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"When did you learn to drink? Didn't you hate it the most at first?"
"Five years ago, when I was studying in the United States, parties are inevitable in the United States. We go out to sing together. The atmosphere is there, and we always drink a little. And people always change, don't they? Do you smoke or not?"
When Fujii Itsuki saw the thin cigarette handed to him by Akai Muko, he did not refuse it.
He held it in his mouth, took out his lighter, held out his hand to protect the cigarette butt, and lit it with a "click".
"It tastes weird, why is it still minty?"
"Ladies' cigarettes." Akai Muzi could tell at a glance that he was an old smoker.
Fujii Itsuki pinched the thin cigarette filter with his index finger, stared at the gradually burning cigarette butt and said: "I still suggest you quit smoking. Smoking is bad for your health."
".? How dare you say that to me! You smoke and drink too! What did you say back then? Oh, by the way," Akagi Muzi straightened up, pinched her throat, and imitated the tone of Fujii Itsuki's words back then, "'I really don't know what the point of smoking and drinking is. It's a waste of money, and it's hard to smoke and drink. It's just asking for trouble for your body.'"
Fujii Itsuki smiled and said, "Then was the then, and now is now."
"So I said, people change. By the way, have you eaten?"
"your treat?"
"It's my treat."
“I can’t believe it—”
"What's your tone?"
"Someone knows it in his heart."
Akai Muzi cleared her throat and said, "Well, that was then, and this is now."
"the difference?"
"The only difference is that I have a little money now. How about going? I can also tell you about my experiences in the United States in the past few years."
"I'm not interested in the shit you've been doing over the past few years." Fujii Itsuki stuffed his cigarette butt into an empty beer can.
"So you're rejecting me?"
"However," Fujii Itsuki changed the subject, picked up the beer can, and took two steps forward with the motion of pitching a baseball, throwing it into the trash can more than ten meters away, "I'm still happy to eat your meal for free."
"What are you talking about? Wait a minute. Fujii, you are not still as stingy as before, are you? After all, you are an outstanding graduate of Kyoto University."
"No way, poor."
"What a sting."
Chapter 39 Sister and the Hangover
"By the way, why did you come back from America?"
On a snowy day in Otaru City, the sky is white and clear, and the snow covers everything. The mountains in the distance are vaguely visible among the countless falling snowflakes.
The snow-capped peaks are connected to the blue sky.
Walking on the white streets of the city, Akai Muzi looked at the long-lost scenery of her hometown and asked:
"Do you remember why I wanted to go to America?"
"Advocating freedom?"
"You're still so funny, of course not. I remember I told you that I want to go out and take a look."
"Want to go out and take a look?"
Otaru City has a permanent population of 11. It was a little more ten years ago, but only about 12 or 13.
The past was indeed glorious, but in recent years, Otaru City is basically no different from an ordinary town except for the city center.
There are no skyscrapers, no high-end shopping malls, no brand-name luxury stores, and no Starbucks.
The roads here are cracked, the buildings here are old and yellowed, and most of the shops here have their shutters tightly closed.
The scenery here is indeed beautiful, but from a realistic point of view, this is just a city that is aging year by year.
At that time, Akai was unwilling to stay in this underdeveloped place, and was determined to visit Tokyo, the most developed country in the world.
She went to the United States to pursue her dream.
"The results of it?"
"As you can see, the dream is gone and I am back."
Fujii Itsuki stared at her profile for a while, "Failed? I remember you were admitted to a music school?"
"That's the name of the Ithaca School. Not only was I rejected, I didn't even have any chance to officially perform there. I was just a substitute in the orchestra."
"Your skills are not bad, and you work so hard."
"Is hard work useful?" Akagi Muzi said firmly, "Fujii, not everyone has the same talent as you and those monsters."
She looked at the snow-capped peaks in the distance.
"For me, the clarinet is everything to me. Seventeen years. Seventeen years. I have been practicing since the fourth grade of elementary school. With these seventeen years of hard work, I finally got an opportunity, but in the end, I still messed it up. Do you understand the feeling of working hard every day to support your studies, paying high tuition fees, but in the end, it's all for nothing? That kind of unwillingness, that kind of regret, that kind of feeling of giving your whole life but still being unable to touch it, how powerless it is?
"I knew it was my last chance, and I gambled everything I had on it. But I still lost because I was not as skilled as my opponent. I have nothing to say.
"That day, I almost smashed the clarinet that had accompanied me for more than ten years. I hid in my dormitory and cried secretly like a loser."
Akai Muzi said these words with a smile.
She looked at the scenery of her hometown, her eyes revealing an indescribable nostalgia and love.
It seems that she had a hard time living abroad these years, but she also seemed to have let it go.
"So, I'm back. I don't plan to play the clarinet again in my life. This time I came back to Orange North to apply for a job. I just want to be an ordinary English teacher."
“It sounds like a heavy story.”
"You were the one who asked?"
"Sorry, it's my fault. I accidentally touched upon your sad past. I apologize." Fujii Itsuki took out the burning cigarette and flicked the filter with his index finger. His eyes behind his half-frame glasses revealed a sense of melancholy.
Akagi Muzi was lost in thought for a moment, then sighed, "Fujii."
"Ok?"
"Although you are much more handsome, you are still old."
"I'm only twenty-six, thank you."
"But you are at least ten years older than before. In the past, you would have put your hands together and apologized to me. Now you look like a middle-aged man with a big belly, smoking a cigarette, and looking like you are not interested in anything."
"Then you are one year older than me, and you are a thin and yellow old woman."
Akai Muzi didn't care about what he said, and asked with a smile: "By the way, why did you go back to Otaru? I heard from some classmates that you are a teacher in Tokyo, right? Did you offend someone again?"
"Akai, that's really harsh of you to say. That's called justice."
".? I see. After justice was served, you lost your job. Just like when you were almost kicked out of the wind band club."
"Don't talk about this anymore. Have you arrived at the restaurant you found? I'm starving."
"Almost, almost. Didn't you just get off the train? And you haven't answered my question yet!"
"Eat first. Only after I eat will I have the energy to answer."
Akai Muzi led the way in front.
As they chatted and walked, they stopped in front of a hotel by the sea.
Fujii Itsuki took the cigarette from his mouth, looked up and was stunned.
[Yunohana Otaru Onsen Store]
Isn’t this Chitose’s home?
"What are you standing there for, Fujii?"
"How did you choose this store?"
"Is this store bad?" Akai Muzi wondered, holding her phone. "It's been open for decades, isn't it well-received online?"
"It's not a question of reputation or not, but - forget it, let's go in. It's better to come at the right time than to come in time. It's a good opportunity to see Qiansui."
"Chitose Tachibana? Your non-blood-related sister? Her family is here?"
"Didn't I tell you? Forgot. When Qiansui was adopted by Yang Kui's family, we were almost in the third grade. It's normal that you didn't notice it at that time. Come in."
Yang Kui's hot spring house is very large. It is a typical old-style Japanese-style inn with three floors, tatami rooms, paper sliding doors and wooden structure.
To make a vivid analogy, it is like the hot spring house in Spirited Away.
There are both accommodation and dining areas here.
There were quite a few people in the dining area, most of them were uncles and old men wearing yukatas and with thinning hair. There were also the occasional young people and foreign tourists.
The tourists were taking photos of the layout of the hot spring shop, while the uncles and old men were enjoying seafood sushi with big glasses of beer, chatting loudly and making it as lively as if they were in an izakaya.
After entering the hot spring house, Akai Muzi told the front desk staff about her dining needs, and then the front desk staff shouted loudly towards the second floor:
"Chitose! We have a guest!"
“Chitose——!”
"I'll come right away!"
In less than half a minute, Fujii Itsuki saw Chitose Yang Aoi, wearing a Yunohana waitress's yukata, quickly coming down the stairs.
She stepped on the wooden ladder, lifted her trouser legs, and her short hair with a red side bun swayed.
"Where is the guest——"
Yang Kui Chitose glanced around and soon saw Fujii Itsuki standing near the front desk and smiling at her.
The girl was stunned at first, then surprised, and finally smiled and cried with joy.
After confirming that it was Fujii Itsuki, the girl rushed over happily and fell straight into his arms.
“Brother Tree——!”
Fujii Itsuki stretched out his hand to catch her impact, but even so, he was still hurt by the girl.
She is really strong.