Compared with Tokyo, Yutani Miu prefers the unpredictable weather in Boston.
When he left, it was still as sharp and simple as bone marrow, but it suddenly started to warm up a few days after he left. It is hard to imagine that in this extreme continental climate, in this long and cold winter, there would be such warm days.
The scorching sun was blown into a gauze by the cold wind and shrouded his skin. He put on new gloves, and the relaxed mood on his body disappeared instantly after meeting the three people.
Warmth is a mask of winter. If nothing unexpected happens, a blizzard of indeterminate duration will begin tomorrow, and it may bury the houses under the snow.
It is really different from Tokyo.
The car was well heated, and he took off his coat as soon as he got in. The artificial heat warmed up the cold steering wheel, and a strange smell of leather followed.
It smelled bad, but no fool would drive with the windows open in this weather.
Yutani Miao sighed, started the car according to the route in his memory, and drove to the destination.
The familiar car stopped in front of the door, and Miyano Shiho was basking in the sun.
It was a rare leisure time. There was a large floor-to-ceiling window on the first floor of the villa. Starting from the day Cointreau left, the members who had prepared nutritional meals for themselves for a year suddenly changed the menu, from the previously difficult to swallow things that only focused on the so-called nutritional balance, to some food that suits the taste of children.
At noon, we had curry beef rice with vegetable and fruit salad. The carrots that we hated before were diced and stewed with potatoes in a pot until they were soft and glutinous. The beef was stewed in advance, and it was also served with a proper proportion of soft beef tendons, which were mixed with thick curry and poured on the rice.
A morning of high-pressure study had already consumed the energy provided by breakfast. After washing her hands and wiping off the water droplets with a towel, Shiho Miyano sat at the dining table to enjoy her lunch.
At least the taste now is completely worthy of the word "enjoyment". The salad prepared for nutrition is also very refreshing. The vegetables and fruits are matched with just the right sauce, opening up a passage in the mouth soaked in curry. The two dishes complement each other and do not feel greasy at all.
It is quite different from the previous businesslike attitude.
This should also be related to her new protector. Miyano Shiho still couldn't figure out the reason, but this did not prevent her from taking advantage of it. Today, the sun rarely came out. The curry rice at noon was also warm, and her stomach was also warm after eating. She was completely immersed in this satisfied sleepiness.
This was also the same as her plan. Today was Sunday, the only day in the week when she could let herself rest for half an afternoon. She asked for a cup of hot cocoa. The other party seemed to have been asked by the organization not to talk to her, and just walked back to the kitchen.
Then, a cup of boiling hot cocoa was placed on the dining table.
She pushed the not-so-heavy recliner to the French window and found a blanket from the room. Cointreau was on a mission in Japan and would not be back until two days later. The man finished making the hot cocoa and left from the back door of the kitchen. She was the only one left in the house.
This knowledge gave Miyano Shiho a great sense of security. She lay on the chair with the hot cocoa on the small coffee table next to the recliner. The cold was blocked outside by the glass, but the sun penetrated in with its heat.
A full meal, hot sweet drinks, a blanket and the afternoon sun gradually relaxed her nerves that had been tense for almost a week. Her eyelids became heavier and heavier. She heard the sound of the car door opening in a daze. Her sleepiness disappeared instantly. Miyano Shiho struggled in a panic and almost knocked over the glass at hand.
When she looked out the window in a vigilant posture, there was only a black shadow passing by outside the courtyard.
Miyano Shiho ran to the window and looked out. The black car in the distance could not be identified. Was she too nervous? It turned out that she was under too much pressure recently...
The girl curled up in the recliner again, her heart relaxed, but the sleepiness disappeared because of the shock just now. However, it was comfortable to lie down with her eyes closed and not think about anything.
Miyano Shiho got up on time before the chef came to cook dinner, cleaned up the sunbathing seat that would not be put out again for who knows how long, and took out the new textbooks she learned in the morning to review. The movement in the kitchen seemed different from that at noon. Was such a sumptuous dinner going to be prepared in the evening?
"Two servings?" After reviewing the textbook, Miyano Shiho got up and went to the study to get a book. When she passed by, she saw the chef putting the tablecloth on the table. She paused and asked.
The chef, who was always taciturn, responded to her question. He nodded lightly, "Mr. Cointreau is coming back today."
It's really strange to add honorifics after the name of the wine, the girl complained.
"Mr. Cointreau called and said he will be here in the afternoon," the man with a rigid crew cut asked casually while putting the tableware neatly, as if he was a little surprised by her question.
Afternoon? !
She didn't hear it wrong at all. The sound of the car door opening was him coming back! But why didn't he come in? Did he leave because he forgot to do something else?
This explanation is barely reasonable. Shiho Miyano feels that since she changed her guardian, she has been tangled with more and more problems. She used to only need to focus on studying, but now... what is he thinking about? !
When dinner was ready, Yu Gu Mio also came back. The two sat opposite each other at the dining table in silence. The man came over with a plate in one hand and placed the cold plate in front of them.
Life is really nourishing. Shiho Miyano looked up at the black-haired man opposite him. He was putting the wine glass back to its original place, and his lips moistened by the red wine became even redder.
I don't know why, but I just feel uncomfortable looking at him. Maybe it was because the feeling brought by the Cointreau guy was too different from the previous protector. She admitted that she was instinctively afraid of change because she didn't have the ability to protect herself and her sister.
Yu Gu Miao didn't care about the other person's gaze. It seemed that out of respect for her profession, the chef didn't silently put the dishes and leave like before, but leaned over to introduce, "The first course is the Xixili-style fried shrimp salad."
Oh, it's a salad.
The man who lived a refined life in the girl's eyes only understood the last few words. In the middle of the 8.5-inch flat plate was a small lump of something that couldn't be seen from the raw materials at all. He picked up the cutlery at hand and forked the lump into his mouth.
... Delicious!
I didn't expect the name to be so long and wordy, but it was delicious. The cooking level is very high.
An idea flashed through Yutani Mio's mind. He put down his cutlery, turned around and looked at the man who had been standing in the back waiting for the meal to be served, searching his memory for something.
"Yoshida Masahara?"
The man whose name was called stood up straight, almost sweating, "Yes..."
"It's delicious," the man's words seemed as cold as his eyes, but Yoshida Masahara seemed to be overwhelmed by the bonus. After reacting for several seconds, he suddenly stood at attention and bowed, shouting, "Thank you for your recognition!"
Well, from now on I have my own chef!
Mia Yutani was very satisfied with the result, with a smile on her lips. The other party quickly removed the plate with only the sauce left and brought cream mushroom soup.
Is it so worth being happy to be recognized by that guy for your cooking skills? Miyano Shiho pouted. Yoshida Masahara was very careful about the food. The tableware he prepared for her was one size smaller than that for Mia Yutani, and even the quantity was considered.
Well... it would be nice to have him as a long-term chef.
The awkward girl thought so after finishing the last dessert.
Just as she had expected, Cointreau brought too many changes.
Although this villa is equivalent to Mia Yutani's safe house, he rarely lives there. There are almost only traces of Miyano Shiho's life in the room.
But after returning from this mission in Japan, Yutani Mio has taken root here, and almost always stays here except for organizational missions.
The changes started from inside the house.
When Miyano Shiho went to the kitchen to get a bag of instant coffee because she stayed up late to read, she found that both the coffee beans and coffee powder in the cabinet had disappeared. Instead, there were tea bags and tea leaves, which were classified and packed in several identical storage boxes.
She was a little annoyed at first, but today's progress was not up to standard, so she could only pick up a tea bag and put it in the cup. Unexpectedly, the taste was very good, with a fresh fragrance and a slight bitterness, and it was very refreshing.
The next day, Miyano Shiho went to ask Yoshida Masahara, and the answer she got was that Mr. Cointreau did not drink coffee, so all of them were removed.
What? It's obvious that I don't like to drink, but why can't you let me drink it?
Later, it was the flowers in the study. As Cointreau, he had many tasks and had to go out every few days. When he came back, he would pass by an unknown flower shop in the city and buy a bunch of flowers to put in the vase in the study that had been empty for a long time.
Maybe this was the useless mourning behavior of the killer who had the so-called gentlemanly demeanor engraved in his bones? Miyano Shiho sometimes made such malicious inferences.
Sometimes it was white roses, and sometimes it was a bunch of baby's breath, all of which were pure and flawless colors. But it smelled very good. She couldn't tell whether it was perfume sprayed by the flower shop to increase sales or something else. Sometimes when she sat in the study and her brain was overwhelmed by the complicated formulas in the books, the fragrance was carried to her by the wind.
Miyano Shiho had no feelings for such flowers until one day they were replaced with sunflowers. Large patches of bright yellow hit her eyes, and she was almost stunned. The blooming flowers were the only light in the study.
It seemed that she liked flowers.
The flowers after that seemed to be bright colors. Yutani Mio's selection of flowers has never been related to the language of flowers, but only to color and appearance.
Flowers made the study have a human touch, so Yoshida Masahara seemed to have been allowed to fill the living room and kitchen with many potted plants, and even the courtyard was filled with hardy flower seeds.
There was no time and no way to take care of the seeds in the garden, but after the five-month-long severe winter, those nameless wild flowers seemed to have endless vitality and completely filled the garden.
Miyano Shiho liked those stubborn and dazzling flowers very much. In her spare time, she would move her chair to the French window and stare at the flowers in a daze.
Then there were the changes in people. The person she had been in contact with the longest was Yoshida Masahara.
The previous taciturn image seemed to be gradually fading away. He was a man who was strict and rigid in doing things. He would gradually begin to ask her about her requirements for the next meal, and refrigerated juice and cake began to appear in the refrigerator. Occasionally, there would be casual chats in the businesslike conversation.
Yoshida Masahara seemed to be more and more relaxed, and the evidence was that the dishes were getting better and better.
This change was very good.
When she came to her senses, she found that the other party had entered her life slowly but forcefully. The change that she once feared seemed to be developing in an unexpected direction.
"You seem to be in a good mood today?" Yoshida Masahara put the afternoon tea on the tea table and asked with a smile.
"Yeah," Miyano Shiho nodded in response. Outside the house was white again. It was the second winter solstice.
Recalling the "acceptance results" in the morning, the ability she showed obviously far exceeded the organization's expectations of her. The other party did not hesitate to praise her and kept emphasizing her future contributions to the organization, which made her ears numb.
But no matter what, the big stone in her heart has fallen, and she may be able to go to bed early tonight after a long absence.
Because the tension was relaxed, Shiho Miyano could finally think calmly about her protector.
She closed her eyes and mentally took out a note and the brand of pen she often used. First, the first point is very dangerous, this point must be capitalized and bolded!
A dangerous person who kills without blinking an eye, a senior member of the organization, rumored to be unpredictable, and someone who must always be very vigilant and guarded against.
The second point... is very graceful.
This should indeed be acknowledged. No matter what the other party does, it seems to be methodical, and he will keep a distance from her, just like when he hugged her before.
His actions never offend others, which is okay.
Shiho Miyano pouted.
The third point... is very protective.
Miyano Shiho chewed on these three words, not knowing if they were used appropriately.
She had spent too little time with him. Even though they had been living together, Miyabi seemed to always avoid her. When he went out to buy her clothes, he would not help her choose, but would just wait outside the store until she had finished choosing.
It was as if he didn't want to be a so-called protector at all, but no matter what happened, he was the first to come out to protect her.
Annoying! What on earth is he trying to do? !
The pudding in her mouth also lost its taste, and she closed her eyes again.
The fourth point...?
The long-lost sunshine poured out from the clouds. Miyano Shiho had wanted to build a small snowman in the yard for a few days. It was rare for her to have such a childish idea that was in line with her age. During dinner, she asked Yoshida Masahara to help prepare the tools.
I don't want to think about that person anymore. It's rare to have sunshine on these few days, and the temperature is suitable.
Miyano Shiho then put on a thick coat and was about to put on snow boots when Yoshida Masahara came out of the kitchen to put fresh juice in the refrigerator. "Miss, are you going out?"
The other party kept calling her like this, just like calling Yutani Mia Mr. Coindo.
"Let's make a snowman."
The man's hand trembled when he heard this answer, and he almost threw the bottle of drink away. He showed some embarrassment and apology on his face. After a long consideration, he said, "Sorry, I accidentally forgot to prepare to make a snowman..."
"It's okay," Miyano Shiho pursed her lips and kicked off the boot she had already put on. "It's not necessary to pile it up. It's not a big deal."
Although she said so, her mood was still as dry as a punctured balloon. She didn't let any loss show in her eyes. The apologetic chef still had a lot of preparations for dinner to do. There was a faint sound from the back kitchen, as if something was overcooked, so he could only rush back to the back kitchen.
The girl's tea hair hung down, but she didn't want to tuck it behind her ears. The tea on the table had cooled down. She wanted to get a new scented tea, but she saw a new box in the storage cabinet that originally stored various tea bags.
She didn't see it yesterday.
Miyano Shiho took out the box and imagined countless possibilities before opening it, but never this one.
A few small carrots, a row of buttons, black stones of the same size, and even hats and scarves in Christmas colors.
...What.
She thought of flowers, tea bags, the inexplicably unpalatable nutritional meals that disappeared, the explosion, and the brown bear that was still placed on the bedside.
The girl hugged the box tightly in her arms and ran to the door.
The fourth one is a big fool who can't express himself.
The silent adult and the hypocritical child continued to live together like this, until - September of the third year.
As the date got closer and closer, Yutani Miu even felt a little homesick. When that day finally came, he stayed in the bedroom all day on the pretext of feeling unwell, silently waiting for that time to come.
Three
Two
One......
【Welcome back, Asari.】
'Long time no see.'
The man with peach eyes stood up from the bed and exhaled a long sigh.
'Three years is really long.'
【To me, you just blinked.】 After
a long time without replying, the man who finally got rid of the single-player mode buried himself in the soft bedding. He closed his eyes, and the feeling of several threads drawn from his heart returned to his body again. He 'saw' the runway of the police academy playground, the colorless ceiling of the bedroom next door, and the window sill of the Boston villa.
【What's wrong?】
'Well... nothing.' Tsukiyama Asari rolled over on the bed, and finally covered his eyes with his hands and groaned briefly, 'Finally back. '
The feeling of being a stand-alone player is very bad, very bad. The feeling of being a code member is also bad, it can be called painful. When he killed an entire strange family with an expressionless face for the first time, his desire to chat with the system reached its peak.
He wanted to complain about the garbage organization that his vest belonged to, and wanted to change the main perspective to ease his emotions, but these were not possible in stand-alone mode.
Finally back.
The system automatically reads his memory and pulls it into the memory hall for storage. Its data is constantly running, sealing those red, bloody memories into the bottom layer.
[Why do you have to raise children wherever you go? ]
...
"Get lost."