Chapter 349

The girl's cheerful laughter warmed the entire snow-covered mountaintop.

After a while, the sound of shoes stepping on the snow and bluestone was heard first, followed by the sound of a girl breathing heavily.

"My stomach hurts from laughing..."

Her already stiff smile held a hint of reproach as she shook Ishikawa Hayato's hand with her ungloved hand and looked at him.

Ishikawa Hayato glanced at her stomach, which was covered by her down jacket, and reached out his hand.

"Really? Let me touch it."

Nijika looked at his outstretched hand and subconsciously pulled out her other hand to stop him, but then suddenly realized what she was doing and stopped, putting the hand back in her pocket.

Ishikawa Hayato was taken aback, and raised his gaze to see Nijika's gentle, smiling eyes beneath the hood of her down jacket.

"What's wrong? Not touching it again?" she asked with a smile.

"Ishikawa Hayato said, looking at the zipper of her down jacket."

"The down jacket is too thick, I want to touch the inside of the down jacket."

Nijika looked down at her clothes, but then seemed to remember something, and looked at Ishikawa Hayato with a teasing smile.

"Then Hayato-kun, do it yourself."

Ishikawa Hayato stopped and asked, "Really?"

Nijika shrank back, but still spoke up, "If I didn't think it was right, why would I say that? Wouldn't it mean that if Hayato-kun wanted to, he could just force himself on me?"

Ishikawa Hayato walked up to her, looking at her shy and nervous expression, and slowly unzipped her down jacket, but only up to her stomach.

The warmth of Nijika's body emanated from her clothes. Looking at the knitted sweater she was wearing underneath, Ishikawa Hayato regained his composure and reached out to touch it. As he touched it, he nodded like an old doctor.

"Mmm, it's okay, my stomach isn't hurting from laughing, it doesn't hurt at all."

Nijika couldn't help but laugh twice more, "Hayato-kun, you weren't actually trying to touch my stomach with that intention, were you?"

Upon hearing her say that, Ishikawa Hayato changed his attitude and began to appreciate it seriously.

"Hmm, no excess fat on her stomach, feels extremely slender to the touch, and there are signs of exercise. Even through her clothes, you can feel the smoothness of her skin and the suppleness of her body..."

Nijika blushed more and more as she listened, and gently pushed him away, calling out.

"I didn't tell you to say that!"

Ishikawa Hayato walked over with a smile, zipped up her jacket faster than she could, and pulled down her hat.

"So what should I say? Do you want something even more perverted?"

Nijika paused, then sighed and chuckled, saying, "Forget it, I can't accept anything too extreme right now."

The two continued forward, but after walking a short distance, they saw a large snowdrift blocking the road, indicating that the snow sweepers had not cleared the mountain path properly.

We weren't sure if the roads were safe under the snow, so it seemed our snow mountain trip had to end here.

Ishikawa Hayato walked over, looking left and right at the edge of the snowdrift.

"Hayato-kun?" Nijika asked with some concern.

What worried her was what unexpected things Ishikawa Hayato might do next.

Sure enough, Ishikawa Hayato suddenly grabbed the snowdrift and shouted, lifting the snowdrift, which was taller than him and as big as his outstretched arms, up in one go.

And even with both hands holding it, the snowdrift didn't crumble.

Ishikawa Hayato turned around, hugging the snowdrift. Before he could speak, Nijika hurriedly waved her hand and called out.

"Hayato-kun, I don't want a snowball fight!"

Now, seeing Nijika's panicked expression and the snowdrift in his hand that was the size of five or six people, Ishikawa Hayato laughed. He shouted "Hey!" Nijika immediately squatted down, covering her head.

The posture of crouching down with hands covering the head for defense is very standard.

But Ishikawa Hayato tossed it aside, and the snowdrift crumbled immediately upon hitting the ground.

He walked across the road that had been covered in snow and saw a bench a few steps ahead by the roadside. He talked as he walked over.

"I just remember there was a chair around here."

Nijika had squatted down while playing with Ishikawa Hayato, and looked up in confusion when she heard his voice.

"Hayato-kun has been here before?"

"I've seen pictures of this place in travel magazines."

As Ishikawa Hayato spoke, he quickly swept the snow off the chair. The snow that fell here a couple of days ago seemed to be dry snow, as it fell off easily and didn't leave any watermarks on the chair.

This saved Ishikawa Hayato the trouble of wiping with paper.

After he cleared a spot, he sat down. Nijika also came over, but as she was about to sit down next to him, he suddenly reached out and supported Nijika's chest, moving Nijika onto his lap.

Nijika glanced back at him, then obediently sat on his lap, following him as he held her belly.

As planned, Ishikawa Hayato held her tightly, his face pressed against her ear, gently rubbing against her.

"That's strange, Nijika has become more and more obedient since just now."

On a remote mountaintop, the winter sun shone on the snow like melting syrup, and the two sat sideways to the sun.

Nijika glanced back at him, her bright and gentle eyes reflecting both a girl's reliance and contemplation.

"It's just because I've discovered my own problem. I was just thinking about why I used to always do the opposite of Hayato-kun."

"Even though Hayato-kun can handle the situation and keep things in check, if we're talking about being meticulous, Hayato-kun is actually more meticulous than me and can do everything better."

She looked away, the sound of hair rubbing against the fabric coming from inside the hood, and gazed into the distance.

The sun was already approaching the mountaintop, obscured by the evening glow. A small portion of the sky was tinged with orange-red, while the majority of the blue sky seemed to grow increasingly white.

"So that was indeed a test," Ishikawa Hayato thought to himself.

But he didn't speak. Nijika for a few seconds before continuing.

"I've been taking care of Hayato-kun all along, yet I've been holding Hayato-kun back. Thinking about it, it really feels strange. I'm so clumsy, so careless, and I can't take care of anything properly. I don't understand why, even after dating for so long, I'm deliberately dragging things out and preventing Hayato-kun from getting ahead..."

Ishikawa Hayato listened patiently to her until her voice trailed off before speaking.

"That's really stupid."

After he spoke, Nijika fell completely silent, sitting quietly on his lap without moving.

From Ishikawa Hayato's perspective, he couldn't see Nijika's expression at all.

He continued, "Nijika made a few mistakes here. First, only a meticulous person who tries hard to take care of others will realize that they haven't been doing a good job."

Secondly, Nijika doesn't let me do anything because she's subconsciously worried about me having dated too many people. Thirdly, it's more accurate to say that I can only act boldly because Nijika is stopping me."

He gently hugged Nijika's petite and delicate body and asked.

"So, does Nijika know how amazing she is?"

After he finished speaking, he heard Nijika take a deep breath. Nijika's voice was somewhat low and contained a smile.

"Hayato-kun didn't deny that he's more attentive than me."

Ishikawa Hayato was speechless, unsure how to comfort her.

However, when Nijika turned around, her fair cheeks were flushed red by the sunset. She glanced at Ishikawa Hayato and noticed the gloves on his ears. She suppressed a laugh before speaking.

"It's so great that Hayato-kun doesn't see me as a troublesome, pretentious, or petty girl."

Ishikawa Hayato's expression suddenly darkened. He bit his hand and muttered to himself, "How dare someone talk about my Nijika like that? Looks like I'll have to take her back and bully her properly."

Nijika's smile was tinged with shyness. She simply nudged him lightly with her elbow without saying a word.

Her low flirting skills prevented her from keeping up with Ishikawa Hayato's conversation.

She spoke after a few seconds.

"Maybe it's really as Hayato-kun said. I was worried before, but it's been so long now, I think Hayato-kun can do whatever he wants in the future... right?"

However, when Nijika expressed that she could accept all of Ishikawa Hayato's behaviors, Ishikawa Hayato said...

"Hey, I'm actually looking forward to seeing Nijika say, ' Hayato-kun, this won't do! That's too much, stop it!'"

Nijika frowned as she listened, her face brimming with a desire to complain.

"What exactly was Hayato-kun thinking when he started dating me? And the atmosphere just suddenly died down!"

Ishikawa Hayato thought about it carefully.

"I started dating Nijika with the intention of... dating Nijika."

"That was all for nothing!" Nijika continued to complain.

"Because I can't possibly want to date a petite, cute, virtuous, and sunny girl. Those are qualities of Nijika, but not everything about Nijika. So I'm just dating Nijika with the intention of dating Nijika."

Nijika paused for a moment, taken aback by the words that were both praising and expressing affection, then looked away and said coquettishly, "You cunning one!"

Ishikawa Hayato turned her shoulder to the side, and Nijika cooperated by turning to the side as well, but deliberately avoided looking at Ishikawa Hayato.

But Ishikawa Hayato saw the sunset glow on her face, hugged her tightly, and whispered in her ear.

"The atmosphere can be recreated if it's gone, like it is now."

As Ishikawa Hayato spoke, he gently pressed his forehead against hers and asked.

"Is that okay?"

His question made Nijika tremble, her eyes welling up with tears. She pursed her lips, turned her head slightly, and gazed shyly at his face.

She didn't ask Ishikawa Hayato what steps he planned to take, but answered directly.

"... Whatever you like, Hayato-kun."

Their breaths and voices were so close that they could only feel each other's warmth and voices.

"I want to hear what Nijika has to say."

"This is..."

Nijika paused again, realizing that Ishikawa Hayato wanted her to express her emotions and thoughts herself. She temporarily put away her shyness and other emotions, placed her hands on Ishikawa Hayato's shoulders, suppressed her wildly pounding heart, and looked directly at him as she spoke.

"Hayato-kun, kiss me."

The girl's beautiful, bright red eyes reflected only one person's image; the dazzling light in her eyes seemed to hold the sun captive, fixing it on the hillside.

Amidst snow-covered mountains and mist-shrouded peaks, under the unchanging sunlight, a girl dressed almost as white as snow closes her eyes and leans up towards a boy.

As she rode the cable car down from Mount Tsurumi, despite witnessing the scene of light being taken away from the earth, Nijika felt little emotion.

She simply touched her lips lightly, lost in thought, as if savoring the emotions and novel feelings she had just experienced.

Ishikawa Hayato glanced at the scene of the light covering Beppu disappearing for a couple of seconds before looking away. He then looked down at Nijika's expression.

Her cheeks were radiant and luscious, her expression pure yet filled with longing, like a saintly maiden who had just taken a bite of forbidden fruit.

Ishikawa Hayato looked away and said.

"I kind of regret saying I had other plans."

Nijika snapped back to her senses, lowered her hand, and asked naturally.

"What are Hayato-kun's plans next?"

Despite her calm voice and expression, Ishikawa Hayato could still tell she was nervous, so he smiled and took out two tickets.

"How about we check out the livehouses around Beppu?"

Nijika looked at the ticket in his hand with a mixture of surprise and joy, but then hesitated for a moment before gritting her teeth and saying something in less than half a second.

"I think I'll just go directly..."

Ishikawa Hayato put away the ticket, noticed the unease on her face, and recalled her sensitive reaction that night, and said...

"Just keep things the way they were before. Dating each other just means we can go further together, it doesn't mean we have to make any changes right away. Just accept it gradually."

Nijika breathed a sigh of relief, then looked at him with concern.

"I hope Hayato-kun won't complain about how slow this is."

"That's too fast! What if Nijika runs away?"

Ishikawa Hayato asked a question almost simultaneously, and after a moment of surprise, Nijika and Ishikawa exchanged a smile.