Chapter 197: An Unexpected New Year's Eve

After getting off the Shinkansen, Akiwara Yuto and Asano Aiko went to a nearby large supermarket together to purchase ingredients for the New Year and other supplies.

Then, the two said their goodbyes and headed toward their respective homes.

Akiwara Yuto returned home and shoved the groceries he had bought into the refrigerator. He then went to the living room, sat on the floor, and turned on the television.

The television screen lit up quickly, and on the screen, an NHK female anchor was reporting the news.

"... he Japan Meteorological Agency announced earlier today that due to the influence of a strong cold air mass and low pressure, train operations during the New Year's holiday will be affected; please take care when going out..."

Seeing this news, Akiwara Yuto remembered that Asano Aiko was supposed to visit his home later, but it seemed that would no longer be possible.

He shook his head, unable to help but chuckle softly.

During this recent tour of book signings, all he had to do was sign his name and soak in hot springs.

All other promotions and miscellaneous tasks were handled and coordinated by Asano and the editorial department, so she had much more to deal with than he did.

He would call her tomorrow and tell her to get some good rest at home these next few days.

That said, what should he do himself?

Akiwara Yuto thought for a long time without reaching a conclusion; he lay on the tatami mat, watching the anchor's report on the television, feeling increasingly sleepy, and soon drifted off to sleep.

Time passed bit by bit, and he did not know how long it had been before Akiwara Yuto opened his eyes on the tatami mat.

At the same time, he could not help but feel a chill all over his body.

"So cold, what is the temperature now?"

He shivered for a moment, then stood up, took an electric heater out of the closet, and turned it on.

As the yellow light flickered on, the temperature in the room began to rise slowly.

He walked to the kitchen, intending to boil a pot of water, when he suddenly saw the scene outside through the kitchen window—a thin layer of white snow had unknowingly accumulated on the ground, and snowflakes were drifting down in the air.

Seeing this sight, Akiwara Yuto's eyes became unfocused, and he even thought of Yasunari Kawabata's *Snow Country*.

Although the environment he was in was vastly different, he could still grasp a bit of that state of mind.

When one is alone, it really is a bit lonely...

Just as he was feeling sentimental by himself, the "ding-dong" of the doorbell rang.

Who would come over at this time?

He could not help but feel puzzled, but he stopped his hand from preparing to open the instant noodles and walked to the entryway to open the door.

Under the dim light of the doorway, a young woman appeared before him; she was wearing a white down jacket and long boots, her delicate face appearing and disappearing in the light, and there was an inexplicable expression on her face.

Akiwara Yuto quickly recognized the visitor; she was that editor from Anjiu Bookstore, Satake Maki.

Akiwara Yuto was very confused; on New Year's Eve, why would this Editor Satake not be at home watching the Red and White Song Battle with her family, but instead come running to his house at this time?

Even if it were a business visit on behalf of Anjiu Bookstore, it should have been scheduled for January 2nd...

Akiwara Yuto thought for a moment and then tentatively asked, "Ms. Satake, this is?"

"Akiwara-sensei, it's like this, my family made an extra portion of ozoni and rice cakes, and if you don't mind, I wanted to give them to you."

Satake Maki hesitated for a moment, then held up a package in her hand and said.

Hearing this reason, Akiwara Yuto chuckled, but he still opened the door and welcomed her inside. "It's cold out, come in and talk."

"Excuse me," Satake Maki said as she changed her shoes at the entryway and walked in.

"Thank you so much for bringing the food; I was already planning on eating instant noodles." Akiwara Yuto took the package from her.

If he didn't have her food, he would have only been able to eat instant noodles for the New Year.

Although this was his own decision, eating only instant noodles for the New Year was a bit too miserable.

Satake Maki shook her head and said in a gentle tone, "It's no trouble at all; after all, for the past half year, I have to thank you for your help to Anjiu Bookstore."

Although she said this, she knew that this was not what she was thinking in her heart.

"Ms. Satake, why don't you watch the Red and White Song Battle in the living room for a while? I'll return the bento box to you as soon as I finish eating."

Akiwara Yuto waved his hand, then unwrapped the package and put the bento box inside into the microwave to heat up.

After it was heated, he carried the bento box on a tray to the living room and sat down by the low table.

While eating the food, he watched the Red and White Song Battle together with Satake Maki.

The Red and White Song Battle is a competitive music program that divides female artists into the Red Team and male artists into the White Team; it would be no exaggeration to say its viewership is the highest in all of Japan.

Generally speaking, people watch it with their families.

Thinking of this, Akiwara Yuto could not help but speed up his eating, preparing to return the bento box to her immediately after finishing, and then send her off to reunite with her family.

With this thought in mind, he finished eating and washed the bento box in just 15 minutes, then placed it back into the package.

"Ms. Satake, thank you for the meal; here is your bento box back." Akiwara Yuto handed her the package, then looked at the snowflakes still falling outside the window and thought for a moment before saying, "You should head back early; the Meteorological Agency said the weather is bad tonight, and the trains might stop running."

"It's fine, actually, there's no need to be in such a rush..." Satake Maki seemed to want to say something else, but seeing that Akiwara Yuto had already said as much, she felt her words were a bit superfluous, so she added, "Alright, then I will take my leave."

Akiwara Yuto did not notice anything wrong and said with a smile, "In any case, thank you; I will give you a return gift after the New Year."

He decided to see her off, so he put on the plush coat hanging on the wall and said, "Let's go together; I'll walk you to the train station."

Satake Maki hesitated for a moment, then just whispered, "Then I'll trouble you, Sensei."

Immediately after, the two pushed open the door and walked along the street toward the train station.

As they walked, their feet crunched on the accumulated snow, making a "crunching" sound.

Perhaps because of the snow, there were few pedestrians on the street, and they didn't even see many cars.

After a journey of about 15 minutes, the two arrived at the nearest train station.

But when they tried to enter the station, they were stopped by a staff member in uniform. "I'm sorry, because of snow accumulation on the tracks ahead, the trains have stopped operating."

Akiwara Yuto looked at the staff member and asked, "Then how long will it take for them to run normally?"

The staff member replied apologetically, "We are also waiting for notification, so we cannot be sure."

Akiwara Yuto turned to look at Satake Maki and fell into hesitation.

Satake Maki waved her hand. "It's okay, I'll just call a taxi to go back."

Akiwara Yuto could only nod, having made the decision in his heart to reimburse her for the taxi fare; after all, the cost of a taxi was not cheap for an average employee.

"How about this, I'll see you into a taxi," Akiwara Yuto suggested.

Satake Maki did not refuse and followed Akiwara Yuto to the road outside the station, trying to hail a taxi.

But whether because it was New Year's Eve or because of the snow, the traffic on the road was extremely sparse, and they basically did not see a single taxi.

After waiting for 20 minutes, the two had to give up on the idea of taking a taxi.

"How about this, Editor Satake, I will book a hotel for you and pay for it; you can wait until the trains are running normally before you leave."

When saying this, Akiwara Yuto's face showed deep apology.

In his view, Satake Maki had only encountered this situation because she had come to bring him food. But this had also resulted in her not being able to spend New Year's Eve with her family.

Now it seemed he could only let her stay in a hotel for a night or two.

But to his surprise, Satake Maki shook her head, refused his suggestion, and made a request that surprised him.

"Akiwara-sensei, although it is a bit presumptuous, may I stay at your house tonight?"