Chapter 167 School Trip (16)
When the bus passed Uji Bridge, Watanabe Toru rang the bell and got off here with Kiyono Rin.
Uji Bridge, the oldest existing pure Japanese-style bridge in the island country, is 153 meters long and was built in 646 AD.
Today, although the bridge body is inevitably made of reinforced concrete, the railings still retain their wooden structure, which is very historical.
Next to the bridge stands a stone statue of Murasaki Shikibu, the author of The Tale of Genji. Under the bridge is the Uji River where Kumiko usually practices the euphonium.
"Is there anything special here?" asked Qingye Rin, holding the railing.
"Nothing special, I just want to take a walk along the river with Kiyono-san on an autumn afternoon." Toru Watanabe looked at the rolling white waves on the water.
"lie."
Watanabe Toru smiled and said, "Actually, it's because there are beautiful reeds here. As an oboe player and a professional reed maker, I have a great affection for reeds, which are the raw material of reeds."
"What a boring reason."
"Boring?" Watanabe Toru turned around and looked at the profile of Kiyono Rin looking into the distance. "In this world, there are people who like the sky, people who love flowers, and people who are fascinated by trains. Do you think they are all boring?"
"No." Qing Ye Lin denied in a casual tone, "I just wanted to ridicule you. I'm not interested in knowing what other people like."
"You are so cunning, R-san. It's hard for me to get angry even if you ridicule me when you say that."
Kiyono Rin turned her head and looked at Watanabe Toru.
She pushed her hair behind her ear and smiled, "This is one of the ways to make you like me."
The breeze from the Uji River brushed across her cheek, her long hair swayed gently, and a fragrance came that made Watanabe Toru very comfortable.
"If you tell me your purpose, I won't be moved at all."
"It doesn't matter. I don't want to do things that are too simple." Qingye Rin said confidently.
"I admire you." Toru Watanabe nodded, and his eyes followed the flowing Uji River again, looking into the distance.
Far away on the river bank, there was a bird with snow-white feathers, holding something in its mouth.
In order to see more clearly, Toru Watanabe leaned his head over the railing.
Qingye Rin glanced at him. Compared to him, the wooden railing seemed too short, and it felt like someone could easily fall down.
She subconsciously reached out and gently grabbed the corner of his school uniform.
"Pond heron? Egret? Or egret?" Watanabe Toru turned his head, "Lord Kiyono, look at what that is?"
Qing Ye Lin calmly let go of his hand, looked in the direction he was looking at, and said, "Catch it first and let me see it clearly, then I can tell you what it is."
"Then let's go! I think it's quite fat. I can already imagine the scene when it's roasted, with the fat dripping onto the coals and bursting into flames."
The two of them walked down the stairs beside the bridge.
"Qiono-san, do you like chili powder when grilling? I heard that some people like to dip it in sugar, which is simply an unimaginable perverted behavior."
"When eating roast suckling pig, I occasionally try what Toru Watanabe calls perverted behavior."
"When I think of how Seino-san would eat it with sugar, this way of eating becomes cute."
The two of them moved closer while chatting.
Unfortunately, before the two could get close, the white bird raised its long neck, swallowed the fish in its mouth, flapped its wings on the water, and flew away.
The two continued to stroll along the river, walking on the stone embankment.
The lush maple leaves are shining with sunlight. There are some benches by the river where joggers or tourists can rest.
"It's the beautiful autumn scenery in Fusang, the red maple leaves shine in the tender cold." Watanabe Toru recited aloud.
"Who wrote it?"
"Lu Xun."
Qingye Rin nodded quietly and looked into the distance.
Under the sun's rays, the surface of the Uji River sparkles with colorful shimmering light, and the water hits wooden stakes or rocks, splashing white foam.
In the distance, the mountains are dyed red and yellow during the maple leaf season.
She looked away and noticed that Toru Watanabe had broken off a piece of silver grass from the weeds around him and was waving it as he walked.
She didn't know why, but she suddenly felt happy, and a faint warmth filled her chest.
"Watanabe, do you want to hear my story?" She said this in an unprecedented mood.
"I'm not interested in other people's past," Toru Watanabe stopped waving the silver grass and turned to look at her, "Except for R-san."
Qingye Rin did not comment on this sentence.
"I have always lived without expectations," she said. "I don't associate myself with anyone, and I don't expect or need responses from others when I do anything."
Toru Watanabe said nothing, staring at the reeds not far ahead.
"When I was a kid, I wouldn't even raise my eyebrows when everyone was laughing. Or maybe it would be more accurate to say I couldn't raise my eyebrows, because what caused everyone to laugh were all outright lies, and I just felt disgusted."
"I can roughly guess such a past." Watanabe Toru nodded.
The two men walked towards the reeds under the shadow of the maple trees.
"At that time, I would mercilessly point out to others when they were lying. At first, everyone treated me like a child and laughed it off without caring at all, but after so many times, they could no longer laugh and looked at me as if I were a weirdo."
There were two girls sitting on the riverbank, and Qingye Rin stopped her narration.
When she was far away from the two people, she said self-deprecatingly: "People around me started to stay away from me and teased me for being self-righteous, including your Meiji."
When she said the last sentence, she smiled and glanced at Toru Watanabe.
Watanabe Toru awkwardly threw the silver grass into the river and clapped his hands.
Qing Ye Lin smiled and said: "I don't mean to blame you. After all, it has nothing to do with you."
The two walked to the reeds, and Watanabe Toru sat down on the old bench. He patted the extra seat next to him and motioned for Kiyono Rin to sit down as well.
Kiyono Rin, wearing her pleated skirt, sat beside him in a very ladylike manner.
The two of them sat under the shade of the tree and looked at the flowing Uji River side by side for a while.
"I don't think the problem is with you," Watanabe said. "You are fundamentally different from them. You are a flower that bloomed in the wrong season."
"Wrong season?"
"The focus should be on the flowers, right?" Watanabe Toru looked at her, "I really like your... personality."
Qingye Rin put her hand on her chin and laughed happily with a hint of mischief: "Tell me about it separately?"
"Don't even think about it. I like Miki." After decisively rejecting him, Watanabe Toru looked back at Ujikawa, "I thought you would be in a negative mood, but I didn't expect you to be able to joke."
"The world is not kind to negative people, Watanabe-san."
"That makes sense. I've learned something new." Watanabe Toru nodded seriously.
He wanted to say something comforting, but Qingye Rin was not someone who was weak enough to need comfort, and he didn't say these things to him to gain his sympathy.
What's more, he had never had the same experience, so no matter how he put himself in the other's shoes, the comfort he expressed was still a layer of distance.
A breeze blew by, rustling the leaves above my head.
A bright red leaf fell on Qingye Rin's lap.
She gently picked up the leaf, facing the sunlight that squeezed in through the leaves, and whispered in a voice as clear as a spring:
"The wind is blowing. Should we try to survive? No, there is no need to do so."
Watanabe Toru suddenly felt sad. He realized that Kiyono Rin's past was definitely not just what she had just said.
He picked up a relatively intact leaf from the ground.
"It is precisely because of the decay of these maple leaves that more beautiful cherry blossoms will bloom here next spring."
Qingye Rin laughed and took back the hand holding the maple leaf.
"I just suddenly remembered this sentence. Watanabe-san, there's no need to be so anxious to comfort me."
"…I was just saying it casually, you think too much."
"Watanabe, you really like to lie." Qingye Rin smiled helplessly, and her slender hands lightly turned the petiole of the maple leaf.
"I'm so sorry for becoming the person you hate." Watanabe Toru apologized without any regret.
"Sometimes, even if you hate it, you still have to endure it. That's how life is."
"Indeed, but I am a little sad when you say that."
"I just said, I don't have any expectations of anyone, right?" Qingno Rin looked at him.
"Yes." Toru Watanabe threw the leaves in his hand under the bare cherry tree.
"This attitude continued until you, Watanabe-san, showed up. I started to have expectations for you - although I'm reluctant to admit it."
"What kind of expectations?"
“I’m not sure.” Qing Ye Lin turned his eyes to the river, revealing a thoughtful expression, “This feeling is very vague. If I have to say it… It’s like if I fall into the Uji River now, I won’t expect anyone to save me, and I don’t care whether they will come to save me or not, but if you don’t jump down to save me immediately, I will probably be very angry.”
"The water is so fast and there are so many rocks. What if I drown?"
"So are you going to jump or not?"
"What's there to say?" Watanabe Toru replied, "No matter when or what kind of river you fall into, I will jump in and save you without hesitation."
"Then you must practice your swimming skills well. Given my caution, if I really fall in, it will definitely be the most dangerous river." Qingye Rin smiled slightly.
That smile was like floating clouds in the distance, flowing like quicksand in the air.
"I can't guarantee it, but," Watanabe Toru picked up a stone from the ground and threw it out with all his strength, "Even if the wind blows, life will never give up."
Qingye Rin's eyes followed the stone.
The stone did not fall until it disappeared from sight.
"Watanabe-san, you are obviously very smart, but you pretend to be stupid and casual. Somewhere deep in your heart, you must look down on everyone and think that everyone is an idiot, right?"
"There is absolutely no such thing." Watanabe Toru denied it flatly.
"Well, you're lying again." Qingye Rin said with a smile.
The surrounding area was overgrown with weeds and unknown flowers blooming everywhere. The reeds, almost as tall as a person, swayed comfortably in the wind.
The sun moved a little further west, the shadows from the trees above their heads shifted, and the two of them were bathed in the sunshine.
…
On the way back to Kyoto from Uji, Kiyono Rin was sleeping the whole time.
It was a sunny day and the tram car was also bright.
…
After returning to Higashiyama Villa, Toru Watanabe went to the boys' dormitory of Class 4 to take a look, intending to spend the last moments together if anyone was playing cards.
As a result, there was no one playing cards, but there was a "corpse" of Kunijiro Osamu .
Watanabe Toru looked at him and asked Saito Keisuke who was playing a game nearby, "Failed?"
"'I admire Kunii-san's gentleness, and I also like playing games with you, but, as for dating... let's just be friends.'" Saito Keisuke pinched his throat and imitated Ikki Aoi's tone.
"It's so noisy!" Kunii Osamu, who was lying on the tatami with his back to them, threw a pillow at them.
Looking at the pillow coming towards his forehead, Toru Watanabe had no choice but to reach out to stop it.
Saito Keisuke didn't care at all. His fingers were still pressing the buttons of the Switch frantically, and he said, "It's just that the confession failed. The chances were slim to begin with. You should have been mentally prepared."
Watanabe Toru glanced at him.
This guy was the one who most actively encouraged Kunii Osamu before the confession, but now he is watching the joke.
But being able to stay here with me is already a way for boys to express their friendship.
"Kunii." Toru Watanabe walked over with a pillow, "Get up."
Kunii Osamu said nothing.
Toru Watanabe kicked him in the ass.
"What?!" Kunijii Xiu said impatiently.
"Take you out to relax."
"No!" Kunijimasu covered his head with the quilt.
"If you don't go, I will tell everyone in the school about your liking for Ikki-san and your rejection."
"You can talk about it if you want!"
"And the types of movies you like."
“You——!!!” Kunii Osamu lifted the quilt and glared at Watanabe Toru.
This guy Kunii Osamu likes the sister-brother type, the kind that are close to each other.
"One Ikki Aoi is nothing," Toru Watanabe threw the pillow aside and said lightly, "If people know your interests, you won't be able to have a girlfriend in your three years of high school, no, maybe even college."
"Go, why can't I go?" Kunijiro Xiu said in despair.
"Look at what you have accomplished." Watanabe Toru scolded with a smile, "Isn't it just a girlfriend? You study in Tokyo's premier private high school, your academic performance ranks among the top 3,000 in the country, you have strong athletic nerves, and you are a hitter who made it to Koshien in your first year of high school. Are you still worried about not finding a girlfriend?"
"Then why did Ikki-san reject me?"
"Don't like baseball?"
"So what does she like?"
"football?"
"Then I'll join the rugby club next year." Kunii Osamu picked up the school uniform suit jacket and put it on with a depressed look on his face.
"Wait, how do I know what Ikki Aoi likes? Can you use some judgment?"
After Kunii Osamu put on his clothes, he walked up to Saito Keisuke and snatched the game console.
"What are you doing! I've been playing for twenty minutes and I haven't saved it yet! Give it back to me!"
Kunijii Osamu sneered cruelly and turned off the phone without mercy.
"I, I...because of your broken heart, I won't bother with you today!"
After a while of commotion, the three of them walked out of the dormitory and headed towards the gate.
On the way, Toru Watanabe said to Kunii Osamu: "It's not bad to fail once. If a person wants to become great, failure is a necessary process."
Kunijii Osamu walked with his eyes fixed on the ground, not saying a word.
Watanabe Toru ignored his reaction and continued, "Even someone as great as me once just wanted to muddle through. After experiencing things that ordinary people could not endure, I finally got rid of my previous meaningless life and wanted to become an extraordinary person."
"What does it mean to just get by?" asked Keisuke Saito.
"If the average person's standard of being wealthy is an annual income of 10 million yen or 20 million yen, then for me to live a mediocre life, the minimum annual income should be 100 million yen or 200 million yen."
"You call this muddling along?" Kunijiro Xiu said unhappily.
"I can't help it. My line of work has a high standard. If other colleagues knew that my annual income was only 100 million yen, they would probably laugh at me."
"What profession is it? Can you introduce it to me?" Saito Keisuke asked curiously.
"Tokyo handsome guy."
"He's just a pretty boy." Kunijiro Osamu said disdainfully.
"I... forget it, gigolos are also within the scope of our business." Watanabe Toru endured it.
When the three of them walked to the door, they met unexpected people - Kiyono Rin, and Ikki Aoi.
Saito Keisuke smiled slyly and poked Kunii Osamu in the side with his elbow.
Kunijii Osamu pushed him away with all his strength.
When Ikki Aoi saw the three people, her expression was a little embarrassed.
Watanabe Toru stepped forward and asked: "Where are we going?"
"Ikki-san said there's a very accurate fortune-telling club. I want to go check it out." Kiyono Rin replied.
"Fortune-telling?" Watanabe Toru thought for a moment, "Can we go together? I just don't know where to go."
"Watanabe!" Kunii Osamu walked up quickly and shouted in a low voice.
Watanabe Toru ignored him and said to Ikki Aoi, "Ikki-san, do you mind if we go together?"
"Ah, yeah." Ikki Aoi responded a beat late.
So, the five of them walked out of Dongshan Villa together and prepared to go to the fortune-telling company.
The three boys lagged behind.
"Watanabe, what are you doing?" Kunii Osamu asked in a low voice in frustration.
"Is it embarrassing that I failed to confess my love?"
"You are talking nonsense!"
"You are classmates. You will see each other every day in the future. Maybe you will be in the same class in the second year of high school. Instead of waiting for embarrassment in the future, it is better to deal with the sadness and embarrassment after failure now, and all these negative emotions in one go."
"I..." Kunii Osamu looked at the back of Ikki Aoi in front of him.
Watanabe Toru followed his gaze, glanced at Ikki Aoi, and quickly shifted his gaze to Kiyono Rin.
"Don't thank me," he patted Kunii Osamu's shoulder, "After all, as an Ultraman, it is my mission to forcibly guide humans."
"Stop trying to show off! You're obviously here to fight!" Kunii Osamu slapped Watanabe Toru's hand away.
"No difference, no difference, we are all partners in justice."
