After scolding the scary Takigawa Hikari for hiding behind the ice tree, Naruse did not go any further. He took some photos, looked around for a while, and then proposed to go back.
"Aren't you going to continue going down?" Hikaru Takigawa asked, one arm still being pinched by the starfish. She was really shocked just now.
"Haven't you seen enough?"
Naruse touched another ice tree next to him, and another snow fell on the ground. "Although the shape of each ice tree is unique, in the end, they are just branches covered with snow. They are still far away."
It feels better to watch.”
"I think so too." Morimi said from the side.
Hikaru Takigawa glanced around him.
"Okay, that's right...can you see it from the cable car?"
He smiled and said, "Now that the wind and snow have stopped, of course we can see it."
"Okay, let's go back - don't pinch the starfish, I was wrong."
Hikaru Takigawa dragged her sister and Haixing to the front, while Naruse stayed at the back.
Shangzi's steps were slow, and he only returned to normal speed after he followed behind.
Back on the mountain, several people did not go to the restaurant anymore, and planned to take the cable car down directly while the view was still relatively wide.
After waiting at the cable car station for a while, the cable car came up with a group of skiers.
"After the snow stopped, more people came to ski."
"Well, this is the starting point of the high-end ski resort."
Getting on the cable car and descending slowly, a few people passed over the ice jungle.
On the snow slope, the snow pillars standing up were so densely packed that one could not see the edge at a glance, but their shapes were human-like, giving Naruse the feeling of a Shinjuku street that had suddenly frozen in time.
"..."
He shook his head to get rid of this strange thought. Looking inside the cable car, the girls were all staring at the bottom in rapt attention.
Click!
Starfish took a photo of the bottom, zoomed in and out, looked at it a few times, and suddenly looked at him again.
Naruse turned his head and looked at the cable car station getting closer and closer below.
With a burst of mechanical sound, the cable car arrived at Shubing Plateau Station in the middle.
The cable car going down hasn’t come up yet, so a few people didn’t wait here and went out for a walk.
The terrain of Shubing Plateau is relatively flat, so the ski trails are gentler. Many beginner skiers choose to practice here.
Because Morimi and Haixing were in poor condition, they gave up the plan of skiing, but after climbing a snow mountain - even though they were sitting on the cable car - there was no trace of sleepiness on their faces.
But at this time, as we looked at the practitioners sliding or falling down below, no one mentioned skiing again.
Looking all the way along the ski slope, and then looking back at the icy forest on the hillside, Naruse greeted, "The cable car is almost here, let's go over there."
Returning to the cable car station, we squeezed into the large cable car that had just come up. It didn’t take long for a few people to descend a thousand meters and return to the ground again.
"What should we do next? Go back directly?" Hikaru Takigawa asked.
"Well, unless you plan to take a bath in the hot springs here."
Naruse said and looked at the other four people, "Want to have a dip?"
Several people shook their heads.
"The smell of sulfur in the hot springs here is too strong, I can't stand it."
"Me too."
"Then there's nothing to see around Zao Mountain. Let's go back to Yamagata City and have a look."
Naruse took the lead and walked to the place where he got off the bus before, "There are museums, history museums, and places like the Yakushi Hall, Kannon Hall, and Folk Museum over there. It's a good way to kill time."
"Okay."
So a few people got on the bus back, and after returning to Yamagata city, they started walking around with Yamagata Station as the center.
We continued shopping until about five o'clock in the afternoon. Still not satisfied, the group hurried back to Yamagata Station and took the nearest Shinkansen back to Oishida.
Naruse said hello in advance, and Koginaku's private minibus was waiting outside Oishida Station. It set off after picking up the people, and brought several people back to Ginzan Hot Spring Street before dark.
"Finally back -"
After getting off the car, Hikari Takigawa stretched his waist and said, "We ran really far today."
"Although most of the time is spent on the road."
Naruse looked back. After riding in the car for nearly an hour, Morimi and Haixing's sleepiness was awakened again. The two of them fell asleep for a while on the Shinkansen and the minibus. They were both listless at this time.
of.
"Let's go soak in the hot springs for a while first, and then go have dinner. The appointment time is still at seven o'clock."
"Okay."
Several people went back to the room to get bathrobes and towels. Morimi took off his glasses and lay on the table, saying that he wanted to stay in the room and rest instead of taking a bath.
Although Haixing is sleepy, she still wants to soak in the hot springs.
Naruse didn't care so much. Anyway, he was alone and went straight down.
After rinsing his body and sitting in the hot spring pool, he breathed a sigh of relief.
There are a few unfamiliar faces in the pool that I have never seen before. They should be the guests who just moved in today.
During the cold winter peak season, there are constant visitors to Yinshan Hot Spring, and there is not much to see. Most of them check in on the first day and leave on the second day. Only a few of them stay for two nights.
Naruse leaned back on the rocks beside the pool, looking at the half-covered sky above his head. The sky outside had turned gray.
"It's the end of the year..."
After Christmas, there were only a few days left until New Year, and they still spent two days traveling.
"What should you prepare to welcome the New Year?"
He closed his eyes again and took stock of kadomatsu, mirror cakes and other things in his mind.
"Ah..." He remembered another more important thing, "I have to do some general cleaning first."
Wait...
His house needs to be cleaned, and Shangzi's house cannot be left behind. Actually, there are two houses that need to be cleaned - how long will this take?
But no matter where you are, you can’t let it go.
Matsu Qianqiu and Shangzi's parents basically can't come back until the last day of the year, and the only people who can clean are him and Shangzi.
Two people...two houses...
How about traveling outside until the end of the New Year and then returning home?
Naruse's body slid down until the hot spring was immersed up to his chin.
"..."
He sighed.
I can only think about it.
Just realizing this problem, he couldn't ignore it for a while. Even after taking a bath in the hot spring and returning to the room upstairs, he was still thinking about it.
"When you came in, didn't you know to knock on the door first?"
Mori Jian was lying on his side on the tatami. When he opened the door, he opened his eyes and sat up again.
"Sorry..."
Naruse had forgotten that she was left alone in the room, and did not go in at this time. He stopped in front of the sliding door and asked, "How was your rest?"
"It's okay... I wanted to sleep, but I couldn't." Morimi said, still looking sleepy.
"Then you continue to rest." Naruse simply stopped going in, closed the sliding door, and stayed in the living room outside.
"..."
After staring at the closed sliding door for a while, Morimi lay down again.
In silence, she asked: "Why did Naruse come up so quickly?"
It took him a while before he answered, "It feels like it's almost soaked."
"It's boring to soak in a hot spring alone."
"Not bad."
"Then why did you look so sad just now?"
"Well..."
He seemed hesitant.
Morimi turned around and glanced at the sliding door blocking each other, "If it's inconvenient to say it, forget it."
"Nothing inconvenient."
His voice sounded again, "I just suddenly thought that I would have to clean up after I go back tomorrow."
Mori laughed at the sight.
She turned over on the tatami, facing outside.
"With Shangzi here, I won't make it too hard for you."
"Doesn't her house need to be cleaned?"
"Ah." She was startled for a moment, then quickly understood, "There are two houses that need to be cleaned."
"Yeah - speaking of which, in the Morimi family's old house, does every room in the old house of the Morimi family have to be cleaned at the end of the year?"
When the topic turned to herself, she responded.
"So if you want to say it, it's much harder for me to clean than it is for you."
"Hmm."
"Do you have time to help clean up?"
He said nothing.
Although she had no hope, she still snorted softly.
Taking this as a topic, the two chatted about other things. After a while, there was suddenly no sound inside.
When there was no response, Naruse opened the sliding door and looked inside, then slowly closed it.