Come early and go late, the winters in Snow Country are always much longer than elsewhere.

When the cold gradually subsides, everything breaks through the soil, the earth changes color, and spring slowly comes from south to north.

At the beginning of April, the cold spring has not yet receded, the short vacation has ended, and the new semester has begun.

Didi Di Di –

Woken up by the alarm clock, Naruse reluctantly sat up, pressed the alarm clock, lowered his head again, and slowed down for a while.

He glanced around him, and when the alarm clock rang for the first time, Naoko was already up.

"Don't want to go to school......"

He had only hurried back from Tokyo yesterday afternoon, and he felt that he had not been given any rest at all during the spring break of just over a week, and he had put more energy into walking around every day.

"Spring Sea."

Naoko appeared at the door of the room, and when she saw that he had at least sat up, she breathed a sigh of relief, "It's time to get up." ”

He looked up and answered her with a long yawn.

"Haven't you slept enough?" Naoko walked into the room, opened the window, and came over to lift his quilt.

"It's too ......"

Naruse shrunk back and got out of bed anyway.

Before coming to the closet, Naoko had already taken out the uniform shirt and handed it to him.

Putting on his shirt, Naruse looked down at the apple blossom school crest on his chest, and then at his girlfriend's uniform.

The same flowers bloomed in the same place, but on her side they appeared more vivid and vivid, perhaps because of the full curvature supported underneath.

"From today onwards, we will be third-year seniors." Naoko smiled.

"yes."

Putting on the shirt, Naruse's movements became neat, and he quickly put on the entire uniform.

Finally, putting on her tie, Naoko helped adjust it, then took a step back and looked up and down, "Well, it's very energetic." ”

Before he knew it, this was the third year he had worn this uniform.

"Time flies...... Let's go down. ”

The two went downstairs, and Naruse followed, looking at Naoko's jet-black hair that had almost grown to her shoulders, she quickened her pace a little, and reached out to touch it.

Naoko shrunk her neck slightly and turned her head to look at him.

"The hair is a little longer again."

"It's going to be a long time before it grows to its previous length."

"Grow slowly." Naruse said. When they got downstairs, they grabbed Naoko again, made her stand on her side, and took a picture of her and her hair for the record.

"Record it every day to see how long it takes for the hair to grow back on the chest."

"Let's go wash up."

Naruse goes to wash up, and Naoko returns to the kitchen to continue preparing breakfast.

After a short vacation, in addition to breakfast, I have to start preparing a bento box again today.

She didn't feel bothered, but enjoyed it, humming softly unconsciously until her boyfriend picked her up from behind, lowered his head and kissed her on the side of the face.

"I'll do it."

"Chunhai heat that up, it's almost fine."

"Okay."

Breakfast was ready, and the two of them sat down at the table to eat.

While eating, Naruse sent a message to the starfish, making sure that she was also up and relieved.

But even if she's asleep now, the morning isn't so urgent — the winter is behind and she can ride to school.

"It seems that because of our relationship, there are more and more children riding to school in the neighborhood."

"That's kind of leading a trend...... No, didn't everyone find it inconvenient to commute by bus before this? ”

"It's a habit, too. If you're alone, it's easy to run out of friends. The ten minutes of waiting for the bus are also time to socialize. ”

"No wonder I don't have friends."

"Although I have three girlfriends."

"Aren't they four?"

"I'm ...... Fiancee. Naoko blushed slightly.

Naruse smiled, "Yes." ”

After breakfast and a little tidying up, Naruse went to the garage to push out the motorcycle, stopped in the yard, and looked up at the sky again.

"The weather is really-nice, I'm really-loving to go to school."

Naoko closed the door and came over and pushed him, "Don't be stupid, let's go." ”

The two rode on the car one after another, and Naoko put on a helmet and hugged his waist tightly, "Let's go." ”

Naruse twisted the throttle and rode out of his yard, and when he arrived at the intersection, Morimi and Starfish were already waiting on their respective Harato.

Although the appointed time has passed, today is the first day of the new semester, and they have made an appointment to go to school together in the morning.

"Is it okay to get up in the morning?" Naruse said to the starfish after he stopped.

She pursed her lips, "I set four alarms." ”

"How many alarms woke up?"

"Fourth ......"

"Well, it's amazing to wake up."

Starfish smiled.

Morimi yawned and his eyes were half-closed, "It's really painful to adjust your schedule, and people want to take your boyfriend's car to school." ”

"You'll get used to it soon." Naoko said.

"I don't want to ride my bike."

"You'll get used to it."

"I don't want to."

"Habit."

The four of them chatted at the intersection for a while, and then they saw Hikaru Takikawa riding a bicycle and coming out of the intersection of her house.

"Hikari is also out of the house, let's go over."

Naruse twisted the throttle and rode forward, and when he approached, Hikaru Takikawa gestured for him to keep moving forward without stopping.

A few people rode over, and she quickly followed.

After passing several intersections in a row, when they were about to reach the school, they encountered a red light, and several people stopped.

"It's hard to get out of bed." Hikaru Takikawa said in the back.

Naoko looked back and smiled, still the same comfort, "I'll get used to it." ”

"I'll stay at Harumi's house tonight, I want to be gently called up by Naoko, so that I will feel a little better when I get up."

"If I don't just refuse to get up, I won't be too gentle."

"Eh, be gentle."

The red light quickly turned green, and the group continued to move forward, arriving at the gate of Tsukaku in a few minutes.

Naruse had already begun to slow down, and when he arrived at the school gate, he pressed the brake and stopped, but Naoko behind him still lay on his back, and then got out of the car first.

Naruse got out of the car and passed by the door, and the student council raised his voice to greet, "Good morning, Naruse-senpai." ”

"Good morning." Naruse nodded in response.

Because of the previous cooperation, he and the people in the student council are quite familiar with each other, at least they can be called by name.

And the student president he is most familiar with has been admitted to a prestigious school in Tokyo and successfully graduated half a month ago.

Even the third-year seniors he knew at the handicraft club and the restoration department left Tsugao and went to the university.

"Good morning, Takigawa-senpai."

"Aha, it's nice to be called a senior in the second grade."

"Takigawa-senpai, Takigawa-senpai!"

"Hahaha, a few more screams, I like it."

"Stop blocking the school gate here."

After passing through the school gate and pushing the cart to the carport, Naruse stopped his motorcycle and waited outside with Naoko for a while.

When Hikaru Takikawa came out again, his expression was tense.

"I'm starting to get nervous."

"yes."

"If I don't get into the same class with you this time, then I'm going to make trouble."

"Don't mess around......"

Morimi and Starfish also walked out of the carport, "As long as it's not alone, it's fine." ”

"I'm afraid that it's the same as last year, I'm the only one in another class......

"Let's take a look first." Naoko took her boyfriend by the arm and stretched out her hand again, "Let's go, go to the atrium." ”

"Uh-huh."

When I came to the atrium, the bulletin board was already crowded with students of all grades.

"The third-graders are over here." Hikaru Takikawa tiptoed over and quickly pointed them in the direction of squeezing in.

Squeezing and squeezing, Naruse met a boy who was originally in class A in the second year, and the other party took the initiative to say hello.

"Ah, Naruse, I've been assigned to Class A again this year, so please take care of me."

“…… Well, please take care of it. ”

Caught off guard by learning his assignment information, Naruse continued to squeeze in.

He was not surprised to be assigned to Class A, the important thing was the classification of several other people.

Squeezed all the way to the bulletin board, until she couldn't move anymore, Naoko tried to tiptoe, trying to understand the situation inside, but the person in front of her didn't move like a mountain, blocking her vision.

She was in a hurry when a relieved breath suddenly came from behind her.

"Naoko is also in Class A."

"Really?" Naoko hurriedly turned her head.

Naruse smiled, "I'll pick you up and take a look." ”

"No......" She was relieved, although she still didn't stop squeezing inside.

Naruse looked at Morimi, her eyes were calm, and she had already seen her own name, which was also assigned to Class A.

Their aspirations are all going on to higher education, and their grades are all close, so the chances of being assigned to Class A are already very high.

"It's a shame that I can't have it exclusively."

Naoko glanced back at her, smiled, and turned back again.

"What about me? Where did I go? ”

Seeing that the three of them were assigned to a class, Starfish was also very anxious, eager to know their class information.

"Starfish in Class D." Takigawa Hikaru spoke at this time and smiled at her again, "Follow me in the same class." ”

She breathed a sigh of relief.

"Great......"

Although the class placement is not entirely determined by grades, she didn't expect to be assigned to Class A, and being in the same class with Hikaru Takikawa is the best result.

"Do you want to squeeze in?"

"I'd like to see who else is in Class A." Naoko said.

"You can see it in the classroom."

"Ahh

She reacted and looked back at him, and Naruse smiled and pulled them out.

"Finally I don't have to climb the stairs." Morimi said.

"It's a privilege that I've been waiting for three years." Hikaru Takikawa said with a smile, the third year class A and the third year class D are on the first floor.

When they came to the shoe cabinet, several people changed their shoes, temporarily separated, and went to their respective classes.

Glancing at the sign at the door of the classroom [Class A for Year 3], Naruse walked in, and there was a seating chart on the blackboard, and the first thing he saw was Naoko's name.

"Naoko is in the first row."

"Hmmm......"

She also saw his name at the same time, "Spring Sea is in the last row." ”

"Is it in order of height?" Morimi looked at the two names next to each other on the seating chart, and the smile on his face could no longer be suppressed.

Naoko glared at her.

"Maybe it's the teacher who did something." Naruse guessed.

The teachers in the third grade are all promoted from the second grade, and the teachers in each class will not change, and the teachers in class A in the third year are naturally still Yanagisawaoka.

Of course, the seats in the new class are also allocated by the teacher, and Naruse estimates that after he saw their names, in order to avoid the trouble when he changed seats last year, he directly stuffed them together again, and even the position did not change.

The two sat in the corner, and Naoko's seat was in the first row of the third column, almost the closest to the podium.

"Naoko's seat is here."

"Hmmm......"

She sat down in her seat and turned to watch him and Morimi walk into the corner of the classroom, who waved at her.

“……”

Naoko sighed, although she was a little disappointed, she didn't care too much, it wasn't the same situation as last year.

She looked at the blackboard in front of her again, looking for familiar names on the seating chart.

A girl walked over, looked at the seating chart, and sat down in the seat next to her, with a slightly subtle expression.

"This flower-classmate."

"We're in the same class this year, or are we at the same table." Naoko smiled at her, "Ogasawara-san." ”

"Yes......"

Ogasawara glanced at the blackboard, then turned to look at the corner of the back row of the classroom.

"Your good friend is also in Class A this year." Naruse reminded Morimi who turned around.

She turned around, waved her friend from a distance, and spun around again.

"I guess it won't be a few days, and Naoko will go to Yanagisawa and tell him that sitting in the first row is too hard to sit on his neck, and that he needs to change his seat or something."

"Not to ...... that extent"

Naruse shook his head, and when Naoko looked over, he also raised his hand to her.

"The relationship between you and me, me and her, and even you and her is not the same as before."

"Yes." Morimi didn't say much, and turned around again.

"Hmm-"

She leaned back and stretched, "Still a little sleepy." ”

"There's only the opening ceremony this morning, so you can lie down for a while."

"After the opening ceremony, let's find a place to do something refreshing."

“…… I have something else to do. ”

She glanced back at him, "What's the matter, you say, I'll see how much time it takes." ”

Naruse looked left and right and said to him, "Don't make trouble." ”

"Hmph."

Morimi continued to lie on his stomach.

More and more people came to the classroom, and those who knew each other greeted each other, and those who were slightly stranger also greeted each other under the introduction of other friends, which was very lively.

"Naruse!"

There were also a few boys who were originally in the first year C class or the second year A class and came to say hello to Naruse.

"I didn't expect to be able to get into Class A."

"I can be a classmate for another year."

The third year is a long one, and the pressure of exams is finally approaching an inescapable level, and under the pressure, the flow of time seems to have slowed down;

The third year is short, and depending on their choice of career, the time spent in school is also short, and the time spent with classmates will naturally shrink a lot.

Naruse can't guarantee that when he doesn't need to go to school every day, he will still brave the cold to get up and insist on going to school......

However, that was also the end of the year.

Until then, the Tsugara Festival, the Cultural Festival, the Athletic Meeting ...... Most of the activities in the school, the third grade will not be left behind.

"Thank you for your kind attention this year."

"Haha, it's easy to say."

In the midst of the commotion, the teacher, who was wearing a sportswear, also came to the classroom.

"Alright, everyone go back to their seats and be quiet."

Yanagisawoka beckoned to the students below, his gaze sweeping over the familiar faces one by one.

Although a considerable number of students know him, self-introduction in the new semester is still indispensable.

"I'm Yanagisawa Oka ......"

After introducing Yitong, he wrote his name on the blackboard, turned around and said, "In the last year of Tsugao, let's work together." ”

"Yes......"

"Louder!"

"Yes—"

He glanced at the two honor students in the corner, and they just opened their mouths in pretence, and they didn't say anything at all.

He didn't have a chance to say more, and the radio in the classroom went off, telling the students in each class to go to the gymnasium for the opening ceremony.

"Let's go over first."

Lined up, assembled, and before going downstairs, Naoko squeezed over.

"Chunhai's teacher is very energetic."

"Now it's our teacher."

She smiled slightly, "Yes." ”

When I came to the gymnasium, I stood in the third-grade area for the first time, and watched the juniors of the other two grades line up to come in one after another, and Naruse felt a little like time had flown by.

And in the following time, every time he stopped to look back, the same feeling gradually became stronger.

At the end of the first regional comprehensive exam in Year 3, at the beginning of the Golden Week holidays;

At the closing ceremony of the last athletic meeting in high school, when he received the certificate of first place in the third-year team overall score from Mr. Principal, the parade of floats at the 151st anniversary of the Tsugaraka Festival ended, and the summer of another year in Aomori arrived.

In the first few days of the summer vacation, when I woke up from a nap in my grandfather's huge mansion until dusk, I was about to board the plane back to Aomori at the end of my trip to Okinawa;

At the beginning of the second semester of the third year, at the perfect end of the carefully prepared cultural festival;

When I met my uncle Matsumanyo again when I was visiting Osaka, I was on the Shinkansen and ended my seven-day, six-night study trip from Kyoto to Osaka to Nara.

When the snowflakes are slowly falling and Aomori is once again a white snow country, when the Christmas decorations are once again in the corners of the gymnasium;

When the one hundred and eight New Year's bells fell, when the bell rang for the beginning of the first examination of the Common Examination;

When Morimi hugged him with his transcript and cried with joy, when he trembled and opened one of the two admission letters sent by the University of Tokyo;

When winter turns to spring, and when it is the graduation season of another year, he also stood on the stage of the Tsugao Gymnasium for the last time, as a representative of the graduates, and was ready to speak.

Time flies, he thought.

"Resignation."

Glancing at the microphone in front of him, Naruse raised his gaze again and looked at the students below.

Hundreds of eyes were staring at this side, and in the queue he came up, and there were a few eyes next to Class D, which seemed even brighter.

On the seat of the parents of the graduates next to him, Song Qianqiu, who did not have any disguise, was also looking at him on the stage.

He smiled and spoke slowly.

"When the wind was still a little cold in the morning, and there was still some snow covering the Iwaki Mountain and the fields, someone might have noticed that the cherry blossom trees in the atrium were quietly budding.

That's right, spring has arrived.

In this warm and cold season, our third-year students also ushered in the moment of graduation. ”

Naoko's nose suddenly soured, she lowered her head slightly, and raised her hand to cover the burning heat rolling down her eyes.

A tissue was handed to her, and she turned her head, and Morimi took off her glasses and wiped the corners of her eyes.

She took the tissue and grabbed her arm with her other hand.

In the queue of Class D, looking at the starfish with rain in pear blossoms, Hikaru Takikawa suddenly wanted to cry.

“…… Growth doesn't have to go well, no, growth doesn't always go well. Everyone is unique and may encounter problems that only they will encounter.

But growth is not a test, and there is never a standard answer. Or maybe it's an open-ended exam, and the final result is up to you.

It can be a little slower, it can be a little later.

Importantly, don't run away.

Don't be afraid of failure, let alone change.

All in all, look ahead. ”

After a short pause, Naruse took a deep breath and looked at the glimmer of spring sunshine shining into the gymnasium.

"I wish you all good health and good luck in the future.

We will meet in the future.

Graduate representative, Harumi Naruse. ”

[End of book.] 】

It's the last time I'm asking for a monthly pass

(End of chapter)