When I came out of the subway station, it was already past eight o'clock in the evening, and the road was much deserted.
"..."
Breathing out a cloud of white mist, Naruse turned around and waited for Naoko and the others who fell behind.
At around five o'clock in the afternoon, Takigawa Yue's first day of exams ended.
After finding a place to have dinner near the school, they took the subway and went to the Sawauchi campus of Northeastern University.
After getting a little familiar with the campus where I would live for the next two years, and seeing that the Miyagi Art Museum was nearby, Takikawa Yue proposed to go in and take a look.
The candidates themselves are not nervous, and Naruse and the others certainly will not refuse, so they have been wandering around the art museum until now.
As for today's exam, several people already understood it when they saw Takigawa Yue's confident and calm demeanor at noon.
"Which way?" Hikaru Takigawa asked after following him.
Naruse raised his chin towards the intersection ahead, "Didn't you just walk over there before?"
"They all look alike."
She smiled and said, "As long as Chunhai is around, I won't take the initiative to remember the route."
A few people walked slowly.
The street is wide, but after you leave near the subway entrance, you won’t see many people.
Morimi looked around, holding the souvenir he just bought at the art museum in his hand.
"At night, there is not much difference between the economic center of Northeast China and the countryside."
"No, at least if you get hungry in the middle of the night, you can still find a place to have a midnight snack here." Naruse said.
"And the lively place is not here. It is over at Sendai Station, and there are a lot of people at night. Do you want to go there to experience it?"
Morimi said it didn't matter, "Anything is fine."
Today only Takigawa Yue is working hard on the exam, and they have stayed in the hotel almost the whole day, with little activity, and they don’t feel tired even after shopping.
"I'm a little tired."
Tiredness gradually emerged, Takigawa Yue couldn't resist, but she didn't want to spoil the fun, "You go ahead, I'll go back to the hotel to rest first."
Naturally, Hikaru Takigawa would not leave her sister behind and wanted to go back with her. However, the remaining people had a casual attitude, so they did not change anything and continued to walk to the hotel.
"Speaking of which, I have to check out tomorrow morning."
"Well, before ten o'clock."
"What should I do with my luggage? Do you have it in your hand? I have to take exams until the afternoon."
"You can store it at the hotel."
"Can I store it even after I check out?"
"It should be okay. The hotel where Shangzi and I went last time can store it for free until ten o'clock that night."
Back at the hotel, Naruse went to the front desk to ask and confirmed that his luggage could be stored, which relieved Hikaru Takigawa's worries.
When he returned upstairs, he took out his room card. When he turned around, several girls were waiting for him to open the door.
"...Sister Yue, don't you want to go back and rest?"
She smiled and said, "I can't sleep now. I'll chat with you for a while and then go rest."
Why do you have to chat in his room by default?
Naruse had no choice but to open the door and let a few people in.
There was no place for him on the bed, so he walked to the window, moved the sofa, and sat down facing the window.
"Sister Yue will finish her exam tomorrow, shall we go back directly?"
"Haixing has other plans?"
"Go shopping in the mall here."
"Okay."
The girls discussed their plans for tomorrow, pushing back the time to go back from afternoon to evening, and then again and again.
"——By that time, there will be no Shinkansen going back." Naruse reminded abruptly, "The latest train only arrives at about 9:40, and if it is later, it will be gone."
"Isn't there another bus that leaves at 10:20?" Takigawa Hikaru said.
"I've seen it. That bus only goes to Morioka, and there won't be a bus back to Aomori until the next morning."
She laughed and said, "If we go to Morioka, we can stay at my grandma's house and go back the next day."
"The next day is Monday."
"Ah."
The few people continued to discuss, and Naruse listened attentively at first, but the topic quickly strayed to a dessert shop that Haixing saw when he left the station yesterday.
He lowered his head and continued to fiddle with his phone.
“In the entire Northeast, only Sendai can see such a night view.”
He looked up and saw Morimi's figure reflected on the glass, but he couldn't see his face clearly under the light behind his back.
"The night view seen from here is also included in the room price."
"It's obviously free..."
Morimi smiled silently, then sat on another sofa, facing the girls on the bed, and talked to him.
"Have you felt the 'atmosphere' of the entrance exam?" Naruse asked.
Morimi glanced at him and said, "Absolutely."
Naruse turned around and looked at Yue Takikawa, who was describing to a few people a certain kind of high-end parfait ice cream he had eaten.
"Whether it's fruit or cream, the ingredients are very luxurious...it's sour and sweet, and the taste is very rich...ah, just thinking about it makes me drool!"
He looked at Morimi again, "Is that so?"
"..."
She glared, "No way?"
Naruse raised his eyebrows and turned away.
"...I know what you want to say."
Morijian's voice lowered, "You still think it's not necessary."
Naruse was silent for a few seconds.
"That's not to say...at least the results are pretty good, everyone had a good time."
Morimi looked at him again.
"Well...at least I had fun."
Sitting and chatting, they stayed in Naruse's room until about ten o'clock. Takikawa Yue couldn't hold it anymore, so his sister pulled him back to sleep.
The remaining three people did not stay here for long and went back to their rooms to rest.
After closing the door, Naruse put his hands on his hips, stood in front of the huge double bed, looked at it, and decided to sleep on the other half of the bed tonight.
But before that, he had to take a bath first.
"It would be nice if I could see outside while sitting in the bathtub."
The bathroom is very luxurious, and the wall facing outside next to the bathtub is entirely made of glass, except that the lower part has a frosted effect, so when you look out, it is blurry and you can't see anything.
——On the contrary, people taking a bath inside cannot be seen from the outside. This is a natural design to protect the privacy of the residents.
Wow——
Naruse poured some water on the glass, and the frosted part became a little more transparent, but with little effect, so he could only give up.
He closed his eyes and leaned back.
Wow——
"No way..."
"What are you doing?"
Morimi poked his head from the sink and looked at the starfish splashing water on the glass in the bathtub.
Wiping her hand on the glass, she felt a little embarrassed, "I was thinking, it would be nice if I could see outside when taking a bath..."
"Then people outside can also see you."
"..."
Starfish was startled, then reacted.
"This is the twenty-first floor. Where are the people from outside?"
Morimi smiled, returned to the sink, and continued to apply skin care products in front of the mirror.
After a while, the sound of starfish came from inside again.
"Don't you like taking a bath, Kazuyo?"
"No." She said, "It's just that I prefer to take a bath in another state...and the starfish is waiting for me, right?"
"I'm not in a hurry..."
Starfish sat in the bathtub, gently moving the water with his hands, and slowly leaned down.
"Starfish."
"Yeah."
"When Naruse still lived in your house, did you take a bath together?"
"..."
Wow——
There was a loud sound of water in the bathroom.
Morimi looked over again and saw that Haixing's long hair was messy and he was as embarrassed as if he had fallen in the bathtub.
"...When he came to live in my house, he was no longer a child."
She tied up her long hair again and wiped the water on her face, "How can we take a bath together?"
"At that time, you and he were only eight or nine years old."
"Eight or nine years old...can't be considered a child anymore."
Because we are no longer children, can we kiss?
Morimi smiled at her.
"Sorry, I asked a strange question."
"It's okay..."
Haixing shook his head slowly and said nothing more.
Looking at himself in the mirror, Morimi sighed silently.
What are you talking about...
In the bathtub, looking at the blurry night scene outside the window, Haixing stretched out his hand again and pressed his palm up.
The ice is cool, cooling down restless thoughts.
More than ten minutes later, she came out of the bath and saw Morimi on the sofa with his legs curled up and hugging his knees, looking at the night scene outside in a daze.
Wiping her hair, Haixing also sat over.
"So tired." Morimi suddenly sighed.
"Eh..."
Haixing looked at her, "How about you go to bed early?"
Morimi shook his head and smiled at her again.
"It's not that I'm physically tired... it's that I'm mentally tired. While I hope I can relax like Sister Yue said, I also feel that this time I just went out to play, and I feel guilty that I'm wasting time... It's very confusing.
”
Haixing nodded subconsciously, then immediately shook his head.
"It's okay..."
Morimi laughed, stopped talking, rested his chin on his knees, and stood still.
Starfish looked at her for a while, then looked out the window at the bright night scene.
"How about... let's go get something to eat? When you're full, you won't think about it anymore."