Chapter 148 National Competition (3)
After Kumiko wiped the soles of her feet with a tissue, they, who were from Tokyo and Kyoto respectively, walked together in the night in Nagoya.
"Prime Minister Watanabe, can I ask you a question?" Kumiko held a drink in one hand and covered the collar of her clothes with the other. The evening wind was a bit cold.
"Secretary Kumiko, I'm not cold."
"No, that's not it. It's none of my business whether you're cold or not, is it?"
"Huh? You're talking to me like that?"
"I'm sorry, Prime Minister!"
Watanabe Toru snorted arrogantly.
Kiyono Rin and Reina looked at each other and found the same helplessness in each other's eyes.
Kumiko took a sip of the drink, and when it was still a little warm, she quickly took a few more sips, wanting to finish it all before it got completely cold.
Feeling the sweetness between her lips and teeth, she continued, "I heard that you went to Tokyo to study alone from Iwate Prefecture. Can you share your life experience?"
"Don't go to Ochanomizu." Watanabe Toru blurted out.
"ah?"
After hearing Kumiko's question, the other two girls, who were prepared to listen carefully, followed Kumiko's expression of confusion.
Watanabe Toru looked serious: "The coffee shops there always play outdated rock music, and the coffee they sell is still bitter even if they put sugar in it."
“…I see.” Kumiko responded, not knowing what to say.
"Be serious." Qingye Rin said unhappily.
"Okay, okay, I've never seen anyone from Kyoto before, so I just want to tease them for fun."
"We are not monkeys!" Kumiko and Reina said in unison.
Watanabe Toru pointed at the two of them and said to Kiyono Rin with a smile: "Look, isn't it interesting?"
"That's so rude." Qingye Rin did not deny that it was interesting.
"Kumiko," Reina grabbed Kumiko's arm and glared at Watanabe Toru, "Let's go back."
"Udon is on me."
Reina stopped and said to Kumiko, "We're going to have a big meal, and we're going to order the expensive ones!"
"...Wouldn't this be a bad idea?"
"What's the big deal?" Lina tucked her long hair behind her ears and said calmly, "It was his fault anyway. I didn't bother him about the concert at the station building last time. He should treat us to a meal."
Kumiko has never seen Reina like this. This Watanabe Toru is really her nemesis.
She looked at Kiyono Rin in embarrassment.
"Hey, my secretary, are you looking at what she is doing? I said I'm treating you." Prime Minister Toru Watanabe said dissatisfiedly.
Qing Ye Lin smiled lightly, nodded and said, "Well, instead of letting him spend money in the game, why not use it to treat us, and apologize for what happened last time."
"Then we'll be welcome. Ah, here we are, I can already smell the fragrance!"
Kumiko drew aside the cloth curtain and disappeared into the store.
Watanabe Toru said to Kiyono Rin: "…It's my money, right? Why do you have the final say?"
"Are you dissatisfied with something?" Qingye Rin looked at him indifferently.
"No, I haven't."
Kumiko poked her head out of the store: "Come on, I found a seat!"
Three people walked into the store.
This is an udon restaurant called "Kawasho" with a very unique decoration.
It was like a shed built with a few steel bars, with rust on the pillars and walls decorated with white coarse cloth gloves and safety helmets, as well as news clippings from newspapers, celebrity photos, and so on.
The stools were also very peculiar. They were baskets for wine and eggs, turned upside down for guests to sit on.
The only high-end feel in the store is the black cushions on the baskets.
There were already two tables of guests sitting inside, both men and women, all wearing suits. They seemed to be socialites attending a cocktail party after get off work.
The four of them sat down in the corner against the wall. Watanabe Toru and Kiyono Rin naturally sat together. Opposite him was Kumiko, and Reina sat opposite Kiyono Rin.
"This place is so strange." Sister Lina's big black eyes looked at everything in the store curiously.
"I've never been to a store like this before, and it's 11 o'clock at night!" Kumiko said with a little excitement.
"Welcome, what would you like to eat?" The waiter came over with a pen and paper.
"Miso pork chop." Toru Watanabe ordered the dish without even looking at the menu.
"No." Qingye Rin rejected.
"Why?!"
"The miso in Nagoya is different from that in Tokyo. If I have diarrhea and it affects tomorrow's game, can you take responsibility?"
"What do you think I've been exercising for so far?"
"No matter what your reason is, you can only eat udon noodles for this meal." Qing Ye Lin stopped talking nonsense with him and said directly to the clerk, "Two udon noodles set meals, no special side dishes, thank you."
"Okay." The waiter wrote down the menu on a piece of paper.
Toru Watanabe picked up the barley tea on the table and took a sip. The cold liquid slid down his throat, lowering the temperature of his internal organs.
On the other side, two girls from Kyoto were struggling with the menu.
"What should I do? I really want to eat flat noodles, and this oyster egg looks delicious too!" Kumiko frowned slightly in confusion.
"This mixed hot pot and oden look great..." Reina also frowned and thought seriously.
"It's okay if you want to order all of it," Watanabe Toru shook the cup and took a sip as if the barley tea was very hot, "I brought enough money."
"That……"
Sister Reina raised her finger and was about to make up her mind when Qing Ye Lin said, "You guys are going to compete tomorrow, right? It would be better to eat Kyoto cuisine."
Kyoto cuisine is food cooked with Kyoto flavors. The ingredients are seasonal and mainly include tofu, bamboo shoots and vegetables. It has a light taste and an exquisite appearance.
“I almost forgot!”
"That was a close call, Reina, let's eat udon too."
"Well, well, he'll get away with it this time."
After the clerk left, Toru Watanabe said to Rin Kiyono, "Sister Reina is Kitauji's trumpet soloist, and Kumiko is one of the two euphonium players. If they have stomach problems, our chances of winning the gold medal will increase by at least one percent ."
"One percent? Don't look down on us!" Sister Lina was so angry that she almost slammed the table.
Kumiko smiled and poured her barley tea.
"Kumiko, aren't you angry?!"
"He must be joking, don't take it seriously, and he's treating me to a meal, so I don't mind a few comments."
"No, if you really plan to order something that may give you stomach upset, I won't stop you and will pay for it readily," said Toru Watanabe.
"He's serious," Kiyono Rin added.
"Although we in Kyoto are not as international as Tokyo, we won't be easily deceived. You can't fool us." Kumiko said confidently.
Watanabe Toru turned his head to look at Kiyono Rin and raised his eyebrows.
"Isn't it fun?"
"Be serious." Qing Ye Lin rolled her eyes at him, but still did not deny that it was fun.
"By the way," Kumiko suddenly remembered what happened just now, "besides O-Ocha, is there anything else I should pay attention to in Tokyo?"
"Why are you asking this?" Toru Watanabe grabbed the rim of the cup with his thumb, index finger and middle finger and shook it gently.
"I plan to go to university in Tokyo in the future," Kumiko replied.
"Will you come to the University of Tokyo? I'll protect you then."
"No, the University of Tokyo is a bit..."
"Don't rush to refuse. The reputation of the University of Tokyo is not very good. It's called 'the cradle of stinky politicians' and 'there are no more conservative people than the students of the University of Tokyo'. I plan to continue to participate in the wind band in college. The two of us, the prime minister's secretary, have joined forces to win four national gold medals in a row. This will also be a great story in the political world in the future."
"Um, cough, cough, cough——" Sister Reina, who was choking on her tea, quickly took a tissue and stared at the serious Watanabe Toru with angry eyes.
Having said too much, Toru Watanabe took another sip of barley tea.
Kumiko patted Reina's back to help her catch her breath. She smiled bitterly and said, "Forget about the University of Tokyo. I plan to go to a women's university that is famous for its English. I want to be an English teacher."
"Is that so? That can't be helped."
"Yeah, thank you for the invitation."
If Kumiko could go to the University of Tokyo, would she not go?
Although this guy is great at playing the oboe and has excellent grades, he is surprisingly naive and cannot understand the situation. He will never become prime minister in the future!
Toru Watanabe had no idea what the girl was thinking, so he told her about his experience in Tokyo.
Including renting, part-time jobs, transportation, etc.
Halfway through the meal, the waiter brought four servings of udon noodles. Steam was rising from the bowls, and it was difficult to see each other's faces clearly.
The four people were all around sixteen years old. The dinner in their stomachs had long been digested. When they smelled the aroma, they instantly became hungrier.
They said in unison, "I'm eating," and started eating immediately.
"Kumiko, try this!" Reina first scooped a little soup with a spoon, then put the udon noodles on it and ate it in one bite.
"Let me try... Hmm - delicious! Delicious!" After eating, Kumiko took a big gulp of the soup.
His feet were raised under the table, and his slippers naturally fell off again.
Perhaps it was because there were very few opportunities like this - eating udon noodles in a strange city, late at night, with people you had met once but had a good feeling about each other, so Watanabe Toru and Kiyono Rin also thought it tasted good.
After taking a few bites, Kumiko put the noodles into her mouth and said, "Watanabe-kun, please continue."
"Kumiko!" Reina wiped the back of her hand with a tissue, where Kumiko's soup splashed.
"Hehe." Kumiko smiled sheepishly.
"Where were we talking about just now?" asked Toru Watanabe.
"Why don't you open the door for the NHK TV station cashier?"
"Oh, that's all, right? Next, let me tell you how to save money..."
Watanabe Toru talked while eating, and the two people from Kyoto listened quietly, occasionally asking a few questions.
"…My biggest pet peeve is the two-fillet salmon from the supermarket."
"Why?"
"A single piece is 500 yen, which is not enough; a two-piece is only 975 yen, but it's too much." Watanabe Toru slurped the last mouthful of noodles and drank some soup. "That's about it. If you can't remember, come to Tokyo and find me."
"As soon as I graduated from junior high school, I went to school in Tokyo alone. While maintaining good grades, I also had to work various part-time jobs. It sounds so hard!" Kumiko said a little incredulously.
Reina also nodded. What impressed her most was that Watanabe Toru held up the billboard for four hours under the scorching sun.
When they came home from school every day, their mother had already prepared meals for them and they didn't have to do the laundry. All they had to do was study and practice with the wind band.
Although this guy is a hooligan, a pervert, and likes to make fun of them, he is unexpectedly an inspirational guy.
"Otherwise, why was it me who became the Prime Minister and not you?" Watanabe Toru wiped his mouth with a tissue, drank barley tea, and waited for them to finish eating.
"Unfortunately, that was a thing of the past." After every bite of noodles, Qingye Rin would wipe the corners of her mouth with a napkin.
The way of eating is so delicate that it doesn't fit in with the atmosphere of this restaurant.
"What happened in the past?" Kumiko asked curiously.
"There's nothing much to say. The past is too painful to recall." Watanabe Toru interrupted her, "By the way, Kumiko, how did you rank in the national mock exam this time? I'm sure you've made great progress in math after my guidance, right?"
"Guidance? Do you call that guidance?" Kumiko deliberately ignored the previous question.
Although I am not dissatisfied with my ranking, I always feel embarrassed to say it now.
Because he must be the worst among the four!
"The master can only lead you to the door, but the practice depends on yourself."
"I don't remember when I became your disciple, and you never even took me in." Kumiko complained.
"I really can't do anything about you, a traitor. Next time we meet, I'll prepare a math notebook for you."
"See you next time? If there's no Station House concert, then it will be around this time next year, right?"
"Yeah." Watanabe Toru stopped shaking the teacup and couldn't help laughing, "And you have to enter the national competition."
Kumiko stared at his irresistible smile in a daze, then came to her senses and quickly lowered her head to eat her noodles.
"We will definitely make it to the national competition!" Sister Lina happened to be eating noodles just now and escaped a disaster.
"Yeah." Watanabe Toru nodded and glanced at Kiyono Rin proudly out of the corner of his eye.
Kiyono Rin pushed her long hair behind her ears and sipped her soup with a spoon without even looking at him.
From experience, this is despised.
If it had been just the two of them, she would have ridiculed him mercilessly and even asked him to buy drinks.
After eating the noodles, Toru Watanabe paid the bill.
Kumiko looked at the black wallet he took out and couldn't understand why boys thought such a boring thing was cool?
Then, she was shocked.
In addition to the cards, there is a thick stack of 10,000 yen bills in the wallet, roughly estimated to be at least ten.
Carry 100,000 yen with you...or go to Tokyo to study alone - Kumiko, who only has 3,000 yen in pocket money a month, is dazzled by the money and thinks about the possibility of this plan.
After eating, I didn’t feel cold at all on the way back.
The four of them walked slowly past various "sun"-shaped buildings, passed the park, and suddenly found that they were heading in the same direction.
"So your school is the other one living here." said Toru Watanabe.
"I'm wondering, how come you guys live here even though you're so rich?" Kumiko thought of the fancy school bus with a crow printed on it.
"There's nothing we can do about it. Our leader is a guy who values efficiency above all else and doesn't know how to enjoy himself."
"Watanabe Toru, you are the first one who dares to say bad things about me in front of me."
"Really? That's great, another first for Kiyono-san..."
"Shut up."
"yes."
When Qingye Rin was rubbing his eyebrows in pain, the four of them had already arrived at the door of the hotel.
"Ah! Watanabe!" A boy from the Kamikawa Wind Orchestra was buying a drink at a vending machine.
He had a large pile of cards in his hands. It seemed that he lost the card game. What a loser.
"We went to the bathroom to look for you!" As he said this, the boy suddenly noticed the three beautiful girls around Watanabe Toru, especially Reina.
His eyes widened and he yelled, "You are monopolizing Sister Lina again!"
Lina was stunned, not knowing what he was talking about.
“What do you mean by occupying Reina-san? The one occupying her is Miss Kumiko, and I occupy Kiyono-san… and Miss Kumiko and Reina-san, I’m one against three, you know… Ugh, cough cough cough!”
Sister Reina was very familiar and rudely hit Watanabe Toru in the ribs.
" Try teasing Kumiko again!" She said sternly with her eyes wide open and her pretty face serious.
"I, ahem, so this is where I went wrong."
Kumiko couldn't help but smile shyly. She pulled Reina's arm and said, "Forget it, Reina. Since he treated us to udon noodles, please."
"Udon noodles?!" the boy screamed again.
In the quiet night, his voice was unusually harsh. Kiyono Rin and Reina looked at him with cold and impatient eyes.
"I'll go back first!" The boy immediately ran away with the drink.
The drink fell halfway through, and he picked it up in a hurry. Fortunately, when he bent down to pick it up, all the other drinks did not fall out.
"I'm going back too." Toru Watanabe covered his side abdomen, looking like his kidney had been removed.
"Wait a minute!" Kumiko yelled a little embarrassedly, "Well, let's exchange contact information. Maybe we can eat udon noodles together for the next three years."
"It's okay to just eat me for one meal, but you plan to eat me for three years?"
"Stingy men are not welcome." Sister Lina said disdainfully, "I'll treat you next time."
"That's no problem." Watanabe Toru immediately let go of his hand and took out his cell phone as if nothing had happened.
"Um..." Kumiko looked at Kiyono Rin.
She always felt that this person was full of the aura of a young lady, and her every word and action was superior to her, making it difficult to communicate with her.
"I'll let it go." Qingye Rin said lightly.
Although he could convince her, Toru Watanabe still didn't say anything. Anyway, the two of them would quit the wind band after tomorrow and probably wouldn't come to Nagoya again.
But then he thought again, Qingno Rin didn't have many friends, and she had just taken the initiative to invite Kumiko and Reina to have noodles, so she might have some good feelings towards these two people.
Although Kumiko and Reina have very different personalities, they are both good people overall and have good talents in wind instruments. When they come to Tokyo in the future, they may become good friends with Kiyono Rin.
The most important thing is that people who can go out alone during group activities are either emotional plot triggers or protagonists. Becoming friends may improve your luck.
Fake, just kidding.
"Don't be so cold. Maybe we will all be in the wind orchestra club of Tokyo University together in the future." Toru Watanabe made up an excuse.
Qing Ye Lin thought about it and sighed: "Okay."
The four of them exchanged their Line accounts, said "good luck in the game" to each other, and then returned to their respective school floors.
As soon as Watanabe Toru returned to the dormitory, he was immediately suppressed by all the boys...
