Chapter 386: 150. I’m back_2
"Sister’s chair!" Kitagawa Ryoko’s eyes lit up, and she exclaimed with delight, "Sister’s chair is placed right in the middle of the beautiful flower bushes, how lovely—it seems like it was tailor-made for Sister Yukino!"
Saying this, she casually grabbed a handful of grass and tossed it upwards.
The blades of grass quietly drifted down, sprinkling over the wisteria trellis referred to as "Sister’s chair."
Yukino Ritsuko watched the cheerful little girl with a smile.
The girls taken in by the Furukawa Conference Hall were all orphans without support, some were yokai, and some were regular humans. Kitagawa Ryoko was a regular human, but she learned things faster than yokai, and with her smart and likable personality and attractive appearance, she was popular in the hall. In the hall, she was especially attached to Yukino Ritsuko. The unfeeling Snow Woman couldn’t understand why, perhaps... maybe the other thought of her as a sister.
As the afternoon approached, the hall’s bell quietly tolled.
To Kitagawa Ryoko, even this bell sounded like the tiredness of a holiday...
"Let’s go back to the classroom." Yukino Ritsuko stood up and brushed the grass debris off herself. In her blue kimono, she appeared fresh and pure, charmingly graceful.
"Let’s skip class!" Kitagawa Ryoko, wanting to have Sister Yukino all to herself, tugged at her sleeve and tried to walk away.
"I’m a teacher, you know!" Yukino Ritsuko tapped her wrist, feigning annoyance.
"Wow!"
At the moment of physical contact, Kitagawa Ryoko’s face showed an expression of intoxication, filled with a long-lost sense of warmth: she felt like she had returned to her mother’s home. That feeling was like an ancient fragrance, soothing to the soul.
In the tree branches, a plump, black crow rolled its eyes.
Oh my young master.
Your Miss Yukino is on many people’s minds, you know.
Hurry back.
This won’t do!
The Dark Crow transformed into human form and took out a cell phone to report to the young master.
※※※※※
In the room serving as a classroom, the girls were chirping away, discussing the Mountain God Festival.
They wore clothes they had sewn by hand, all with colorful and bright designs, filling the classroom with a midsummer vibe...
"Hey, do you guys know? The team that performs the best gets to be personally welcomed by the Mountain God!"
"That’s awesome!"
"Why are you so excited?"
"Shh!"
"I heard that the Mountain God is a handsome young man..."
"Oh, you’re just after his looks!"
"Who isn’t... Haha, it’s not just his looks, there’s also the honor of being the Mountain God’s wife... That’s the Lord of Ten Thousand Demons of the Feitu Mountain, don’t tell me you’re not tempted."
The girls were chattering away, and Yukino Ritsuko didn’t stop them. Instead, she stood calmly aside, contemplating her own matters. As for the Mountain God they were discussing, it held no interest for her. She was only going to Nagano Prefecture to meet the old lady.
"Don’t get all lovestruck here! By the way, is the Mountain God single?"
"Hmm, no. Last year’s Mountain God Festival, he officiated alone."
"Wasn’t it said that the Mountain God has several wives?"
"Ah, that’s the Old Mountain God. The current Little Mountain God only took over last year."
"The Old Mountain God was so fickle; the Little Mountain God probably isn’t much better."
"I won’t allow you to talk about my husband like that!"
"That’s a bit presumptuous!" Several girls’ faces turned red all at once, but most still chatted animatedly, ecstatically trying to present a mature front while discussing the Mountain God’s romantic affairs.
"Has any of you seen him?"
"I caught a glimpse from far away last year."
"Really handsome?"
"Couldn’t see clearly, he was wearing a mask."
"Then who said he’s handsome?"
"The mountain yokai said so."
"Hey hey, are we sleeping in the Mountain God’s chamber at night?"
"If we get first place, maybe there’s a chance."
The group of girls suddenly turned their heads and shouted in unison, "Sister Yukino!"
"Huh?" Yukino Ritsuko looked confused.
"Please lead the dance, Sister Yukino, and help us get first place!" In the eyes of the girls, a curious fighting spirit burned.
This fervent vibe startled Yukino Ritsuko, and she quickly waved her hands: "That’s impossible, I can’t dance."
"Ah——"
Amidst the girls’ lamentable cries, the dance lesson began.
The summer wind was mildly warm, and the shadows of the trees at the corner of the courtyard cast onto the floor inside.
Through the open windows, sounds of traditional instruments like taiko, thirteen-string koto, and other string instruments drifted in, and amid the light singing voices, Yukino Ritsuko’s figure, as if an ice and snow sprite, danced briskly.
Compared to a regular kimono, she was wearing a slightly modified dance-specific kimono. The long skirt flared out below the waist instead of being gathered like a traditional kimono, flowing down like a Tang costume, accentuating her slender and tall figure. Whenever she danced, beneath the light blue hem, her nimble, white-socked feet appeared and disappeared.
For a dance performance on such a solemn stage as the Mountain God Festival, the style had to be grand and majestic.
Yukino Ritsuko’s dance movements were sometimes rapid, sometimes slow.
When it sped up, like a night-blooming cereus, it offered a gorgeous aesthetic sense; when it slowed down, it carried a hint of heroism, paired with the twisting of her wrists, it left a lingering sense of longing.
The dozen or so girls watching were slightly open-mouthed, evidently in awe.
After consecutively executing the final challenging move, Yukino Ritsuko paused to stop, her light body seemed to float gently, gracefully completing the conclusion. Pausing briefly, then her tense body relaxed.