"So what was your final answer?" Fyodor asked curiously, tilting his head after listening to the whole story.

"I said that I would remember to tell Tolstoy about this in a letter, and also told him that Tolstoy actually cared about him. After that, he became furious and muttered a lot about something he didn't know.

If there was anything, I found an excuse and ran away."

The traveler smiled and shrugged, sitting casually on a bench on the edge of the lawn of the Winter Palace Square, reaching out to catch the bright and dazzling sunlight: "It's quite cute, isn't it?"

Are you sure they are cute and not childish?

Fyodor, who was sitting on the side, raised his eyebrows, but didn't say much - after all, he had already seen these two socializing at the kindergarten level in the "Pigeon Soup Incident".

But... "He has already told you to be careful about me."

Fyodor looked at the lazy adult in front of him - he was still looking calm and unhurried as usual, and there was no special reaction, as if he hadn't heard those words at all.

"Well, it doesn't matter. It's not the first day I know how dangerous you are."

The traveler narrowly narrowed his beautiful orange-gold eyes, which seemed to be filled with bright sunlight, and could not see a trace of haze: "Besides, if you want to find me, I can't hide from you at all -

That’s it, and I would be very worried if two minors were allowed to go out alone.”

"..." Fyodor pondered for a moment about this answer, and then nodded seriously, "As expected of you."

"Wow, is this a rare and sincere compliment from Mr. Fyodor?" Kitahara and Kaede blinked happily, raising their tone slightly, pretending to be flattered, "Well, I feel a little proud.

Woolen cloth."

The future Mr. Majin raised his burgundy eyes, looked helplessly at the adult in front of him who suddenly became unreliable again, and said slowly: "Mr. Kitahara, do you need me to remind you of my current age?"

You are an adult, why are you so excited because of the comments of a 13-year-old minorjpg

"Well, but Fyodor is special, isn't he?" Kitahara and Feng held their chins with a smile, and glanced at a calico cat walking leisurely from the square, "With any child, any

People are completely different...Huh? Why are you showing such an expression?"

"I'm just a little surprised." Fyodor met the person in front of him and smiled obediently. He looked like a soft and harmless little hamster: "I thought you would hate people like me.

.”

"What you said...actually, I still like idealists." The traveler stretched out his hand to greet the cat in the square, attracting the cat's attention. "If your acting style is not so

Extremely, I think our relationship should be good."

He looked at the cat in the square and called out "meow" several times to the cat with great interest. Naturally, he received a scorn from the cat star.

As a stipend-based cat guard living in the Hermitage, do you think I would be interested in your meow-talk with fifty-eight grammatical errors?

ten minutes later.

Kitahara and Kaede hugged the cat happily, and stroked the calico cat, which had looked very cold before, from beginning to end, and turned it into a soft cat cake.

"Purr~" The calico cat narrowed its eyes in contentment, curled its fluffy tail lazily, turned out its white belly without any bones, and officially declared that it was lying down.

The traveler rubbed the other person's belly with satisfaction, and then squeezed his paws. For the first time, he felt that his inexplicable animal affinity was useful.

It’s just that you can still see the standard three flowers of the Chinese Garden Cat here in the Winter Palace, which is a bit surprising.

Well, if anything, is this also some version of "Calico cats are everywhere"?

"Feodor, do you want to pet him? This is a Winter Palace cat that has an official position and is still eating royal food. It is cleaner than most pet cats." Kitahara and Kaede lowered their heads and stroked them again and again.

He touched the other person's smooth fur and invited him very warmly.

"No." Fyodor glanced at the cat, and after receiving a warning growl from the cat, he spread his hands helplessly, "It doesn't seem to like me too much."

"Hmm... It's not that I can't understand it. After all, the Hermitage Cat's professional skill is actually catching mice." Kitahara and Kaede rubbed the cat's head regretfully, "Speaking of which, what were we talking about just now? It's yours

Just act like it."

He stopped what he was doing, raised his head and looked at the opponent seriously: "In your eyes, there are no comrades, only chess pieces. This is what I don't like very much."

"But I don't need comrades." Fyodor just smiled calmly, then shook his head gently, "The chess pieces are enough."

He didn't argue much here, and he didn't have any idea of ​​explanation - anyway, he felt that this traveler who was always "unremarkable" to him knew what he meant.

"So, whether it's a god or a saint, I actually don't like it." Kitahara and Kaede sighed helplessly, burying their faces in the cat's fur and taking a deep breath, "Maybe this is why I can only be a mortal.

Reason."

Standing at such a high place is too far away from human beings, too lonely, and too painful.

Although he also wanted to ask the other person - do you think you are a god? But I guess Fyodor would really nod...

So why did he think that he could still persuade the other party? The future President Tuo himself admitted that he was guilty, and there was really nothing to say in his awakening, but it did not prevent him from planning to go to the dark side on this road.

"Actually, I have always been curious about your relationship with Gogol, but after thinking about it, let it go. After all, this is a matter between the two of you, so I won't get involved. It's better to talk more relaxedly now."

Kitahara and Feng held their chins with one hand, looked at the underage hamster in front of them up and down, then rubbed the cat in their arms, pondered for a few seconds, and their thoughts quickly jumped to another dimension: "You first

Close your eyes."

"Is there a problem?"

"Hmm...a surprise? Of course, maybe it's a shock, but anyway, just don't use crime and punishment reflexively."

Fyodor blinked his wine-red eyes, but finally closed them.

Then he felt his head sink, as if there was something inexplicable.

It feels soft, seems to have warmth, and seems to... move.

Fyodor, who had already guessed what was on his head, opened his eyes helplessly and looked at the other person.

The branches on the Winter Palace Square have not yet sprouted many new leaf buds, but the way they are swaying at the moment is enough to see how softly these branches will cast a shadow in the spring breeze in the future.

The smiling traveler held up the camera he had just taken out and sat on a brown-red bench. The pale and pure sunlight shone down from the sky above, seeming to make his bent eyes sparkle.

radiant.

"That's right, just keep this expression!" The traveler happily snapped his fingers and pressed the shutter with a "click".

"Perfect -" Kitahara and Kaede looked at the camera in their hands and greeted with a smile, "Okay, okay, the cat can get off Fyodor's head, thank you for your cooperation~"

"..." Fyodor calmly tore the cat off his head, which was hooked on his hat and meowing, and watched as the cat quickly jumped into the traveler's arms, "

So what did you capture?”

"Of course it's little Mr. Fyodor wearing a cat version of Ushanka's hat. It's really super cute. I have all the materials to send a letter to Tolstoy next time! By the way, isn't this kind of collector's edition photo

I should wash a few more copies for collection... uh."

Wait, that fleeting feeling just now shouldn't be murderous, right?

Kitahara and Kaede slowly turned off the camera and coughed awkwardly: "Of course, if you want to delete it, that's another matter."

But it would be a pity if it were deleted... This is a combination of a cat and an underage hamster! Moreover, the cat is slumped into a hat, and it doesn't feel out of place to lie on Mr. Tuo's head!

To be honest, ever since he saw the hat cat mascot of the Russian national team in his previous life, he has been thinking about giving Mr. Tuo a similar cat hat.

"Forget it, just keep it." Fyodor sighed silently, his eyes silently scanning the calico cat whose fur was all shaggy, "I'll go see why Nikolai is now

It hasn’t come out yet.”

"Then I'll trouble you."

Beihara and Feng looked around guiltily, and after confirming that Mr. Tuo did not seem to have any intention of killing anyone, they quickly became confused: "I plan to go to Nevsky Prospekt for a walk. You can just go and do your own thing——

You haven’t finished what you came to St. Petersburg to do, right?”

The Winter Palace Square is right on the edge of Nevsky Prospekt, connected by the tall Narva Triumphal Arch. At the top of the Arc de Triomphe, the goddess of victory with outstretched wings holds a laurel crown and palm branches in her hands, driving a battle horse pulled by six horses.

The car seems to be cruising in the sky, bringing victory and peace to the world.

"Indeed not yet." Fyodor looked in the direction of the Arc de Triomphe and nodded slightly, "Are you planning to go to Nevsky Prospekt to sketch?"

"Yeah - I just looked around at the paintings of the masters, and I feel like my mind is full of all kinds of inspirations now." Kitahara and Kaede stretched, stood up from the bench, and took the cat.

He also put it down, "While the inspiration hasn't disappeared, I have to draw something quickly."

"I have a hunch." The traveler opened his arms as if to embrace this beautiful city, with a deep smile in his orange-gold eyes, "I will complete a 'masterpiece' here."

He looked towards the city, looking up at the goddess of victory high above, as if he had taken advantage of her carriage to overlook this beautiful city.

The dazzling cultural capital, the White Night City where summer nights never come, the Venice of the North, which is composed of hundreds of rivers, the Bridge Museum with three to four hundred bridges, the most European window in Russia...

And all these descriptions can be summed up in one simple phrase: St. Petersburg.

Fyodor raised his eyebrows: "For example?"

"For example, a masterpiece like The Last Ivy Leaf?" Kitahara Kazuka retracted his gaze and replied with a smile, "Well, although I feel like I am cursing myself by saying this, it should be more or less the same."
Chapter completed!