Girls' Wishing Tree

Sayu's expression didn't seem to fluctuate, but the shadow behind her began to tremble violently, and even hit the demonic barrier again.

Ying frowned - she couldn't lose this game.

Lenai suggested that the loser sleep alone in the training room. If she slept alone in the training room, she was a little worried that the two girls who could not control the power in their bodies would encounter some unexpected situations.

Lenna and Sayu also showed off their skills.

The ghost brought by Sayu tried to block Lenna's sight, and Lenna's cat eyes seemed even brighter under the sight of the demon power.

Perhaps because there was no way to cheat, the joker cards passed between the three people several times before everyone discarded about two-thirds of the cards.

And now, this game has entered its most intense stage.

Lenai frowned and pulled a card from Sayu's hand.

She didn't know anything about her relationship with the cat demon, she just felt that a pair of eyes could help her see things that ordinary people couldn't see.

When playing the game of Joker today, she could still see clearly at the beginning, but later for some reason, what she saw became more and more blurry. At first, she could only see the cards in Sakura's hand, but now even the cards in Sayu's hand were distorted by something.

She didn't like this feeling.

This time the cards she drew didn't form a pair, and she didn't know if it was a joker or if the cards were in Sakura's hand.

Next, it was Sayu's turn to draw Sakura's card. Sakura stretched out her hand holding the cards. Sayu closed her eyes and felt for a while before stretching out her hand.

Sakura could already sense the restlessness of the shadowy figure beside Sayu. She had already asked before, but Sayu hadn't been honest, so there was nothing she could do.

She probably already guessed what was next to Sayu.

Sayu mentioned several times during the conversation that a good friend died for her. Sayu did not say what exactly happened, but considering the phantom that appeared today, the possibility of being haunted by the ghost of her friend is very high.

This guy... is really a worry.

Ying was drawing cards absentmindedly, but unexpectedly her luck suddenly changed. After drawing a few cards in a row, she lost all the cards in her hand.

She blew on the paper stuck to her face and watched as Lenai and Sayu drew their last few cards from each other. The process of drawing the joker cards was very fast, and after just a few rounds, they were at the point where the final card would decide the outcome.

Ying continued to focus her demonic power in her eyes, paying attention to any abnormalities in the two people.

Lena's eyes sparkled in this vision, and the shadow possessing Sayu became more and more obvious.

When it came to the point where the last card would decide the outcome, Lenai's eyes suddenly lit up, like a cat spotting its prey, and the shadow behind Sayu was shocked and took a step back.

The corners of Lenai's mouth curled up, and she took a card from Sayu's hand: "Ah, Sayu lost."

Sayu's face turned pale, her lips trembled slightly, one hand supported herself on the tatami, and her breathing became a little faster - this was actually a bit rude at a party, but Sayu really couldn't hold on any longer.

Lenai took the note and stuck it on Sayu's face. Unexpectedly, just such a light poke made Sayu fall on the tatami.

"Hmm?" Lenai turned around and looked at Sakura helplessly.

"Didn't you see it?" Ying put away all her demonic power, reached out and gently touched Lenai's head.

Lenai spread out her hands: "Lenai doesn't know."

Sakura didn't bother to find out whether Lenai was telling the truth or not: "Go to my room and wait for me. I'll take care of Sayu here and come over when she wakes up."

Lenai went to the wall and picked up the hollow Tele guitar that Sakura had bought, "I want to take it to my room and play with it."

"Well, you go first." Sakura squatted beside Sayu and mobilized her demonic power again. She found that there was indeed a phantom floating beside Sayu, who looked very weak.

She suddenly had an idea and tried to communicate directly with the unconscious Sayu using a dialogue box.

"The one floating next to you is your classmate, right?"

Sayu's eyelids twitched, but she didn't wake up. The shadow beside her nervously tried to get inside Sayu.

Sakura watched as the shadow entered Sayu's body, and then Sayu climbed up in a strange posture.

It's like a puppet being controlled by strings to sit up, and you can clearly feel the incongruity of being "non-living".

"Only I can protect Sayu." He looked at Sakura with eyes like dead fish, which was a bit creepy even though Sakura was a tree demon.

"You should go where you should go." Ying continued to communicate with the other party through the dialogue box.

"No, Sayu needs my... protection..." After saying this, Sayu's body fell on the tatami, and her shadow disappeared.

Sakura sighed, squatted down beside Sayu, and placed her hand on the pulse of her neck.

If you can clearly feel the pulse rhythm, there shouldn't be any problem.

Sure enough, Sayu woke up in less than five minutes.

"Sayu, are you okay?"

Sayu narrowed her eyes and held her forehead with one hand. "Sakura... aren't we playing the ghost card game? What on earth is going on?"

Sakura looked at the familiar Sayu, and the image of her being "possessed" flashed through her mind. She said seriously, "Is the classmate you said was dead still with you?"

There was a hint of evasion in Sayu's eyes: "No, Masaka Yuko... I haven't seen it."

Sakura leaned forward a little. "But you can hear her, right? Don't be partial to me. As a miko, I have some skills."

"No...no." Sayu didn't dare to look Sakura in the eye.

Takagi Sakura narrowed her eyes, but the scrutiny in her gaze did not diminish in the slightest.

She used the dialog mode: "So you can hear Yuiko's voice, or communicate with her in some way, right?"

"She...she's dead! She only exists in my imagination now!" Sayu supported herself on the tatami and shrank back a little: "Please don't push me anymore! Sakura, she's gone, God, it would be great if she could come back to life...but she's gone forever!"

"You should have a good rest today." Sakura sighed softly, "Sayu, please don't be so hostile to me. I must have seen something, so I'm telling you this. As a shrine maiden, I know a little about ghosts... Being too close to the dead is not good for the living."

Sayu didn't answer, but just curled up in the corner.

Sakura exited the training room and returned to her sleeping room.

Le Nai didn't turn on the lights, sitting on the edge of the bed with her guitar in her arms. Her eyes, a pair of different-colored pupils, shone brightly in the moonlight. She stared at Ying, saying nothing, and simply played a melody.

The guitar in her hand wasn't plugged into an amplifier, so the sound was muted. But Ying could still tell it was a melancholy melody.

Sakura walked to about two meters away from Le Nai, her eyes gradually locked on Sakura's face, and an elusive smile appeared at the corner of her mouth.

"Take a rest." Sakura, feeling a little confused, didn't want to say anything more and planned to have a good chat with Sayu tomorrow morning.

Lenai held the guitar and lay on Sakura's bed: "Sakura, don't run into the tree again today."

Sakura lay down gently beside Lenai, but she didn't expect Lenai, who was holding a guitar, to come over and lean in Sakura's arms, with her cheek resting on Sakura's chest and the head of the guitar touching Sakura's shoulder.

In Tokyo, this is definitely a somewhat "unlucky" distance.

"I like the feeling of playing the guitar. I like the smell of Sakura. Holding the guitar and being with Sakura makes me happy." Lenai said as she gently rubbed Sakura.

"Did Lenai have heterochromia when she was a child?" Sakura asked about the cat demon from a different angle.

"My grandma said that my eyes became heterochromic when I was in kindergarten. The hospital checked it out and it's nothing serious."

That should be something that happened to Lenai when she was a child, but she was too young at that time and her memory was not perfect. Even if I ask her, I won’t get any answer.

"Your eyesight is so sharp. When we were playing the joker card game today, I always felt that you could see my cards. And last time when I was summoned into the tree by the God, you also saw it." Sakura continued to guide Lenai to speak.

"Something others can't see... I can see some of it. I can see warmth in the cherry blossoms." Lenai paused and added, "Just like the cherry blossom trees at the shrine."

Chapter 126 Spring, Sakura and Crychic:28, Sayu's Past

Sakura didn't let her consciousness return to the cherry tree at night, and when she woke up in the morning, she was woken up by Lenai.

Lenai didn't sleep with the guitar in her arms, but leaned the guitar against the wall on the bed and fell asleep next to Sakura.

It was just dawn, and Lenai, drowsily, poked Sakura's chest several times with her fist like a kitten kneading milk, driving away all her sleepiness.

Although she was a tree demon, Sakura's humanoid body had normal reactions. She had just woken up in the morning, and every part of her body was relaxed and stretched. After being squeezed by Lenai a few times, the tingling sensation lasted for a while.

She blushed slightly, quickly distanced herself from Lenai, sat up and put on a coat - Sakura wasn't cold, but she would still dress roughly according to the season so that she wouldn't stand out in the crowd.

Sakura walked out of the room and found Sayu cleaning the yard - it was not the season for falling leaves, so there were not many people coming to visit or worship, so there was no need to get up early in the morning to clean.

And Sayu's condition is also somewhat worrying.

Her hair was a little messy from sleeping, the area around her eyes was slightly dark and her lips looked like she hadn't drunk any water all night.

Sakura walked in front of Sayu. Sayu raised her head and looked at her. Her lips moved slightly, but she didn't say anything. She just lowered her head and continued to sweep the stone road with a broom, making a "rustling" sound.

"Sayu." Sakura called her softly, concern in her voice, "Are you okay? Last night..."

Sayu paused, the broom landing abruptly on the ground. Her eyes were bloodshot, and a few glistening tears clung to her eyelashes.

"I don't know what to do..." Sayu's voice was very low, as if she was afraid of disturbing something: "Yuko is gone, but I... can still think of her... It's not a ghost, it's my own obsession..."

Near the cherry blossom tree, Sakura's empathy is much stronger. She can feel Sayu's inner pain, self-blame, and confusion, a state of mind that is impossible to act out.

But the phantom she saw last night with her demonic power couldn't be fake. Sakura had no choice but to change the subject to persuade Sayu: "If you're like this, Shinjiro, Lenna, and the others will be worried. I...will be worried too."

"I'm fine." Sayu's lips trembled slightly as she repeated, "I... am fine."

Sakura sighed softly, "Sayu, you don't look like you're alright. Take a look in the mirror. You look like you've been doing some heavy work all night."

Sayu stopped sweeping the floor completely. "Sakura, will you... hate me?"

"I don't hate Sayu, but I like the more honest Sayu."

"Everyone ignored Yuko's death." Sayu turned her back, as if not wanting Sakura to see her expression, and suddenly opened up: "It was back when I was at Asahikawa Sixth Junior High School. I was standing in the back of the classroom, quietly arranging books on the shelf. Yuko was wearing a slightly faded school uniform, her long hair braided into two clumsy braids, and black-framed glasses on her nose, making her look a little old-fashioned. That day, she walked up to me, and through the thick glasses, I could find a sincere light in her eyes."

The fact that Sayu was willing to speak out was a good start.

Sakura gently placed her hand on Sayu's shoulder. "It's truly destiny that she and you became good friends. So what's next?"

"Yes, it's normal for us to be good friends. She has a bright smile, but that smile always makes people feel a little unnatural, like she is deliberately imitating someone else. Maybe... Yuko is trying too hard to please others. However, the classmates in the class don't want to accept this kind of flattery."

Sayu's body began to tremble, but she continued, "Later... everyone started looking at us strangely. During breaks, the once bustling classroom would suddenly become quiet whenever the two of us showed up. In the hallway, people would discuss us in whispers. Yuko... was a perceptive child; there was no way she couldn't have sensed this. After noticing these changes, she became even more cautious, avoiding people and even distancing herself from me, hiding in a corner by herself."

Sakura was silent - at this time, just be a listener. The more Sayu talked, the more she let go of things in her heart.

"I always thought that as long as Yuiko and I were together, we wouldn't get hurt. Even when she distanced herself from me, I would find her alone and ask why. She... was being bullied by other students."

"Those people told Yuko that no one would like her."

"They also said that Sayu is unlucky enough, but you are several times more unlucky than her."

Sayu's voice trembled as she spoke this: "But... I still didn't take it seriously... Even when Yuko asked me to join them, I didn't take it seriously... Until one day at noon, Yuko found me... and said she wanted to go to the rooftop for lunch together. She walked very fast, and I had to take two stairs at a time to keep up with her... But when we were almost at the rooftop, she kept looking back..."

"I don't remember much about what happened afterwards. I only remember seeing Yuiko standing by the railing on the top floor, the sunlight shining on her pale face. She turned around and gave me a smile that was uglier than crying, then told me... to keep smiling..."

"That's all in the past."

"I can't stand it! Everyone's acting as if nothing happened, as if Yuko's death has nothing to do with them!" Sayu suddenly screamed hysterically: "The students are attending class as usual, and they don't even notice that there's someone missing! The teacher just said that anyone who feels unwell should go see a counselor! It shouldn't be like this! It shouldn't... be like this..."

Sayu leaned on the broom with both hands and slowly knelt down, crying. "I went home and told my mother about Yuko, but she just said to me... no matter what, you won't kill her, right?"

"I... was hiding from Yuko... but I didn't want everyone to forget her... I didn't even dare to watch the news on TV... But... my mother still asked me... why the family had to be so nervous about someone else's suicide... I couldn't help it... and I fought with her, and then... I ran away from home and came... to Tokyo."

This was the first time Sayu told her story in full.

Sakura gently ran her hand down her back, as if soothing a furry cat.

Lenai also woke up and stood at the door of the room, her eyes of different colors staring in the direction of Sakura and Sayu. No one knew when she appeared there.

Sakura poured her demonic power into her eyes once again, but still couldn't see the ghost called "Yuko".

Now, even she herself was unsure whether "Yuko" was Sayu's spiritual form, or a ghost possessing Sayu. Unlike the world before she traveled through time, this world did have some supernatural elements, which ordinary people could hardly perceive clearly. As a dryad, her knowledge in this area was also "poor."

"Sayu, take a rest for two days." Ying stopped what she was doing and prepared to consult Guo Yu about this matter.

Although Guo Yu is also a half-baked person, he is still more professional than her who knows nothing.

Seeing that neither of them spoke, Lenai returned to the room, took out the guitar, put it back in the training room, then came to Sakura and sniffed her scent a few times.

"Thank you, I'll see you later." Le Nai didn't go up the stairs, but went into the grove beside the shrine.

Her behavior pattern is really similar to that of a cat.

After watching Lenai leave, Sakura patted Sayu again and said, "Take a rest for two days, then help me prepare for the Sakura Festival."

Chapter 127 Spring, Cherry Blossoms and Crychic:29, The Confusion of the Dryad

Sakura focused most of her attention on what was coming next - it was less than a month away from the cherry blossom season in March.

Preparations for the Sakura Festival were proceeding smoothly. Kagurazaka Ayame had already sent the paintings needed for the festival, and the quality of these works was excellent, giving her a sense of déjà vu.

There were many painters with similar styles, so Ying didn't think too much about it and transferred the payment for the drawing as agreed.

"Sayu, I just sent two emails to your mailbox. They contain image materials. Please contact the advertising company and have them all printed a week before the Sakura Festival. The shrine has cooperated with them before, so the price should be based on the usual standards."

Sha Youyou, who was sitting in front of the laptop, nodded. "Ying, we've already emailed them, and they've already taken over our business. Once they've finished the typesetting, I'll give you the finished product for your approval. Printing will be completed within a few days."

Sakura glanced over and saw that Sayu looked much better than she had during the New Year, and no spirit-like creatures were observed afterwards.

According to Guo Yu, Sayu's condition is rather complicated and cannot be judged in a simple way. The conditions for a ghost to stay in the human world are very harsh, and there are quite a few situations that can lead to ghost-like effects.