The girl under the cherry blossoms, her smile is like a flower

"Hi! My dear friend, what happened?"

Miura came to Kuriyama's side. Years of friendship allowed him to tell at a glance that Kuriyama's current condition was not very good. There was a somewhat worried look on his rough face.

"...Xue Sui is a little angry," Kuriyama smiled bitterly. He actually didn't quite understand why Xue Sui was so angry, "I was thinking about how to coax her."

"I see, it's normal for couples to get angry and quarrel, but if it makes Yukiho-san angry, my dear friend, you really need to reflect on it."

Miura may have just said such words inadvertently, but he stabbed Kuriyama hard invisibly.

His smile became even more bitter.

Yes.

After spending so many days with Xuesui, he knew what kind of girl Xuesui was, but he made this angel-like girl angry.

I am really guilty.

In an instant, emotions such as self-blame and guilt tightly surrounded Kuriyama, and even suppressed the rejection of the worship in his soul for a time.

How about... going to worship again?

Kuriyama raised his head and looked at the statue in the corner of the classroom. The sense of voyeurism still haunted him like a gangrene in his bones, followed closely by the disgust that came from his soul, and his stomach seemed to be churning again. got up.

The statue of the god is there, motionless, as if waiting for you to lower your head and sing praises to him in your heart before he stops peeking and continues to bless you.

There seemed to be no other way. Kuriyama sighed and tried again.

"My dear friend, the best way to coax a girl is to prescribe the right medicine. You must recognize where you provoked her. My dear friend, think about it carefully and start from that place. Xuesui has such a good character. As long as you sincerely change, you will soon be able to change." We will make peace as before.”

The idiot Miura frequently made wise words today, which made Kuriyama look at him many times.

"Yes, I know, thank you, dear friend."

Kuriyama nodded.

He decided to try again in front of the statue. It was just a nausea. He should be able to handle it, right?

perhaps?

Kuriyama didn't have the confidence in his heart. If it still didn't work this time, he could only explain the truth to Yukiho, but he didn't know if Yukiho would believe it.

But it is still a bit contrary to common sense, Kuriyama sighed.

But how did Yuki Sui know that she had not completed the worship?

"By the way, Miura, can you tell that I worship Lord Inari today?"

"Ah?" Miura was stunned for a moment, then laughed, "You haven't paid homage to Lord Inari today, have you? It seems like I won, hehe..."

"OK, you win today."

Kuriyama thought thoughtfully, it seems that not everyone has the ability like Yukiho.

He thought for a while and then walked to the statue in the classroom. The other students in the classroom were not surprised when they saw this. Many careless students would forget to worship Inari God at home.

So you can often see them on the tram and in the classroom.

Kuriyama closed his eyes. Just by being close to the statue, the nauseating feeling had already descended on his body, let alone silently reciting prayers praising her in his heart.

Kuriyama hunched over and gritted his teeth. His stomach had begun to churn. The strangeness in his body made him look pale, as if he was going to faint on the ground in the next second.

Holding back this discomfort, Kuriyama's body was shaking like chaff. Finally, when he read the last prayer, Kuriyama couldn't help it anymore. He only felt that his soul was stirring and surging, and the world seemed to be turned upside down. .

Kuriyama's vision went dark, and he fell to the ground with a "pop".

When Miura and other students saw this, instead of panicking, they became quiet at the same time. The expressions on their faces were surprisingly consistent.

There was a smile on his lips, his eyes were shining, and he looked... he looked like a fox.

They didn't speak, just like the statue they enshrined, they peered at Kuriyama who fainted on the ground, as if it was not their classmate, but just a piece of cargo, and nothing more, not even a living thing.

After a moment, Miura finally spoke. He called a male classmate, lifted Kuriyama up, and prepared to take Kuriyama to the health room.

But before they could take a few steps, Kuriyama, who was being held up, shook his body and suddenly woke up.

"???"

Miura was shocked, what happened? How can anyone faint for only a minute or two?

But he quickly put away his shocked expression and just looked at his best friend with a worried look.

"Kuriyama? My best friend? Are you okay?"

"...Well...something happened..."

Kuriyama frowned, his expression serious.

"What...what's the matter?"

Miura sweated. Kuriyama must have lost consciousness just now. Then he knew that they were watching from the side and did not help him...

Then wouldn't they laugh too early...

"My head hurts so much!"

Kuriyama squatted down and covered his head, howling.

"Ahaha..." Miura finally felt relieved, "After all, I fell down and it's normal to feel a little pain. Let's go to the health room and see..."

"Then forget it, I'm fine."

Kuriyama stood up as if nothing happened.

"Hahaha, my dear friend, you still hate the smell of disinfectant as always."

Miura laughed.

"Yeah, it's never changed."

Kuriyama also said with a smile.

'You're right, old friend. ’

'My friend, you are right. ’

After a long absence, the blue system panel appeared in front of 'Kuriyama'.

‘Want to come and have a big fight? ’

Kuriyama laughed happily.

'As you wish, my friend. ’

.................................................. .................................................. .........

lunch break.

"My dear friend, why don't you eat the bento? Still have no appetite? Otherwise, you should go to the health room."

Seeing Kuriyama just holding chopsticks but not eating, Miura was very worried.

"Eat it later, otherwise you will have to spit it out as soon as you eat it. What a waste."

Kuriyama said pointedly.

"Spit it out? Are you feeling queasy again?"

"No, you can eat first, and please feel free to eat whatever is in my lunch box."

Kuriyama pushed his bento in front of Miura.

"That's not good, I have to leave some for you."

"No, you eat first, Xuesui will be here soon."

"Yukiho-san is coming? Has she forgiven you? She is indeed a close friend, and she moves quickly."

Miura gave a thumbs up to Kuriyama, then stretched out his chopsticks to pick up the food, all in one go.

"Kuriyama-san, Yukiho-san calls you out!"

Although the male classmate sitting at the door has changed, the resentment in his words remains unchanged.

Kuriyama met their gazes and walked out calmly.

"Xue Sui, good lunch, have you eaten?"

"...You haven't eaten yet, let's go, Mr. Kuriyama, go to the rooftop to talk."

"Okay, here we go."

In the morning, Kuriyama sent a message to Yukiho, saying that he wanted to worship the Inari God with her, but there were people eating lunch under the statue in the atrium, and there were also people in the classroom, so the two chose the rooftop.

Generally speaking, the rooftop door is locked, but Yukiho told Kuriyama that she had the key and didn't have to worry about it.

When we came to the rooftop, the wind today was very gentle, blowing on people's bodies with warmth, as if it was going to melt away the coldness of the whole winter.

Kuriyama and Yukiho stood in front of the statue. Like other places, there was naturally a statue of Inari God here.

"Yukiho, let's get started."

Kuriyama said with a smile to Xuexi, but Xuexi seemed to be a little angry, but just nodded and did not speak.

Kuriyama lowered his head, closed his eyes, and recited the long eulogy silently in his heart.

For a moment, Kuriyama's face suddenly turned white. He opened his eyes, ran to the trash can, and started retching crazily.

"Kuriyama-kun! What's wrong with you?! Kuriyama-kun!"

It shocked Yukiho, and she didn't care about being angry anymore, and came to Kuriyama and patted him on the back.

"Xue...Xue Sui...can...can you go buy a bottle of water..."

Kuriyama smiled palely at Yukiho, then turned his head and retched, as if he was vomiting out his internal organs.

"Okay! I'll go right away. Mr. Kuriyama, please wait here."

Xuesui's face turned pale with fright. She took a deep look at Kuriyama and ran away from the rooftop.

After retching a few more times and losing hearing of his footsteps, Kuriyama straightened up. He took control of his breath and finally recovered.

"Oh, it's really hard to pretend, but my performance just now should be considered a success."

Kuriyama laughed. It was a smile that had never appeared on Kuriyama's face. That kind of confidence was something that Kuriyama could not express now.

'My friend, to be honest, my acting skills are a bit poor, but I can barely get by. ’

"It's a really sharp review, but it's not bad at all, although it's really incomparable to you who keeps pretending to be dead."

Kuriyama said as if he meant something.

‘My friend, it took me so much effort to awaken your memory, but you cannot say that about me. ’

"Okay, I'll give you a credit this time and don't call you a bastard from the system in the future."

'...'

Calculating the time, Yukiho should be arriving soon, so Kuriyama lay on the trash can again and started retching.

After a while, Xuesui trotted up, with some sweat on her smooth forehead. It looked like she had indeed run all the way.

"Kuri...Kuriyama-kun, I bought the water."

Kuriyama took the water, rinsed his mouth first, and then took a big gulp.

"Ha-I'm getting better, thanks to Yukiho..."

Kuriyama wiped the sweat from his forehead and smiled at Yukiho.

"Is it okay? Kuriyama-kun?"

Yukiho picked up a tissue and wiped the corners of Kuriyama's mouth, her eyes like stars at night full of concern.

"It's okay Xue Sui, I just felt a little nauseous."

Kuriyama shook his head, his expression changed, and he said worriedly.

"What should I do? Xuesui, I discovered this when I was worshiping this morning. Whenever I recited the prayers in my heart, I would feel very sick, just like I did just now."

Kuriyama grabbed Yukiho's little hand, his eyebrows almost knitted together, obviously he was worried about this matter.

"Can't I worship Lord Inari from now on?"

"Or is this Inari God's punishment for me?"

"No! Kuriyama-kun! That's not the case. The great Lord Inari will not hate anyone, let alone Kuriyama-kun."

Yukiho hugged Kuriyama. Although Kuriyama was much taller than her, she stroked Kuriyama's back like a sister, hoping to convey strength and faith to him.

"Really...really?" Kuriyama obviously still didn't believe it, "But why can't I worship Lord Inari?"

Xue Sui frowned, thought for a while and then said:

"I'm not sure, but don't worry, Kuriyama-kun. The day after tomorrow, the shrine will hold the annual Inari God Festival. By then, all problems will be solved."

"Inari God Festival?" Kuriyama was stunned. He was really stunned. He really didn't know such a thing existed.

But the next second, a memory flooded into Kuriyama's head, and it was the memory about the Inari God Festival.

The corners of Kuriyama's eyes twitched, and his expression almost became tense.

Isn't it a bit sloppy to just put the memory into my head?

Maybe from the previous Kuriyama's point of view, it might have been forgotten because of his recent bad mental state, but from the current Kuriyama's point of view, this is full of flaws!

"Oh, I remember, but do I have to wait until the day after tomorrow? Is it too late? In other words, I can't worship Lord Inari today and tomorrow?"

Kuriyama said with a grimace, as if not being able to worship Inari God would cost him his life.

"Kuriyama-kun, hold on for a few days. I believe Inari God-sama will understand Kuriyama-kun's difficulties."

Yukiho touched Kuriyama's face, her whole body glowing like an angel.

"Well, that's all it can do."

Just in time, the lunch break is over.

"Kuriyama-kun, let's go down, it's time to go to class."

"Okay," Kuriyama took Xuexi's little hand and asked, "Is Xuexi still angry with me now?"

Xuesui smiled slightly, as warm as the breeze in the spring field.

"How could it be? I like Kuriyama-kun the most."

Kuriyama also laughed.

"I also like Yuki the most."

.................................................. ..............................