Chapter 18: Koizumi Aina's Attempt to Match
"You two are here, that's great. To thank you for your help, the teacher will treat you to dinner after school."
Qingye Rin put down the book in her hand, turned around, looked at Koizumi Aina and said, "No need, I agreed to help for the club activities, not just to help the teacher."
"But you have the intention to help me, right? That's enough. Kiyono-san, please give the teacher a chance. It's too unreasonable for a teacher to owe a favor to a student. It will make me feel guilty for ordering the students around."
Toru Watanabe thought that Koizumi Aona was not just being polite, but really believed it because she was a girl who could see through all lies. He sighed helplessly and agreed.
Koizumi Aonai smiled with satisfaction and said, "Gather here at six o'clock. I'll drive you there."
"You guys?" Watanabe Toru said quickly, "Teacher, I have something else to do tonight."
He wanted to follow the navigation to reach the activity location as soon as possible and survey the escape route in advance.
"Is there something wrong? Watanabe, you're not working overtime, are you?" Koizumi Aona looked at him suspiciously.
"How could that be? I'm an honor student who follows the school rules."
"What's the matter? Don't you even have time to have dinner with the teacher?"
"Ms. Qingye lent me a famous English book. It's very profound. I want to hurry up and finish reading it this weekend and return it to her as soon as possible."
Koizumi Aonai looked at Kiyono Rin: "Is that so?"
Qingye Rin crossed her arms across her chest, and a despicable smile of taking advantage of others' misfortune appeared on her pretty face.
"You are mixing truth with lies and talking nonsense. Mr. Koizumi, I suggest you stop liking this liar."
Koizumi Aona turned her head and approached Watanabe Toru: "Watanabe, how dare you lie to the teacher?"
"Too close, teacher. Please move a little further away. It smells too good."
Koizumi Aona grabbed Watanabe Toru's ear and stared at him angrily with her almond-shaped eyes: "You want to change the subject!"
"It hurts, teacher."
"Six o'clock, wait for me here, do you hear me?"
"……clear."
Koizumi Aonai let go of his hand and saw him rubbing his ears. She couldn't help laughing and said, "Stop pretending. I didn't use any force."
"My ears are quite sensitive."
"…What are you talking about! How do you know such strange knowledge at such a young age!" Koizumi Aona's ears turned slightly red, and she tried hard to act like a teacher.
"What kind of weird knowledge is this? I said my ears have low defense and are easily hurt. What are you talking about, teacher?"
"Nothing." Koizumi Aona turned around and quickly left the activity room.
Watanabe Toru had no choice but to stay in the activity room until school was over. At six o'clock, he and Kiyono Rin took Koizumi Aonai's car to eat.
The dining location is a pretty good barbecue restaurant.
Because Koizumi Aona had made a reservation in advance, the three of them did not have to queue even during peak dining hours.
"It only took me five days, no, to be exact, three days, and I got two A's! And I only studied for a short while every day!"
"Super, super, super, super rural country people. There are actually people living in that kind of place!"
"There's not even a coffee shop. How funny! How poor is his family?"
"I suspect he can only afford discounted bento from the supermarket!"
The three of them had just sat down in the private room when a familiar voice came from next door.
Qingye Rin glanced coldly in the direction where the voice came from, then sneered sarcastically, and put on the posture of a bystander observing human beings, looking at Watanabe Toru, wanting to see his reaction.
"Who is this? Tamamo-san?" Koizumi Aona looked grim and stood up.
Toru Watanabe quickly grabbed her.
"Teacher Koizumi, if you go now, Tamamo-san will be embarrassed in front of many people."
"but……"
Watanabe Toru smiled and persuaded:
"Teacher, I don't care about this at all. Let them laugh. I won't take it to heart, and it won't affect her studies. Besides, it's rare for Tamamo to get double A's. Just let her be happy for a few days. At worst, you can ask her to answer more questions in class in the future, and that will be her punishment."
Koizumi Aona looked at Watanabe Toru seriously and saw that his smile was natural, without any force at all.
She reached out and ruffled Watanabe Toru's hair lovingly: "Teacher is proud of you."
Toru Watanabe was unhappy about having his hair rubbed by a beautiful teacher in her twenties.
"My hair is going to be a mess!"
"Ahaha~" Koizumi Aona laughed proudly and sat down again. "By the way, Watanabe, I've always wanted to ask you, did you deliberately do your hairstyle like this?"
"Of course. It's very expensive."
Toru Watanabe's hairstyle is very natural, and it is hard to tell whether it was done intentionally or just left untidy after waking up.
"Really?"
"I, Watanabe, never lie."
"As soon as you say this, you already feel like you're lying."
Watanabe Toru corrected: "Please call it a joke."
Koizumi Aina nodded: "It's quite interesting."
Watanabe Toru hadn't eaten barbecue for a while, so it tasted a bit rough, no, it should be said that it was heroic, which sounds better.
Koizumi Aonai also ate some, but Kiyono Rin only ate vegetable leaves like a rabbit. No, it should be compared to cabbage worms, which sounds more unpleasant.
"What are you looking at?" Qingye Rin noticed his gaze and put down the knife and fork on the vegetable salad.
"nothing."
"You must be very angry. You care so much about Tamamo Haomei that you worked hard to prepare the test papers for her and tried your best to boost her self-confidence."
"No, I'm not angry at all. What I did has nothing to do with Tamamo-san. It doesn't matter what she thinks of me. I tried so hard to help her, all for Mr. Koizumi."
"Watanabe..." Teacher Koizumi didn't know what to say.
The sarcasm on Kiyono Rin's face disappeared. She looked at Watanabe Toru seriously for a while, then as if she remembered, she put the vegetable salad into her mouth with a knife and fork.
"You are very interesting to observe," she said.
"Kiyono-san, can I ask you a question?"
“I wouldn’t necessarily answer that.”
"That's your freedom." Watanabe Toru paused, "Given your personality and speaking style, you probably don't have any friends, right?"
As soon as these words came out, Koizumi Aona immediately shouted "Watanabe!" in a reproachful manner, and then cast an apologetic look at Kiyono Rin.
Qing Ye Lin put down his knife and fork for the second time: "You are right, I really don't have any friends. How about it, are you satisfied?"
"Kiyono-san..." Koizumi Aona didn't know what to say again, and her eyes became very maternal.
Then she gave Watanabe Toru a reproachful look and asked him to apologize.
Watanabe Toru reflected on himself and realized that he was indeed wrong. Of course, the mistake was not in that he should not have fought back, but in the way he fought back.
As a "Tokyo handsome guy", it is immature to attack a girl with words. What he should do is to get first place in the school in the midterm exam.
"I'm sorry." He said, "I think the reason why not because you can't find any, but because you don't want to settle. You value friendship more than most people, and I'm not as good as you in this respect."
Koizumi Aona breathed a sigh of relief. Suddenly, an idea flashed through her mind and she suggested, "Why don't you two just be friends?"
"Ah?" Watanabe Toru and Kiyono Rin looked at her in surprise.
"Watanabe is very smart, he studies hard, he is self-disciplined and strong in life. In the case of Tamamo-san, we can also see that he has good character. Didn't you also say that Watanabe is worth observing, Kiyono-san?"
"teacher……"
"Watanabe, keep quiet."
“…”
Toru Watanabe coated the grilled beef tongue with sauce and stuffed it into his mouth.
Qingye Rin glanced at Watanabe Toru who was eating voraciously and said: "I admit that he is a relatively ideal and excellent individual as a human being."
"That……"
"But, teacher, being friends is not just about these things. What I require is someone who will never lie, and he is obviously not one of them."
Koizumi Aona was speechless for a long while before she said, "It's fine if lovers can't lie to each other, but can you relax the requirement for friends?"
"No." Qingye Rin refused. "I never lie, so I have the right to ask others to do this. And I don't force others to do this. I just do my best."
"That being said, Watanabe is really great. You two are both very smart and you will definitely have a lot of common topics!"
Koizumi Aona's tone was excited, but what she said was pale, as if she was just making small talk.
Toru Watanabe felt very uncomfortable.
"What's going on with this atmosphere? Is this a blind date? Or is he trying to promote a niche financial product called Watanabe Toru?"
Perhaps Kiyono Rin noticed his embarrassment and gave a mischievous smile.
"That's true. If Watanabe-san says he's not human, it's not impossible to be friends with him. After all, my condition is: someone who will never lie. Non-humans are naturally not included in this requirement."
"Are you kidding?" said Toru Watanabe.
"Ah," Qing Ye Lin crossed her arms and put her chin on her hands, "Didn't Mr. Koizumi say you were very smart? Why do you have such a bad memory? I told you when we met that I never lie."
"Jokes don't count as lies."
Qing Ye Lin ignored him: "Teacher, you can see that our views are too different. We can't be friends."
Koizumi Aona looked back and forth at the two of them, and said with a smile, "No, I feel like you two will definitely become friends, and maybe even comrades-in-arms who are closer than friends."
Watanabe Toru corrected him: "Teacher, my goal is to become a civil servant, and I am not interested in the Self-Defense Forces."
"I mean comrades in life!" Koizumi Aona rubbed Watanabe Toru's hair hard.
After dinner, Koizumi Aona sent Kiyono Rin home, and Watanabe Toru, as a boy, had to walk alone at night.
After returning home, he took off his school uniform and changed into the clothes with many pockets that his mother bought for him when he was in junior high school.
The quality of the clothes is very good. Apart from the color being a little lighter, there is no damage at all. Since I bought them too big, they fit me well now.
After confirming that the stun gun, alarm and other equipment were in good condition, he put them in his pocket and attached the alloy steel telescopic baton to his waist.
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