Chapter 171 School Trip (End)
"Arrived safely"
Koizumi Aona clicked on the photo and found it was a selfie of Watanabe Toru.
After confirming that the background was indeed Dongshan Villa, she finally couldn't control her sleepiness and fell asleep.
The phone gradually slid and finally fell to the ground with a dull sound.
"Aona, something fell." Akiko shouted, and seeing that Koizumi Aona didn't respond, she stood up and walked over.
"Are you asleep?" she said as she picked up her phone.
The screen was still on, and on it was a magnified face of Toru Watanabe.
"This kid, there's actually no flaw even after being magnified!" Akiko kept magnifying various parts with the idea of 'I must find the flaws'.
As she was staring at the wings of her nose, desperately trying to find the blackheads, she suddenly realized:
Qingnai fell asleep while looking at this photo.
She quickly zoomed out of the photo and found it was a Line chat interface with Toru Watanabe.
Just as he was about to swipe to check the chat content, his movement paused again.
The two grew up together and became close in high school. It has been 9 years now, but does that give them the right to casually read Qingnai's chat records?
Restraining her strong curiosity, Akiko quietly put the phone back, slipped back into bed, and took out her own phone.
"Miyuki! I have something incredible to tell you!"
…
Friday, November 6th.
No matter how prosperous a city is, it will become as quiet as a ruin at dawn.
Toru Watanabe ran on the bluestone road of Sannenzaka. A thin layer of white was floating in the transparent air.
Soon, the day will come when the autumn atmosphere becomes completely profound.
After returning to Dongshan Villa, I took a leisurely shower, changed my clothes, and then went to the restaurant.
I thought there was no one here, but there were still groups of classmates eating, including the yawning Kiyono Rin.
Yesterday we went to Uji and Kamogawa again. In the evening, he even dragged me to an internet cafe. It was expected that I would be too tired to get up in the morning.
Toru Watanabe walked to the corner where Rin Kiyono was and sat down opposite her.
"Good morning, Kiyono-san."
"Good morning." In the greeting, there was an unconcealed sleepiness, "I'm going to start."
After saying this, Qingye Rin poked the half-boiled egg with chopsticks.
The yolk flows out of the membrane and spreads over the white .
As a well-informed person, Toru Watanabe couldn't just turn a blind eye to this kind of scene.
"Kiyono-san, has anyone ever told you that you're an overly serious person?"
Kiyono Rin swallowed the egg in her mouth and took a sip of the warm miso soup. After doing all this, she looked up at Watanabe Toru.
"What do you want to do now?"
"What do you mean by 'what do you want to do again'? Have I done anything? I just want to discuss with you on this beautiful morning..."
"If you have something to say, just say it." Qingye Rin interrupted him rudely.
Girls who are gentle and tactful are cute, but girls with a straightforward personality are not disliked either.
"Well," Watanabe Toru paused, "Would you like to try a hard-boiled egg?"
Kiyono Rin stared at Watanabe Toru expressionlessly for a long time.
Just when Watanabe Toru wondered if he had accidentally added some [Charm] to himself after falling asleep last night, Kiyono Rin spoke.
"I see." Her expression was as if she had solved a math problem before Watanabe Toru, and her tone was full of condescension, "Are you a complete master?"
"…What does it have to do with any party? I just want you, Kiyono-san, to try different things. This world is full of different things."
"lie."
"It's a lie, but I still want you to have a taste."
Watanabe Toru used the chopsticks that he had not yet used to pick up the hard-boiled egg that he had not eaten and put it into Kiyono Rin's bowl.
Qingye Rin looked at the egg twice.
"Forget about other things, but I will never give in on this one matter." She picked up the hard-boiled egg with chopsticks and put it back into Watanabe Toru's bowl.
"It's okay to just taste it, right?" Toru Watanabe put the egg back to her.
"If you just want to taste it, it's fine," Qingye Rin returned the egg to him again. "A hard-boiled egg sent by a hard-boiled person is a provocation and a war."
Watanabe Toru put down his chopsticks and stared at Kiyono Rin expressionlessly.
After a while, he said, "You don't give me face?"
"Forcing friends who like soft-boiled eggs to eat hard-boiled eggs... is this what you call face?"
Qingye Rin's gaze was cold and full of reproach.
The two of them stared at each other like this for a long time.
Watanabe Toru's eyes moved, and Kiyono Rin couldn't hold back her laughter first, she turned her face away slightly and laughed.
Watanabe Toru also laughed: "Think about it carefully, although we have argued many times, we have never really quarreled?"
"Ah, Watanabe-san is very confident. Do you think you can win an argument with me?"
"You want to win this too?"
"What do you think?"
"No, I just think Qingye-san is so stubborn and cute. I really want to touch your legs. I wonder what it would feel like."
"Watanabe-san."
"Um?"
"Could you please stay away from me? I can't stand you any more."
Qingye Rin showed an expression of extreme disgust without disguising it.
Toru Watanabe took a bite of the hard-boiled egg, a thoughtful look on his face.
"Don't you feel weird?" he said. "You can say I'm obsessed with legs, but I'm not interested in other people's legs at all. When I walk on the street, I won't go out of my way to look at girls' legs. It's just you, Qingye-san, I never get tired of looking at you. What do you think about this?"
"Because I am the most beautiful." Qingye Rin told the truth perfunctorily.
"I see, the answer is so simple. I usually think alone, and the more I think, the weirder it gets, and it even seems incredible. So, is this considered self-observation?"
"Self-observation..." The girl sitting opposite repeated these words with almost desperate helplessness.
After finishing their last breakfast in Kyoto, the students of Kamikawa High School boarded the bus bound for Kyoto Station one after another.
"The Silver Rath Dragon has been defeated. We will continue our great journey and march towards the Golden Rath Dragon!" Kunijiro Osamu raised his hands and arms and spoke out his ambitious words loudly.
"I tried it last night by myself and almost deleted the game out of anger!"
"Your uncle Guo Jing is here, leave everything to me!"
Watanabe Toru didn't understand at all, how could defeating monsters in the game become a "great journey"?
No matter what, at least it should be something like making Kiyono Rin a full-fledged fan, which can be considered great, right?
While playing the game, Toru Watanabe looked out the window.
The sky was scattered with thin clouds, like white cotton candy torn into wisps.
The bus to Kyoto Station runs under such a sky.
As the Golden Fire Dragon displayed its might and the four men continued to fall down due to exhaustion, the bus arrived at Kyoto Station.
"Everyone has 20 minutes to move freely. You can go to the souvenir shop if you want, but remember, you cannot leave the station. Do you hear me?"
"yes!"
The youthful and lively voice attracted envious, curious and nostalgic glances from passers-by.
Toru Watanabe didn't go to the souvenir shop.
Before going to bed last night, he had a video call with Miki Kujo, and she clearly rejected his suggestion to bring souvenirs.
The eldest lady's original words were: "What can you buy with the little money you have?"
Even as she said this, she was still wearing the cheap ring given to her by Toru Watanabe - based on the calculation that 1 point can be exchanged for 100 yen, 1,000 points is only 100,000 yen.
For Kujo Miki...if she could earn 100,000 yen by taking a step, she would be too lazy to move.
Apart from her, there was no one else in Tokyo for Toru Watanabe to bring souvenirs.
Since he didn't need to buy anything and had nothing to do, he wandered around the station and unknowingly came to the lobby of the "Station Concert".
Those four thousand pieces of glass are still hanging high in the dome.
When I first came to Kyoto, the system task was to get Reina's autograph.
Reina was chosen by the system because she is outstanding in all aspects, with beautiful appearance, large breasts, unique personality, and extraordinary talent for trumpet.
But Toru Watanabe is not interested in her like this. Instead, he really wants to be friends with Kumiko.
He really wanted to see Kumiko again - he was about to leave Kyoto and didn't know when they would meet next time, so this thought suddenly popped into his mind.
It's 9:30 in the morning and the second period has just started. What class is she taking?
Kamikawa's second period on Friday will be mathematics. Will Kitauji also have mathematics?
Is she scratching her head in annoyance?
Or, carefully copy down every word on the blackboard?
"Watanabe, it's time to gather!" Koizumi Aona's gentle voice brought him back to his senses.
“Here it comes!”
Just as Toru Watanabe was about to walk over to meet up, his cell phone in the right pocket of his trousers rang.
"Where are you?"
"Kyoto Station, you're not coming to see me off, are you?"
"How is that possible?! I was secretly messaging you during class!"
"Just now I was standing at the concert venue at the station, and I suddenly thought of you."
"What do you want from me!"
"I don't have any classes today, and it will be Saturday and Sunday after I go back, so I want to know...what classes are you taking now?"
“???”
Looking at a series of weird geisha emoticons, Toru Watanabe smiled and put away his phone.
This is the end of the first year of high school field trip.
…
I had nothing to do on Saturday and Sunday after the school trip.
Others have to go to cram schools to catch up on the lessons they have missed recently, but Watanabe Toru will read for a while before going to bed even when he is on a school trip, so he doesn't need to work so hard.
I went to Aoyama and Ginza with Kujo Miki to buy clothes, and was taken to a restaurant in Ginza to eat horse meat sashimi.
Horse meat... sashimi...
If he were to write a biography in the future, Toru Watanabe would definitely just brush aside these two days.
November 9th, Monday, was another sunny autumn day.
When Toru Watanabe came back from running, Miki Kujo was still sleeping.
"I'm leaving."
"Yeah." Kujo Miki responded in a daze.
He studied her sleeping face.
The sleeping posture is so peaceful, and the soft and cute expression is completely different from when awake.
Watanabe Toru couldn't help but kiss her.
They kissed for a while, and she pushed Watanabe Toru away in disgust.
While mumbling "It all smells like toothpaste", he turned his back and soon let out a calming breath.
In fact, Toru Watanabe had already had breakfast, so the toothpaste taste should have disappeared long ago. The same went for the ice cream last time. Does Miki Kujo have a taste that is good enough to make her a top gourmet?
After leaving Chiyoda, getting off the train and walking on the uphill road to school, Toru Watanabe had a feeling that a lot of time had passed.
In the morning class meeting, Koizumi Aona changed it into an English test without permission.
In her words, it is to let everyone know what their current state is, whether they have put their minds to the right place and are ready to learn.
There are very few questions, about one question of each question type.
Toru Watanabe spent ten minutes solving the problem and took out "Remembrance of Things Past" from the drawer, a novel by French novelist Marcel Proust.
Koizumi Aona walked over to Watanabe Toru and picked up the test paper he had placed on the corner of the table.
He looked at the answers one by one, and finally put the test paper back on the desk and pressed it with an eraser.
Looking around the classroom, all the students were solving problems seriously. This reading comprehension question was very difficult, as she had made up the questions herself.
After looking around, she boredly turned her eyes to the book in Watanabe Toru's hand.
Toru Watanabe is analyzing one of the sentences... It's more like studying than reading a novel.
Aona Koizumi even wanted to forbid Toru Watanabe to do anything else during the English exam.
It’s not that you are not allowed to do so, but you are working too hard. At least you can take a break during the exam.
After the bell rang.
"Students in the front, please collect your papers."
"Ah——" Some students who did not have time to finish wailed.
After Koizumi Aona took the test paper and left, Saito Keisuke came over immediately.
"Watanabe, reading comprehension question number three, the main idea of the article, what did you choose?"
"C, the past of Cressy and Rachel."
"Ah! I'm so pissed!" Saito Keisuke held his head in regret, "I wanted to choose this at first, but I ended up changing it to D, a memory of Cressy and Franco!"
"I chose D too." Kazumi Ikeda, who was sitting in front of Toru Watanabe and could dance to "Chibi Maruko-chan", turned around and joined the conversation.
"You two!" Kuniichi Osamu said angrily, "Don't be superstitious about authority. Why should Watanabe Toru's answer be correct?"
"That makes sense." Watanabe Toru nodded in agreement.
"Kunii, did you also choose D?" Ikeda Kazumi asked curiously.
"C, hey."
"You're so - disgusting!" Ikeda Kazumi leaned her upper body back and looked at Kunii Osamu as if she couldn't bear it.
"The obvious answer to this question is C! Although the entire article is a conversation between Cressy and Francois, it mainly talks about the past of Cressy and Rachel! There should be a limit to your carelessness!"
After Kunii Osamu proudly analyzed the solution to the problem, everyone's topic returned to normal.
"Watanabe-kun," Ikeda Kazumi snickered, "How is Kyoto?"
"You two had this in collusion, right?" Toru Watanabe recalled the time when girls took turns confessing to him, and looked at her helplessly.
"They begged me, what can I do? By the way, will you dance with Kujo-san during the bonfire party?"
"Bonfire party?" Toru Watanabe asked in confusion.
Kunii Osamu explained, "It's winter camping in December, and there's a bonfire party on the last day."
"It is said that during the final song, the two people dancing will become connected," added Keisuke Saito.
"The lesson from Ito is still fresh in our minds, but you still dare to hold a bonfire party?" said Toru Watanabe.
"Ito-san?" Ikeda Kazumi looked at the girl in the class named Ito.
"It's not Ito from our class." Saito Keisuke said with a smile, "It's the protagonist of an anime called "School Days". Because many girls wanted to dance with him at the bonfire party, his head was chopped off in the end."
This is roughly the plot, but the beheaded head has no direct connection with the bonfire party.
"Ah, isn't this Watanabe-kun's future?" Ikeda Kazumi pointed at Watanabe Toru with an expression of surprise as if she had noticed something.
"You did this on purpose, didn't you?!"
"Yeah!" Ikeda Kazumi smiled secretly and nodded vigorously.
"Didn't the school trip just end? Why is there another activity? Why didn't Mr. Koizumi tell us about it?" Toru Watanabe asked puzzledly.
There are so many activities in the schools of the island country, almost every month.
"This is a common practice." Ikeda Kazumi played with her ponytail. "Last year we had spring camping, this year it will definitely be winter camping, probably in December."
"Isn't it early?"
"Recalling the good old days, Watanabe!" Kunii Osamu patted Watanabe Toru's shoulder heavily.
I couldn't hear what he was saying at all.
Watanabe Toru looked at his excited expression and looked at him suspiciously: "Are you... planning to invite Ikki-san to dance?"
"Huh? Kunii likes Kazuki?" Ikeda Kazumi asked in surprise.
"How is that possible! Don't talk nonsense!" Kunii Osamu rejected in an exaggerated tone, "By the way, speaking of camping, have you watched "Yuru Camp"? Rin-chan is so cute!"
Watanabe Toru stood up and pressed Kunii Osamu onto the desk with lightning speed.
"You don't deserve to be called Rin-chan!"
"I'm talking about Shima Rin! Not Kiyono-san!" Kunii Osamu hurriedly explained.
" I'm talking about Shima Rin!"
"Your are yours, then I choose Nadeshiko!"
"Nadeshiko has registered with me!"
"I... I'm going to fight you! Ah - it hurts! Stop it! I'll choose Inuyama Wasabi, okay?" Kunii Osamu wailed.
"No, you can only choose bamboo wheel."
"You're crazy! Chikuwa is a dog! Watanabe! Don't go too far!"
Keisuke Saito and Kazumi Ikeda laughed out loud, and the other students in Class 4 looked over here sideways.
Outside the classroom window, there are white clouds and blue sky, with airplane clouds outlining the lines.
A short moment of comfort in the busy study life.
