Ome Quartet of Snow Country

Chapter 598 Clues
When Naruse returned to the classroom, Morimi, who had been waiting, asked the teacher why he had called him over, and then prepared to go to the study school with Ogasawara.

The three Naruses had nothing to do when they stayed in school, so they also left together, planning to go to a coffee shop.

"I'm going to sign up for a study school next week." On the way out, Naruse suddenly said.

"..."

Morimi turned to look at him, "Are you serious?"

"Ah."

"why."

"I may not have time to study on weekends from now on."

She was silent for a while.

"Then why not start today?"

"Because I'm still lucky." He smiled, "Maybe I can find her this time."

Morimi looked at him and smiled, "Then I wish you good luck this week."

"Ah."

When they arrived at Umino Cafe, they separated. Morimi and Ogasawara stepped on the snow and continued walking towards the central station.

Naruse came with him at the beginning of the day. Seeing that the store was not very busy, he grabbed Haixing to prevent her from being fooled into helping.

After ordering coffee and dessert, the three of them sat by the window on the second floor, looking at the snowy scene outside and doing nothing.

"Harunami just said that he wants to register for a study school next week?" Takigawa Hikaru asked.

"Ah."

"To get admitted to Dongda University?"

He nodded, "I went to experience it last time, and I feel that the improvement brought by the study school is quite big."

"That's what Yue said at the beginning."

Takigawa Hikari smiled and lay down on the table again, "Harumi also went to study at the private school, so there won't be much time to play in the future."

"I have three classes every week, so I still have some time left."

Naruse looked at her and Haixing, and suddenly said, "Why don't you sign up too, although there is a high chance that you won't be in the same class."

"Eh……"

The two looked at each other, both looking embarrassed, "It's better not to waste this money."

"I'll pay for the tuition."

"No...it's better to spend this money on a big meal."

Seeing how resistant they were, Naruse didn't force it.

After a while, a girl from the same grade came up with coffee for the three of them.

"Please enjoy."

"Thank you~"

"Haixing is here to help."

"I'm not busy now..."

"I'm pretty bored alone."

"If we take the starfish away, we will be bored too." Takigawa Hikari smiled at her.

"Ok."

When the girl turned around and went down, the two of them found that Naruse's eyes had also followed them to the stairs.

"Don't look at it, they're all gone."

He looked away, picked up the coffee and took a sip. Seeing Haixing still staring at him, he explained, "I just suddenly thought of Shangzi."

"Eh……"

"She is living alone now, with no source of income. She should be working somewhere... maybe working several jobs, and I don't know if she is still in school." Naruse said.

"If Naoko transfers to a school in Takayama City, wouldn't Chunhai just call and ask if there are any students who have recently transferred to another school?"

As soon as Takigawa Hikaru finished speaking, he felt that he might have said nonsense.

"Well, that's what I think too." Naruse nodded, "Before leaving last week, I called several high schools over there, but none of the schools had students transfer recently."

"so……"

He sighed, "Even if I knew she was working, I wouldn't have any clue... After all, there are many shops that allow high school students to work part-time, including coffee shops, ramen shops, family restaurants and even izakayas. It can be said that most places that require manpower , will not reject high school students.”

"Naoko can only work part-time now." Hikaru Takigawa said.

Naruse nodded, "She hasn't graduated from high school yet. Even if she wants to work in a company or factory, she's not old enough. Now high school graduation is almost the minimum requirement."

"but……"

Seeing both of them looking at him, Haixing paused, and then said: "Shangzi can't just go to work. Her skills in making puppets are so good, she can open a store specializing in selling puppets, right? There must be someone bought."

Naruse was startled, lowered his eyes and thought for a while, then slowly shook his head.

"Opening a store requires a lot of costs. Even if you have the technology, it is difficult to guarantee profits. For Shangzi, this kind of investment is too risky."

And she had paid a large amount of money back to her parents a few days ago, so it didn't look like she had opened a store.

"But this is a good idea." Naruse said to Haixing again, "Shangzi may work in a place where her expertise can be used. In that case, she can earn more money."

Haixing continued to think along with his original idea, "But if you sell puppets on Amazon, the cost won't be so high, right?" Naruse shook his head, "Naoko has basically never been exposed to online shopping, so he probably wouldn't have thought of it. Selling dolls online.”

She is frugal by nature, and she always looks and compares when buying things. She has never been interested in this form of consumption where she can only see pictures or videos and cannot touch the actual objects.

"Is that right?"

Haixing frowned and thought for a moment, "During the cultural festival, I went to visit the handicraft club and told Naoko that the puppets she made could be put on Amazon and might be sold for a good price. She seemed very interested at the time. It looks like."

"..."

Naruse looked at her and his heart skipped a beat.

This was something he had no idea about before.

"Really?"

"Really." Haixing nodded solemnly.

He fell silent, feeling like he had caught something. After a while, he picked up his phone again and looked through it.

Hikaru Takigawa sat next to him, looked over to him, and found that the screen was filled with various puppets.

"Chunhai...do you know how many sellers and products there are on Amazon?"

"..."

He also knew that there was no point in searching blindly like this, but his thoughts just passed by in a flash, and he wanted to do something to regain the feeling of that moment.

After thinking for a while, Naruse looked at Haixing again: "Did Naoko ask for more details at that time?"

She thought for a moment and shook her head, "I don't remember... Well, there probably isn't, because I only have a little experience in buying things myself, and I have never thought about selling things on Amazon."

He picked up the coffee, blew it twice, took a big sip, stood up, and said, "I'm going back to school."

"Eh?"

"I'll go to the handicraft club and ask."

"I'm going with Harumi." Takigawa Hikaru also stood up.

"I'll go too." Haixing quickly followed.

"Haixing, stay here, we will come back later." Naruse said, "The cake hasn't been delivered yet. If we don't come back, the other two pieces will be yours."

"I can't eat so much!"

Even so, after hearing that they would come back, Haixing stayed at the cafe.

Back at school, Hikaru Takigawa asked him to ask. Naruse nodded and waited outside.

After a while, she came out with a second-grade girl.

"I knew it." She sighed as soon as she saw Naruse.

"I'm really sorry for what happened before." Naruse lowered his head, "As long as Sasakawa-san can tell me the news about Naoko, I will do anything."

"Even if you say that, the things I know are very limited. I've told everyone."

Takigawa Hikaru nodded, "Tell Harumi again."

"Because I have sold things on Amazon several times before, and everyone in the club knows about it..."

So she told him everything about how Shangzi came to her to ask how to open a store on Amazon a month ago.

"...It said she registered successfully. I don't know what happens after that."

"Didn't I tell you the name of the store that Shangzi registered?"

"No...it's useless even if you look at me like this, she really didn't tell me!"

Naruse withdrew his slightly rude look and said, "I'm sorry."

"Naoko didn't say what he wanted to sell?" Takigawa Hikaru asked for him.

"She said she would try to sell some of the puppets she made...ah, I remembered. Three or four days before Shangzi left, she said she had already made a deal."

And this is all the information Sasakawa-san has.

Although the clue seemed to end here, it undoubtedly provided him with a new path of pursuit, and Naruse solemnly expressed his gratitude to her.

"do not do that……"

Back at the cafe, Haixing was looking at the remaining two pieces of cake in a daze.

"I'm home."

"Ah."

"How about it."

"There are some clues." Naruse pushed his cake towards her, "Haixing, eat it."

"Hey, is that okay?"

"You're welcome."

He took another sip of the cold coffee and began to think alone.

Haixing had just finished his piece of cake and waited for almost 10 minutes before he was ready to take action on his cake.

As soon as she picked up the small spoon, Naruse suddenly slammed the table.

She threw the spoon and said, "I knew you couldn't bear it!"

Naruse couldn't hide his excitement: "I remembered it!"

(End of this chapter)