Girls' Wishing Tree

"It's okay. I'm also touched by your relationship with Mr. Arima. Does he care about you much now?"

"He's very busy and can only visit me once a week." Speaking of Arima Kousei, Xun seemed very happy: "Haha, I have to get better soon, otherwise he might be snatched away by someone else."

"It'll be fine." Sakura smiled and reached out to help Xun tidy up his bangs. "The God will definitely look after you. The God loves music, otherwise he wouldn't have asked you to teach me the violin."

Xun shook her head gently. "I should thank you. Without you, I definitely wouldn't be able to maintain such a good attitude. I'm really a little greedy when I say this..."

Sakura waved her hand, and a few cherry blossoms bloomed on it. She placed her palm upward in front of Xun and said, "Maybe there will be a miracle during the Sakura Festival. This is my intuition."

Chapter 123 Spring, Sakura and Crychic:25, Temporary Family

While preparing for the Sakura Festival, Sakura continued to improve her playing skills and contacted the shrine for reconstruction. Time soon arrived and the Chinese New Year.

Everything else went smoothly, except for the shrine renovation, which was denied approval due to potential noise. She now has two options: building a stage underground with soundproofing, which would be much more expensive and would also reduce the number of people allowed. Another option is to try to get approval through some other means, but this would likely cause conflict with nearby residents, and for now, she has no options.

So, the stage renovation would have to wait a while, but the building had been approved, and construction could begin in the spring. As a soul who had traveled from another world, she still wanted to celebrate the New Year.

So, on New Year's Eve, Sakura chose to temporarily stop operating the shrine and invited several girls to spend the New Year with her.

In addition to Sayu who stayed at the shrine, she also invited Satoshi, Rupa, Lenai, and Ichiri.

"Now everyone is here! I'll cook some Chinese food for everyone, and you can hang out in the training room for a while. I bought a new guitar at a used shop a few days ago, and Lenai and Ichiri can take a look."

"Hey? What kind of guitar is that?" When Lenai heard about the guitar, his squinting eyes lit up.

Although Goto Ichiri didn't say anything, her gaze was also cast over.

"It's a semi-hollow Tele guitar called the Thinline. The tone is very similar to a regular Tele, but because of the semi-hollow body, there are still some differences. Sometimes we need two guitars at the same time, so I bought an extra one."

Ying walked out of the shrine: "There's a range hood downstairs. I'm going to the store to cook. It will take about an hour and a half. I'll call you guys to come down for dinner."

For this meal, she took the girls' tastes into consideration, choosing lighter dishes and preparing some cold dishes. Only one dish was spicy. Ying's cooking skills weren't particularly good, and she had to learn two dishes on the spot, but for creating a festive atmosphere, it was passable.

She made a total of six dishes and two soups, which was a bit shabby for most Chinese families' New Year's Eve dinner, but it was enough for a few young girls to get together.

After putting the stir-fried octopus legs on a plate, Sakura found a stool and sat down, letting her consciousness return to the cherry blossom tree, ready to see what the girls were doing in the shrine.

From the perspective of the cherry tree, only Rupa and Sayu could be seen. They found a ladder, placed it on the cherry tree, and tried to hang ribbons on the branches.

She took a closer look and saw blessings such as "good health and happiness" written on the ribbon.

Sakura frowned and thought for a moment, unable to think of any shrine that had such a custom. However, since it was a blessing anyway, she didn't think about it any further. Focusing her attention on her hearing, she could hear the sound of music coming from the training room. It was a guitar and keyboard, but there was only one guitar, and she couldn't tell if it was Lenna or Ichiri playing.

She let her consciousness flow back into her body, rested for a while, and called Sayu, asking her to bring the girls down to have New Year's Eve dinner together.

"Everyone, come and sit down. According to Chinese customs, this is the most important meal of the year. Across the sea, everyone will gather with their families, eat together, and enjoy the New Year atmosphere. After the meal, there will be fireworks and firecrackers."

“Same as our fireworks display?” Rupa asked curiously.

"No, a fireworks display is more about enjoying the fireworks displays brought by the fireworks artisans. Everyone wears yukata and enjoys the fleeting beauty." Ying's eyes shone with nostalgia. "Of course, there are officially organized and large-scale New Year fireworks in China, but people prefer to set off their own fireworks. Even if the production is very simple, participating in it can bring a lot of joy."

At this point, Ying gestured: "Firecrackers are only as long as a finger. They are made very simply, but they are quite powerful and can blow a small hole in the mud wall. Children will put firecrackers wherever they can find them: on the mud pile, in the cracks of abandoned walls, in dog bowls, under tree bark, and even in cow dung."

"Sounds fun." Sayu propped her chin up with one hand, as if imagining a happy scene far away overseas.

"It's fun, of course. Every year there are unlucky people who don't pay attention to safety and get injured or even killed," Ying added.

Zhi lowered his head: "Is it a family game?"

"um, yes."

Rupa spoke up: "Ying said that tonight's dinner is to be eaten with the family. Ying invited us..."

"Well, I just treat everyone as my family." Ying said naturally, "I'm an orphan."

There is nothing wrong with this sentence.

She is an "orphan" caught between two times and spaces. She can never go back to the world of her previous life, and her world of this life is like duckweed.

The girls' eyes were all fixed on Sakura—Sakura rarely spoke about herself in front of them. Everyone thought she was a shrine maiden, but no one remembered the hard work she went through to support a shrine at such a young age.

Rupa continued Sakura's words, "My family...is gone too."

Zhi glanced at Rupa and leaned against her, “I don’t have a home either.”

Seeing that everyone had spoken out, Sayu felt a lot less burdened. "Where I grew up... I won't go back."

Le Nai had already started eating the soba noodles Xuan Ying had cooked, and with noodles in her mouth, she shouted, "Mom and Dad are working abroad."

Goto Ichiri was so embarrassed that he almost melted into a ball, feeling like a wild snake that had strayed into the territory of the "strong".

"Um... my home is in Tokyo."

"Mom and Dad are here, as well as my sister and Jimmy Hen."

"I shouldn't be here..."

As he spoke, he shrank into the corner, almost becoming a "compressed package".

Ying smiled and took Yili's hand: "I asked Yili to come because he doesn't have many social activities. This is not a dinner for the homeless."

Ichiri looked up at Sakura and saw tenderness and determination in her eyes.

She was no longer so panicked.

"Ying...I'm sorry." Yili was led by Ying back to the table.

After pulling Yili back to the table, Yili put his hands together and said, "Okay, everyone, come and try my cooking. I can't say it's the best, but it should be more authentic than most Chinese restaurants."

The girls gathered around the table and talked about their family situations. Instead of letting the atmosphere get cold, everyone felt comfortable with this "temporary family" feeling. Even Goto Ichiri, who has a complete family, enjoyed the warm atmosphere.

In this atmosphere, the food Sakura prepared was eaten up by everyone with not much left.

After eating, Satoshi, Rupa, and Ichiri left. Lenai said she wanted to stay overnight at the shrine. Sakura saw that Sayu wanted to talk to her alone, so she asked Lenai to go to the shrine first, saying that she and Sayu would stay behind to clean up the dishes.

As expected, Sayu put forward her idea: "Sakura, can you please not chase me away? I want to work at the shrine forever."

Sakura said that the shrine would not keep Sayu for long, actually wanting to give Sayu a sense of crisis.

The work at the shrine is easy, and Sayu doesn't go to school, so if she stays away from work for too long, she might become a "wasteful person." At the very least, she needs to be able to work as a drummer seriously.

"I really can't handle it all by myself. Not only the shrine, there may be some music-related matters that require hiring people in the future. But whether you can stay and work depends on your own performance." Sakura gave a little pause in her words.

"Well, Sakura, go up first. I'll clean up the store." Sayu seemed to have untied some knot in her heart, and her tone began to become closer to that of an ordinary JK.

Chapter 124 Spring, Sakura and Crychic: 26, Super Power to Draw Ghost Cards

New Year's Eve in Tokyo is no different from any other night in terms of the environment.

But at the shrine, Sakura was having a completely different night than usual.

Sakura, Ryuna, and Sayu sat on the tatami in the training room, playing a card game. The way they chose to play was simple: draw a joker card, and the loser had to stick a piece of paper on his face.

The system also gave Ying a task at the right time, requiring her to stick the most notes on her face. If she achieved it, she would be rewarded with a random skill.

Because there were rewards, Ying played the game quite seriously. Then she discovered something "terrible" - these two guys drew joker cards, just like using a "cheat device".

When the first note was stuck on her face, Ying felt that her luck was not very good; when the second note was stuck on her face, Ying felt that these two guys seemed to have a pretty good ability to read expressions; after the third note was stuck on her face, she... blushed.

Sakura secretly concentrated her demonic power into her eyes, trying to see if she could gain some kind of "perspective" effect, and then she got bad news and even worse news.

The bad news is that concentrating the magic power in the eyes does not allow you to see the pattern on the back of the cards clearly; the even worse news is that the two guys playing cards with him really have turned on the "cheat device".

The demonic power in Lenna's eyes was much more active than usual, and there was a "ghost"-like shadow behind Sayu, who seemed to be helping her read the cards.

Soon, a fourth note was stuck on Sakura's face.

"Oh, Sakura's luck seems to be bad." Sayu put the note on the corner of Sakura's mouth: "If you stick it on me again, Sakura will turn into a little octopus, right?"

Okay, you two are playing me together, right?

No wonder the system issued a task, it seems impossible to win by playing normally!

Ying, who had four pieces of paper stuck to her face, took the initiative to shuffle the cards: "More."

If these two guys could see her cards, she would have to use some method to counter them. She had only barely mastered the control of her demonic power under Guo Yu's guidance.

Although it was just the entry level, she no longer had to rely entirely on the system to mobilize her demonic power.

She can still do some simple applications, such as...

Use demonic power to shield the cards in your hand.

After she started doing this, there was a lot more confusion in Lenai's eyes when she drew her cards, which was completely different from her "at ease" state at the beginning. However, when she drew Sayu's cards, she was not afraid of Sayu peeking at her.

Sure enough, the blocked Lenai was shown the cards by Sayu, and had notes stuck on her face for four consecutive games.

The three of them played another game.

"Wow! I want to change my position! My luck is so bad in this position!" Le Na threw down the last card in her hand, supported herself on the tatami with both hands, and moved her face closer to Sakura.

"Stick it." Sakura stuck a piece of paper on Lenna's face.

With four pieces of paper stuck on her face, Lenna quickly squeezed in and changed her position. She no longer drew Sakura's card, but instead drew Sayu's card.

Sakura had her card drawn by Sayu, and then she drew Rakuna's.

Sakura tried to use her demonic powers to build a barrier around her to see if she could block the "ghost's" sight.

She was unsure about doing this.

The demonic energy formed a thin film, surrounding Sakura. From Sakura's perspective, Sayu hadn't changed at all, but Lenai seemed more anxious. Lenai's tone was somewhat smug, yet she pretended to be calm.

She wasn't sure if Sayu would be able to continue seeing her cards in this round - the cards in Sayu's hand were quickly played out, and she herself pulled the joker from Lenae's hand.

"Ahaha! Sakura lost again!" Lenai, with five pieces of paper stuck on her face, was so excited that she clenched her fists and gestured like a cat washing its face. She crawled into the demonic barrier beside Sakura and stuck a piece of paper on Sakura's face.

After putting the note on her, her eyes widened a little. Instead of leaving immediately, she twitched her nose twice near Sakura's neck.

This action was a bit ambiguous, but if you thought of Lenai as a cat, it was understandable. Before Sakura could think about it, Lenai retreated.

Next, "bad luck" seemed to have moved on to Sayu. She lost four games in a row, and a row of small notes were neatly taped to her forehead—it seemed that the demonic shield was quite effective against the two people's "cheating."

No one called for a stop, so the game continued.

In this game, perhaps because she could see Sayu's cards, Lenae threw away all the cards in her hand before the other two.

So, the game became a duel between Sakura and Sayu.

Sakura only has four cards left in her hand, while Sayu has three.

Sayu gently took a card from Sakura's hand. "Sakura, I'm lucky. I got a pair of 9s."

She gently threw away the two cards in her hand. The joker was still in Ying's hand, so her chances of winning would not be small.

Sakura randomly drew a card from Sayu's hand—it made no difference to her which one it was.

Now, she has two cards left in her hand, and Sayu has one. If Sayu does not draw a joker card, the game will end immediately.

Sayu held out her hand, but paused for a few seconds before pulling it out.

Suddenly, Ying felt something was wrong with the barrier - ripples appeared on the barrier, and invisible demonic power began to gather, as if it was blocking something.

Sakura looked up and saw a shadow collide with her barrier. It bounced back, leaving the mist behind to dissipate. It staggered slightly, a hint of reluctance and anger evident in its movements. But she didn't give up. Instead, she concentrated again, preparing for a new attack.

No way, are you taking a joker card so seriously?

The shadowy figure's hand caressed her chest, as if still feeling the effects of the previous impact. The barrier remained motionless, as if it were a part of Sakura's body.

"Sayu, it's time to draw a card." Sakura reminded.

Sayu, who had been standing there in a daze, immediately came to her senses and drew a card at random - this time, she was unable to throw away another card.

Sayu placed the two cards behind her and changed their order several times before giving them to Sakura to draw.

Sakura didn't peek, but she had already guessed which card Sayu was going to hide - Sayu hid her cards well, but she was not good at hiding her little thoughts.

"A pair of Queens, I'm running away." Ying threw down the two cards in her hand.

Sayu picked up a piece of paper and handed it to Sakura with a hint of frustration.

Sakura quickly put the note on Sayu's face.

This time, five pieces of paper were stuck on each girl's face.

The letter paper used to make the note was cut into 4X4 pieces, which means that only one piece of paper was left.

"This is the last note. Let's play one last game. Whoever loses will sleep alone in the training room!" Lenai said with a smile.

Chapter 125 Spring, Cherry Blossoms and Crychic: 27, Like the Cherry Blossom Tree

In the last round of drawing ghost cards, Sakura saw the ghost behind Sayu trying to read the cards.

This time, she said it directly. She knew that Lenai had some cat demon elements, but she didn't see what strange thing was possessed by Sayu at the time.

"Sayu, how do you draw cards? Do you have... a reminder?"

With five slips of paper stuck to her face, Sayu blinked innocently. "No, it's just a hunch."