A Young Woman's Heart

There was even a small shop full of vending machines on the roadside.

There were seven or eight vending machines inside, some selling drinks and some selling snacks, but the most attractive ones were the ones with prize draws.

It's somewhat similar to a gashapon machine; you can get different items after inserting coins.

You might even win a mobile phone or a computer, but of course, you can't just pull them out of the vending machine; you have to redeem them at a service point with your winning ticket.

"Clatter, clatter..." What Mo Xueyao was playing was almost no different from a gashapon machine, because it contained round plastic toys that fell out one by one.

"What did Haruka draw?"

"Uh... a keychain?"

"Huh, why is it a keychain?"

"A Pokémon keychain, uh... what a rip-off! This cost me 500 yen! I could easily buy ten of these back home for less than 500 yen each, right?"

"There's nothing we can do about bad luck. The one Xiaoyao drew could have won her a phone."

"Uh... I just wanted to try my luck, but I didn't expect to not even break even." She sighed and decided to give up.

But Wang Jiale simply stuffed in enough money for ten draws, and then started pressing buttons randomly. Ten boxes fell out with a 'thump thump'.

"Wow, Lele, what did you smoke?"

"It's not going to be ten keychains, is it?" Mo Xueyao said with a hint of schadenfreude.

"Mine isn't that expensive, it's only 100 yen per use, even if it's just a keychain..."

"What does Lele want to smoke?"

"First prize! That fluffy cape!"

"Huh, this looks like something you'd wear at home?"

"Hmm, it should be for winter wear. It says it's genuine leather and fur. I'd be happy to get one."

"Uh..." Mo Xueyao picked up a box and opened it. Inside was a keychain that was even rougher than the one she had drawn. "I mean, it's not like they're all keychains, is it?"

"It can't be that outrageous, can it..."

“I think if we each take one keychain, we might have a lot left over…” Hua Yinyin saw Wang Jiale take out a second one, and it turned out to be another keychain inside.

"..." This left Wang Jiale speechless for a moment.

……

Chapter 8. Pebble Beach

(One)

"Hey, is this the place?" Wang Jiale stepped onto the pebble beach wearing transparent sandals.

Golden sand beaches are actually quite rare; pebble beaches like this are the most common.

However, such places are generally not visited by many people and are far less beautiful than Golden Beach, which is why many people who have never been to the beach assume that all beaches have golden sand.

This is no longer Tokyo. Although it is still part of the Greater Tokyo Area, it is now a different city—Yokohama.

Thanks to the well-developed public transportation system, no one took a taxi; they arrived here by subway.

Of course, the last stretch of road still had to be walked. If it weren't for Mr. Xue, who could read maps, everyone would probably have gotten lost again.

Wang Jiale took her phone out of her pocket, which was covered by a grayish-white fuzzy phone case. Even in the sweltering summer heat, she didn't seem to mind the heat…

This is the prize I won in yesterday's lottery. Because of its elastic design, it can fit most mobile phones.

Even though it was summer, she still put it away and would take it out to look at it from time to time; the novelty of it seemed to have not worn off yet.

Hua Yinyin found a relatively flat open space, took out the tent, and called out to Mo Xueyao from a distance: "Little Yaoyao—Youyou, come and help set up the tent!"

The pebble beach was deserted, not because everyone had chosen a good location, but because the land belonged to Sanhua Tongjue's family.

Yes, in Japan, almost no land is not privately owned. In many cases, the government has to pay to lease land if it wants to use it.

The reason they came here was because Wang Jiale called Sanhua Tongjue to ask which beach was fun, and she recommended the beach near her home, also telling them that they could contact the beach manager if needed.

The manager lives in a small hut at the entrance to the beach. When we arrived, we had already borrowed a tent and a barbecue grill from him.

Yu Shu walked on the pebble beach, her shoes making a clattering sound as they rubbed against the stones.

She crouched down, held up her camera, and took a beautiful picture. Then she changed the angle, looked at it for a while, and took another picture.

Although she bought another memory card, she was going to play for so many days, so she no longer took as many photos as she had when she first arrived. She would observe each photo for a long time and only keep the best-looking or most interesting ones.

……

(two)

The tent wasn't actually for sleeping; it was for changing clothes.

Since we're visiting Tokyo, a seaside city, everyone naturally brought their swimsuits.

No one bought any new swimsuits; they just used the ones they wore at school.

Although the swimsuit didn't quite fit Hua Yinyin—

Mo Xueyao felt that she had grown up recently, because the swimsuit that the school gave her was almost bursting out of her clothes.

Mo Zhuyou squatted on the pebble beach, rummaging through the stones that had been smoothed by the sea.

Some of the colors are so beautiful that, with a little polishing, they could even be taken home as collectibles.

"Youyou, what are you looking for?" Mo Xueyao bent down with her knees bent and asked curiously, "There don't seem to be many seashells here."

"Looking at pretty stones, look, this orange one, isn't it quite nice?"

"The colors are nice, but the shapes are weird..."

"Maybe it's coral from the sea?"

"Maybe, it's quite rough." Mo Zhuyou picked it up and examined it closely before tossing it back. "Hmm, I still prefer smoother stones..."

"How about using it for stone-grilled meat?"

"Hey, can you do that?"

"Ask Xiaoxue! If she says it's possible, then it's fine! Xiaoxue—!"

……

(three)

On the beach, Mr. Xue was standing in front of the barbecue grill, turning over the skewers, while the others were playing a game of eagle catching chicks.

This time, Yu Shu was the eagle, and Hua Yinyin was the hen. Under Hua Yinyin's protection, Yu Shu couldn't catch the person behind her at all. After running around several times, she was already panting heavily.

"Huff, huff... I can't catch it at all...!"

"Hehe, I won~!" Hua Yinyin puffed out her chest triumphantly. "Shall we continue playing this?"

"Running around like this feels too dangerous. What if I fall and get hurt?" Wang Jiale shook her head. "This is a pebble beach, you know. How about we play something else?"

"Then let's play something..." Mo Xueyao's thoughts were interrupted by the aroma of grilled skewers. She turned to look at Mr. Xue, "Xiao Xue! Can we eat now?"

“Some of the skewers are ready to eat.” Mr. Xue picked up a skewer of lamb, took a bite, and nodded gently. “Hmm…it tastes pretty good.”

"I want beef skewers! Extra cumin!" Mo Xueyao was the first to rush over.

"Is the rice cake ready?" Wang Jiale took a can of juice from the box on the ground, opened the tab with a 'click', and poured a small sip into his mouth.

"These are all done." Mr. Xue placed the cooked skewers on the edge, then took out some skewers that hadn't been grilled yet and continued grilling them.

I bought this from a shop that specializes in barbecue food. I heard it was for a camping barbecue, and the shop even thoughtfully packed the food in a styrofoam box filled with ice. Of course, there was a downside: each skewer of meat was quite small.

During her days in Japan, Mo Xueyao felt that the Japanese had the appetite of cats, otherwise why would so many things be served in small portions?

Although there were some large portions of food, she didn't want to eat it again after just one bite because... it was really salty.

"Will everyone be able to see their results as soon as they get back?" Yu Shu asked casually, taking small bites of a skewer of cauliflower.

"That won't work... Our visas are only valid for seven days, and we have to go back in seven days."

"Hmm! It'll probably be around the 20th before we can watch it." Wang Jiale held the grilled rice cake away from her thigh to avoid getting the sauce on it on her.

"We'll have to go back to school once then. By the way, did Shu'er inform us whether there will be classes during the summer vacation?" Hua Yinyin took a big bite, immediately choked from the heat, spat the unchewed food into her palm, blew on it a few times, and then put it back in her mouth.

"Um... I signed up for summer tutoring classes, which start on the 20th."

"Oh, isn't it tiring?"

"Well, so that I can get better grades and then... get into Xingda University next year."

"I see... Well then, good luck!"

"Is this too strenuous?" Mo Xueyao asked with some concern. "Won't you get heatstroke in the classroom without air conditioning? Besides, it's better to balance work and rest, isn't it?"

"Oh dear, Yaoyao, not everyone is like you. Ordinary people have to work very hard to get into a top university."

"Yes, yes! That's right..." Wang Jiale nodded vigorously. If it weren't for Xingda University's priority admission quota, she would probably have had to perform exceptionally well to get in.

"It's okay. If all else fails, you can get a spot like Lele and get in with a low score, or like Youyou, look at her, she doesn't even have to take an exam."

"It's not that easy, Haruka."

"Hmm... With so many people participating, even those with lower scores who are given priority admission are not many."

Yu Shu nodded seriously: "We should focus on improving our grades first, and not put our hopes on things that are not very clear..."

"Uh... yeah, what if it's not available next year?"

"Oh, right, does that mean that when we go back to check the grades, Shu'er will be in class?" Hua Yinyin said, winking at Mo Xueyao.

"It seems so."

"Um... well, I gave everyone the printed photos that day..."

"Wow, printing out so many photos must cost a lot of money."

"Hmm? This time we'll just print a portion, mainly the ones from before, it's fine."

"Little Yaoyao, talking about money at a time like this is too hurtful to our feelings. This is a token of Shu'er's affection. Please don't ruin the atmosphere."

"I'm just worried about wasting too much money. If we each give her a share of the printing cost, we can save some money..."