Chapter 617 Sleeping Beauty

In the present world, at Kamiya Kawa’s home.

In the bedroom on the second floor, Kamiya woke up.

In the room, thin strips of petals of the other shore flower floated and dissipated, and in a slender bright red, JK Yanma Kazuki appeared.

She was originally half of Kamiya Kawa’s Shikigami, so she could appear directly beside Kamiya like Mary and Hannya.

But because only half of her body had a Shikigami contract with Kamiya, she had more freedom of movement than other Shikigami.

Snap.

Kazuki Kazuki closed the folding fan in her right hand and gently tapped the palm of her left hand.

She looked around Kamiya’s bedroom: "It’s amazing. She is a stranger, but she can freely shuttle between the world of humans and monsters."

"To make Lord Yanma obey me, I must have some special talents."

Kamiya Kawa sat up from the big bed.

"Hmm..." The girl from the Styx snorted noncommittally, "What day is today?"

"January 29th."

"It seems like I can make it."

"What can I make it?"

"Sir Kamiya." Kaoru Kaoru's eyes swept across the cloakroom in the bedroom and continued to talk to herself, "Change into something formal and serious, and then go out with me."

"Please tell me what we are going to do, right?"

Although Kamiya agreed to the request of the Yama girl with the idea of ​​getting closer to the new god, he still didn't know what the other party wanted to do.

"Accompany me to a funeral."

"Huh?"

...

In the living room on the first floor.

Kanoya was leaning over the coffee table with his back to the sliding door on the side of the corridor, doing his homework.

Today was a rare day in a week when she was not assigned to exorcism homework, but it didn't mean that she could be completely free, after all, she still had to complete her homework at school.

"Hmm... Hmm..."

The ballpoint pen moved on the draft paper, making a rustling sound.

Only half of the equation was written, Xiaolu suddenly felt something, put the pen tip on the soft cheek, and turned around.

When he turned around, he saw his master, wearing a black suit, passing through the corridor.

Next to him, there was a completely unfamiliar girl in a sailor suit.

"Ah!"

Xiaolu's pupils dilated and he exclaimed.

What's going on?

Why did the master come downstairs with a beautiful girl he had never seen before! ?

What should I do with Sister Hotaru?

Kamiya Kawa and Kazuki Kaoru, who were passing by the corridor, stopped.

The girl from the underworld looked into the living room, then looked at Kamiya, and said in a strange tone of an elder: "Your daughter? Pretty cute."

"...My apprentice, Kanoya Yukino. No matter how you look at it, you shouldn't think we are father and daughter, right?"

Kamiya Kawa was speechless.

There was only a three-year age difference between him and Xiaolu.

What a look!

"Oh, a disciple." Kazuki Kaoru nodded lightly, then shook the folding fan in her hand and explained as a matter of course, "Appearance and actual age may not necessarily match. So no matter what your relationship is, I won't be surprised."

"Then think about it in a normal way."

Kamiya felt that the words of Yanma girl seemed a bit strange.

But before he could think about it, Shikanoya interrupted and said, "Master, who is this sister?"

"Oh, Kazuki Kaoru. The Yanma in the Sanzu River that I told you about before has just officially awakened." Kamiya introduced.

"Ms. Shikanoya, how are you?" Kazuki greeted Xiaolu quite formally.

"Good afternoon, sister Yanma." Shikanoya stood up from the ground.

That's right, the smell of this sister Kazuki is indeed not human.

"Xiaolu, please take good care of the house. I'm going out with Miss Xiangyue."

"Okay~"

After saying hello to his apprentice, Kamiya led the Yanma girl to the entrance.

Xiaolu sat down at the coffee table again, flipped through his homework book, and breathed a sigh of relief: "It's a ghost story, then it's okay."

Sister Ying can still be saved.

No... No!

Why do I think it's okay if it's a ghost story?

This must be the master's fault!

There are too many female ghost stories around him!

...

Tokyo, Hachioji City.

Under the guidance of Xiangyue Fumio, Oishi Shunma drove the ghost car to a relatively independent courtyard far away from the city center.

After Kamiya and Xiangyue got off the car, Oishi stuck his head out of the window of the cab: "Boss, I'll wait for you and Miss Xiangyue here."

"Okay."

"Thank you, young man." Xiangyue Fumio bowed gently to the yellow-haired Oishi, and then walked slowly towards the courtyard.

Wait until they leave.

Daishi, who was lying on the window sill, scratched his head, his face full of confusion: "Strange, this Miss Kazuki looks like a high school girl, why does she look like my grandmother?"

It's really confusing.

A funeral ceremony is indeed being held at the villa.

To be precise, it's a "night-long funeral".

Funeral customs vary from place to place in Japan. Generally, funerals near Tokyo will be held for two days. The first day is the "night-long funeral", and the family members and relatives of the deceased will keep vigil on this day. Then the next day is the farewell ceremony, and after the monks chant sutras to bid farewell to the deceased, the body will be sent for cremation.

As a ghost story, Kaoru Kaoru has concealed her presence, so ordinary people cannot notice her presence.

And Kamiya Kawa, because of his serious outfit, does not seem to be abrupt at all.

After approaching the courtyard, Kamiya noticed that the name card hanging at the door read: [Kaoru]

The person in charge of reception outside was a middle-aged man in his forties. Seeing a strange boy coming over, the man seemed a little surprised: "Excuse me, who are you?"

"I am Kamiya."

Kamiya Kawa first took out the "Gorimae" that he had prepared in advance. This is a paper bag specially used to hold funeral gifts.

There was 5,000 yen in it.

After handing over the gift money, he used his eyes to signal Kaoru Kaoru who could not be seen by ordinary people.

The Yama girl tapped her palm with a closed folding fan: "It is said that you and Kaoru-san met in the chess hall, about a month ago."

Kamiya Kawa repeated this statement without changing his expression.

The man opposite nodded with a relieved expression, first took the "Yulingqian" with both hands, and then handed it back: "Gift money is not accepted. Thank you for coming to see off my aunt, Kamiya-kun. I think my aunt will be pleased to have a sensible junior like you."

"Hmm..."

Kamiyukawa replied vaguely, as if thinking about something.

Then, he followed the man into the yard.

There were not many people who came here to mourn, and there were not many people who entered the door.

The man of Xiangyue's family seemed to notice Kamiya's expression: "Aunt has never been married, and she doesn't have many friends. After all, she has such a strange disease. So there are few people who can come to see her off. Earlier, a representative from the chess club came, but now he has left."

"Disease?"

"Ah, my aunt didn't mention it to you... That's right." Mr. Xiangyue stopped talking.

He took Kamiyakawa to the mourning hall, which was also empty.

There was a black and white portrait above the center of the altar, and lotus lanterns, flower baskets, flowers, and fruits on both sides, with the coffin in the front row.

Mr. Xiangyue bowed to the portrait and walked out again.

He felt very sorry for his aunt.

Such a strange disease...

At the same time, Mr. Xiangyue couldn't help but think of the boy that his aunt met in the chess hall in the last month of her life.

How did his aunt look at this "younger generation" who shared the same hobbies as her?

In a sense, they should be considered peers, right?

But one is young and handsome, and the other is old.

What would his aunt think when facing this boy?

I don't know.

I guess no one in this world can empathize with her.

Mr. Xiangyue left, and only Kamiya Kawa and the girl from the underworld were left in the mourning hall.

Kamiya shifted his gaze to the altar and looked at the portrait.

In the black and white photo, there was a thin but energetic old woman.

"Who is that?"

Kamiya looked at Xiangyue Xun beside him and spoke tentatively.

The latter was very calm and shrugged his shoulders: "Yes, that's me. Most people rarely have the opportunity to attend their own funerals, right?"

"Why?"

Although he was mentally prepared, Kamiya Kawa was still a little confused after hearing the exact answer.

"Why did you bring me here? I want to say goodbye to my past self and confirm some things by the way."

"Actually, I want to ask, why are you the way you are now?"

Kamiya finally understood why Kazuki Kaoru, who is obviously a JK, behaves so old-fashioned.

And what does the sentence "appearance and actual age may not necessarily match" mean.

Although the body has become smaller, the mind is still that of an old man, right...

"Why am I the girl now? This should be asked to you, right? Didn't you wake me up? I thought it was your personal habit." The folding fan tapped on the young palm, and Kazuki Kaoru looked thoughtful, "But maybe it's because my soul is still a girl?"

Kamiya Kawa:?

Okay, I can't understand it at all.

But in the midst of doubt, Kamiya still grasped a clue of inspiration: "What illness did Mr. Kazuki mention just now?"

"Yes, I am sick." Kazuki Fumio nodded calmly, "When I was 17 years old, I should have just won the title of Women's King General for a while. I still have a deep impression, because at that time I had the hope of being promoted to the fourth dan and becoming a real chess player..."

Kazuki Fumio, a genius female chess player who appeared in the shogi world like a comet.

During her service, she held the four female chess player titles of Queen, Women's Throne, Women's King General, and Kurashiki Fujika at the age of 17, and was called "the ghost of women" in the industry.

Among them, the two titles of "Women's Throne" and "Kurashiki Fujika" have "eternal qualifications" during their service period because they have won the required number of title battles, which is the so-called "Empress Throne" and "Empress Kurashiki Fujika".

However, this genius chess player was active in the shogi world more than 60 years ago.

At that time, the status of female chess players was particularly unimportant.

After winning the title of Women's King, Kazuki Fumio's name never appeared in the shogi world again.

As she said, she was sick.

An extremely strange and unreasonable disease.

Kazuki Fumio fell asleep on an ordinary night and never woke up again.

Like the Sleeping Beauty in the fairy tale.

Of course, a more practical way of saying it is that she is a vegetable.

Xiang Yuexun, who fainted, was taken to the hospital, and there was no abnormality in her body after examination.

But she slept like that for a long time without waking up, and could only rely on medical equipment to maintain her life.

Moreover, compared to other vegetative cases, Xiang Yuexun's state is even more strange. Her vital signs are very stable, and she has not shown severe muscle atrophy despite being in bed for a long time.

"When I woke up for the first time, it seemed like five years had passed. But I didn't have any real feeling about that. For me, it was just a sleep. After a period of rehabilitation training, I left the hospital smoothly. I originally thought the situation would get better, but after about two months... I fell into a long sleep again, and it was eight years later when I woke up."

Xiang Yuexun's tone was calm, not as if she was telling her own experience, but as if she was telling the story of someone unrelated to her.

Time goes around like this, waking up for a while, and then falling asleep again in a long sleep night that I don't know when it will come.

As far as Xiang Yuexun is concerned, only about a year has passed.

But several times during this year, she woke up from her hospital bed and could see her own face in the mirror, changing from a girl to an adult, then to middle age, and then to old age.

Everything happened within "one year".

For a young girl, this is extremely cruel.

She hasn't had time to enjoy her youth, she hasn't had time to become a real chess player, and compete with the top professional chess players for titles such as "Dragon King", "Rui Wang", and "Chess Saint".

Her originally splendid life suddenly jumped to a stage of exhaustion for no apparent reason.

The last time Xiang Yuexun woke up was two months ago.

An 18-year-old young soul was stuffed into a dying old body.

Just as her nephew Mr. Xiangyue thought, no one in the world could feel the same way as Xiangyue.

Xiang Yuexun, who woke up for the last time, knew that her time was running out and calmly accepted her impending death.

Maybe it was peaceful, no one knew.

She went to have her portrait taken, contacted the funeral company to make funeral arrangements for herself, and also went to a shogi parlor several times.

In this day and age, there are many things that she cannot understand.

AI has had an irreversible impact on chess; the status of female chess players has increased to a certain extent...

In the era of Xiang Yuexun, female shogi players who debuted at around 10 years old like her were rare, but now it seems that it is not uncommon.

"Actually, I think that this era...maybe not bad at all." Xiang Yuexun said while standing in front of her portrait and coffin, "There are very few people like me who can observe sixty-nine-year-olds with a young and curious mind. The world after the year.”

Kamiyakawa was silent.

Looking up at the altar again, I felt that the candlelight beside the portrait made the yellow-white flowers dazzling.

"Shogi... So the inscription on your folding fan is your title?"

"Otherwise, what do you think it is?" Kaoru Kaoru unfolded the folding fan, "Yes, what's in front of you is Queen Kaoru of Shogi, Queen of Onyū, Queen's Throne, Queen Kurashiki Touka Kaoru. Oh, at the same time, she is The new master of Santuchuan, Lord Yama."

Kamiyagawa:……

What a long mouth.

Understand, it’s not that Kozuki Kaoru is a good middle school student, but the Japanese who came up with these titles are quite good at middle school.

"So your illness...?"

"I ask you to bring me here just to confirm again." Yama girl nodded, her expression still cold, "Yama's power is quite convenient, now I can be sure, I am not sick, there is a curse on me "

"curse?"

Kamiyachuan narrowed his eyes and looked at the coffin.

He could indeed feel a little different kind of power, but maybe it was because Xiang Yuexun's body was dead and the remaining power was not clearly visible.

Snap.

The folding fan in Yan Mo girl's hand was struck twice between the young and elastic palms:

"Well, do you know Xiao Binze?"