Ome Quartet of Snow Country

Chapter 30 Unsound (for further reading)
in the afternoon.

After the evening class meeting, Yuki Nakahara glanced at Naruse on the podium before leaving.

He nodded, indicating that he would be there in a while.

The silent communication between the two was noticed by Hikaru Takikawa, "Is Xiaoxue looking for Harumi for something?"

"Well, it's still a matter of voluntary admission."

She smiled, "Great, Chunhai finally got into Tianjin University."

"It's just filling in like this first." Naruse said.

The career hope survey form had the biggest impact on him, or his promotion and placement in the next two years.The one who finally decides which university to apply for can only be him in the third grade two years later.

"Isn't Tianjin University very good? Does Xiaoxue want Chunhai to go to Dongda University?"

"She seems to have this plan."

"It's too strong to be difficult."

Naruse just smiled, not intending to distinguish between "strong" and "difficult" in her words.

"Spring Sea."

Shangzi on the other side stood up, "I'm going to the department first. Are you coming over later?"

Naruse thought for a while, "I'll come."

"Okay." She smiled at the two of them and left the classroom first.

Hikaru Takikawa was also going to practice, and after saying hello, she picked up her schoolbag and walked away surrounded by a few girls, Yingying and Yanyan.

"When the light training is over, let's go to the coffee shop outside and sit for a while."

"Okay. Do you want to wait for me?"

"Hmmm. Can I go to the gym and watch light training?"

"Okay. But the captain may not be too happy, because I can't help but care about you."

"ah--"

It really pleases girls...

Naruse withdrew his gaze, the students on duty started cleaning, and he had to go to the staff room.

Passing by Class E, Mori sees that Kazuyo is cleaning the blackboard, but Haixing is nowhere to be seen, so he probably has been taken to make up the exam.

When he came to the staff room, besides his career hope questionnaire, there was another copy on Zhong Yuanxue's desk.

"Here you come, Naruse-san."

She looked up at him, "There is something the teacher wants to confirm first: Naruse-san and Konoka-san are neighbors of childhood sweethearts, right?"

Naruse glanced at the name on another form on the table, nodded, and said:

"I hoped to be in the same class as Shangzi when I was promoted to the second and third grades, so I filled out the same application—we lived close to each other, so the probability of being assigned to the same class was even greater."

"..."

Zhong Yuanxue opened his mouth, and the words he had prepared were stuck in his throat, unable to speak.

She was still laying the groundwork, so he confessed directly.

"So, this is the main reason why Naruse-san chose Tianjin University?"

"That's understandable."

Zhong Yuanxue looked at him, "Did Naruse really think about it?"

Naruse stared at the form in her hand, "In the past week, I have fully considered the current situation."

"What about the future?"

"No matter how the future changes, it has to be based on the current situation. Just like I am a boy now, in the future I will only become an uncle, not an aunt."

Zhong Yuanxue smiled, then frowned again.

"I mean, a longer-term plan. Could it be that Naruse-san just wants to take a step at a time, and has never fantasized about the future in a few years or even ten years?"

Naruse didn't speak, and shook his head after a while, "I haven't thought about it."

"I see that Naruse-san wrote here 'The things I'm interested in are reading and walking'..."

Zhong Yuanxue held the file he filled out when he entered school, "If you like walking, you won't hate traveling, right?"

"That's two different things..."

"Travel alone."

Naruse hesitated to speak, and reluctantly and temporarily accepted her statement.

"Since I like to travel, don't Naruse want to go to farther places? The famous mountains and rivers and historical sites in China, the ice and snow in Northern Europe, and the prairie in Africa... To go to these places, you need material support. That is money."

Zhong Yuanxue looked at him, "Although it is realistic to say this, in today's society, only money is the most solid foundation for life and dreams. Where does money come from? It comes from a stable, high-income job, and education is the basis for this." A stepping stone to a job."

Naruse pursed his lips and looked at the ceiling of the staff room.

"According to what the teacher said, no matter what dream I have, I have to go to a good university and then find a good job to support it?"

Zhong Yuanxue nodded, "That's it."

Naruse sighed.

"I see. Material things, money... life is so boring, I'd better be a nerd."

"Ah?"

"I want to quit school."

"Ah ah ah..."

Zhong Yuanxue was a little at a loss, and had a good chat, why did she suddenly drop out of school and become a housekeeper?
What was she trying to say at first?

"Wait, Naruse-san! Calm down first..."

Zhong Yuanxue herself was not very calm.

"Don't make such a joke! The teacher has been led astray by you."

"Feel sorry."

She lowered her head and pressed her eye sockets, organized her thoughts by the way, and spoke again.

"Education is not absolute. I just hope that Naruse-san can seriously consider his future..."

"—Tsk."

Zhong Yuanxue raised his eyes in surprise.

"Can you guarantee that if I make a plan, the future will be as I wish?"

After a pause, Naruse took another deep breath.

"...Sorry, teacher. What I mean is that I have already made plans to go to higher education, and I will stick to it."

Zhong Yuanxue looked at him for a while, frowning, and finally had nothing to say.

The future is not something that can be decided in a few words, and the attitude towards the future will not be changed easily.

"In that case, I understand."

"I'm going back."

"Be careful on the road."

Watching Naruse walk out of the staff room, Yuki Nakahara shook her head and began to tidy up the table, putting his and Shangzi's career hope questionnaire back in its original place, followed by his personal file.

After taking another look at the file, she sighed.

"Escaping and refusing to think about the future is not chic, but negative... He is obviously the son of that big star."

Realizing that his emotions were a little unstable at the moment, Naruse stayed for a while after returning to the classroom, planning to go to the handicraft club later.

The new semester has entered its second week, and it also quietly entered September amidst the storm last weekend.For the cultural festival at the end of the month, various preparations have been carried out one after another.

The one-year Class C project is a private reading club. In addition to selecting "scholars", the most important preparation is to build a reading place, which is a soundproof room similar to a telephone booth.

A few boys were banging at the back of the classroom, assembling the frame.

Naruse turned his head and watched for a while, feeling his neck was sore, he simply sat on Shangzi's seat and watched.

He estimated it based on the length of the wood, "It looks much bigger than a telephone booth."

"Of course, there are two people standing inside." The boy who answered the call glanced at him, "If Naruse is okay, come and help."

"Alright. What can I do?"

"Let me see... Hey, where is the lack of people, Naruse wants to help."

Another boy near the back door beckoned.

Naruse went over and glanced at the blueprints on the ground as he passed by.

The soundproof room is similar to two phone booths that are joined together. There are doors on both sides for people to enter and exit. There is a wooden board in the middle with only a [-] cm square opening. The room is sealed and sound-tight, and there are some unsound things to do in it.

The boys in Class C feel that the committee that can relate to this point is itself very unsound.

"Ito-san, what do you need me to do?" Naruse asked.

"How is Naruse-san's painting skills?"

"It's a level that I've only been exposed to in painting classes at school."

"Well……"

Ito thought for a moment, "Will it be colored?"

"What level?"

"Kindergarten level."

Naruse smiled, "Then I will."

Ito moved a little to the side, and then gave him a composite board, "Be careful, don't wipe the line draft."

A draft has been drawn on the wooden board, and the corresponding areas are marked with color, as long as it is filled with paint, it is indeed a job that even kindergarten children can do.

"Give."

Naruse took the brush and paint tray, and a small bucket for washing the paint.

"If it's just a wooden board, no matter how much you add decorations, it still feels a little ugly." Ito said, "So I proposed to paint something on it, and then the job fell on me."

Naruse looked at the draft on the wooden board, "So it was drawn by Ito-san."

"Okay."

"It should be said to be very good."

He stirred the paint, put the first stroke on the largest area, and applied it repeatedly to get familiar with the feel.

Ito looked at it for a while, and said after he finished applying a small piece: "Well, it's very good, keep this feeling. Come on."

"Thank you."

Naruse smiled, took another deep breath, lowered his head and continued painting.

He is helping others, but also helping himself: the simple smearing is bringing his heart back to peace.

(End of this chapter)