Dinner was prepared by Naoko and Naruse together.
When Haixing belatedly realized that when he said "I'll go in and take a look" he meant going to the kitchen to help, dinner was almost ready.
"Wash your hands and get ready to eat." He stuck his head out and said.
"Oh."
Haixing got up and washed his hands. He looked at himself in the mirror with a gray face, washed his face again and fiddled with his hair.
"Well, I really want to take a bath..."
After adjusting in front of the mirror for a while, she came to the restaurant and sat down at the dining table.
"There's nothing left in the refrigerator. Is it okay to eat curry rice tonight?" Shangzi turned around and asked.
"No problem." Haixing moved his nose, "I quite like curry."
"That's good."
Putting the vegetable salad on the table, Naruse took the freshly poured curry on the plate from Naoko and brought it to Haixing.
"Drinks." Shangzi reminded without looking back.
He responded, took out a large bottle of juice from the refrigerator, and then washed three cups.
After pouring the juice, Shangzi also brought each other's curry rice to the table, and the two sat down opposite the starfish.
"..."
The subject and the guest are clearly distinguished.
After looking at them and then at the steaming curry rice, Haixing also picked up the spoon.
"I'm starting."
For the next three or two minutes, the only sound left on the dining table was the sound of spoons colliding with plates.
After eating for a while, Haixing picked up the juice and took a sip. When he put it down, he broke the silence: "Do you want to continue cleaning tonight?"
Both of them raised their heads, and Naruse asked: "Aren't you tired?"
"A little tired..."
"We are tired too."
He took a sip of his drink and said, "I just finished cleaning here. Let's get up and continue tomorrow morning."
"Oh."
Haixing responded and suddenly thought of another question.
It will take almost a day to clean Shangzi's house tomorrow - so for every hour the cleaning is completed in advance, she will be given an extra thousand yen, but in fact it is not much at all.
She couldn't help but glare at him.
"What's wrong?" Naruse looked over.
Starfish tells what he discovered.
Naruse raised his eyebrows and looked at each other again with Naoko who was smiling.
"Well, in order to finish it early tomorrow, Haixing can go over and clean it in the evening."
He took out a bunch of keys from his pocket, pushed it over, pointed at one of them and said, "This is the key to Shangzi's house."
"..."
Of course Haixing didn't answer, she wouldn't clean it alone.
"Let's eat first." Shangzi smiled.
The spoon touches the plate, and dinner continues.
After scooping up a spoonful of curry rice and putting it into his mouth, Haixing glanced at the key chain on the table that had not yet been taken away.
The key to Shangzi’s house...
Shangzi must have the key to his house.
Dinner is only curry rice and vegetable salad, which tastes very good and is eaten quickly.
Naoko and Naruse cleared the dining table and washed the few plates. Haixing wanted to help but had nothing to offer, so he stood behind for a while.
Thinking that she didn't have to clean or have anything else to do at night, she said, "I'm going back first."
"I'll take you back later." Naruse turned around and said.
"Eh..."
Haixing was stunned for a moment and wanted to say no, but he didn't say it.
"Let's go to the supermarket to buy some ingredients." He added.
"...Oh."
"At this time, the supermarket shouldn't be closed yet, right?" He said to Shangzi.
"Probably not."
"Just treat it as a walk after closing the door."
"Hmm."
After a while, the kitchen was cleaned up, and the two of them sent her back together.
It's snowing outside and much colder than indoors. Starfish shrank his neck and tightened his clothes.
Seeing that she was almost home, she asked, "When will you start cleaning tomorrow?"
"What time can you get up?" Naruse asked.
"Nine o'clock."
He thought for a moment, "Then come over at nine o'clock."
Haixing nodded in agreement.
After sending her home, the two of them walked on through the snow and went to the supermarket to buy ingredients.
After the two of them walked away, Haixing also turned around and returned to the room upstairs.
"Starfish, why don't you take a bath first?"
"Well... I'll wash it later——"
After staying in the room for too long, she heard faint footsteps coming from the quiet street. She leaned down to the window and took a look.
Sure enough, it's him and her.
It’s all gone.
Starfish opens the window.
The two of them walked side by side, both holding bags in their hands, which looked heavy.
"... Come here early tomorrow, you should be able to buy it."
"Well. And..."
The cold wind blew tiny fragments of sound until they were no longer visible, and the starfish retracted its sight and closed the window.
It's time to take a shower.
"I have to continue cleaning tomorrow..."
The next morning, just after nine o'clock, Starfish came to the door.
Naruse and Naoko had just woken up and opened the door for her. They brushed their teeth, washed their faces, and prepared breakfast a little hastily.
"I thought the nine o'clock that Haixing said was the kind that is close to ten o'clock... It's a bit surprising that it's early today."
Naruse flipped the fish pieces in the frying pan, "I want to look at you differently."
"..."
Haixing said nothing and glanced at the clean kitchen ceiling.
"Have you eaten?" he asked again.
"...No."
He smiled.
"Then let's go together."
After breakfast, the three of them put on headscarves, then each found a set of old clothes at Naruse's house to change into, and began to clean Naoko's house.
"It's still the same as yesterday, starting from the place that is least cleaned..."
Naoko explained the course of action, but she was the only one who knew the cleaning situation in this room. In the end, she took the two of them directly to the room that should be cleaned, assigned their respective areas, and started cleaning.
Naruse is tall and is responsible for cleaning the windowsill.
First, he swept the dust up and down, and it was almost done. Shangzi also brought water and a rag over.
"Has this room been cleaned regularly? It feels quite clean." Haixing, who was responsible for sweeping the floor, asked.
"Well, I will clean it occasionally."
"What is this room for?"
"Just empty."
"Do you need to clean unoccupied rooms?" Haixing couldn't help but ask.
Shangzi just smiled.
Naruse stood on the stool, turned to look at her, and suddenly remembered what Sawako Nakahana said to him when the couple came back last time.
["Let Shangzi put down the burden and learn to accept everything he has received easily."]
Is this house also included in her burden called "gratitude"?
I am grateful to the couple for the adoption...but before the adoption, the biological parents, the Dongyun couple, died suddenly.
Naoko would overly care about Haixing's feelings when he mentioned the late Naruse Shouji, and he did the same.
How should he say something like this?
"——Do you want to wash the rag?" Seeing him looking at him, Shangzi asked.
"Ah, um... no, no need to wash it yet."
She looked at him, confused, then smiled and said, "Let's wash it off."
Naruse didn't say much and handed over the rag.
Wow——
The rag was spread out in the basin, and as she scrubbed, the stains were gradually removed.
"Okay."
"Yeah."
Naruse took the wrung out rag and the three of them continued cleaning.
Because it was relatively clean to begin with, the efficiency was much higher than expected. It didn’t take too long to clean up the entire vacant room.
The next thing to clean is Shangzi's room, then the corridor on the second floor, and then on the first floor...
Except for a short break during lunch, the three of them never stopped.
By about three o'clock in the afternoon, the general cleaning of Shangzi's house was finally completed.
"I don't want to clean anymore this whole year..." Haixing sat on the floor of the living room with disheveled hair.
There were only a few days left this year...
Naruse thought to himself, but his body was exhausted, so he opened his mouth and closed it again.
"Thank you, Haixing... Without your help, Harumi and I don't know how long we would have to clean." Naoko came over and sat down between the two of them.
"Well..."
Haixing responded and looked at Naruse again, a little embarrassed.
"Then so be it."
Naruse nodded to her, "Thank you for your hard work today. Do you want to stay for dinner, or go home directly?"
"..."
Starfish opened his mouth, and twisted for a while, then suddenly lay down on the ground and squeezed out a little sound from his throat.
"The money hasn't been given yet..."
I am updating my manuscript from time to time, so I don’t have time to check it. If there are missing words or typos, I will leave a comment.