Chapter 354 A Night of Missing Each Other
Shinano-machi Apartment, Room 501, today's dinner is hamburger meat.
Aona Koizumi tied an apron around her waist and stirred the minced meat in a large glass bowl, while Miyazaki Miyuki was cutting onions beside her.
Akiko was outside the kitchen counter, doing nothing but simply accompanying the two of them to kill time.
"Where is that Watanabe?" Akiko took a bite of the cucumber, making a crisp crunching sound. "Maybe he went to have a big meal with the young lady?"
"No." Koizumi Aona said in a relaxed tone.
"Huh? How do you know not?" Akiko spoke vaguely while chewing a cucumber.
"If he wanted to go, he would have told me in advance." Koizumi Aona said with a smile, "I'm not stopping him from going, so why should he hide it from me?"
"A woman who trusts blindly and is blinded by love is hopeless." Akiko shook the half-eaten cucumber helplessly.
"I just did it, of course I trust it so much." Miyuki Miyazaki wiped the kitchen knife and wiped off the chopped onion on the blade.
"Do?" Akiko's eyes widened as he looked back and forth at the two people. "What? That?"
Koizumi Aina lowered her head and added bread crumbs, eggs, nutmeg, and pepper to the minced meat, then continued to stir ;
Miyuki Miyazaki puts oil in a frying pan, turns on low heat, and pours in half of the freshly chopped onions.
After pouring some, she was about to put down the plate, but after thinking for a moment, she poured a few more grains into the pot.
"So it's almost half and half? Isn't there an instrument in the kitchen to control the dosage of onions?" Miyuki Miyazaki muttered.
Koizumi Aona took the remaining half of the raw onion and poured it into the minced meat.
" Hey!" Akiko shouted when she was ignored.
"What else can the two of them do besides that? An English test?" Miyazaki Miyuki replied casually and started stir-frying onions.
"When?" Akiko couldn't believe it and stopped eating the cucumber. "Aina has been with us all along!"
Miyazaki Miyuki said nothing.
Akiko turned her head and stared at Koizumi Aona who was keeping her head down and silent.
"The second night of our trip to Hokkaido." Koizumi Aona whispered to Teacher Akiko as if she were a student who had made a mistake.
"Hokkaido? A few days ago? Didn't you sleep with Mai? How come you and him...wait, did you sneak out while Mai was asleep?! Or did that kid Watanabe Toru sneak into your room in the middle of the night and..."
"No, no!" Koizumi Aona quickly interrupted Akiko, and the more she spoke, the more outrageous it became.
"What's going on?" Akiko demanded, "Explain it to me in detail!"
"that is……"
"That's it?" Akiko didn't even blink, his ears perked up.
“…I did it anyway.”
Because Asu Mai went to Watanabe Toru's room the night before, and I didn't want to be left behind, so I went there the next night - how could I say such a thing?
"Cough, cough, cough." Akiko coughed in tears, "Wow, it hurts so much, I'm so sad."
"Why are you so sad?" Miyazaki Miyuki looked at her unhappily.
"Twenty-five, no, twenty-six years old. Originally, all three of us were virgins, but I didn't feel anything. But now one of us is suddenly gone. I'm starting to get anxious. Woo woo woo." Akiko bit off the last half of the cucumber in one bite.
"I can help you." said Miyazaki Miyuki.
"Help me?" Akiko was stunned. "Help me with what?"
"Don't you want to be a virgin? I have a condom there."
"Finger sleeves? What fingers..." Akiko reacted, "You you you you female hooligan!"
"As a doctor, it's normal to have gloves on hand." Miyazaki Miyuki said calmly, "Go to the anorectal department..."
"Miyuki!" As the only experienced person, Koizumi Aona was the one whose face turned the reddest.
She said shyly and anxiously: "This is the kitchen, don't say that!"
Miyazaki Miyuki shrugged.
Akiko glanced at Miyazaki Miyuki and had the illusion that she was meeting her best friend for the first time.
"Aona." Akiko lowered her voice.
"What's wrong? Why is it like this all of a sudden? Do you want to borrow money?" Koizumi Aona looked at Akiko with amusement as if she was communicating secret codes with an undercover agent.
"What do you want to borrow money for?" Akiko was about to continue, but he added, "Wait for me."
She slipped into the living room in her cute fluffy slippers and glanced toward the entrance.
After confirming that Toru Watanabe had not returned, she ran back.
"Qingnai," she put her hands on the countertop, leaned forward, and asked in a low voice, "How is it?"
"What do you mean?" Koizumi Aona understood what she meant, but because she was embarrassed, she could only ask even though she knew the answer.
“That’s it.”
"Which one?"
"That's it..." Akiko was so anxious that he stopped talking and stretched out his right index finger and placed it between the thumb and index finger of his left hand.
Her right index finger moved back and forth as if she was rubbing off the nonexistent grease there, or as if she were sawing the thumb off her left hand.
"Akira." Koizumi Aona looked at her in disbelief.
"Hahahaha!" Miyuki Miyazaki laughed so hard that she couldn't hold the spatula steadily.
Akiko was not embarrassed at all and asked with concern: "How is it? This?"
"It's quite a portrayal." Miyazaki Miyuki praised.
"Who said that?" Akiko answered her, and then stared at Koizumi Aonai, "How is it? Are you comfortable?"
“……” Koizumi Aona lowered her head and said nothing.
"Aona~~~!" Akiko laid her entire upper body on the cooking table.
If someone lifted her feet at this moment, just a little bit, she might fall headfirst onto the kitchen counter.
"Cooking dinner." Koizumi Aona was busy stirring the minced meat.
"Just tell me, are you comfortable or not?"
Koizumi Aona was stared at by her, so she could only whisper shyly: "It's okay...right."
"It's OK?" Akiko repeated the word. "Is it OK, comfortable or just average? Isn't he amazing?"
"How do you know whether the boy is powerful or not?" Miyazaki Miyuki asked puzzledly.
Koizumi Aona also raised her head in confusion and looked at Akiko.
"That's what Kujo Miki said." Akiko looked at them both as if it was a matter of course, with an expression that said 'it would be strange if you didn't remember'.
"When?" Miyazaki Miyuki asked curiously.
"School trip or winter camping? It seemed to be winter camping. I remember we talked about it in the kotatsu," Akiko said.
"I remember now, it seems to be true." A look of reminiscence appeared on Koizumi Aona's face.
"How did you end up talking about this with your students?" Miyazaki Miyuki became even more curious.
"At that time, Watanabe was hiding... I'll tell you about this tonight!" Akiko stared at Koizumi Aona, "Are you comfortable or not?"
"Why do you have to ask this?" Koizumi Aona was shy and helpless.
"I just want to know something!" Akiko pulled Koizumi Aona's sleeve and said like Watanabe Toru, "Teacher Aona, tell me."
Koizumi Aona poured the onions fried by Miyuki Miyazaki into the minced meat and prepared to continue stirring, but her sleeves were pulled back and forth by Akira and she couldn't exert any strength at all.
"Ao Na~ Nana~"
"Okay, okay." Koizumi Aona gave in.
"Yeah, tell me quickly."
Koizumi Aona sighed, took a breath, and finally uttered a very small word: "Comfortable...comfortable."
"How comfortable is it?"
"Do you want to say this, too?"
"Tell me, I'm curious!"
"If you're curious, why don't you just find a boyfriend?" Miyazaki Miyuki said casually, "Or try using a shower head and an electric toothbrush when you take a shower at night ."
"Showerhead? Electric toothbrush?" Akiko came to her senses and stuttered again, "You you you you you female hooligan!"
"As a doctor, isn't it normal to know what kinds of irritants there are to the human body?" Miyuki Miyazaki said frankly.
"Is this normal?" Koizumi Aona asked hesitantly.
"Of course it's normal." Miyazaki Miyuki replied, "What should I do next?"
“Grill some asparagus and wash a few tomatoes.”
"Aonna," Akiko lowered her voice again, "Does it hurt?"
"Are you going to say anything more?" Koizumi Aona's voice was filled with despair.
By the time the hamburger meat was almost ready, Asuma Mai had finished her evening oboe practice and came downstairs, and then Toru Watanabe came back.
"Why are you back so late?" Koizumi Aona took Toru Watanabe's schoolbag.
"I took the wrong train," Watanabe Toru said, putting on slippers. "I wanted to go to Ikebukuro, but ended up at Ogikubo Station."
"Ogikubo Station? Where are I going and what am I going to do?" Koizumi Aona didn't even know the name of this station.
"I also want to know what I'm going to do there." Watanabe Toru said with a smile.
Koizumi Aina laughed along and didn't ask any more questions: "I had hamburger meat today, it's almost ready."
"I'll have two."
"Each person only has one piece. Should I give you my share?"
"We'll share two pieces."
"Isn't it still one piece per person?"
"No, I'll teach you later. I'll be your teacher on how to eat two hamburgers for two people."
"I don't want to."
Walking into the living room, before Toru Watanabe had time to look at Asuka Mai, he noticed Akiko giving him a thumbs up.
"Hmm?" Watanabe Toru wondered, and gave her a thumbs up.
"You two." Koizumi Aona patted Watanabe Toru on the back.
"Why did you hit only me?" Watanabe Toru said aggrievedly.
"I hit you because we are close," Koizumi Aona said with a smile, "This is the first time I hit someone."
"...Teacher Qingnai, are you also a sadist?"
"What is sadistic?"
"nothing."
That night, Toru Watanabe slept alone for the first time in a long time.
Lying on the big bed that could sleep six people, he kept thinking about the scene with Kiyono Rin on the train.
"Because you remember the past, I decided to take a step towards the future."
What does this sentence mean?
Is he preparing to compete more fiercely with Kujo Miki and the other two? Or...
There are so many possibilities, the more I think about it, the more confused I become.
Toru Watanabe closed his eyes, emptied his mind, and seemed to be back on the train heading towards Suginami District.
Qingye Rin leaned her forehead on his chest again, and he hugged her through her uniform and shirt. Her ethereal voice was like the sound of nature, her hair was faintly scented, and her tight waistline was revealed.
How can I express my feelings?
After I tell her, will she accept it?
Will that unattainable dream ever come true?
No, it must be achieved.
Watanabe Toru remembers every word that Kiyono Rin said: "The world will not compromise the gentleness of people."
No matter what others say, no matter what the world thinks, he must let them be together.
Never show weakness to anyone and never compromise with any secular rules.
He wants to transform into a demon, become a real man. Only in this way can he embrace Kiyono Rin unscrupulously and love her with all his heart.
Throw away all doubts and insecurities and say to her, "Please stay with me."
Along the green trees of Yotsuya, on a rainy afternoon in Karuizawa, running through the narrow alleys of Shimokitazawa, shouting to everyone:
"She's my lover! No one can stop her!"
'Rin, what are you doing now?'
◇
It's one o'clock in the night and I still can't fall asleep.
As autumn approaches, there are fewer clouds at night, and the moonlight streaming in through the floor-to-ceiling windows is brighter than usual.
Qingye Rin sat on the single sofa in the bedroom, bent her legs, and looked out the window.
Somewhere in the pitch black where even the moonlight couldn't penetrate was the rental house that Toru Watanabe had previously rented.
After he got his own SLR camera, before Watanabe Toru moved away, he once accidentally used his camera to see the blurry figure of Watanabe studying in front of the window.
'R-san.'
'Doraemon.'
'Kimi no God.'
A sweet and lonely nickname.
I would blame him and he would fight back bluntly, just like a quarrel between lovers.
When I threaten him, he will beg her exaggeratedly, "Ms. Kiyono? Kiyono-san? Kiyono? Rin? Rin-chan?"
I like the arrogance in his fight back;
I like the way he is caught and asks me for something;
I like his self-righteous explanation of the cause of the plum rain;
I like how he deliberately makes me angry, and then tries to make me laugh - just to see my smile;
I like every word he says, even though he never tells the truth.
The time they spent together was like sunlight filtering through the leaves, with the clumsy practice sounds of the wind band coming in intermittently from outside the window.
Hugging my knees and closing my eyes, I felt as if I was back in the tram car.
The Marunouchi Line swayed and headed in a direction that was not Ikebukuro Station. My body swayed along with the train. In Watanabe Toru's arms, the distance between me and him was sometimes close and sometimes far.
You're clearly in my arms, why are you so close and far away?
As long as one of them tried hard, Watanabe Toru would hug him tighter, or he would take the initiative to hug his waist, and the shaking of the train would be useless to them.
Is it because the direction is reversed?
If it was a train heading to Ikebukuro Station, would the two of them be able to keep the shortest distance between them?
If he goes to Ikebukuro Station, will he not go to Ochanomizu?
If he hadn't pretended to be in a relationship with Kujo Miki just because he cared about his parents, would the series of events that followed not have happened?
'I hate sharing you with others.'
'But I need you.'
'If it weren't for you, if it weren't for you, this world would have no meaning to me.'
Is there any way for us to be together, Watanabe-san?
You can make Kujo Miki fall in love with you, make Kujo Miki allow Asuka Mai and Koizumi Aona to be your lovers, make me and Kujo Miki reconcile, and you can definitely find a way for us to be together, right?
Among the three of us, you are the smartest and most cunning one.
I still remember how you deceived me in Karuizawa and made me willingly perform in a play at the cultural festival.
So, think of a solution quickly.
Even if it is a lie, I can pretend I didn't notice it.
The soft hair fell behind Qingye Rin's ear.
End this game of hide and seek that is so close at hand and catch me quickly.
When that day comes, will you call me Rin?
If you ask me, I will allow it.
And when that day comes, I will also call you Che.
...I want to be with you.
"Watanabe-san, what are you thinking about right now?"
