38 How a Groundhog Dies

◎Matsuda's big carp◎

"Puff!" Jinpei Matsuda choked on the soda he had just drunk.

That’s not all, what’s even more outrageous is that Jinpei Matsuda actually laughed at her while retorting!

Hanano Chihoko's mood suddenly turned from sunny to cloudy, "Matsuda Jinpei!!"

“Hahaha…cough cough cough…hahahahaha!”

"Ahhhhh!!" Hanano Chiheko turned around and left angrily, feeling that everything had gone wrong for her today and she shouldn't have gone out like that!

Seeing that the person had been angry and left, Matsuda Jinpei no longer bothered to laugh at Hanano Chiheko and hurried to catch the person first.

Although Jinpei Matsuda tried hard to make himself look sincere, the suspicious curve of his mouth still betrayed him mercilessly.

"I'm not laughing at you, really."

Hanano Chihoko crossed her arms and looked at him with a half-mooned look: "Hehe."

After finally pulling him back, Matsuda Jinpei breathed a sigh of relief. "I heard you went out all night last night?"

Speaking of this, Hanano Chiheko glanced at Matsuda Jinpei and asked, "What's the matter? Do you have any objections?"

"How dare I? I'm just curious..."

Matsuda Jinpei placed his soda at his side, interlaced his fingers, and examined his hands carefully. "Why did you go with Zero?"

Perhaps because Jinpei Matsuda was looking at his hands with extraordinary concentration, Hanano Chihoko was inexplicably infected by this and, out of curiosity, she came over to Jinpei Matsuda to watch with him.

The fingers are white, the fingertips are pink, and the nails are trimmed neatly. You can tell at a glance that the owner of the hands must be in great health.

"It's beautiful, but you've been looking at it for so long... aren't you a little narcissistic?" Hanano Chihoko couldn't help but tease.

Matsuda Jinpei suddenly came back to his senses, and looked in surprise at Hanano Chihoko who was so close to him. At the moment when his heartbeat missed a beat, he subconsciously leaned back and covered his slightly open lips with the back of his hand.

Watching Matsuda Jinpei bounce away like a spring, Hanano Chiheko was speechless and didn't know whether to say anything or not.

"Am I that scary? I don't know who beat me up just now, but I was so happy."

Matsuda Jinpei immediately realized that he had overreacted, and he put his hand down to cover up. He glanced at Hanano Chiheko with annoyance and said, "Seriously, you haven't answered my question yet!"

"Oh, that." Chihoko Hanano was distracted by Jinpei Matsuda and thought for a while.

Jinpei Matsuda looked at Chihoko Hanano's expression and couldn't help but become nervous.

"I remember now!" Chihoko Hanano stretched out her index finger, as if she had suddenly realized something.

"What?" Matsuda Jinpei asked quickly.

"When I was making mushrooms, Fūya-kun picked it up, so I went out with him!"

Matsuda Jinpei: ...

"Is that all?" Jinpei Matsuda raised his eyebrows.

"Yeah, that's it." Chihoko Hanano answered without thinking.

Jinpei Matsuda inexplicably felt that Chihoko Hanano was in a power-saving mode, as if her brain had temporarily shut down after the battery was exhausted.

With a sense of urgency that this place would be gone forever, Matsuda Jinpei immediately followed up with the question: "Where do you usually cook mushrooms?"

"Randomly pick a cherry tree. Oh, of course, it has to be pretty. After all, a wise bird chooses the right tree to roost in. Ah, although I'm not a beast, huh? I don't mean to say I'm worse than beasts, it's just... well, you know."

At the end of her speech, Chihoko Hanano actually covered her head with her hands in frustration, with a look of having given up.

"That……"

Matsuda Jinpei looked at Hanano Chiheko and asked, "Why are you so depressed that you look like a mushroom?"

“When you want to escape, you turn into a mushroom.”

"Why do you want to escape?"

"I thought about it when I was pushed to the point of collapse by my junior brother."

"What did Niide Tomoaki force you to do?"

"He forced me..." Hanano Chiheko paused and squinted at Matsuda Jinpei.

Matsuda Jinpei immediately realized that Hanano Chihoko's mind had returned, and he couldn't help but feel regretful, "It was just a little bit short."

"Hey! How dare you take advantage of my trust in you to trick me!!"

Chihoko Hanano's hand of justice points directly to Jinpei Matsuda's cheek, showing Chihoko Hanano's anger.

The flesh on Matsuda Jinpei's cheek was dented by Hanano Chiheko's poke. He turned his face slightly to avoid the pain, but he didn't dare to retort because he felt guilty. "I, I was just concerned about you."

Hanano Chiheko was stunned for a moment, and after a moment, she let go of Matsuda Jinpei.

Jinpei Matsuda was still surprised at how easy it was to talk to Chihoko Hanano when he saw her with a world-weary look on her face and a long sigh.

"Matsuda."

"Um?"

"Tell me...if I'm like a friend of yours, who do you like, me or your friend?"

"I don't understand what you're talking about, though." Matsuda Jinpei stroked his chin. "If we're friends, of course we'd all like it."

Hanano Chiheko paused and murmured, "Do you like them all..."

Matsuda Jinpei thought about it again and immediately realized something was wrong. "But it depends on how close they are."

Hanano Chiheko looked at Matsuda Jinpei, "For example?"

"For example, if the people in the boxing gym are compared to the people I personally trained, then..."

Matsuda Jinpei looked at Hanano Chiheko and said seriously, "I definitely prefer the latter."

Hanano Chiheko's eyelashes trembled, and after a while, she suddenly smiled with relief and stood up. "Thank you, next time there's a chance..."

Matsuda Jinpei looked at Hanano Chiheko eagerly, "How is it?"

"Let's make mushrooms together!" Hanano Chiheko said as if she was issuing an imperial decree, as if she was granting amnesty to the world.

Matsuda Jinpei: ...

"Jinpei-chan~" Hanano Chihoko imitated Hagiwara Kenji's address and patted Matsuda Jinpei's shoulder. "You don't look very excited! Are you overwhelmed by this sudden good news?"

Seeing Hanano Chiheko jumping around like a giant carp, Matsuda Jinpei shook his head and smiled resignedly, "Alright, when you...are ready to make mushrooms, call me."

"Okay, no problem." Hanano Chiheko was feeling happy, but suddenly she glanced at the wall clock, and her expression instantly changed from sunny to thundery.

“It’s 9 o’clock!”

Chihoko Hanano looked as if the sky had fallen.

“Let’s go first!!!”

The sound was still echoing in the boxing room, but the person was gone, leaving Jinpei Matsuda standing there in a daze.

"What..." Matsuda Jinpei smiled helplessly.

"Xiao Zhenping~" Same tone and voice.

Jinpei Matsuda suspected that he was hallucinating, and when he turned around to confirm, he saw Kenji Hagiwara walking out from behind the hanging sandbag.

Matsuda Jinpei was stunned for a moment, then something occurred to him. "When did you come? Why didn't you say a word?"

"Well... let's do the mushroom before and after together." Hagiwara Kenji smiled and said, "Seeing that you were talking so happily, I didn't have the heart to interrupt you."

Matsuda Jinpei didn't expect to be caught by Yukunran, and his face flushed for a moment, "I was just playing with her."

“It’s a happy thing to have someone to play with~”

Kenji Hagiwara looked at the direction where Chihoko Hanano left, and then looked at the ignorant Jinpei Matsuda.

"By the way, don't you think that 'friend who looks a lot like her' that Xiaohezi mentioned is strangely familiar?"

Matsuda Jinpei was stunned and didn't bother to find out how much Hagiwara Kenji had heard. He thought about it carefully and was shocked.

At the same time, after taking a shower and changing her clothes, Chihoko Hanano started writing in front of the computer as if possessed by God. It only took her two hours to finish four hours' work.

At eleven o'clock sharp, Chihoko Hanano submitted her report, and there was also a cat under the air conditioner.

"Meow!" Tomoaki Arata came out to see what was going on after hearing the miserable cat's cry.

I didn't expect that as soon as I came out, I saw Chihoko Hanano laughing and burying her head in the cat's belly, unable to extricate herself.

Shinde Tomoaki looked at Juzi with pity, then stepped forward resolutely, feinting an attack to draw enemy fire, "Senior Sister is back from training."

Hanano Chihoko poked her head out from the fur, "Well, Junior Brother, are you still awake?"

"Looking at the look of you, senior sister, have you finished writing?" Anishi Tomoaki responded with a smile. Juzi seized the loophole in Hanano Chihoko's defense and rushed out.

"Oh no." Hanano Chiheko looked regretful and sat back on her chair. "When I'm in a good mood, inspiration comes and I can't stop it!"

"It seems that exercise is beneficial." said Akai Tomoaki.

Hanano Chihoko recalled Matsuda Jinpei's words when he chose her, "Hehe, yes, yes, it really relieves stress."

Hanano Chiheko was happy, so naturally, Arai Tomoaki was happy too. "So, what time will you be leaving tomorrow, Senior Sister? I'll see if I can make it in time to bring you breakfast."

"Tomorrow..."

Hanano Chiheko unlocked her phone, glanced at the still motionless dialog box, and bit her lip. "I want to go home at six o'clock tomorrow. If I do that, my brother will definitely not expect it!"

Arata Tomoaki tilted his head, "It seems that Senior Sister must like Brother very much."

Hanano Chiheko was surprised for a moment, then hesitated a little and said, "It's... not so bad. Besides, it's been a long time since we last met."

Xinchu Zhiming just smiled and said nothing.

The next day, Chiheko Hanano left the school before dawn. Fortunately, the security guard recognized her, otherwise any suspicious person who came out in the dark would have been caught and interrogated for at least half an hour before being released.

When I got home, even Mrs. Aoki was not there.

At first, Chihoko Hanano didn't realize anything was wrong. She took out the spare injections at home, prepared them herself, and slept until dark.

When Chihoko Hanano woke up in a daze, she looked at her cell phone and it was already nine o'clock.

"Why haven't you come back yet?" Chihoko Hanano noticed something unusual and opened the chat interface to poke Gin.

No response.

I called, but still no one answered.

Chiheko Hanano became a little anxious and walked to the window to look outside.

It was late at night, the street lights were not on, it was pitch black, and I couldn't see anything.

Chihoko Hanano thought about it, took the key and went downstairs.

The winter night wind was freezing cold, but not as cold as Hanano Chihoko's heart.

Chihoko Hanano hadn't felt this powerless feeling of being the only one in the world for a long time.

Chihoko Hanano put her hands in her pockets, sniffed her red, frozen nose, looked left and right, like a vigilant groundhog.

Soon, the groundhog realized that if the big groundhog didn't come, he would become a frozen groundhog or a groundhog ice sculpture.

When Chihoko Hanano was frowning and struggling over which of two undignified ways to die was more dignified, a miracle happened!

A beam of warm car light illuminates the corner where Chihoko Hanano is.

Chihoko Hanano narrowed her eyes, and when she saw a familiar person getting out of a familiar car, she jumped up and pounced on the big groundhog.

"Who!" As soon as Vodka opened the car door, he saw a person suddenly jump out and pounce on his brother.

His nerves, which had not yet relaxed, suddenly tensed up, and he was about to raise his gun to shoot Hanano Chihoko.