Chapter 24 Thank you
[Good morning, everyone. Today is December 12, Monday, and it is 10:6 Tokyo time. Otaru had its fourth large-scale snowfall of the year yesterday. The weather was relatively cold during the day, with heavy snowfall. The highest temperature remained around 30 degrees, and the lowest temperature may drop to around -0 degrees. In general, today's weather conditions are not very good, but it is worth going out to see the snow. Citizens and tourists are advised to take warm measures when going out, and be careful of snow and ice on the road.]
The hot steam rose up, Fujii Itsuki opened the lid of the pot, scooped some radish soup with a spoon and put it to his mouth.

"Perfect."

The radish soup was served in a porcelain bowl that had been cleaned in advance, and then brought to the table, where it was placed flush with the other four dishes.

Fujii Itsuki clapped his hands, looked at the dishes on the table, and nodded.

It seems that I am still very suitable for cooking.

He took out his phone and checked the time. OK, now he just had to wait -

Looks like there's no need to wait.

The girl just came downstairs.

When Fujii Itsuki saw Jiuhuayue wearing shark pajamas and rubbing her sleepy eyes with her right hand, he went to the stairs to wait for her and smiled.

"just got up?"

"Ah, ah?! Why are you waiting here, perverted uncle?"

Jiu Huayue, who had come to her senses, turned around and went upstairs again when she saw his smile.

"Don't run yet!"

When Jiuhuayue was trying to escape back to the second floor, Fujii Itsuki grabbed her wrist. Her wrist was quite slender, and he could feel her fragility just by pinching it.

"What are you going to do?!" Jiuhuayue immediately widened her eyes and was no longer sleepy.

"Come with me first."

"No, no!"

"What are you afraid of? Just follow me."

“You—! No, don’t!”

She didn't expect that this perverted uncle would dare to touch her only a few days after moving in. He might even go a step further after a while, sneaking into her room, stealing her clothes, or even breaking in when she was taking a shower.

"You, please let me go."

During the struggle, she bit his arm with her teeth.

He is quite strong, although much weaker than Qiansui.

"Quiet!" Fujii Itsuki frowned and used the tone of his former teacher.

Jiu Huayue was frightened by his shouting and was stunned. She dared not move and obediently let him hold her wrist and drag her to the living room.

"Okay, sit down."

The girl's heart was dead, and she sat down with dull eyes.

"Cough cough."

Fujii Itsuki stood opposite her, faced the girl who lowered her head, and cleared his throat.

The air was silent for a few seconds.

"I am so sorry!"

"Eh?"

"I am so sorry."

Then, Jiuhuayue, who smelled the aroma of food, reacted. She raised her head and saw Fujii Itsuki, who lowered his head slightly, across the table full of food.

".Uncle you——"

"I am so sorry."

"."

Jiu Huayue didn't know what to say for a moment because of his overly formal apology. She just looked at him blankly.

"I'm so sorry," he repeated.

"There's no need to repeat an apology three times."

"I am so sorry."

Jiu Huayue was speechless, "Uncle, aren't you ashamed?"

Fujii Itsuki straightened up, returned to his normal state, and said seriously, "Of course I will. After all, I am putting aside the age gap and formally apologizing to a girl who is ten years younger than me."

Jiu Huayue glanced at the four dishes and one soup in front of her, and roughly knew what these dishes were for. She looked up at his face, which had returned to normal and looked very shameless, and asked, "Are you still willing to apologize for what happened yesterday?"

"What do you mean by that?"

"It's not worth talking about at all. To outsiders, I was probably too pretentious yesterday, let alone an adult like you." The girl avoided his gaze.

"Is this how you view what happened yesterday?"

"if not?"

"I don't think so." Fujii Itsuki said seriously.

".?"

Fujii Itsuki closed his eyes and continued, "You should know that I was a teacher in Tokyo."

“I don’t understand the connection.”

"Tokyo is an international metropolis, but the pressure is also high. In the past three years, I have seen parents and children crying because of various things. Some parents are even over 50 years old. But whether they are children or parents, they will still cry and have emotional breakdowns because of some trivial things. For example, if I say that the beret on your head is lost, what will you think?"

".If it's lost, it's lost. Just buy another one."

"Right, you don't care about the value of a beret at all, but what if I tell you that your parents bought you that beret on your birthday?"

“If that’s the case, I’ll probably treasure it more.”

"Your parents have been living overseas for work. You stayed alone in China, feeling lonely and isolated. Every day when you returned home, you would say 'I'm back' to the empty house. You thought they didn't care about you, so you kept urging them to come back to see you. Finally, they were going to come back on your birthday, but they had a car accident on that day. Before she died, your mother was still holding the hat she gave you."

“.”Jiuhuayue lowered her brows.

"This example is true," Fujii Itsuki added, "I said this example just to illustrate that some insignificant things may have other meanings. They may not matter to you, but to others, they may be more precious than gold. I spent a whole week looking for that child's hat."

Jiu Huayue raised her purple eyes slightly and looked at him, "Did you help her find it?"

"I found it," Fujii Itsuki nodded and sighed, "I finally realized that the school cat had taken it to a tree, so I climbed up to get it. After the child found it, he kept crying and hugged it tightly, saying things like he would never lose it again and thanked the teacher. I still remember it to this day."

"Uncle, this isn't a story you made up, is it?"

"I can't make it up so fluently. I know it's hard for you to trust me since we just met, and I don't really need your trust, but for this matter alone, I can guarantee that I didn't lie. If you don't believe me, I can show you the chat history between me and that student. I have it saved in my account. There is also the thank-you letter she wrote to me later. I brought these things back from Tokyo, and I can show you that too."

"."Jiu Huayue saw the five steaming dishes on the table in front of her, and the clock in the living room behind her showing 6:41.

"That's why I'm apologizing to you right now. I'm sorry that I accidentally overheard your song yesterday. It was a song you practiced hard for a long time and played for your lover, but it was accidentally heard by an annoying old man like me. I'm very sorry for ruining the beauty in your heart."

Fujii Itsuki's serious words made Jiuhuayue fall into long thought, and her voice became much smaller:
"Thank you. I know what you're thinking. It's okay about what happened yesterday."

"That's good. Thank you for your forgiveness. Please feel free to eat breakfast. I hope it suits your taste. This is an apology to you. You don't need to feel any psychological burden." "Okay."

This time, Jiu Huayue did not refuse, but she suddenly seemed to realize something, her face flushed, and she quickly waved her hands and shook her head, "Wait a minute! You, you misunderstood! This is not a song for lovers!"

Fujii Itsuki thought she looked cute when she blushed.

"This song of Kasuga Kage is either played for a friend or written for a very important person like a lover, right? That's a friend?"

"That's not the case. We're not friends either."

Fujii Itsuki nodded, and seeing that she didn't want to say more, he didn't ask any more questions.

"Then let's eat first. I have to go to work later. Finish eating early so I can wash the dishes."

"Um"

Jiuhuayue sat very straight and properly while eating. Fujii Itsuki had only seen this feeling in Matsumae Xinchun yesterday.

But for some reason, Jiuhuayue gave him a slightly calmer feeling, or should I say, closer to reality.

Fujii Itsuki saw her suddenly put down her chopsticks after taking two bites.

"Unappetizing?"

Jiu Huayue shook her head, her eyes fixed on the bowl of steaming rice in front of her, "No, it just tastes like something I've never tasted before."

"That's probably because I used too much seasoning. I personally prefer strong flavors."

"."

Afterwards, Fujii Itsuki washed the dishes and put the unfinished food for Jiuhuayue into the refrigerator.

I told her that if she felt hungry at noon, she could take out the vegetables and put them in the microwave for five minutes, and pour some cold water on the white rice and then turn on the rice cooker.

Fujii Itsuki had Jiuhuayue's phone number, but Jiuhuayue didn't have his, so Fujii Itsuki wrote her a phone number and told her that if anything happened, she could call him.

Maybe he can't help much, but if there is a problem, as an adult, he can still offer suggestions. If there is a thief, he can also help chase him away.

Jiuhuayue remained silent for a while, and Fujii Itsuki went out and prepared to wait for Nagayama Sakura's special car to arrive at the corner outside.

The girl watched his back disappear at the gate and into the white snow.

She looked at the place where he disappeared for a long time, and only after a long time did she look away. She turned her eyes back to the room - and fell on a guitar carefully placed on the cushion.

The stains on the guitar are gone, and there is a cartoon shark keychain hanging on it with a note left on it.

Jiu Huayue reached out and picked up the cartoon shark keychain, stared at it for a long time, and then set her eyes on the note -

[I have cleaned your guitar for you, don't worry. This keychain is my apology. It's not a very expensive gift. I hope you like it. Also, to be honest, your singing last night was very nice. Come on, I believe you will be able to convey your singing to the most important person in your heart one day.]
Holding the small piece of paper in both hands, Jiu Huayue's gaze fell again on the cute shark keychain in the palm of her right hand.

The girl stared at the cartoon shark for a while, blushed, and muttered softly:
“Very cute”

At the gate, the snow was still falling where Fujii Itsuki disappeared. However, someone was staring in that direction, and a shy whisper was heard from afar in the cold air.

".Thanks."

*
"Mr. Fujii, it's snowing quite heavily today."

"Yes," Fujii Itsuki sighed as he looked out the car window at the snowy scenery of the city and countryside, "It's rare to see such heavy snow in Tokyo in ten years."

"I heard that Mr. Fujii wants to find a good job recently."

Fujii Itsuki withdrew his gaze and looked towards the driver's seat in front of him. The kind smile of Sakura Nagayama was reflected in the rearview mirror inside the car.

"Mr. Fujii, please don't misunderstand me. I have no intention of asking about your personal life. I just talked about this matter while listening to Nozaka's casual conversation. I have a good suggestion here. I wonder if Mr. Fujii is interested?"

"Well, I'm all ears."

"You should know Tachibana Kita Gakuen in the center of Otaru City, right?"

"I definitely know this." Fujii Itsuki probably knew what he was going to say.

"This is a good school. If the school in Sapporo wasn't closer, I'm afraid the young lady would also come to study in this school."

Orange North College.

The full name is Taisho Tachibana First Private High School, and it is an old college.

It was originally a girls' college, but due to a shortage of students in the Heisei era, it was gradually transformed into a modern school open to both boys and girls.

The history of Tachibana can be traced back to the Taisho period, when Japan was influenced by Western ideas and promoted democratic reforms across the country with the goal of achieving a more democratic political system. The society was experiencing rapid economic development and accelerated industrialization.

During this period, a large number of modern industrial infrastructure projects were launched throughout Japan, including the construction of railways and electricity.

The low wooden houses of the Edo period are gone, replaced by tall Western-style buildings rising from the ground.

Culture, literature and art also experienced unprecedented prosperity in this era.

A number of world-renowned writers such as Natsume Soseki, Akutagawa Ryunosuke, Tanizaki Junichiro, and Kikuchi Hiroshi came into being.

At that time, Otaru was the undisputed largest port in Hokkaido. Many banks gathered in the city center, making it a veritable international commercial city and known as the "Wall Street of the North" in Japan.

In order to cater to the advanced development and reform of women's education in society at that time, a group of wealthy businessmen and politicians gathered in Hokkaido negotiated to open the first women's college in Hokkaido in the center of Otaru City.

It was in this context that Taisho Tachibana First Private High School came into being.

In traditional culture, tangerine, also known as orange, symbolizes purity, beauty and auspiciousness.

North, naturally, refers to the northern country, Hokkaido.

"Orange" is used to symbolize women of the new era, "North" is used to refer to the region, and "First" is used to tell the world about the history and strength of the school.

Today, due to the development of Otaru City, Tachibana Kita is far from being as glorious as it was in the past, but it is still a well-known good school in Hokkaido.

It is not surprising that the daughters of wealthy businessmen, entertainers and politicians are sent to this school.

"Come to think of it, the reason why Tachibana Kita is lacking a teacher right now is still related to the young lady."

Fujii Itsuki recalled for a moment and found some clues, "Mr. Nagayama, are you referring to the car accident?"

"Yes. Because of the car accident, the school where the young lady was studying lost a teacher. The teaching staff in Hokkaido has always been far inferior to that in Tokyo. Excellent talents can only be transferred from surrounding areas. Naturally, the teacher from Tachibana Kita was transferred to the young lady's place."

So that's why Chitose said their teacher was transferred suddenly.

"So, my suggestion is that if Mr. Fujii is in need of a good job, he might as well go to Tachibana Kita."

Same place.
Including Chitose's two suggestions, this is the third time someone has suggested that I go to Tachibana to teach.

It is not difficult to go to Jubei to be a teacher again, and he is confident that he can do the job.

But whenever he thought about becoming a teacher again, Fujii Itsuki always hesitated and wanted to avoid going to that kind of place as much as possible.

He couldn't quite put his finger on what this feeling was.

"Thanks for the advice."

"You're welcome, Mr. Fujii."

(End of this chapter)