Chapter 23 Stool Snowman Guitar
The bento boxes in the supermarket are sold out.

If it were Tokyo, there would definitely be plenty of surplus in the supermarket during this time period.

[Brother Shu must cook carefully! Be nice to yourself!]
When Fujii Itsuki recalled Chitose's instructions to him, he felt helpless. He turned around and left the instant noodles area of ​​the supermarket.

He doesn't like cooking. Firstly, he hates the feeling of his hands being stained by all kinds of debris, and secondly, he is alone most of the time.

He just muddles along by himself, spending more than an hour preparing several dishes, which are gone after just two bites by himself, and he still has to wash the pots and dishes. Isn't this just making things difficult for himself?

But if the girl knew that I didn't cook well, she would definitely come to Jiuhua's house to find me.
Fujii Itsuki didn't want to trouble her. She was already very busy with the hot spring shop at her family, and she also had to take care of her studies at this age.

The bento boxes are sold out and instant noodles cannot be bought.

Um--

Fujii Itsuki thought of something.

Cooking bag.

With the cooking pack, he only needs to cook some simple white rice to deal with Chitose.

Just do it.

Fujii Itsuki ran to the frozen section to take a look and found that there were quite a variety of meal packs.

Curry beef, scrambled eggs with tomatoes, teriyaki chicken steak.
He randomly picked out ten meal packs to take home, so he could keep any leftovers.

Oh, by the way, I need to buy some rice.

There are also seasonings. The other day when the girl was making breakfast, she said, "It's really a hassle to have no seasonings."

If she "cooks" every day, it would be a problem if she came over one day and found that Jiuhua's house didn't have any seasonings, not even salt.

After buying various seasonings and cooking packs, Fujii Itsuki also bought some potato chips as snacks.

When he passed by the stationery area, he suddenly caught a glimpse of a shark cartoon keychain out of the corner of his eye.

Fujii Itsuki stopped and looked at the row of shark key chains hanging on the shelves.

He himself didn't know why he stopped.
Maybe I thought this cartoon keychain was cute, or maybe I was influenced by the fever-reducing patch I bought that day and remembered the shark element.

Do you want to buy it for her?
Fujii Itsuki thought about it and finally gave up the plan.

Money is a small matter, a keychain is not expensive, but he has no reason to give Jiuhuayue a gift.

As she said, the two of them have cleared their relationship and there will be no other relationship in the future.

If I suddenly gave her a keychain she liked, she would think I was a perverted uncle who had bad intentions towards her and wanted to conquer her.

That guy is really that sensitive.

So, Fujii Itsuki gave up the idea of ​​buying the shark keychain, and walked out of the supermarket with two full plastic bags in his hands.

After walking for nearly twenty minutes in the snowy night, a man finally arrived at the door of Jiuhua's house.

I have never found this big house so pleasing to the eye.

He temporarily put down the two large plastic bags in his hands, walked to the watch with the words "Jiuhua" written on it, and prepared to take out the key to open the door.

Unexpectedly, in the late snow, the sound of a guitar suddenly came from the yard.

Fujii Itsuki thought he was hallucinating, but when he moved closer to the gap in the iron gate, he confirmed that the guitar sound was indeed coming from inside.

He did not open the door, but instead, with curiosity, he looked into the gap between the big iron doors and stared at the figure in the inner room.

It was Jiuhuayue. She came back at some point unknown.

She sat on a simple folding stool, propped up one knee, and placed the guitar, whose color blended with the warm lights in the room behind her, on her thigh.

She faced the snowman at the door, who always had a smiling face. She lowered her eyes, stroked the strings of the guitar as if she was comforting a baby, and hummed a beautiful voice:

My heart is full of haggardness, my eyes are trembling

I am alone in this world.

In the fading spring

Every year I can only feel the cold.

The singing and melody sound lyrical and beautiful just by listening to them, as if every time the girl plucks the strings, the notes sparkle in the darkness.

This song is very niche, and unfortunately, Fujii Itsuki happened to have heard this song before and knew its origin because of a former student of his.

The melody gradually becomes gentle.

Jiuhuayue was humming. She closed her eyes. The warm light in the room softly covered her long hair and surrounded her figure, outlining her fair and beautiful profile. The snow above her head glowed in the darkness. The snowflakes seemed to be driven by the chords of the guitar, dancing in the air along with her beautiful and gentle voice.

In such a late snow, the beautiful girl hummed a ballad, as if only her time was passing before her eyes, it was extremely dreamy.

I didn't expect this girl could play the guitar.

He did not choose to disturb her, but instead prepared to wait for Jiu Huayue to finish singing and go home before pushing the door open.

However, when he turned around, he kicked the plastic bag on the ground, and the plastic bag and the potato chips inside made a loud rustling sound.

".who?!"

The sudden questioning was full of vigilance, and the guitar and beautiful humming naturally came to an abrupt end.

"I."

Fujii Itsuki knew that she had discovered him, and had no choice but to take out the key and open the iron gate.

He pushed open the iron door and saw Jiuhuayue standing up. She was holding her guitar and looked like she wanted to escape back into the house. Fujii Itsuki signaled her to be at ease and not to be afraid.

"Uncle.?"

When Jiu Huayue saw that it was him, she put down her hands that were tightly holding the guitar, her purple eyes half closed, and she had an extremely unfriendly expression:

"Uncle, you were eavesdropping just now, right?"

"No."

Jiu Huayue's expression returned to the disgust she had when she first saw her, "Terrible."

Fujii Itsuki tried to ease the atmosphere, "I say, can you change the name of uncle? I'm really going to become an uncle if I hear you call me uncle every day."

"It was impossible before, and it's even more impossible now! Why did you eavesdrop?"

The air was inexplicably colder. Fujii Itsuki picked up the supermarket plastic bags on both sides and said, "I just came back from the supermarket."

"You mean you just came back, there was no eavesdropping, so it was a misunderstanding."

"That's it."

"You said the same thing last time, but there aren't so many coincidences in this world. Why did you come back just when I was about to go back?"

"I also want to know why I always encounter so many coincidences with you."

Fujii Itsuki tried to change the subject, "I bought some meal packs. They can be heated in the microwave and eaten. They taste pretty good. If you didn't eat anything tonight, do you want to eat something before going to bed?"

When the girl heard what he said, she subconsciously hugged her guitar tightly, lowered her head, and bit her lip, "I won't eat that stuff."

Fujii Itsuki picked up the supermarket plastic bag again and added, "It contains all kinds of seasonings and rice that I bought. I can't just buy these props as an excuse to eavesdrop on you playing the piano. By the way, you can really try the cooking bag, it's better than instant noodles."

"I told you I don't eat that kind of stuff—"

Jiu Huayue clenched her right fist tightly, held the guitar in her left hand, looked up and glared at him without saying a single word.

"."

This look.
The situation is not good.
Fujii Itsuki didn't know what he had done to anger her. Was he eavesdropping on her playing the guitar?

She wouldn't have such an expression just because she heard her playing the guitar.

This resolute look was just short of the word "angry" written on her eyes. Or did she hate cooking bags?

He tried to ease the awkward atmosphere, stood up straight and said seriously:

"Also, the Kasuga Kage you just played and sang was pretty good. You played it very well and your voice was beautiful, too."

After saying this, Jiu Huayue's pupils shrank noticeably. She hugged the guitar in her arms tighter with her left hand and also hugged it with her right hand.

Fujii Itsuki noticed her changes.

This girl. Praising her for her good singing and playing, there is no need to act like this, right?

Is this, about to cry?

She shouldn't cry over such a small matter.

I complained like this in my mind, but when she didn't respond for a long time, I stayed with her and stood face to face with her in the snow for five minutes.

"first."

The girl lowered her head and hugged the guitar with both hands. Her left hand fingers clasped the guitar frets tightly, her fingertips turned pale, and her voice was small and trembling.

"what?"

"first."

"Is this the first time someone praised you for singing so beautifully? It's not that serious. Any student who can read the air a little bit will praise you like this, no matter whether you play well or not."

The girl suddenly raised her head, her expression determined, her eyes sparkling, "I mean, I've never sung for anyone before! You're the first audience!!"

The situation seems to be getting worse.

"Eavesdropping doesn't count."

"I overheard it! It's obviously not for you! I haven't practiced for this for so long!"

Jiuhuayue suppressed her voice and spoke in a low voice. This sentence probably touched some unknown secret in her heart. After Fujii Itsuki praised her, tears welled up in her eyes.

Oops.

I really cried.

Fujii Itsuki hates seeing girls cry.

Because it is really troublesome to deal with.

It seemed that I had accidentally destroyed a long-awaited vision in this child's heart.

She attached so much importance to the first audience, probably because of some very important person.

"Nine flowers——"

Fujii Itsuki wanted to apologize to her and comfort her, but she wiped her tears, turned around, said nothing, and ran back into the house crying, leaving her guitar in the snow next to the stool and the snowman.

What is this?

Fujii Itsuki shook her head, walked forward and picked up her guitar covered in snow.

He looked at the guitar in his arms, then looked at the small stool in front of him and the snowman facing the stool.

The snowman still waved the broken branches, and with a smile, it always greeted those who looked at it.
Stool, snowman, guitar.

For some reason, the orange light from the entrance shone over. He saw an emotion called loneliness in these three small objects.

What on earth did this girl go through?
*
Drip
Fujii Itsuki took off his glasses, picked up the mobile phone beside the bed, placed it on the book, and checked the message he had just received.

[Hey, Brother Tree, I'm done! ! ]
"Thank you for your hard work." Fujii Itsuki finished typing and clicked send. The timestamp just showed 22:00.

[Brother Shu~ You know what I am going to say, right~~]
He knew it very well, so he sent her two photos taken during dinner.

Wait two minutes.

A new message from "Chitose Yang Aoi" pops up.

[Hey, Brother Shu, you can also make teriyaki beef.]
Fujii Itsuki couldn't help but burst out laughing.

This girl is still trying to deceive me with her little tricks, she is just reaching her limit.

"Look carefully, this is chicken I made, teriyaki chicken steak."

New messages pop up quickly.

[Oh. I was mistaken. I was wondering why it didn’t look like beef. Brother Shu is amazing. He cooked three dishes tonight!]
"I'm so tired." Fujii Itsuki grabbed the potato chips beside him and poured them into his mouth. While eating, he typed a reply with one hand.

[Thank you for your hard work! I also really want to eat the food made by Brother Shu. I don’t know how long it has been since I last ate it.]
"Come over when you're free, I can cook for you."

[That's great! I really want to go to Brother Shu's place soon, but it looks like Brother Shu will have dinner alone tonight?]
Fujii Itsuki flipped through the photos he had posted, and there was indeed only one bowl in them.

"That's it."

[The food that Shu Gege cooked must be delicious. It’s such a pity for Jiuhua. Anyway, if Shu Gege invites me, I will definitely eat it! I still remember Shu Ge said he would cook for me. I’m looking forward to it~~]
Speaking of Jiuhua, Fujii Itsuki recalled what happened in the small courtyard tonight.

"Chitose, I want to ask you a question."

[Brother Tree, please speak.]
"Before I ask you, I have another question. Have you ever seen... um, I remember it was an animation called Mygo?"

[Oh! I know, I know! Brother Shu also knows about the animation that everyone was watching not long ago?]
"When I was in Tokyo, one of my students liked to watch it. When I passed by the club building, I happened to hear a song she played and sang. I thought it was very nice, so I asked her if it was a song she wrote herself. She shook her head and then told me the source."

[I see, that's what I was wondering, why would Shu-ge go to watch anime, when he doesn't even play games. So what's Shu-ge's problem?]
"The question is simple. What does the theme song of Kasuga Shadow express?"

[I see, I see. Brother Shu is curious about this. From my perspective when I watched it with my classmates before, it seems to be expressing a wonderful experience from the past.]
"Good experiences in the past?"

[Yeah, I mean from the plot point of view, the lyrics are not about these. The lyrics are about a weak and lonely person who met a very good friend, and then went hand in hand, and made a promise to be together forever. I also like this song very much. The reason why I say it is the good old days is that according to the plot of the animation, this song is the song of the former band, and now that band has disbanded.]
After reading Chitose's words, Fujii Itsuki tried to apply the meaning of the song to Jiuhuayue.

You can tell that she likes this song very much and she is very devoted when playing and singing.

If the person described in the lyrics of this song can refer to her - a lonely person, then the person she is talking about is most likely her particularly important friend, most likely her boyfriend who she was forced to separate from when she left Tokyo.

This represents her beauty and nostalgia for the past.

She practiced guitar and this song so that she could give it to that person the next time she met him.

And he was the uncle who accidentally entered her little world.

I was not beautiful to her, but I occupied the most beautiful place in her heart.

The first time that she wanted to give to her young boyfriend was given to an old man like her.

When I think about it this way, it is really a serious sin.

No wonder she broke down in tears.

"Understood, thank you Chitose."

Fujii Itsuki understood what to do.

[Hehe, as long as I can help Brother Shu, why did Brother Shu suddenly ask this?]
[Brother Tree?]
[Brother Tree?!]
Yang Kui Chitose, who was curled up in bed, saw that all three of her messages had fallen into the sea and were still marked as unread. She pouted her face in dissatisfaction and muttered softly:
"It's the same again. He always disappears suddenly."

The girl tossed and turned in her bed, and seeing that there was still no reply, she turned off her phone. She stuck her head out from under the quilt, listened to the sound of wind and snow outside, and stared at the old-fashioned beams above her head.

"Haruhi Ying, why did Brother Shu suddenly ask about this song?"

The girl closed her eyes and thought about it in her mind.

She seemed to have thought of something and her face darkened.

"It can't be because of that Jiuhua guy."

Her sense of crisis suddenly intensified.

No, that is definitely a very cunning fox. It always contacts my tree brother inexplicably when I am busy in the hot spring shop. I must go and confirm what is going on tomorrow.

(End of this chapter)