My love index is at its maximum.

Shiori Ninomiya laughed easily, and when she laughed, Tsukasa Tazaki laughed along with her.

So both of them relaxed.

Tazaki Tsukasa opened his coffee, took a sip, and while savoring it, casually remarked, "You've lost a lot of weight in just one week."

"How could I not lose weight after holding in my anger for a week after giving birth?"

The little cutie complained, her delicate nose twitching slightly. Her already slender body looked even thinner than before, but her smile remained full of energy.

Especially those eyes; every time Tsukasa Tazaki looked over, it was as if he could hear them greeting him: "Hey, Kiki, I'm here."

Chapter 148 Little Cutie's Diary, Jardin's Secret

It got dark outside, but the lights in the shop were on, and the glass window in front of the two of them became a mirror.

Tsukasa Tazaki saw one of the little cutie's eyes on the side closest to him in the mirror, but couldn't see the other eye.

"Have you really been sulking all week?" he asked, looking into the eye.

Shiori Ninomiya nodded as she ate her oden.

"Were you cursing me in your heart?"

"Of course I do, I keep cursing you in my heart that you'll only be able to go to Uruguay to pick up cow dung in the future."

Tsukasa Tazaki took a sip of his coffee: "Why Uruguay?"

"Because I don't know where that is, it must be very poor! You'd better spend your whole life picking up cow dung in that kind of place to appease me."

The girl pouted, her soft, cherry-like lips glistening with oil under the light. She was incredibly cute, just like the charm of her youthful body.

Although Tsukasa Tazaki didn't laugh, he almost fell off his chair.

"How dare you react like that?"

The little cutie glared at him angrily: "I've cried so many times! I want to call you and yell at you, but I said I wouldn't talk to you until I forgave you, so I can only keep all my words in my diary."

Her slightly arched eyebrows still carried a hint of childishness, and her neck was as delicate as a newly peeled lily. When she talked about her terrible mood over the past week, her fair and delicate face flushed slightly, making her look exceptionally clean and flawless.

With mixed feelings, Tsukasa Tazaki asked, "If you were so angry, why did you forgive me?"

"It was the lady selling lemonade in the cafeteria who lied to me!"

Shiori Ninomiya rested her chin on her hand, her tone still somewhat indignant: "At lunchtime today, I went to buy lemonade. The auntie asked me where the boy who often comes with you was. I just said you went to Uruguay to collect cow dung. The auntie was surprised and said, 'Uruguay is in South America, right?' I said, 'Yes, what's the problem?' The auntie said, 'South America is a very chaotic place. There must be human excrement everywhere on the streets, flies all over the place, toilets must not have water to flush, everyone has a gun, and the president changes every other day. That boy looks so weak. Unless he is taken by a warlord, he definitely won't live long.'"

At this point, the little cutie smiled slightly helplessly and continued, "When I first heard Auntie say that, my heart jumped into my throat. Although I was angry, I didn't want you to die, so I had no choice but to send you back to Tokyo from Uruguay. But after I finished eating and went back to the classroom, I checked on Google and realized I'd been tricked! South America is indeed chaotic, but Uruguay is the safest place. You could collect cow dung there for ten or eight years and still not die!"

Tazaki Tsukasa clasped his hands together in the direction of the school and said, "Thank you, cafeteria lady."

“I’ll let it go this time, but it’s not good to send you back to Uruguay again.” Shiori Ninomiya tilted her head slightly. “If you make me angry again next time, I won’t just sulk by myself. I’ll cry right now. Let me warn you, once I start crying, I won’t care what people are looking at. I’ll cry all day long. Can you handle that?”

"Really?"

"Oh really!"

"I'll try my best." Tsukasa Tazaki nodded and said nothing more.

Shiori Ninomiya's face lit up, and she took out a notebook from her bag: "I'm going to write this down in my diary."

Do you have a habit of keeping a diary?

"Hmm... Reading through old diaries is one of my greatest pleasures. I record everything that happens each day, whether I'm happy or not. Sometimes when I come across some sentimental parts, I feel embarrassed myself."

"When did it start?"

The little cutie poked her temple with her pen and thought for a while: "When I was ten years old, something happened at home, so I thought I'd write it down and see how I'd feel when I looked back on it later. I put a lot of effort into writing it, filling a notebook with tiny, finely sharpened pencils."

"Has it never stopped?" Tsukasa Tazaki asked with some admiration.

"Yeah, this year's record was the most interesting. Every time I got home from school, I would start writing after finishing my homework, and I would fall asleep halfway through. You can still see the gaps in some places. Of course, I couldn't write every day. Sometimes I was too busy, or like last time when you and Sakura came to my house, I would miss a day."

What Tazaki Tsukasa admires most about her is her perseverance, even more than her diary-keeping. She started writing a diary when she was ten years old, and by now she must have filled more than a dozen notebooks.

"Have you written down your thoughts and feelings every day?"

"I can't write down any thoughts, I just record some daily life."

"That's so boring."

"There's nothing I can do, it's just that I'm stupid."

"It's all in vain."

“Yes,” Shiori Ninomiya answered loudly and nonchalantly, then stared straight at Tsukasa Tazaki: “The people I’ve met since I was a child all read books like cattle raising manuals, potato planting methods, and pickling instructions for 108 kinds of pickled vegetables. Nobody has read ‘War and Peace’ or ‘The Catcher in the Rye’. They’re all too busy to have time to reflect.”

Tazaki Tsukasa thought of the sprouting potatoes at home: "The way potatoes are grown sounds interesting, and I'm thinking of growing some myself."

"I'll teach you later."

The little cutie grinned, propped her cheek up with her left hand, and held a pen in her right hand, casually writing in her diary as if solving a quadratic equation.

[June 18, Friday. Cloudy in the morning, sunny in the afternoon.]

A week later, I saw Kiki returning from Uruguay. He had cut his hair short. His demeanor hadn't changed much, but something felt off. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but it was as if the painter who had painted the walls so beautifully had suddenly vanished.

[Is it good or bad? That's too much of a question for fifteen-year-old Shiori-chan, so I've decided not to think about it. After all, I can still stay in Tokyo for nine months. Deciding too early is no good; if it's good, that's fine, but if it's bad, it'll just ruin my mood.]

[And this bastard actually said that Shiori-chan's diary writing is futile!!!]

[It's so infuriating, but I've finally calmed down and don't want to get angry again so soon. So I'm saving it up for when he gets me angry again, then we'll all get angry together and I'll ignore him for two weeks!]

Two female customers came into the store and sat down next to each of them, each holding a boxed lunch.

Both were office workers, quite beautiful, with neat makeup and clothes, and good poise. They chatted quietly while slowly eating and drinking coffee.

The taller girl turned to look at Tsukasa Tazaki several times, while the shorter girl shook her head several times.

Ninomiya Shiori wrote while observing them alternately.

After a while, the tall girl struck up a conversation with Tsukasa Tazaki, and the two chatted about some random topics. The short girl occasionally chimed in, her eyes sparkling.

The conversations were all between customers and staff; Tsukasa Tazaki didn't answer anything else.

Shiori Ninomiya is very satisfied.

When the tall girl approached him and asked which type of stockings the convenience store had and which one would look best on her, Tsukasa Tazaki answered and then politely complimented her legs. She shyly thanked him.

The little cutie was very dissatisfied and shouted loudly, "Kiki, come with me!"

"Where?"

"Aomori Prefecture!!!"

Tazaki Tsukasa wanted to ask why they were going to Aomori Prefecture so late at night, but seeing her "I'll get angry if you ask me again" expression, he didn't dare to say anything.

He hurriedly changed back into his school uniform, slung his backpack over his shoulder, and took the box of photography equipment with him as he went out.

A Mercedes-Benz Sprinter RV was parked at the exit of a gas station in front of the convenience store.

Yui Kikawa sat in the seat by the car door, her laptop resting on the partition in front of her. When she saw Tsukasa Tazaki get on the bus, she only glanced up briefly before returning to her own business.

"Didn't you say he'd come after he got off work at nine?" Kuriyama Sakura asked, lying on the sofa. Tazaki Tsukasa glanced at her; she was holding a copy of "The Old Capital," the author of which was also Kawabata Yasunari.

Shiori Ninomiya said irritably, "If we keep waiting, he'll cheat on me!"

"Cheating?"

Kuriyama Sakura glanced at Tazaki Tsukasa, then nodded thoughtfully: "The possibility is very high."

"slander!"

Tazaki Tsukasa explained, then found a separate seat and sat down.

"Would you like to listen to some music?" the driver asked from the driver's seat.

"To induce sleep as much as possible," Tazaki replied.

"understood."

Inside the carriage, a piece composed by Ryuichi Sakamoto played, including many different versions of "Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence".

In addition to instrumental music, there are also songs composed by Ryuichi Sakamoto.

When the French song "Jardin' Secret" was played, Sakura Kuriyama hummed along for a few lines.

I have a key to the secret garden.

It's in my heart

I hid it.

Close the door

Tsukasa Tazaki hadn't started learning French yet, but this song happened to be one of the few French songs he had ever heard.

The singer Cécile Corbel is French, and he knew this because his cell phone ringtone, "Arrietty's Song," was sung by this singer.

Driving from Tokyo to Oma-no-kami in Aomori Prefecture is a long journey, about 800 kilometers according to the map. Around 10 PM, after the RV left the Tokyo metropolitan area, Tsukasa Tazaki reclined his seat and fell asleep.

It started raining heavily around midnight.

The raindrops pounded against the car window, waking Tsukasa Tazaki. He looked through the glass window at the highway under the night sky, where the streetlights along the road became faintly visible.

All three girls fell asleep, and the driver stopped playing music.

Tsukasa Tazaki watched the rain for a while, then closed his eyes and went back to sleep.

“kiki~~”

"what's up?"

There was no follow-up.

Tsukasa Tazaki opened his eyes and looked back.

The little cutie adjusted her sleeping position, mumbled something, and made some unintelligible murmurs.

He was talking in his sleep.

Tsukasa Tazaki closed his eyes again, and when he woke up again, it was just beginning to get light.

The highway was flanked by lush green mountains and forests. I don’t know when the rain stopped, or perhaps it didn’t stop, but the car just drove out of the rainy area.

At five o'clock in the morning, the RV smoothly drove off the highway and traveled through the morning mist. At six o'clock in the morning, we arrived at our destination, a slightly desolate coastal town at the northernmost tip of Honshu Island.