Ome Quartet of Snow Country

Chapter 79 Rafting
In the urban area of ​​Tsumae, there is an ancient castle built in the early [-]th century called Tsumae Castle, which has been well preserved after wind and rain, and is now one of the only twelve remaining castle castles in Japan.

With Tsumae Castle as the center, a Tsumae Park covering an area of ​​nearly [-] hectares has been established, in which nearly [-] cherry trees are planted. Every spring, the cherry blossoms are dancing, which is too beautiful to behold.

This is how the Tsumae Cherry Blossom Festival came about.

To the west of Tsumae Castle, there is a moat that was originally a tributary of the Iwaki River and is now independent. Cherry trees are planted on both sides. When the weather is calm, the cherry blossoms are reflected in the water, which is unspeakably gorgeous.

In addition, there are cruise ships on the river.

Naruse and Haixing, who followed their parents and came to play before the cherry blossom festival, sat on one of the rowing boats.

The rower was Seiichiro Maki. In order to maintain balance, the two children sat on the other end of the boat, but Matsu Chiaki did not come up, and sat on the bench by the river watching with a smile.

"Don't squeeze me."

Starfish clung to the side of the boat, turned to stare at his stepbrother beside him, "I'm about to fall."

Naruse ignored her, grabbed the other side of the ship's side, and shrank his body, trying not to touch her as much as possible.

However, the hand-rowed boat is only so big, and the two children dare not get too close to the water. There will always be friction between the shaking.

"Don't push me!"

"Who pushed you."

Haixing and Naruse stared at each other.

Sitting across from the two of them, Seiichiro Maki sighed with a headache.

"Haixing, it's rare to come out to play once, so don't quarrel with Chunhai. Look at the cherry blossoms by the river..."

"He keeps squeezing me!"

"I didn't, it was the boat shaking."

"Look, Chun Hai didn't do it on purpose..."

"He did it on purpose!"

Seiichiro Maki could only sigh.

Seeing his expression, Hai Xing knew that her father still didn't believe her, but she could just feel that the stepbrother next to him seemed innocent, but he always squeezed over with a little deliberation.

He just wanted to knock her into the river!
As for the reason, Starfish can also guess.

In addition to the consistent tit-for-tat between each other, it was also because Song Qianqiu was accompanying them on the boat just now, and she lost her temper, so it was replaced by her father.

When Seiichiro Maki waved at Matsu Chiaki who was on the bench by the shore, Hai Xing turned his head and gave Naruse who squeezed over again a look, and he also looked at her expressionlessly.

On the neck hidden behind the collar, a red mark from her nails was slightly exposed.

"..."

The flash of guilt in her heart made her expression soften for a moment, and her eyes lowered.

But only for a moment.

On her body, there are also traces left by him.

Just raising his gaze again, he had already turned his head and looked towards the river.

Looking along, it was Song Qianqiu who was smiling and waving at them on the bench.

Really hypocritical...

Starfish immediately turned his head away and looked to the other side.

The water surface is calm, there are no waves, and there are pieces of pink cherry blossoms floating.

Bored, she stretched out her hand to pick up a slice.

The river water was still a little cold, she withdrew her hand all of a sudden, and the petal she was looking at also drifted away with the waves.

"..."

For no reason, a strong thought suddenly surged in her heart, and she wanted to pick up that piece.

Starfish moved sideways, leaned over and stretched out his arms.

Most of her body was out of the boat, and the river water seemed to be rippling on her face. She herself felt that this was a bit dangerous, but the cherry blossoms were already close at hand.

Coming soon...

But at this moment, the boat under her suddenly shook.

Eh……

At the moment of loss of balance, looking at the water surface getting closer and closer, Hai Xing was only at a loss.

thump!
"starfish!"

thump!
The aroused water waves wet the past, and among the waves, it is finally calm again.

On the Hozu River, Starfish looked away from the water, and the person sitting on the other side of the boat was still the same person, but the relationship between the two was no longer that of stepbrothers and sisters who could not be twisted together.

"...I said it all, at that time you fell by yourself."

Naruse gently paddled the oar, "And I jumped down to pick you up."

Starfish clung to the side of the boat, "You cramp when you jumped off, it was Dad who picked you and me up."

"..."

Naruse was silent for a while, using a deadpan face to hide the embarrassment of suddenly recalling that period of the past.

This part, I obviously want to forget...

Looking back at the nervous starfish, he shook his head, "At least I didn't shake you down."

She has a deep memory of that period of the past, and she still insists on her own thoughts:

"It's you..."

"Tsk."

The embarrassment has not yet subsided, and her inexplicable and persistent framing made him a little annoyed, so he took the initiative to shake the boat.

"ah--"

Starfish immediately screamed.

"That's how you swayed back then!"

"..."

Naruse laughed angrily.

"Chunhai, starfish—"

Hearing Starfish's scream, Takikawa Hikaru greeted not far away, "What's wrong?"

Naruse sneered, "She's going to jump into the river."

Takikawa Hikaru: "Hahaha."

Starfish screamed, "Light, help—"

Takikawa Hikaru: "Hahaha."

She rowed the boat and slowly leaned over, "I feel that you are very happy."

"..."

Starfish collapsed a little, looked at her ship, and even began to think about jumping over it when she got close.

Naruse saw through her plan at a glance, shook his head, took a deep breath to calm down, and planned to end the farce.

"You can say whatever you want about the past, anyway, if you don't move around now, the boat won't capsize—if you jump over it, it will definitely capsize."

"..."

Hai Xing immediately looked away, thereby denying his speculation of a direct hit.

"This kind of rowing boat is not so easy to overturn." Hikaru Takikawa said with a smile, "Don't worry."

Takikawa Tsuki also said a few words of comfort.

Hai Xing had nothing to say, although he was still holding on to the side of the boat, he was not as vigilant as before.

"Let's go over there and have a look." Hikaru Takikawa pointed to the opposite bank, "It's closer to Maple Leaf."

"Yeah." Naruse rowed the boat and adjusted the direction.

In order to take care of the frightened starfish, he slowed down, and the distance between the two boats gradually widened.

Arashiyama is reflected, the maple forest is dyed, and the surface of the Hozu River seems to be burning.

"If we come back half a month later, the maple leaves here will be completely red, and it will be even more beautiful by then... although it's not bad now."

Hai Xing froze for a moment, seeing that the Takikawa sisters in front did not respond, and realized that Naruse was talking to him.

"……Oh."

Naruse looked upstream, "If you come here in summer, you can experience rafting on the Hozu River."

Responding and actively asking are two completely different things. After a while, Hai Xing asked, "Have you been here before?"

Naruse was also a little surprised, but he quickly replied: "I came here to play once during the summer vacation two years ago."

Is it with that person, Hai Xing guessed in his heart.

"I've also been on the little train here."

"Hey, the one that's hard to make an appointment for?!"

"Well, you have to make an appointment a week in advance."

Row and row, the boat approached the other side.Layers of maple trees stretch out their branches and leaves, almost hanging into the water.

There is a small path on the shore, and many Tsuga students have come here, and some of them know Takikawa Hikari.

"Let's play together~"

"I said, don't be too ostentatious... A few teachers have also come here."

"nothing."

Having said that, after staying under the maple leaves for a while, Takikawa Hikari rowed towards the heart of the river.

After rafting for a while, they returned to the shore after their exhaustion, and the four of them went down the river again, going to the Togetsukyo Bridge and the nearby Arashiyama Park.

Until 04:30 in the afternoon, the third-year students of Tsugao assembled and returned, and the three of Naruse did not stop much, and rushed back to Gion by tram.

(End of this chapter)