Chapter 342 Haruno's unusual charm
The next morning, it snowed again in Tokyo.
This time the snowfall is not as mild as the previous times that were meant to create a festive atmosphere. Tokyo has now officially entered the coldest time of the year. Walking on the street, the cold wind penetrates into the gaps in clothes, making it a little unbearable.
Even though Sawayama Haruno was in great health, he still wore heavy winter clothes today to show his respect.
After delivering the gift he had prepared for Morikawa Riho, he slowly took the bus to the station to meet up with others. His next destination was Osaka.
Haruno Sawayama's hometown is in Sennan City, Osaka. Strictly speaking, Sennan City is one of the more remote cities in Osaka. This is not only considered from a geographical perspective, but also has an impact on the level of development.
After all, when it comes to Osaka's most praised things, apart from their underworld police, the only other thing left is probably tourist attractions like Universal Studios that can attract countless tourists to check in.
And Sawayama Haruno's hometown is not only in Sennan City in the southwest, but even a little further down, in an area close to the mountains and the sea. A little further to the side is an even more desolate city, so it is not an exaggeration to describe it as a countryside, especially for Tokyo where he lives now.
Of course, no matter how remote or rural a place is, it has been more or less affected by the wave of openness in recent years. The former small towns are now gradually becoming open, and single-family houses made of tiles and wooden structures are gradually being replaced by foreign developers, and high-rise buildings are appearing in the city center.
So much so that Sawayama Haruno, who had just returned to Osaka, was still a little uncomfortable.
"No way"
He was carrying a lot of luggage and just came out of the station when he saw the black building standing in front of him. He couldn't help but show a look of surprise.
In his impression, there has never been an office building with hundreds of floors in his hometown, and the railway station terminal is shabby and pitifully small.
I didn't expect that there would be such a big change after just not coming back for more than a year.
"I fixed it before I went to Tokyo."
Ayano Yui put her hands over her eyes, squinted for a few seconds, and then asked curiously, "I just wonder if it's officially rented out."
“It feels like there’s not much difference from Shinjuku.”
Maki Miyazawa poked her head out from behind Sawayama Haruno with some curiosity. Maybe it was because she was in an unfamiliar place, but she was now very dependent on Sawayama Haruno.
Looking at the city buildings outside, she was stunned for a moment before saying, "It's not as backward as I imagined. It seems to be the same as Shikoku Island."
“Maybe it was only started in the past two years.”
Sawayama Haruno was also a little uncomfortable and said, "In the past, if you wanted to take the train, you had to wait for half an hour."
Although he came back once during the Golden Week in his senior year of high school, he was just a stopover and stayed for a very short time, only staying at home for one night, so Sawayama Haruno did not observe the changes in Sennan City.
His impression of this place still remains from when he graduated from junior high school and was preparing to go to Tokyo. It took more than half an hour to take the tram from his home to the current station terminal, and he had to wait for another half an hour for the tram, which was simply torture.
Sawayama Haruno still remembers how he looked when he set out. He ignored his family's objections, packed up his things and walked to the station alone. Due to its age, it has not been renovated and the so-called station is just a small bungalow.
After buying a ticket from the only staff member there, he sat on a rusty chair and waited quietly for the tram half an hour later. When the tram arrived, he embarked on his new future without any regrets.
In layman's terms, my experience of coming to Tokyo was no less than Takaki's train ride in "5 Centimeters per Second". The only difference was that he didn't have Akari. Oh, no, according to this statement, I am Akari, the one who went to Tokyo to study or something.
"Anyway, let's just find a random place nearby to eat first, shall we?"
Sawayama Haruno looked around and his eyes quickly locked on a small restaurant not far from them.
They came out to have lunch only after arriving at the Sennan City Railway Station. After lunch, they had to take the tram to the vicinity of Zeshan's house.
As a member of the group, Ayano Yui could have directly transferred to the bus and returned to her home in about ten minutes, but she obviously wanted to stay with Sawayama Haruno more, so the four of them stayed at the terminal for a while.
After entering the small restaurant, everyone ordered their own food. After they sat down, Ayano Yui asked curiously, "Speaking of which, where are Maki-sister's family? Didn't they say they were going together?"
"They won't be here until tomorrow."
Zeshan Haruno casually pulled out a tissue and wiped the table for the girls before saying, "They said they didn't want too many people to be crowded together, which would be troublesome, and they would have to find another place to live."
"It would be better if you came a few days later." Miyazawa Maki rolled her eyes and said depressedly, "There is no point in coming so early."
She also wanted to take advantage of the time when Mana was not here to gain as much favor as possible from Haruno's family, but now there was only one day and it was obviously not enough. Damn it.
"By the way, do you have enough rooms at Haruno's house?"
When it comes to the issue of accommodation, Ezaki Suguha can't help but say with some concern: "If there are not enough rooms, I'd better move out."
"Don't worry, there's nothing wrong with it."
Sawayama Haruno thought about the size of the room in his house, and then said, "If it really doesn't work, you and Ayano Yui can just squeeze in, and Maki can sleep in my room."
"Eh?"
Miyazawa Maki's face suddenly turned slightly red.
Even though I had already told Haruno's family about my pregnancy, it was still exciting to live in the same room openly!
Aunt Yazi shouldn't have any opinion of me, right?
"Suguha, are you going to live with me?"
Ayano Yui played with her pigtails and said absentmindedly, "I don't mind, but brother, have you figured out how to explain the matter of Suguha to your family?"
As soon as these words were spoken, the atmosphere at the table suddenly became a little strange.
Maki Miyazawa looked at Sawayama Haruno with some surprise. She didn't expect that he hadn't yet told his family about his two-timing. As for Suguha Ezaki standing next to her, she felt apologetic and didn't dare to look him in the eye.
"I'll tell you." Sawayama Haruno rubbed his face and sighed, "In the evening, I'll find another opportunity to talk to my family alone. Before that, you don't need to worry too much. My family is easy to talk to and won't embarrass Suguha."
"That's right." Ayano Yui smiled and made a "yeah" gesture, adding, "Auntie Ako and the others are very welcoming. Well, the only problem is that the neighbors will definitely come to visit us, so it might be a little troublesome."
"Neighbor?"
Miyazawa Maki's attention was drawn to it.
Seeing that she looked a little confused, Ayano Yui simply explained to her what kind of impression Sawayama Haruno left in the social circle of his hometown.
The Zeshan family has basically lived here for generations. The history can be traced back to the grandfather of the Zeshan family's grandfather. Although they live in a corner, thanks to the long history of the family and the fact that this is a small place, the generations of descendants and the relationships with neighbors and villagers have resulted in the Zeshan family having particularly many relatives.
The Ayano family is naturally one of the very close members among them.
As the first-born and only son of the Sawayama family, Sawayama Haruno was of course loved by his parents. When he was too young to go to school, his itinerary was basically moving back and forth among several families.
This does not mean that Haruno is not liked by his family, but that the relatives who did not have children at that time were really jealous of this child who was smart since birth. They were so jealous that they would always drag Haruno to their homes for dinner and stay overnight every now and then, satisfying their desire to be elders.
This was when Haruno was little. When he grew up a little, he inherited the soft facial features of Ako Sawayama and became more and more popular in his hometown. He was already the type that was popular with both men and women, young and old.
Although Haruno's decision to go to Tokyo to study alone caused him to have a very unhappy quarrel with his family, in the eyes of other relatives, Haruno, who could go to a place like Tokyo to study and become famous, was undoubtedly "the child of other people's family", and they were extremely envious of him.
Although Sennan City cannot be said to be a mountainous area, the gap between it and Tokyo is actually similar to the gap between a mountainous area and Tokyo. With various buffs, Sawayama Haruno can be regarded as a "real promising person" in his hometown.
If he hadn't run fast during the last Golden Week, he would have been annoyed to death by other relatives who came to visit him; and this time when he returned to his hometown, since he would be staying for a while, it was estimated that many relatives of the Zeshan family would come to visit.
The neighbor that Ayano Yui just mentioned is actually one of them. I don't know what's wrong with that old lady. She wants to match her daughter, who is still a junior high school student, with Haruno. She says that they have been neighbors for more than ten years and know each other well. She thinks Haruno is a down-to-earth child.
Bah, I am the only one worthy of Haruno Ayano Yui thought angrily.
"Junior high school student?"
After hearing what Ayano Yui said, Miyazawa Maki opened her mouth wide.
She stared at Zeshan Haruno as if she had seen a ghost, as if she would never let Zeshan Haruno off unless he gave a reasonable explanation.
“This has nothing to do with me.”
Noticing that the girls' expressions were a little strange, Zeshan Haruno said with a twitch of his lips: "I was already studying in Tokyo at that time. How would I know what they were thinking? Besides, I never agreed to it. It was the neighbor aunt who discussed it with my mother herself."
"Did Aunt Ayako agree?" asked Ezaki Naoba suddenly.
"of course not."
Sawayama Haruno quickly stopped talking and explained, "You guys think too much. No matter what, I can't possibly have a big relationship with a junior high school student. To be honest, I even forgot his name."
"It doesn't matter if you forgot. I still remember your name." Ayano Yui looked at him meaningfully.
In terms of family relationships, the neighbor aunt's junior high school daughter can also be considered Sawayama Haruno's cousin. After all, since Sawayama's grandfather and three generations ago were in Quannan City, the local people around them are all related, so it is not a big problem for the other party to call Haruno cousin.
Well, that's just what Ayano Yui can't accept.
She’s enough of a sister character. If there’s a popularity vote now, she can’t even make it into the top three, and she can still let her neighbor’s cousin get involved?
No, I have to give Miyazawa Maki some preventive measures and ask her to be on high alert these days to prevent other girls from coming to harass Haruno from her hometown.
"Stop talking and eat quickly."
After being teased by everyone, Sawayama Haruno couldn't stand it anymore.
With a helpless look on his face, he urged everyone to eat quickly. After they had almost finished their lunch, he took his food and returned to the station.
After dozens of minutes of waiting and a twenty-minute drive, the group finally arrived near Sawayama Haruno's house.
After coming out of the renovated bungalow, the few people were a little surprised when they looked at the straight Shibai Road outside. The snow on the road had been swept to both sides, but there was not even a car to be seen on such a straight and wide road. Only Honda's red CG125 motorcycle would pass by behind them from time to time.
No wonder Zeshan Haruno used the word "countryside" to describe his hometown. The red motorcycle seemed to remind people of the place they were living in. Even Zeshan Haruno himself wanted to laugh. He had seen this motorcycle from his previous life to the present, but he didn't expect that there were still people driving it.
"How long will it take?"
As she walked, Miyazawa Maki couldn't help but sigh, "I feel like my legs are going to break."
"We're almost there, just hold on a little longer." Sawayama Haruno comforted.
He wanted to carry the other person on his back, but Miyazawa Maki refused to do so. The reason was simple: she didn't want to meet relatives of Sawayama Haruno on the way, and it would be embarrassing if they saw her hanging on Haruno.
After all, the most important thing for her on this trip is to increase the favorability of the Zeshan family.
Thinking of this, Miyazawa Maki became full of energy again. She gritted her teeth and continued to follow the crowd up.
Finally, after walking most of Shibai Road, they arrived at the street of the small town. After they walked along the path for a long time and passed a small supermarket street, Zeshan's house finally appeared in everyone's sight.
It was a three-story wooden villa with a large open space surrounded by a dark red fence at the entrance, and a lot of snow piled on both sides.
At this moment, the door was open, and a young woman in a goose feather down jacket was coming out with a shovel. After seeing everyone, she was stunned at first, and then immediately showed a surprised expression.
"Maki-chan?!"
Ako Sawayama greeted warmly.
(End of this chapter)
