Chapter 29 I am more or less starting to hate you less!
"."

Cast your gaze to the other side of the room.

The snowflakes at night soaked the windows, uninvitedly gathering and converging at the edges bit by bit, dyeing the whole place white.

The window glass vaguely revealed my shadow lying on the bed.

——I still clearly remember the feeling of that day.

In the empty station, with snow falling all over the sky, a girl wearing a beret and a red shawl is looking at the black sky with her hand outstretched.

Unbelievable.

Although this was the first time I saw this scene, I always felt like I had seen it before, and I still can't forget it.

Every time I think of this picture, an indescribable emotion surges in my heart. I feel that this picture is very familiar and that this picture is attracting me.

Why is that?
Fujii Itsuki looked absentmindedly at the snowy night outside the window, and the figure of the girl at the station appeared again.

Beautiful, ethereal, clean
Those lifeless eyes looking up at the sky——

ah.
Fujii Itsuki suddenly understood.

The reflection in the glass is the answer.

Those confused eyes were exactly the same as mine.

*
咚咚
咚咚
There was a gentle knock on the door.

It was so gentle that it took Fujii Itsuki ten minutes to wake himself up from his sleep.

He subconsciously glanced out the window.

Snow stopped.

But the weather was not good. There was no sunshine, no sun, the sky was gray, and everything in the city was covered with snow.

Having just gotten up and not yet fully conscious, Fujii Shu slowly stood up, put on his slippers, got out of bed, and opened the door, only to see Jiu Huayue standing at the door of his room somewhat embarrassedly.

"that.!"

Jiu Huayue raised her voice, straightened her back, and turned her face and eyes slightly to the side.

"what's up?"

"Didn't I say I would make you a bowl of noodles last night?"

Fujii Itsuki remembered that something like this happened last night.

"Ah."

"This is a thank you, uncle! It can also be used as a replacement for the potato chips you had last night."

"That makes sense. Are you ready?"

"It hasn't started yet. I just prepared the seasoning. If I wake you up after it's done, I'm afraid the noodles will become soft and won't taste good."

If he didn't misunderstand the relationship between them, they should be more disgusted with each other, right?

After the eavesdropping incident, she should hate this uncle even more.

Or was it that she was secretly crying alone last night, and I ran over to comfort her, saying things like how beautiful and kind she was, and that really comforted her?

"Uncle, you can get up now, right? If you want to get up now, I'll go cook noodles now."

Fujii Itsuki looked at him strangely, "I'm not used to you suddenly speaking to me so cautiously."

".? Don't I always talk like this?"

"No way, you've always been aloof and cold, keeping strangers away, the words 'Don't talk to me' written on your face."

"Well then," Jiu Huayue adjusted her tone slightly and turned it cold, "Uncle, hurry up and get dressed. I'm going downstairs to cook noodles."

"There's a hint of disdain in his eyes."

Jiu Huayue immediately turned into a disgusted face, and said coldly and disgustedly: "Uncle, you'd better get dressed quickly, I'm going to go downstairs to cook noodles, don't blame me if the noodles don't taste good later!"

"It's much more comfortable this way."

Jiu Huayue put away her expression and said strangely: "I don't understand why you like me talking like this."

“Because it’s normal.”

*
This girl said last night that she wanted to make herself cry for a bowl of noodles, but Fujii Itsuki could see that she seldom cooks.

She didn't even know how to deal with the noodles in the pot, so she could only stir the soup with a spoon randomly - although that was the right thing to do.

She cooked noodles, showing her attentiveness as a girl.

When the water boiled, she counted the time and then threw the noodles in to cook at the right time.

Boil the noodles, then time it, and take out the noodles at a certain time.

I guess she did her homework and prepared the seasonings in advance.

Fujii Itsuki took a special look at the two bowls. One had less seasoning, and the other had more seasoning.

The bowl with more seasoning naturally has a stronger taste, so she placed that bowl of noodles in front of her.

".how is the taste?"

"Not bad, you're not very good at cooking noodles."

"Well how did you know that?"

"You can tell by the movements. It's delicious, for the first bowl of noodles you give to someone."

".Thanks for the compliment."

After that, it was just quiet time to eat noodles, with no words spoken to each other.

Fujii Itsuki was really used to this kind of atmosphere, so he asked:
"Jiuhua, you are working as a model, right?"

"Ah? Well, yes, I am."

"You disappeared a few days ago. Did you actually fly back to Tokyo?"

"almost."

"You don't seem to like this job very much."

"Because it was meaningless to travel for so long, and I didn't get any work done after flying there, what about you, uncle? How are you doing with your temporary work these days?"

"not bad."

Two more polite inquiries.

Then there was a long silence again.

Perhaps Jiu Huayue noticed the awkwardness between the two of them. She mustered up her courage, took a deep breath, and took the initiative to ask:

"Uncle, what do you think of me?"

Fujii Itsuki looked up at her in surprise, "Is this important?"

Jiu Huayue said seriously: "It's very important. It involves how we should get along with each other and whether I hate you as an uncle or not."

"You suddenly asked me this question, which really bothered me. But my evaluation of you is actually very simple - I have feelings for you."

Jiu Huayue was shocked: ".? Uncle, you——"

"Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying I like you."

"If this doesn't mean you like me, then what does it mean? Uncle, you really are——"

"Don't worry, I'm just saying that something about you is attracting me."

Fujii Itsuki recalled the scene at the station that day and his eyes involuntarily turned downwards.

".!"

Jiu Huayue was stunned for a moment, then noticed his gaze moving downward, and vigilantly protected her chest with both hands.

Fujii Itsuki immediately laughed, "Why do you always think about this?"

It would be fine if this girl didn't cover her chest, but once she did, it would become a cause for concern.

He didn't want to describe what he saw in a too rabble-like way, but he couldn't ignore the objective facts, so he tried to describe it as tactfully as possible - not like he was sixteen years old.

Jiu Huayue got angry and puffed up her cheeks: "You're still looking! As expected, men like to pay attention to this place!"

"I wouldn't mind if you didn't protect me. All men like that, but I'm different."

"You're not a man?"

"What are you talking about?"

Fujii Itsuki suppressed the twitching of his brows and said, "It means that I am not interested in you at all! You are too young. You probably learned to speak when I was in high school."

"That's absolutely a lie." Jiu Huayue protected her chest, lowered her head, and muttered softly, "Anyway, I've never met a man who doesn't like me. They ask me to show a little bit for a fashion photo shoot, and they also say I'm big. I hate it."

Fujii Itsuki didn't hear her mumbling and continued:
"What I meant just now was that I was attracted by your eyes that day."

"Eye?"

"Confused and lonely, isn't it?"

"."Jiuhuayue was inexplicably silent for a while.

"We are the same type of people," Fujii Itsuki put down his chopsticks, "Do you want to hear what the uncle thinks?"

".Then tell me."

Fujii Itsuki continued, "You were very beautiful that day, but to me, your eyes were even more beautiful.

"I can see what your eyes mean. It's not that I've seen this look many times, but I used to always like to stare at the same place when I had nothing to do, with the same look.

"I often look outside on rainy days and do nothing else but watch the raindrops fall to the ground, staring at the raindrops knocking on the window of my office and hitting the green leaves on the playground outside.

“It’s not that I don’t think, so I often wonder why I always like to look out the window and listen to the sound of rain alone.

"In fact, the answer is very simple, it is because of emptiness.

“Ever since my dream of becoming a teacher was completely shattered in reality, I have been unable to find a place to stay in this world. I don’t have any friends, family, or lover with whom I can communicate.

“My inner emotions are hard to express, and my inner loneliness cannot be comforted or shared. So, I place my emotions on the rain, watching its short life, watching it fall from the sky and then go nowhere, a life that is also aimless and drifting with the flow.

"To put it bluntly, liking to daydream is nothing more than a feeling of inner emptiness. Because you can't find a sense of reality, your thoughts become so erratic."

Is this what the uncle really thinks?

Jiu Huayue was not without feelings after hearing what he said. She also liked to daydream.

If daydreaming really has meaning as he said, then do I always like to be alone because I am enjoying the feeling of emptiness?
It's so hard to think and so hard to understand.
But at the same time, I also want to understand the real me.

What exactly are you craving for?
Why do you feel happy and joyful?

Has this uncle in front of me ever felt lonely and cold like me?
Is he still lonely and cold now?
I suddenly felt that he was much more friendly than before. Was it because I, like him, was lost in this world and couldn't find my true belonging?
Are my words still too difficult for a sixteen-year-old girl to understand?

Fujii Itsuki didn't ask her to understand everything, but it would be worth it if she could listen to everything he said and think about it to some extent.

"Uncle."

"Ok?"

"I have a request."

"Go ahead."

"I don't really understand what you just said, uncle, but I can always vaguely feel something from your words. Now I am sure that you were not looking at my breasts just now."

Fujii Itsuki: “.”

"Feelings you're still struggling with this so what is your request?"

"It's a little hard for me to say this because you're an uncle, but I still think I should say it now. Uncle, since you don't have work to do now, can you chat with me for a while?"

"Chat? What to talk about?"

"Anything is fine! As long as we can chat."

Jiuhuayue became anxious.

"You can ask me things, my hobbies, my little habits, what I like to eat."

"This is a personal secret of yours, right? Are you willing to tell me?"

Jiuhuayue was silent at first, and then slowly replied:
"I don't know why I'm telling you this, but if you think about it, I've never told anyone what I like, or the real reason why I like something, and I've never shared the joy of liking something.
"A long time ago, I heard a song I really liked and wanted to share it with someone, but I found that most people didn't care about my sharing, or just listened to it perfunctorily and left it alone. If I said something a little too much, I would get some harsh comments, such as 'Is this the only song you like?'.
"From then on, I found that I was always enjoying my happiness alone. I could never find anyone to share with, nor anyone who could understand me, so -"

Fujii Itsuki understood, "So, you just want to use me as an audience now, right?"

"Um"

"Okay, I'd like to hear what you have to say."

"Really?! Thank you, uncle."

Fujii Itsuki agreed, even though he was just a simple outlet for his emotions.

But maybe it can give this girl a chance to vent the bad emotions she suppressed last night. This way she will feel better.

After that, the girl talked much more than before.

From her daily necessities, hobbies, memories, to her preferences and her personal little habits.

For example, she said she likes to watch others make coffee, saying it is particularly interesting.

For example, she said she particularly liked snacks, but no one had ever taken her to a real snack store.

For example, she said her specialty was sword ball, which earned her a lot of praise among her friends when she was a child. She also gave her moves a particularly strange name that she still doesn't want to mention.

She also said that she was particularly good at catching goldfish, and that any goldfish she targeted at the festival would never escape from her hands.

Her favorite flower is rose, her favorite convenience store food is oden, and the reason she likes sneakers is because she used to have no shoes or wear high heels most of the time.
"."

Fujii Itsuki didn't say anything, but just listened to her talk about herself patiently.

Often, Jiu Huayue would laugh while talking, and ask the uncle if he understood that feeling and if he understood the way she liked him.

To be honest, most people can’t understand it.

But when I saw this girl talking about these trivial things so happily, my cold heart would be infected by her emotions.

I would think, “It turns out that liking someone is so simple.”

Of course, there were arguments during the chat.

Fujii Itsuki couldn't understand what was so cute about sharks and complained about it.

Then Jiuhuayue got angry and kept saying that sharks are just so cute and so good.

"Uncle is really an uncle! It's unreasonable!"

"If it's so good, you also like to watch a bad shark movie?"

"Don't talk too much! It's awesome, okay? Let me count for you," Jiuhuayue began to count on her fingers, "Shark vs. Squid, Shark vs. Squid 2, Space Shark, Volcano Shark, Deadly Two-Headed Shark, Octopus Shark"

"Stop, stop, stop! Are you ordering the dishes? There must be more than ten of these shark movies."

"There are only more than ten of them. Uncle, you really underestimate sharks! I remember that last time in Tokyo, there was a private theater that only showed shark movies for a whole week. There were more than fifty of them! It was a pity that I had other things to do at that time and didn't have the chance to watch it. What a pity."

"."

You really want to watch more than fifty romances.

Fujii Itsuki didn't think anyone could watch crappy shark movies with her for a week straight, not even her future boyfriend.

This thing is so disgusting.

Several hours passed after Jiu Huayue finished telling all these stories.

It was not until there was nothing left to say that Jiuhuayue suddenly realized that Fujii Itsuki had been patiently accompanying her for the entire morning.

"I'm sorry for making you listen to so much of my words."

"It's okay. It's quite interesting that you said so much. It made me realize that you are as rich in heart as an ordinary little girl. It made me feel like 'how can you have so many ideas in your head'."

Jiuhuayue covered her mouth and smiled beautifully.

"Uncle, you are a good listener and a good chat partner. You are very interesting. I find that you can actually understand many of the things I like."

"So?" Fujii Itsuki could tell there was something else behind her words.

"."

"Ok?"

"So, I'm starting to hate you a little less!"

Fujii Itsuki smiled, "Why not just say that you like me a little bit?"

"It's different. I don't hate it that much! I don't like it! Anyway, thank you, uncle."

Jiu Huayue's face flushed slightly, her eyes were evasive, and as she spoke, she ran away again, running to the same place at the stairs where she was yesterday.

Fujii Itsuki knew that she hadn't finished speaking yet, so he looked towards that location.

As expected, a few seconds later, Jiu Huayue's little head came down, and she said to Fujii Itsuki in the living room with some hesitation, some embarrassment, but with great certainty:

".Next time I see a CD I like, I'll buy an extra one for you! Okay! That's it! Bye!"

After saying this, she disappeared.

(End of this chapter)