After simply clearing away the books and notes on the table and stacking them aside, Morimi made a few more cups of hot tea.
Naoko returned to the living room with a plate of heated rice balls, put it on the table, and looked at Hikaru Takigawa first.
"It doesn't matter if you have a light head, right?"
"Ah, haha, it's okay..." Read Reading
"That's good."
Shangzi smiled at her and pushed the plate to the middle of the table.
"I've been waiting for a long time. I was in a hurry at night. I only prepared a few rice balls, so I'll make do with it."
"No, I'm looking forward to it."
She picked up the rice balls, and Naruse and the others were not polite. They each picked up the steaming rice balls and ate them.
"It's really good..."
After taking a bite, Morimi covered his mouth and said, "Sure enough, it tastes better when it's hot."
"The more important thing is Naoko's craftsmanship." Hikaru Takigawa said.
"Thank you." Shangzi smiled.
The rice balls are not big and come in several flavors, including sweet and salty, and they emit a unique aroma after being heated.
So delicious...
Haixing thought with some reluctance while stuffing rice balls into his mouth.
She glanced at Naruse again, but he looked calm and didn't comment at all.
That's right... After all, he eats the food prepared by Shangzi every day, so this is nothing at all.
Others didn't know what she was thinking at this time. While eating rice balls and drinking hot tea, the exhaustion from studying all night gradually melted away in this temperature.
"Come alive..."
Senjian didn't have much appetite and was full after only eating two small rice balls. "I feel like it won't be a problem to do the questions for another four hours."
"Don't go too far, top student."
Naruse didn't eat too much. He drank two sips of hot tea and then got out of the kotatsu.
"Take your time." Seeing that Naoko was stuffing rice balls into her mouth faster, Naruse told her not to worry, "I just came out early to adapt to the temperature."
"As expected, do you still want to go home?" Hikaru Takigawa lay down on the table.
"Hikari can stay here for the night." Naruse felt cold as soon as he came out, and he couldn't get back into the kotatsu, so he paced in the living room.
Morijian held the tea cup and looked at her, "Want to stay overnight?"
"Well... let's forget it for today."
Hikaru Takigawa stared at the last rice ball on the plate, "Let's talk about it after the holiday. We'll be more relaxed then."
"Are you coming to my house for vacation?"
She smiled and stretched out her hand towards the rice ball, but unexpectedly met her other hand.
"Ah." Haixing immediately retracted his hand, "Just eat."
"Let's take half each." Takigawa Hikaru smiled, divided the rice ball into two halves, and gave half to her.
After eating the last rice ball and drinking a few more sips of tea, they were ready to go back.
"Let's continue the study meeting tomorrow." Takigawa suggested before leaving, "until before the exam."
Morimi nodded, "I have no objection."
Of course the other three will not object.
"Be careful on the road."
After seeing off the four people at the door, Morimi returned to the living room alone to pack up.
Her emotions were floating high on an invisible layer. When she came back to her senses, she found that she was humming a song.
"You're too excited..."
She touched her face, her palms were cold, but it could not cool down the inexplicable excitement.
"But... it feels really good when everyone is together."
She continued to pack.
On the other side, the four people walking in the snow have already made it halfway.
The lights at the county road intersection in the distance are bright and dazzling, guiding the direction, and nothing can be seen on the road.
The snow reflects the dark light, and you can even vaguely see the expressions on each other's faces.
"This time..."
Hikaru Takigawa walked in front, "Haixing's house should have closed."
Before Haixing could speak, Naruse in front of him said: "The rolling shutter door won't be locked, just lift it up."
"...Hmm." Haixing also responded.
"That's good."
Takigawa Hikaru didn't talk much about this issue, "It's true that Kazuha's house is still a bit far away. But if the study meeting is held at our home, Kazuha will have to go back alone after the end, and I won't be too worried." p>
"Just treat it as digested after a meal," Naruse said.
She turned back and smiled, "The rice balls made by Shangzi are really delicious."
"Thank you."
Finally, we reached the intersection, and under the lights, there was silence on both sides of the prefectural road. All shops, including Maki Hotel and Morimi Furu Honten, were closed.
When we arrived at the Real Wood Hotel, the rolling shutter door was closed, but the lights inside were still on.
Wow——
Handing the things in his hands to Naoko, Naruse bent down and held up the rolling shutter door to let Haixing in.
"Thank you..."
Inside and outside the door, the two looked at each other and looked away at the same time.
"Lock the door."
"Yeah." Haixing nodded.
Several people said good night to each other.
Wow——
Pulling down the rolling shutter door, Naruse clapped his hands and vaguely heard Maki Seiichiro's voice coming from inside the door.
The door was closed and there was no need to say hello anymore. He turned and left, "Let's go."
At the intersection of Naruse's house, Takigawa Hikaru didn't need to see him off. He waved goodbye to the two of them and went back on his own.
The two of them also walked home.
"It's so late, does Shangzi still want to take a bath at my house?"
"Um...can't you."
"If you're not afraid of being cold when you get home, just do whatever you want."
"It's okay."
......
After school the next day, they went to the school library to study together - because the air conditioner was on.
Morimi didn't need to be on duty today, so there was no need to sit at the entrance. She specifically chose a seat near the air-conditioning vent.
As the end of the term approached, there were quite a few people coming to the library to study. Naruse saw several classmates from Class C, including boys who had come to him for tutoring before.
Even if you don't look at the faces, the combination of the two top graders is really eye-catching, and the other party quickly noticed him.
The two looked at each other, and the other party was not ignorant enough to come over to him for guidance at this time. He just raised his eyebrows from a distance with an ambiguous expression on his face.
"..."
Naruse was speechless and quickly looked away.
"What's wrong?" Morimi looked at him.
"It's nothing." Naruse turned the pen in his hand, "I just think Morimi picked a good position."
The endless stream of warm air blew on his face, making him even a little hot.
She smiled, said nothing, and continued to explain the topic to Haixing.
Withdrawing his attention, Naruse touched Takigawa Hikari's feet under the table.
"Don't fall asleep."
She sat up straight and then lay down again.
"It's a bit too comfortable here..."
"So don't fall asleep."
She rubbed her face and took a deep breath, "Well, I won't fall asleep."
The warm wind above my head kept blowing away the chill, but it also made my mouth dry if I stayed there for a long time.
Seeing that Naozi and the others were immersed in the questions and didn't seem to be asking questions for a while, Naruse got up and prepared to buy a bottle of drink and come back.
"Where is Harumi going?" Takigawa Hikaru asked.
"Buy a drink."
"I want juice, any flavor is fine."
"Yeah."
Naoko also looked over, but before he could speak, Naruse nodded.
"Where's the starfish?"
"...Anything is fine."
He looked at Morimi again, and she stretched and stood up.
"Can you take it? I'll go with you."
Leaving the library and walking through the long corridor, a vending machine is placed at the entrance of the annex building.
Bang——
A bottle of juice fell, and Naruse selected a box of strawberry milk.
Drop——
"Is the strawberry milk Shangzi's?"
"Yeah."
"By the way, I want coffee."
Naruse selected another can of coffee.
Bang——
Morimi bent down and took out a few bottles of drinks that had fallen, opened his own coffee and drank it.
Looking outside, snow covered the flower beds and bushes in the atrium, and the cold wind blew in, making her feel more awake.
"If you keep sitting there, you will really fall asleep."
"The air conditioner is so comfortable." Naruse also opened the juice and took a sip.
"Stay here for a while and then go back." She shook the coffee in her hand.
"Yeah."
The two of them were chatting without a word, and someone else came over in the corridor, it was the boy from Class C.
When he saw Naruse and Morimi standing next to the vending machine, he just smiled at Naruse, bought a bottle of coffee and went back.
"Someone you know?"
"Yeah."
Neither of them cared.
When he returned to the library, Naruse suddenly noticed that there seemed to be more eyes looking this way.