The Heroines Want to Confess

Chapter 450 450: Returning Home

Near Kyoto.

In Higashiyama, every year there is the Gozan no Okuribi (The Five Mountainous Send-Off Fires) ritual to send off the ancestral spirits that are welcomed back during the Obon festival.

At today's Bon Odori event, in the end there were also rituals of floating lanterns and lighting fires. By all logic, the wandering spirits around should have already returned to Yomi… but it seemed that there was one spirit that had lost its way.

Stepping out through the front door, they closed it behind them.

Nakano Yotsuba let out a breath. Why was it so cold outside? Even though it was night, it was still summer.

"Where did it go?"

"No idea."

There was no sign at all of that teddy bear on the road.

There was only a streetlight about every 50 meters. Searching for a teddy bear that could move on its own under circumstances like this… wasn't this basically filming a horror movie for real?

Timid, Yotsuba tugged at the hem of his clothes:

"Sakurai-san, I—I think we should go back."

"That's something we paid money to bring back, several thousand yen, you know!"

"I don't need it anymore. It was my allowance anyway."

"So my effort is worth not even a single yen?" Sakurai Saki ignored her tugging and pulled her along toward the cemetery area they had visited during the day.

Nakano Yotsuba temporarily gave up the idea of going home and looked around nervously:

"Sakurai-san, don't you feel cold? It must be because of a ghost. Otherwise…"

Suddenly, a strange gust of wind blew up, blowing away the bangs on Yotsuba's forehead. She squinted her eyes and used her free hand to shield against the wind.

When the wind died down,

Nakano Yotsuba discovered that under a nearby streetlight, the teddy bear that had run off earlier was standing there motionless.

"…Over there."

Yotsuba hid behind Sakurai Saki, tilting her head to peek out.

"Sakurai-san, how did you know it ran here?"

"Didn't I already say it? It wants to go home. A ghost's home, besides where their relatives live, is Yomi, and graves are the entrance to Yomi…"

"Yotsuba, the reason you're afraid of ghosts is because you're worried that ghosts will harm you, right?" Sakurai Saki explained.

"This teddy bear just wants to go home. Otherwise, when we were sleeping just now, it would have come to harm us long ago."

"I see. Then it's a good teddy bear."

Yotsuba felt that what he said made a lot of sense.

But… sense was sense, and it had absolutely nothing to do with whether she was scared or not!

There was no girl in this world brave enough to not be afraid of ghosts. Yotsuba could be certain and affirm that!

"Turn your back. If we look at it, it probably won't move."

"Umu."

Although Yotsuba was scared, she didn't refuse.

'If it's a spirit that lost its way, could it be my mom's incarnation?'

Thinking that, the unease in Nakano Yotsuba's heart quickly dissipated, replaced by a warm feeling.

'If it's mom, that would be great.'

She couldn't help but think that.

One minute later.

"You can follow it now."

Sakurai Saki very naturally took her hand.

The two of them turned around and walked forward along the country road.

"Sakurai-san, could it be…"

"You think it's your mother?"

Sakurai Saki could give the answer—impossible.

But the truth was that he couldn't easily tell Yotsuba that.

"Umu."

Yotsuba nodded.

"I don't know. This is my first time encountering a situation like this too. If you hadn't woken me up tonight, I probably would've just kept sleeping."

"I see."

Walking while stopping along the way, taking nearly half an hour, the two of them finally arrived at the village cemetery. This place buried many elderly people who had passed away in the surrounding area—

Japan has had the custom of cremation since very early on, and burial in the ground is almost nonexistent. Temples and cemeteries are everywhere, but unfortunately the number of elderly people who pass away each year has not decreased at all, so accumulated over time, even in rural areas graves are still very expensive.

Not being able to live in a good house while alive is one thing, but even after dying there's a possibility of not having a place to stay—there's really no knowing how to put it.

Following the footsteps of the teddy bear.

The two of them stopped in front of a grave…

On it were incense, candles, and offering flowers. There was no eerie atmosphere at all; on the contrary, it gave people an inexplicable sense of warmth.

"Sakurai-san, it… it moved."

Yotsuba's voice was as soft as a mosquito's as she pointed down in front of the grave, where the teddy bear was crawling upward step by step.

Sakurai Saki didn't say anything, watching the teddy bear slowly crawl to the side of the offerings, then turn around and sit still without moving.

'Maybe the spirit has returned to the grave?'

Just as he thought that.

The teddy bear suddenly turned its head to look at Yotsuba, waved at her, then slowly lay down.

With a "ong~" sound, a beam of light shot out from the teddy bear, like a ribbon shooting straight into Yotsuba's chest.

[Thank you, big sister. I'm giving you a gift, please accept it]

A childish little girl's voice echoed in Yotsuba's mind.

Only then did she look toward the inscription on the gravestone…

"…It's not Mom."

She murmured, then a few seconds later shook her head at herself.

What am I thinking, Yotsuba? Even if it were Mom, so what…?

"We did a good deed, so don't make that kind of face."

Seeing that her expression looked somewhat dispirited, Sakurai Saki offered a word of comfort.

"Mm."

Just as Yotsuba responded, she raised her hand to support her forehead, her spirit wavering for a moment.

In that instant, countless memories in her mind became unusually clear, as if her childhood had been experienced all over again.

Among them, of course, were many memories of living together with her mother.

Her mother's voice, her mother's appearance, her mother's reminders, the last words before she passed away… too many, far too many…

This was the gift the spirit had spoken of.

Under Sakurai Saki's astonished gaze, Yotsuba slowly squatted down, hugged her knees, and quietly burst into tears.

She had originally been the one among the five sisters who liked clinging to their mother the most. Now, wave after wave of moving memories kept flooding into her mind, and she truly couldn't hold back her tears.

"Hic~"

Yotsuba wiped her tears, but discovered that the more she wiped, the more tears fell.

After a long time.

Nakano Yotsuba propped her hands on her knees and stood up.

"Sakurai-san… we've met before, haven't we?"

With the help of the spirit, she had remembered—back then, after learning that her mother's illness was incurable, she had run to the park, met Sakurai Saki, begged him for help, and asked him to save her mother.

"What are you talking about?"

"Sakurai-san doesn't need to blame himself… it's fine."

Just being able to relive once more those days spent with her mother already made Yotsuba feel very satisfied.

Toward Sakurai Saki, she was truly very grateful…

"Let's go home."

"Umu."

————

The next day.

"It just feels like Sakurai-san and Yotsuba have gotten much closer…"

Itsuki said to Nino, who was also cooking in the kitchen, her face full of suspicion.

"Isn't that very good?"

Nino guessed: "Something secret must have happened that we don't know about, right?"

Just like back then with herself.

"Very good?"

Itsuki said helplessly: "Do you really want the five of us to always be together? Personally, I don't want Yotsuba to be 'eaten' by him."

The five sisters all liking one man, all serving one husband together…

That kind of thing… doesn't it seem very strange? This isn't ancient times anymore.

"I'm talking about a teacher–student relationship, okay? Itsuki, what are you thinking about?"

Nino teased with a laugh:

"Ohya ohya, so Itsuki wants everyone to be together forever?"

Itsuki's face reddened as she muttered:

"Pervert Nino!"

"Uh-huh, then who was the one shaking their hips the hardest the night before last, I wonder? I won't say it out loud, you know~"

"You…"

Itsuki put down the kitchen knife and reached out to pinch Nino's slender waist.

"Hey! I'm cooking! That tickles!"

"It wasn't me! The most intense one was Miku!"

Nino: "?"

Ah, this—Itsuki… the place you got angry at seems to be a bit off, doesn't it?