Chapter 12: Reunion after years

Nowadays, young people are becoming more and more wild.

In order to compete for beauty, they even resorted to such a cheap trick as poisoning.

Fortunately, the company helped to suppress it, otherwise the police would have come to investigate and it would have become a hot topic in society.

Koike Miho sighed, picked up the thermos and drank a sip of hot tea, checked the time, and packed up her things.

I took the elevator to the first floor, my stomach felt bloated, and I went to the bathroom.

After a while, the sound of two young girls talking could be heard outside.

“Yuko, do you think Xiangzi has become more and more beautiful recently?”

“Do you feel the same way?”

“I remember that she was not very noticeable among our group of artists. She couldn’t sing or dance well, and even her looks and figure were not outstanding at all.”

“Maybe she’s experiencing a second growth spurt, or maybe she’s using some good skin care products.”

“That’s not the case, Yuko. I heard that Xiangzi has been believing in a god who can bring beauty and youth recently.”

“Yezi, how come even you believe this rumor?”

“Yuko, what if I say I saw it with my own eyes?”

“What did you see?”

“A few days ago, I woke up in the middle of the night and saw Xiangzi sneaking to the toilet, hiding inside, and making a solemn wish to the god.

She said she was willing to pay any price to be beautiful. “

“Yezi, you must be overthinking it. You forgot that we also made a wish to become pretty and beautiful.”

Miho Koike listened silently to the gossip about her artists for a while, frowning slightly.

Fujiwara Kaori is one of the artists under her.

When I first arrived, everything was very ordinary and there was really nothing outstanding about it.

But during this period of time, Fujiwara Kaori is indeed becoming more beautiful at a speed visible to the naked eye, and is showing signs of becoming the most beautiful female artist under her.

Worship God?

Most likely it’s a little ghost invited from somewhere.

In the circle of female artists, raising little ghosts is not uncommon.

In order to become famous, popular and beautiful, they can do anything.

Just two years ago, a female artist believed in an ancient European formula for losing weight using insects, and ended up being harmed by insects and eventually died.

Last year, someone spread the rumor that sleeping with a dead person’s bones in your arms at night can beautify your skin.

Two female artists tried it secretly, and in the end both were charged with insulting a corpse.

When Koike Miharu came out of the bathroom, the two talkative female artists had already left.

She checked the time: 21:33.

Arriving at the underground garage, Koike Miharu was about to drive home when she vaguely glimpsed someone wandering around in the underground garage.

Without thinking too much, she turned the car around and prepared to leave the underground garage.

The car had just driven about 20 meters when I saw the person who was wandering around in the underground garage in the rearview mirror.

Fujiwara Kaori.

One of the female artists under her is currently showing signs of becoming the number one female artist.

Whether it is a performance or an advertisement, Fujiwara Kaori’s beauty is gradually conquering everyone.

Why was she hanging around in the underground garage?

I remember she didn’t drive to work?

Could it be…

Miaki Koike drove very slowly, staring at the rearview mirror, but did not notice any other company executives.

Maybe I’m overthinking it.

As soon as Koike Miahiro stepped on the accelerator, she was ready to speed out of the underground garage.

At this moment, she glanced in the rearview mirror and vaguely saw a faint black mist emerging from behind Fujiwara Kaori.

The black fog was like a human figure, tightly fitting into Fujiwara Kaori’s body.

Its head was resting on Fujiwara Kaori’s shoulder, its left hand was supporting Fujiwara Kaori’s chin, and its right hand was caressing her cheek intimately.

Only a pair of eyes emitting red light were revealed, staring in his direction.

Illusion?
Koike Mikan shook her head, closed her eyes and then opened them again.

The black mist in the rearview mirror had disappeared, and only Fujiwara Kaori was standing there with an expressionless face.

Phew, it must be just an illusion.

Without giving it much thought, Koike Miahori drove out of the underground garage.

It was already past ten o’clock in the evening when I got home.

Koike Miho turned the key, changed into a pair of indoor slippers at the entrance, put her briefcase on the sofa on the first floor, and tiptoed up to the second floor.

On the second floor, only one room had the lights on.

As soon as Koike Miahiko walked to the door, it opened and a figure threw herself into her arms intimately.

“Chinatsu, you don’t have to wait for your mother to come back every time.” Koike Mikan smiled and stroked the head of the girl in her arms.

“I just like waiting for my mother to come back. I won’t go to bed until she comes back.”

Koike Chinatsu nudged her head in Koike Mikan’s arms. After a while, Koike Mikan went to take a shower, and just after taking off her clothes, she revealed her exquisite figure.

There was a doorbell ring at the front door on the first floor.

“Chinatsu, you are not allowed to go down and open the door.” Koike Mikan reminded.

“I got it.”

There have always been only two people in their family. All relatives and friends are not here, and few people come to visit.

Not to mention at night.

Koike Miahori put her clothes back on, adjusted them in front of the mirror, then opened the bathroom door and went downstairs.

Who would be visiting at this late hour?
The doorbell was still ringing, but Koike Miaki didn’t open the door immediately. Instead, she observed the movements outside through the peephole.

A mature and steady middle-aged man… Oh, he looks so familiar, have I seen him before?
There was a light mist covering Koike Miah’s eyes, and she stared at the middle-aged man outside the door without blinking.

She was very sure that she didn’t know him and had probably never seen him.

However, this inexplicable sense of familiarity seems to be a feeling that can only be cultivated by a couple who have supported each other for many years.

I must have been too busy with work lately and my mind was a little distracted.

Miaki Koike suppressed the strangeness in her heart and looked at the people around the middle-aged man.

A man and a woman, not very old, look like a young couple.

Do you want to open the door?
Koike Miaki thought for only a moment, and her heart was beating again.

It was as if some inexplicable force was urging me to open the door quickly.

Bang, bang.

Her heart was beating violently and the blood in her body seemed to be boiling.

All kinds of inexplicable emotions made her a little dazed for a while.

It was not until the doorbell rang again after the last time that Koike Miharu gradually suppressed all her abnormal emotions.

She took a deep breath and slowly opened the door.

“Hello, I’m sorry to visit you so late at night.”

The first person to speak was the girl who was about the same age as her daughter.

Koike Miharu’s body was blocking the door, so only a corner of it was visible. She sorted out her thoughts and looked at the middle-aged man who was leading the group silently and staring at her.

“Who are you? What’s the matter with you coming to my house so late?”

“I, we…”

The middle-aged man seemed to want to say something, but perhaps because he was too excited, he found it difficult to fully express his thoughts.

The look he gave her was filled with mixed emotions: reminiscence, joy, anxiety, uneasiness…

But she didn’t dislike such a look.

“We’re here to see you.”

“Find me?”

“Yes, looking for you.”

Horii Suzune had a proper smile on her face and her tone was soft and gentle.

“I don’t know you.”

Although she felt that the girl in front of her was very polite, the wariness in Koike Mihane’s eyes remained unchanged.

“Will you allow me to tell you a story?”

“can.”

Miaki Koike still did not invite the three sudden strangers into her house.

“In the countryside of Nagano, there was once a pair of childhood playmates who played together carefree. One day, by chance, they were playing the ghost story of Hyakumonogatari in front of a lantern covered with blue paper in the study…”

Horii Suzune’s voice is soft and gentle as she tells this story that has been unresolved for thirty years.

Childhood sweethearts, green lanterns, branded souls, thirty years of absence…

Koike Miahori opened her mouth wide and her eyes were round.

Her first reaction was that these people had teamed up to trick her!
My second reaction was an inexplicable urge to cry.

I was moved by this sad story, and my guarded heart became soft and affectionate.

This was obviously a ridiculous story, but she inexplicably wanted to believe it.

Because she once thought that she should have an invisible brother or sister.

I have also been troubled by such absurd thoughts.

It was not until she grew up, started working, got married and had children that she gradually gave up this strange idea.

When it was brought up again today, those thoughts from the past came rushing in like a surging tide, unstoppable and irresistible.

Miaki Koike’s body was almost collapsed against the wall, her cheeks flushed and she was breathing heavily.

“Mother……”

The call from behind made Koike Miahiko tremble slightly, and she gradually came back to her senses.

“I need some time to calm down. You guys, come in first.”

“Chinatsu, make tea for the guests.”

Koike Miharu made way, opened the door, gave her daughter some instructions, and then ran upstairs almost as if escaping and entered the bathroom.

(End of this chapter)