Chapter 208 New Year in Iwate Prefecture: His and Her Morning (5)
Toru Watanabe tidied up his sticky hair and prepared breakfast.
"Xiao Che, go upstairs and wake up Miki." Watanabe's mother instructed her son while bringing breakfast to the table.
Toru Watanabe thought about how Kujo Miki usually got into a bad mood when she woke up, and the habit of not leaving breakfast for her family.
"I'll take it to her," he said.
"Eat in the room?" Watanabe asked in surprise, "Then I'll save it for her and heat it up when she wakes up."
"No need to bother."
Breakfast consisted of hot milk, toast with strawberry jam, fried eggs with salt, various vegetable soups, and scones.
Toru Watanabe placed these on a wooden plate and carefully carried it upstairs.
"Meiji, it's time for breakfast."
Walking into the bedroom, Miki Kujo was curled up in the quilt.
The bed of Qingye Rin, which was originally next to it, has been put away and neatly folded in the cupboard.
Toru Watanabe held the food tray and knelt beside Miki Kujo's pillow.
She only covered herself with a small part of the large quilt and held the rest in her arms.
Under his head, there was a corner of the quilt.
"Meiji?" He bent down and combed her bangs with his hands.
Miki Kujo's flawless profile shone brightly in the morning light that came in through the window.
Watanabe Toru placed his finger between her eyebrows and slid along the perfect curve of her nose to the tip of her nose.
As if feeling itchy, Kujo Miki rubbed her nose on the quilt and made a slightly dissatisfied sound of "hmm~~" from her mouth.
Watanabe Toru couldn't help but smile.
He pinched her delicate and pretty face: "Get up, eat before going to sleep."
"Hmm——" This means I don't want to eat and don't bother me.
"I've brought it to you. Just sit up and eat."
Kujo Miki didn't move.
In order to finish work quickly and go back to her hometown with Toru Watanabe, she probably hasn't slept well these days.
Toru Watanabe put the food tray at his feet, held Kujo Miki with both hands, and held her in his arms.
"Hmm——" This means what are you doing, I'm so annoyed, it's very cold.
Watanabe Toru let her lean on his arms, then pulled the quilt over her and covered her.
"Come, drink some hot milk first."
In the few seconds it took him to pick up the hot milk from the tray, Miki Kujo was almost asleep in his arms.
Watanabe Toru held the cup to her mouth for a long time before she took a sip.
Put down the milk and use chopsticks to break the fried egg.
"Fried eggs, ah——"
Miki Kujo closed her eyes, put the fried egg into her mouth, and then chewed it while preparing to fall asleep.
Seeing that she had almost finished chewing, Toru Watanabe picked up the steaming vegetable soup.
He picked up a piece of white radish soaked in soup, blew on it twice, and prepared to feed it to Kujo Miki in his arms.
Before the white radish reached her mouth, just as she smelled the scent, Kujo Miki turned her face away and buried herself in his arms.
"Don't want white radish?"
“……”No words.
Watanabe Toru ate the white radish himself and picked up the soft cooked carrots.
"This time it's a carrot, so sweet, come on, ah——"
Miki Kujo took a small bite and threw away the remaining half.
Toru Watanabe threw the half-broken carrot into his mouth.
"My beautiful princess, your honorable queen, next is the soup." Toru Watanabe blew on the edge of the bowl.
Hot white mist floated out of the bowl, and the room seemed to warm up.
Miki Kujo didn't mind the soup and drank three sips in a row.
"The next dish is toast." Watanabe Toru tore off a bit of the soft white part, "The sauce is homemade jam, it's delicious."
Miki Kujo put the toast into her mouth, and her cherry-colored lips moved mechanically.
"Drink another sip of milk!"
"Well, Meiji is so good, and then there's toast!"
“Pair it with a small bite of vegetables for a balanced nutrition!”
He ate half of the toast and only took one bite of the vegetables, and the rest was eaten by Watanabe Toru.
During this time, Miki Kujo kept her eyes closed and her head rested on Toru Watanabe's chest.
"Next is the delicious scones, freshly baked~"
Toru Watanabe tore open the thin pancake.
The heat stored in the pancakes was released all at once, and the aroma of the flour roasted by the charcoal fire also dissipated.
He threw a small piece into his mouth first.
“Mmm, delicious.”
I fed Kujo Miki a little and she ate it; I fed her a second bite and she didn't want it.
He tore the remaining scones into small pieces and soaked them in vegetable soup.
Wait until they have absorbed enough soup, and feed it to Kujo Miki with a spoon.
As she chewed, Toru Watanabe noticed that her long eyelashes were glued to her porcelain-white skin.
It must be because of the tears caused by sleepiness.
Perhaps only Watanabe Toru has ever seen Kujo Miki being so out of control, lively, unrestrained and relaxed.
He held the spoon in his hand, stretched out his little finger, and gently lifted his eyelashes.
After doing this little thing, Kujo Miki stopped chewing and he fed her another bite.
After most of the breakfast was finished, Kujo Miki refused to eat anything and just buried her face in his arms.
Watanabe Toru put the dishes away, put her back on the bed and covered her with a blanket.
"Sleep well , and when you wake up, I'll take you around the village."
After whispering something in her ear and kissing her soft lips, Toru Watanabe took the tray and left the room.
The awake person left and the bedroom returned to silence.
After a while, the sleeping person wrapped the quilt tighter and buried his face in it.
At the window, in the beam of light on a winter morning, dust particles are entangled with each other.
Toru Watanabe returned to the living room.
Watanabe's mother and Kiyono Rin ate slowly.
Watanabe's father had already finished his separate breakfast and left before Watanabe Toru delivered the letter.
As the year draws to a close, the delivery work becomes even busier, and he can only rest on New Year's Eve.
On the stove, the pancakes were puffed into balls and the kettle was steaming.
"Did Miki eat it?" asked Watanabe's mother.
"Yeah." Toru Watanabe put the plate into the sink.
Watanabe's mother got up and walked to the stove, poked a hole in the swollen pancake, and after confirming that it was ready, she picked it up with a pair of tongs and placed it on Watanabe Toru's plate.
Toru Watanabe sat down at the dining table.
"Auntie is very nice to Watanabe-san." Kiyono Rin said with a smile.
There were still some freshly made scones on the table, but they were not hot enough anymore.
Watanabe Toru tore open the pancake that had just been taken off the stove, looked at his mother, and said to Kiyono Rin:
"It's only been a few days since I came back. If you look back in a few days, you won't even have food to eat."
"What nonsense!" Watanabe's mother denied.
Toru Watanabe took a bite of the pancake and took a sip of the soup.
"Got it?" He raised his eyebrows at Qingye Rin.
"I understand." Qing Ye Lin, who could see through lies, nodded, "But you do like to talk nonsense."
"Don't talk nonsense."
"Auntie, do you know what Watanabe is like in school?"
"I often talk to Mr. Koizumi on the phone, and he says he's doing very well."
"Teacher Koizumi is so pitiful." Qing Ye Lin sighed for Koizumi Aonai, "Auntie Zhi, Watanabe-san usually stares at..."
"Look at the blackboard!" Watanabe Toru stopped drinking his soup and interrupted her. "I'm looking at the blackboard, right, R-san?"
Qing Ye Lin looked away from Watanabe's mother and looked over with a smile: "Am I still talking nonsense, Watanabe-san?"
"Nonsense, I'm talking nonsense."
R-san smiled as if he were a winner.
"Mom, Tokyo women bully me." Toru Watanabe looked for an adult.
Watanabe's mother laughed happily and said to Kiyono Rin:
"Xiao Lin, I'll trouble you to look after Xiao Che at school from now on. Tell me if there's anything."
"Yes, Auntie."
"Let's exchange contact information."
"Um."
Looking at the two people who not only exchanged emails but also added each other as LINE friends, Toru Watanabe felt worried about the future when he thought that Kiyono Rin never lied.
Although I didn't do anything illegal, there are some things - such as looking at Kiyono Rin's legs, which there is absolutely no need to let my parents know!
Not only did the two of them exchange lines, but Watanabe's mother also pulled Kiyono Rin into the Watanabe family group.
Watanabe Toru thought about it and pulled in Kujo Miki, who was still sleeping upstairs.
The number of people in the family group increased from three to five.
Toru Watanabe looked at the number and thought of his senior classmate Mai Asuka who was far away in Tokyo. Maybe one day in the future, this number will become six?
I don't know how his parents will look at him at that time...
Before this , he might have been humanely killed by Kujo Miki. No, it couldn't be such an easy death by humane killing. He should have been slaughtered.
The word '宰' always feels like it's referring to pigs and sheep.
After breakfast, Watanabe's mother cleaned up the dishes.
"Xiaotetsu, go to Yoshida's house and bring me the Fukujin stains. I will be leaving soon."
"good."
Fukujinzuke, pickles made from seven kinds of vegetables pickled in seasonings.
"I'll go with you," said Qingye Rin.
"Well, it's a good opportunity to take a walk and show you the scenery of the countryside."
Kiyono Rin didn't change her clothes, she just wore a sweater and a long skirt and walked towards the entrance with Watanabe Toru.
When putting on his shoes, Watanabe Toru was stunned.
"What's wrong?" asked Qingye Rin.
"Nothing." Watanabe Toru put on his shoes and said, "Let's go."
Before breakfast, the son casually told his mother that his feet were a little cold. After breakfast, there was an extra layer of plush cushion in his shoes.
The two left Watanabe's house and came to the path in the village.
Apart from the neighbors next door, the nearest house to Watanabe's house is also three or four minutes' walk away.
The morning air is filled with silence.
In the canal, the stream gurgles, making a pleasant sound.
It was surrounded by farmland, with the roots of the straw still in it.
The two walked side by side, leisurely in this countryside scenery.
"In June and July, there is a large field of hydrangeas here." Watanabe Toru pointed to a ridge of the field.
Qing Ye Lin looked at the place and said thoughtfully:
"I've read in many literature books that shouldn't the ridges of the fields in the countryside be planted with broad beans and the like? Why are they planting useless hydrangeas?"
"They also plant broad beans, and more people plant soybeans, but that was in the past. There are fewer people now, and many farmlands are abandoned."
"It's been many years indeed." Qing Ye Lin nodded, "They are all books from the Showa period."
The two walked across the ridge of the field that would be full of hydrangeas in June, and next to it was a large plastic greenhouse.
Off-season vegetables are grown in the greenhouse.
There are three ridges in total, one for tomatoes, one for eggplants, and the remaining one is planted with coriander, green peppers, garlic sprouts, etc.
Toru Watanabe left the path, crossed the ditch, stepped into the mud, lifted the shed and walked in.
"Is this your house?" Qingye Rin followed in and looked around curiously.
"no."
Toru Watanabe picked two bright red tomatoes, wiped them casually, and handed one to Rin Kiyono.
"Isn't that stealing?" Qingye Rin looked at the lovely tomato in his hand.
"In our Mizawa Village," Toru Watanabe took a big bite, revealing the red flesh and yellow seeds, "it's a symbol of good neighborly relations, and we only took two."
"Just like you have a driver's license in Mizawa Village?"
"You can draw inferences from this example, very smart!" Watanabe Toru praised.
Qingye Rin sighed: "I really hope that the police can teach you a lesson."
"Do you think the police don't steal? Every time that guy comes to our village, he rides a broken bicycle, stops on the side of the road and goes to pick cucumbers from the fields. Don't think that it's not stealing just because he takes one cucumber every time."
Qingye Rin didn't eat the tomatoes. Instead, she took out her cell phone and squatted to take pictures of the tomatoes and eggplants hanging on the branches.
"Isn't this a symbol of good neighborly relations? How did it become theft?" she asked while taking pictures.
“He’s not from our village.”
Toru Watanabe had already finished eating the tomatoes and threw the stems directly onto the ground.
After the inexperienced Lord Qingye had taken pictures of the coriander from various angles, the two of them closed the greenhouse door and continued their walk.
"This village is desolate but not decayed." Qingye Rin looked at the sun rising from the mountain.
"Well, it's just like my house: old, but not broken." Toru Watanabe also looked at the distant mountains.
“What is summer like?”
"The whole place is filled with fresh green, and the cuckoos are singing in the mountains."
"No bonito?" Kiyono Rin retracted her gaze and looked at Watanabe Toru.
Watanabe Toru also withdrew his gaze, and the two smiled at each other.
This is a haiku by Yamaguchi Sodo: The whole view is filled with fresh green, the cuckoos are singing in the mountains, and the bonito is fresh in early summer.
"You don't know what it is." Watanabe Toru said unwillingly.
"If you want to surpass me in literature, you have to finish reading my eight-meter-high home library first." Qingye Rin smiled with her hands covering her mouth.
"Take your time. There's still a lot of time."
"So, in your own words, what is summer like in Mizawa Village?"
"Hmm... the monotonous chirping of cicadas and the intermittent sound of wind chimes."
"'Monotonous and intermittent', although it sounds good, it seems sad compared to 'the whole place is full of new green, and the cuckoos are crying in the mountains'."
"How can it not be desolate?" Watanabe Toru explained, "Do you think the countryside is comfortable? It's okay to live there occasionally, but for those who have seen the neon lights of the city, this is a hellish place."
"Forget it, let's not talk about this." Watanabe Toru pointed to the valley at the end of the road and continued, "You can see the sea after passing through there. I'll take you there in a couple of days."
"So, this is actually a village by the sea?" When Qingye Rin thought about it, he took a glance and it was indeed the sea.
"Hmm? That makes sense!" Watanabe Toru clenched his right fist and hammered it into his left palm, "It turns out that I am not a child from the mountains, but a child from the seaside."
Qingye Rin glared at him with a look that said, "What are you thinking about all day?"
As they were talking, the two arrived at Yoshida's house.
The general layout is similar to that of the Watanabe family's, with cement paths, mud courtyards, and quaint traditional buildings.
The difference is that there is a rice planting tractor parked in the warehouse.
"It's Xiao Che!" Aunt Yoshida's voice was very nice.
"Aunt Yoshida." Watanabe Toru greeted, "This is my friend from a school in Tokyo, Kiyono Rin."
"Aunt Yoshida, good morning." Qingye Rin held the tomato in both hands, folded them in front of her belly, and bowed slightly.
"What friend? A girlfriend, right?" Aunt Yoshida affirmed, and said to Qingye Rin with a smile, "Little Rin is so beautiful!"
"…My girlfriend is sleeping at home." Watanabe Toru explained patiently.
"Huh? You have two girlfriends?!"
"…My mother asked me to get the Fukujinzaki."
"Fukujinzaku? Oh, there is such a thing. I have already put it in a bottle."
Aunt Yoshida went to the house to get some Fukujinzuke and said to Watanabe Toru, "We are going to dig winter bamboo shoots today. Do you want to come, Toru?"
"Okay." Watanabe Toru looked at the second floor, "Is Teacher Reiko still sleeping?"
"After the school closed for winter vacation, she stayed in bed even at noon!" Aunt Yoshida looked angry when talking about her daughter.
Watanabe Toru, who used to get up at noon, said that if he wanted Reiko to change, he needed to go to Tokyo and meet Kujo Miki.
When I got home, it was only eight o'clock.
