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II: Lily of the Valley
Chapter 64: You and I
"I didn't bring an umbrella, can you support me~"

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*pitter-patter* *pitter-patter*

The rain outside the window was falling, it's raining non-stop.

The rain was pouring down, and the raging rain seemed to be the only noise in the world. The streetlamps stained by rain flickered black and white, turning dark and bright.

There were a few sparse lights on outside the window, and the rain hit the glass window, shattering and bursting, like exploding flowers in an instant.

Yayoi slept uneasily, and seemed to be unable to find relief in her sleep, her brows furrowed slightly.

There was an insurmountable boundary between life and death.

The dead could not return to this world, and the living could not ignore the taboo boundaries and break into the other world of the deceased.

People were afraid of death and their attachment to living was deep in their bones. Therefore, for the living, the world of the dead was an unknown filth, and they shy away from death, fear it, dread it, and revere it.

If someone really crossed that taboo line that was considered ominous and returned to this time, that was "filth".

People who return to this world carrying "filth" did not belong to the living or the dead. They were like lonely ghosts who wander helplessly in the world of the living because of obsessions that couldn't be let go. They have no place for themselves anywhere. There was no place where they should stay.

The cherry blossoms on the branches were stained with rainwater, fell from the branches, and were instantly covered with mud.

The vermilion torii gate stood in the sea breeze, ebbing and flowing. The ancient tide echoes in the sea breeze, carrying the cry of seagulls.

The ground underfoot was paved with bluestone slabs, and fine moss was stuffed between the gaps in the slabs.

The everlasting ebb and flow, the sea breeze carried the faint salty smell of seawater, and the chirping of birds soothed the body and mind.

When she in a bad mood, she would run to the shrine built facing the sea and stand under the torii gate, watching the cherry blossoms blooming all over the sky.

When she was in a good mood, there was actually no difference from when she was in a bad mood. Or maybe it was just because at that time she couldn't tell what was a good mood and what was a bad mood, or maybe, for the "container" at that time, there wasn't much difference.e

The golden light shone on the sea, and the water was sparkling amid the ups and downs.

The thick haze spread from one end of the sea, across the vast sea, and across the ocean. The warm sea breeze became cold and biting, and waves of cold wind blew past my face.

The white snow was carried by the cold wind, and the fragile flower branches creaked in the wind, almost breaking.

Gloomy sky, gloomy sea.

It's going to snow.

'This was... an unknown "filth"!'

As soon as she started to remember, the first words she heard were nothing but frightened sentences with a trembling tail end of awe.

Who was the person who said that? Yayoi had forgotten him.

If she forgot, she forgot. Anyway, she didn't remember that person in the first place.

Yayoi vaguely remembered what she was holding. She was still very young at that time, wrapped in thick cloth, and her ears could vaguely hear the howling wind and snow outside the house.

It was originally a good spring, and the cherry blossoms on the branches were already in bloom, but suddenly a snowstorm blew overnight. The wind was as cold and sharp as a knife, and heavy snow piled on the branches of the cherry blossoms.

Blurred figures surrounded her, and the eyes looking at her made her feel confused.

The light in the room was very dim. The lights danced in the bronze lamps. Several long figures were elongated by the lights and hit the tatami. More than half of the people's faces were sunk in shadow.

They all gathered around the person holding the child, looking at the small, soft child wrapped in swaddling clothes with some panic.

'That woman is playing with life regardless of life and death! This child is "unknown filth"! She cannot continue to exist!'

Someone said loudly.

The wind and snow outside the window were still roaring, and the decisive words were drowned in the roar of the wind and rain.

'It's so noisy, really noisy.'

Yayoi, who was wrapped in a thick cotton jacket, was drowsy, but was unable to sleep because of the loud arguments outside the swaddle, the howling of the wind and snow, the emotional arguments, and the wind banging on the doors and windows.

'Waa—'

The swaddled child let out a childish protest of dissatisfaction.

All the quarrels stopped at this moment.

The shouts outside the window were still there, and the wind was still beating hard against the doors and windows.

She finally got what she wanted, she just wanted to sleep peacefully.

Silence fell in the air, and the lights danced in the bronze lamps.

It took a long time before someone spoke up again.

'Don’t let anyone know about her existence.'

'Let her live quietly, live without being known, and die without being known...'

'Don't let anyone know.'

The snow was falling outside the window, and it kept falling. The sharp cold wind tore the memory into pieces and rolled up the cold white snow.

The rain kept falling, never stopping or resting, hitting the smooth glass windows like marbles one after another.

'Don't let anyone know.'

'Stay here quietly.'

'Don't let anyone know.'

'Yayoi.'

'Yayoi.'

'Yayoi, are you bored?'

She was still young at that time. She was still a little girl only as tall as her sister's waist. She could neither cry nor laugh.

Yayoi didn't like her own red hair, but she liked her sister's red hair.

Because her sister was the best person in the world, she was good everywhere, including the red hair that was the same but different from hers.

All her red hair was flowing down, and her beautiful eyes were filled with starlight.

'What is boring, and what is it if it's not boring?'

The branches above the head were decorated with prosperous flowers, falling like rain and snow, and the wind chimes under the eaves were spinning in a circle.

'If you don’t know, I’ll just assume you’re bored.'

Yayoi heard her words, but she didn't quite understand.

'Want to go out with me?'

Delicate and soft sunlight splashed down from the flowering branches. The girl stretched out her hand towards her, her wide sleeves hanging down her arms, revealing a section of her fair skin.

Yayoi stared at the stretched out hand for a long time. After tilting her head, she slowly stretched out her hand and took hold of the hand.

Soft and warm, like holding the spring sun.

'Are you bored?'

The noisy chirping of cicadas in midsummer was in heard in the ears, the warm wind was stirring the layers of leaves, and the shadows of the trees were swaying under the scorching sun.

'Meow~'

The unusually fat orange cat lying on its knees yawned, and then let out a soft meow.

Small black sunglasses hang on the bridge of his straight nose. Under the clear sky, the beautiful eyes exposed above the sunglasses were like blue ink spilled on white paper, so blue that they were so clear and pure.

Taking advantage of his height, he bent down and stood in front of it, looking down at the cat.

The wind chimes made of glass under the eaves have clear sunlight flowing on their smooth surfaces, and soft meows of a cat could be heard from underneath.

The man with small sunglasses on his nose suddenly reached out to it, accurately pinched the back of the neck of the fat orange cat on his knees, and threw the fat orange cat out with lightning speed.

'Meow?!'

The big orange cat let out a shrill scream.

The orange cat, who was thrown to the ground in a daze, came to its senses and wanted to crawl back to its owner's lap to take a nap. It found that the territory that should have belonged to it was now occupied by a big white cat.

The big white cat smacked his mouth, muttering something like, "It's really comfortable," and turned over, exposing the white back of his head to it.

'Meow meow meow?!'

The orange cat waved its claws and pounced towards the white cat with the momentum of a tiger pouncing on food, but was stuck in mid-air by the Limitless technique.

'Meow meow meow!!!'

The big orange cat made an angry meow.

Yayoi picked up the big orange cat that was strung up in mid-air by the Limitless technique, touched the big orange cat's head, which was much larger than ordinary cats, and whispered to it.

'Don’t be angry, I have another knee.'

The ears of the white cat resting on one of Yayoi's knees twitched, and it clucked again. With lightning speed, it invaded the big orange cat's territory, quickly climbed onto Yayoi's lap, and spread his legs openly. He used it as a pillow, closed his eyes, took off his sunglasses and put on an eye mask, turned over, and fell asleep with a series of movements in one go.

'Meow!!!'

The big orange cat's tail instantly exploded into a club shape, and Yayoi hugged its belly, the big orange cat waving its limbs in the air.

'Don’t be angry, don’t be angry.'

Yayoi comforted the big orange cat.

The big orange cat didn't appreciate it. The white cat on Yayoi's lap remained motionless, letting the mountain collapse in front of it and the orange cat dancing in front of him.

Yayoi placed the big orange cat on the floor beside her legs. The orange cat lay on the floor against her thighs and meowed several times in anger.

Yayoi touched the orange cat's soft back and said, "He hasn't slept well for several days. You've been sleeping every day. Let him sleep for a while. You have to be a generous cat."

The coaxed big orange cat meowed softly, curled up into a ball, purred with its big mouth, and fell asleep against Yayoi's legs.

'Little redhead.'

The sound of cicadas was still noisy, and the midsummer sunshine poured down from the eaves.

'Are you bored?'

The white cat wearing a blindfold and using her thigh as a pillow spoke again.

'I'm not bored.' Yayoi said.

You were all making such a fuss, it's strange that she could become bored.

'You look like a dull gourd.' purred the white cat who used her thigh as a pillow.

'Then you are a noisy white cat.' Yayoi's tone was calm and lifeless.

After Satoru rolled over on Yayoi's lap and hummed a few words, he said nothing more. The cicadas in his ears were still chirping noisily, and the breathing of the person resting on Yayoi's lap gradually became smoother and evener.

He actually fell asleep.

The soft white hair brushed against the skin, a little itchy.

Yayoi touched the hair of the guy who was occupying her thigh openly and confidently using her thigh as a pillow.

'I'm not bored, I'm just... a little lonely.'

So lonely.

So lonely, so lonely, so lonely.

•

If you didn’t see the blooming cherry blossoms in spring, you wouldn’t miss the bright and warm sunshine of spring in the cold winter.

Some people say that meeting was just the beginning of parting.

This sentence was very sad, but actually there was some truth in it.

If no one pushed open the closed door, she would not realize that the outside belonged to other people. If the person who pushed the door was not her sister, she would not know that there were other red colors in the world.

More and more people pushed open the door, and more and more people ran into her courtyard.

The cherry blossoms bloom and fall, falling from the branches, stained with dust, and rotting in the mud, turning into nutrients for the next year's blooming cherry blossoms. In spring, the buds on the branches were opened and bloom like hazy clouds.

No one came again.

She was alone in the courtyard, as if no one had ever been there.

So lonely, so lonely.

'Are you bored?'

Very bored.

I'm dying of suffocation.

"Amamiya-sensei!"

The white light stung the eyeballs, and saline water overflowed from the corners of the eyes reflexively.

Yayoi found herself falling asleep sitting in her office.

Takei-sensei, who stayed with her on duty, covered her with a blanket. The temperature in spring was much warmer than that in late winter, but at the same time, spring was the season when influenza was rampant. A person who accidentally caught a cold would contract the epidemic. A cold was bad.

It's still raining.

The stars poured down from the sky last night, and the starlight reflected the bright lights of the city, but they quietly went out in a moment. The neon lights in the distance were still on, but the starlight suddenly went out, and pouring rain poured down from the clouds.

The branches outside the window were trembling between the wind and rain. The rainwater hit the glass window and exploded into water splashes, sliding down the transparent glass window.

The rain hit the glass window, and the crackling sound lingered in her ears.

Yayoi had an uneasy sleep this time. When she woke up in a daze, the blanket that originally covered her shoulders had slipped to her arms and was half hanging on her body.

Her throat was a little dry.

Yayoi licked her chapped lips.

Takei-sensei brought her a glass of water.

Yayoi took the water glass and thanked her. The half glass of water slid down her mouth and into her throat, moistening her dry throat.

"Are you too tired, Amamiya-sensei?" The older woman sat down and looked at Yayoi worriedly, "I see you frown even in your sleep."

Yayoi was holding the cup, and across the paper cup, the warm water temperature was transferred to the palm of her hand. The rim of the paper cup was moist with water vapor, and there was still steam on the cup.

"I suddenly thought of something." Yayoi lowered her eyelids slightly.

"Don't think too much." Takei-sensei comforted softly, "When I was young, I was just like you, I liked to keep a lot of things in my heart."

There were only Yayoi and Takei-sensei in the office. The lights overhead were lit quietly, and the dim light fell on the neat folders.

"But thinking too much will only add pressure to yourself." Takei-sensei laughed softly, "Well, you won't understand some things even if I say them now."

"Time will tell."

Some memories that she had never noticed before were placed in the corner and accumulated a thick layer of dust. They were inconspicuous and unattractive. However, when she recalled them, a feeling of loneliness emerged inexplicably. Extremely heartbreaking.

It had been a long time since she had felt such deep-seated loneliness.

The rain outside the window was still falling, pattering, the rain blurred the glass windows, and the neon lights left blurred patches of color on them.

Yayoi opened the umbrella.

The rain kept falling. Yayoi took out the mobile phone stuffed in her pocket and looked down at the bright screen.

The sound of patter of rain lingered in her ears, and little bits of rain stained the screen of her mobile phone.

It's getting late, and judging from the situation, the rain was not going to stop tonight.

The streets were full of water, and the raindrops made ripples in circles. The lights of streetlamps rippled in the water.

There had been frequent rains in the past few days, and the sewers in the streets had been blocked. The emergency repair department had not yet repaired them, and water had accumulated on the ground.

If she step out directly, her shoes would definitely not escape the tragedy of being soaked in water. The feeling of wetness in the shoes was extremely uncomfortable. Yayoi didn't like that feeling.

So she simply took off her shoes and stepped into the water with her bare feet. The cold rain made her toes tremble, but after adapting to the temperature, there was no big problem.

Yayoi carried her shoes, rolled up her trouser legs, and held an umbrella. She stepped on the water on the street with her bare feet. The rainwater jumped under her feet. The raindrops wet her hair, and the ripples swirled in the water.

The streetlights on both sides of the street were on quietly, and the lights rippled in the water, rippling outward with the ripples.

It was getting late, and neon lights could be faintly seen in the distance. The 24-hour convenience store was still open, and the billboards were as bright as torches in the dark night.

Yayoi suddenly remembered that she used to like to run around without shoes. When it snowed, she would walk around in the snow with bare feet, imitating the squirrels jumping off the branches and jumping in the snow, leaving behind a series of her footprints, and her clothes were stained with fine snowflakes.

She wouldn't get sick or catch a cold, and could run in the snow to her heart's content.

But Grandma Kuriko said this was not good.

'You won’t get sick, but you will be cold.'

'Don’t make yourself uncomfortable.'

'Don’t make yourself uncomfortable.'

'But thinking too much will only add pressure to yourself.'

Yayoi turned the umbrella handle, and the umbrella covered with rainwater rotated like a rotating kaleidoscope. The umbrella was covered with cat patterns, a cat cake that collapsed into a ball, a cat that stretched itself into a triangle, and a yawning cat.

Orange lights fell from the top of the streetlamp pole, and the cold rain stained the orange lights.

Yayoi noticed a man standing under the streetlamp. The man looked very tall. In the dark night of heavy rain, he was wearing a black loose coat, which almost blended into the night.

Yayoi was stunned for a moment, stopped, and her feet were soaked in the water.

*swish* *swish*

The rain tilted the branches of the green plants on the street, and showers of rain fell from the branches. The lights and the rain were intertwined.

Mid-March was not the best season for viewing Sendai's cherry blossoms. The most beautiful season for Sendai's cherry blossoms was April, when the blooming cherry blossoms fall like rain and snow.

The branches of the Sendai's cherry trees in March, the pink petals of the cherry trees were spread out, waiting for the warm days suitable for blooming.

It's a pity that it rained tonight, and the rain was heavy. A large number of flower buds did not survive the rain. The water on the soles of the feet rolled up the petals and flowed past. The cherry blossoms above the head bowed their heads in the rain.

The rain pattered on the umbrella, and the flower buds stained with rain glistened under the light.

"I didn't bring an umbrella. Can you support me~"

He gently bent down and lifted her umbrella so that she could see his face.

There were raindrops on the ends of the hair on his forehead. In the dark night, blue pupils suddenly appeared, and delicate white eyelashes were hung with delicate raindrops.

The lights smeared on the eyebrows, and the eyebrows were curved, carrying a feline-like cunning.

The stars seemed to break and fall from the sky, passing through the atmosphere, rubbing out dazzling starlight, and fell into those eyes.

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


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