Curse of the Eye of the Dead

On December 2014, 12, Japan's Great Darkness Day (New Year's Eve), one o'clock in the afternoon.

Uno is preparing tonight's New Year's Eve dinner at home, as well as the [Osechi cuisine] that will be eaten from the first to third day of junior high school in the future.

Because it is an old man who is the chef, the New Year's Eve dinner at the end of each year is very fixed and follows the tradition: soba noodles.

Of course, on special days, it has a more special name: Nian Yue Buckwheat.

It is said that it has the meaning of health and longevity and improving wealth. There is also a saying that the easy-to-bite buckwheat can cut off last year's bad luck... In short, it is full of auspicious meanings.

Eating soba noodles on the big dark day at the end of the year is a traditional custom in Japan that has been handed down since the Edo period.

Uo's mother, Tsurumi Sachiko, would personally prepare a bowl of steaming soba noodles for her own son every New Year's Eve.

Even if Uno was unfortunately arranged to go on a business trip several times at the end of the year and could not celebrate the New Year with his mother, Sachiko’s mother would always ask Uo to go to a small shop that is still open outside to have a good bowl, and ask for a must Eat before midnight.

"This is a great time to seek blessings from last year's bad luck and misfortune, and it must be treated with grandeur."

The canary-like beauty trapped under the gorgeous kimono always said so softly, with a voice as beautiful as the strings:

"I hope my Uzou will be successful and live a long and healthy life in the new year."

Sachiko is like an ordinary mother, she prays for her children every year.

That was a very beautiful part of Uo's memories.

The mother's hand gently caressing her hair, the pair of eyes full of starlight like a stream of soft water, and the faint scent of aromatherapy that is always mixed with each other...every detail makes the present mantra miss him immensely .

Usheng rolled out the noodles, cut the noodles, put them aside and refrigerated them, and then cooked them at six o'clock in the evening.

Then start preparing for today's time-consuming big head - [Osechi Cuisine].

Nianyue buckwheat is eaten tonight, while [Osechi cuisine] is reserved for the first three days of the new year.

According to the past, fire is not allowed in the first three days of the new year, and it is said that it is to avoid being blamed for disturbing the gods, so Uo must prepare three days of [Osechi cuisine] in advance on the last day of the year-although now There is an induction cooker, which can cook rice without turning on the fire, but this... feels like taking advantage of a loophole in logic.

In short, Lao Gu, who is almost 78 years old, still plans to follow the custom and use an induction cooker to heat it up. After all, his children seem to prefer hot food.

The reason why it is time-consuming is because this whole set of osechi dishes contains at least 20 kinds of dishes.

As for the four members of Kitazawa's family, the three members of Nakaya's family who are called by Uno every year to celebrate the New Year together, and Gojo Wuji who has already sent text messages to beg for food, there are eight people in total. Considering that every child is now He has already entered puberty, and even the youngest Chacha is already 11 years old, and his appetite will increase during the development process, but Gojo Satoru is so big, and he consumes a lot of physical energy in daily magic, so he doesn't eat much for granted. Less... This total amount is already very impressive.

Therefore, Uso needs to prepare more than 20 kinds of dishes for eight people, which can last for three days (the portion dedicated to the Sachiko tablet is not counted), and it has to be carefully placed in several layers of lacquer boxes.

The process is not cumbersome.

That's why Uno started preparations as early as one o'clock in the afternoon.

From the busy day to the night, the fire in the kitchen has never stopped, and the fragrant smell is constantly permeating the air.

The greedy Chacha swallowed her saliva, and opened the sliding door leading to the side to get some air.

"I really want to eat them all tonight." Chacha threw herself on Yugou and muttered in a low voice.

"I can only eat soba noodles tonight, and the big meal will have to wait until tomorrow."

Hui, who has grown quite a bit, tilted his head, opened his pair of emerald green eyes, and looked at Chacha helplessly. After thinking for a while, he took out a bag of small bread from the cabinet, opened it and walked over I handed it to my greedy younger sister, "Be patient, the soba noodles made by Dad are also delicious?"

Chacha lay on the jade dog, squinting her eyes like a lazy puppy, and then caught off guard and bit the bread that Kei handed her with a whoop.

At six o'clock, Gojo Satoru knocked on the door at lunchtime.

The white-haired young man was still wearing a black uniform and a scarf around his neck, as if he had just finished his mission and ran over for the holidays.

Uso filled eight bowls of hot buckwheat soup, and carefully placed the crispy tempura, shiitake mushrooms and wakame according to the bowl of noodles that Sachiko's mother made for him in his memory.

The aroma of the dashi broth hits the nostrils, making the mouth watery.

"I'm gonna start now!"

After shouting enthusiastically and neatly, everyone took a mouthful of the hot noodles with their chopsticks, and then instantly immersed themselves in the delicious food cooked by Mr. Curse Ling, who is full of cooking skills.

"If you're free, why don't you go home for the New Year?" Chacha took a big sip, her cheeks bulged, and she took a sip of noodle soup, then turned her head and said in an inarticulate voice, kicking her feet under the dining table lightly He kicked Gojo Satoru next door.

"I told them that I was going on a mission...Anyway, you can find any excuse." Wutiao Wu's cheeks were also puffed up, and he kept talking, "The New Year's Eve at Wutiao's family is so boring, let's eat a meal in a dead breath The meal is over, and you are not allowed to talk after eating, so I will authorize the old men to do whatever they like, and I will come out to have a real New Year."

"So—what else do you have going on?"

Wujo Wushui sucked and slurped his share of noodles two or three times until there was not even soup left, and then asked with great interest.

"Activity?"

Chacha thought for a while, "Is it just sitting in the kotatsu and watching the Kohaku song battle? You can also eat snacks, like this every year, well, after watching Kohaku, you just watch the broadcast of the temple, listen to the bell ringing, and then... Watch the fireworks at zero o'clock! Let me tell you, Yokohama puts off super beautiful fireworks every year at zero o'clock on the new year! We can just see them from our yard!"

Gojo Satoru made a sound of anticipation very appreciatively.

Then he turned his head and handed the empty noodle bowl to Mr. Curse Ling with both hands, the pupils of the sky shone with anticipation, "Is there any more?"

The words "one more bowl" are all over his face.

Mr. Curse Spirit wanted to take the other party's bowl with a good temper.

As a result, Kei slapped Gojo Satoru's hand quickly with sharp eyesight and quick hands.

The black-haired and blue-eyed young man ordered an adult with a sulky face, "Go to the kitchen to dress up your legs yourself. My dad has worked hard all day, so he doesn't have time to run errands for you!"

Wujo Wujo pretended to be pitiful: "Xiaohui is so fierce."

Chacha sucked away the last sip of soup, and kicked Gojo Wu again. She smiled big, "By the way, help me fill another bowl."

"Hey——" the long, big white cat meowed with its face on its side: "I'm not a guest! How can you ask a guest to serve food!"

"At this time, you call yourself a guest." Hui complained: "I haven't seen you being polite on weekdays."

Gojo Gojo groaned and went into the kitchen with two bowls.

Then, the white-haired young man topped up his portion with delicious tempura and wakame.

"Wow, you added too much tempura for yourself!" Chacha protested, stretching out her chopsticks to snatch the tempura from the opponent's bowl, "Why do I only have two!"

Wujo Wutiao's eyes were sharp and his hands were quick, and he defended with his chopsticks, blocking all of Chacha's chopsticks.

The cat-dog war continued until the end of the year.

Uosheng drank the noodle soup slowly, exhaled hot air, and looked at them with calm and gentle eyes like an old man.

After filling his stomach, he began to draw lots to wash the dishes-of course, Uo was not in the lottery team.

Cooking and not washing dishes is the default rule of their Kitazawa family.

Zhong Yuanzhong was also very unfortunate to draw the lottery to wash the dishes. The other children cheered unsympathetically, and all rushed to the kotatsu in the living room, filling up the circle.

The TV is tuned to the NHK general channel, while adding some sound to the house and chatting, while waiting for the official start of the red and white song battle at [-] o'clock in the evening.

They were divided into groups of two and played poker with three and Monopoly with four.

Uosheng suffered a three-game losing streak, and the rich man lost completely, and three notes were pasted on his face.

Zhong Yuanzhong also managed to finish washing the dishes, went to the refrigerator to get some fruit, cut it up and brought it out, then turned around and joined the game.

The three who played poker switched to flying chess, and the eight players were neatly divided.

Not long after, the red and white song battle began.

This is a music program, because it is scheduled to be broadcast on the night of the 31st every year, so it has become a New Year's Eve program that Japanese people habitually watch before the New Year's Eve.

"Speaking of it." Yin took a bite of the cantaloupe, "Brother Zhongye also sings very well, I think it's even better than the ones on TV."

Chacha: "Eh, really?"

"Oh really."

Yin turned her head and said softly, "When I was at the LME office, Sister Maria...is the granddaughter of Mr. Raleigh President. When she celebrated her birthday, she set the place in the karaoke room and invited me Brother Zhongye went to the company to pick me up one day, but Brother Zhongye was drawn by lottery to sing."

Yin couldn't help laughing when he thought about it: "Brother Zhongye's luck in the lottery seems to be not very good all the time, but...he is really super good! He can sing so high, President Luo Li Baotian said that he With a natural good voice, I almost arrested Brother Zhongye to become a singer that day, but Brother Zhongye ran away, but Mr. President doesn’t seem to give up yet.”

Chacha turned her head to look at Zhongye, her big brown eyes were shining brightly.

Zhong also bit the cantaloupe for a moment, he was so stared at, and he blinked helplessly: "I didn't intend to be a singer... I don't know anything about music, and I only knew that song at that time."

Chacha: "You can learn this, as long as you are interested, you can try anything."

Chuya tilted his head, although singing is fun, and rock and roll is also fun, but if it becomes a profession...he is not sure if he has the willpower.

At 45:[-], the program ended, and the TV began to broadcast the bell-ringing ceremony of temples in various places.

Kei opened the sliding door, revealing the sky outside, and everyone moved from the kotatsu to the edge side.

The evening wind blows, very cold.

Hui raised his hand and called out Tutu and Jade Dog. Jade Dog nested beside him, while the rabbits nestled on top of the others.

Zero o'clock, January 2015, 1 arrives.

The bell of the TV temple came on time, and at the same time, the dark night sky burst into incomparably gorgeous fireworks instantly under a roar.

"Happy New Year."

The black-skinned and white-haired curse spirit looked up, his brows were soft, and he said softly: "... I hope you all will have a smooth, healthy and long life in the new year."

His voice was drowned in the sound of fireworks.

.

"Go to bed early after watching the fireworks, and go to the shrine tomorrow morning to pay homage." Uou urged.

"Aren't you going to worship tomorrow morning? I want to watch the sunrise." Chacha tilted her head and said earnestly, "Speaking of which, we already have two gods in our family, so there's no need to go so far to visit the shrine."

Uo and Chuya, who have the title of "God", were stunned belatedly.

Chacha smiled brightly: "Compared to invisible gods, the gods who are still visible are more trustworthy."

The brown-haired girl who has grown up a lot stood up solemnly, and went through the "two 拝, two clapping, one 拝" worship process to Uo Kazuya, "Master Guardian God and Lord Aragami, please bless me to be able to do this this year." Grow taller smoothly, I want to be as tall as my father."

Uogi thought about his height: ...Impossible.

Zhong also thought about his height: ... huh?

Mr. Curse Ling let out a muffled laugh.

He touched his little daughter who could already be called a girl, "We are not gods, they are just rumors, should we go to the shrine or we must go to worship... we must thank the good luck of last year and prepare for the new one." Pray for the year."

Uno unexpectedly believes in the existence of gods.

After he got the little sun in a daze and gradually had more and more happiness, he regarded all these as a gift from the gods to him.

Gojo Satoru held a chubby bunny with rua in his hand, "This is the first time I've seen a curse spirit visit a shrine... won't it be uncomfortable?"

"No, it's probably the tolerance of the gods." Uno said, "It's really great that I didn't get rejected."

Gojo Wu thought to himself: According to the logic of a normal conjurer...probably the gods don't exist at all.

but.

Well, it doesn't hurt to write an occasional letter.

After all, if it is this type of curse spirit, it is not surprising that it is accepted by the gods.

.

After the fireworks were over, Uso stood up and took out the Nianyu that had been prepared in the drawer.

Nianyu is lucky money.

The black-skinned and white-haired parents distributed them to their children one by one.

Gojo Satoru, who was about the same size as Uno, squatted down and mixed in naturally. He raised his head and raised his hands without any shyness.

Uno, who had expected this scene a long time ago, reluctantly put the last Nianyu in the opponent's hand.

Zhongyuan Zhong also complained in disgust: "Aren't you already the head of the Wutiao family? You are also the head of the family, why do you still have the nerve to ask for Nianyu!"

Gojo Satoru smiled and took the share that Uosheng gave him, and said confidently: "I'm not married, of course I'm still a child."

Gojo Satoru: "However, don't think that Mr. Gojo didn't prepare anything? Tengdeng! Look, what is this? It's Nianyu! Mr. Gojo also brought Nianyu here! Wait a minute—what do you want to say before you take it?"

Chacha said cheerfully: "Happy New Year, I wish Mr. Wutiao a smoother and smoother new year!"

Hui spread his hands expressionlessly: "Happy New Year, I wish you an early growth."

Gojo Satoru: Hey!

To Uno's surprise, he also received a blessing from Gojo Satoru.

It was a thick stack wrapped in an envelope.

Gojo Satoru grinned: "The ones given to you are not Nian Yu, but household...not all money, but also the things you asked me to check, and the information is also in it, you can take it apart and have a look."

I ask you to check something...

Uno opened his eyes slightly, and opened the envelope upon hearing this.

In addition to a sum of money, there are several A4 papers filled with writing, and a small photo.

It was an old photo.

In the photo, Young Zhong, who was wearing a sackcloth kimono, was also standing with a strange man.