Ome Quartet of Snow Country

Chapter 445 On Lake Suwa
Returning from Osheshikaike, Naruse Monk got on the tram, sat for one stop in the direction of Matsumoto City, and got off at Kamisuwa.

After going back and forth, taking the bus and waiting for the bus, it was already noon, and the two decided to fill their stomachs first before continuing to play.

When you come to Nagano, you must try the local pride of Shinshu soba. After leaving the station, soba restaurants of all sizes can be found everywhere. Naruse pulled Naoko into one of the shops.

The store is not big and there are not many seats. There is just one empty table left.

The two sat down, Naoko picked up the menu, looked at it, and immediately handed it to her boyfriend.

"There's also horsemeat here..."

Naruse took a look and saw that in addition to the regular soba noodles and tempura, the store also offered horse meat sashimi.

Are there any ranches nearby...

"Shangzi, do you want to try it?"

She immediately shook her head.

He was also not interested, looked at the menu again, and ordered a tempura soba set meal, Naoko did the same.

After placing the order, Naruse looked at the various wine bottles placed on the bar. He estimated that this place would transform into an izakaya at night.There are many restaurants like this, which also sell drinks, so business is always better.

Lunch for the two of them was quickly served: cooked buckwheat noodles placed on a bamboo plate, a special sauce, a bowl of miso soup, and a large portion of tempura.

"I'm gonna start now."

The soba noodles are dipped in the sauce, which is refreshing and delicious. When you bite into it, the noodles are chewy and not hard.The tempura is fried to a crispy texture, and fresh local vegetables are wrapped in a coating and deep-fried. The aroma of the vegetables fills your mouth.The miso soup is also delicious.

The two ate very satisfyingly.

After resting for a while in the store, the two went to the next place.

"When we were young, wasn't there a famous animated movie released? A meteorite fell from the sky and leveled the entire town, creating a lake or something... The prototype of Lake Itomori in that movie, It’s Lake Suwa.”

"Ah, I remember...it was many years ago. At that time, Chunhai was still living at Haixing's house. Haixing's father drove us to watch the movie."

"Yes, it was that time."

"So the prototype is Lake Suwa?"

"The current mainstream theory is this... However, some people say that the prototype is actually Songyuan Lake in the film director's hometown. You can only know it by yourself when you go up there and see."

"Yeah. Does Harumi still have any impression?"

"There is still a little."

Naruse said, seeing the taxi parked on the roadside in front, he immediately pulled Naoko to speed up the pace, "But what I remember most is that when the movie was about to end, both Naoko and Haixing cried."

"Eh?"

"That's when the hero and heroine seem to be missing...get in the car first."

Shangzi was startled again, "Do I need to take a taxi there?"

"Well, take the car up and walk back later. It's a bit hard to walk all the way back and forth."

Shangzi sat in the back seat of the taxi and moved inside, and he followed suit.

"Go to Standing Rock."

"Ok."

The taxi set off soon. Shangzi looked outside, vaguely remembering what he seemed to want to ask just now.

"Don't you remember?" Naruse understood what she cared about. "When the movie was about to end, didn't the hero and heroine meet each other and pass by each other? That's when Naoko cried."

"Did I cry..." Shangzi was still a little confused.

"Because there was a reversal soon, Naoko probably forgot about it...or maybe it was because Haixing cried faster and louder, so Naoko forgot that he was crying too."

"It's possible."

Tateishi Park is halfway up the mountain facing Lake Suwa. It looks very close, but the actual distance is not short. It still took a taxi 10 minutes to go around on the winding mountain road.

Stopping on the side of the road, Naruse paid and got out of the car, with a panoramic view of Lake Suwa in front of him.

The park is not big, it can even be said to be very small. Its main function is to provide citizens with a place where they can overlook Lake Suwa.

"Go to the guardrail to see more clearly."

"Ah."

Go down the steps like a sunken square and come to the guardrail. There is not much of a drop outside. It is another part of the park with slides and other facilities. It seems to be a children's park.

The two people who just came over didn't look at it at all, looking straight ahead.

The sky is high and far away, with white clouds floating in the sky, and the blue lake lies quietly on the earth.The distance blurs the boundaries between each other, and looking from a distance, it's like the sky is upside down.

The mountains in the distance and the ever-changing clouds on the horizon are not as noticeable as the lake in front of you.

After staring for a long time, the two of them slowly came back to their senses. "Is it similar?" Naruse asked.

Shangzi nodded quickly, then smiled again, "It looks like it, I can't remember clearly."

"When I get back, I'll look for a CD of that movie and let's watch it again."

"Okay."

After watching it for a while, Shangzi didn't forget to send the photo of the distant view to the group.

A few people chatted for a while, and Morimi also sent a photo.

"Yiye sent a photo of the book..."

"..."

Naruse's heart skipped a beat and he leaned over to take a look.

What she sent was not the cover of the book he was already very familiar with, but a passage from another book.

[...The water of the lake is sparkling blue, the light and shadow in the center of the lake are sparkling, and black leaf-shaped boats are swimming on the lake.On the other side of the lake, the spiers of the houses are scattered and vaguely discernible; the mountains in the background are slow and extend to both sides...]

The camera focuses on this, but the other words in the paragraphs above and below are not completely unclear.

After finding one of the names and combining it with the context, Naruse frowned and thought for a while, and soon came up with the result.

Shangzi looked at him: "What kind of book is this?"

"Seicho Matsumoto's "Tower of Waves" is talking about Lake Suwa. Of course, it's Lake Suwa of the last century."

"Matsumoto Seicho...is that the master of reasoning?"

"Ah."

"This paragraph describes Lake Suwa very vividly."

She paused, "Kazuye actually remembered it and rummaged through it very quickly."

Naruse nodded, looked at the photos on his phone, and then looked at the lake in front of him.

Although written by a master of reasoning, "Tower of Waves" is more like a love novel...a love novel that describes forbidden love.

Looking at the lake, Shangzi also glanced at her boyfriend beside her.

He seemed to be frowning for a while just now, and his face was a little solemn. But when she turned her head to look over, all the emotions on his face disappeared, leaving only calm.

"Fortunately, the weather is very good today."

"Yes."

The two of them were watching the lake and the city, killing time, and many tourists came to the park halfway up the mountain.

A middle-aged man stopped beside them with a bag, then took out various equipment such as cameras, lenses, and tripods, and assembled them one by one.

After he finished assembling it, Naoko and Naruse had enough to watch and were ready to go down the mountain.

"I heard that good cameras are also very expensive."

"That lens is more expensive. When you didn't watch him install the lens, you would have liked to lie on the ground with a cushion, for fear that it would fall if he didn't hold it firmly."

Back on the steps, there were also many long guns and cannons set up here. Naruse glanced at them as he walked by, and the position where they were standing just now was completely within the lens.

There is no need to follow the winding road when going down the mountain. There are several paths with unique scenery.

Wildflowers are in bloom, and the paths are lined with grass and trees, making the paths quite wild.

Lake Suwa is getting closer and farther away.It took the two of them half an hour to get back to the station. They could no longer see the lake blocked by various buildings.

It’s getting late when we get on the train back to Matsumoto.

They had just wandered around the station last night. Today they walked a little further and found a small restaurant on a small road near the Shizhu Shrine.

After eating and drinking, when we came out, it was completely dark.

The two held hands and walked towards the hotel, walking at a leisurely pace.

Perhaps it was because they were walking in areas where restaurants and izakayas gathered, and Matsumoto seemed much more lively at night than during the day.

"It feels good to live here."

"Does Naoko like Matsumoto?"

"It's just a feeling."

　Suwa Lake (hu)

　　
　
(End of this chapter)