the next day.

In the darkness before dawn, the rain that had been raining outside the window for half the night had stopped, and the sound of birdsong was heard far away. I think it was very close to dawn now.

Yong Ye, who had rested for four hours, opened her eyes, her hands were clenched as tightly as last night, and the **** the bed was still in that ill state, but she somehow felt that she slept well.

It was not easy to wake the sleeping girl, so Yong Ye started meditating to kill time, but it didn't take long before Hei Tong woke up by himself.

"Wu~uh~!"

The black pupil, whose consciousness was still dazed, did not open his eyes, but only made a sound of unknown meaning.

She felt like she had a long dream, and she didn't seem to wake up from that dream. That dream was not the nightmare she had always had, nor the nightmare that she and her sister suffered when she was a child, and it was not the one when her sister left. Nightmares, or the nightmares of their sisters being kidnapped, but the opposite of good dreams.

Accompanied by the sound of wind and rain outside the window at night, she dreamed of the night she first met Yong Ye in the pouring rain eight years ago.

"Good morning, forever night."

The girl with a slightly morbid feeling showed a bright smile to the person in front of her on this refreshing morning, as if she was not the one who was panting in pain yesterday.

"Morning...Speaking of which, did you have any good dreams? It feels like you slept well."

"I dreamed of when we first met eight years ago."

"Is it... a nightmare?"

Hei Tong's words in the early morning made Yong Ye lose his voice. Looking back on the scene of the first meeting, he didn't think it would be a pleasant memory for the Hei Tong sisters.

I remember that on that rainy day, he directly kicked Chi Tong and grabbed Hei Tong's clothes, accidentally tearing and stripping her tattered rags.

Although it was only a child at that time, but that is probably an unforgettable past, right? Originally, Yong Ye thought so, but...

"How is it possible, that was the beginning of happiness after my sister and I ended wandering."

"...The beginning of happiness? It always feels subtle."

"Yong Ye may not know... But that meeting was the beginning of happiness for me and my sister, of course... It would have been better if I could have been gentler at the beginning, Yong Ye was still too rude, and she was so rude to girls... …”

Completely different from Yong Ye's point of view, for Hei Tong, that time was so warm, so reassuring, and so happy that she felt as if she had the motivation to continue working hard to live whenever she recalled it.

Even if it was really embarrassing to be stripped, she didn't want to erase precious memories for something that didn't really matter when she was a child, and she didn't want to be called a nightmare.

"...I didn't think too much about it at the time, so I can't blame it."

Looking back on the past, Yong Ye, who could only smile bitterly, was okay with carefully observing his mental state, but Hei Tong, who felt his physical state was still very poor, couldn't help but feel a little worried.

"Hei Tong, you used to be in good health. Did you contract some kind of disease over the years?"

"No, I'm fine."

"...It looks like a lie."

"Really, it's fine, just take a rest, don't worry. Ah, no, it's not bad if you can be worried, I want to be worried by Yong Ye."

He lifted himself up from the bed with his hands, survived the first stage of the withdrawal reaction that was just like a warning, and temporarily regained a little energy and mobility. He tried his best to show a smile, hoping that Yong Ye could worry about himself.

"...Normal people don't want to be worried, right? You're going to do the opposite."

Shaking his head with a wry smile, Yong Ye patted Hei Tong's head and stood up from the bed, but Hei Tong smiled and took his hand, holding his hand in his arms like he was coquettish. .

"Because... being worried means that Yong Ye cares about me... I hope to be watched, I hope to be accompanied by Yong Ye, and I hope... to be by Yong Ye's side."

"Yes, yes... I know, I know, it has always been black pupil compared to red pupil, you like to act like a spoiled child..."

The girl who was holding his arm next to her was acting like a child who was coquettish to her elders, but the scalding body temperature made Yong Ye's worries unstoppable. At the same time, he did not respond to the child's words. Because he didn't know how to respond, he could only choose to deal with it perfunctorily.

Some were worried that the girl would be chasing after this question, and worried about how to say it was time to respond, but the child did not continue with the previous question, nor did he care about his perfunctory answer, but just held his arm and looked up. , pitifully made a rare request.

"Today... Let's go shopping together, I want to taste a lot of delicious food and fun with Yong Ye... Is that okay?"

"Going to the street? How could your body be able to go out and play in the street?"

"...Just stay with me for a day, won't you?"

Ignoring Yong Ye's concerns about her body, Hei Tong made a stubborn request.

In the end...Even if it was incomprehensible, Yong Ye agreed.

The imperial capital is close to the northern suburbs. It is still snowing heavily, but the interior of the imperial capital is like a warm spring. Although the temperature is about 20 degrees Celsius, it is not hot. However, this morning, in the sky, There are very few clouds, the weather is very clear and there is no wind, the sun is terrifyingly big, and it will still be very hot under the direct sunlight.

The crowd in the bustling streets of the imperial capital seemed to be unafraid of the scalding fireball in the sky, and they still came and went in this street as usual. Many couples are not too hot in the sun holding hands, side by side, or even hugging each other, causing a group of singles to keep cursing these loving couples in their hearts.

Of course... Yong Ye is also one of the cursed ones, and the cursed one is quite powerful, making most people extremely unhappy.

Because even though he was walking on the street, Hei Tong, who was wearing a black sailor suit and a white hooded trench coat for some reason, still held his hand after he left the mansion.

Hei Tong is a very cute child, and he is really a child. He is only fifteen years old, so it is not surprising that others will be jealous or even cursing. Envy, jealousy... No, it's disgusting, even such a small child can be beaten.

Well... Although people who can understand the atmosphere will not think so, because the two of them can't feel the atmosphere of a couple at all, it is quite appropriate to say that brother and sister are quite suitable, but... brothers and sisters are not normally so close, right? What the relationship is is really puzzling to onlookers.

However, in fact, Yong Ye didn't want to do this either, but Hei Tong's unexpected persistence today made it difficult for him to shirk.

Beside the road in the bustling street, there was a mouth-watering aroma from the bakery. The girl who wrapped her hands around Yong Ye's hands immediately pulled him in and bought a lot of cookies.

Hei Tong, who was eating biscuits while walking, was still in a sick state, but seemed to have recovered some spirits. Yong Ye also tasted the biscuits, but found nothing unusual.

Although he is not in good health, his energetic black pupil has been pulling him. Yong Ye, who has always been low in initiative, has tasted delicious food and played all kinds of interesting things in the streets and alleys of the imperial capital. , the scorching sun gradually moved westward, most of the day has passed, and the time has come to dusk.

At the time when the sun was about to set, after eating the meat dumplings on the bamboo skewers in his hands, Hei Tong did not return to the mansion, but dragged Yong Ye to the suburbs west of the imperial capital, saying that he wanted to watch the high mountains in the suburbs. Sunset.

So, accompanied by the orange-red sunset, the two climbed to the top of the hill in this suburb.

On the edge of the relatively flat mountain top, there is an open-air viewing promenade without a roof. Looking from the edge of the mountain, the scenery here is indeed as good as Hei Tong said.

From a closer look, I only feel that the trees that are growing chaotically and erratically, the appearance of unplanned natural development, can be viewed from a distance with an inexplicable sense of dynamism like real creatures, just like depicting a delicate miracle of nature.

The viewing platform on the top of the mountain is a long stone-paved walkway against the cliff, with durable stone guardrails on one side, and primitive woods on the other side of the stone-paved road.

"Amazing!"

Hei Tong finally let go of Yong Ye's hand at this moment, as if he had regained his usual vitality, leaned his body out of the stone guardrail, and looked at the bottom of the cliff, the messy woods they passed by when they came up before, now it looks like a beautiful natural beauty , making an emotional exclamation.

"Hey, hey, be careful, what if you fall off?"

"It doesn't matter, I believe Yong Ye will definitely protect me."

"...I said, what's the matter with your excessive trust? Be careful if you are a patient."

Facing the girl's unreserved trust, Yong Ye grabbed her back collar with a headache and pulled her off the guardrail.