Sakakihara was quiet for a while, and then replied:
"Currently, all the clothes and blankets that can be used to cover the body have been covered."
"...but it's still cold."
"Look, Qiyue, Liuli, and Zhixue are all asleep. Why don't you squeeze into Qiyue's arms more?"
Tianhai Qimingyue: "I'm cold too."
"You didn't sleep in July?"
"Can't sleep."
"Where's Liuli?"
"nor..."
"yuki?"
"Did not sleep."
...
Okay, no one is asleep in love.
The wind and snow were blowing outside the tent, and the remaining warmth inside the blanket was slowly being eroded by the pervasive cold air.
To be honest, Sakakihara Raku also felt cold.
The temperature in the early morning in this deep mountain is probably several degrees lower than in the city...
With the darkness above her head, Suzu Sakakihara shrank her head into the quilt, "You're not really going to freeze to death here tonight..."
Tianhai Qimingyue's voice on the side was as calm as ever: "It's very possible."
Sakakihara Suzu turned to look at her, "...Sister Qiyue, aren't you afraid?"
"I can only say that it would be nice to die together."
"Don't say such scary things, okay..."
"July~~" Tianhai Jiuliuli deliberately prolonged his voice.
Tianhai Qimingyue closed her eyes and pulled the blanket more towards her face, covering her nose, "I know, I know."
"A-Ling is already scared, so don't scare her on purpose. Why don't you tell her something happy?"
"Have no idea."
"What about telling a joke?"
"I can't tell. Brother, what do you want?"
"Why did it suddenly involve me? I only have cold jokes."
"It's so cold, so don't talk about it."
Sakakihara Suzu was very depressed...no one seemed to take the current situation seriously.
This is in the mountains of Hokkaido at several degrees below zero!
Sakakihara Suzu, who was very frightened, turned to the side, stretched out her hand to push the girl's shoulder, "What are yuki thinking? yuki, yuki?"
Amami Nozuki opened her eyes blankly and stared at the top of her head. She didn't react until Suzu Sakakibara called her three times in a row.
"Um?"
"What are you thinking about?"
"I'm thinking that if we all die together... would it be better to lie in a coffin."
...
...
"Ahhhhh!!!"
Sakakihara Suzu couldn't hold herself any longer and stood up suddenly.
The other four people in the bed all looked at her at the same time.
"I can not make it!!!"
"A-Ling, what are you going to do?"
"It's cold! I'm going out to make a fire!"
Tianhai Qimingyue half-closed her eyes and said, "There is a cold wind outside the tent, so it is better to lie under the quilt."
Sakakibara was speechless, "Stupid girl."
Tianhai Jiuliuli also quickly said, "Yes, Ling, it's not as warm as here outside. How about you come between me and Qiyue, and the two of us can hold you?"
"No! I want to go out and light a fire."
Sakakibara advised: "Azu, it's so cold outside, and the snow is probably dozens of centimeters thick. It's better to stay in the tent."
Tianhai Zhixue also persuaded: "At least we can die together."
Sakakihara Raku: "..."
"I don't want to die together! My life hasn't started yet, I'm not even an adult yet! I, I... I want to die... and I won't die until I'm a hundred years old!"
"Sister-chan will live to be a hundred years old?"
"Why can't I? I'm super healthy! No...I just have to go out and make a fire anyway."
As she spoke, Sakakihara Suzu put on the cotton-padded jacket covering the blanket. After a while, she took a lighter and walked out of the tent.
...
"Brother, why don't you go out and persuade me?"
"I'm cold. Why don't you go in July?"
"I'm cold too. Sister, go."
"...Maybe Ling will come back after she feels colder outside?"
...
Raku Sakakihara reached out and fumbled for the phone beside his pillow, turned on the screen, and used the remaining battery power to check the time.
The time is 3:01 in the morning.
Still no signal.
The weather summary also showed the temperature predicted by the morning weather forecast for tonight. Sakakibara squinted and clicked on it... minus 11 degrees...
...Staying outside for a long time can really freeze someone to death.
Raku Sakakihara is also desperate for the current situation.
According to the amount of snowfall tonight, the road up the mountain and the road down the mountain will definitely be blocked by snow.
In addition, there are basically no food rations for these people. Let alone waiting for rescue, these people will starve to death here.
...unless a few snowshoe hares suddenly pop out tomorrow morning and they are all mauled to death on the tree stump near the tent.
"I remembered."
"What?"
"The male protagonist in "Love Letter" died in the mountains of Hokkaido. It was also snowy. He accidentally stepped off the cliff with the expedition team."
Tianhai Jiuliuli: "...Don't say scary things in Qiyue."
"It's a fact. People get lost in the mountains of Hokkaido every year. Maybe we should be on the list this year."
"..."
These words sounded really terrifying at this time, and several people could be said to be completely in despair.
The national highway was blocked by snow, and we made many twists and turns to reach this mountain in the wilderness, and it happened to be that a heavy snowstorm closed the mountain...
If there hadn't been a good place to set up camp temporarily, Sakakibara believed that several people would have been buried in the snow by now.
"Are you afraid of July?"
"What are you afraid of?"
"We're afraid we won't be able to get out tomorrow, and we won't have food."
"Not afraid."
"Why?"
"I probably think that if everyone can die together, there will be nothing to worry about or commemorate."
"No regrets?"
"It's a pity that the good days will come to an end in a few days."
Liuli seems to have the same idea...
...
"Sister-chan, why haven't you come back yet? And I didn't see any fire at the entrance of the tent."
Raku Sakakihara stood up and looked outside the tent that was pulled up. Hearing the howling wind and snow outside, he subconsciously felt something was wrong, "I'll go out and take a look."
"Lejun, clothes."
"good."
After getting dressed neatly and getting up, Raku Sakakibara quickly went to the tent door and unzipped the tent.
The cold air outside suddenly hit his face, and the wind and snow hit his face coldly at the same time, making him subconsciously half-close his eyes.
"A Ling!"
Raku Sakakibara stepped out of the tent and saw only darkness in the forest.
Looking sideways, I saw that the snow accumulated at the entrance of the tent was more than half a meter high, and the entire hexagonal tent seemed to be embedded dozens of centimeters into the ground.
Sakakibara looked at the fire that was lit more than an hour ago...it had long been buried in thick snow.
But...where did A Ling go?
Sakakihara Raku began to look around.
"A Ling!"
...
"A Ling!"
...
"Aling!"
...
"Ah - so you are here."
Raku Sakakibara walked around to the back of the tent, and then he saw Suzu Sakakibara trying to make a fire with a lighter under a tree not far away.
Sakakibara walked over and stood behind her and looked at her for a while.
She tried very hard with the lighter in her hand, but there was no tinder, let alone a fire. In this weather, the lighter had to be extinguished as soon as it was lit.
"You won't be able to fight if you do this."
"..."
After trying it for a while, Sakakihara Suzu seemed to give up and sighed.
"Aren't you cold when you stay outside?" Sakakihara came to her side, curled up his hands, and squatted in the same place as her.
"...it's cold even if you stay inside..."
Sakakibara thought she was frightened by everyone's words. Everyone said they were going to die...
"I was just joking. Don't worry about that. We can go out tomorrow. As we said in July, such heavy snow will not last long."
"...Trying to lie to me again. I heard it outside. It's snowing so much tonight that I won't be able to walk out tomorrow..."
"Afraid?"
"...What if?" Suzu Sakakihara continued to try to light a fire.
...
"Give me the lighter."
"what?"
"Help you light the fire."
Raku Sakakibara had no good way to comfort his sister at the moment. Seeing that she insisted on making a fire, he went back to the tent and brought over an extra portion of dry firewood that he had prepared for the night.
Hold the lighter with one hand and use toilet paper and some dry pine leaves as tinder.
After the fire started to smoke, Sakakihara picked up the tinder ball, touched it in the palm of his hand and blew it on fire.
The flames and black smoke grew bigger and bigger. After Sakakihara was happy to see the fire coming out completely, he placed it on the ground that had been pushed aside in advance, then stacked some small branches on top, and finally placed some larger branches.
"A-Ling, squat over there."
"oh."
In order to prevent the wind and snow from extinguishing the flames, both of them tried their best to block the cold night wind with their bodies.
Under the control of Sakakihara Raku, a swaying bonfire with warm colors soon appeared.
Sakakihara Suzu stretched out her hand, spitting white mist from her mouth, and her face in the darkness was immediately illuminated by the firelight.
"Brother...that's awesome."
"It should be said, A-Ling, that you have forgotten everything that happened before."
"...What did I forget?"
"Didn't we often go to the mountains behind our hometown to play when we were young?" Raku Sakakihara also extended his hand towards the bonfire, "I built you a secret base made of banana leaves and branches, did you forget?"
"that..."
"A-Ling, didn't you always like to run there and play in the past? Especially on rainy days, you would like to hide there and watch the rain...sometimes you would even pull me over and ask me to help you light a fire. If there was anything else in the fake home,
You always want me to roast the fish you just caught and eat it. That’s when you asked me to teach you how to make a fire."
Sakakihara Suzu rotated her palms on the flames, "...Brother, you forgot everything when you were a child, why didn't you forget just these?"
Sakakihara Raku also stared at the dancing flames of the bonfire, "I am a girl, how could I forget these things."
"Ha! Brother, you finally admitted it!"
"Didn't I admit it a long time ago?"
"Humph, I told you before, but you still don't want to admit it!"
"That was in front of outsiders, how could I have the nerve to say that."
Probably because he said something that A Ling liked to hear, her mood improved a lot, but it couldn't be said to be very good.
The temperature of the campfire can only drive away a little bit of the cold...
"...What if we really die here?"
"Don't worry, your brother will die before you die."
"You say silly things every day! Tell me! Are you trying to comfort me on purpose?"
"otherwise?"
"Why come here to comfort me..."
"I saw you were scared, it's that simple."
...
"elder brother..."
"Well, I'm here, I'm here."
"Are you cold?"
"cold."
"Then how about you come closer to me?"
"OK."
Snow continues to fall.
In a daze, the campfire became much smaller due to lack of firewood supply.
Probably because the heat and light faded, Sakakihara Suzu became nervous.
"I... suddenly want to pee..."
Sakakihara Raku was stunned for a moment, then with the faint light of the fire, he saw the blush on A Suzu's face in the darkness, "Let's go."
"I am afraid..."
"Weren't you quite bold in haunted houses before?"
"...That's because Sister Liuli and Yuki are around. You are the only one here now..."
This kind of thing is quite embarrassing...
After all, Ah Ling is already so big.
"How about we just settle it here?"
"No, there's a fire here... at least go to the woods on the edge."
"You can go there by yourself."
"No...I'm afraid...what if a wolf suddenly appears?"
"Where did the wolf come from in Japan..."
"Polar bear."
"Polar bears only live in the Arctic Ocean and zoos," Raku Sakakibara guessed that Suzu was so scared tonight that she couldn't keep her head clear, "but there are still brown bears."
"Yes, there are brown bears..."
Sakakihara Suzu looked over with her soft purple eyes.
"...You don't expect your brother to beat a brown bear, do you?"
"..."
Helpless, Sakakibara could only take her to the nearby forest.
Wait until she finds a good position, then turn her back and wait.
There was no light in the mountains in the early morning, and the cold wind kept whistling in the valley, making it pitch black.
This environment is indeed quite depressing, and Sakakibara Raku can only hope that Suzu will end it soon and conveniently.
"...Brother, you won't run away suddenly, right? I'm really scared..."
"Who has the spare time to joke around at this time? Okay, hurry up, hurry up, I'll wait for you."
...
...
After waiting for two minutes, nothing happened.
"What? You don't want to pee?"
"...no...."
"Then hurry up."
...
...
"A Ling?"
Sakakihara Suzu's voice in the darkness was full of nervousness.
"No...no way..."
"scared?"
"Um..."
"Then why don't you get up and it won't be inconvenient."
"Brother, come closer..."
"what?"
Sakakibara thought that Suzu was too scared to be alone in the dark woods without any moonlight, so he walked over to accompany her.
Seeing her squatting in front of her, Sakakihara turned his body consciously.
...
"hand..."
"What do you want my hands for?"
"Hold..."
"Still holding my hand?!"
"Well...I'm afraid..."
Okay, okay, okay...
Sakakihara handed his hand to her, and it was quickly held.
Ah Ling held it tightly...
Sakakibara could feel that she was really scared.
"...Don't think about it..."
"Who has the spare time? You can do it quickly."
"..."
Ah Ling was completely silent.
...
...
"Not yet?"
"Brother."
"What? If it's convenient, please hurry up. It's very cold outside and I don't want you to catch a cold."
"Brother..."
"I told you to hurry up -"
"Brother, look over there, look over there."
"What?"
Sakakihara turned his head and headed in the direction that Suzu said... He shined the flashlight over it, but it was still pitch black and he couldn't see anything.
"What are you shouting, Aling? What's over there, a brown bear? Is it still haunted?"
"It's not a brown bear!" Suzu Sakakihara was obviously excited, "Brother, look carefully! Look carefully!"
At the request of his sister, Sakakibara narrowed his eyes this time, and while shining the flashlight, he carefully observed what was in the distance...between the pine trees.
"Brother! Haven't you seen clearly yet?!"
"No, don't worry."
Not a bird, not a rabbit, not a brown bear.
In the sky full of snowflakes, a cloud of white mist floated in the forest, slowly rising upwards.
Sakakibara was puzzled. In this winter, with heavy wind and snow, how could there still be white mist floating in the mountains and forests at night...