Ome Quartet of Snow Country

Chapter 157 The New Year

Pa, a cloud of snow suddenly flew over and hit Naruse on the back.

When he turned his head, another ball of snow flew and hit him directly in the face.

"..."

He closed his eyes subconsciously, but the expected pain did not appear.

"Haha, hit Chunhai!"

He opened his eyes, and there was a thin black "little boy" standing not far away, holding another ball of snow in his hand.

Naruse froze for a moment, "Hikari..."

And she responded by continuing to throw snowballs at him.

Naruse quickly lowered his head, and Snowball flew over, scratching his scalp.

"pain……"

He turned his head, and there was a little girl standing behind him, covering her forehead with some snow on her forehead.

"How can Chunhai avoid it!"

Hikaru Takikawa immediately ran over, "It's okay, Shangzi."

"fine……"

Shang Zi shook his head and followed behind him again.

"Why does Shangzi always follow Chunhai, you are obviously in my group." Takikawa Hikari came to pull her.

Shangzi struggled, but failed to break away, and looked at him again, "I want to be with Chunhai..."

Before Naruse said anything, another girl's voice came from beside him.

"Shangzi should follow us."

He turned his head and looked, and there was a girl with her hands on her hips standing beside her, and there was another girl hiding behind her, with a thin body and yellow hair, she didn't seem to dare to show her face.

Shangzi shook his head again, rejecting her invitation.

"starfish--"

Suddenly there was a hazy call not far away.

Naruse looked over, and there was only a vast expanse of wind and snow.

"mom!"

Starfish turned her head in surprise, turned around and ran over there.

Yiye, who was hiding behind her, was suddenly dropped, looking a little panicked, and then also stumbled to keep up.

"Shangzi, it's time to go home."

There was another majestic and quiet voice in the wind and snow. Shangzi looked over there, then looked at him again, hesitated for a long time, and the voice sounded again.

"Shangzi!"

She looked at him with great reluctance, but she could only walk towards that side, her footsteps became faster and faster, and disappeared into the wind and snow together with Starfish and Yiye who had already run away in a blink of an eye.

"Wait a minute, Shangzi..."

Naruse also chased after them, but after only a few steps, they were no longer visible.

Looking back, I don't know when the light disappeared.

The wind and snow suddenly intensified, and he was also involved in it.

Naruse looked left and right, the vast snowfield was boundless, and he was the only one left.

"——Chunhai."

"..."

He froze for a moment.

"Chunhai, we are here."

He turned around, and there were two familiar figures standing not far away, smiling at him.

"Dad, mom..."

The young Matsu Chiaki tilted his head at him, his smile unchanged, and Naruse Mamoru called out again.

"Come on, we should go home."

He immediately ran towards them, "Dad!"

The snow under his feet suddenly became soft, and each step would leave a deep footprint, dragging his footsteps like a swamp.

He progressed more and more slowly, and the distance between them seemed to never decrease.

"dad……"

He gritted his teeth and struggled to break free from the restraints under his feet. Suddenly, his body staggered and fell to the ground involuntarily.

"Spring Sea."

He fell on the snow, but the figure he had been chasing suddenly appeared in front of him, bent down, and stretched out his hand to him.

"Why are you so careless? Does it hurt? Come—"

"dad……"

Naruse also held out his hand.

Then, it was empty.

"..."

The wind and snow dissipated, leaving only the familiar ceiling in front of my eyes.

And one arm raised blankly.

"..."

He opened his mouth, dropped his arms, and sat up again.

Sitting blankly for a while, Naruse wiped off the water stains on his face and looked out the window.

It has been bright for a long time.

A new year, a new day, has begun.

He lay down again, picked up his phone and flipped through it casually, and waited until his mood gradually calmed down before turning over and getting out of bed.

He should not go out today, and he is too lazy to change clothes.

Coming downstairs, Song Qianqiu woke up early - not too early, it's already past nine o'clock.

She is sitting in front of the altar, lighting a candle.

"Another year has passed."

After staring at the photos in the altar for a while, she looked at her son and smiled, "Good morning. Come and say hello to Dad in the new year."

Naruse went to sit down, looked at his father's photo, picked up a stick of incense, lit it on a candle, and inserted it into the incense burner.

"I dreamed about my father this morning."

"Really?" Song Qianqiu looked at him, "What did you dream about?"

Staring at the rising white smoke, he let out a soft breath, "I don't remember."

Song Qianqiu just smiled.

Ding--

After sitting for a while, Naruse rang the bronze chime, bowed with his hands together, and got up to wash up.

Breakfast is soba noodles with Osechi dishes prepared yesterday.

After breakfast, the mother and son sat in the living room, watching the New Year's special program on TV.

“Happy New Year~”

After a while, Shangzi's family came to greet the New Year and sat down too.

Shangzi sat next to Naruse, "Have you eaten yet?"

"En." He nodded, looked at Song Qianqiu who was sitting on the other side, and said in a low voice, "I dreamed of Shangzi this morning."

She looked over and blinked.

"What did you dream about?"

Naruse thought for a while, opened his mouth, "I really can't remember now..."

Shangzi just smiled.

The two families sat together watching TV programs, and after a while, Song Qianqiu suddenly turned his head and looked out the window.

"Spring Sea."

"Ok?"

"Go outside and see if the postman is coming."

Naruse got up and opened the door. Outside the yard, the postman who had just finished delivering the goods glanced at him, nodded, and then turned around and drove out.

"The New Year's certificate has arrived, right?" Song Qianqiu asked.

"Ah."

Shangzi also came out, "My family's should have been brought too..."

The two went outside, opened their mailboxes respectively, and took out the New Year's certificate that had just been delivered inside.

"It's a lot."

"Ah."

Back in the house, Naruse and Naoko occupied one side of the table respectively and shared the New Year's greetings.

The annual congratulatory certificates sent to Naruse's house can only be for him or Matsu Chiaki, there are sixty or seventy in total, and more than 50 of them are for Matsu Chiaki.

"Not many people knew that I came back, and the houses in Tokyo should have received a lot." She said while flipping through the pages.

"Are you showing off?"

Song Qianqiu looked at him with a smile, "Yes."

Most of the dozen or so New Year's certificates that Naruse received were from distant relatives and a few old friends from Tokyo.

The Hua family also received a lot of New Year's certificates, and the number of New Year's certificates sent to Shangzi was comparable to that of Song Qianqiu.

"Do you have so many friends?" Naruse muttered.

Shangzi smiled slightly, "Yes."

The two flipped through the New Year's card, and not long after, the doorbell rang suddenly.

"I'll go."

Naruse stood up and opened the door, and the Takikawa sisters stood outside, smiling at him.

"Happy New Year."

And behind the two of them was starfish staring straight at him.

"Happy New Year……"

(End of this chapter)