The next morning, when he woke up from the bed, he found Morimi standing by the bed, and Naruse was slightly stunned and quickly woke up.

“…… Why did you come here so early. ”

She looked down at him, "Didn't you promise me that you were going to school today." ”

He closed his eyes and wiped another handful on his face, "I didn't say no." ”

"Guess what time it is?"

“……”

As soon as she mentioned the time, Naruse instantly understood - after so many days of slacking off, he had already turned off the alarm clock, and he forgot to reset the alarm clock last night.

“…… Are you going to be late? ”

"See for yourself."

Naruse picked up his phone, only to realize that it was still early.

“……”

Looking at Morimi again, she smiled slightly, "Are you scared?" ”

He closed his eyes again, "What can I be afraid of, it's a big deal that I won't go to school today." ”

She forcibly opened his upper and lower eyelids with her hand, and pinched his lips with the other hand, "It's so hard in the morning." ”

Brushing her hand away and holding it gently, Naruse sat up and said again, "You're too early." ”

"I'm worried about you."

Morimi sat down on the edge of the bed and touched his chin, "Willing to shave?" ”

"The light scraped for me."

She glanced at him, "Why didn't she stay last night?" ”

"I told her to go back." Naruse said.

Morimi pursed his lower lip, and he understood the reason, so he didn't ask much.

"Get up." She stood up, "I'm afraid you won't be able to get up in the morning, so I came here without even eating breakfast." ”

Naruse got up and got out of bed and went to change his clothes, "So, you came here too early." ”

"If I don't come, you won't be able to get up in the morning."

"You can call me."

"But I'm your girlfriend." Morimi said.

He didn't say anything, opened the closet, took out his uniform and put it on his body.

She walked to the desk, flipped through the notes that she had opened again, looked at the dense names on it, was silent for a while, and asked:

"Are you going to intimidate Naoko's friends again?"

"Nope." Naruse fastened the button, "It's just that with this list, I can sort out my thoughts a little and see if I have anything missing." ”

"Yes."

Morimi flipped through the notes, and in addition to the names of some people related to Naoko, there were quite a few notes on it, not limited to information such as interpersonal interactions, areas of usual activities, and home addresses, and even some privacy.

"You'd better hide this thing, or anyone who finds it and calls the police will have enough evidence to arrest you."

"I know."

Naruse walked over in his uniform and put his notebook in a drawer.

"Then again, starfish's diary ......"

"She took it back herself."

"Yes." He nodded, not asking more.

"I'm sorry." Morimi looked at him, "If I hadn't taken the diary back, I wouldn't have been discovered by Naoko." ”

"Starfish's diary is just the fuse, just seeing the diary of the past, Naoko won't leave ......"

Naruse shook her head, "What's more, I was the one who got her diary back in the first place." ”

Both of them were silent for a while, and then he took her hand again, "Go down." ”

Downstairs, Naruse went to wash, and Morimi went to the kitchen to get ready. When he came and took over, she was standing next to her.

"Haven't you been to school with the starfish lately?"

"Yes, it's just that I went out early today to find you." Morimi said, "I told the starfish in advance. ”

Naruse walked to the refrigerator, opened it, and took out a few ingredients, "Then is she going to come over?" ”

"Not coming."

He put the ingredients back in the same way.

"Isn't she frightened?"

Morimi pursed his lips, a faint smile on his face, "yes." ”

"You don't know how many times you've been to my house these days, and if she's alone, she hasn't been here once." Naruse said, lowering his head and sprinkling a little salt and black pepper on the salmon pieces, smoothing them and pulling out a piece of kitchen paper to absorb the moisture from the surface of the fish pieces.

She probably felt that it was her responsibility for Naoko to leave...... While this is true in a sense, it is definitely not her own responsibility. ”

Morimi watched him handle the salmon and continued, "You'd better make it clear to the starfish sooner rather than later, or she'll probably become like you...... The state you were in before. ”

"Didn't you tell her?"

"She's more listening to you now."

Naruse nodded slowly, "I see." ”

Brush a thin layer of oil in a pan, heat it over a fire, and then put the fish pieces down, he stared down, feeling the changes in the fish pieces with his eyes.

["First fry the side with the fish skin, wait for two or three minutes, the fish skin gradually tightens, and the fat in the fish meat overflows, then turn to low heat, turn over and continue frying...... In this way, the fried fish will not taste chai, and the color will be better. ”】

“……”

Naruse took a deep breath.

"It's time to turn over." Morimi looked at him.

"Hmm."

Turn the fish over and continue frying, and after two or three minutes, the salmon pieces are ready.

I boiled some spinach, then made some tamagoyaki, and finally cooked pork miso soup, and breakfast was done.

"Do you have breakfast like this every day?"

"Almost."

"It's so happy, I thought only housewives had this time."

"Let's get ready to eat."

The two sat down at the table, "I'm moving." ”

After drinking the miso soup, Morimi's eyes widened a little, "It's better than I expected." ”

Naruse himself tasted it, "It's a little worse than Naoko's cooking." ”

"If you even have the level of Naoko's cooking skills, then I will be ashamed."

The two ate breakfast and chatted without saying a word, Naruse finished eating first, and hurried to prepare the lunch box at noon.

"And mine."

“……”

"I didn't have breakfast ready, so you don't think I have time to make a bento."

"Did you bring a bento box?"

"Brought it."

Morimi picked up the miso soup, drank the last sip, and let out a long breath.

"It's been a long time since I've had such a satisfying breakfast."

His voice came from the kitchen, "Don't be so pathetic. ”

She smiled, got up and walked up behind him, put her arms around his waist, and watched him go about his job for a while.

"I always feel that Chunhai has become a lot more positive today, is it because I came, or because Hikari told you something yesterday?"

"Both." Naruse said, putting the freshly fried salmon into the bento box.

Morimi looked down at his movements, "Do you have a new plan?" ”

"Nope. But if you don't do anything like you did before, you won't change anything. ”

"If you do too much, it will scare people."

"It's not going to be messy this time."

She suddenly leaned forward again and looked at his face, "Did you get any news from Naoko?" ”

"It's just a bit of subjective speculation." Naruse said, "My mother called yesterday and said that Naoko had transferred a large sum of money to her parents. ”

Mori was stunned and asked, "Where did you get the money?" ”

"The money she saved herself, that is, the money her parents gave her before."

He continued, "Naoko was already very frugal, and when I came back, I was responsible for most of my expenses, so she saved even more money. And Uncle Tetsuya and Aunt Sawako usually give her a large sum of money because they don't come back much, and they don't ask if they have spent it...... The last time I saw her, she had saved more than 800,000 yen. ”

"More than 800,000 ......" Mori couldn't help but be speechless, for high school students, this is already a huge amount of money.

"When Naoko left, she also took the money with her. Since she plans to return the money given to her by her parents exactly whatsoever, with the limited money on hand, she must first let herself be able to live.

And now that she has paid back a large amount of money to her parents at once, it can only mean that her new life has settled down and she won't need too much money for the time being...... This alone has given me a lot of peace of mind. ”

With a click, Naruse closed the lid of the bento, "Next, it's a question of how to find her." ”

Morimi looked at him, "Do you have any clue then?" ”

"Again, there are only some guesses."

He sighed lightly, "When she was traveling during the summer vacation, Naoko once said that she wanted to live in Takayama City, and if she wanted to find a place to settle down, she would probably go there...... I'm going to fly over on the weekend to look for it. ”

“……”

She opened her mouth, "Is it different from looking for a needle in a haystack to go to a strange city and find someone who wants to hide from you with the naked eye?" ”

Naruse turned his head to look at her, "I can't help it." ”

She was silent for a few moments.

"Then I'll go with you."

"No, you said she was avoiding me, and I probably didn't want to show up when I saw you...... I had to go alone. ”

(End of chapter)