Chapter 147 National Competition (2)

Correct every imperfect part meticulously and gradually improve the completeness of the performance.

"Well, that's all for today's practice."

"Thanks for your hard work!"

"You can continue to practice, but please make sure it does not affect tomorrow's game."

"yes!"

The practice the day before the competition is mainly focused on adjusting details, such as the volume ratio and position of each instrument, whether the intervals are off, whether the rhythm can be kept up, etc.

In order to avoid exhaustion, Qingye Rin finished practice earlier than usual, and it was only 7:30 in the evening.

Everyone was going to have dinner first, and then decide whether to continue practicing, or go back to the dormitory to rest or play cards.

This is a hotel that specializes in serving participating schools, so the restaurant is naturally incredibly large.

Watanabe Toru heard that there was another school living here, but he didn't see anyone there now. They were probably still practicing in the concert hall, so their arrival time was different from dinner time.

Dinner was arranged by Kiyono Rin, and no one was allowed to eat any special food. They just ate whatever they had in Tokyo.

Although everyone was very sorry, they had no objection to this decision, except Toru Watanabe.

"Why do you think I came to Nagoya?"

"Competition." Qingye Rin picked up a piece of salmon with chopsticks and replied perfunctorily.

"It's for the 'Three Ways to Eat Eel' at Horaiken, the most famous eel restaurant in Nagoya with a history of over 140 years."

"Three ways to eat eel?" Aona Koizumi, the accompanying teacher, showed a curious expression.

"The so-called three ways of eating actually refer to three steps: first, put the eel rice in a bowl and taste the deliciousness of the eel and the sauce; then mix in seaweed, core hemp, and green shiso to enjoy the refreshing taste; finally, add chopped green onions, wasabi, and hot soup to make eel rice with tea."

"It sounds delicious. I really want to try it."

"Not only that, teacher, there is also miso pork chop! The unique red miso sauce of Nagoya is poured over the whole piece of freshly fried pork chop. This is a unique way to eat it in Nagoya. The taste and intensity of the sauce vary from store to store. I saw a recommendation online for the straw sandal pork chop at the "Yaba store", which is said to be quite chewy."

"What are straw sandal pork chops? What a strange name. Are they wrapped in clean straw sandals and fried?"

"The so-called straw sandal pig..."

"Student Toru Watanabe." Kiyono Rin's slightly cold voice interrupted the conversation between teacher and student.

"I'm sorry." Watanabe Toru nodded solemnly and started eating the grilled fish set in front of him.

The white fish is thick, the skin is golden and crispy, and it is delicious, but - you can eat it everywhere in the island country!

"I want three ways to eat eel, and I want pork chop with straw sandals!" Watanabe Toru, who was filled with anger, ate a large piece of fish in one bite.

After finishing the meal, when leaving the restaurant, I could hear a large group of people walking towards the restaurant. It seemed that another school had finished practice.

Toru Watanabe took advantage of this time to rush to the bathroom to take a shower, so that he would not be unable to get access to the faucet.

He was not the only one who thought this way. A larger group of girls even ran, pushing and shoving each other, laughing as they went back to the dormitory to get their spare clothes and toiletries.

After taking a shower, the boys gathered in a circle to play cards.

"Think about it carefully. Even though we have a competition tomorrow, we don't have to go to school, which is also a kind of happiness!"

"You can also play cards openly in the name !"

"I just took a photo and sent it to the class group. They are so jealous, hahaha!"

"But I want to study more. The last national mock exam..."

"You bastard! Don't say such a spoiler! Can you read the air?!"

…

After losing two games, Toru Watanabe realized once again how bad his luck was. He quickly said he wanted to go to the bathroom and took the opportunity to slip away.

Going to the girls' dormitory to ask for snacks is an interesting thing and worth a try, but he is a married man now, so it's better to give up on such frivolous behavior.

Miki Kujo is not a gentle girl.

He came to the leisure area on the first floor of the hotel.

There is a billiard table for playing American billiards, coin-operated massage chairs, several sofas, and the indispensable vending machines.

There was an old poster on the wall. It was of Yamaguchi Momoe, who was known as one of the "Three Great Divas of the Showa era" along with Matsuda Seiko. It was also a swimsuit photo.

Toru Watanabe bought a bottle of Meiji milk, asked for a billiard table, and played billiard by himself, intending to play until everyone in the dormitory fell asleep before going back.

There were not many people on the first floor of the hotel, except for the ticking of the clock at the front desk and the occasional sound of the white ball he hit colliding with the ball.

"That's great, brother. You are good at math, right?"

"No, no, you must be very good at physics."

Watanabe Toru, who had scored all the balls into the holes and therefore won all the games, amused himself in his mind while drinking milk.

As the balls were brought back to the table one by one, a familiar figure appeared in the hall . It was naturally Kiyono Rin.

Usually only the heroine can escape from group activities and then meet the hero, allowing the plot to move forward smoothly.

Just kidding.

"What's wrong, Qingye-san? Are you being ostracized and can't stay here anymore?" This is the real reason.

Kiyono Rin, who was taking out a plastic bottle from the vending machine, looked over when she heard the voice, with a look of disgust as if to say, "Why are you here again?"

She walked to the billiard area and watched Toru Watanabe set the ball.

In this kind of weather, she deliberately put on a thick sweater before going out, while he was wearing a short-sleeved shirt and shorts, and he looked very cold.

Under the cuffs of his short sleeves, he has well-shaped muscles. When he usually wears a long-sleeved school uniform, he looks thin and you would never notice that he is so strong.

"Why are girls so interested in the topic of love? And why do they like to play boring house games like 'telling each other who they like'?" Qingye Rin sighed as if she couldn't stand it.

"The boys are also very boring. It's fine if they just play cards well, but the losers actually go to the girls' dormitory to ask for snacks."

"You're playing this by yourself? Is it called pool?"

"It's called Table Tennis, but not alone, but with my brother." Watanabe Toru pointed to a sofa against the wall.

There was no one sitting on the sofa, but there were a few cigarette butts in the ashtray next to it that had been there for a long time.

Qingye Rin looked at him with pity: "If you are really lonely, I can..."

"To chat with? Or to play with?"

"No, I'll give you a dolphin. I'll pay for it. Thank me."

Watanabe Toru showed a very tangled expression: "I prefer Alaska's king crabs to dolphins."

"I'm paying for it, so don't be picky. Also, I'm not buying you food, I'm buying you a doll."

"Is Alaskan king crab not okay? Canadian geoduck is also okay, although I don't really like the look of geoduck."

"I told you it's not for eating."

"Still not good enough? Then the French Belon oysters should be fine, right? I can't change it anymore. This is my bottom line."

Qing Ye Lin put her fingers on her beautiful chin, nodded, and said to herself: "I see, I know why you are here alone."

"No, listen to what people say. They said they are with my brother."

"It's you who should listen, Watanabe-san."

The balls had been rearranged, and Watanabe Toru took another club from the rack and invited, "Want a round?"

"Aren't you with your brothers?"

"Brothers are not as important as women."

"You are indeed that kind of person."

"Don't get me wrong, it's not just women who will do. The woman I'm referring to is specifically you, Kiyono-san."

"No need for polite words." Qing Ye Lin put the plastic bottle on the table and took the club. "How do we play this?"

"First time playing?"

"Um."

"This is another first time for Seino-san, so I will accept it without hesitation."

" I'm going back."

"Wait wait wait, I was wrong, don't go, seriously, I was really wrong!"

Toru Watanabe explained the rules to Rin Kiyono.

American billiards is very simple. There are 16 balls in total. Except for the white ball and the No. 8 black ball, the rest are divided into two groups: No. 1 to 7, commonly known as small flowers; No. 9 to 15, commonly known as big flowers.

The person who pockets all the balls in his group first and then pockets the 8 ball wins the game.

Qingye Rin nodded: "I understand, how to hit the ball?"

"I'll show you how to do it. You're so smart, you'll learn it at a glance."

"Like polite talk, generally accepted facts are nonsense."

"Yes, yes, as you command."

Watanabe Toru was playing by himself just now, just using the pole casually, but when he was teaching Kiyono Rin, he used a very standard posture.

In fact, it doesn’t matter whether the mark is standard or not, such as how to place the five fingers to fix the club, the distance from the club, the angle of the feet, etc.

The key: bend your waist as much as possible; lift your hips high enough.

"…Keep your head perpendicular to the club, keep your eyes on the ball and the club, and then find the right angle to hit it. Do you understand?"

"You ass...why are you in such a weird posture?"

"nothing."

Qingye Rin looked at him with contempt from the bottom of her heart without saying a word.

Watanabe Toru stood up straight and continued as if nothing had happened: "It's boring to just play. How about the loser treating us to a midnight snack? There's an udon noodle shop not far away."

"If it's udon noodles, I won't get an upset stomach. I agree." As she spoke, Kiyono Rin had already hit the white ball.

…

"Turn off the lights!"

"good--"

The room darkened and Kumiko buried herself in the quilt, trying hard to fall asleep quickly.

However, even after the quilt was warm, I still couldn't sleep at all.

The sound of the second hand of the clock on the wall ticking forward was too loud.

Kumiko knew the reason wasn't the clock.

She was not used to sleeping outside her own home, so she stayed up all night during the summer training camp. But thanks to this, she was able to seize the opportunity and build a good relationship with Kazuka Kaoru, who was also awake.

"…I can't sleep." Kumiko sat up angrily.

No matter how much I thought about it, I still couldn't fall asleep.

Since she couldn't sleep, she decided to go downstairs to get a hot drink.

She did the same thing the night before the Kansai competition and made it to the national competition. The fact that she couldn't sleep this time might have been God's will: a hint that if she just bought a hot drink, the same miracle would happen in tomorrow's competition!

Kumiko put on her coat with such superstitious thoughts because she cared too much about the competition.

"Kumiko?"

Kumiko was so frightened that her whole body froze. She looked over with eyes that were already accustomed to the darkness. Reina propped up her upper body and looked at her.

"It's Reina, you scared me. What's wrong? Did I wake you up?" Kumiko said softly.

"No, I haven't slept either. Where are you going?"

"I can't sleep, so I want to buy a cup of hot drink to see if it can help me sleep." Just keep the superstitious reason in your heart.

"I'll go with you." As she said that, Lina lifted the quilt and picked up the coat that was placed aside.

They walked out of the dormitory hand in hand and came to the first floor.

It was quiet, except for the faint sounds coming from the billiard area.

"See? A band-aid? You won unfairly, took advantage of someone's misfortune, fished in troubled waters, and took advantage of the opportunity."

"Someone said it himself. This is my first time."

"...Don't be so proud. Six wins out of ten games is still a long way from winning."

"At first it was best of three, then best of five. But forget it, let's set up the ball quickly and exercise more so we can have a midnight snack."

"You thought you won, but my real ability is still..."

The two girls felt a little uneasy.

People who are still playing billiards in the middle of the night are most likely not good people, and this is the unfamiliar Nagoya.

Lina whispered, "How about we go drink outside?"

"Yeah." Kumiko nodded.

It was already eleven o'clock in the evening. Silence filled the street, and the sound of shoes rubbing against the ground was shockingly loud.

The strange night scene in the distance, with lights dotted like stars, looks a bit like the colors of musical instruments.

The two walked to a park they had passed by on the bus in the afternoon.

It is very small, with only benches, a sandpit and two swings. Under the street lights at night, it looks very deserted.

Kumiko and Reina looked at each other, smiled, and walked towards the swing that seemed to be prepared for them.

Kumiko sat down on it, pulled the ring of a canned drink, and drank it while rocking the swing slightly.

My toes stretched unconsciously, and my slippers slipped off my feet and fell to the ground.

And Lina was very well-behaved. She held the still hot jar with both hands and sat quietly on the swing. This seemed to make her very satisfied.

Silence for a moment.

"I want to win the gold medal." Reina suddenly said, looking at the night sky of Nagoya.

"Me too," Kumiko replied softly.

“We must win the gold medal.”

"Um!"

"Even if it doesn't work this time, I won't give up next year or the year after."

"No matter how long it takes, I'll support you." Kumiko stopped the swing, reached out, and held Reina's hand tightly.

Reina smiled and looked at Kumiko.

As the two looked at each other, a voice suddenly came.

"Ahhhh, I saw something I shouldn't have seen."

Kumiko and Reina turned around and saw a young boy and girl standing under a lighted telephone pole at the park entrance.

The night wind blew through the overgrown weeds in the park, the boys and girls' hair swayed slightly, and eyes brighter than the stars looked at them.

The two were shocked by their appearance and looked at the scene without reacting.

"Don't you recognize me? 'Sister Lina, I'm your fan', do you remember?" the boy said with a smile.

The girl next to him sighed helplessly and rubbed her temples as if she had a headache.

"I'm sorry, he's not normal anymore," the girl explained, "We're just about to go get some udon, do you want to join us?"

Kumiko and Reina looked at each other.

'I'm hungry.'

'Me too.'

'Go?'

'Um.'

"Excuse me." They both stood up.

"Ah!" Kumiko suddenly screamed, scaring all three of them.

"What's wrong, Kumiko?" Reina asked worriedly.