My love index is at its maximum.

“I don’t dare to go…” Shiori Ninomiya let out a long sigh. After the white mist rose and disappeared into the wind, she said in a low voice, “Today is the last check-up. If it’s still the same as before, I’ll have to be transferred to a big hospital in Sapporo for amputation surgery. Shiori-chan is very anxious…”

"Silly girl." Tsukasa Tazaki turned his head and looked at her profile affectionately.

The girl's beautiful face, set against the backdrop of white snow, possessed an even more pure and flawless beauty.

"Have you heard Mika Nakashima's 'Yuki no Hana'?" he asked.

"I heard."

“Let’s sing it once,” Tsukasa Tazaki said. “In Hokkaido, where snow is falling all around, we absolutely have to hear Mika’s ‘Yuki no Hana’ (Snow Flower) to truly capture the atmosphere!”

Looking into his expectant eyes, Shiori Ninomiya's chest rose and fell slightly as she adjusted her breathing and softly sang.

When the first snow fell this year

We nestled together

The moment of gazing at the falling snow

A feeling of happiness overflows

只要有你

Everything can be solved easily.

Under the clear winter sky, the girl's singing voice was melancholic yet tender, inspiring admiration in the listener.

Tsukasa Tazaki reached out and placed his hand on her waist, their faces about three centimeters apart.

The heat hit my face, and I could see the other person's eyelashes trembling slightly.

“Just like the song says,” he said, “I will make you smile again, no matter how sad you are.”

Shiori Ninomiya didn't respond, only smiled with her lips pursed.

“There are still so many things that Shiori-chan hasn’t had a chance to experience yet,” Tsukasa Tazaki laughed, reaching out to pinch her nose as if to make her breathe through her mouth. “You missed the first school festival, so you can’t miss the first school trip too, right? There are still a few days left, and we’ll fly directly to Kyoto to meet up with everyone. At the end of November, there’s the sports festival, and next month there’s Christmas. Lots of fun things are waiting for you in Tokyo.”

With her nose pinched, Shiori Ninomiya could only breathe through her mouth.

Then, the girl's soft, thin lips caught the eye of Tsukasa Tazaki.

"What? Um... You're bullying Shiori-chan again." Ninomiya Shiori's shoulders trembled slightly as she wrapped her arms around his neck, letting him bully her.

A long time passed.

Tazaki Tsukasa slightly raised his head, buried his forehead in her hair, and wrapped his arms tightly around her slender waist.

"Just a little longer..." Shiori Ninomiya said, her chest heaving, her voice sounding more like a plea than a coquettish plea.

"It's time to go down the mountain," Tsukasa Tazaki said helplessly.

Shiori Ninomiya ignored him, reached out again, wrapped her arms around his neck, and pressed her lips to his.

Snowflakes drifted down, landing on their hair and clothes. The icy air seemed to vanish temporarily, as if dried by the warmth of their bodies.

Chapter 264 Hello Auntie, this is my girlfriend, Shiori Ninomiya

By noon, the snow had lessened considerably, and the clear sky was breathtaking.

The two came down from the mountaintop and returned to the village.

"Shiori-nee, Shiori-nee!" From a great distance, a little girl wearing a thick coat waved to Ninomiya Shiori.

"Hello, Xiaoxue." Shiori Ninomiya greeted her, then turned to Tsukasa Tazaki and introduced her: "This is Uncle Ishida's child. The cucumbers and tomatoes we picked this morning belong to her family."

"They're here to collect a debt from you, aren't they?" Tsukasa Tazaki joked.

"No way, Shiori-chan is very popular in the village." Ninomiya Shiori pulled his arm and came to the little girl. "Isn't it Friday today? Why didn't you go to school?"

"I caught a cold~" The little girl had snot that was almost frozen under her nose, and her big, dark eyes curiously looked at Tsukasa Tazaki. "Shiori-nee, my dad said you brought your boyfriend home. Is this the one?"

Shiori Ninomiya replied with a smile, "It's him."

"Wow, what a handsome guy!" The little girl's eyes lit up. "He's so good-looking, is he from the city?"

“A Tokyoite,” Tsukasa Tazaki replied.

"Oh, oh, oh," the little girl said with an "I see" look, and affirmed, "You're the handsome Tokyo guy that Shiori-nee mentioned who loves to lie the most!"

"...?" Tsukasa Tazaki paused for a moment, then looked at the adorable little girl with a 'you explain this to me' gaze.

"Ah~ Haha." Ninomiya Shiori didn't explain how much she had said bad things about him behind his back. She reached out and patted the little girl's head. "When Daddy gets home, he'll tell him that Shiori-nee went to your greenhouse today and picked some fruits and vegetables."

"Okay, Shiori-nee, wait for me." The little girl ran into the house, pulling up her trouser legs, and came out a moment later carrying a small bag of dried persimmons. "My mom made these before winter. Shiori-nee, take some to Auntie to try."

"Thank you, Xiaoxue."

"By the way, Shiori-neechan," the little girl said to herself, wiping her nose with the back of her hand, "Will Yuki be able to find a boyfriend like that when she grows up?"

The snotty little hand pointed straight at Tsukasa Tazaki.

"Yes, I will," Shiori Ninomiya said with a smile. "As long as I live happily like Shiori-nee, I might even find someone more handsome and better."

Tazaki Tsukasa retorted, "Impossible!" (in a booming voice)

Feeling his presence wasn't quite enough, he added, "Absolutely impossible! There's no man in the world more charismatic than me!"

"Don't embarrass me." Shiori Ninomiya rolled her eyes at him disdainfully, said goodbye to the little girl, and the two walked towards the village entrance.

Many villagers greeted her warmly as she met them, and Tazaki Tsukasa received many kind smiles in return.

The big yellow dog guarding the road at the village entrance was so hot that it pounced on him and licked him repeatedly.

Even the cows grazing by the roadside, upon seeing him arrive, defecated a steaming pile of cow dung as a gesture of welcome.

“Everyone loves Shiori-chan,” Tsukasa Tazaki remarked, then laughed heartily. “If I were to kidnap you, would I be blacklisted by the village and forbidden from taking you back to my parents’ home?”

"What nonsense are you talking about? It's so embarrassing." Shiori Ninomiya put her hands in the pockets of her down jacket, smiled gently, and tilted one eye slightly as she gazed at him, giving him a look that said, "If you can talk, then say a few more words."

The wind blew from the sea, gently caressing her long hair, and then disappeared into the mountains and forests behind her.

Snow was falling softly from the bare tree branches, and a few dogs barked in the distance.

The voice sounded somewhat indistinct, as mysterious as the entrance to another world.

Apart from that, Tsukasa Tazaki heard no other sounds.

The warm sunshine bathed the earth, and the farmland, farmhouses, and tree branches were covered with snow. Walking through it was like stepping into a gray and white ink painting.

"It feels like we've entered another world." Tsukasa Tazaki turned around and looked at the clear footprints the two of them left in the snow.

Shiori Ninomiya reached out her left hand from her pocket and grasped his right hand: "Come often."

“You should say you’ll come back often in the future,” Tsukasa Tazaki corrected.

"Let's go tell Mom later that you're taking me with you." Shiori Ninomiya smiled and grabbed his wrist. The winter sunlight streaming through the gaps in the clouds shimmered and danced on her shoulder.

The two walked together toward the town at the foot of the mountain.

Dry branches that had fallen from the snow snapped underfoot, making a crisp sound.

A bird with bright red feathers was startled awake. It timidly took flight from the dry reeds by the roadside and hid in the thicket.

As you walk south down the mountain, the view gradually narrows, and a stream meanders gently along the downhill path towards the sea. The stream is full of stones, and the murmuring sound of the flowing water gives a sweet and mellow feeling. After flowing past the town, the stream splits into two branches in a T-shape and flows into the sea.

The town is really small, with a population of less than 2000.

The two-lane road was lined with small wooden bungalows, most of which had identical milk crates or newspaper boxes at their doors. Inside the drab courtyard walls, the drab trees stretched their rough, bare branches toward the sky, each branch oddly shaped.

Tazaki also noticed that each house had a television antenna mounted on its roof ridge, reminiscent of the 1970s or 80s. Along with the antennas, thick smoke from fires used for heating stretched towards the sky.

“That’s the only middle school in town,” Shiori Ninomiya said, pointing to a small courtyard by the roadside.

The old guard at the gate greeted the two of them warmly, saying, "Shiori's back, it's been a long time!"

"Hello, Grandpa Endo." Shiori Ninomiya smiled sweetly and pulled Tsukasa Tazaki towards the door. "I brought a friend to visit our alma mater. Is that against the rules?"

"Of course, no problem." The old guard replied cheerfully, then looked Tazaki Tsukasa up and down with a scrutinizing gaze before revealing a satisfied smile.

“Not bad,” he said, “worthy of our Shiori-chan.”

Walking through the school gate, all you see is an ordinary little courtyard.

The single-story concrete building looked very comfortable, with fewer than forty students sitting in the three classrooms, and the overall atmosphere had a vitality rarely seen in small towns. The branches in the garden were also neatly trimmed, and in the corner, a small Shiba Inu was eating lunch ahead of the students, its head buried in its food bowl.

The two walked past the porch, and the junior high school students in the classroom all looked up and saw them.

Tsukasa Tazaki was handsome and refined, standing ramrod straight. He wore a sweater over a jacket, then a black overcoat, and a dark red scarf. Shiori Ninomiya was pretty and charming, wearing a white down jacket, matching trousers, and a silver-gray hat.

Because of their refined demeanor and fashionable attire, the two of them standing together looked like a young couple returning home from the city to visit their relatives.

"I'm so glad Shiori-chan lives in a small town where there aren't many people her age." Tsukasa Tazaki looked at the students in the classroom and sighed, "If you had lived in Tokyo from the beginning, you might have been snatched away before we even met."

Shiori Ninomiya took out a dried persimmon from the bag and stuffed it directly into his mouth: "You like to tease people all day long, so quickly shut your mouth with this dried persimmon."

Diabetics shouldn't eat sweets, but Tsukasa Tazaki didn't stand on ceremony. She quickly finished the persimmons that Tazaki had given her and then took two more out of the bag to eat.

It has a sweet and rich flavor, beautiful sugar crystals, and isn't too greasy.

Seeing the white icing on the corner of his mouth, Shiori Ninomiya smiled faintly.

The school was silent as it was nearing the end of the school day, as if all sounds had been absorbed by the snow. Only the sound of shoes crunching through the snow echoed strangely in their ears.

Perhaps because there were no student activities during class, Tsukasa Tazaki noticed that there were no footprints on the snow-covered patch of ground near the wall in the square, and a dark elm tree stood in the corner of the wall.

Shiori Ninomiya stared at the elm tree for a moment, then looked up at the clouds floating over Hokkaido.

The wisps of clouds seemed frozen and motionless, and the sky was a deep, clear blue. Staring at it for a while would make your eyes hurt.

She suddenly said, "It would be such a waste not to play the harmonica on such a beautiful day."

As soon as she finished speaking, the girl abandoned Tsukasa Tazaki, ran into the school teacher's office, and soon came out with a harmonica, heading straight to the elm tree.

The elm branches, laden with snow, stretch their curved twigs toward the sky. Nothing in the scene is in motion, as if it were a sacred space that no living being is allowed to trespass upon or defile.

The girl standing under the tree also appeared equally pure and holy.

A gust of wind swept by as if it were just a passing breeze, blowing her long, black hair and making her look even colder.

Skillfully climbing the tree, sitting on a sturdy branch, gazing at the blue sky and the sea, while placing the harmonica to my lips.

In an instant, goosebumps rose on Tsukasa Tazaki's arms, and a chill ran straight to his lungs.

Tomorrow's love is the chorus that is sung repeatedly.

It is an endless stream of words