Ome Quartet of Snow Country

Chapter 608 Depression
  Even though yesterday was the first trial that was accompanied by pain and tears, the joy of union made people involuntarily indulge in it.

Ignoring time, forgetting burdens, leaving behind all worries, and only following the deepest instinct in his heart, Shangzi responded and demanded until both of them were unable to continue.

"I remember that when I came here at noon, I planned to check out after taking my luggage..." Naruse lay on the bed, slumped, and his eyes looking at the ceiling were a little distracted.

Shangzi lay aside, unable to respond, just holding his arm.

He turned to look out the window, "It seems to be getting dark soon."

"Um……"

He turned over and stroked her face, "Just stay here tonight and go back tomorrow."

Shangzi didn't say anything, just stared at him, and then took the initiative to meet him when he lowered his head to kiss her.

The two of them lay there for almost half an hour. When they got up again, it was completely dark outside.

"Wash it."

"Ah."

After rinsing their bodies, the two of them changed back into their clothes and went downstairs to eat.

The check-out time was postponed to tomorrow. Naruse took Naoko and found a place nearby to have dinner and wandered outside for a while.

"There is an old lady in the restaurant at the intersection over there. When I came here last week, she swore to me that she had seen Shangzi. But when she took me there, she was a completely new person. Her age It doesn’t even match up.”

"……yes."

"The same goes for that ramen shop over there. The owner said Naoko had eaten there."

"I ate here the day I first came here."

"Well, then maybe he has actually met Shangzi?"

"perhaps……"

The two of them walked slowly around the streets after dark. Naruse occasionally pointed out the places where people who had misled him were located. Naoko also recalled what happened in the first few days after he came here.

"At the beginning, I wanted to live in Miyagawa Asahi. But there are no vacant houses there, and the idle houses have basically been converted into B&Bs. Even if there are, the rent is very high."

"In the first few days after I came here, I didn't have many orders. Since I couldn't go to school, I had a lot of free time. I planned to work part-time during the day and make puppets at night. Then, the orders gradually increased, and I forgot about the part-time job... …During the day, apart from helping out at the restaurant, I just stay in my room and rarely come out, so no one can see me.”

"Ms. Edako has a granddaughter who is about my age. She goes to Tokyo with her parents and only comes back for a while every summer vacation... She really takes good care of me and probably guessed that I ran away from home. Occasionally, he would help me contact my family to reassure them, but he never forced me."

"My hair... my hair was also cut after I got here. I don't want to spend too much time taking care of it, so short hair is more convenient."

"I occasionally dream about you, but it feels like it was a lifetime ago."

"After paying off all the money, I don't know what to do. Maybe I'll do something I like...something other than making puppets. I don't know what it is specifically."

When Shangzi stopped, the two of them had already returned to the downstairs of the hotel.

"What about the previous plan?" Naruse pulled her and continued walking inside.

Shangzi looked at him. He couldn't say anything about separation tonight, so he followed him to the elevator.

"After graduating from high school, leave there... go to college or find a job directly, go to live in another city with you, and then find a way to start making money and pay back the money... because they left with you, dad and mom should I will feel more relieved even if I never go back."

"If Naoko had told me earlier..." Naruse paused, then shook his head, "No, there is no such thing as if."

If it was the time when he just came back from Tokyo, he might choose to take her away with him, and nothing would happen later. But now, he no longer wants to dwell on that assumption.

As the elevator rose, Shangzi turned to look at him, "Why don't you ask me why I have such a plan?"

Naruse squeezed her hand and said, "Let's talk about it when we get back to the room and it's just the two of us."

Ding--

When the elevator reached the corresponding floor, the two of them walked out and returned to the room.

The doors and windows were closed, and there still seemed to be a bit of the smell of the afternoon madness left in the room. Naruse felt a slight pain in his back.

"Let's rest for a while. I'll put the water in and get ready to take a bath."

"Yeah." Shangzi sat down on the bed, turned to look at the slightly messy sheets, and looked away when he came out of the bathroom.

He sat next to her and lay down.

She looked at him for a moment and then lay down too.

"So, why does Naoko keep wanting to leave? Is it because she doesn't like Uncle Tetsuya and Aunt Sawako?"

She leaned on his shoulder, and after a brief silence, she slowly spoke. “No, I can’t say I don’t like it.

After my parents died in a car accident, they had no blood relationship with me, but they took the initiative to adopt me. They are very good people, and I have always been grateful to them.

However, they are not my biological parents.

If there hadn't been such an accident, I probably wouldn't have remembered my parents, two friends who might not see each other a few times a year. They devoted their lives to research. It was the car accident that forced me into their families. "

Naruse turned to look at her, "Uncle Tetsuya and Aunt Sawako adopted Naoko voluntarily."

"No, this is voluntary after having no choice."

"That's not what they think."

"I understand." Shangzi lowered his gaze, "But, I think so."

"Just like Chunhai before, she is negative and pessimistic about everything in the future, and feels that she is a burden to her aunt, even though she has never thought of it this way..."

Naruse pursed his lower lip.

She knew everything that was on his mind, but it was only now that he truly realized the depression she had felt living under someone else's roof over the years.

"This kind of thinking is beyond my control and difficult for others to explain clearly."

Shangzi continued, "I am very grateful to them, but I feel depressed. When I grow up, I feel very guilty about feeling depressed... Obviously they are so good to me."

She choked up, "I don't want to live in this kind of depression and self-blame all my life, so I want to leave."

"I've been thinking, if only there was a way to leave them without hurting them..."

Naruse turned over and hugged her.

"For example, marry me to my neighbor, and then leave with me to live somewhere else."

Naoko said nothing, but held him tighter, burning his chest with tears.

"I'm sorry for living up to all Shangzi's expectations."

"..."

Her shoulders twitched, then she pushed him away a little and buried her face on the bed, but the trembling of her body could not be suppressed.

Naruse leaned over and hugged her again.

Naoko soon began to sob.

He didn't say anything more, just hugged her.

The night is dark and long, like a dark tide, unable to lift heavy thoughts.

After an unknown amount of time, Shangzi pushed his chest.

Naruse lowered his head and she looked at him, "Take a shower."

"Ah."

The two of them went to the bathroom, took off their clothes, stood under the shower together, rinsed off, and then sat in the large bathtub together.

"It would be more comfortable to soak in a larger bathtub..."

"I feel comfortable soaking in the bathtub over there by myself."

"I will still continue to disturb you." Naruse lowered his head and kissed her shoulders and neck, and then kissed her cheek.

Shangzi's body twisted, but it fit him even more closely.

"What about the school? You don't go to school anymore."

"I don't want to repeat the grade, but I don't want to let go of Shangzi anymore."

He kissed her neck, and she raised her head slightly, "Do you want to put the responsibility on me?"

"No, if I really have to repeat a grade, it will only be the consequence of my own doing."

Shangzi closed his eyes and leaned back.

At least tonight, she didn't want to think about what happened before and after.

(End of this chapter)