Chapter 44 New Year and New Year Gifts

Compared to romance, it is more like friendship, right?

Jiuhuayue's chest was tightly pressing a shark doll with "X"-shaped eyes. She was lying on the bed, staring at the shark keychain in her hand.

We studied together, made progress together, and after school, we dropped our schoolbags and played beautiful wind music together on the banks of the Otaru Canal.

Sister Akai plays the clarinet, and uncle seemed to be a saxophone player in high school, right?
Jiuhuayue could already imagine a picture in her mind - Sister Akai was playing a warm, soft, mellow melody with the clarinet, and the uncle was right beside her, accompanying her with a rich, thick, jazzy saxophone.

The songs are melodious and the seabirds are parallel to the sky.

The wonderful music touches each other's hearts directly.

Is this friendship?
Why don’t I have a friend like this?

Jiu Huayue suddenly thought of something. She stepped on the wooden board with her bare clean feet without even putting on her slippers, and quickly came to her computer desk which was filled with music CDs.

She pushed open her Macbook, slid her slender fingers across the touchpad, and searched the name "Fujii Itsuki" on the Internet.

Of course, when searching for this name, almost all the results are Fujii Itsuki from "Love Letter".

So she added the keyword information of [Kyoto University] and [wind orchestra club].

"There is."

The girl's eyes lit up.

There was a news report about him, and the headline was quite exaggerated.

[Gifted?! The 21-year-old principal led the Kyoto University Wind Ensemble Club to win the gold medal in the 202x University/Workplace 68th National Wind Ensemble Competition!]
The news is from four years ago, and there are comments from Japanese netizens below.

[As expected of a celebrity], [The resources he has access to are not comparable to those of ordinary college students, right?], [He deserves this result].

Celebrity background?

Jiu Huayue was puzzled. Didn't the uncle grow up in an orphanage? How could he be a celebrity?
Putting this question aside for the moment, Jiu Huayue saw another video title that interested her very much.

[National Gold Award, University/Workplace Edition: 68th (202x) All Japan Wind Music Competition National Competition Gold Award Winner Free Performance Song - Dvorak: Symphony No. 202 "From the New World" [Blu-ray/DVD] x Japan Best of Japan Best Digest]
Video of uncle winning gold medal
She put on her headphones and clicked on the link.

A magnificent lobby, a symphony orchestra of dozens of people, and uniformly gorgeous black dresses.

Jiuhuayue recognized Fujii Itsuki at the front of the orchestra at a glance, but he was holding a violin instead of a saxophone.

The uncle's position is the first violin, right?
This position is not only the principal of bowed string instruments, but also the principal of the entire orchestra.

The status is just below command.

She watched patiently.

As the video progresses, the explosive power of this song from the New World directly bursts out of the screen, which is very shocking.

But Jiuhuayue only likes the violin solo by Fujii Itsuki after the explosion of the piece.

So-unique.

She didn't know how to describe this feeling. It was melodious and refreshing, and her heartstrings were all moved by the bowstring in his hand.

She closed her eyes, hugged her legs on the chair, placed her chin on her knees, calmed down, and listened attentively to the beautiful string sounds coming from the headphones.

The sound stopped, and she put her finger on the left arrow key of the keyboard, rewound the video, and listened to it again.

As the uncle said, music is a language.

Music contains emotional communication.

She listened to Fujii Itsuki playing the violin and watched him playing seriously in the orchestra.
The colorful purple eyes revealed a strong color, a deep desire and a strong longing.

I really want to become Akai sister back then, I really want to keep up with his pace, I really want to play with him on the banks of the Otaru Canal.

I want to be a good friend who can play music together for a lifetime
Yes, good friends for life.

Jiuhuayue took off her headphones and lay down in front of the computer desk.

The girl had already decided in her heart that she would join the uncle's wind band club after school started.

We must make him recognize, appreciate and admire himself musically.

Only in this way can you truly become good friends with him and communicate with each other spiritually.

Only in this way can I understand him better and he can understand himself more deeply.

Jiuhuayue put her hands over her chest.

The beautiful girl had never felt her heart beating as hard as it did now.

*
Today is New Year.

Fujii Itsuki's schedule today is mostly at the welfare home.

He took Jiu Huayue with him to distribute New Year gifts to more than 30 children in the welfare home.

Naturally, everyone gathered together.

The dean asked everyone to write down their New Year wishes in advance, and Fujii Itsuki was responsible for helping them realize them. So when they really got the toys and dolls they wanted on New Year's Day, what emerged in their eyes was the satisfaction and excitement of the children in the corner after being cared for.

Jiuhuayue seemed to see herself.

On New Year's Day, Yang Kui and the uncle gave each other gifts.

The uncle gave her a beautiful dress.

She gave the uncle a scarf she had knitted herself.

The uncle seemed very happy to receive the clothes from his sister. He reached out and rubbed Yang Kui's head. Yang Kui seemed to like him very much. He kept smiling under his hand, saying blessings, "Brother Shu! Happy New Year!", rushed over to hug him, his face full of happiness.

As we stayed in the welfare home, it was already night.

Almost all the children were forced to go to their rooms and sleep under the supervision of the director and the aunt, but because it was New Year and they had received New Year gifts, most of the children were too excited to sleep.

Jiuhuayue saw a little girl hugging the teddy bear that Fujii Itsuki bought for her, and she was sleeping alone, curled up in the quilt.

When I got home, it was already late at night.

Jiuhuayue subconsciously opened her mobile phone to see what messages she had received on the new year's day.

But there was no message contacting her on her phone, LINE, or social media account.

Her parents didn't call her at all.

There was only a text message containing New Year's safety tips sent by the Otaru City Government to all citizens.

My mood today can be said to be both happy and a little lonely.

The girl stood at the door of the big house, raised her head and looked at the numerous snowflakes in the dark night.

These snowflakes appeared from an invisible place, fluttering and falling in front of the girl, the only person who was looking up at them.

She stretched out her hand to catch the snowflakes, the ice crystals spread on her fingertips, and in less than a moment, they disappeared from her sight alone.

The brief life of snowflakes evoked the loneliness in the girl's heart, and all kinds of thoughts came to her mind.

"Actually, I wanted to ask you yesterday, aren't you going back to Tokyo?"

The girl's hand remained stretched out, and her eyes only fell on the profile of Fujii Itsuki who was looking up at the sky.

"Hmm? Jiuhua?"

Jiuhuayue came back to her senses and replied:

"There's nothing to go back to. I came back to Otaru just to leave that place."

"That's right. Did your parents call you on New Year's Day?" Fujii Itsuki's eyes fell on the snowman at the door.

".No."

"Maybe they were too busy, working overtime during the New Year, so they didn't think of calling you."

"maybe."

"You don't mind having a cigarette?"

"Uncle, just stand further away."

"Row."

Fujii Itsuki took two steps away from her, lit a cigarette neatly, took a deep puff, and slowly exhaled.

"Jiuhua, stretch out your hand."

"doing what?"

"I think the way you reached out to touch the snow just now was very beautiful. Can I look at it for a while longer?"

"Uncle, you started it again!" Jiu Huayue looked angry. This time she was really angry because she treated Fujii Itsuki as her friend.

"Stretch out."

"What?" Jiuhuayue noticed something and put away her expression.

"Stretch it out and you'll see."

"."

Jiuhuayue did as she was told, and less than a second after she stretched out her hand, Fujii Shu took out a small gift box and placed it on top.

The girl's pupils shrank slightly, somewhat incredulous.

“This, this is——”

"Just a gift to wish you a happy new year, Jiuhua."

Fujii Itsuki was right beside her, speaking in normal, ordinary words.

Jiuhua Yuebin's purple eyes reflected his melancholy look as he smoked.

The girl looked at him silently for a while, then turned her eyes to the small gift box in her hand. Fujii Itsuki knew that she was shy and didn't like to accept favors, so he deliberately smoked a cigarette, stood at a distance, and said:
"Don't think too much. This is a New Year's gift from a friend. I agreed to be your friend, but I haven't really treated you as a friend. I've been bothering you to help me these past two days, so I think it's only right that I give you a New Year's gift."

"I, I," Jiu Huayue hesitated and emphasized, "Of course I won't think too much!"

"Would Jiuhua be moved by a small gift?"

"Of course not!"

Jiuhuayue thought of the little girl in the orphanage who was hugging her teddy bear tightly when she was leaving, and she also held her own gift tighter.

"Thank you. Thank you, uncle."

Fujii Itsuki noticed her emotions but didn't say much, "Aren't we friends? And, give me your guitar."

"What do you want a guitar for?"

"Forgot? The day before yesterday you promised me to go out and help me move things. I want to give you a song in exchange."

"That kind of thing doesn't matter anymore after I know that you are buying gifts for the children in the orphanage."

"Do you want to hear me play the piano for you?"

"."

Jiuhuayue decisively ran back into the house, took out the guitar and handed it to him.

"Let's go to the small wooden pavilion in the side yard."

Fujii Itsuki sat on the cold wooden bench, crossed his legs, and twisted the head of the guitar to tune it.

"Which song do you want me to play?"

"This song." Jiu Huayue took out her cell phone and showed it to him.

"'Take Me With You', right? There's no sheet music."

"No, it's a song created by a guitarist on the Internet. I don't have the score. Can you play it, uncle?"

Fujii Itsuki did not reply, but took the earphones handed to him by Jiuhuayue, put them into his ears and listened twice, then followed the rhythm in his ears and took out the music score.

He tried it twice following the prelude, and then analyzed the playing method according to the accompaniment in the middle and later part of the song.

"hiss--"

"Isn't it okay?"

"Without the score, I can't reproduce the details. The original artist is quite skilled and has played the guitar for at least eleven or twelve years, but I can still play the general idea. Would you like to give it a try?"

Fujii Itsuki tried to play the prelude, and Jiuhuayue's eyes lit up immediately after listening to it.

"That's it! It sounds good."

"That'll be fine then."

"Ok!"

"Then I'll start."

"Ok!"

Fujii Itsuki held the chords with his left hand and placed his right hand quietly on the five strings.

He thought about it for a while, cleared his throat, plucked the guitar, started with a brisk prelude, and sang slowly for Jiu Huayue who was sitting diagonally opposite him:
Looking at the starry sky, recalling the boring days

Come, hold my hand, you in front of me seem to be dyed with brilliant colors
Meeting you is an incredible power. It is because of you that I can move forward at this moment.
At this point in the song, the pitch is rising, the rhythm and emotion gradually strengthen, and after a short pause, it bursts out in one breath.

Fujii Itsuki was not very good at singing in this style, so he changed this part of the song into a slow and lyrical one.

Take me with you, to cross the sky and overlook the world; take me with you, to the shining direction, if I can share the joy with you, if I can be by your side forever, please keep doing this; take me with you, to the unknown world, no matter where, no matter where, I can fly freely
From now on, you are my happiness
It’s okay, Fujii Itsuki feels that he sings well.

Although I haven't trained my voice particularly well, it's still pretty good compared to most people.

After he finished singing the song, he turned around and found that the girl Jiuhuayue was suddenly crying.

"Nine flowers?"

Jiu Huayue immediately wiped away some of her tears. She sat up straight, raised her head, and said in a light voice with some sobs:
"It's okay, it's okay, uncle sings really well. It's a version I haven't heard before."

"I changed it to be a little more sentimental, as an extra New Year's gift to you, Jiuhua. Is it okay?"

"Yeah, I like it very much."

Seeing Jiu Huayue's eyes watering and her trying hard to hold back tears, it would be a lie to say that I was not touched at all.

Although there are still many mysteries about Jiuhua, the emotions she reveals at this moment cannot be faked.

The child is very lonely and isolated.

She lacks people who care about her and who try to understand her.

So much so that she, a sixteen-year-old girl, actually wanted to be friends with a twenty-six-year-old man.

Fujii Itsuki more or less understood the importance of the "friends" that Jiuhua mentioned to her.

Seeing Jiuhuayue still crying, he suddenly wanted to comfort her like he comforted Qiansui, but he suddenly realized that he and her did not have as many common experiences as Qiansui did.

All I can do now is to stay with her for a while longer and give her a few more songs as a friend, right?

"What other songs do you want to hear? I'll make an exception for you today. I can play anything for you."

Seeing his smile, Jiuhuayue's tears stopped a lot, ".Just listen to what you like."

"What I like, I like more classical music. How about this, I'll play a can-can for you."

Fujii Itsuki started playing without saying a word.

The cheerful, bright, and slightly funny melody of the cancan music quickly infected Jiu Huayue's mood, and she covered her mouth and laughed.

Seeing that her mood had improved, Fujii Itsuki was also quite happy.

"very nice."

"Speak clearly, what is really good."

Jiuhuayue's voice was small, "It feels like a friend."

"I think so too. So after school starts, how about Jiuhua make more friends? Become friends with Chitose first. She's been too busy lately. Originally, when I asked her to be your friend, she didn't have time to talk to you."

"Yes! But don't worry, uncle. Even if I really have a lot of friends in the future, I will not forget you."

"You make me sound like your ex-boyfriend. Why?"

"You are the first friend I have made now, and the only friend who is willing to try to understand me and take care of me."

Jiu Huayue, with tears in her eyes, held the gift box he had just given her on her legs with both hands, and her thumb kept scratching the string of the gift box, "Thank you."

The girl spoke in a soft voice and her face was slightly red, which was really cute.

She is very beautiful, with the youthful aura of a sixteen-year-old girl and her pitiful tearful look, which makes people inevitably fall in love with her.

"fine."

"Oh, right! I also have a New Year's present for you, uncle! I forgot to tell you."

"That hand-poured coffee equipment, right? You bought it when you came back from Tokyo last time."

"Uncle, you——"

"Who told you not to clean it up properly? I saw it. But if you give it to me, I will accept it. Thank you Xiao Jiuhua too."

Jiuhuayue's ears turned red, "Uncle, what do you mean by that?"

"It's just an extra 'sauce'. To be more friendly, should I call you Xiaoyue?"

"."

Jiuhuayue lowered her head, too embarrassed to speak.

".I'm sorry, I didn't say anything just now and made you angry."

"No, it's okay. I'm not angry."

*
At night, Jiuhuayue opened the gift from Fujii Itsuki in her bed.

Inside is a music box made of ceramics. The ceramics are shaped like various marine creatures, among which the shark is the most conspicuous.

When you turn the spring, the music box will play beautiful music.

Jiuhuayue couldn't help but like the shark when she saw it, not to mention that this was the only New Year's blessing and New Year's gift she received this year.

Jiuhuayue curled up in the quilt and liked the music box more and more the more she looked at it. Then she put the music box on her chest and hugged it for a long time.

The girl suddenly felt that he had just called her "Xiao Jiuhua" and "Xiao Yue". These names sounded quite nice!

And what about calling yourself uncle?
Tree?
When she thought of this title, Jiu Huayue instantly buried her red face in the belly of the shark doll, and her feet kept swinging up and down behind her, hitting the bed.

No, no, no, this is too shameful!

I absolutely can't shout it out!

Mr. Tree?

no--!
Ah ah ah ah ah!
Jiuhuayue felt like she was suffocating and about to die.

I hate this feeling!
Hate!

　End of volume one.

　　It will be on the shelves this Friday. If you have time, please support us then. Thank you!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)