Tears

Shishio wanted to solve Chihiro's problem, but in the end, because of the text from his father, he decided to postpone it and return to Kyoto.

Roberta also wanted to join on this trip as usual, but he decided to do it alone since, as expected, he noticed the strangeness of his father's text.

It was like the calm before the storm.

Once again, he hated how his intuition was always correct.

While inside the bullet train, he ate a katsu sandwich slowly as he gazed over the scenery outside the window. It just happened that the snow was quite intense. All he could see was a white world. Everything was covered by pure white snow.

Was it beautiful?

Probably.

However, he just couldn't appreciate the beauty before him.

If he was stupid and clueless like the light novel protagonist, he would go on this trip in a happy mood, thinking his parents missed him.

Winter vacation is almost around the corner.

While the 1st and the 2nd years were thinking of having fun, the third year was in a solemn situation since they needed to face an entrance exam.

The entrance exam might be easy for him, but it was still too long for him to think about it, yet his mood might not be different from those students in the third year since he knew that his meeting with his parents would mostly talk about his future.

This was also why he decided not to bring Roberta since he was sure their conversation would be far from amicable.

The sweet with a slight acidity and umami taste of the katsu sandwich spread into his tongue. The soft bread, the crunchy katsu, and the juicy meat were three elements that created a perfect triangle combination.

'Well, if possible, I want it freshly made, though.'

While the katsu sandwich still tasted good when it was cold, the hot one would be even better.

"Hmm."

He touched his throat since he had the urge to drink after he ate the sandwich, so he took the bottle of oolong tea, which he had bought before he entered the bullet train. The taste of the oolong tea was plain, except for the slightly tea-like aroma and hint of bitterness; it was like any other tea.

After putting on the lid, he put down the bottle as he gazed at the scenery of the sea.

It was utterly dark.

There was no light, and everything was covered in darkness.

He felt like he was facing the abyss instead of the beautiful sea, which he had seen many times. His thought was empty, and he just stared at the sea absentmindedly before he felt the train slow down before it stop completely.

"What's happening?"

"Why does it stop so suddenly?"

He heard many voices around him, telling of their bewilderment over this situation.

"Announcement for every passenger. We are extremely sorry for the inconvenience, but the train will stop for an hour or so because of the snowstorm. Once everything clears up, we will continue our trip right away."

The voice of the announcement was heard by everyone, causing all the passengers to show various reactions.

Some were complaining. Some were sighing. Some were sleeping, and each of them showed various responses, but in the end, after a little complaint, they fell silent since there was nothing they could do against nature.

Shishio also took his phone and sent a text to his parents about his situation with another announcement as the background. When the announcement was over, and the silence came once again, he looked at his phone for a moment and didn't receive a reply. Usually, his parents would give him a reply immediately, but strangely enough, they didn't. He looked at the signal on his phone, and there was no problem with it.

He shook his head and put his phone in his pocket as he gazed over the window once again.

'It's like two different worlds.'

The train was bright, yet everything that passed this window was dark.

Somehow, watching all of this reminded him of Chihiro.

Many might think it was strange for him to think so, but this was how it felt inside his heart when he saw her last week.

When she left for a week, he was okay. He didn't lack a companion, and his women stayed with him most of the time. If one couldn't accompany him, he would go to the others. In other words, his life was still bright, like the inside of this current train.

Meanwhile, Chihiro was different. She didn't have anyone except for him. She was all alone. With her personality, she would probably never talk about what she felt to her friends and her family. In her case, she would bury that problem in her heart while numbing her feelings with alcohol.

She was like how the sea in front of him was currently. It was freezing cold, yet it numbed in silence, enduring bitter frozen temperature, and could only wait until the time to resolve the problem before the same thing happened again and again.

When she left that day, she left a puddle. It was a puddle made of her tears, which for some reason, it was very deep... so deep... that he was drawn into the bottom of it.

Suddenly, he felt regret since he didn't solve her problem immediately. He noticed something, but he confidently thought that he should solve it at the peak point, so her heart would be only his, yet everything was out of control.

He had gotten arrogant, thinking that he could solve all the problems in his life confidently, yet now, everything was already out of control.

However, there was still a redemption.

He needed to meet her as soon as possible and solve this problem.

'I need to meet her.'

But he also knew he couldn't do that now since he was in the middle of a journey to Kyoto. He was also trapped inside the train, and the only clue that he had was she went on a business trip.

While it might be strange for a teacher to go on a business trip, it was still possible since Suimei also had a sister school in the various big cities in this country.

Yet, when one has nothing to do, one's mind always wanders.

No one thought that they would be together.

He or she had never thought they would have their current relationship.

When they met for the first time, they only thought of each other as a normal aunt and a nephew.

However, as they interacted, communicated, and stayed together, their feelings changed their forms.

As he teased her from time to time, her feelings toward him changed. He could tell that she was in love with him, but their relationship made it impossible for them to break the barrier between them.

Their barrier was known as a familial relationship.

They might be able to be together, but it was hard.

He was her nephew, and she was his aunt.

Even if the law didn't forbid them, how would their family see them when they knew that they were together?

However, they had never given up.

They struggled, thinking, hesitating, and learning before they made their determination to be together.

Their relationship wasn't so easy to form, and they needed to think about this matter thoroughly before they were together.

While he wasn't sure about what kind of struggle she had felt before, he had thought of this matter for a long time. He didn't make a decision to change their relationship in the way it was without a clear and sober mind. Instead, he had decided to take this relationship, knowing what kind of consequences he might face in the future.

Even if the whole world turned against him, he didn't care since he loved her.

He wanted her.

She was his woman.

To be honest, somehow, he could tell why she had decided to suddenly do something so stupid, especially when her head was moving with love instead of logic. He was also young, so his confidence might seem baseless confidence in her eyes.

However, in his eyes, she was the one who was stupid.

Yet, even if she was stupid, it was impossible for him to give her up like this.

With so much effort that they had to put into this relationship, he still wanted to fix it, especially when all she was doing was done because she loved him.

As he gazed at the dark sea, he could imagine the scene of how they would probably talk to each other.

Yet, somehow, he felt that he might be thinking too much. He might be reading too many novels or accompanying his women to watch tv dramas so much that he kept thinking various plots in those stories might happen to him.

However, one thing was for sure; he wanted to meet her and wipe away the tears in her eyes.

He wasn't sure how long he had been thinking, but suddenly he heard an announcement that the train had continued once again. The train started to move, and the scenery outside became nothing but a blur.

Now, he suddenly thought about his parents, who had called him and told him to return.

To be honest, he hoped that he was a bit stupid or he might be a bit clueless, so he wouldn't be able to tell everything with just a few hints presented before him. But in his mind, there was only one reason why his parents would suddenly call him in this bad weather, at night, without waiting for the next day.

Their urgency wasn't something that could be hidden.

He had to go back to Kyoto quickly, no matter what, which he could tell clearly from their text.

Because of this, he knew that there was only one reason why his parents called him, and why he could also deduce why she made a stupid decision because she was so much in love with him.

"Is it true that you have a relationship with your aunt, Chihiro?" Takumi Oga faced his son solemnly with a hint of anger in his voice.

"....."