The crooked-necked tree... No, Subaru Okiya returned home wearing the coldest air before dawn. The door opened, and the cold wind that poured in shook the sleepy Furukawa Kumisa in the hall.

Okiya Subaru immediately closed the door and greeted the two of them: "Good morning, have you... not slept all night?"

Haiyuan Ai yawned: "Can't you reason?"

Okiya Subaru:......

He swept away the coffee and snacks on the table, and then looked at the sleepy Furukawa Kumisa: "It's almost dawn, and staying up late is not good for your health."

Furukawa Kumisa held his head and glanced at him silently: "A person who has just arrived home is not qualified to say this."

Okiya Subaru sighed: "Then let's go to bed together, okay?"

Hui Yuan Ai sighed exaggeratedly with no expression on his face: "Wow, let's sleep together."

Furukawa Kumisa turned back to look at Haibara Ai, "If I want to sleep, I'll sleep with Ai-chan!"

Hui Yuan Ai smiled and put away the things on the table, "No, I don't want to make light bulbs, you two can do it yourself."

After saying that, I seriously walked upstairs with a large stack of documents and went back to my room to sleep.

Furukawa Kumisa stared at Subaru Okiya in front of him for a while, then suddenly said: "...I've already stayed up all night anyway, don't you mind staying up a little longer?"

Okiya Subaru was stunned for a moment, and then realized that she had something to say to him. He shook his head: "It's okay, just tell me."

He was just about to pull out the chair and sit down opposite her, but Furukawa Kumisa waved his hand: "Go back to the room and take a shower first. I was busy all night yesterday, and my body is covered with blood and dirt... I want to take a shower too.

, I will go to your room to find you in a moment."

As she said this, she turned around and went upstairs. Suddenly something occurred to her, and she turned around and said, "Remember not to touch the wound with water."

Okiya Subaru laughed: "I know."

Although it was a little strange why Furukawa Kumisa seemed to be in a hurry to find him but still had to take a bath for no reason, he still listened to her and went back to his room to take a bath and wait for her.

...Of course, reason told him that the thing she wanted to talk to him about was most likely not something related to "bathing" or something so fragrant.

Furukawa Kumisa really wanted to talk to him about business, but after a busy night, her brain was close to dormancy, and even on the verge of becoming confused. She needed to take a bath to sober up, so that she could be in a better state to deal with the next thing.

conversation.

Furukawa Kumisa returned to the bathroom in the room, stood under the shower, and let the hot water wash away his tired body.

The system looked at her and spoke with some apprehension, "Host, do you really want to talk to Akai Shuichi?"

Furukawa Kumisa made the water a little hotter and did not directly answer its question. Instead, he asked: "Does this violate the rules of the system?"

"...It's not contrary to that."

So she simply said: "Then don't worry too much."

The system was silent for a while and continued to ask: "The other thing you want to tell him...do you think he will help you?"

This time it was Furukawa Kumisa's turn to be silent, "...most likely not."

The system was stunned: "Then you...?"

Furukawa Kumisa sighed and explained to the system: "But he is already the most likely person among everyone to help me do that."

So no matter what, she had to try.

Furukawa Kumisa took a shower and changed clothes. When he went to Akai Shuichi's room, he had also taken a shower and was standing on the balcony smoking in a not too thick bathrobe.

He took off Subaru Okiya's mask, and the back figure standing in the dusk was a look she was very familiar with.

Perhaps she was thinking of the conversation that was about to take place, and she was unconsciously in a trance at that moment, as if opening the glass door of the balcony would bring her back to a familiar past.

She calmed down and knocked on the balcony door.

Akai Shuichi turned around and saw her opening the door and stepping out of the balcony, walking to him.

Akai Hidemoto just glanced at her casually, but the moment he saw her clearly, his breath suddenly froze, the hand holding the cigarette paused, and he could no longer look away.

Furukawa Kumisa knew the reason for Akai Shuichi's reaction.

She wore a floral yukata that she loved most back then, and her semi-dry long hair was draped on one side of her shoulders, curled into a slightly messy arc with a curling iron - this was the most common thing she did at home when she was conquering Akai Shuichi's life.

dress up.

Akai Shuichi never felt that Furukawa Kumisa in this life looked similar to the person in his memory. Judging from her usual appearance and dress, she could not see any resemblance between them.

But at this moment, she changed her clothes and stood beside him calmly. Even though there was still no trace between her eyebrows, it made people feel that she was the same person back then.

Furukawa Kumisa looked at Akai Shuichi's eyes that suddenly became dazed, lowered his eyes, raised a familiar smile, and stretched out his hand to him.

"cigarette."

Akai Shuichi was stunned again - this was also her most common reaction when she saw him smoking in that life.

She would reach out to him, put out his cigarette, and then keep saying things like "Smoking is bad for your health."

——At that time, she was obedient to everything he did, except for things that were "good for his health". She was very insistent. She advised him to observe martial law, advised him to go to bed early, advised him...

Akai Hide unconsciously handed over the cigarette in his hand, but Furukawa Kumisa smiled and knocked his hand away: "Who wants the one you smoked?"

When she spoke like this, she transformed back into the Furukawa Kumisa in this life.

Akai Shuichi came to his senses, realized what she was saying, and raised his eyebrows: "You know how to smoke?"

But he didn't reject her in the end. As he spoke, he took out the cigarette case from his pocket.

Furukawa Kumisa didn't answer his words, just took the cigarette from his hand and put it in his mouth.

Akai Shuichi looked at her bright red lips holding the slender cigarette. He was about to hand over the lighter in his hand when he suddenly saw her wave away the lighter he handed over and raised his head suddenly.

The smile in her eyes shone brightly in the rising dawn. She held his arm, stood on tiptoes, and pointed the cigarette butt in her mouth at the flickering flame on the long cigarette held by Akai Shuichi between her lips.

There was a "chi" sound and smoke ignited.

The first ray of light in the early morning finally broke through the sky, and the sun rose.

The firelight from his cigarette tip was transmitted to her cigarette, and the mist and fire color merged on the two cigarettes at that moment.

At the moment when light and darkness intersected, after the cold night where swords and guns intersected, she gave him a subtle kiss across the distance of two cigarettes.

It was rare for Akai Shuichi to be stunned and his mind went blank - the crises surrounding him did not allow him to lose consciousness for any moment, otherwise he would be killed on the spot in the next second.

But when Furukawa Kumisa held his arm, when Furukawa Kumisa's cigarette brushed the flame on his cigarette butt, when she winked at him with a faint smile and invisible charm, when their fireworks blended together

At that time...Akai Shuichi was stunned on the spot.

At that moment, the morning sun and the firelight were eclipsed in front of his eyes, and he could only see one person.

Furukawa Kumisa, however, had a very good sense of proportion. After she lit the cigarette, she took a step back to a safe distance between the two of them and stopped making any unnecessary movements.

She turned to face the rising sun in the sky, took a shallow breath, and then exhaled the thin smoke.

To be fair, her smoking posture was very awkward, like a little girl secretly wearing an adult's skirt. It was a bit awkward, but it caught Akai Hide's eye, but it had a vivid beauty.

She spoke softly in the smoke: "You told me last night that I could talk to you."

Akai Shuichi was still in a daze, and after a while he responded in a dazed manner: "...Hmm."

Furukawa Kumisa smiled, suddenly spoke, and said the shocking words calmly: "Gin killed me once."

She turned her gaze slightly to the side, passing through Akai Shuichi's trembling expression, and swallowed the next sentence - just like you.

After the tremor, he suddenly realized. Akai Shuichi sighed: "...So this is your reaction to him."

He had long known from Fang Gu Ling that she had been at odds with Gin from the beginning, and the few times she took the initiative, the target was always Gin's life.

Furukawa Kumisa nodded, "So I want to kill him to avenge myself."

Akai Shuichi said nothing, waiting for her to continue.

"I tried twice, once at Senator Kuroo's birthday dinner. I didn't succeed that time, and I almost... died in his arms again," there was a distant meaning in her voice, "and then two days ago.

, after I knew he was in Osaka, I wanted to gain his trust and took the opportunity to attack him again, but I failed."

The two thrilling failures were brushed off by her so lightly, as if they had no impact on her.

But Akai Shuichi knew that if it really had no impact, she would not stand here and say these words to him.

"After that, he became my nightmare."

After that, she smiled a little self-deprecatingly, "Actually, it's not accurate to say that. He was my nightmare for a long time after he 'killed' me and I came back to life. Then

At one stage, I had recurring dreams about myself being shot through his heart by his bullets..."

At this point, she suddenly stopped talking. Akai Shuichi didn't know what to say and could only wait for her to adjust her thoughts.

After a long silence, she suddenly raised her head and looked at Akai Shuichi. There were no tears in her eyes as he thought, but there was a huge wave in her eyes.

"Shuichi, death is painful."

Akai Hide's breath suddenly tightened. The ash fell from the cigarette butt, burning his fingertips.

"Maybe everyone alive thinks that it was just a momentary thing...but the fact is that it was really painful."

She didn't use any sonorous and profound words to describe it, just the two ordinary words "very painful", but it almost made Akai Shuichi unable to breathe.

——She also died once by her own hands.

Furukawa Kumisa ignored Akai Shuichi's silence. She put her hands on the railing and buried her head between her arms.
To be continued...