With a creaking sound, the cable car stopped at Jizo Peak Station.
I thought that the cold had reached the extreme, but the moment I stepped out of the cable car, Haixing was still trembled by the extreme cold on the top of the mountain, and his steps stopped.
"..."
My back hit a solid piece of warmth.
Before she could turn around, Naruse had already grabbed her left and right arms and pushed her a few steps forward, "Don't stop here."
After getting off the cable car, he also let go of his hand and couldn't help but stamp his feet.
"It's so cold!...How can it be so cold?"
The brief warmth on both arms was fleeting, and Haixing looked at him, then followed his gaze and looked outside.
The scene outside the cable car station is deserted.
The howling wind and snow on the top of the mountain is far more intense than what you feel at the bottom of the mountain.
Takigawa Hikaru held her sister's hand and rubbed it continuously, raising her voice: "The visibility is so low——"
In such a heavy snowstorm, let alone the tree ice, you can't even see clearly four or five meters away.
Naruse walked a few steps outside. There was a sign outside the cable car station, indicating that in addition to the Lucky Bell and the Ksitigarbha statue, there was also a restaurant on the top of the mountain.
"Go to the restaurant and stay for a while. It's too cold here."
"Okay——"
Takigawa Hikaru pulled Takigawa Yue and walked in front. Naruse looked back at Naoko. Seeing that there was Haixing, Mori chose to walk behind them.
"Keep going forward -" he shouted, and Takigawa Hikaru turned around and made an OK gesture.
Stepping into the wind and snow, the coldness escalated again, not missing any loophole in the bodies of these people, desperately searching for it.
Naruse zipped up the zipper of his down jacket and pressed the scarf around his neck. When he looked up, he saw the starfish in front of him shivering from the cold.
He followed, "Where's your scarf."
With the wind and snow blowing against his face, Haixing turned his head and gave him a blank look.
"Ah?"
"Scarf——"
"Forgot it at the hotel——"
"..."
Naruse had nothing to say, and with the confused state she was in when she left the house in the morning, she couldn't expect anything.
He grabbed her, took off his scarf, and stuffed it into her hand.
"..."
She opened her mouth and seemed to say something.
"What——"
She glanced at Shangzi who was walking in front, and moved closer, "Is this Shangzi's?"
"Mine."
"She knitted it for you..."
Naruse glanced at her and distanced himself, "Forget it if you freeze to death."
"What——"
"Stand still."
He came closer again, picked up the scarf in her hand, passed it through her long hair, and wrapped it around her neck.
"..."
Their eyes met, Haixing lowered her head, and then he lifted it up again - stuffing the twice-wrapped scarf into her clothes.
Realizing that the two of them were falling behind, Naoko and Morimi in front also stopped and turned back to wait for them.
Looking at Haixing who raised her head and squinted her eyes, Morimi looked at Naoko next to her. There was no obvious change in her expression, as if she was frozen in the wind and snow.
Putting a scarf on Haixing, Naruse waved his hand, signaling the two of them and the Takigawa sisters in front who also stopped and waited for them to continue forward.
After walking for a while, Naruse followed the people who stopped and looked at the fortune clocks surrounding them.
The bell was already covered with thick white snow, and the rope that struck the bell was frozen stiff. Takigawa Hikaru tried to pull it a few times, but it didn't move at all.
"It seems like you won't have any luck today. Let's go——"
Not far away, there is a statue of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva clad in wind and snow.
"It's Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva."
There is also a money box in front of the Buddha statue, which is also full of snow.
Naruse took out his wallet, took out a few coins and distributed them to his companions. But he couldn't put them in, so they stuffed them into the snow together and prayed at the same time.
"Please Lord Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva, please let the wind and snow stop as soon as possible... Just stop for a while, let us take a look at the ice on the mountain."
Lord Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva did not respond, and the wind and snow did not stop, so the few of them could only continue walking forward.
The snow is vast, but fortunately there are brightly colored road signs on the roadside to guide the direction.
On the way, he passed several skiers coming from the other direction, and Naruse understood that the mountaintop restaurant was not far away.
Sure enough, after walking for a while, a conspicuous building suddenly appeared in the increasingly fierce wind and snow.
Several people quickened their pace, pushed the door open and went in, shutting out Feng Xue.
Morimi suddenly looked back, as if he wanted to say something, but did not speak.
Naruse looked at her, "You wouldn't want to say: Encountering such a warm hut in a snowstorm is usually the beginning of something, right?"
"..."
Morimi glanced at him sideways before turning back, but the corners of his mouth curved.
"Only you would think so."
The air-conditioning is on in the restaurant, which is like heaven to the freezing people.
Just being inside is satisfying, and there is warm and delicious food available.
After arriving all the way from Shirogane Hot Spring, the few people who had only eaten some sandwiches in the morning were already very hungry.
Naruse ordered a local specialty, Yamagata taro boiled soba noodles.
In addition to boiled taro, there are also curry rice, fried noodles, French fries and other foods to choose from. However, when it is cold, it is better to eat something with soup to warm the stomach. The girls also made the same choice as him. p>
The interior of the restaurant is long and narrow, and the dining seats are set in front of the glass windows, like a bar counter, or more like an extension of the window sill.
Sitting on a high stool, all you can see is the wind and snow.
There were many guests hiding in the restaurant to avoid the cold. After a while, the first bowl of soba noodles with taro was delivered and placed in front of Naruse.
He sniffed it calmly, held back his appetite, and pushed it to Shangzi next to him.
Shangzi smiled at him and pushed towards Haixing again.
"..."
Haixing was stunned for a moment, and when she was about to follow the example of the two of them, Morimi on the other side directly held down her hand.
"If you don't eat it, it will get cold."
"Then I ate..."
The aroma filled the air. Starfish took a deep breath and drank the soup first.
In addition to boiled taro, beef slices, sweet onions and some unknown mushrooms are also added to the buckwheat noodles, making the soup extremely delicious.
She took another sip of soup, scooped up the buckwheat noodles and put it into her mouth. The noodles were tough but not hard, and very chewy.
The texture is solid and the flavor is rich. Starfish couldn't stop after taking one bite, and he didn't even notice the direct gazes of the people around him.
Fortunately, they didn't wait too long, and the remaining bowls of noodles were quickly delivered.
The delicious hot soup and noodles are eaten together, which is satisfying and warm.
A few people were engrossed in eating noodles, while the wind and snow outside the window gradually subsided.
When the visibility gradually improved, Naruse suddenly discovered that there were many strange-shaped ice trees standing outside the restaurant window.
Morimi pushed up his glasses, "I saw it with my own eyes, and it really looked like a frozen person..."
"It looks like a monster with its fangs and claws." Haixing said. He wanted to go out and have a close contact now, but he didn't dare to stare at them for too long, especially those with weird shapes.
When the wind and snow stopped raging, several people had eaten and drank enough and left the restaurant.
On a mountain more than a thousand meters high, it's still very cold outside, but it feels much better than when we first arrived.
Step by step, a few people walked into the snow and into the jungle of ice trees.
The shapes of tree ice are all kinds of strange, no one is repeated, they all look like something else.
Naruse looked around, raised his arm, and fist-bumped a tree ice in front of him.
Shasha——
A large ball of snow fell, revealing the branches inside.
"There are no frozen people inside," Morimi said.
"It's not a monster either." Haixing also took a look.
Naruse smiled, turned around and was about to say something, when another tree fell on the ice not far behind him.
He raised his eyes and saw a palm growing on the tree ice.