[bright] time

あったかい…

(At the end of December at the age of [-])

"Taya!! Open the door──!!" He shouted, piercing the tranquility of the community where Taya's mansion is located.

When Mrs. Ito next door greets me tomorrow morning, she will definitely say: "That friend of Mr. Liang is always very energetic!" 』

After getting to know him, our family... No, our community is no longer quiet....

I strictly abide by the commandment of the Taya family not to run indoors, walked to the entrance with the fastest footsteps, knew who it was without opening the door, opened the sliding door and started cursing,

"You don't know how to ring the bell!! Shinto!! And you came uninvited again!!"

"Ah, I forgot to call. Why did you change into your pajamas? It's only nine o'clock? Come on, who goes to bed at nine o'clock on New Year's Eve?"

"..." I pulled the sweater over my shoulders, ignoring him.Anyway, there are more than [-] different common senses that we each think of.Today is just one more item.

Every time, every time... No matter how much I scold him, he always just smiles and let it go. Is it because I have become too kind or is he used to it?

Glaring at Shinto, his eyes shifted to something that looked cumbersome next to Shinto,

"…what is that?"

"Stove table. I took it in."

Why did you bring it into my house?And it's already nine o'clock at night?

A rectangular hearth table with its legs folded, measuring about [-] cm in length and [-] cm in width, was picked up by Jinteng, and he took off his shoes indiscriminately and walked directly to the living room.

After pulling away the legs of the table and placing it on the ground, he spread his whole body on the ground, "Wow~, I'm exhausted! Taya, tea!"

It's really rude to lie in large font in other people's homes.

"You came here uninvited, why should I make tea for you!?"

"Stingy." Shinto pointed his mouth,

"Be stingy, be stingy. Shinto! Why are you bringing this thing to my house? It's not like my house doesn't have a table."

"But you don't have a kotatsu table at home, do you?"

"so what?"

"Didn't you say yesterday that your family has never used a stovetop? That's why I moved here! A childhood without a stovetop experience is not called childhood at all!"

When we were playing chess in the chess club yesterday, we talked about the weather.This year's winter is much colder than usual due to the El Nino phenomenon.Then Shindo said that when he was a child, he liked watching TV and eating at the stove table with his cousins, and even stayed at the table to sleep and refused to come out. He said it was as interesting as possible.

Although our family has a traditional Japanese room style, we have never bought a stove table. My mother said that the stove table is the root of laziness, so we always turn on the heater.And sitting next to the stove table lacks tension, can't play games at all, and it's even more unnecessary.

After hearing this, Shinto kept shaking his head and sighed, saying it was a pity, and said that one day he would let me experience it.

But I didn't expect that the day he mentioned was actually today...

"Where did this come from?"

"My grandfather's house."

"Then what about your grandparents? Don't they use it?" I was anxious,

"They went to the hot springs, and they weren't here for a few days, so I borrowed them."

"...How did you move here?"

"Tram! I'm exhausted. There are a bunch of people on the train who are going to worship on New Year's Eve. It's really crowded."

I don't know how many minutes it takes to walk from Grandpa Shinto to the station, but it takes about 10 minutes to walk from the station to my house.This desk also looks quite heavy, and besides, carrying this desk on the tram... how much attention will it attract?Do ordinary people do this?

It's really... I can't help him...

***

Went to the kitchen to make a cup of tea and took it to the living room.

Shinto has already connected the plug and is testing the condition of the stove table.

"Looks like it wasn't damaged by me, that's great!"

"Tea."

"Oh! Did you pour it for me? Thanks!"

He took a sip from the teacup, tested the temperature, "Oh, just right."

I remember he was like a cat's tongue, and the tea was served cold, so I put a few ice cubes to make the hot tea warmer.

After drinking the tea in one breath, Shinto said to me,

"Let's install it! First, move the original table to the next door, and then move the stove table over here." Pointing to the table in the living room, "Do it, Taya! Help lift it up."

Together we moved the table to the next game room, and Shinto told me to carry the quilt over, while he went to put the stove table in place.Walking back into the living room, he had already placed the table in front of the TV, and lifted the top piece of the two-piece table top first and put it on the floor.

"Here I am."

"Oh. Spread it out, Taya, hold the two corners of the quilt."

"it is good."

We put the quilt on the stove table, leveled it and put the wooden board on the quilt, and turned the switch on the tatami mat.

"OK! You're done! That's it!"

I kept staring at the assembled stove table.

The stove table that can only be seen on TV is now in front of me, and it always feels fresh.

"Taya, sit in!"

"Huh?...Okay."...I think it's very interesting...

Lifting the quilt, I sat down close to the edge of the table.After a while, my knees feel so warm...

"Hey, isn't it meaningless to sit upright? You have to straighten your feet! Or at least sit cross-legged!"

"Okay." I changed my sitting position. After sitting cross-legged, even my cold feet began to feel warm, and soon my whole body warmed up.

"How about it?"

I nodded, not cold anymore.

"That's great!" Shinto smiled, lifted the quilt and sat in.

"Wow──It's so warm! I haven't used this kind of thing for a long time! Impressed!"

After Shindo finished his speech, he picked up the remote control of the TV, pointed it at the receiver and turned it on.

"And then there's the must-see program on New Year's Eve, the Red and White Singing Contest! And──"

He pulled the backpack by the wall over, took out several oranges from it and put them on the table.

"A must-have for a stovetop—orange! Eat it! You're welcome, my mother told me to bring it."

"……thanks."

I was about to peel the orange when I saw Shinto tap the bottom of the orange on the table while watching TV.Another incomprehensible behavior of Hikaru Shindo.

"...? What's the matter?" Shinto looked at me strangely,

"Why do you knock like that?"

"I heard that after knocking like this, oranges will secrete some ghost enzymes, which are sweeter."

"What's your family's habit?" I asked Shinto with a smile, just as I was about to imitate his knocking──,

"No, Xiuying told me, he said that all Koreans do this."

"..."

With a bang, I peeled the orange directly, tore off the white strands and put it aside, and put the crystal-clear orange into my mouth. My impression was: "It's very sweet."

"Right? Hahaha haha. This person is funny!" Jin Teng smiled happily at watching the TV.

***

My mother doesn't usually watch TV, but she watches this festival every New Year's Eve.My father and I just stayed in our room and read chess records.This year, it can be said that it is the first time that I am watching it so seriously.

I remember that it was divided into two groups, red and white, and three generations of famous singers, old, middle-aged and young, would sing in relay. Is this kind of show so interesting?Why do the audience and Shindo often laugh out loud?

And I can't understand where the joke is at all....

"Ah~ I suddenly want to eat something."

"Didn't you just eat five oranges?"

"Fruit is fruit. What I want to eat now is supper. What are you having for dinner? It can't be soba noodles, right?"

"Soba is supposed to be eaten on New Year's Eve. It's a tradition!"

"Aren't you hungry now? It's almost eleven o'clock, and you haven't finished digesting yet?"

"I don't have the habit of eating late at night."

"Oh~? Your life is really boring. How can you be physically strong if you don't eat supper?"

"There are rice cakes in the refrigerator, you have to cook them yourself."

"I have to cook it myself...it's really troublesome."

"Don't eat if you think it's troublesome!"

Less than a minute later, Shinto began to read again...

"very hungry…."

"..."

Now the show is getting to the point where someone on the red team is singing in a rather fancy dress.

I seem to have heard the song he is singing now, and this man's team is quite huge, his gorgeous and exaggerated clothes cover the entire stage.

I heard that after he finished singing, the white team will have someone who won with a grand costume like him to compete with him. What kind of exaggeration is it?Now I want to know very much, and I don't want to talk about Shinto at all.

"I'm so hungry! But I don't want to leave this table!"

"I don't want to either!"

In addition, a very important reason is that the feet of the heating table will become cold again when I leave the stove, so I don't want it.

Ah──, I knew it, I knew it!My mother was right, the stove table is the root of laziness!

Shinto kicked my foot under the stove table,

"Hey, it's Kaya who is here."

I was unwilling to kick back,

"You're an unexpected visitor! And I'm not hungry!"

Shinto hit my knee under the stove table again with his knee,

"Nian gao soup is also a must-eat traditional delicacy on New Year's Eve. If you eat less of it, you won't be qualified."

I just hit Shinto's leg harder,

"If you don't pass, you don't pass. It's not an exam or playing chess. It doesn't matter!"

"...Damn it. Cook it, cook it!"

Hehe, I won.

***

Before Shinto came, my mother made an international phone call, and we chatted for a while. When I was 17 years old, I was left home alone on New Year's Eve, and my mother seemed very sorry.Talked to me a lot before hanging up.

In fact, saying that New Year's Eve is just one day of the year, I don't have any special feelings.

I am used to living alone, alone, and never feel lonely or alone.As long as you draw a chessboard with nineteen vertical and horizontal lines in your mind, place the chess pieces one by one on it.

Those emotions that make the heart weak will naturally be frozen,

Frozen in a thick layer of ice, no head can come out.

And now, maybe the stove table is too warm? ...That layer of ice doesn't seem to freeze well.

──It's been a long time.

After the advertisement was broadcast, the performance of the strangely dressed person in the white team was also over, but Shindo hadn't come back yet.

I lay on the table, watching the program that was still going on, and listening to the audience's happy laughter, I didn't find it interesting at all.

──How can anyone cook rice cake soup for so long?

He picked up the sweater that was on the ground just now and put it on his body, and stretched his hands under the stove table.

The stove is obviously running as before,

But I always feel... It seems to be getting colder.Is the body getting cold, or...

I looked at the clock on the wall, twenty minutes had passed.

Our house is a traditional building with poor sound insulation.

But why can't I hear any movement in the kitchen from here?

──He...could he go back?

I climbed out of the stove table, intending to go to the kitchen to have a look, when I opened the sliding door, Shinto was standing at the door with two bowls,

"What's the matter?"

"No. It's just...you for a long time."

"Oh~? Is the kotatsu table cold for one person?" Shinto put the bowl on the table,

"That's not the case."

"Really? Then what's the matter with this sweater you're wearing?"

"..."

I recently discovered that Shinto seems to like to see my embarrassment because of my bravado.

It really pissed me off seeing his grinning face because he got it.

"Look! I don't know what you're being stubborn about. How can you not feel cold? Before I went to the kitchen, I secretly turned the switch of the stove to low."

"what?"

"I still have a conscience! When I was a child, my cousins ​​would just pull the plug. Gero was on Mount Hida, and it was freezing cold in winter. By the time I realized something was wrong, it was almost freezing!"

"It's all a prank. Fifty steps laugh at a hundred steps."

"Okay, I'm very sorry. So in order to compensate for the loss of Teacher Xiaoliang, I even brought your bowl, please forgive me!"

Shinto put the bowl in front of me.

Actually, I'm really not hungry, but if it's Shinto's "Apologetic Mochi", that's fine.

After all, I really thought that the stove table is an electrical appliance that only two people can feel warm when they sit together. This kind of unreasonable misunderstanding is really a heavy loss.

"I'm going to start."

Pick up the bowl, pick up a piece of rice cake, the surface of the rice cake is a little burnt,

"Have you ever baked it?" After taking a bite, the rice cake was soggy.

"Yup."

So it’s been so long….

"How is it?" Shinto asked looking at my face,

After the mouthful of rice cake is completely swallowed,

"Delicious." I nodded with satisfaction.

"Sure enough, it's delicious after it's baked! Then I'll start it too!" Shinto stuffed the rice cake into his mouth with one mouthful. It's unbelievable to watch such a crisp and neat eating appearance several times.

I don't know if it's because of this, but when I eat with Teng, my appetite is always better... Is it inadvertently stimulated?

The time was getting closer and closer to twelve o'clock, and the TV began to broadcast the live connections of temples in various places. There were so many people visiting on New Year's Eve that it was almost impossible to move, and the road was even more crowded.

It looks very lively, but it also looks very hard.

"Taya, shall we go to worship together on New Year's Eve next year?"

"..." Like those people, walking on the crowded road...going to worship?

"You haven't been there, have you?"

"no."

"Then let's go together, next year?"

"Aren't you going with someone else?"

"Idiot, I only asked you out because I wanted to go with you, how about it?"

"...if you don't close your hands."

"Ha, you're so funny! On New Year's Eve, the best chess club will be held! Then it's a deal!"

"Well, I see."

「「「」「「Boom~~Boom~~Boom~~」」」」」」

At this time, the quiet bells in the temple came from the TV, and the solemn melody kept echoing in my ears. It was really the New Year.

"Taya! Happy New Year!"

Shinto opened his mouth and smiled happily. I think I am smiling right now, right?

"Shinto, Happy New Year."

I look forward to New Years Eve next year and every day of the year….