Yayoi said.

Her mother was stunned for a moment. Her daughter's red hair was so beautiful and enthusiastic from beginning to end. It was even more beautiful than the cherry blossoms back then.

Mom bent her eyes and said, "Ah, mom's favorite is indeed Yayoi."

"This year we can go to Shinjuku to see the cherry blossoms." Yayoi held her chin in her hands and blinked her amber eyes. "Mom can sit under the cherry blossom trees and take some photos. Mom and I can take photos together, and we can also go to Shinjuku Avenue."

"Hai, hai, I really want to go with Yayoi this year." Mom said with a smile, and then couldn't help but yawn.

"It's still early, let's go get some sleep." Yayoi winked, "Lack of sleep is a taboo for women's beauty."

Mom reached out and flicked Yayoi's forehead, "You are still a little girl!"

Yayoi covered her forehead and pouted.

"Then I'll go into the room and sleep for a while." Mom said.

"No problem, I will call you when Mrs. Tanaka comes." Yayoi said.

The paper partition door was closed again, and the room fell into silence again. The floor under the eaves was covered with pink cherry blossoms, and the red bean rice cake soup on the table was still steaming.

Yayoi put her chin on the table with her hand, looked at the red bean rice cake soup for a while, sighed, and said intentionally or unintentionally, "I can't finish it, so throw it away."

From the corner of her eye, she glanced at the wall that separated the courtyard and the outdoors. A subtle scratching sound reached her ears, and her ears twitched unconsciously.

Yayoi tilted her head.

Under the wall were two high school boys who were unwilling to give up.

Winter had just left, and the weather in early spring still retained the chill of winter. In this weather, sat in the kotatsu at home and drank a bowl of red bean rice cake soup was a very enjoyable thing. On the other hand, going on a mission in the cold weather was simply not done by humans.

There was no harm if there was no comparison, and comparison between people was infuriating.

Suguru, like Satoru, wanted to end the mission immediately, return to the Jujutsu High School and hide in the kotatsu for the rest of his life. However, compared to Satoru, Suguru, who had a gentler personality, obviously had a little more sense.

"Satoru, calm down!" Suguru held his white-haired best friend's arm tightly and covered his mouth with one hand to prevent him from making a sound. On the other hand, he tried his best to lower his own voice, "Yaga-sensei said, you can't break into a private house! And that's an ordinary girl!"

His friend was a sweet party, and there was nothing more painful than having a sweet party watch you eating in front of him. Not only could he not enjoy the delicious food together, but he also had to work hard.

Even if you didn't eat it, you still have to throw it away?!

This was simply a crazy dance on Master Gojo's minefield. When had Master Gojo ever been wronged like this?!

It was freezing cold. The high school boy, who had experienced entering the police station, starving and freezing in the cold weather, was on the verge of loss of wisdom. His mind was frantically jump back and forth, considering the two options of 'kill the little redhead' and 'kill the guy who sent the mission'.

"Suguru, let me go." Satoru took a deep breath.

Suguru paused, "Okay, I'll let you go, don't be impulsive."

"..." After a moment, Satoru snorted.

Suguru felt that his white-haired friend had compromised, and slowly released his hand holding his arm. Then his white-haired friend instantly ran up the wall of the little red-haired girl's house.

Suguru Geto looked at his empty palm blankly.

Suguru Geto: ???

Suguru Geto: !!!

Suguru Geto: "Satoru, stop!"

That's just an ordinary girl!

Suguru Geto, who was worried about the life of the red-haired girl and his best friend, hurriedly climbed up the wall.

Immediately afterward, Suguru hurriedly climbed up to the wall and stood stunned. The rich sweetness of the red bean soup penetrated his nose.

An electric stove was placed under the soup pot containing red bean and rice cake soup. The red bean soup was steaming under the heat of the electric stove. There were several empty bowls and pairs of chopsticks next to the electric stove.

His best friend sitting in the kotatsu raised his hand, and the hand that had been tucked into the quilt at some point stretched out, as if a friend he hadn't seen for a while waved and greeted him in high spirits, "Hi, Suguru!"

Suguru Geto: "..."

Suguru Geto: ???

Suguru Geto: Why did I feel like I missed several episodes?

Not long ago, the red-haired girl whom Suguru was worried that would be beaten by his friend, now held up a bowl of steaming red bean soup towards him, "Want a bowl? The red bean soup cooked by mom is very fragrant. You will definitely regret not drinking it."

Suguru: "..."

The white-haired best friend sat next to the red-haired girl had already picked up the bowl and started eating. It seemed that because his friend was silent, he looked up.

"No problem, Suguru!" Satoru held the chopsticks in one hand and the bowl in the other, with the boiled red beans still stuck to his lips.

Suguru: "..."

Suguru: "...please."

I didn't want to, I really didn't want to, blame that bowl of red bean soup that was too fragrant.

***
· Genuine translation can be found only in OchatimesBlogspotCom, FanFictionNet, and Wattpad

• Omake •

#Small Drama

Yuji: Gojo-sensei, I have something to say!

Satoru: Hai! Please speak, Yuji-san!

Yuji: How did Gojo-sensei meet sister?

Satoru: That's easy to say. The first time we met, I was sent to the police station by your sister. Yayoi really exceeds the mark!

Yuji: Wow— [star eyes.jpg]

Nobara: ...

Megumi: ...well done, Yayoi-san.

The red-haired Uzumaki girl has a very strong sense of perception. Even though her current state is close to that of an ordinary person, she feels it when the two high school boys approached her home.

Little redhead's IQ comes online at this time.

This is a tiring chapter for Brother Suguru, who has to hold on to his friend who has dementia, comfort the little redhead, and shirk the neighbor aunt who wants to introduce him to a girlfriend.

Ps: Yayoi's irregular natural black attribute is probably due to her frequent contact with her brother-in-law, who is so dark that he doesn't even know it himself... right?


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