After dropping out of school, I chose to join a girls' band.

"Mmm..." Xiaoyue nodded obediently, placed her hands on her knees, and sat quietly on the bed, looking very compliant.

Lei looked at the quiet Xiaoyue in front of him, but felt a little troubled.

She usually deals with adults, but now she feels a bit helpless when facing children.

Lei sighed silently, thinking, "How should I play with my child?" She had no experience taking care of children and had no idea where to start.

To break the somewhat awkward silence, Lei forced a smile and softly asked, "What does Xiaoyue usually play at home?"

Xiaoyue tilted her head, thought seriously for a while, and finally raised her head and answered in her childish voice, "Sometimes I play puzzles with my mom, I also draw, and I play with building blocks!"

"Puzzle, drawing..." Lei's lips curled up slightly, and she breathed a sigh of relief. At least she knew what Xiaoyue liked, which was much better than having no clue at all.

Lei stood up and scanned the room, trying to find something suitable for Xiaoyue to play with.

She walked around the room a few times and was eventually disappointed to find that there weren't any toys that were particularly suitable for children in the place where she was temporarily staying.

She paused, scratched her head, and her mind went blank for a moment.

But when her gaze swept over the poetry anthology on the shelf, an idea struck her, and she smiled at Xiaoyue and said, "Xiaoyue, I'm sorry, I haven't found any toys here right now, but... shall we sing a song?"

Upon hearing this, Xiaoyue's eyes lit up immediately. She clapped her hands happily and said excitedly, "Okay, okay~!" Clearly, singing was one of her favorite activities.

Seeing Xiaoyue so happy, her worries eased considerably. She walked over to Xiaoyue, squatted down, and said gently, "So, what song should we sing? How about I sing one first, and Xiaoyue you choose?"

Xiaoyue tilted her head and thought for a moment, then happily said, "Let's sing 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star'!"

"Okay, let's sing together." Lei smiled, cleared her throat, and then gently began to sing: "Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I wonder what you are..."

Xiaoyue, also feeling tired, began to sing in her childish voice, and the two voices intertwined harmoniously in the room.

亻尔球罢球jiu 溜镹qun——————————————

"That's how it happened." Kurosawa Mika slowly finished recounting the whole story, picked up the coffee on the table, took a sip, and slightly relieved the dryness in her mouth.

The atmosphere at the table became somewhat heavy. Bu Lai Fang Xili silently looked at Hinasaki Miyu sitting next to her, a hint of worry in her expression.

She whispered, "Ye Quanzi..."

The so-called "Night Spring Child" refers to a child conceived between a living person and a dead person in a place like Mount Hikami where the boundary between life and death is thin, a child born through a forbidden act. Their blood contains elements of a half-human, half-demon, and her partner, Hinasaki Miha, is one of them.

When Shen Yu heard this word, her expression became somewhat complicated. She subconsciously raised her hand and gently bit her nails, as if she was pondering something.

“No… Rather than Ye Quanzi…” Her voice was slightly lower, with a hint of hesitation, “Feng Shi’s situation is somewhat different from Ye Quanzi’s. At least on the surface, I can’t easily judge what she has done.”

A complex emotion, difficult to describe, flashed in Hinasaki Miha's eyes. After all, she couldn't be entirely sure what the nature of Kurosawa Aise's actions was.

Yuri gently took Fuka's hand to soothe her emotions, while Mika's expression became even more serious.

After thinking for a moment, Fukaba said firmly, "In any case... we have to go and see for ourselves to find out what exactly happened."

Kurosawa Mika nodded, slowly stood up, and a hint of determination appeared in her eyes: "I'll go and ask Rui to bring over the camera for the release of lotus, so that there will be one more person."

------------

"tired."

While playing with Xiaoyue, Jinggong Rui heard Kurosawa Mika's shouts from downstairs.

She gently patted Xiaoyue's head and whispered to her, "Xiaoyue, you wait here obediently for a moment. I'll go down and see what's going on."

Hinasaki obediently raised her head and nodded, her eyes filled with expectation and trust.

After confirming Xiaoyue's agreement, Jinggong Rui gently stood up, turned around and walked downstairs. He didn't forget to look back at Xiaoyue sitting on the bed one last time to make sure she was quietly staying in place.

Children are always restless. Hinasaki was left alone in the room, and soon she got out of bed and began to look around the room with curiosity.

Although she had been to this room many times and explored almost every corner, Xiaoyue's innate curiosity made her unable to resist checking again to see if there were any new discoveries.

Her gaze fell on the top of the cabinet, where she noticed what appeared to be a notebook. She hadn't seen it before, and didn't recall it being there the last time she was here.

A strong sense of curiosity immediately arose in Xiaoyue's heart.

"Is it... Sister Lei's notebook?" she wondered to herself.

She moved a small stool over, carefully stood on it, tiptoed with her little feet clad in white cotton socks, and stretched out her arms, trying to reach the notebook.

Her small face scrunched up slightly, her hands gripped the edge of the cabinet tightly, and her feet were a little unsteady. Clearly, such a difficult move was not easy for her, but curiosity drove her to keep trying.

Just as her little hand finally touched the corner of the notebook, the stool wobbled slightly. Startled, Xiaoyue quickly grabbed the cabinet to steady herself. After taking a deep breath, she reached out again and finally got the notebook.

Just as Xiaoyue's little hand finally touched the corner of the notebook, the stool wobbled slightly.

Startled, she quickly grabbed the cabinet to avoid falling. After regaining her balance, she took a deep breath, reached out again, and finally managed to take the notebook down.

However, the moment the laptop was touched, the surrounding scenery suddenly changed.

The cozy wooden room vanished instantly, replaced by a shrine scene, with layers of torii gates and stone steps leading upwards.

Xiaoyue was surprised to find that she could not move. Her body seemed to be completely out of her control, as if she had become an observer, watching the scene in front of her change constantly.

"She"—that is, the self that Xiaoyue is now "seeing"—begins to walk up those steps one by one, the scene carrying a mysterious and unsettling atmosphere.

At the end of the stone steps stands an ancient shrine.

Two masked people stood on either side, and they helped "her" open the shrine gate.

The shrine was dark and solemn, and in the very center lay a girl who looked to be about the same age as Xiaoyue.

The girl's hair was as black as ink, spreading smoothly beneath her, while her face was deathly pale, as if she had lost all vitality.

An elderly shrine maiden stood to the side, dressed in traditional shrine maiden attire, holding a string of talismans in her hand.

The shrine maiden whispered something to "her," but no matter how hard Xiaoyue tried to listen, the voice was always indistinct.

She nodded, seemingly understanding the shrine maiden's words, and then turned and left the shrine without looking back.

----------

"moon!"

"moon!"

A series of anxious shouts came from beside me, the indistinct voice seeming to drift from afar, yet also seeming to be right next to me.

Hinasaki gradually regained consciousness from her daze. Her eyelids felt as heavy as if they were weighed down by a thousand pounds of iron, making it incredibly difficult for her to open her eyes.

However, propelled by the shouts, she finally managed to open her eyes a crack, and her vision gradually became clearer.

Xiaoyue opened her eyes, and the first face she saw was Xili's anxious eyes. Her expression was full of urgency and worry, and her voice was soft yet filled with anxiety: "Xiaoyue, are you alright?"

"Mom..." Xiaoyue's voice was soft, as if she were waking up from a dream, still carrying a hint of confusion. She blinked, her eyes darting around, as if she hadn't completely emerged from the hallucination she had just experienced.

Her gaze then shifted to Fukaba on the other side, whose expression was equally grave.

Both mothers' faces were filled with concern as they stared intently at her, as if afraid she would fall back into that strange state.

"I...I'm fine." Xiaoyue nodded slightly, trying to clear her head. Her small hands gripped the blanket tightly, as if she had grasped some kind of sense of security.

"Just now... I think I saw... something strange..." Her voice was hesitant, and her young face revealed a hint of confusion and unease.

Fuka and Yuuri exchanged a glance, their expressions slightly complicated. They both knew very well that Yue had never shown any talent for "seeing" before, and they had thought that she could grow up like an ordinary child, far away from those dangerous and complicated things.

However, the scene before them made their hearts clench – was it because Yue was too young that the signs hadn't yet appeared?

Yuuri gently stroked Yue's hair, the warm touch gradually calming little Hinasaki Yue down. Her breathing became steady, and the fear in her eyes slowly faded. Yuuri whispered comfortingly, "Yue, it's okay, Mommy's here. You don't need to be afraid of anything."

Yuewei nodded slightly, nestled in her mother's arms, and felt safe.

Once she had fully recovered, Shen Yu asked softly, "Xiao Yue, can you tell Mom what you just saw?"

Xiaoyue pondered for a moment, as if trying to recall the hallucination she had just experienced. She frowned and whispered, "Hmm... I saw lots and lots of torii gates, and a shrine... There was a person wearing a mask... and a girl about my age."

Her voice carried a hint of confusion, and her eyes revealed a touch of bewilderment, as if she were pondering the meaning of these images.

Upon hearing Yue's words, Fukaba and Yuuri exchanged a glance, a heavy premonition rising in their hearts. This was almost exactly the same situation that Mika had mentioned earlier.

Yuri gently picked up Xiaoyue and carefully placed her back on the bed. Her fingers gently tidied the blankets for her, and her voice was as soft as a breeze: "Xiaoyue, lie down and rest for a while, okay?"

Xiaoyue blinked and nodded obediently. The strange experience she had just had made her feel sleepy.

Yuri gently hummed a familiar lullaby. The melody was like a gentle hypnotic force. Before long, Xiaoyue drifted off to sleep in her mother's arms and the song, and her breathing gradually became steady.

After confirming that Xiaoyue was fast asleep, Xili carefully stood up, pulled the blanket up to cover her small body, and quietly left the room with Shenyu.

The two gently closed the door, their expressions somewhat solemn.

As soon as they reached the corridor, Yuri turned to face Fuka, her tone tinged with urgency: "This matter... we must resolve it as soon as possible; we can't delay any longer."

Shen Yu's expression was equally serious, and he slowly nodded: "Yes, we can't let Xiao Yue make any more mistakes."

------------

In her dream, little Hinasaki looked at the shrine in front of her.

Perhaps it was because of the fearlessness of youth, but the six-year-old Hinasaki felt no fear at all; instead, she was captivated by the scene before her.

"Hmm... wasn't I sleeping in Aunt Mihua's shop just now?" Xiaoyue muttered softly, her eyes wide as she looked around excitedly.

The steps of the shrine in front of me wind upwards, as if leading to an unknown world.

Xiaoyue walked up the steps without hesitation, her steps light, almost skipping forward.

Despite the unusually quiet surroundings, with only the occasional gentle breeze, she felt no fear whatsoever.

"Where exactly is this place?" Xiaoyue muttered to herself, her eyes filled with childlike curiosity, as she began to walk step by step toward the shrine.

Just as Hinasaki was struggling to climb the steps, the girl who had been lying in the shrine in the illusion slowly got up from the ground, her movements slow and stiff, as if she hadn't moved for many years.

Each step she took seemed to bear an immense weight; her body trembled slightly, her face was as pale as paper, and her eyes were empty and lifeless.

She stood in front of the shrine gate, her cold fingers gripping the doorknob tightly. After hesitating for a moment, she slowly pulled open the old wooden door.

As the door hinges creaked, a faint ray of sunlight shone through the crack, illuminating her pale face.

Just as the door was fully opened, a small figure was hopping and skipping up the steps outside.

Hinasaki Tsuki had an innocent smile on her face as she looked at the shrine with its door open. Tsuki's gaze met the girl's empty eyes in mid-air.

The girl's face was expressionless, only her unfathomable eyes were fixed on Hinasaki.

Xiaoyue, completely oblivious, smiled and said, "It really is exactly the same as in my dream!"

Strange Side Stories and Epilogues: The Side Story of the Two Meeting (End)

Hinasaki skipped over to the girl lying in the shrine, and as she often did when meeting a friend, she reached out and gently took the girl's cold little hand.