Even though yesterday was the first time with pain and tears, the joy of union made people involuntarily indulge in it.

Ignoring time, forgetting burdens, leaving behind all worries, and following only the deepest instincts of her heart, Naoko responds and asks until neither of them is able to continue.

"I remember when I came here at noon, I was going to check out after taking my luggage......" Naruse lay on the bed, his body slumped, and his vision towards the ceiling was a little distracted.

Naoko lay on the sidelines, unable to respond, just holding his arm.

He turned his head to look out the window, "It looks like it's getting dark." ”

"Hmmm......"

He rolled over and stroked her face, "Stay here tonight and go back tomorrow." ”

Naoko didn't speak, her eyes stared at him, and she took the initiative to meet him when he lowered his head and kissed him.

The two of them lay down for almost half an hour, and when they got up again, it was completely dark outside.

"Let's wash it."

"Hmm."

After rinsing their bodies, the two changed back into their clothes and went downstairs to eat.

The check-out time was postponed until tomorrow, and Naruse took Naoko with him, found a place nearby to settle dinner, and walked outside for a while.

"At the restaurant at the intersection over there, there is an old woman, when I came here last week, she swore to me that she had seen Naoko, but when she took me over, the other party was a person she had never seen at all, and her age was not right."

“…… Is it. ”

"The ramen shop over there is the same, and the owner says Naoko has eaten there."

"The day I first came over, I had dinner here."

"Hmm, then he might have actually seen Naoko?"

"Probably ......"

The two of them wander slowly through the streets after dark, and from time to time Naruse points out the places where some people who have misled him are, and Naoko recalls the events of the first few days after she arrived.

"In the beginning, I wanted to live in Miyagawa Chaoshi. But there are no vacant houses over there, and the idle houses have basically been converted into homestays. Even if there is, the rent is very high. ”

"In the first few days, there were no orders, because I couldn't go to school, and I had a lot of free time, so I planned to work during the day and make puppets at night. Then, the orders gradually increased, and the part-time job was forgotten...... During the day, I stayed in my room except to help at the restaurant, and I rarely came out, so I didn't see anyone. ”

"Ms. Edako has a granddaughter who says that she is about the same age as me, and she went to Tokyo with her parents, and she only comes back for a while every summer vacation...... She really took care of me, probably guessed that I was running away from home, and occasionally said to help me contact my family to give them peace of mind or something, but never reluctantly. ”

"Hair...... My hair was cut off when I got here. If you don't want to spend too much time on it, it's more convenient to have short hair. ”

"I dream of you occasionally, but it feels like a lifetime ago."

"I don't know what to do after I pay it off. Maybe do something you love...... Something other than making a puppet. I don't know exactly what it is. ”

When Naoko stopped, the two of them had already returned to the downstairs of the hotel.

"What about the previous plans?" Naruse pulled her and continued to walk inside.

Naoko looked at him, and couldn't say anything about parting tonight, so she followed him to the elevator.

"When I graduated from high school, I left there...... Go to college or go straight to a job, go live with you in another city, and then find a way to start earning money and paying it back...... Because I left with you, my father and mother should be relieved, even if I never go back. ”

"If Naoko had told me earlier......" Naruse paused and shook his head again, "No, there is no such if." ”

If it was the time when he just came back from Tokyo, he might have chosen to leave with her, and there would be no follow-up, and now he doesn't want to think about that assumption anymore.

As the elevator went up, Naoko turned her head to look at him, "Don't you ask me why I have such a plan." ”

Naruse squeezed her hand, "Let's talk about it when we get back to the room and it's just the two of us." ”

Ding——

The elevator reached the corresponding floor, and the two walked out and returned to the room.

The doors and windows were closed, and there seemed to be a little smell left over from the madness of the afternoon in the room, and Naruse faintly felt some back pain.

"Let's rest for a while, I'll go put out the water and get ready to take a shower."

"Hmm." Naoko sat down on the bed, turned her head to look at the slightly messy sheets, and looked away again as he came out of the bathroom.

He sat down beside her and lay down.

She looked at him for a moment, then lay down as well.

"So, why did Naoko keep wanting to leave? Is it because you don't like Uncle Tetsuya and Aunt Sawako? ”

She leaned on his shoulder, and after a brief silence, slowly spoke.

"No, I can't say I don't like it.

After my parents passed away in a car accident, they were not related to me at all, and they took the initiative to come forward and adopt me, they are very good people, and I have always been grateful to them.

However, they are not my biological parents.

If it hadn't been for that accident, I probably wouldn't have remembered Mom and Dad, two friends who probably don't see each other a few times a year, who devoted their lives to research, and it was the car accident that forced me into their family. ”

Naruse turned his head to look at her, "Uncle Tetsuya and Aunt Sawako adopted Naoko voluntarily. ”

"No, it's voluntary after no choice."

"That's not what they think."

"I understand." Naoko lowered her gaze, "But, I would think so. ”

"Just like Chunhai before, she is negative and pessimistic about everything in the future, and she feels that she is a burden and a burden to her aunt, although she has never thought about it like this......"

Naruse pursed her lower lip.

She knew all about him, but it was only then that he really realized the repression she had been under the fence all these years.

"It's a thought that I can't control, and it's hard for others to explain it."

Naoko continued, "I'm grateful to them, but I feel depressed, and when I grow older, I blame myself for feeling depressed...... They're so nice to me. ”

She choked up, "I don't want to live in this kind of depression and self-blame for the rest of my life, so I want to leave." ”

"I've been thinking if there was a way to leave them without hurting them......"

Naruse rolled over and hugged her.

"For example, marry me from a neighbor's family, and then leave with me and go live somewhere else?"

Naoko didn't speak, just hugged him tighter, burning his chest with tears.

"I'm sorry I disappointed all of Naoko's expectations."

“……”

Her shoulders twitched, then pushed him away a little, and instead buried her face in the bed, the trembling of her body irrepressible.

Naruse leaned over and hugged her again.

Naoko quickly whimpered.

He didn't say anything more, just hugged her.

The night is dark and long, like the tide of darkness, and it cannot float heavy hearts.

I don't know how long it took, Naoko pushed down his chest.

Naruse lowered her head, and she looked at him, "Take a bath." ”

"Hmm."

The two of them went to the bathroom, undressed, stood under the shower together, rinsed up, and sat down together in the large bathtub.

"It's better to soak in a larger bathtub......"

"It's also comfortable for me to soak in the tub over there alone."

"I'll keep bothering." Naruse lowered his head and kissed her shoulder and neck, and then kissed her cheek.

Naoko's body twisted, but it fit him more closely.

"What about the school, aren't you going to school?"

"I don't want to repeat a grade, but I don't want to let go of Naoko again."

He kissed her neck, and she tilted her head slightly, "Are you going to put the blame on me?" ”

"No, if I really want to repeat a grade, it's just a consequence of my own doing."

Naoko's eyes closed and she leaned back.

At least tonight, she didn't want to think about the past and the future.

(End of chapter)