Chapter 330 Feng Shiori’s cautious feelings
Early morning two days later.
Tokyo seems to be getting colder day by day, not only because it’s the end of the year, but also because the cold waves in recent years have become more severe.
At this time of year, you can see so-called climate experts on TV programs, stating with a serious face that this may be the coldest winter in the island country in recent years, and in fact it is exactly what they said.
However, such a season will not have much impact on Haruno Sawayama for the time being, but it will be a bit difficult for other girls.
For example, Mine Shiori was riding back to the countryside with him. The petite girl's clothes were a bit "clunky". The thick black and white contrasting winter clothes made her look like a cute little panda, which made Haruno Sawayama feel a little laughable.
"We finally set off."
At this moment, Feng Shiori, who was sitting by the window, was looking at the scenery slowly passing by outside, feeling a little dazed.
Today is the day they set off to return to their hometown. To be honest, she still has an incredible feeling, because Sawayama Haruno actually agreed to her request so lightly.
When I think about taking Haruno back to visit the grave later, there is an inexplicable emotion surging in my heart.
I don’t know what the other person is thinking now.
Mine Shiori tightened her pants and turned around nervously, but she happened to meet Haruno Sawayama's eyes.
"We'll probably arrive in the afternoon, right?"
Sawayama Haruno took the initiative and said: "Fortunately, Qunma County is not very far away."
Mine Shiori's hometown is in Gunma County. When talking about this city, people will have a relatively stereotyped impression, as if everyone living in Gunma County is a legend of speed, either running fast or driving fast. .
Of course, Haruno Sawayama had his reasons for thinking so.
In addition to the hometown of Fujiwara Takumi, a well-known manga character, in Gunma Prefecture, there are other different reasons. For example, the famous Fuha Sage Raid in the Hakone Ekiden competition also came from Gunma Prefecture.
It is precisely because this small city has so many people related to racing that it left such an impression on Haruno Sawayama.
"The hotel has been booked."
Feng Shizhi whispered: "I will live with Haruno then."
"Hey, isn't Shiori's home in Gunma County? You can just go home and live by yourself when the time comes. It's okay for me to stay in a hotel alone." Haruno Sawayama said casually.
"Forget it. It feels bad to leave Haruno alone in the hotel. Besides, my father hasn't returned to his hometown yet."
Feng Shizhi paused, pursed her lips and smiled: "Besides, I haven't been back for so long, and my house must not have been tidied up yet. Anyway, I'm only going to stay for one night and then come back. It's more convenient to stay in a hotel."
Her father works out of town all year round, mainly to repay the cost of treating her mother, as well as part of his own tuition fees for school in Tokyo.
Throughout the year, father and daughter only have brief moments of contact.
Of course, Mine Shiori can also understand the other party's choice. Since his mother passed away, his father has focused all his attention on work to escape the sadness.
She also escaped in the past, but it was only because of Haruno's novel that she finally untied the knot in her heart.
"Haven't you cleaned it up?"
Haruno Sawayama noticed that Mine Shiori's expression suddenly lost for a moment, and couldn't help but ask: "Does Shiori have any other relatives living in Gunma County?"
"Yes, yes, but I haven't contacted some of my relatives for a long time. I haven't seen them much since I came to Tokyo to study."
Feng Shizhi shook his head and said softly: "I'm too embarrassed to disturb others."
"That's right." Haruno Sawayama touched his chin and said with a smile, "I also have many relatives in my hometown, but most of them are not familiar to me. Sometimes I don't even know how to call each other. Accurate.”
"With such a relationship, it would be a bit awkward to meet again. It might be okay if the elders in the family are present. If I have to face them alone, please spare me." He said with a smile.
The Sawayama family has quite a lot of connections in Osaka. At least when Haruno was young, he would see many relatives coming back every year during the holidays and greet each other.
Of course, this is also inseparable from his grandfather of the Sawayama family. As early as the last century, the Sawayama family was a very famous member of their local town committee. Although it was a small place, he knew the Sawayama family. There are really quite a few people.
I don’t know what’s going on in my hometown now, Haruno Sawayama thought.
The last time he went back was during the Golden Week of his senior year of high school. If you think about it, it was almost two years ago. He didn't know what changes had happened in his hometown.
After returning to my hometown this time, I might as well stay a few more days until the annual meeting and then come back.
Thinking of this, Haruno Sawayama asked casually: "Shiori, did Miss Morikawa tell you when the annual meeting will be held?"
"As I said, it will be in mid-December."
Feng Shizhi nodded and explained in a calm tone: "But the annual meeting doesn't seem to be held in Tokyo. I heard that the company will arrange a trip to Canada for the meeting."
"Canada. Forget it, it's expected anyway."
Haruno Sawayama rubbed his eyebrows and asked curiously: "By the way, has Miss Morikawa not been promoted yet?"
"I changed to a separate office, but the promotion has not been finalized yet. It probably won't be finalized until before the annual meeting."
Mine Shiori paused and added: "But this is basically a done deal. Because of the relationship between Miss Morikawa and Haruno, I made an exception and became a full-time employee early."
"Hey, did you become a full-time employee immediately? But you still have to go to school now, right?"
"Ms. Morikawa said it didn't matter. She could make the final decision on such small matters anyway, so she let me come in early to be on the safe side."
"That guy"
Haruno Sawayama held up his face and said casually: "She abused her power just after being promoted, right? I didn't see her treat us to a meal."
Although this was not the first time he saw Riho Morikawa using "a little capriciousness of power", he felt inexplicably emotional every time he saw it.
The next time we meet, I have to kill this guy again. At least I have to treat myself to a high-end restaurant in Ginza for a meal, right?
"Shouldn't it be Haruno's treat?"
Mine Shiori turned around and said coquettishly: "Recently, Haruno's sales have almost tripled the distance from the second place. I will definitely be able to win the best-selling book award next year, right?"
"Is there still such an award? But next year I plan to participate in other literary awards."
Haruno Sawayama stretched and murmured to himself: "It would be best if the second book could also be submitted for review."
For his second book, "Kafka on the Shore," the opening story has recently been almost drafted. Although this book was not as easy to write as the previous one, he still had the memory and system reward plug-ins to put here, so he would not stagnate due to a deviation in his literary sense. At most, the progress would be a bit slow.
Fortunately, this year's tasks have been basically completed. For Haruno Sawayama, there is still plenty of time.
Besides, he had plenty of time to continue writing novels after returning to Osaka.
"Haruno's second book."
Mine Shiori couldn't help but turn around and glance at Haruno Sawayama.
She also wanted to see the other party's new work as soon as possible. She heard that some magical elements would be added to it.
I just don’t know how long I have to wait.
For the next period of time, neither of them spoke again, but each closed their eyes and began to rest.
After the Shinkansen finally arrived in Gunma Prefecture, they got up and picked up their luggage and prepared to get off.
Compared with Tokyo, Gunma Prefecture, which has more mountainous terrain, has a larger temperature difference.
Haruno Sawayama, who had just gotten out of the car, hadn't felt it yet, but Shiori Mine who was beside him silently took off the scarf on his body.
She looked outside the station and suggested: "Go to the hotel and put your things away first."
"Okay."
Haruno Sawayama said without thinking: "Shall we go directly to the cemetery after putting away the things?"
Their trip only lasted a day and a half in total. After all, Feng Shizhi had already taken several days off from the company and school before this. She had to return to the company to report the day after tomorrow, so the grave-sweeping matter was very important to her. It seemed a little inexplicably urgent.
Fortunately, things continued in an orderly manner. The two of them first arrived at the reserved hotel to put down their luggage, and then went downstairs to take a taxi to the cemetery without stopping.
After Haruno Sawayama and Shiori Mine arrived at their destination, it was almost early afternoon, which was the warmest time in this cold winter.
Since most islanders only visit their graves during the Bon Festival, the number of people in the cemetery is somewhat pitiful.
After Feng Shizhi showed his identity to the cemetery guard and explained the tomb to be scanned, the two were quickly released.
After walking along the road that stretched upward for a while, they finally stopped at a larger public cemetery, and the tombstone of Feng Shiori's mother was located near the edge.
A small stone tablet was erected here. There was no photo on it, and only a few lines of words left her identity.
Just looking at this aspect, it is somewhat similar to the tomb-sweeping session in the previous life.
"I just didn't take any banknotes or anything like that." Haruno Sawayama couldn't help but muttered.
He always felt that sweeping the tomb without burning something seemed to lack a sense of ritual, but since Feng Shiori said it didn't matter, he might as well ignore it for now.
"Mom."
Feng Shizhi carefully squatted in front of the tombstone and whispered: "I'm back."
The surroundings were quiet, and apart from the petite girl's words floating in the air and gradually being blown to pieces, it was difficult to hear any other sounds.
Haruno Sawayama stood silently behind her, listening to what the other party said.
"This time, I brought a friend here." Feng Shizhi looked at the tombstone in front of him and said in a calmer voice, "But my mother should also know about him. He is the classmate Zeshan I mentioned before. ”
"We are now studying in the same university, and we have also entered a company, so this time we invited him to come and visit the grave together."
"That said, there must be a lot of things that I don't know about my mother. I suddenly started working directly, and suddenly my relationship with Zeshan-san became so good."
Mine Shiori's voice made it difficult to hear what kind of mood she was feeling at the moment, but standing behind her and listening to her talk more and more, Sawayama Haruno couldn't help but feel a ripple in his heart.
Sure enough, most of them are sad? He thought to himself.
I feel like I don't know what to say.
Haruno Sawayama took a deep breath and tried to suppress the surging emotions in his heart.
Mine Shiori had already begun to talk about their university affairs. It was nothing more than some trivial academic matters. The content he could talk about was actually quite lackluster. Fortunately, Mine Shiori soon talked about his joining Kodan Club. And Sawayama Haruno's name began to appear more and more often in her narration.
This is normal, after all, her work content is mainly related to Haruno Sawayama.
I don’t know what kind of expression Mine Shiori’s mother will show after hearing what her daughter said.
After all, Mine Shiori’s mother wanted to encourage her daughter to pursue her.
Although it ended in a not-so-happy ending, almost two years have passed. No matter how many worrying things there are, you should learn to let them go.
At least that's how it seems to Haruno Sawayama.
“It’s really like a dream”
Feng Shizhi drooped her eyes and murmured in a low voice: "I broke up with my mother, but after going around in circles for so long, I can still bring Haruno here. It's like a dream."
"I'm sorry, Mom. At that time, I broke my promise. I clearly promised to confess to the other person, but I couldn't express my feelings because I knew that he was already in a relationship, and it ended up like that."
"But now I understand that my inner feelings are why I brought him here. Although I know it is still wrong, but compared with that time, now I don't want to see anything that will make me regret. "
"Mom must be able to understand me too"
Feng Shiori's tone gradually became a little lighter.
Standing behind her, all Haruno Sawayama could see was her slowly twitching shoulders.
Mine Shiori still has such feelings for herself.
Sawayama Haruno's heart suddenly became a little mixed.
Although this matter has no direct relationship with me, seeing the other person showing such a fragile look, I don't know why I feel very sorry for the other person.
All this time, he has not responded directly to Feng Shiori's feelings for him. After all, it involves the other party's lingering knot in his heart, which makes him treat the other party cautiously in his subconscious. Therefore, until now, there is no one. A clear answer.
However, standing here, he suddenly had an inexplicable feeling
Maybe I should also think carefully about what Riho Morikawa said back then.
(End of chapter)