Comics, daily stories

Meat, but it seems to be a type of meat I've never eaten before.

"Venus meat." Yukino Yukinoshita ladled out a bowl and handed it to him.

Nomiyama took it and then handed it to the person next to him.

He waited quietly for the next batch to be prepared under the snow.

He took the bowl and chopsticks, sat down, and first drank a mouthful of piping hot meat soup.

His body began to cheer, and Nomiyama finally felt alive again. He picked up a large piece of meat, stuffed it into his mouth, chewed, and asked, "How long have I been asleep?"

"Eight days." Yukino Yukinoshita neatly cut open the meat, adding, "Don't talk while eating."

"I'm so hungry, I haven't eaten in ages," Nomiyama explained, continuing to eat.

He immediately stood up and began typing the next one.

This was a very large pot, filled with a generous amount of meat that made him feel happy.

"Is it good?" Eriri Sawamura asked, taking a sip of soup with anticipation.

"It's alright, but I like it." Nomiyama sat down again, patted her head, and continued eating.

"We'll need more seasonings. We've been busy these past few days getting some supplies and treating your injuries, so there are still some things we haven't prepared yet."

Yukino Yukinoshita sat down beside her and started talking about things: "Generator, gasoline, and more clothes, and some necessary electrical equipment."

Nomiyama paused slightly with his chopsticks, but quickly resumed, nodding and replying, "Mm."

Chewing and swallowing the meat with broth, he spoke of his magic robe: "I must have had quite a few dollars left in my old clothes that I hadn't spent."

"Well, I spent about a third of it."

"it is good."

Eriri Sawamura glanced at them silently, then stopped thinking about it. Some things were best left for them to figure out; they would take care of everything.

"Speaking of which, is it illegal for us to kill this kind of deer here?" Nomiyama asked, his mouth greasy.

"No, that doesn't count." Yukino Yukinoshita said calmly, "We're hungry, so it's not illegal for us to eat whatever we want."

“That’s true. In a couple of days, I’ll go and get you a bear to eat. The bear skin can be used as a mattress.”

Nomiyama swallowed the meat, then turned his head to look at the house on the other side of the kitchen, asking curiously, "What's that wooden house over there for?"

"Your room." Yukino Yukinoshita put down her bowl.

"My room? My room isn't where I was sleeping just now?" Nomiyama looked a little confused.

"The bed you're sleeping in is the one I prepared for Eriri. I've been sleeping next to you with Eriri these past few days. Now that you're awake, you should move to the other side. I didn't even make a door. You want to sleep with a girl?"

“Oh,” Nomiyama replied.

He understood the layout of the wooden house: in the middle was a large kitchen, on the left were two rooms belonging to the girl, and on the right was a room belonging to him. The kitchen also served as a passageway.

"Did you design a kang (heated brick bed)? I feel that a fireplace wouldn't be warm enough for living here."

"No need to design a kang (heated brick bed)."

"Ok?"

Yukino Yukinoshita looked down at the ground: "I wasted some time. Where we are now, there is magma flowing underground."

Nomiyama nearly dropped his bowl and chopsticks, his voice noticeably louder: "You built a volcano under your own house???"

Yukino Yukinoshita frowned, annoyed by his overreaction: "I know what I'm doing. I'm just trying to warm the house up a bit; it's not going to explode."

"Is this a matter of discretion? Would a normal person throw their house into a volcano?"

"You have a problem with that?" Yukino Yukinoshita raised an eyebrow.

"So what if I have an opinion? You're not going to stop me from having an opinion, are you?" Nomiyama raised an eyebrow as well.

"Okay." Yukino Yukinoshita stood up and pointed to the water tank in the corner of the kitchen. "Wash the dishes."

Nomiyama turned his head and glanced at the pot, only to find that the meat had been eaten clean and the mealtime was over.

"Oh," he replied, and went to the water vat to scoop water.

"Remember to wash the pot too."

"..."

Eriri Sawamura glanced at him, put down her chopsticks, and said, "I'm going to find Yukino."

“Okay.” Nomiyama nodded.

"Yinglili."

"Ah."

"Thank you."

"Take me with you next time."

"Okay, I'll definitely take you next time."

After Eriri left, Nomiyama put away the dishes and chopsticks, and instead of washing the pot, he sat back down on the small wooden stool.

He reached out his hand and began to warm himself by the embers.

......

Nomiyama is soaking in a hot spring, yes, a volcanic hot spring.

Yukinoshita chose a location in a valley surrounded by mountains on three sides. She placed the wooden house in the center of the valley, then went deep underground to draw out magma. Incidentally, she also created a hot spring.

Getting up, Nomiyama stood up from the scalding water, casually wiped his body with a towel, and began to dress while looking at the valley.

Because of the abnormal temperature here, white mist is now floating above the entire valley, which is quite noticeable.

The snow and ice have melted away completely. Soon, grass will grow here, turning it into a green oasis.

Wearing a short-sleeved shirt underneath and the cleaned magic robe on top, Nomiyama stretched his arms and walked towards the person standing on the hillside: "It's too warm here, those wild beasts will come knocking on our door."

Yukino Yukinoshita looked at the people squatting a dozen meters away without turning around: "I set up a barrier, so no one else can get in except the three of us."

"Hmm." Nomiyama walked to her side, looking at the little figure squatting there as well: "What is she doing?"

Yukino Yukinoshita calmly replied, "I took Eriri out to buy some seeds a few days ago, and she's waiting for them to sprout."

Nomiyama's first thought wasn't about the seeds, but rather: "You two just left me here unconscious and went for a stroll?"

Yukino Yukinoshita nodded readily: "Yes."

Upon hearing the simple admission, Nomiyama was at a loss for words. Should he argue with her? It seemed unnecessary, since nothing would actually happen to him.

His gaze returned to the person crouching in the distance, and he said, "Don't you think Eriri is acting strange?"

"Something's not right?"

"She seems to talk less than before."

"Oh, then who do you think is to blame?"

Nomiyama took a breath and brought up another matter: "She seems to have become a little dumber. Even if things can really grow here, how could they sprout so quickly?"

Yukino Yukinoshita said calmly, "As long as she's happy."

"Liking something doesn't have to be like this. Wouldn't it be better to save some money to buy clothes? It's not easy for me to earn money."

"You mean you're referring to street robbery?"

"Say it nicely, what robbery? It's punishing evil and promoting good."

"It's still robbery."

Nomiyama began to roll up his sleeves.

Oh? Afraid of you?

Yukino Yukinoshita's expression remained unchanged; her fingers twitched slightly, and the wind and snow swept into the valley.

"It's sprouted," a voice said.

"It can really sprout?"

Nomiyama squatted down next to Eriri in the blink of an eye, looking at the patch of green with some surprise: "Isn't this a bit illogical?"

Yukino Yukinoshita stood to the side and glanced at him: "The existence of the three of us is completely illogical."

Nomiyama looked up at her suspiciously, wondering if this person had deliberately forced the green sprout to grow in order to make Eriri happy.

Yukino Yukinoshita gently shook her head.

"Yukino, it's sprouted!" Eriri Sawamura hugged her and rocked her. "That means we can grow vegetables here from now on!"

Yukino Yukinoshita simply stroked her hair gently.

Nomiyama glanced at them, then continued looking down at the green sprouts, asking curiously, "What kind of vegetable is this?"

"I don't know," said Eriri Sawamura, standing to the side. "I buried a lot of seeds."

So Nomiyama looked down at the snow.

Yukino looked at Eriri.

Eriri Sawamura took her hand and stepped back: "Yeah, let's ripen it faster, I'm curious too."

So green shoots grew, green vines spread, and in the blink of an eye, they blossomed and bore fruit.

The green vines stretched out for quite a while, with long, thin fruits hanging on them.

cucumber?

Nomiyama plucked a cucumber stalk and popped it into his mouth with a loud slurp: "Where did you guys buy the seeds? How come you can buy cucumber seeds in Siberia?"

Eriri Sawamura smiled broadly as she peeled off a cigarette. After hearing his words, she blinked. All she remembered was that it was a place where English was spoken; she hadn't paid attention to anything else.

Yukino Yukinoshita plucked the last thorn and rubbed it against her hand: "Los Angeles. Since it's US dollars, it's always more convenient to spend them locally."

Nomiyama turned to look at her.

You dumped me alone in the Siberian Arctic and then went to Los Angeles?

Yukino Yukinoshita remained calm: "One step."

step?

Nomiyama watched her in silence, only then realizing that his perception of the intensity beneath the snow had become blurred; the change in intensity from here to Los Angeles was too great, and he didn't know if it was her limit.

"Oh, that's Los Angeles." Eriri Sawamura said nonchalantly, biting into a cucumber.

Nomiyama's eyes lit up with interest.

He suddenly wanted to know if Yukinoshita could really fight him, the kind of fight where she goes all out.

Yukino Yukinoshita turned her head to meet his gaze, her eyes flickering slightly: "You haven't recovered yet."

"I think it's enough."

"Oh?"

Eriri Sawamura looked at them, sighed, turned around, and walked towards the wooden house while biting into a cucumber: "Let's go buy some things first. I haven't been feeling comfortable using an oil lamp these past few days. Let's get a generator first."

Nomiyama remained silent, feeling as if Eriri was mocking him.

He turned his head and looked at the person standing next to him: "Eri said you are childish."

Yukino Yukinoshita did not deny the statement. She simply looked at the wooden house and replied, "Yes."

After looking at her for a while, Nomiyama looked up at the white mist drifting above the valley.

They escaped. Eriri's arrival broke their promise of death, but it didn't change the essence of everything. The situation changed from the death of two people to the seclusion of three people. They are now in a corner of the world where few people can live for long, pretending that the things outside have nothing to do with them.

The deadlock is still there, but they've avoided it and aren't facing it.

"Actually, there is a way."

Nomiyama extended a finger, the tip of which emitted a tiny glimmer of light. He looked at her and said, "I will retrieve those things, erase your memories, erase the trace of my existence, and let everything return to its proper course."

Yukino Yukinoshita asked, "And what about you?"

Nomiyama extinguished that little light. He didn't know that the current nine years of memories, even with the thirty years of Yukishiro Yukihana, were still too short. Perhaps they were not insignificant, but compared to tens of thousands of years, they were just a drop of water. The moment he regained his memories, the newborn him would transform into another form, infinitely approaching the direction of the gods.

Determination is merely a slave to memory. In a hundred years of life, perhaps at some point, someone might be willing to dedicate their entire life to a girl. But when a lifetime has truly passed, in old age, he probably won't even remember what that girl looked like, only that there was such a person.

A person's life is already like this, let alone the even longer time span of his life, so long that just hearing about it makes him feel heavy.