Am I being simulated by their love affair.

Chapter 378 Five Mountains Sending Fire Lanterns

Jun Matsueda returned to the hotel with a box of Inari sushi.

"We just finished eating not long ago, why did Songzhi go to buy food again?"

Yosei Kurusu, who was lying in bed playing on her phone, sat up and took the cardboard box from the boy's hand.

"I met an old man who often takes walks by the river, and he treated me to a meal."

Jun Matsue and the elderly man in the black kimono didn't talk much. After confirming that the old man had sobered up, he took his leave.

"Ah!" The girl jumped up and down on the bed twice with her waist. "No wonder you go to the Kamo River every day, so someone is treating you to food!"

"Just this once." Jun Matsue shooed the girl off the bed. "Don't eat in my bed."

"Where are Mochizuki and the others?"

"I'm changing clothes in my own room. I was sent here to prevent you from peeping."

Yosei Kurusu took a bite of the inari sushi wrapped in fried tofu, and it tasted pretty good.

"You're just bored." Jun Matsue didn't believe her at all. It was one thing for Aya-chan, but Mochizuki would definitely be hoping he would spy on her.

The girl, holding the sushi, pretended not to hear the boy's words and watched with great interest the flock of crows flying past the window.

Behind the flock of crows were scattered lights. Kyoto's night view was not dazzling, but hazy, carrying the restrained character of the older generation, which was completely different from the dense lights of Tokyo, which resembled integrated circuits.

The next morning, the four-person team set off according to the established plan, with their first destination being Kinkaku-ji (Golden Pavilion).

On a clear day, Jun Matsue stood by the Mirror Pond and took a picture of the reflection of Kinkaku-ji Temple in the water, then sent it to Maki Yamami.

"Golden Pavilion is so beautiful in the sunshine!" the girl replied quickly. "It was a bit of a shame when we went, it was cloudy."

"But now that we have photos taken by Songzhi-kun, it's not a pity~"

So the boy took a few more photos and sent them over.

The second destination was Ryoan-ji Temple, near Kinkaku-ji Temple.

Jun Matsue sent the dry landscape garden in the courtyard to his senior.

"Grandpa prefers dry landscape gardens, which I don't really appreciate."

"What a coincidence, I think so too," the boy replied decisively.

Perhaps Yamami Maki was secretly laughing, because a new message didn't appear in the chat box for two seconds.

"I went to Mandala Mountain yesterday to deliver the sacred wood, and I made a wish for Songzhi to be healthy~"

The third destination is Arashiyama.

After getting off at Arashiyama Station, Jun Matsue looked north and saw a bare patch on a low hill, which was one of the sites for the Gozan no Okuribi (Five Mountains Fire Offering).

"Are you really looking forward to the Five Mountains Sending Fire?" Mochizuki Haruka stood beside him, observing the expression on the boy's face.

“After all, it is a very solemn ceremony.” Matsueda Jun withdrew his gaze and looked at the lush trees behind the temple in front of him, which was where Arashiyama was located.

It was already dusk when we left Arashiyama. Yosei Kuriki was the first to walk out of Seiryoji Temple, stretching with his back to the setting sun.

"I'm hungry!" The girl turned around. "Wouldn't it be better to go see the Five Mountains Sending Fire after we eat?"

"The Gozan Fire Offering doesn't start until 8 o'clock." Jun Matsue glanced at his phone. "Hirosawa Pond is about a 20-minute walk from here. It should be just right to go there after we finish eating."

"Isn't it just past six o'clock now?" Miyamura Aya wiped the fine sweat from her forehead, her voice sounding somewhat tired.

"We need to get there early to secure a good spot," Mochizuki Haruka said, linking her arm with Aya's. "We can sit and rest by the pool then." "That's a little better," the girl replied, leaning on her shoulder. "Today's schedule feels so packed. Four days of walking, I'm so tired."

“Didn’t you insist on adding Kinkakuji?” Jun Matsueda glanced at his younger sister.

"Did I overestimate myself?"

However, when the four arrived at Hirozawa Pond at 7 p.m., the scene before them swept away Miyamura Aya's fatigue.

"So dreamy—"

The night deepened the color of the pond, and square river lanterns were scattered on the surface, swaying with the ripples.

The river lanterns made of oiled paper come in colors such as red, green, yellow, and blue, blurring the candlelight in the center of the lantern base. The drooping black sky blends with the inky pool water, and the shimmering light seems like a tangible soul about to drift away into the sky.

Jun Matsue glanced at his phone. His senior had arrived at Hirozawa Pond, but the shore was now a sea of ​​people, making it difficult to spot her.

The Five Mountains Fire Offering Ceremony will last for thirty minutes. There's no rush. He followed the girls to the pool and sat down on a dry patch of grass.

"How much longer until we ignite the fire?" Yosei Kurusu asked with great interest, hugging his legs.

"Half an hour." Mochizuki Haruka looked down at her phone. "It's right across from us."

The crowd of onlookers spread out with the lights on the pond, quickly filling the space around the four-person team. In the open and dark world, only the "lantern flow" in front of them and the whispers around them remained, giving them a unique sense of security.

Sitting behind the girls, Jun Matsueda picked up his phone again and texted Maki Yami, "Where is my senior?"

"We're on the side closer to the forest," the girl replied immediately. "I'll come find Matsue-san after we start lighting the fire?"

"Wait five minutes after lighting the lanterns." Jun Matsue craned his neck to look at the water. "Go to the bank with the fewest lanterns; it'll be harder to spot them there."

"Good~"

Yamami Maki put away her phone and looked at the people dressed in kimonos around her. The girl was a little nervous and a little excited—it was the first time she had "done something bad" under the noses of her elders.

At exactly eight o'clock, a ribbon of fire lit up from the foot of the mountain, and people blinked in surprise.

“That’s the team carrying torches.” Mochizuki Haruka’s voice rang out in the darkness. “After they go up the mountain, they will light the torches that have been placed in advance, and the Five Mountains Fire Offering will officially begin.”

The bright band of fire moved up the mountain, and fifteen minutes later, a ball of sparks expanded from the center of the mountain, then rapidly expanded into the shape of a torii gate, shining brightly in the night sky.

Colorful lanterns and fiery torii gates in the air become the only light in the darkness, as if the gate to the other shore has opened, and those souls that have briefly returned to the human world are drifting away, about to depart.

The people by the Guangze Pond gasped in amazement. The girls were captivated by the extraordinary sight before them, and Jun Matsue glanced down at his phone.

Time is up.

The boy stood up, and Kurusu Yosei, who was sitting next to his toes, turned around. "Where is Matsue going?"

"I need to use the restroom," Jun Matsue chose the simplest and most unpretentious reason.

The girl patted him on the shoulder and said, "Go and come back quickly, and take pictures of me and Aya-chan later."

Jun Matsue nodded, pushed aside the crowd of people with cameras and phones behind him, and walked to the other side.

Kurusu Yosei turned around and stared at the lanterns swirling on the water for a while before realizing something was amiss. She then turned to look at the girl sitting next to her.

Mochizuki Haruka wasn't admiring the magnificent view before her; her profile glowed faintly in the dim lamplight.

The girl was still gazing in the direction where Jun Matsueda had disappeared.

(End of this chapter)