Chapter 224 – A Ticket to Tottori

The station platform hummed with noise.

The train’s arrival chime echoed once more.

Kei finally snapped out of his daze.

He turned toward Ryou, wanting to say something—but the words caught in his throat and vanished into silence.

Around them, the crowd was a blur of sound and movement, yet somehow, their little corner felt completely still.

When he finally managed to speak, his tone carried a trace of disbelief.

“Ryou-san... are you really coming with me—to Tottori?”

Ryou nodded lightly and lifted her suitcase with a faint smile.

“I already told my parents. Don’t worry, Suki-san—you’re not getting arrested for this.”

Kei exhaled, a cloud of white breath mixing with the cold winter air.

He shook his head slightly, then looked at her again.

“Visiting the shrine... spending New Year’s with your parents—that’s kind of a big deal, isn’t it? And... how did you even know which train I was taking?”

Ryou set her suitcase down, giving him a mildly annoyed look.

“Suki-san, at least let me catch my breath first...”

Her voice softened, then picked up again as she answered his question.

“There’s only one train from Tokyo to Tottori today. You’re really not that bright, you know?”

She paused to rest, chest rising and falling slightly as she caught her breath.

After a moment, she spoke again—this time, her tone gentler.

“Yes... visiting the shrine and celebrating the New Year are important.” Her eyes flickered away, then back.

“My parents did ask where I was going. Luckily for me... they seem to have heard of you before. Apparently, they’ve already accepted the idea of you becoming their son-in-law.”

Her words were calm, as if she were reading a weather report—cool, even, but steady.

Then she tugged her scarf down just enough to show a teasing smile, giving Kei a little thumbs-up.

She hesitated briefly, gaze drifting toward the tracks as the wind stirred her hair.
“But still—” she said softly.

“Even if shrine visits are important, Suki-san... we didn’t get the chance to go see the snow in Hokkaido together. So this trip to Tottori—just the two of us—I’m not letting it slip away.”

“And besides...”

Whether it was from the cold or something else entirely, Ryou’s earlobes glowed faintly red.

“Suki-san, remember what I told you before?”

“If I ever got the chance, I wanted to know more about you—to understand everything about you. I wanted you to realize just how much I...”

She trailed off, breathing out softly, the rest of the words lost in the cold.

Listening to her, Aoki Kei suddenly found himself speechless.

He remembered that promise—her quiet, almost offhand declaration—and now she was standing here, acting on it.

‘Shrine visits must be really important,’ he thought absently.

But when he looked at her—at the snowflakes tangled in her soft hair, at the faint mist of her breath that vanished into the air—he realized something else.

The winter that year felt colder than any he’d ever known.

Colder... and somehow warmer too.

His thoughts started to scatter.

He wondered if he should buy a thicker coat this season.

He thought about the upcoming Red and White Festival.

He even remembered the copy of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya he’d left unfinished since summer break.

And then—an urge hit him. He had to say something.

“Ryou.”

The moment he spoke, all those random thoughts crashed together in his head.

What should he even say?

A sincere thank you? A joke to lighten the mood? Or maybe... nothing at all?

None of it seemed right.

December 31st, Wednesday.

Just another date on the calendar—yet somehow, it felt completely different.

Kei’s heart was beating faster than usual.

He drew in a deep breath.

All the confusion from last night, all the fatigue from this morning—it was gone.

He looked at her again.

The words trembled in his throat for a moment... then came out clear and certain.

No need to think about phrasing. No need to overthink at all.

He took half a step forward, closing the distance between them.

The train roared into the station, wind howling across the platform, the sound nearly drowning everything else.

“The orphanage in Tottori—it’s actually a really nice place.”

“The director’s a kind person. Very gentle.”

“The kids there call me Aoki-nii. I bring them snacks sometimes, so they talk about me a lot.”

“The snow in Tottori gets pretty heavy too. You’ll get to see it there.”

“And Ryou.”

“Happy New Year.”

Her cheeks flushed even deeper, half-hidden by her scarf.

Kei kept talking, his words fading beneath the thunder of the arriving train.

“Ryou—spending New Year’s together in Tottori... please take care of me this year, too.”

They boarded the train.

After a short wait, it began to move.

The journey from Tokyo to Tottori was long—four hours passed before they finally arrived.

Tottori Prefecture.

The beginning of a very different New Year.