Chapter 61 Introduction

When the familiar silhouette of the girl appeared on her retina, Feng Jian froze in place, her legs frozen, unable to move. The setting sun cast a sliver of orange on her face, and her throat felt like it was stuck with a fishbone. After a while, she squeezed out two short words, "Asagiri..."

But it seemed as if all the strength in his body had been used up.

"Ayuan said he hasn't had authentic Yokohama food in a while since he was abroad. I'll go make some dishes. You two must be catching up after not seeing each other," Sister Ling's voice pierced the stagnant air. She walked over and nudged Fengjian's arm, feigning anger and saying, "Why don't you take them to your room and have a seat? Don't be rude to guests."

Fengjian stood there without moving.

"No need," Chao Kirigaki stared at Fengjian for a few seconds with a half-smile, then looked away and looked up at Sister Ling, his tone softening rarely, "Thank you for your kindness, Sister Ling, I have other things to do."

Having said that, he stood up and prepared to leave.

"Hey, no more..." Sister Ling was about to persuade him, but Feng Jian interrupted her, "Sister Ling, there's no need to persuade me."

"Yes," Chao Wuyuan's shadow slowly stopped at her feet. She smiled and leaned close to Feng Jian's ear. The ice-blue hair brushed against her neck, causing a cool sting. Her voice filled her ears, "After all, we have a long time to go, after all..."

Asagirihara tilted his head, leisurely admiring Fengjian's suddenly changed expression, "I won't leave again when I return to China this time."

She walked a few steps forward across the wind, then stopped again and a soft laugh suddenly rang out.

"But Kazama, I heard you made some great friends at Seigaku. Can you introduce them to me sometime?"

Fengjian's hands hanging at her side suddenly clenched. She turned around suddenly, but only saw her figure sinking into the street corner filled with sunset. She was in a daze for a long time.

Sister Ling looked at Fengjian, then at Chaowuyuan which was walking away, and her voice was so light that it sounded like a sigh.

——

"Kazama, after school, shall we go to the sushi restaurant next to the school? Yukimura and the others said it's delicious."

......

"Kazama~April~ Can I come to your house for dinner this weekend? I haven't had Sister Ling's cooking in a long time."

......

"Kazama..."

"Kazama."

The calm and crisp voice pierced through the thick dark clouds like a lighthouse on the sea. Fengjian opened his eyes, and the warm platinum light penetrated the clouds and entered his eyes, illuminating the swaying figure in front of him.

Tezuka's meticulous face focused in front of her, and his brown eyes were looking at her in surprise, "Are you feeling unwell?"

“…I’m fine.”

Like a drowning person grabbing the last piece of driftwood, Fengjian suddenly woke up from her floating dream. She supported her forehead with both hands, and her tone sounded muffled with lingering fear.

Tezuka didn't say anything, but just began tapping his fingertips on the table from time to time.

"Sorry, I was distracted just now," she took a deep breath, slammed her hands up to her face, and gave him an apologetic smile, "Tezuka-senpai, let's continue."

Tezuka's fingertips paused for a moment, and the afternoon sun shone through the glass window onto her cheeks, shining the corners of her slightly wet eyes.

He lowered his eyelids and responded softly, his fingertips falling back on the German book on the table, "From this grammar..."

Dusk crept up the windowsill, illuminating the few people scattered in the library. Feng Jian stood in front of the bookshelf, staring blankly at the volume above that contained the outstanding essays of the Century Cup over the years. The next second, a hand reached out from behind and took the book away. A voice rang out from behind:

"I heard you were selected to participate in the World Cup Essay Contest."

Kazama was startled, and when she turned around, she saw Tezuka standing behind her. He adjusted his glasses and handed her the anthology in his hand, saying calmly, "Congratulations."

Feng Jian tightened his grip on the hem of his clothes, his eyes fixed on the other person's slender fingertips resting on the page, "Actually, I..."

As soon as the words came out, they stopped abruptly.

If I don't decide to participate in the essay contest, it will be like a fishbone stuck in my throat that is difficult to remove.

Tezuka looked at her quietly, as if waiting for a reply.

Fengjian slowly stretched out his hand, his fingertips paused in mid-air, and after a few seconds he placed his finger on the title page and slowly tightened it.

"This is a book that helps with elbow rehabilitation," Tezuka withdrew his hand and handed over another book. "My rehabilitation coach back in Germany highly recommended it. You should give it a try."

Feng Jian was surprised, "Actually, my hand injury has healed..." Before he could finish his words, he was interrupted by him, "Hand injury is not a trivial matter, you should pay more attention to it."

"Thank you, senior." She took it obediently and found that there were a lot of sticky notes between the pages. The black notes were vigorous and smooth.

"I'm going to see my elbow next week. Want to come with me?"

Tezuka's voice followed, and she looked up. The boy's face behind the frame was still meticulous, but his tone of voice had slowed down a lot.

"OK."

She heard herself respond softly.

The weekend was spent in the library, and the school week arrived as scheduled.

Since that day, Kazama never saw Asagiri again.

The spring cherry tree behind the teaching building revealed its bare branches, its arms stretched out towards the sky. During recess, the classroom was as noisy as a vegetable market. Yuan's voice murmured, "April, what do you think our class should do for the school festival? Teacher Toyota asked me to hand in the program in the next few days..."

"Hey, you guy, you didn't listen at all..." The distracted Fengjian flicked his forehead lightly, staring at her with resentment, "Are we still good friends?"

"I'm sorry, Chiba," Kazama put his hands together in an apology, "Of course we are still good friends."

"Then why don't you help me think of it quickly~~" Yuan shook her arm, his voice trembling like a string, "If you can't think of it, you can't go to the third grade to find Senior Gan~~"

Fengjian's head hurt from the shaking, and he quickly raised his hands to beg for mercy. He stared at the plan and discussed it for an entire afternoon before finally selecting a few plans.

"I think Takoyaki might be the most popular," Yuan said, twirling his pen, stroking his chin and staring at the plan. "April, what do you think...ah, April, you're slacking off again!"

"Sorry, Chiba..." Kazama could only touch the back of his head awkwardly.

"You've said 'sorry' countless times today," Yuan put away his plan and poked her cheek with the end of his pen. "What happened? You've been so absent-minded since the start of the school year. You used to laugh and tease me when I mentioned my senior stuff, but now you're completely silent. This isn't your style."

"Sorry..." Before he could finish his words, Yuan said "Hmm↑" with a straight face. Fengjian scratched his head and sighed, "I..."

"Forget it, forget it. We'll talk about it whenever you want to," Yuansi sighed and waved his hand. "By the way, Kawamura-senpai said he'll treat us to sushi tonight. Don't forget."

"Hi Hi~"

"By the way, there's the Autumn Sports Festival next week. What events are you planning to sign up for in April?"

"I haven't decided yet..."

"Shot put, shot put is perfect for April."

"Are you looking for a fight?"

Gen hid her laughter and dodged Kazama's movements. The two of them circled around the desk. The laughter briefly dispelled the haze in her heart, but it was only for a moment.

——

The happy time passed in a flash, but Fengjian didn't expect that what Asagiri said that day, "introducing my friend to her", would come so suddenly.

The dusk crushed the gold and scattered it at the school gate. After school, the students came out in a line like birds returning to their nests.

Kazama was walking in front with Yuan's arm around his shoulder, and behind him followed a sparse group of people from Qingxue, chirping like tireless spring birds.

"Kazama," Momoshiro ran up and patted her on the shoulder, but was immediately interrupted by the dissatisfied voice of Yuan, who put his hands on his hips, "We girls are talking, boys, go away."

Tao Cheng was immediately displeased when he heard this, "Kazama is the recorder of our tennis club, and he doesn't belong to you alone."

"It was me who persuaded April to join the tennis club, and I will persuade her to quit right away." Yuan hid behind Fengjian and made faces at him.

"Alright, alright," Feng Jian quickly stepped out to stand between the two of them, and persuaded Yuan before looking at Tao Cheng, "What did you want to ask just now, Tao Cheng?"

Tao Cheng scratched his head and smiled: "It's not a big deal, I just adjusted it based on your data today, and I feel that the smash feels particularly good."

"That's good."

Kazama breathed a sigh of relief, still feeling thankful that his recent mood hadn't affected the tennis club's training, when Momoshiro suddenly leaned over and said in a low voice, "But there's one thing I miscalculated."

She picked it up in one breath and flipped the record book, making a scratching sound.

"where!"

"I was just kidding," Taocheng scratched the back of his head and smiled at the other person's frozen expression. "Because your expression looked too serious, Kazama, everyone was very worried and didn't know what to say. But do you feel better now?"

Feng Jian was startled. His words penetrated his ears like an electric current. When he glanced at the looks of others, he felt that the autumn sunset on his back was even hotter.

"I……"

His palms slowly clenched.

"Kazama, everyone is worried about you. If you have any difficulties, brainstorming will be more helpful than thinking alone." Oishi looked at her encouragingly.

"Yes, meow~" Kikumaru put his hands on Daishi's shoulders and nodded repeatedly.

"If everyone works together to find a solution, the success rate will increase by 70 percent."

"That's right, Kazama, just talk about the unhappy things." Fuji looked at her with a smile, his hands behind his back.

Tezuka said nothing, just nodded slightly.

Feng Jian's eyes were hot, and he opened his mouth to say something, but Tao Cheng suddenly came forward and said, "Hey, Feng Jian is not going to cry, is he?"

“…”

Feng Jian choked, the rest of his words stuck in his throat. Amidst the other party's laughter, he silently flipped through the record book, finally staring at the diet page and said expressionlessly, "Momoshiro, your Vitamin A intake has been very low lately. You can only eat carrots for lunch for the next few days!"

The last few words were filled with gnashing of teeth.

"Hey - this is Kazama's revenge," Taocheng wailed, holding his head, "God knows I hate carrots the most."

The wailing was soon interrupted by Kikumaru, who came over with a gloating look on his face, his wine-red hair bouncing. "Kazama-chan's data is very accurate. She's been approved by A-gan, so A-tao, you'd better just eat honestly."

"Kikumaru-senpai, please don't..."

The others walked by, covering their mouths with their hands while laughing. Fengjian pursed his lips and smiled, feeling that the stone pressing on his heart was a little lighter.

Yuan looked at Fengjian, who was smiling with his lips pursed, and then looked at Taocheng. He snorted, but the corners of his lips unconsciously curled up, "That Taocheng guy is not completely useless."

"By the way, Kazama," Daishi said with a smile, changing the subject, "I heard you were selected to participate in the Century Cup Essay Competition. That's amazing."

"Yes, meow. I also heard Nakajima from our class mention that Kazama is very good." Kikumaru put his hand on Oishi's shoulder with a smile.

Hearing this, Feng Jian suddenly became like a dud, standing there in a daze without saying a word.

She clutched her shoulder straps, her lips slowly straightened, and when she was about to say something, another familiar voice interrupted her.

"Kazama."

The sound was like a needle piercing an inflated balloon. The curve of Fengjian's mouth froze on her face, and she looked forward with her head stiff.

The setting sun lengthened the girl's figure, and the light blue tips of her hair blended into the red sunset, like ice that could not be melted.

In the warm autumn sun, she felt as if someone had poured a basin of cold water over her from head to toe, chilling her to the bone.