I won't be a loser.

When the Summer Cicadas Chirp: 284. Her Struggle

"So, what are you doing in my room? Don't you have your own room?"

In the morning, because it was too cold outside, Xianren stayed in his room, put on the label, closed the book, and looked at Sanye who was sitting on the edge of his bed, and Yotsuba who was sitting next to Sanye and also staring at him.

The two sisters stayed in their room, staring at him intently, which made Xianren feel very distressed. He couldn't help but ask questions.

"It's so cold outside. If Yotsuba and I stay in our rooms, it won't be a big deal. We might as well stay in your room. We can save some electricity."

"I didn't know you were so frugal before."

Xianren, who was being stared at by the two people, suddenly lost the mood to continue reading. He stared at his two sisters. The two sisters also stared at him. He stood up, still hoping to have some private space of his own.

"I'm going out for a short walk. You guys can rest in this room."

He walked to the door, pushed it open and left the room. Sanye and Yotsuba, who were left in the room, looked at each other in surprise. They didn't expect that the wise man would leave the room like this.

Mitsuha, who was thinking of following him, thought that she seemed to have been with Xianren for a long time today. If she continued to follow him like this, it seemed that she seemed to like relying on him. She was conflicted for a while and decided to stay in the room.

"what--"

Leaning back, she lay on Xianren's bed. Sanye turned sideways, took out her cell phone from her pocket, and started surfing the Internet, reading the short romance stories on the Internet.

Not knowing what to do, Yotsuba slowly left the room and returned to her own room. She took her homework to Xianren's room, then sat down at the desk and started doing her homework.

The wise man came out of his house, looked back at his home, and walked towards the distant mountain path.

Not far from my home is the only shrine in Itomori.

He didn't know what to do at home. After thinking about it for a while, he decided to go to the shrine he hadn't visited for a long time and take a look at the scenery there.

Unlike the big shrines in Tokyo, the Itomori Shrine usually has few worshippers. Only members of the Miyamizu family occasionally return to the shrine to clean up the weeds and trim the nearby branches.

At other times, few people come to such a remote place.

Only during certain festivals will people remember the existence of such a shrine in Itomori.

Miyamizu Shrine is located in the mountains to the east of the Miyamizu family. Coming out of the Miyamizu family and walking east for a while, you will reach the entrance of the shrine.

After passing the torii gate, he stepped onto the approach to the shrine. The stone steps climbed one after another. Looking up, he saw a road with no end in sight. The wise man slowly walked up, passing by two stone lanterns set up halfway up the mountain, and casually picked up the fallen leaves on them.

"It seems that not many people come here normally."

I continued walking forward and stopped in front of the Divine Gate. I saw the sailor's quarters inside.

Once you cross the Jade Wall and the Divine Gate, you will have entered the Divine Realm. The weather was a bit cold, and I didn't know if the water in the sailor's shed had frozen. The wise man, who was thinking about the problem in his heart, stepped across the Divine Gate.

Standing in front of the sailor's shed, looking at the clear water, the wise man was silent and hesitated for a moment, but still stretched out his hand and scooped out the water with a spoon. He skipped the step of rinsing his mouth, simply washed his hands, and continued to move forward.

The Kagura Hall is right in front of you. During festivals and sacrifices, the shrine maidens of the Miyamizu family will perform Kagura dance in this Kagura Hall to worship and please the gods.

It had been a long time since I last watched the Kagura dance. The wise man standing under the Kagura Hall stared at the Kagura Hall in front of him for a while before he remembered that the last Kagura dance seemed to be on December 12th, which was more than ten days ago?

"Pity."

Not seeing Mitsuha and Yotsuha's Kagura dance, Xianren sighed and turned to walk towards the main hall.

On the right side of the Kagura Hall is the entrance to the main hall. As soon as you enter, you will see the ancient traditional shrine. What comes into view is the worship hall and the main hall of Miyamizu Shrine. At the same time, the shrine office of Miyamizu Shrine is on the left side.

Generally, the keys are kept by his grandmother, Miyamizu Ichiha. When he came out, Kento did not speak to Miyamizu Ichiha, so naturally he did not have the key to the social affairs office and could not get in.

When he arrived in front of the worship hall, the wise man thought for a moment and felt that he had nothing to pray for.

"Oh, I hope there won't be any problems next year."

Being hit by a car is an experience that is enough once. If it happens more than once, I don’t think I will be as lucky as this time and survive.

He felt in his pocket, searched for coins in his wallet, took out a five-yen coin, offered it to the god, shook the bell, clapped his hands, and prayed silently.

"So be it."

After opening his eyes, he looked at the shrine in front of him, and then at the clean interior of the shrine. There was nothing to stay for, so he turned around and prepared to leave.

"Brother Xianren?"

As he turned around, he saw a girl in winter clothes standing behind him.

"Sayaka?"

"It's really Xianren brother. Long time no see. Are you here to pay your respects so early?"

"Well, I haven't been here for a while. I happened to have nothing to do, so I came to take a look. How about you?"

"I......."

The girl looked at the wise man in front of her, her eyes became vague, and she couldn't help but put her hands behind her back to avoid the wise man's sight. After a moment of silence, she forced a smile.

"I didn't know what to do, so I came to take a look."

"That's it."

This was definitely not the girl's true intention, but the wise man had no reason to ask her to give a positive answer. It was just a casual question.

"Just now, Xianren brother, were you preparing to leave?"

"That's how it is, but since we've already met, let's leave together later."

Sayaka Natori looked at the wise man in front of her and couldn't help but open her mouth, wanting to say something, but she nodded happily and hurried to the front of the worship hall to worship the shrine, while the wise man stood quietly by the side, watching the girl worship.

The wise man did not ask what the girl prayed for or wished for. He just watched her finish her worship and walked with her towards the entrance of the shrine.

The way back is the same as the way up the mountain.

While walking down the mountain, the wise man even saw a blunt-tailed two-headed snake in the forest. The moment he saw it, he did not say a word, but silently led the girl beside him away.

Cold-blooded animals should all hibernate in winter, and the one you saw should be an exception.

Girls are more sensitive to these kinds of creatures, so Xianren didn't say anything to Sayaka. He quietly walked down the stairs from the shrine back to the entrance.

"Should I prepare to go home, or go and meet Sanye--"

"There's nothing to worry about at home. Is Sanye awake?"

Sayaka Natori looked at Kento with some surprise. Normally, Mitsuha should still be asleep at this time. Even if he went to the Miyamizu family, he would usually watch Mitsuha slowly wake up.

"I woke up. I woke up early today. I should be at home with nothing to do."

He smiled at Sayaka Natori and led the girl towards his home. The girl followed quietly behind Xianren...

Ogiwara Sayu woke up and slowly opened her sleepy eyes in the quiet room. She supported herself with her hands and sat on the warm bed. Looking at the empty room, she couldn't help but lie down on the pillow again and closed her eyes.

I picked up my quilt again and lay in the warm bed. I felt that my thoughts and rationality were gradually being stripped away.

"If only the wise man were here at this time..."

I want to be held in the arms of a wise man, to be treated tenderly by him, I want—

My heart gradually became restless, but I couldn't fall asleep in bed. I turned over, found my mobile phone from under my pillow, opened my email, and quickly found the contact information of the wise man.

What content to post.

Deep down, she wanted to send him some content to express her longing for him, but then she thought of the reserve a girl should have. She didn't want to be too enthusiastic in her content and make Xianren resist her.

"It's nice weather in Tokyo, how's the weather where you are?"

After entering the content, Ogiwara Sayu looked at it carefully for a while, confirmed that there seemed to be no problem, pursed her lips, and sent the email.

He closed his eyes and waited anxiously for the wise man's reply.

But she didn't know how much time had passed. She opened her eyes, looked at the unresponsive mailbox, took a deep breath, and buried her head in the quilt, breathing in the warm air.

“Ugh—ah—wu—”

She grabbed the quilt, rolled around on the bed, and then slowly poked her head out from under the quilt.

"what--"

With a somewhat lonely expression, she glanced at her phone, which was still unresponsive.

"I haven't received a reply yet. What should I do today? There's nothing to do at home. There's no news from Hinami and Sawamura. It seems like they both have something to do. Is Hinami going back to her hometown?"

His relationship with Sawamura is just average. The two of them met because of Hinami, and their relationship is bound by Hinami.

It was still a bit difficult for her to take the initiative to talk to Sawamura and go shopping together...

"Mito-san, I don't think you have anything to do today. New Year's Day is coming soon, so you should be resting, right?"

Suddenly thinking of someone, Ogiwara Sayu looked at her mobile phone again and opened the contact list. She wondered if Mito Yuka was awake now and whether she had time.

Ogiwara Sayu pursed her lips, thought for a while, and decided to go and confirm with Mito Yuka.

If there is time——

"clear."

Just as I was about to click on Mito Yuge's contact information, a text message suddenly popped up.

The content was very short, but it surprised Ogiwara Sayu a little.

"It's sunny in Itomori too? That's great! But it's still cold outside, so be sure to wrap up warm."

"Um."

"He wrote back... He must have me in his mind, right? Yeah, I must be in his!"

Holding the phone tightly in her arms, Ogiwara Sayu closed her eyes contentedly. The thought of contacting Mito Yuka was immediately thrown to the back of her mind. Lying on the bed, her whole body had a sweet expression, and she looked very happy...

"Is there something urgent?"

"No, nothing, just replying to a friend's text."

Looking at Mitsuha coming closer, Kento reached out and pushed her cheek away. There was nothing particularly dangerous in his communication with Ogiwara Sayu, but he didn't want Mitsuha to see it. He always felt that if she saw it, it would cause some trouble.

Sayaka Natori watched the interaction between the brother and sister and felt a little envious.

The three of them sat under the fireplace in the living room. Yotsuba was still doing homework in Kento's room. She seemed determined not to give up until she finished her homework, so the three of them did not disturb her.

Sitting down in the living room, Xianren took an orange and peeled it. Sanye stared at the orange in Xianren's hand, seeming to have some different thoughts.

Sayaka Natori looked at the two of them, not knowing what to say. She sat opposite Kento somewhat awkwardly, lowered her head, and held the orange in front of her with both hands, seeming a little distracted.

"Give me."

"Are you going to grab all the oranges? Peel them yourself!"

"What does it matter, stingy!"

After Xianren peeled the orange, Sanye reached out to snatch it from Xianren's hand, but Xianren just flicked his hand and avoided Sanye's "sneak attack".

Xianren, who has always been taken advantage of by Mitsuha and has never taken advantage of her, has no comment on this.

Seeing that she couldn't snatch the orange from Xianren, Mitsuha gave up and took an orange and started peeling it. She looked like she had behaved herself, but she stretched out her foot and gently rubbed it against Sayaka Natori under the fireplace.

"!"

Sayaka Natori, who was thinking about something with her head down, felt something was wrong. She lowered her head to look at her legs under the stove, then raised her head and glanced at Mitsuha beside her and Kento opposite her.

"What's wrong, Hayaka?"

"No... nothing."

When she met Kento's gaze, Sayaka couldn't help but feel shy. She slowly lowered her head, but her eyes were looking at Mitsuha who was pretending to be serious on the side.

Noticing her friend's gaze, Sanye's eyes suddenly drifted away and looked in another direction.

It’s confirmed, it’s Sanye.

Sayaka Natori felt a little helpless, but she didn't fight back against Mitsuha. She just stared quietly at the orange in her hand, feeling a little melancholy in her heart.

"......"

Seeing that Hayaka's reaction was so calm, Sanye was a little surprised. She glanced at Xianren beside her and understood a little bit, guessing the reason.

His eyes rolled around, and some interesting things came to his mind.

Image: Miyamizu Shrine and Miyamizu Family House, Location: Images/1655992717-100277911-108947164.jpg

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When the Summer Cicadas Chirp: 285. What to do if you can’t sleep?

After peeling the orange, her hand suddenly reached under the quilt by the heater and touched Sayaka who was standing beside her. When the girl lowered her head and was distracted, and did not notice her sinister intentions at all, Sanye's slightly cold hand touched Sayaka's thigh.

"......"