Chapter 4 It's Her Again.
After spending a night in the Internet cafe, Fujii Itsuki set out early the next morning.

Taking the JR Hakodate Line across the long coastline, we arrived at the snowy country of Otaru. The blue sky turned white and the train stopped.

The sea was blue, and white snowflakes were falling endlessly from the colorless and transparent sky. The whole city was shrouded in heavy snow, which was so beautiful that it was beyond words.

Fujii Itsuki looked up at the sky and laughed.

When I opened my eyes for the first time when I came into this world, I must have seen such beautiful snow.

That day was March 3rd, Japan's Girls' Day, and there was a very heavy snowfall in Otaru.

I heard from the dean that he was abandoned in a cedar forest in the mountains that day, with an uncut umbilical cord and a bloody placenta on his stomach, and even the snow around him was dyed scarlet.

It was the director who discovered him and sent him to the local Xingyuan Welfare Home for adoption.

He took the dean's surname and it was the dean who named him Fujii Itsuki.

The educational conditions in the welfare home have always been difficult. Growing up in the welfare home, he developed the idea of ​​teaching and educating people and the dream of becoming a teacher. He then began to study hard for more than ten years.

Thanks to the support of the dean, he was finally admitted to the Faculty of Letters of Kyoto University seven years ago. During his university years, he completed a teacher's internship and obtained a high school teacher's certificate.

After graduation, I worked as a Chinese language teacher at a public high school in Minato-ku, Tokyo, and was honored to be promoted to class leader.

I thought my life would have a perfect start from here.

But after these three years, the stark reality brought him back here.

Putting away his memories, Fujii Itsuki went to a convenience store to buy a pack of cigarettes, then pulled his suitcase and walked to the edge of Otaru City, Shukutsu 3-chome.

This place is located in the upper left corner of Otaru City, close to the sea. Most of the houses are two- or three-story single-family houses, like a country town.

Following the impression in his memory, Fujii Itsuki walked through the narrow street full of electric poles, turned the corner, and came to the big iron gate of Xingyuan Welfare Home.

Snowflakes were still falling from the sky, and the sky was grayish white.

I saw the old-fashioned iron lock on the door covered with white snow.

Is Fujii Itsuki feeling more melancholy now?

He didn't have a home in Otaru, and the orphanage was where he grew up.

Although he had never called the dean mother, every meal he had eaten and every winter sweater he had worn were made and knitted by the dean herself.

The reason he came back this time was, firstly, he didn't want to stay in Tokyo anymore, and secondly, he really wanted to go back to Otaru to see the dean and Chitose.

But when it really came to this, he suddenly felt a little afraid to face the old dean.

What should I say?
I lost my job in Tokyo and was expelled from school?

The director has always regarded herself as the orphanage's proudest role model. She tells every child in the orphanage that she is a graduate of a prestigious university, works in Tokyo, a very large international city, and is an excellent teacher.

榜样
Fujii Itsuki smiled to himself. Perhaps only when he had just graduated did he deserve this title.

Now he is forced to return to his hometown, abandon his dreams, and even he himself cannot figure out where he should put himself.

Do I still have the nerve to come back and see the dean when I'm like this?
He was extremely conflicted, but finally he took out the key that he hadn't used for many years, opened the iron lock, and pushed open the door of the welfare home.

However, the moment after opening the door, he was stunned again.

The girl has long black hair, purple eyes, a white beret and a red shawl. She is holding a kettle and watering the potted plants at the gate of the yard under the white snow.

Why is she here?

Fujii Itsuki didn't know how to describe the feeling in his heart at the moment. It was as if he had caught a glimpse of a flickering flame in the distance in the dark snowstorm. The throbbing of hope was ignited in an instant and burned fiercely.

This girl is so beautiful and unique.
Perhaps it was the sound of the door opening just now that attracted her. When Fujii Itsuki looked over there, she also looked over here.

Fujii Itsuki came to his senses and saw the steam coming out of the shower head in her hand. He rushed over and snatched the kettle away:
"Stop! Stop! You idiot! How can you water someone with boiling water?"

The girl was so frightened by him that she pulled her hand back.

“I want to melt the ice.”

"Use warm water to melt the ice! And this is cedar, so you don't need to take care of it in the winter."

"Can't Cedar..." The girl in the beret finally noticed his face and took two steps back before cursing, "Perverted uncle?!"

"Who do you say is the perverted uncle?" Fujii Itsuki hesitated for two seconds and put down the kettle.

"You!" It's really embarrassing.

The way he scared her back yesterday, he didn't expect to see her again.

"Regarding what happened last night, I have to tell you what you were doing. Be careful—!"

The girl didn't care what he said, she picked up the kettle on the ground and poured it at him.

Fortunately, Fujii Itsuki was prepared in advance and reacted quickly enough to dodge sideways.

Seeing that her weapon was ineffective, the girl clasped her hands to her chest and huddled in front of the welfare home building. Her purple eyes were alert and serious, yet also filled with the same fear as yesterday.

"Don't come here!"

It's broad daylight, there's no need to scare yourself so much.

Fujii Itsuki glanced at the kettle that had fallen on the snow, then turned to the girl above him and said helplessly:

"I was saving you yesterday."

"fraud!"

The fear in the girl's eyes increased a little, "The uncle who came up to talk to me in the middle of the night for no reason and asked me to sleep in a hotel with you is nothing but a pervert."

"That was done on purpose to scare you so you can go home."

"Liar, you've already chased me here."

"Think about it, if I really had any plans for you, would I call the police later? I know they found you."

“Who knows what you’re going to do!”

Fujii Itsuki knew she wouldn't listen, so he added, "Okay, let's not talk about this for now. You won't listen to me anyway. How about we talk about what's going on now? You almost watered my potted plants to death. You have to give me an explanation, right?"

"It's not your cedar!"

"Someone gave it to me seven years ago. If you don't believe me, look inside the crown of the cedar tree. There's a small ema tied to it."

The girl lowered her head to take a look and actually saw a small wooden sign.

There are two lines of beautiful handwriting on it, with words like "Congratulations, Brother Shu!" and the signature "Thousand Years Old" in the lower right corner.

"I, I'd love to!"

"You are right if you are happy. Then I was happy to scare you home last night."

"The police you called made me take statements all night long. I didn't sleep well!"

"I think you have suicidal tendencies."

".You're seeing things." The girl's voice suddenly became a little softer.

"You answered me yourself."

".It was just a casual answer."

"Even so, let's put things in perspective. First, tell me who you are and why you've been following me."

The girl couldn't believe it, "Who would follow a perverted uncle like you? I haven't even told you that you were following me!"

"Who wants to follow a girl like you who hasn't even grown all her hair yet?" Fujii Itsuki bent down and brushed the snow off her legs. "Also, don't call me uncle. I hate this title the most. Can you call me uncle at your age?"

"Perverted uncle." The girl pursed her lips.

"I've said it several times, it was to save you--"

"You perverted uncle!"

"Tree?!"

Just as Fujii Itsuki was preparing to debate with the little girl for eight hundred rounds, the dean arrived.

"Dean, you——"

Fujii Itsuki's pupils shrank sharply.

(End of this chapter)