August 18, the Wind Instrument Club's third day in Karuizawa.

Xiaoquan Aonai and her two friends woke up early.

Suddenly immersed in a new environment, the comfortable and romantic Karuizawa invigorated the three young women to be more positive about life, and they had agreed the night before to go for a jog in the morning.

"What a thick fog!" Akiko exclaimed, stretching her arms as they stepped out of the hotel.

"It's a bit cold." Miyazaki Mieko sniffled, seemingly a bit uncomfortable.

Xiaoquan Aonai, looking at the hazy fog, remembered the Karuizawa mornings that Dubian Che had mentioned several times.

Perhaps she might even encounter him in the fog—it was a thought that suddenly popped into her mind.

"Which way should we run?" Akiko took out a tourist map she had gotten from the hotel lobby.

"Look here," Xiaoquan Aonai pointed to the south of the hotel on the map, "there's a country club here with a small golf course. How about we run around the golf course?"

South of the hotel lay the country club's golf course, and beyond that to the south, the Karuizawa Horse Riding Club.

There were multiple places to play golf in Karuizawa, for instance near Yun Chang Pond, but the only place for horseback riding was here.

"It's not far from here, let's go there." Miyazaki Mieko nodded.

"Go! Go! Go!" Akiko, the English teacher, rolled up the map and was the first to run into the fog.

The fog enveloping Karuizawa scattered like waves around them as they ran, then gathered together again.

The visibility was very low, making it so people coming toward them were only recognizable when very close.

Tall, sturdy elms surrounded them, and birdsong could be heard from deep within the mist.

'With such thick fog, even if I encounter Dubian, I won't be able to see him.'

Just as she thought this, Xiaoquan Aonai remembered what Dubian Che had said over the phone: "The fog was thick, we couldn't see each other, only knew the other was a person," and she chuckled.

Akiko and Miyazaki Mieko, running beside her, looked at her curiously.

"What's so funny?" Miyazaki Mieko asked.

"The TV drama we watched last night, the male lead's watermelon head," Xiaoquan Aonai said, barely holding back laughter.

"You didn't laugh when we watched it last night, but now you suddenly find it funny?" Akiko was perplexed.

"Don't you guys... haha... find it funny? Haha!" Xiaoquan Aonai laughed as she spoke.

She had already associated the memory of not recognizing each other in the fog with Dubian Che, and then both of them being scared by the figure in the fog when talking about the morning exercise.

Akiko looked at Xiaoquan Aonai, who was laughing non-stop, with an emotionless and stunned expression.

"Laughing is good," sighed Miyazaki Mieko.

She was beginning to feel tired.

Today was another day marked by her distress over having too large a bust.

Before long, the three of them shifted from running to walking and started taking a leisurely stroll.

As they walked, they chatted about the workplace romance series they had watched the night before, discussing the female lead's decisive and swift manner, and pondered where exactly one would find such people in real life, as possessive as the male lead—with the exception of his loosely tied necktie, which Dubian Che did indeed resemble.

Sometime later, the elms had been replaced by larches.

They turned from a straight and broad road into a quiet, shaded path roofed with tree branches.

Tree trunks had been cut, leaving lonely roots covered in moss; bracken grew thick and lush; increasingly, birdsongs filled the air.

Right then, the morning light began to dissipate the fog, and the forest started to awaken.

"This path is quite beautiful," Akiko couldn't help but remark.

"It's a shame we have to return to Tokyo tomorrow," said Xiaoquan Aonai.

"Are you reluctant to leave the cool air of Karuizawa, or do you not want to return to the sweltering heat of Tokyo, or is it that you'll miss young master Dubian?" Miyazaki Mieko teased her.

"What's there to miss?" Akiko interjected. "School starts soon, and then we'll be together every day."

"I have that kind of worry right now," Xiaoquan Aonai stretched her arms wide, doing chest expansion exercises.

Her bust wasn't as exaggerated as Miyazaki Mieko's, but it was also not to be undervalued, round and wrapped tightly under her clothing, drawing the eye irresistibly.

"What worry? Don't want to be with the young man every day?" Miyazaki Mieko asked curiously.

"It's not that," Xiaoquan Aonai replied. "I'm reluctant to leave the present, but the future is equally blissful, and I really don't know what to do."

"Ah—" Akiko cried out woefully, clasping her hands behind her head, "I also want a handsome, young man! Especially one who doesn't interfere with my life, lets me continue to hang out with you two all day, but still gives me money to spend."

"I'm with Dubian because of love," scolded Xiaoquan Aonai gently, smiling.

"I'm just jealous of material possessions, freedom, and romance."

"That's almost equivalent to love," Miyazaki Mieko patted her pants where they'd gotten wet from the mist and grass.

"Lies!" Akiko posed incredulously, exclaiming theatrically, "Miyuki, are you saying I'm in love with Dubian?!"

"Hey—" Xiaoquan Aonai couldn't help but laugh.

"Akiko, I heard that," a voice tinged with mirth came from the larch forest.

The three of them looked toward the voice and through the slowly dispersing fog, they saw someone riding towards them.

A fair-skinned white horse gracefully approached, on it a noble young man dressed in a knight's attire, handsome and charming, with a smile that was pleasantly enchanting.

With broad shoulders and a narrow waist, his figure was well-defined, and his white shirt underneath was very stylish.

Xiaoquan Aonai watched him approach on his white horse, holding freshly picked Mountain Lilies, and her heart began to race uncontrollably.

Akiko came back to her senses, her face flushed, and then pretending nothing was amiss, she said, "That horse is so handsome, I'd like to try riding it too!"