My love index is at its maximum.

After leaving the school, I took a taxi directly to JR Ueno Station.

Shinkansen trains traveling from Tokyo northwards generally depart from this station, and those traveling even further to Hokkaido also start from here.

The plaza in front of the station was packed with people, even more so than Nihonbashi and Ginza in the city center.

The taxi stopped by the roadside. As soon as I got out of the car, I could see the elevated railway line above the railway, and a Yamanote Line tram with green paint rumbled past.

While I was waiting for the traffic light at the intersection, several trains passed overhead. The trains approached with a sense of oppressive power, and after passing, they surged forward with an unstoppable momentum, much like life itself—a journey from which there is no turning back, only the relentless drive to move forward.

Tsukasa Tazaki stood at the entrance, looking up at the trains coming and going.

The pedestrians passing by all had relaxed and casual expressions, as if the Yamanote Line trains passing overhead were no longer crowded and anxious commuter trains, but just a small embellishment to this pleasant sunny day.

After watching for a while, the agreed time arrived.

Tsukasa Tazaki bought a ticket to Hakodate and went through the ticket gate.

It was a rare sunny day in late autumn, and the coffee shop in the station was filled with a light and cheerful atmosphere, where stylish men and women enjoyed a moment of peace before their journey.

Probably no one would notice that a girl who desperately wanted to escape her original fate, after being trapped in an inescapable predicament, chose to embark on a long journey home alone.

After walking through the long underground passage and reaching the platform, the Shinkansen train bound for Hakodate was just stopping. Beside the long, silvery-white steel dragon, Shiori Ninomiya waved from afar.

She was wearing the same white wool sweater and coarse cloth trousers as when she came to Beijing, with two large suitcases beside her.

"Has it started snowing in Hokkaido?" Tsukasa Tazaki asked as he walked over.

“It’s not raining in the south yet,” Shiori Ninomiya replied. “But my town is in the far north, so it should have started raining there already. The town is really nice, I’ll send you pictures when I have time.”

"really?"

Shiori Ninomiya nodded: "I can also write you letters."

“A letter is ultimately just a letter,” Tsukasa Tazaki said. “It doesn’t matter whether you write it or not. What’s meant to stay in your heart will stay, and what’s not meant to stay won’t stay even if you write it down.”

“Those are fragments of memory,” Shiori Ninomiya said with a smile.

Tsukasa Tazaki smiled.

“Don’t forget me,” she said.

"I will never forget."

"I may never see you again, but no matter how much time passes, I will always remember you."

“Okay.” Tsukasa Tazaki looked into her eyes.

The Hokkaido girl said through tears, "Actually, I don't like Kiki at all, but I'm still very grateful that you've spent time with me."

I've seen this scene in my dream.

However, it was a snowy winter, more than a month earlier than now.

As the Shinkansen train sounded its departure bell, and they parted, Shiori Ninomiya, her face streaked with tears, smiled brightly. Just like that night they first met at the convenience store, when she smiled and said, "So handsome!" with obvious delight.

I wish you a happy life, and that you can make up for what I lost...

The two shook hands and said goodbye. Shiori Ninomiya picked up her luggage and walked into the carriage alone.

The train started moving smoothly.

Clutching my backpack, my mind was blank; I lost all sense of time.

Tears streamed down my face, landing on my clothes and making my cheeks feel cold.

The woman sitting next to the girl looked at her crying and asked with concern, "Has something unfortunate happened to you?"

"No, I just said goodbye to someone," Shiori Ninomiya said very frankly.

She didn't care if others saw her crying; she didn't want to think about anything, she just wanted to have a good cry.

One hand gently stroked her hair, while the other hand tenderly wrapped around her shoulder.

As Shiori Ninomiya turned around, she heard his gentle voice.

"Take me to see the first snow of my life, my little darling."

"Why are you here...?"

"I bought a ticket too."

"Who sent you here...?"

"Want to see snow? I've never seen it before in my life. Will you agree?"

It's not like Tokyo hasn't had snow before... Shiori Ninomiya cried silently.

On the train journey home, the boy's warmth enveloped her, and as tears streamed down her face, all her sorrow vanished, replaced by a sweet joy.

Chapter 261 Encountering the First Snow and the First Kiss

As evening fell, the train passed through the long Seikan Tunnel and entered Hokkaido.

Tazaki Tsukasa leaned back in his chair, passing the time by flipping through the pages of "Snow Country."

He doesn't know how many times he's read this book, but every time he reads it, he is deeply moved and saddened by the beauty of nothingness, purity, and sorrow depicted by Kawabata Yasunari.

If we were to apply reality into the book, then the Seikan Tunnel, which crosses the Tsugaru Strait, would be the long tunnel that marks the beginning of the prefectural border.

So, the female protagonist in the book, Komako, must be the little cutie, right...?

And isn't he just like that scumbag Shimamura?

Thinking about this possibility, Tsukasa Tazaki turned his head and looked at Shiori Ninomiya, who was fast asleep with her head resting on his shoulder.

Her fervent emotions, when they met him, were like Komako's encounter with Shimamura—utterly unrequited. This kind of devotion was merely a beautiful futility, a meaningless effort. Just as they were constantly struggling against their surroundings, ultimately receiving only true, futile sorrow.

We must not allow such a tragedy to actually happen in reality!

He muttered to himself, and looked out the car window. The scenery was an endless expanse of pastoral landscape, low farmhouses, and the faint afterglow of the sunset still lingering in the dense forest.

The train attendant, who was selling things in the carriage, pushed his cart over. Feeling a bit cold, he bought a cup of coffee.

I sipped my coffee and looked out the window.

The train was unusually warm with the air conditioning on, but condensation clung to the corners of the windows due to the temperature difference. Perhaps due to travel fatigue, no one spoke; everyone was quietly lost in thought or asleep under the lights.

The scenery outside the window was monotonous: endless farmland, with small villages occasionally glimpsed, and dark mountains in the distance. The pale afternoon sunlight of winter was swallowed by the darkness as the train moved among the overlapping mountains, heading towards the end of the twilight-shrouded valley.

Speaking of which, we're almost at the next transfer station.

The Shinkansen only goes as far as Hakodate. In the evening, you have to take a five-and-a-half-hour train ride to Asahikawa, and then transfer to a bus to Ninomiya's town.

It was a long journey.

But it's not bad.

Compared to flying directly to his destination, Tsukasa Tazaki prefers to travel by train.

While airplanes are certainly more convenient and faster, the speed of thought often cannot keep up, and one often feels a sense of disbelief upon arrival at the destination: Where am I now?

It felt like just a moment ago that you were in another, faraway place.

Taking a train provides a real sense of movement, from one station to another, watching the scenery outside the window constantly recede. In this forward-moving time, one can reflect on what the beginning will be like at the destination.

The above is a reflection by the artistic youth, Tsukasa Tazaki, on modes of transportation.

He drank half of his coffee from the paper cup, then snapped out of his reverie and reopened the book.

Steaming hot coffee, the weight of books, unfamiliar scenery, dim lighting in the carriage, the scent of a girl's hair—time seems to slow down as Tsukasa Tazaki enjoys his leisurely life.

The carriage lights swayed, and particles of light danced in the air.

Shiori Ninomiya rubbed her eyes and looked out the window. The twilight scenery seemed to move backward, and the outlines of objects were unusually hazy in the mist.

"Where are we?" she asked, her voice dazed.

Tsukasa Tazaki turned around and saw her face reflected in the glass window.

The outlines of the scenery he saw outside hadn't disappeared, but they had faded, making her face reflected in the glass seem almost transparent. The indescribable beauty made his heart tremble.

Of course, it wasn't truly transparent.

Because the little cutie was facing the endlessly passing desolate twilight scenery, and the glass reflected her face, from Tsukasa Tazaki's perspective, the desolate scenery seemed to flow right across her face.

A captivating and enigmatic beauty.

He became quite engrossed in watching it.

Not hearing his reply, Shiori Ninomiya turned to look at him. Her fair face reflected the lights from the carriage, and the moment her eyes met the dim light, the flickering light was reminiscent of a campfire lit by the wind on a cold winter night.

"Eh, kiki?"

Shiori Ninomiya waved her hand in front of him: "What are you daydreaming about?"

"Oh, it's nothing." Tsukasa Tazaki snapped out of his reverie and waved the book in his hand. "I was reading, quite engrossed."

"I don't believe you. You were looking at me just now."

“I really was reading,” Tsukasa Tazaki explained. “Whenever I read a book, I become engrossed in it, trusting, assimilating, resonating with it, and even connecting it to my life. Just now, I was so absorbed in reading that I connected you with the characters in the book.”

Aren't the characters in the book adorable?

"cute."

After answering, Tsukasa Tazaki added, "But she's not as cute as Shiori-chan."

Shiori Ninomiya tried hard to keep a straight face: "All you do is flatter people, you never tell the truth."

But just two seconds later, she couldn't help but laugh. Once she started laughing, it was hard to stop. In the end, she simply buried her face in Tsukasa Tazaki's shoulder and rubbed against him affectionately like a puppy.

Tsukasa Tazaki put one arm around her shoulder and gently patted her back with the other: "Sweetie~"

A middle-aged man across from me felt a bit full and couldn't help but let out a burp.

He was clearly just staring at that young girl, but he managed to steer the conversation towards reading. It's really unbearable when cultured people act like scoundrels.

By the time we arrived at Hakodate Station, it was completely dark.

The passengers I saw on the platform were all wrapped up in thick winter clothes, covering their ears, and wearing tall snow boots.

This was Tazaki Tsukasa's first time in the north, and he was taken aback by the locals' attire as soon as he got off the train.

The car door opened, and he got off with his luggage. Because he was still warm from the car's heater, he didn't feel the cold for a moment, so he couldn't help but mutter, "Is it that cold? Why is everyone dressed so warmly?"

"Yeah, it's totally winter now." Shiori Ninomiya turned around and looked at his autumn school uniform. "Kiki, you didn't bring any clothes, did you?"