The train passed through a tunnel, and then it suddenly became clear. The air in the carriage was suddenly washed by the mountain breeze and became fresh.
The passengers on the train looked out one after another. To the right of the train, at the foot of the hillside, there was a large lake with sparkling blue waves, and three or two yachts were cruising on the lake.
The beautiful scenery was quickly left behind by the train, and the colorful light and shadow fell on the carriage, falling on the page in the girl's hand and turning into the shape of leaves.
Qing Keisuke had put away the book at some point, and only occasionally admired the girl's profile and the way she read.
From Tokyo to Yuzawa, a distance of 180 kilometers, Aoi Keisuke looked at Hoshino like this countless times.
Sometimes they would be stared back hard, sometimes they would be ignored.
As for why he watched it, Qing Keisuke himself didn’t think much about it.
She had read a quarter of the book about Snow Country, and it seemed to be exactly their destination, the story of Yuzawa.
But the book is about Yuzawa in winter.
It was midsummer when they came.
In the afternoon, the train finally slowly pulled into Yuzawa Station. Although Yuzawa is also a tourist destination in summer, it seems a bit deserted compared to winter.
Hungry travelers and returnees swarmed down, with Aoi Keisuke and Hoshino Fujiko walking behind.
This is already the terminal station of this train, so there is no need to rush.
The buildings in Yuzawa are lined up in rows, but there are very few tall buildings. Most of them are short houses with slightly sloping roofs, scattered in an orderly manner on the land.
Qing Keisuke scanned around with great interest and found that the differences were also interesting aspects of travel.
"Where are we going next? How about eating first?"
The president responded indifferently and put Yuki back into Qing Keisuke's bag.
When Qing Keisuke was about to arrive, he was researching what to eat for lunch on the APP, and he was more serious than looking at Hoshino's profile. 33
So it can be said that the current Demon King is full of energy!
Hoshino glanced at him strangely, not very interested in this topic.
Finally, they followed the APP’s guidance and found one of Yuzawa’s most popular restaurants in winter, ‘Yamari’ – where they ate iron pot stew and barbecued steaks around an old-fashioned snow stove.
The decoration of the restaurant has a simple and rough mountain forest atmosphere, and the cold air from the air conditioner and the hot air from the boiler mix together, giving people a rather strange feeling.
The steak is very tender venison, which the store specially sources from Hokkaido.
There were not many diners in the store. Firstly, it was already past dinner time, and secondly, it was too hot to sit around the stove in summer.
Hoshino Fujiko's face turned red from the heat, and her originally cold expression became a little cute.
She was also a little hungry, so she quickly ate the cut steak in small bites. Aoi Keisuke joked with her, saying that she didn't have the temperament of a lady when eating, but she was ignored.
When she was full, she slowly wiped her mouth and told Qing Keisuke about the next arrangements.
"I have already booked a hotel online and will go over to put my luggage later."
"good."
——He thought the hotel was booked in this small town, but when he climbed into the car entering the mountain and listened to the conversation between the driver and Hoshino, he realized that was not the case.
"President, may I ask, where are we going?"
"Daze Mountain."
Aoi Keisuke already felt something was wrong, because there had been many problems in Hoshino during this trip, but because he had no idea about the place name, he could only say "Ah" and started talking to the driver.
What the two people called was not a taxi in the traditional sense, but a "sightseeing car" unique to Yuzawa.
In the summer, due to the scarcity of tourists, there is a lack of buses and trains with fixed routes. This small form of transportation is more economical.
There are also many people who choose to rent vehicles locally for transportation.
As for Aoi Keisuke and Miss Hoshino, unless she is willing to sit on the back of a motorcycle and hold Aoi Keisuke's waist, it would be best to take this kind of car - a local's car.
The driver was a middle-aged bald man. Unlike Tokyo taxi drivers who wore white gloves and neatly dressed to pretend to be elegant, he wore a smart orange vest and shorts, and his exposed arms were quite thick, full of the simplicity and strength unique to country people.
feel.
"Are you two going to the crane soup in Osawa?"
He introduced it very talkatively: "It's a good hotel there. It has one of the best hot springs in Yuzawa. It's built deep in the mountains. It feels very different when you stay here.
Where are you from? Tokyo?"
When it came time to chat, Fujiko Hoshino immediately shut up and put on a pair of headphones to avoid being mentioned.
"Yeah, I'm from Tokyo, is it obvious?" Qing Keisuke said.
"Hahaha."
The uncle started the car and laughed: "Yes, the characteristics of Tokyoites are more obvious, and young people have extraordinary conversational skills. I have been driving for so many years, and now I can basically tell where the passengers are from at a glance."
"Oh?" Qing Keisuke chatted with him about the characteristics of tourists from various places. Sometimes he glanced at Hoshino, who was also sitting in the back seat, and found that she was holding her mobile phone and had closed her eyes.
The car slowly drove out of the town and headed towards the mountains in the distance.
They were really going into the mountains, and they still woke up in a high-end apartment in Shinjuku in the morning——
What an interesting thing.
Aoi Keisuke forgave Hoshino Fujiko's slightly ridiculous plan and began to enjoy the journey.
He learned that the driver's name was "Otomo Zeshu" and that his hometown was at the foot of Osawa Mountain. There was a Xiangchuan Temple there. He recommended that the two of them visit it when they had free time. It was very effective.
"Mr. Sawaki, is Crane Soup famous among you locals?"
"No!"
Otomo Sawaki said: "Tsuruyu is a good place. It cost a lot of money to build. Although it was originally intended to be a villa... it later became a hot spring hotel."
“Japanese or European?”
“It’s called crane soup, so of course it’s Japanese!”
"makes sense."
Otomo Sawaki talked about Tsuruyu for a while, and finally recommended himself to Qing Keisuke: "If you want to visit, you can agree on a short-term rental with me. I am not familiar with the whole of Yuzawa, and the price is absolutely reasonable."
!And always available!”
"oh……"
Qing Keisuke responded noncommittally, and he suddenly felt that Hoshino Fujiko could hear their conversation, because when she mentioned this topic, she glanced at her, as if she was conveying some instructions to him.
Maybe there’s no sound at all from the headphones—
But let him be spared, the Demon King is not yet at the point where he can understand her meaning just by looking at her.
He then raised his hand and shook his cell phone, signaling the eldest lady who didn't want to talk to contact her via email.
Miss Hoshino took a breath and quickly pressed the virtual keyboard with her fingers to send him an email.
When the reminder sounded, Otomo Zeshu glanced at the rearview mirror, and an ambiguous smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.
——These two people are indeed a couple from Tokyo, right?
You are so young that you have time to go out and play during the summer vacation. What an enviable youth!
While he was thinking this, he was suddenly "looked at" by the pretty girl in the back seat. He quickly looked away, fearing that he would be regarded as a harasser.
Hoshino said in the email.
Is this how club members are used in high school clubs?