Ome Quartet of Snow Country

Chapter 571 The Balance of Change

Accompanying Naoko back to the handicraft club, Naruse didn't leave directly and hung around for a while.

Every work on the table either displays the ingenuity of the maker or embodies some unique skills. It is always a bit novel to the outsider. No matter how many times you look at it, it will still make people involuntarily watch it. Soak it up.

This is also the main reason why the handicraft club's office is still crowded at noon.

"What did Harumi eat for lunch?"

"Fried noodles, takoyaki...and skewers."

After walking around and coming back, Naruse sat next to Naoko, "I originally wanted to bring two skewers for Naoko, but there were too many people in line, so I had to forget it."

"Does it taste good?"

"Well, the beef is cut very thin. It looks like there are many slices on a skewer, but in fact there is not much meat. But it is grilled just right and sprinkled with special spices. It is fragrant and tender."

"It's a pity that I didn't eat." Shangzi smiled, "But I'm already full."

Naruse raised his eyes and glanced around the club room, "It's not very busy here. It shouldn't be a problem if Naoko leaves for a while."

"Forget it if you've already eaten."

He didn't say much, looking at the visitors walking or stopping outside, his eyes scanning their faces one by one.

"It's almost the last afternoon."

"Yes."

Shangzi reached over, grabbed his hand and shook it, "For me, this is also the last cultural festival in the handicraft club."

"We might as well stay as a minister next year." Naruse suggested, "Continue to be a minister. I believe everyone in the handicraft club will have no objections."

"No."

She refused simply and looked at him, "I have been a member of the Handicraft Club for one year and the director for another year, which is enough. I will spend next year accompanying Chunhai and studying hard for the exam."

"Well, listen to Shangzi."

When Naruse heard about the exam preparation, he clasped her hand tightly, took a breath, and nodded slowly.

"The cultural festival is over, and there is nothing else to do this semester. It's almost time to get serious."

Although he has been busy and concerned about cultural festivals and flea markets recently, the spare time he has scraped together is enough for him to have a deeper understanding of his future plans.

The University of Tokyo, Kyoto University, Waseda University... several prestigious universities in the education department are not easily accessible, and since he can do it, he naturally wants to do his best.

After knowing his plan, although Shangzi didn't have a more detailed plan yet, it was obvious that he would not succumb to Jinda's choice again.

"Anyway, this is after the cultural festival. Let's enjoy this last afternoon."

"uh-huh."

Naruse sat in the handicraft club for more than half an hour before leaving. After walking out of the club room, he thought about it and returned to the restoration department upstairs.

Even though there was a large influx of people from outside the school today, the corridor on the fourth floor was still deserted. There were no signs or signs posted. Most people didn't know that in addition to the Astronomy Department and Marine Biology Department at the stairs, there was also a Restoration of Everything deep in the corridor. department.

Pushing the door open, Takigawa Hikaru is still here.

She was lying by the window, looking outside. He closed the door and said, "Are you waiting for me?"

She turned around and said, "Yeah."

"Would you like to go shopping next?"

"It doesn't matter to me." Takigawa Hikaru said.

Naruse walked in and found a seat nearby to sit down.

The closing ceremony of the cultural festival is at 03:30 in the afternoon, less than three hours from now.On the third day, for the two of them, there was actually no place they had not visited yet.

"I haven't seen Morimi and Haixing since I came out of the gym... Have they contacted each other?"

"No." Hikaru Takigawa shook his head, "I probably went back to the stadium to watch the show again."

There was almost no pause in the performance at the stadium. If you stayed there, you could even sit there until the closing ceremony without moving.

"Let's go find them later." Naruse said.

"Ah."

Takigawa Hikaru nodded, lay down by the window, and continued to look outside.

He looked at her for a while and felt that her mood seemed a little low.

"What are you thinking about?"

She was silent for a long time before slowly speaking.

"I'm wondering... when will this current situation end."

It was a bit sultry in the afternoon, and Takigawa couldn't feel the slightest breeze even standing by the open window.

"Everyone knows something, but not completely. We only know that each other is hiding it from each other... This feeling is really uncomfortable."

Naruse pursed his lower lip and lowered his eyes slightly.

"I understand...but now, we can only continue to maintain this state."

She turned and looked at him.

"Can everyone really go back to the previous state?"

She thought he would nod, or open his mouth to give her a distant guarantee, but Naruse shook his head and said, "No. You can never go back."

"..."

Takigawa Hikaru opened his mouth.

"No matter what you think of me, at least I can't treat you like I used to." Naruse continued, "Once the boundary between lovers and friends is crossed, there is no turning back. The essence of the relationship has changed, just like cooking Cooked eggs are destined to never return to the previous state."

She looked at him and was silent for a long time.Naruse stood up and walked to her side, looking at the corner of the campus below and the quiet alley separated by only a wall.

"There's nothing wrong with that."

Takigawa Hikaru's eyes moved and looked at him again.

“Everyone is growing and changing, and relationships with each other are always changing.”

Naruse held her hand, "I know what Hikaru is afraid of, and that's what I'm afraid of too."

The balance is broken and falls apart.

"We can't go back to the previous state, but as long as we are still together, we can always find a new balance."

He looked at her, "Isn't this how the relationship between the two of us keeps changing all this time? A long time ago, Haixing was the king of children, and Kazuyo at that time was not as...well, bad."

"..."

Hikaru Takigawa finally smiled, but it didn't last long.

"But at that time, no matter how our relationship changed, they were still just friends. Now..."

"If everyone becomes a couple, overall, it won't be much different from before."

"Chunhai thinks so simply..."

"That's all I can think of."

Naruse took a deep breath and said, "This is also the first time for me to be a playboy who has a lot of things to do. I don't know how I will go on this road. All I can do now is to use the skills you have always had." Trust, make some taken-for-granted assumptions...and then, take one step and look at it.

If I thought about everyone's problems in a complicated way, I probably wouldn't be able to sleep peacefully one night. "

"..."

Takigawa Hikaru looked at him for a while, then leaned over and pressed against his shoulder.

"I thought Harumi was very confident."

"I'm not a natural playboy, and I've always been on tenterhooks."

"Isn't this all Harumi's fault?"

"Yes...so I won't regret it."

Naruse turned to look at her, putting away the weakness that was briefly shown.

"In the future, I won't let you regret it either."

She took a deep breath, frowned and smiled.

"I can only trust Harumi now."

He said he didn't know how to go down this road, and she didn't know either;
But he also said that he would find a new balance that would allow everyone to continue to stay together, and this was enough to make her feel at ease for the time being.

He knew what she really cared about, and he cared too.

He won't let her down.

Takigawa Hikaru turned her head and Naruse looked at her. She came closer and kissed his lips for the first time.

"Well……"

The two kissed from the window to the table and chair. She lifted her body and sat on the table, stroking his face close to her eyes.

She suddenly felt that her confession that day was too hasty.

"When did Harumi start treating me as a girl?"

"As a girl...when I come back from Tokyo."

"So early?"

He looked at her fair face, and his eyes fell on her still moist lips, "Just as a girl, not as a girlfriend."

She was sitting on the table, and he was still standing, moving closer to her, squeezing her legs apart, and spreading her uniform skirt wider.

She looked into his eyes, "When did you start treating me as a girl you like?"

"I can't remember clearly...and this kind of feeling can't be so accurate. How can I just remember it?"

"I don't remember the specific time either..."

She came closer again, her lips covering his, their foreheads touching, their eyes facing each other.

"When I think about it now, all I can think of is the morning when Harumi put her hand into my clothes at the hotel next to Lake Thirteen."

"That was...an accident."

"Is it the same now?" She lowered her eyes and looked at her chest. The stretched uniform outlined the outline of the back of his hand, with clear joints, covering her softness and heartbeat inside.

The gentle movement of his hand was stronger than when he held her in the wild wind and waves in the vast sea and sky, and it was hotter than the summer that had not yet ended.

He kissed her lips, "I like it now."

"Well, I like Harumi too."

Two tables blocked the door to the department room, the uniform was lifted, and the last covering was removed.

Lying in the club room where he confessed his love to her, she grabbed his wrist and welcomed the pain of the moment when they were completely integrated into each other.

"Chunhai..."

The carnival continues, and the carnival is about to end.

She doesn't care anymore.

(End of this chapter)