I play the wind instrument in Hokkaido.

Page 560

"you know?"

"of course I know."

"I already have the answer in my heart, do you?"

"Hmm."

"Then let's say it together, three, two..."

"boplictiy".

"boplictiy".

Their voices almost overlapped, and Kitahara Hakuba liked this unanimous feedback. He pinched Shinomiya Haruka's cheek and said:

"It seems we're the same."

"Because this one has a strong sense of rhythm, I feel the other ones have too complex harmonies. After all, I'm not you," Shinomiya Haruka said with a smile.

She never pretends to be something she's not; if she doesn't know something, she doesn't know it; if she's not as good as others, she's not as good as them. In front of Kitahara Hakuba, she always takes care of his pride.

"That's settled then, let's start tonight."

Simplifying the arrangement is necessary; Kitahara Hakuba needs to rearrange it into a quintet version.

Inside the small car, Shinomiya Haruka gave him a teasing look with a smile: "Aren't you going back to do it?"

"Nothing feels as good as composing music!" Kitahara Hakuba exclaimed excitedly.

Sit in a chair with your legs slightly apart, keeping your body as relaxed as possible, and then blow air into the silver mouthpiece.

First, blow a B, then slowly raise the pitch every four beats, slowly expelling the air from your lungs, making the air inside the trumpet seem to vibrate.

This is the most common basic exercise in the wind section.

After leaving the library, neither Hiroka Isomoto nor Haruka Saito were in the mood to continue their tutoring. The former just wanted to quickly touch the tukulele, while the latter's mood plummeted.

After saying goodbye, the two went about their own business.

It is 4:30 in the afternoon. The view outside the window is a deep crimson. Yuka Isomoto puts down her tuba, which is now draped in the red hue of the setting sun.

She suddenly realized that this year's first snowfall came later than in previous years.

What should I do next? Should I really go and play the flute happily with Kitahara-sensei, leaving Harutori all alone outside?

Should I try to win him over? But if I anger him, will that resentment eventually backfire on me?

Yuka Isomoto sighed, looked down at the tuba, and saw her distorted face reflected on the tube.

At that moment, outside the corridor window of the empty classroom, a girl who looked like a doll was staring at her, expressionless, her face deathly pale.

Startled, Yuka Isomoto suddenly remembered a horror movie she watched as a child and couldn't help but scream.

"Gah!"

The girl outside the window was clearly bothered by the noise, and her face scrunched up slightly.

"Kami... Kanzaki-san?" Yuka Isomoto breathed a sigh of relief, hugged her tutti, and walked towards the glass window, saying awkwardly, "What are you doing here?"

This isn't the wind instrument section, but rather an empty classroom that was left out of the school building.

The reason she didn't go was that Yuka Isomoto was afraid that her technique would deteriorate after not playing for more than a month, so she preferred to hide away by herself and slowly practice to regain the feeling of playing.

Eri Kanzaki raised her hand, smoothing her sideburns, and looked at the mouthpiece of her trumpet, saying:

"I heard a sound."

"Sorry, did I disturb you?"

Eri Kanzaki shook her head, turned to the side, took a few steps and walked back into the classroom, saying, "This is the empty classroom that Kitahara-sensei gave me."

"what?

3

Yuka Isomoto stared blankly around.

Indeed, in the corner of the classroom were a table, a music stand, a metronome, and a shiny black oboe case on the table.

"Sorry, I'll be leaving now!" Yuka Isomoto's face flushed red.

"No need," Eri Kanzaki said, shaking her head. "Yuka can stay."

Yuka Isohara couldn't help but swallow, and mustered her courage to ask, "Then...can I call you Eri too?"

Kanzaki Eri didn't speak, but just nodded, turned around, opened the oboe case, took out the oboe, and began to assemble it.

"Did Kitahara-sensei contact you?"

"Ah, um, he told me we'd be going to the Christmas Dream Festival together. Hehe, you guys are all amazing, I'm a little afraid I'll hold you back," Yuka Isomoto said with a dry laugh while holding her tuba.

Eri Kanzaki opened the reed box, her fingers moving back and forth in the air, finally choosing the reed she had played during the national tournament:

"Yuka is amazing."

After she finished speaking, she put the reed in her mouth. The sight of her made Yuka Isomoto's heart melt. How could there be such a cute girl?

"Eri is too! No, she's several times better than me!"

Eri Kanzaki relaxed for a moment, then a faint, almost imperceptible smile appeared on her lips.

Yuka Isomoto slightly widened her eyes, and a smile curved her lips.

And then? No more words? What should I do now? Leave? No, this is the classroom that Kitahara-sensei specifically vacated for her; shouldn't I leave?

Staying any longer would feel incredibly rude.

"Then I'll go first."

"How is Haruto?" Kanzaki Eri suddenly asked.

“Ugh…” Yuka Isomoto’s words caught in her throat, and the scene of Haruka Saito crying with her head down flashed through her mind again. “The evening breeze blew in, ruffling Eri Kanzaki’s long hair, and the oboe in her hand was wiped clean.”

"Yuka and Harunori have a very good relationship, better than I do."

Yuka Isomoto was only eager to refute: "No, no, how could that be!"

Kanzaki Eri stared directly at her, causing Isomoto Yuka to instinctively look away.

"Angry?"

"Oh, no, why would I be angry? Hehe," said Yuka Isomoto with a bright smile.

Eri Kanzaki slumped her shoulders, her eyes darting around, and said, "I was talking about Haru-no-Tori."

"Oh, oh oh oh!"

Yuka Isomoto felt all the blood rushing to her face, and she couldn't help but complain inwardly to Eri why she didn't speak more clearly.

"It's alright."

"I heard from my classmates that she cried in the library."

77

Kanzaki Eri pinched the reed with her fingers, brushed her bangs aside, and said in a low voice:

"I don't know what to do anymore."

Yuka Isomoto turned her face away; even if she said that, she didn't know what to do.

"Yuka, what did you do to Kitahara-sensei before?" Kanzaki Eri suddenly asked.

"Misunderstanding? What?"

"Why does the weatherbird look so confident?"

Yuka Isomoto suddenly felt a burning sensation on the soles of her feet, which were covered by socks, and the feeling of comforting Hakuba with Haruka Saito came back to her.

Her body felt hot, and despite her shame, Yuka Isomoto blushed and said:

"No, nothing."

However, the girl's posture had already given her away.

"Hmm." Kanzaki Eri turned her gaze away from her face. "Aomori, what are you going to do?"

"Let's pick apples."

Yuka Isomoto smiled shyly, her face flushed with a faint blush. Is being bad at lying a flaw or a strength?

Kanzaki Eri didn't speak, but simply moved the steel pipe chair next to her, pulled up her skirt, sat down, and said:

"Want to play together?"

For Yuka Isomoto, the desire to leave actually outweighed the desire to play a duet with such a beautiful girl; after all, she used to always want to hug Eri.

"it is good."

With Kanzaki Eri staring intently at her, Isomoto Yuka had nowhere to retreat. It seemed that her earlier words had caught Eri's attention.

“Harutori asked me to help her in Aomori, but she didn’t say what I was supposed to do,” Kanzaki Eri said softly.

4

"This time, Yuka Isomoto has learned her lesson and doesn't plan to say anything."

"Red Dragonfly".

"dislike?"

"Huh? Oh, okay!"

Yuka Isomoto then realized that she was suddenly talking about the piece she was playing.

Looking to the side, Hui Li's gaze swept across the sheet music as if she were caressing an infant.

Days passed by, and the weekends were over. A few days ago, the sun was shining, but now it's gloomy all day.

"Currently, due to the influence of a low-pressure system over the East Sea, Hakodate City will experience its first snowfall of the year tonight until early tomorrow morning. The snowfall is expected to begin around 10 PM and continue until 6 AM tomorrow."

"Special reminder to drivers: Be aware of black ice on the road surface in the Hakodate-yama section and the Shizijie slope area of ​​National Highway No. 5. Citizens traveling in the early morning and late evening are advised to allow extra commuting time and take precautions against the cold."

3 "

A text message from AI came through the phone. Kitahara Hakuba finished washing up, put on a thick winter coat, and went out of the room.

The air was dry and hard, the sky a monotonous gray-white, the clouds hanging extremely low, somber and stingy, as if filtering out all vibrant colors.