Chapter 21 Chapter 21 The Mansion in the Rain (Part 2)...
"Ms. Maori, what's wrong?"
Hearing the question, Mao Lilan came back to her senses and noticed the continuous rain outside the door. She quickly turned around and said, "Miss Yamanaka, these are my friends. Can they come in to take shelter from the rain?"
The young woman, Yukiko Yamanaka, who had peeked out to check on the movement at the door, was startled for a moment before saying gently, "Are you here to see Ms. Mori and the others? Ah, the rain is so heavy, let them in quickly."
"Sorry to bother you." Yuyin bowed slightly to greet Yamanaka Yukiko. From the conversation between Xiaolan and her just now, it was obvious who the owner of the house was.
Natsume also nodded in greeting following Yuyin's lead. He didn't like to talk much when there were many people around.
Madara jumped off Natsume's shoulders, shook himself off at the door where he was changing shoes, and dropped the water all over the floor.
"Teacher Cat!"
"Oh, so cute," Mao Lilan squatted down and stroked the lucky cat, and said to Natsume, "Is this your cat? Its name is Teacher?"
Natsume said yes awkwardly, and reached out to hug the big monster who pretended to be well-behaved in front of girls.
"You guys should wipe it too. It would be bad if you catch a cold." Yamanaka Yukiko returned with two towels and handed them to Yuyin and Natsume. Seeing the cat in Natsume's arms, she reached out to tease it and said to Natsume, "Wipe the cat too. I'll get another towel."
Natsume declined, "No, Mr. Neko and I can just use one."
After a few people talked, Yuyin and Natsume wiped their heads with towels as they walked inside. As soon as they entered the living room, a young man stood up from the sofa and asked with concern: "Yukiko, who are these people?"
He looked no more than thirty years old, wearing silver-framed glasses. He had a handsome face but a gentle temperament. Judging from the way he held Yukiko's hand, the relationship between them must be unusual.
Yamanaka Yukiko smiled slightly and shook his hand back: "I'm Miss Maori's friend. I came here to hide from the rain. You wouldn't object, would you?"
In comparison, her appearance was only pretty, far from that of Mao Lilan who was standing next to her, but the young man only had eyes for her. "How could that be? As long as you agree, don't forget, you are the future hostess of this villa."
Yamanaka Yukiko blushed shyly and quickly changed the subject, saying to everyone, "This is my lover, Kato Yu. He is the owner of this house."
Yuyin was about to reply when a drunken voice interrupted her, "Really? You two never forget to show your affection."
Yuyin and Natsume looked in the direction of the voice and saw an unkempt man sitting on the sofa on the other side. He took a sip of beer and slammed the bottle on the coffee table in front of him. "Do you still remember that this is a gathering for members of our Art Film Research Association, not your engagement party!"
Kato Yu pushed his glasses and was a little angry. Originally, everyone in the room was his own family. It was okay if Nojima Kei got drunk, but now a stranger came. It was really embarrassing to bring shame to them.
A thin man next to him advised: "Nojima, stop talking. You've drunk too much."
"Hmph!" Nojima Kei stood up shakily, "I'll go back to my room first."
"Let me help you go back." The thin man said hurriedly.
"None of your business!" Nojima Kei pushed him away. "I'm not so drunk that I can't walk."
That's what he said, but he walked unsteadily and much slower than a normal person. The thin man was worried and lagged behind him a few steps to watch over him.
After this incident, the atmosphere in the living room was a little awkward. Yamanaka Yukiko quickly smoothed things over, saying, "This is Kei Nojima and Mizuta Mizuki. They were all members of the Art Film Research Club in high school, along with Ayou and me. This time, Ayou and I are back home, so we found time to get together."
From her words, Yuyin guessed that Yamanaka Yukiko and Kato Yu must have left the local area for a long time, and their relationship with Nojima Kei and Mizuta Mizuki might not be very close.
"Actually, Nojima has a very good personality usually, but he behaves badly when he's drunk. I'll ask him to apologize to you when he sobers up." Yukiko Yamanaka did not forget to save face for her old classmate.
"It's okay," Yuyin waved her hand to show she didn't care. "Natsume and I are from around here. We'll go down the mountain when the rain stops. It's us who disturbed your class reunion."
"Is that so?" Yamanaka Yukiko looked up at the glass window. Outside, there were the sounds of wind, rain, and faint thunder. She said worriedly, "But the rain is too heavy and it doesn't look like it will stop anytime soon. If you two live nearby, I can have Ayou drive you down the mountain."
Natsume asked worriedly, "Wouldn't it be too much trouble for you? Driving in the mountains on rainy days isn't very safe."
"It's not a problem," Yamanaka Yukiko said proudly, holding her lover's hand. "Ayou is a good driver. He is very familiar with this generation. There will be no problem."
"In that case..." As long as the host didn't object, Natsume himself didn't mind staying overnight in the mountains, but Saionji-san seemed to be living in Tokyo now. If he delayed too long, he might not be able to catch the last bus back today.
"Sister Xiaolan!"
At this moment, a child's loud voice came from above, and everyone couldn't help but look up. Yuyin immediately recognized that it was Conan, the strange little boy who had come to her shrine with Mao Lilan last time.
Conan grabbed the railing and said to Ran Maoli below, "Sister Xiaolan, Uncle Maoli called the nearest towing company, and they said that all their towing trucks have been dispatched and they can't come over for the time being. Uncle Maoli wants to ask you, do you want to stay here for the night or go down the mountain and find a hotel?"
"This..." Mao Lilan felt very embarrassed. Dad let Conan say this in public, wasn't it just for Miss Yamanaka to hear, so that others would feel embarrassed and just kick him out, saving hotel fees. "Dad, really!"
Yukiko Yamanaka was stunned. She didn't expect that the Mori family, who had come to the annex to borrow a phone because their rental car broke down and their cell phone had no signal in the mountains, seemed to be really going to stay in the annex for one night.
"Miss Yamanaka," Mao Lilan thought for a moment and immediately said to the host, "When you ask Mr. Kato to send Saionji-san and the others off, please take us with you. We are just going to find a hotel at the foot of the mountain."
Strike first and prevent dad's plan of staying with me.
"Well... actually, it's okay for you to live here. Ayou's old house has many empty rooms, but the bedding and supplies may not be complete, so I'm sorry to bother you..."
Yukiko Yamanaka looked soft-hearted and kind-hearted, but the more she said this, the more determined Ran Mouri became to leave.
Seeing that Mao Lilan was determined to go together, Kato Yu said, "Then I'll go upstairs to get the car keys."
When Kato Yu passed by, Natsume took a few steps to make room for him and the girls of the same age who had been standing on his left and right.
The girl was about to follow Kato Yu upstairs when she suddenly realized something. She turned around abruptly and took a few steps closer to Natsume: "Can you see me?!"
Natsume stepped back to avoid her approach and replied subconsciously: "Of course I can see..."
At this point, a familiar sense of déjà vu made him pause abruptly.
At this moment, a violent flash of lightning flashed from outside the window into the living room, and it was obvious that there was no shadow under the girl's feet.
The author has something to say:
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I don't know why, but no matter what I write about, it always seems to end up solving cases. This must be the aftereffect of watching a thousand episodes of Conan_(:з」∠)_
The next chapter will be V~ Thank you readers who have read this far, I hope you will continue to support me~
It will be updated on Monday night, with 10,000 words of update^_^
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