“Wake up, wake up.”

“Darling, wake up.”

“We’re here.”

Turing’s warm breath brushed against Merka’s ear.

The sweet dream shattered like a perfectly fitted puzzle coming apart.

Merka was lying in the back seat of the car, nestled against Turing.

He slowly opened his bleary eyes and looked out the window.

Huge valleys rose on either side of the car, like two rows of blades standing parallel.

Merka sat huddled in the car, staring at the valley—as though the gods had cleaved a passage through it—in stunned silence.

He straightened up a little and gazed into the distance.

Dense mist blew in from somewhere, rushing through the car window all at once and leaving Merka’s cheeks damp.

“Turing, what is this…?”

Merka touched his cheek, then turned to Turing and asked in surprise.

From the corner of his eye, he spotted Baotu Spring outside the window behind Turing, beautiful as a sapphire.

The spring seemed to be brewing an azure egg, just about to be born.

It bubbled and bubbled, quietly gathering strength, as if ready to break through the thin sheet of water and burst forth at any moment.

“Merka, I think I once heard of a kind of water therapy. Do you know about it?”

“Apparently, playing in the water—or even just playing beside it—can heal psychological problems.”

“……”

“……I know that snowy day when Joan parted ways with you has always been painful for you, and left you heartbroken.”

“I was thinking, if you could face the same kind of scene and feel something completely different, maybe it would leave you with a completely different memory.”

Turing lifted a lock of hair from the side of her face, revealing a profile as fair as white jade.

Her soft red hair looked like crimson velvet wound around white jade. The long, delicately colored strands were so lovely that, up close, they seemed like the sugary heart inside a piece of amber. It was hard to look away.

“Turing…”

Merka hesitated. He wasn’t quite sure what Turing meant.

“Come on. Follow me.”

“You’ll see in a second—”

Bang!

A sharp crack rang out from Baotu Spring in the distance.

Murky blue bubbles floated on the spring’s surface, surging without pause until they reached some critical point and burst all at once.

The lively spray blossomed into the air, shooting more than twenty meters skyward.

“Wow! It’s started!”

“Quick, get out of the car! If we’re any later, we’ll miss the snowy scenery!”

Turing grabbed Merka by the wrist. With her other hand on the car-door handle, she shoved the door open with her elbow and pulled him out of the car.

“Snowy scenery…? What snowy scenery?”

“It’s clear as can be. Where would snow come from… Huh?”

Merka was led out of the car by Turing.

He was still confused by Turing’s cryptic words when, the very next moment, a breathtaking scene filled his entire field of vision.

The water droplets drifted through the sky, scattered across it. Then Iceland’s cold, fierce wind swept over them, and they turned into icy snowflakes that fluttered down.

Turing clutched Merka’s hand and screamed as she charged toward Baotu Spring.

“Again! Do it again!”

Bang!

Another column of water burst from Baotu Spring, shooting straight into the blue sky.

The brilliant blue column turned into a sea of snowflakes. Carried by the cold yet gentle northern wind, they drifted slowly down and brushed against Merka’s cheek.

The refreshing ice crystals vanished against Merka’s cheek and melted in his heart, soaking deep into it.

“Come on, Merka! Let’s have a snowball fight!”

“I’m going to give you happy memories of snowy days that’ll never fade!”

Merka watched Turing packing snowballs on the ground and playing like a child. Something stirred in his heart.

He hesitated, taking two steps forward, then broke into a run, smiling as he joined Turing’s snowball fight.