I am the emotional sustenance of your deceased

Are you trying hard? It's so cute.

This time, unlike the previous visits, she did not look at the scenery outside the window. Sitting in the car, Lenai cast a gentle gaze on Chitose's profile.

Although I can't get over the death of Chitose Haizuka, I can say that I will never be able to let it go for the rest of my life.

But, let it be the past.

Isn't it that Lenai and the little girl in front of her need to support her to keep going?

"We're here. Go back to sleep for a while. I'll carry you."

"No need...I've slept enough! Already! I've gotten enough sleep!"

Although she said so, Le Na always felt that Chitose was just holding on.

"Just a few steps further...there used to be a cucumber stall on the roadside."

“That’s gone now.”

"Yes, no more."

Things have changed and people have changed. As happy as I was when I first set foot on this journey, I felt as desperate as I did when I saw Qiansui's tombstone.

"Mom, please walk faster, or it will be dark soon."

But even if it gets dark, the world won't end. So... don't worry.

There weren't many pedestrians in Komachi on the road, and after turning a few more corners, we arrived at Lenai's destination.

"When I open the door, bow with me."

"Good~"

"Don't you want to ask why?"

Lenai adjusted her hat, and her other hand, holding the phone, was always hanging behind Chitose to prevent her from falling behind.

"Whatever mom says is what it is. Xiao Sui will be a good boy."

"Thanks…"

At the door, Lenai was asked to take out the few letters from the mailbox.

"I'm sorry, Xiaosui, I haven't written to you much in the past year... I've been too busy working on our dream."

"You will forgive me."

"Mom, what are you mumbling about?" Kaname Chitose said with her hands on her hips.

"It's okay, let's go in."

They both bowed and asked Lenai to find the slippers from the side.

There's very little dust in the house because Lenai hired a local nanny to come and clean it every week...but she's not needed for the month before the 1,000th anniversary.

Yayana will come back to clean the house herself that day.

"Sui, do you still remember the man named Huizuka I told you about?"

"forgotten."

"Haha...it's okay."

[Xiao Sui, look at her, isn't she so cute?]

Ch416. Noshiro, Your Grave, My Life

[Haha, Xiao Sui, did you see that? This is my daughter. She's very cute, right?]

She can't even remember that I told her your name.

The small grave was surrounded by weeds, dotted with lovely dandelions, and the occasional spring breeze would carry a few cherry blossom petals.

It was as if the God of Spring was offering sacrifices to Chitose Huizuka in advance, or as if Chitose Huizuka was picking flower petals and playfully throwing them into Le Na's hair to joke with her.

"Hey, 20, I brought my...our daughter to see you. Isn't she cute?"

She bent down and pinched Yao Qiansui's pretty face. The girl was busy looking at the butterfly hidden in her palm and had no time to listen to what her mother said.

"Years old, he looks a lot like you, right? Just as cute, just as lively... In another eight years, she'll be a teenager like you."

When the time comes, I will bring the children to visit you.

"Mom, where are we staying today?"

"Sleep upstairs. I'll be going home tomorrow. I have to visit an old friend tomorrow."

"Okay, why do you have so many old friends, Mom?"

The girl raised her head curiously. Lenai didn't explain much but picked the cherry blossom petals off her head.

A twenty-two-year-old adult bent down to pick flowers for a six-year-old girl, and it was just the same as before, except that the girl had matured.

"Because, Mom has been through a lot."

"I've been through so much that my heart has become so narrow. Only music and you can keep me going."

"Eh! It's so heavy."

"No way. Let me hug you again."

Before Le Na could finish her words, Chitose took the initiative to hug her.

Chitose Kaname pecked and kissed Rakuna's cheek again and again: "Mom is very heavy, but Chitose will be with Mom to resolve everything."

"Don't put too much pressure on yourself!"

The butterfly that rested on the palm of my hand flew away towards the falling flowers.

The fluttering of butterfly wings stirs up the sad wind in the lonely spring.

……

Butterflies slid down the falling petals, and the weather in Tokyo was getting hotter.

On April 14th, the weather will be cloudy or sunny.

It may seem like a sunny day to outsiders, but the dark clouds in Lenai's eyes obscure her view of the real outside world.

"Two...three matcha parfaits, please. Thank you very much."

"Hey, this is your matcha parfait. You don't have to be so polite."

The building built after the completion of SPACE is called RING, and it is said that it was invested by my grandmother.

Sometimes Lenai couldn't understand why the original buildings were not preserved. Although they looked a bit shabby and simple compared to today's buildings, but... oh, now I found the reason.

RING, traffic light, street corner.

A coffee shop whose name I forgot, Noshiro House, a street, a cemetery.

"Are we going to visit that senior again?"

"Yes, today is April 14th, the day she left."

The daughter looked up innocently and pointed to the cemetery gate not far away:

"How old was Mom when that person passed away?"

"Mom was the same age as you are now."

Before passing by here, Le Na went home to get some incense. Yesterday's trip to Hida City was very smooth. At night, Le Na was busy telling some horror stories to Chitose, which scared the little girl so much that she would cling to her arms and tremble in the middle of the night.

Hahaha, she, Yao Lenai, is such a bad woman.

"Sister Chitose, I'm here again."

More than a dozen years have passed since Chitose Noshiro left. At the age of fourteen, Lenna swore that she would do her utmost to protect everything Chitose left behind.

lifetime!

Now at the age of 22, Lenai can confidently say:

"I did it."

The items for the worship were held in Chitose's arms, while Lenai carried the insulated box containing three cups of matcha parfaits, and a black guitar was slung on her back.

"I'm twenty-two this year...ah, twenty-three. I haven't seen you in sixteen or seventeen years."

When is your birthday?

Yao Le Nai thought hard but couldn't remember it.

The heterochromatic eyes swayed with the slight sway of Lenai's body. She didn't need to look up to know that no cherry blossom petals would fall on her head this year.

The cherry blossoms fall, nothing can replace them.

Things in this world are unpredictable, and I have long been accustomed to the pain brought by this numbness.

"Are you here again this year? Come in...Ah, is this your daughter?"

"Yes, Auntie, I wish you good luck in your work."

The guard at the cemetery gate is an aunt in her fifties or sixties.

She had indeed watched Lenai grow from the age of six to over twenty.

"Mom, that grandma looked at you with such sadness."

"Maybe she's very sad herself."

call.

Go forward, then turn.

The cemetery is very large, and Yao Lenai has often come here for a walk over the years.

There wasn't a place she hadn't been to, but Lenai had no interest in this place.

Maybe it's because this is where her former idol, life guide, and the one who she never acknowledged but did take on the responsibilities of a mother is buried.

“No one came this year either.”

They soon found Chitose's tombstone.

The quiet environment is refreshing... The trees and flowers are full of vitality, and the cemetery still respects the deceased.

Lenai sat cross-legged, while Sui stretched out his legs and sat in Lenai's arms.

Xiao Sui is so warm and if it were someone else, Lenai would be disgusted.

"Why did we buy three matcha parfaits?"

"Because one cup is left for someone else."

"Who is it?"

"This senior who is unable to wake up."

Ask Lenai to place the two cups of matcha parfaits one in front of the other.

She and Xiaosui each had a cup, and the rest was for Sister Qiansui.

He seemed a little insane as he kept mumbling in front of the tombstone, but fortunately no one was paying attention.

"No one else is coming this year besides us."

Soon after Chitose Noshiro passed away, no one came to visit him anymore.

I am always alone every year, but at least I brought my children with me this year.

"This is Chitose Noshiro, she..."

"Mom has told the story of Noshiro Chitose ten thousand times, and Toshiro's ears are already callused from hearing it."

Chitose Kaname held a spoon in her mouth and stretched listlessly in Rana Kaname's arms.

"I can't help it."

Since I was a child, I have always thought that the most powerful person is Chitose-nee.

He is not afraid of the dark, knows everything, cooks delicious meals, manages his life in an orderly manner, and is also extremely good at playing the guitar.

When I was a child, I had to look for her when I was crying and didn’t know what to do.

But in the past, Lenai seemed to have forgotten that the person she relied on was once a little girl.