Ome Quartet of Snow Country

Chapter 26 Rainy Night
The heat surged and wrapped his body, Naruse leaned his head back in the bathtub and closed his eyes.

The chill eroded by the cold rain was gradually dispelled, and he moved down again, enjoying the soaking in the hot water more fully.

There were some noises outside.

"Shangzi."

"Is the water temperature right?" She came in to handle the clothes he had changed.

"Well, just right."

Naruse opened his eyes, his body didn't move, he moved his head, and looked at the only window in the bathroom.

It was dark outside, and the frosted glass reflected the light from inside.

The rain continued.

"It's still raining."

"Yeah." Holding his changed clothes, Shangzi turned his head to look at the bathroom door, "After all, the typhoon is coming."

There was no response from the inside, and she continued: "Just now, according to the weather forecast, the typhoon seems to be deflecting towards the sea."

"It's hard to say."

"Yes. No matter what, the storm tonight will not stop."

Naruse responded.

"Shangzi."

"Ok?"

"You can sleep here at night."

She clutched the clothes in her hand and agreed as casually as possible, "Okay."

He was completely soaked and had to be changed from inside to outside. Shangzi checked the pockets of his clothes and suddenly pinched something.

When I took it out, it was a pack of tissues.

"..."

Looking at the bathroom door again, she took it closer and sniffed it twice.

In addition to the aroma of the tissue itself, it seems to have a little girly taste.

The smell of starfish?
"Spring Sea."

"Ah."

"Is everything over?"

Before school was over in the afternoon, he told her that he still had some things to deal with alone, and asked her to go home first.

She didn't ask in detail at the time, anyway, if he didn't want to say anything, he would be fooled if he asked.

But now, she noticed the part that had to be cared about.

After a while, a reply came from the bathroom: "Well, it's almost there."

"Is it related to Starfish? Chunhai came back with her..."

"It has nothing to do with her. I just ran into it when I was sheltering from the rain in a cafe, and then we came back by car together—it was the Hamino Cafe near Tsugo."

Even though he couldn't see, Shangzi still nodded, "I see."

Putting the paper towel on the washstand casually, she said again: "I met Yiye when I came back. It seems that Haixing still failed the make-up exam."

Naruse smiled, "She doesn't even remember what Oda Nobunaga did, so it's strange to pass."

Shangzi frowned.

Is it really just a meeting?
He seemed to hear the voice in her heart, and said: "At first, I wanted to wait until the rain stopped before going home, and I would counsel her while hiding from the rain. Although I didn't really counsel anything, that's all."

Shangzi looked at the tissue, "Starfish would accept it."

There was another laugh inside, "Probably I'm really afraid of being tortured by the make-up exam."

She thought about it and said:
"In this case, Haixing should be willing to ask Yiye for help."

"possible."

Putting the wet clothes into the washing machine, pressing the start button, Shangzi picked up the clean T-shirt in the clothes basket, buried her face and took a deep breath.

"Dinner is almost ready, and Chunhai has soaked enough, let's go out to eat."

"it is good."

There was a patter of rain outside the window.

In a certain room on the second floor of Morimi's house, Morimi Kazuyo was sitting at the desk, concentrating on sorting out his notes.

At a certain moment, the phone placed in the corner suddenly vibrated.

She glanced at it, ignored it, and didn't stop writing until she finished writing the current part.

Stretching, she got up and walked to the window, opening it a little.

The wind rushed in all of a sudden, with fine cold raindrops sandwiched between them, messing up her hair.

pat.

After closing the window, listening to the faint roar from the river not far away, she stood for a while before returning to the desk.

Picking up the phone, it was a message from Haixing.

"..."

Morimi took off his glasses, pinched the corners of his eyes, and put them on again.

It was really sent by Starfish.

Maki Haixing: Do you have time tomorrow, Morimi?
Mori: I have time.

Probably because she waited a long time before, it took a while for her message to be sent before Hai Xing sent a reply.

Maki Starfish: I would like to ask Sen to guide my study.

Maki Starfish: As long as you can pass the make-up exam.

Maki Starfish: Please!

"..."

Sen Jian leaned back, his gaze passed under the lens, looking at the notes on the table that he had been sorting out for a long time.

Isn't this a waste of time?

Mori see: good.

The two agreed on a time to meet tomorrow, and seeing that Haixing didn't send any more messages, she put down her phone.

After getting up and walking out of the door, Mori Jian went to another room on the north side of the second floor and stood in front of the window.

The stretches of darkness are all farmland.On the other side of the farmland, the dots of light are crumbling in the wind and rain.

It had been a long time since she stood here looking out, and she almost forgot the names represented by those light spots.

"The Naruse family... it should be there."

Morimi stared at one of the lights for a while.

Earlier, Shangzi sent her a message, asking her to tutor Haixing.

According to Shangzi, Haixing has even accepted Naruse's counseling in the afternoon, and will probably come to her later.

Morimi didn't doubt what had happened, but he didn't agree with Shangzi's conjecture either. After all, she had been in front of Haixing for a week, and the latter didn't mention anything about studying.

Unexpectedly, Haixing really took the initiative to come to her.

"What have you done?"

Mori leaned on the window and asked into the distance.

And in that spot of light, Shangzi had just finished taking a shower and was sitting on the sofa drying her hair.

Naruse came down from upstairs, took a book in his hand, sat down on the other side of the sofa, and turned on the TV.

Shangzi crossed his legs, more casually than usual, wrapped his black hair in a towel and wiped it gently, "Is Chunhai bored staying in the room?"

"No, I think Shangzi will be bored."

Naruse raised the book in his hand, "It's so early, it's not time to sleep yet."

"Um……"

She smiled, "I'm also looking for something to do."

"I'll go get your stuff," Naruse said, referring to her unfinished puppets.

"No need, it's raining so hard outside." Shangzi shook his head, then pointed at the book in his hand, "What is Chunhai reading?"

"A very powerful science fiction novel." He showed her the cover, under the two Chinese characters of the title, there was a burning planet.

"Chun Hai seems to be reading this type of books recently."

"It's actually the same series, and this is the last book of the trilogy."

"Is it recommended by Yiye again?"

"No, I heard about it when I was in Tokyo. It happened that Mori saw that this book was available in the ancient store, so I bought it."

Shangzi nodded and smiled at him again: "Then I'll find a book to read."

"As you please."

Naruse followed her back to the upstairs room, watching her slowly search in front of the bookshelf.

"What kind of books does Shangzi want to read?"

"It's all right."

"Is there no specific request?"

"Well...it's all right."

She turned her head and smiled at him, "It's just to pass the time anyway, let me find it by myself."

Naruse didn't say anything and continued reading.

He didn't really withdraw his attention until she took a book from the shelf and flipped through it.

Shangzi held the book, dragged a cushion from the side, and sat on the plush carpet with his legs bent.

The pajamas can only cover the ankles, and the bare feet are white and flawless, which are offset by the coolness brought by the night and the rain.

Naruse sat in front of the desk, facing her sideways, "It was okay a few days ago, but when it rained, I felt a little cold."

Shangzi smiled slightly, "Hasn't Chunhai gotten used to the temperature here?"

"I'm almost used to it, but... in Tokyo, even before and after the cultural festival, I still feel hot."

"Will you miss it more?"

"That's not enough." He shook his head and glanced at her again, "Isn't it hard to sit on the ground and read a book?"

Shangzi hugged his legs and crossed his feet, "It's okay."

Naruse put down the book, got up and moved the low table aside for her support.

"Thank you." Shangzi lay down on the table, his long hair flowing smoothly, covering half of his side face.

Naruse returned to the desk, she lay on her stomach and looked at him for a while, then picked up the book and flipped through it.

The night was still long and the rain continued.

The typhoon in the north moves slowly, but its body is heavy, like a big child trapped in a small room. Every time he stretches his legs and arms, he always knocks over something, but no one can stop it.

By the time Naruse put down his book and turned his attention back to the movement made by the "big kid" outside the window, the night was already deep.

Shangzi was lying on the table with his hands covered by the book, breathing evenly.

Pushing to wake her up, Naruse carried her downstairs, Matsu Chiaki's room had been tidied up before.

Putting Shangzi on the bed, he let out a breath and shook his arms again, as if he had put a lot of effort into it.

She clenched her fist and waved it lightly, and was caught by him, looking at each other and smiling.

"Good night."

"Good night, Chunhai."

(End of this chapter)