"Thank you for taking us back to the garden~"

After getting off the bus, Xiaolan waved goodbye to Yuanzi and said, "See you at school tomorrow~"

"Well, see you tomorrow~" Sonoko also smiled and waved goodbye to her friend.

At this moment, only the two sisters Sonoko and Ayako were left in the car. Tang Ze had already sent them back to their residence before sending Xiaolan and the others.

"Ah~ We're having so much fun~" Yuanzi shouted without any manner while lying on the seat.

"Well, it's indeed a nice vacation." Ayako looked at her lazy sister and didn't preach. Instead, she smiled gently.

"What a shame." Sonoko said this, looking at her elder sister with regret, "The purpose of our vacation has not made any progress at all!!"

Hearing her sister say this, Ayako blushed and then said in a low voice a little embarrassedly: "Actually... there is some progress..."

“Huh…Huh? Huh!!!!!!”

Upon hearing this, Yuanzi immediately jumped up from her seat, and then hit her head on the roof of the car. She covered her forehead in pain, causing a panic.

"Sonoko, are you okay?"

Faced with her sister's problem, Yuanzi didn't care about the pain in her head. Instead, she looked straight at her sister and asked repeatedly: "What did you just say? Did I hear it right? Is there any progress? "

Faced with Sonoko's questioning, Ayako felt a little embarrassed, but still nodded.

"What's going on?! When?! How come I don't know?!"

Seeing her elder sister confirm it, Sonoko was even more excited than Ayako, the person involved, and asked questions repeatedly.

"Actually, it was when Conan dragged you to chase Xiaolan..." Ayako replied in a low voice.

"Nani, Nani!! What's going on? What's going to happen next?" Sonoko instantly became alert upon hearing this, hugged Ayako's arm and started asking questions repeatedly.

"Watch a movie!?" Sonoko exclaimed after hearing the whispers, "And Detective Karasawa took the initiative to invite you!?"

"Sonoko, you're too loud!" Ayako covered Sonoko's mouth in embarrassment, trying to get her to speak more quietly.

"It's okay, it's okay." Yuanzi waved her hand. "Look, the soundproofing panel is securely closed. The driver in front can't hear it. Don't worry, sister."

"But I really didn't expect that." Yuanzi pinched her chin and said in surprise: "I thought you were the one who took the initiative, but I didn't expect that it was the other party who took the initiative...

This is quite unexpected. I thought Detective Tang Ze was sharp and decisive at work, but in daily life, he was the type who was rather slow and timid, just like a "mystery geek" I know. But I didn't expect him to be so courageous.

"Because everything has been seen through..." Ayako thought to herself shyly.

Looking at the night outside the window, the sounds of the garden in my ears became farther and farther away, gradually becoming background noise, while the previous memories in my mind became vivid again.

…….

Izu.

In the sunny weather, the waves turned golden under the reflection of the sun, and the sea breeze blew from time to time, making people squint their eyes unconsciously.

At the open-air dining table, only the two of them were left because everyone else had run away.

"Um... Ayako-san, I remember you were in the film research club in college. You must have loved watching movies, right?"

There were only two people at the table. After a moment of silence, Tang Ze spoke first, breaking the silence.

"Movies? Of course I like it." When talking about her favorite topic, Ayako recovered from her uncomfortable feeling and said with a smile.

"I wonder if there are any good movies recently?" Tang Ze asked. "I feel like I have no personal time lately. I want to take some time to watch a movie to relax. Does Ayako-san have any recommendations?"

"I haven't been to the movies for a long time, so I don't know what's been released recently." Ayako said apologetically.

"If you don't mind, do you want to go to the movies together when we get back to Tokyo?" Tang Ze smiled and invited Ayako.

“Eh…!?”

Ayako's slightly flustered voice sounded. The sudden invitation made her flustered for a moment, but she quickly reacted and nodded. After a long time, she said "hmm" softly.

"Then I'll make an appointment with you next week. After all, we never know if there will be any emergencies. So I'll set the time, and you can choose the movie."

Tang Ze smiled and said, "But please don't choose a horror movie. I can't stand that kind of movie."

"I understand." After hearing Tang Ze's usual words, Ayako recovered from her shyness, smiled lightly and nodded.

Tang Ze looked at Ayako and smiled, "Did the thought of 'So Tang Ze-kun is afraid of ghosts' just cross your mind?"

"No, no." Ayako waved her hand and then said embarrassedly, "It was just a little unexpected."

"Well, I just don't like it." Tang Ze spread his hands helplessly and said, "My work is already very serious. I don't want to watch horror movies to add to the gloomy atmosphere."

During the chat, after a topic was finished, Ayako was silent for a moment and couldn't help asking: "Tang Zejun, I want to ask you a question..."

"Huh? What is it?"

"Why did you…invite me to a movie?"

After hesitating for a moment, Ayako mustered up the courage to ask with three parts of nervousness, three parts of shyness, three parts of hope and one part of emotion that she couldn't explain.

"You should have heard such a story." Tang Ze did not answer Ayako's question, but instead told a very old story.

A boy and a girl liked each other, but they couldn't muster up the courage to speak up and take the first step. Eventually, as time passed, they separated.

When the two met again many years later, they had already lived their own lives. They greeted each other with a smile, then passed each other by, and never met again since then.

Sometimes they also wonder, if they muster up the courage to take that step, will the ending be sad, or will they spend their lives together?

But all that is just imagination, because the step that was not taken was never taken in the end, and can never be taken again.

“So if someone has the courage to make the first move, how can I let her continue to make the first move towards me.”

There was a gentle smile in Tang Ze's eyes: "This time it's my turn to take the first step."

………

But how could he have the nerve to tell his sister about this situation? He would be ridiculed to death. Plus, with Sonoko's personality, the whole family would probably know about it in two days.

So no matter how Sonoko asked, Ayako kept smiling but didn't say a word, which made Sonoko's curiosity as piqued as a cat's scratching, but she had no choice but to give up.

Looking at the ever-changing scenery outside the car window, Ayako's mouth corners unconsciously turned up.

This reminded her of the first time they met.

————

PS: The love line shouldn’t be too abrupt or difficult to understand =-=

To put it simply, Ayako appeared in a plot where she shouldn't have appeared, and Karasawa knew the original story trajectory, so he naturally knew Ayako's feelings, so he chose to take the initiative (〃'▽'〃)~