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So that was put aside.
In the dead of winter, the sky in Tokyo is always dark, and the cold wind in December makes it seem like it wouldn't be strange if it snowed at any time.
"It has snowed before, so even if it snows again, we're just used to it."
Chiyo is a little afraid of the cold, but she likes snow. These two are not contradictory.
It did snow two weeks ago, but considering the season, the first snow of this year fell a little early.
But it’s always like that, after the first time, we get used to it, and even if it snows again, it won’t make people feel any different.
The bus was parked on the school playground. Today was the day for extracurricular activities. It was also the last extracurricular activity for the sixth graders of Tomoeda Elementary School.
Reiya, Tomoyo, and Sakura have already decided which school they will attend. After the spring break next year, they chose Sakuragaoka Junior High School, which has both elementary and high school sections.
Sakuragaoka Junior High School is not an aristocratic school, but its reputation and enrollment rate are both good. As long as you keep up with the progress, you will have no problem getting into university.
It wasn't cloudy today, the sun was bright and red, but it had only been up for a short time, so Tokyo hadn't warmed up yet.
The air still had the damp chill of the night's frost, misting the car windows.
The bus is heated. If it is an overloaded bus on a normal day with people shoulder to shoulder, the inside of the bus will definitely be warm enough.
However, the seats on tourist buses carrying students are reserved according to the number of people, so it is impossible to be overloaded.
At this moment it seemed a bit deserted.
Reiya and Tomoyo were sitting at the back of the bus, she was sitting by the window. She stretched out her finger and drew a smiley face on the window glass.
“Draw another one!”
Tomoyo said so, so Ling drew another smiley face. The two smiley faces made the scene more lively.
Suddenly, the cold condensed water flowed along the fingers to the wrists and into the sleeves.
Ling also wanted to wipe it, but found that she had forgotten to bring her handkerchief.
"Use mine."
Tomoyo took out her handkerchief and wiped her fingers and wrists, and also wiped her wrists carefully inside her sleeves.
Chise's handkerchief is purple, which is very similar to her temperament.
The handkerchief must have been fumigated with incense by her maid, Sonoko, and had a faint scent of sandalwood.
After wiping, Chise naturally put the handkerchief back.
"Should I wash it and give it back to you?"
"No, dew doesn't make you dirty."
The dew is not dirty, but it is after all a handkerchief that has been used to wipe the body.
Lingya wanted to say something else, but Tomoyo changed the subject.
"I'm a little worried. There are clubs in middle school, right? Which club should I join? The music club or the photography club?"
There are indeed many more clubs in middle schools than in elementary schools.
Music clubs alone are not limited to the elementary school choir club, but also include classical music, pop rock, light music, etc.
The same goes for the Photography Department, of course, the News Department, the Photographic Arts Department, and so on.
"Where do you want to go, Ling?"
When asked this question, Ling forgot about the previous topic. She really hadn't thought about it yet.
"It's hard to decide, and you don't have to decide now. Wait until school starts and you visit the clubs before considering it. No matter where we go, it's good for us to be together."
"makes sense."
As for the handkerchief, both of them forgot about it.
This time the destination is a farm in Yamanashi, and the subject of study is winter plants.
"I heard that the farm is full of persimmon trees, so you can eat as many as you want."
"Don't eat too many persimmons. They are cold in nature. If you eat too much, your stomach will protest."
Having said that, Lingye does like persimmons. They are sweet, like honey.
Going from Tokyo to Yamanashi requires crossing counties (provinces), and the journey is expected to take more than an hour.
Because they got up early, many children were groggy and fell asleep as the vehicle bumped along.
Ling didn't fall asleep either, but she felt a little bored after having nothing to do for a long time.
The trees on both sides of the county road outside the window were left with only branches due to the season, and they looked bare and unsightly.
So Ling also took out a bento.
Eat something when you are bored. The bento box has sixteen grids, which contain sushi of different colors and shapes.
"Did Chef Shinomiya prepare this, or was it Chef Saiba?"
"I did it myself. I thought you were asleep."
Since Tomoyo had been leaning on her shoulder, Ling really thought she was asleep, so she didn't dare to move.
The car was shaking and he was afraid she would fall, so he deliberately moved closer.
"I fell asleep, and now I'm awake because of the smell of sushi. Did you make all this yourself?"
"Well, just cooking whatever comes to mind may not taste good."
Anyway, sushi is something that can be paired with anything.
“Which one is the most delicious?”
"It should be this aged bonito sushi. It takes a lot of time to age at low temperatures, so I started preparing it yesterday afternoon."
"Then I want to eat this."
Chise said that without taking any herself, she just opened her mouth and said "ah". Ling could only pinch and stuff it into her mouth. Because there were 16 pieces of sushi, the size of each one was very small, just right for one bite.
The taste is really good.
It is easy to get motion sickness when eating in a car, but fortunately, Reiya and Tomoyo are not prone to motion sickness.
An hour later, the car stopped at the parking lot in front of the farm. This is an open farm that is meant to receive tourists, so the parking lot is large and there is also a place for buses to park.
"The air is so fresh."
After getting off the bus, Chiyo stretched. To be honest, Ling didn't have the same feeling. The air in winter is always cold anyway. If you talk about the refreshing coldness, there is no difference between Tokyo and Yamanashi.
The temperature in December has dropped to 0 or degrees. The leaves in the mountains block the sunlight, making it even colder, even as low as °C with ice. Walking in the mountains can be a risk.
After getting off the bus, the cold air pierced the noses of the children, who had finally warmed up after more than an hour's drive, felt the numbness and coldness in their hands and feet again.
However, compared to the warm farmhouse, these children who grew up in Tokyo are more interested in the persimmons and winter jujubes that grow on the mountains and trees.
"Okay, students, gather here." The homeroom teacher, Terada, clapped his hands, and white mist came out of his mouth as he spoke. "Today we are going to teach you a lesson that you have not been taught in the six years of Tomoeda Elementary School. Those fruits and vegetables do not appear on the table as a matter of course. I think today's lesson is as important as all the lessons in the past six years."
Children from aristocratic schools grew up in Tokyo, and most of them had no idea about these things. Even if they knew something, it was because they had their own manors and never had to take care of them themselves.
In addition to their homeroom teacher, Mr. Terada, their class was accompanied by Mr. Tsujitani as an accompanying assistant.
The farm arranged tour guides to give lectures. Spring ploughing, summer planting, autumn harvest and winter storage. Grains, rice and wheat grow from the land. This piece of soil is the most precious thing. The earth nourishes human growth and is the source of life for all things.
After the one-hour class, it was time to pick fruits.
As the rumors say, there are indeed many persimmon trees on the farm, with red fruits hanging on the branches. The persimmons are very sweet after being hit by frost.
In addition to persimmons, there are also winter jujubes hanging on the branches and oranges that look like small lanterns.
"There are hawthorn trees on the hillside. They are all wild hawthorns. They should be ripe now. They are a little sour, but also very sweet. Students who are not afraid of sourness can go and pick some. However, the wild hawthorn trees are in the bushes, so be careful not to get pricked by the thorns of the bushes."
Ling doesn't like sour things, except vinegar. Vinegar is a condiment, and it's indispensable for soup dumplings, steamed buns, and dumplings. A little vinegar will make rice dumplings taste better. But sour fruits are more difficult to accept. Oranges are the limit, and hawthorn is the enemy of humans.
Ling didn't go either, so of course Chishi didn't go either.
An hour later, it was already one o'clock in the afternoon, the scheduled time for gathering and going home, but there were still six or seven classmates who had not returned.
"It seems that Kitada and the others went to pick hawthorns earlier."
"Hawthorn? Haven't you come back yet?"
The hawthorn field is just behind the bushes on the back mountain, a few hundred meters away. The villa is all plains, there are no mountain roads, so there shouldn't be any accidents.
"I see. I'll go check it out. Mr. Tsujitani, please keep an eye on the students and make sure no one wanders around and gets lost. I'll bring those kids over."
Our homeroom teacher, Mr. Terada, said this and went off alone to look for the students who had not returned.
However, after twenty minutes, not only did the classmates not come back, but even Mr. Terada did not come back.
The expected return time has passed. Teacher Tsujitani was a little restless. She was just a music teacher, and a young girl. It was inevitable that she would be a little confused when faced with such a thing.
"Do I need to call the police?"
Tsujitani was startled when she suddenly heard the word "alarm". The person who spoke was Reiya. She was a member of the choir club she coached, so she was more familiar with him than other students.
But calling the police was too much of an exaggeration. He just forgot the time while picking hawthorns. He was not lost in the primeval forest and needed to be searched and rescued.
There are farms nearby and generally there is no danger.
But at this moment, a girl's scream was heard from a distance.
"Monster! Monster is attacking people, quickly contact the ZAT team to destroy the monster!"
Is there a monster? Tsujitani looked over there in horror. But Ling was just confused. She didn't feel any monster wreaking havoc nearby. Otherwise, the mountain spirits would be irritable.
The woman who was shouting was running over here. This was an open farm, and in addition to the students of Tomoeda Elementary School, other tourists were also welcome.
That's a beautiful person.
Speaking of beauty, Reiya, Tomoyo, and Sakura are all very beautiful since they can be TV stars. However, considering their age, cute is more appropriate than beautiful.
The woman who ran over was about 17 or 18 years old, with long blonde hair that fell to her waist. It was unclear whether it was dyed or natural. Her delicate appearance made it difficult to find any flaws. It was as if she had walked out of a movie screen.
Lingye suddenly had a feeling, as if she was just like when she saw the posters of her, Tomoyo and Sakura, so beautiful that it seemed unreal.
That belongs to the actors on the screen, not them in real life.
But compared to whether she is beautiful or not, Mr. Tsujitani is of course more concerned about monsters.
"Excuse me, who are you?"
"I'm Kikuchi Susu. I came to the farm with my grandma today, but she's missing. When I went to look for her on the mountain road, I saw a monster. What a scary monster!"