The bus was swaying, and the speed was slow and fast. When the chat stopped, it didn’t take long for the starfish to fall asleep.
When she woke up again, the wind and sunshine outside the window had disappeared, and it had returned to the white world she was extremely familiar with.
Wrapped in silver and flying in the snow.
The bus was speeding across the endless snowfield, and only the humming sound of the engine could be heard.
Before her sleepiness completely dissipated, she was in a daze for a while.
"It's snowing again..."
"——Do you hate snow?"
Haixing came back to his senses, and the person who spoke was Naruse, who was sitting in front, and he was looking back at her.
"No."
She answered his question just now, stretched out, sat up straight again, and asked a question, "Where are we?"
He looked out the window and said, "By this time, we should have arrived in Yamagata."
"Oh..."
Haixing looked at Hikaru Takigawa beside him, then looked back at Morimi and Yue Takigawa. Except for him, several of his companions were still sleeping.
"Aren't you asleep?"
"Sleep." Naruse said, "I'm a little hungry, I just woke up."
Haixing laughed and touched his belly, "I'm a little hungry too."
"When we get there, get on the Yamagata Shinkansen, and let's have a bento together."
"Yeah."
The wind and snow continued outside the window, and the two of them chatted without saying a word, neither of them fell asleep again, while other companions also woke up one after another.
After a while, other scenery gradually appeared on the vast snowfield.
"We're going to Yamagata City."
The bus traveled all the way west and took more than an hour to drop them off in front of Yamagata Station.
After checking in and entering the station, we got on the Yamagata Shinkansen train. Several people took out the lunch boxes they bought in Sendai and started to enjoy them.
"Ah, what is that? Let me take a bite."
"Try this again."
They exchanged lunch boxes with each other. While eating, Naruse took out his cell phone, looked at the upcoming itinerary, and then made a call to go out.
"Hello, this is Naruse who made a reservation to stay today...isn't it right? Oh, sorry, the name of the reservation is Takigawa, Hikari Takigawa... did you check it? We will arrive at Oishida Station in about half an hour,
Could you please come and pick us up... are we already at the station? Okay, I understand. There are six of us."
After hanging up the phone, Takigawa Hikaru looked over, "Do you need a hotel to pick you up?"
"Well, it's snowing so hard, I'm a little worried."
Naruse continued to eat his bento and looked at the heavy snow outside the window.
"If the shuttle bus to Yinshan Hot Spring is affected and stops, the next bus will be in the evening. It is better to ask the hotel people to come and take care of it... Anyway, this is also within the hotel's service."
Takigawa Hikari nodded and took a piece of beef from his lunch box.
"Hello."
"I'll trade this with you." She gave him a piece of fried chicken.
Almost forty minutes later, the train arrived at Oishida.
After leaving the station, Naruse looked around for a while and quickly found the private bus to the hotel he had reserved.
"Gu Yinge...that's the car, go over there."
A few people carried their luggage and walked towards the minibus with [古 Silver Pavilion] printed on the body, and someone got out of the car midway to greet them.
"Is it Miss Takigawa——"
"It's me——" Takigawa Hikaru waved.
The other party came over quickly, helped with the luggage, and guided a few people to the bus.
After getting in the car, Naruse discovered that they were not the only ones in the car, but there were also several elderly couples, who seemed to be guests staying in the same hotel as them.
Several people found an empty seat and sat down. Haixing squeezed into the innermost position. Naruse followed behind and sat next to her, followed by Naoko.
Mori saw the three people sitting down in front.
After waiting for a while, as the last middle-aged couple got on the bus, the minibus finally started, leaving the station and heading towards Yinshan Hot Spring.
"It takes half an hour to get there from here. Let's take a rest in the car." The person who picked us up was also the driver and said with a slight tilt of his head.
"Okay~"
Takigawa Hikaru responded, seeing the heavy snow outside the car window, and asked again: "With such heavy snow, is the incoming shuttle bus delayed?"
"It seems so."
She turned back and smiled at Naruse.
Outside the window, there is a vast expanse of white snow. The familiar snow scene and the unfamiliar city have a different kind of freshness.
Haixing walked for a while, then looked inside the car and found that Hikaru Takigawa was already chatting with other people in the car.
"...Sure enough, you look like high school students. Then where did you come from?"
"Aomori." Hikaru Takigawa said, turning back and pointing at Naruse, "He 'came' from Tokyo."
"Oh, that's really far away..."
Several old people looked at Naruse, but he glared at Takigawa Hikari without explaining anything.
Haixing couldn't help but smile and was glanced at by him.
She puffed her lips and looked out the car window again.
Leaning on the back of the chair, she moved slightly towards him, leaning against his shoulder.
Half an hour later, after passing through a long snow road, the hotel's minibus stopped at the entrance of Yinshan Hot Spring Street.
"The road inside is too narrow and the bus can only go here. Please get off the bus and go to the hotel with me."
Naruse and his party sat in front, and their movements were more agile than the old people, and they got out of the car first.
When I got off the car, the cold hit me. Haixing shook his body and subconsciously moved closer to Naruse.
But he just glanced at her and looked forward.
Hidden in the snow-covered valley is a street with Taisho-style buildings on both sides. This is Ginzan Hot Spring.
"It is said that this place used to be a mine..."
Several people followed the driver to the hotel, and Morimi walked beside the starfish.
"Mine?"
"Silver mine." Naruse said.
"Yes." Morimi nodded, "Because of the discovery of silver mines, this place gradually developed into a town. But that was already in the Edo period. It would not be until the Taisho period that this place developed into a hot spring town."
"So now, the hotels here are basically Taisho style." Naruse added.
Haixing looked at the two of them and said, "You know so much."
Both of them looked at her and said, "Read more books."
The snow on the road has been shoveled aside, and in some places it is piled up to two or three meters high, almost covering up the roadside poles.
After dragging his luggage and walking forward for a while, Naruse saw a lantern with only the words "古 Silver Pavilion" on the top exposed in the snow on the roadside.
"We're here."
The driver also stopped in front of the hotel, turned around and introduced to the guests, "Welcome to Ancient Silver Pavilion."
Looking up at the quaint tall hotel in front of him, despite the pain, Haixing felt satisfied with the Japanese yen flowing out of his pocket.
"You are valuable..."
"What are you talking about? Let's go in." Morimi patted her back.
"Yeah."
When you walk into the hotel, there is a blackboard standing at the door, with the place and name of the guests staying today clearly written on it.
Several people quickly found themselves on the blackboard.
【Aomori Naruse】
【This flower in Aomori】
【Aomori Maki】
……
Naruse glanced at it. In addition to them, there were also some foreign tourists staying today, and there were several English names behind them.
"There are also Italians from Europe who have traveled really far."
"Now is the peak season for hot spring travel, so you have to book a room two or three months in advance."
When I arrived at the front desk of the hotel, it was just after noon, and it was not yet the check-in time of 3 pm.
"It's still early, let's store our luggage here and go out to have a look." Naruse said.
"There is no other way."
After storing their luggage, a few people walked out of the hotel and wandered around the hot spring street in the afternoon.