Ome Quartet of Snow Country

Chapter 25 Cafe Part Three

When the coffee shop clerk came up again, he was carrying a cup of hot cocoa.

"Thank you."

Naruse took a sip, put down his glass, and continued looking out the window.

The clerk turned on the lights on the second floor before going downstairs, and the sky outside seemed even more dizzy.The rain was a little lighter than before, but it was still not enough to leave.

"How is it?" He looked at Starfish.

"what?"

She froze for a moment, and then realized that he was talking about the "long river of history" that he asked her to draw just now.

As for the actual completion, he can also see it on the opposite side: there is nothing but a thin crooked line.

"Are you still thinking?" Naruse asked again.

Starfish responded vaguely.

"In fact, there is a very simple way: use the catalog of Japanese history as a reference point for the turning of the 'river'."

"Um……"

She glanced at him, unable to understand his calm at this moment.

After all, she was still full of the embarrassment of being discovered by peeking at the notes.

"Are you still thinking about what happened just now?" Naruse said suddenly.

"Ah... um."

Now that he made it clear, Hai Xing didn't hide anymore, and asked directly: "What are you investigating?"

"Didn't you just read it?"

The notebook was also confiscated, and it was put aside, and Naruse handed it over again.

"..."

Hai Xing's face turned hot, thinking that he was intentionally mocking his behavior of peeking just now, but seeing his expression as usual, he felt that maybe he was being overwhelmed.

"No need." She didn't answer, and she didn't want to directly admit that she didn't see anything other than some people's good and evil attitudes towards Shangzi, "What do you think?"

Naruse retracted his notebook, "As you can see."

"..."

Anger temporarily prevailed, and Hai Xing couldn't help but glared at him.

Naruse didn't notice, but continued.

"I happened to hear someone from the handicraft society say bad things about Shangzi, and they said it very meanly, so I wanted to investigate: Is this their personal behavior, or is it a general situation."

As soon as he heard "speak ill", Hai Xing subconsciously shrank his head and took a peek at him.

If she wanted to say "hard and bad things", she had said a lot back then, and she had said all of them in front of his face.

Naruse still didn't look at her, and squinted at the notebook: "Now, the investigation has some preliminary results."

"So you made an appointment with those girls just for this reason?" Hai Xing asked.

Naruse nodded, "They are all members of the handicraft club. I invite them to drink coffee, and they can always ask about things related to Shangzi."

"So, any conclusions?"

Naruse took a deep breath and didn't answer.

Hai Xing regarded this as the worst situation, and said, "If this is the case, why not let Shangzi quit the handicraft society?"

He shook his head, "No."

"why?"

"Because Shangzi still feels that the atmosphere in the handicraft club is very good. Although she is occasionally targeted, she gets more happiness there... This is also the conclusion I came to after observing."

Hai Xing finally got smart again, "Shangzi still doesn't know about this?"

"of course."

"Why don't you just ask her?"

"Because Shangzi didn't choose to tell me."

"Huh?" Hai Xing couldn't understand again.

Because she's an idiot who occasionally thinks too much of herself, Naruse thought to himself.

After staring at him for a while, seeing that he still had no intention of explaining, Hai Xing suppressed his dissatisfaction and asked, "Then what are you going to do next?"

Naruse opened his mouth, as if he wanted to say something, but he didn't say anything in the end.

He squinted out the window, not knowing whether he didn't want to answer her or he didn't have any ready-made ideas.

But once the conversation stopped, silence spread, the sound of rain drenched, and the atmosphere of a good conversation just now disappeared all of a sudden.

The sound of cars passing by can be heard outside the window from time to time, so clear that people can even see the splashing water in their minds.

Because the topic is Shangzi, they can talk so much with each other pretending not to mind the past, Hai Xing thought.

Back to each other, there is only an emotion that is a thousand times more complicated than the previous embarrassment.

They used to be step-siblings who hated each other, and things have changed, and they won't be friends...

Starfish unconsciously touched his lips.

The past was like a night tide, and it suddenly submerged her, causing her chest to feel extremely tight.

She lowered her head, and when she looked up again, his cocoa was no longer steaming.

"Aren't you going back?"

She didn't speak for a long time, and her voice changed a little.

The sky was getting darker, Naruse looked out the window, and turned his head after a while.

"No umbrella."

"..."

"But it's time to go back."

He stood up and showed her the weather conditions on his mobile phone, "The typhoon is getting closer and closer, and the rain will not stop today."

He packed his things—in fact, it was only the notebook, and then picked up his schoolbag, ready to leave.

After being glanced at by him, Hai Xing suddenly realized, hurriedly stuffed the test paper and books into the bag, got up and followed.

Coming downstairs, Naruse was not the only one who was aware of the heavy rain, and there were a lot fewer people in the coffee shop than before.

After paying the bill, he looked up at the door, and then plunged into the rain without looking back.

"..."

Hai Xing hesitated for a moment, but could only follow, with his schoolbag on his head.

Trotting all the way, stepping on the spray, when they came to the bus stop a few hundred meters away, both of them were already soaked.

Before Naruse left, he checked the time, and before waiting for a while, the last bus going back stopped in front of the two of them.

After getting in the car, he walked to the nearest vacant seat and sat down.Although the side was also empty, Hai Xing walked in again, not far or close to him.

It wasn't until the bus restarted that she had time to take out a tissue and wipe her wet face and hair.

Da-da-da-

Heavy rain beat on the car windows and flowed down the river.

The trickle and bit by bit, all become cold and crystal clear in the messy headlights.

There were not many people in the car, let alone the sound of the engine humming.

A drop of cold rain trickled down the tip of her hair into her neck, and Hai Xing couldn't help shaking.

After staring at the back of Naruse in front of her for a while, she looked at the half pack of tissues in her hand, and stood up while leaning on the seat.

She walked over, and he looked down at his phone, who he was sending a message to.

Shangzi: Did you get in the car?
Naruse: Yes.

Shangzi: It must be wet...

Naruse: It's fine.

Hai Xing was hesitant about how to speak, but he suddenly raised his head and found that it was her, his expression relaxed, and he said, "If you keep peeping, I will still care."

"..."

Hai Xing instantly became ashamed, but could not refute.

Although she didn't intend to, she did see the conversation between him and Shangzi, not to mention that she deliberately peeked at it the previous time.

Always suspicious, always on guard, they really can't treat each other normally.

She threw down the tissue, turned her head and returned to her seat, and then moved back a few rows with her bag, away from him.

Naruse thought she had thrown something casually to vent her anger, but when she picked it up, she found it was a tissue, and then understood why she came here just now.

What a headache...

He felt that what he just said was a joke, but he forgot that they were not even friends now.

He turned around, "Thank you."

With wet hair sticking to her face, Hai Xing stared coldly at the car window and ignored it.

Naruse didn't say much, and turned back again, took out a tissue to wipe his face, and stuffed the remaining half of the bag into his pocket.

After leaving the city, the bus sped along in the dark.

The rain continued.

Because he couldn't see the situation outside clearly, Naruse greeted the driver early.

"Stop at the next stop, Qingliu—"

A moment later, the bus pulled over and slowed to a stop.

Naruse stood up and called out to the back: "Starfish."

She didn't respond, but picked up her things and got out of the car.

It was still raining outside and it was very dark, so Naruse was startled when he saw the black shadow hiding on the platform after getting off the train.

"Spring Sea."

It turned out to be Shangzi.

She held an umbrella, "I'm here to pick you up."

"Baka!"

(ba ka)

Naruse clearly remembered that he had just rejected her offer of an umbrella and asked her to stay at home.

Shangzi just smiled, and handed him the other umbrella he brought, "Go back."

Until she saw Starfish get off after him.

"Starfish?... Didn't the starfish bring an umbrella?"

Hai Xing looked at her, because Naruse was beside her, she didn't want to speak, she nodded her head as a greeting, and then she was about to go back in the rain.

Naruse handed the umbrella to Naoko.

She chased after her, but she didn't meet much resistance, and Hai Xing quickly took over.

"Thank you."

"The starfish is completely soaked, let's go home early and take a bath."

"Um……"

Haixing left with an umbrella, Shangzi watched, Naruse came over, lowered his head and squeezed under her umbrella.

"Let's go back."

(End of this chapter)