Compared to Magome-juku, Tsumago-juku, located at the intersection of the two main roads of Nakasendo and Ina Kaido, has a thriving business and has been much more bustling since ancient times. Today, it also attracts an even larger number of tourists, with crowds flowing from street to end.

However, the overall layout of Tsumago-juku is not much different from Magome-juku, and the style is very similar, so Naruse and Naoko walked around for a while, then went to the tourist center to pick up their luggage and prepare to go to the next place.

"It looks like it's a bus to the station...... Fast. ”

Hop on the bus to the station, and after ten minutes, the duo get off the bus and walk to Minami-Kiso Station, a few hundred meters away, where they wait for the train bound for Matsumoto.

The journey takes almost two hours, and for quite a long time, the tram travels between the mountains, and there is nothing to see along the way except mountains and rivers. So before leaving, the two went to the convenience store at the station to buy something to pass the time on the road.

Naoko picked up the magazine, "Two hours, directly from Gifu deep into the hinterland of Nagano......"

"There are mountains along the way, so there is not much to see, otherwise you can walk slowly."

"Yes."

After a long day of selection, Naoko finally found a magazine that she was more interested in and prepared to go to the checkout.

As for the books that her boyfriend brought, none of them were to her liking.

Maybe it had something to do with the source of the book, she thought to herself.

Naruse leaned over and took a look, "Is one book enough, it's going to take a two-hour ride." ”

"That's enough, you may not be able to read it all...... I want to take a break on the tram. ”

He nodded, and went to the checkout with the magazine and their respective drinks.

Back on the platform, after waiting for a while, the tram finally entered the station.

The Chuo Main Line runs all the way from Nagoya, and looking at the somewhat familiar train, Naruse even had some suspicions that this is the one they took yesterday.

There was no one in the car, there were a lot of empty seats, and the two sat together, and Naruse pressed his foot against the suitcase and stopped in front of him to support the book in his hand.

Naoko leaned on his shoulder, not intending to read the magazine in his hand seriously at first, and after a while, he began to shake his head incessantly.

Naruse gently pulled away the magazine, and she opened her eyes to look at him.

"Sleep."

She closed her eyes again, took his arm, and went back to sleep.

Naruse also closed the book in his hand, put it on the suitcase, and then flipped through the fashion magazines that Naoko had selected.

Each page is something he'll forget when he turns to the next, but it's better to have a large, beautiful color picture that is perfect for emptying his brain.

After looking at it for a while, the girlfriend's head on the shoulder became heavier and heavier.

Naruse looked at her and couldn't help but yawn, also a little tired.

When the weather is warm, every minute of every afternoon, I have a good night's sleep.

Stretching in restraint, he put down the magazine as well, took out his phone instead, and looked at the photo Morimi had sent earlier.

The book pillow long skirt, looking at the environment next to it, should be inside the counter of her bookstore.

Because he didn't know what to say, he still didn't reply to anything.

His instincts told him that she wasn't messaging him just to recommend the book.

Show him the dress...... It's not like he's never seen this skirt.

glanced at Naoko, then at the photo, Naruse clicked on it, zoomed in, and then exited, deleting the message.

If you don't delete it, Naoko will see it in the middle of the night.

She never took the initiative to ask him for his phone, but lately, she has quietly looked at his phone more frequently...... And that's only the occasional time he finds out when he's not asleep.

He could only pretend that he hadn't noticed anything.

Glancing at his girlfriend on his shoulder again, Naruse took a slow breath and looked away.

The tram swayed forward, and the seats in the opposite row were only occupied on either side, and the middle was empty, and there were no passengers, and he could look out through the opposite window with impunity.

Forest.

Continuous mountain forests.

There are only trees in the mountains, and the more the tram advances, the harder it is to see the traces of human activity.

Occasionally, the field of vision suddenly becomes wider, and it is time to arrive at the station. However, deep in the mountains, the stations are far apart, and the train only stops once in half a day.

Even when the car stopped, there were few people on the platform, and the seat across from Naruse was always empty.

Ding Ding Ding Ding –

"Next stop, Kuramoto—"

After a short stop, the tram started again.

Naruse looked back out the window behind him, where an automatic lane was almost parallel to the tram tracks, and on the other side of the lane, a large white river beach.

He twisted his neck and looked at it for a moment, until he couldn't see the river beach anymore, and then he withdrew his gaze.

He actually loved this moment.

Sitting in the car to the next place, he couldn't do anything except wait for the transportation tool under him to send him to his destination, and the time was not tight, and the waiting was leisurely.

There's nothing to do because he's doing something, and to be precise, he likes the feeling of being legitimately lazy.

This is probably the time to relax him more than to sleep.

Hikari should love this moment too......

As soon as he thought of her, he remembered the kiss that had fallen on his face at parting.

Naruse took a breath.

She should have just been on a whim and had no plans to go further...... He hoped so.

Although her thoughts about him were not obvious, it was not something difficult to detect after all, and he had already noticed it.

It's just that she is surprisingly much more restrained than both Morimi and Starfish, perhaps because she cares about Naoko's thoughts and likes him, and she never reveals it.

- Is this kiss goodbye a preview of what she plans to start doing?

was stirred by the thought that suddenly popped up in his mind, and Naruse's whole person was a little sober.

"Kuramoto—Kuramoto has arrived—"

"Hmm......"

Naoko turned her head over his shoulder and continued to fall asleep.

Holding her hand, Naruse leaned back on her head, closing her eyes as well, trying to clear her minds.

Let's talk about them after we go back......

An hour later, the train rushes out of the mountains and into the confines of Matsumoto City.

A little shaking when he stopped at Minami-Matsumoto Station woke up Naruse.

When I opened my eyes, the carriage was no longer as deserted as when I got on the train, and the row opposite was almost full.

He leaned on Naoko's shoulder, looked up, and she looked over as well.

"Wake up."

"Hmm...... Is it coming? ”

"It's almost here, it's already at Minami Matsumoto Station, and the next stop will be there."

"Looks like I'm waking up at the right time."

Naruse stretched and found that she had dragged both suitcases to her side, so she pulled her suitcase over.

"When did Naoko wake up?"

"It's almost time to get to the horse washing station."

"Wash the horse...... There's a horse wash on the Nakasendo over there. ”

"Uh-huh, I know. Chunhai was chattering while waiting for the car. ”

After sitting for too long, his body stiffened, and Naruse wanted to get up and stand for a while, but there were already a lot of people crowded in the carriage, and the train started again, so he had to give up.

"Why are there so many people on the bus?" Even next to him was an aunt in her forties and fifties, and she didn't mind the touch of her body at all, and her arms were tightly pressed against his arms.

"That's what they came up from." Naoko also whispered.

"It's good that it's almost there......"

"Hmm."

A few minutes later, the train stops at Matsumoto Station.

Most of the other passengers in the carriage also got off at this stop, and Naruse and Naoko also saved themselves the trouble of dragging their luggage through the crowd.

Leaving the station, the two walked to a hot spring hotel nearby.

It was past three o'clock in the afternoon, and I was able to check in when I arrived at the hotel. The room was on the seventh floor, and the upper floor was the dining room, and the two of them went up to put their luggage, lay on the bed for a while and went downstairs.

Most of the time today is spent on the road, and it is not yet four o'clock, which is not too late, and Naruse is going to take a look at Matsumoto Castle not far away.

As one of the only 12 remaining castle towers, Matsumoto Castle was built 100 years earlier than Tsumae Castle and is known as one of Japan's Four National Treasures, along with Himeji Castle, Inuyama Castle, and Hikone Castle.

"If we have more time, we can also go to Lake Biwa and see another national treasure city." Naruse said during a visit.

Naoko looked away from the black-and-white building in front of her, "Another? ”

"Hikone Castle. We had a round trip around Chubu and finally had to go back to Nagoya. It took the Shinkansen to Hikone in less than an hour. ”

"Okay, I'd like to see Lake Biwa too."

"Then stay one more day and have a walk around Lake Biwa."

"Hmm...... Why don't you stop by Kyoto? ”

"Stopping by Osaka again?"

"You can also stop by Kobe!"

“バカ。” （ba ka）

"Hmm......"

"Go, go."

(End of chapter)