spring day
On Saturday afternoon, the warm spring sunshine streamed into the apartment, making one feel drowsy.
As usual, Kazusa sat on the living room carpet, busy with her work.
Surrounded by piles of documents on the table and carpet, she rapidly tapped her fingers on the keyboard, modifying the document content.
“In addition,” a voice came from her computer’s media player. The video window in the lower right corner of the screen showed Yagyu Hiroshi’s emotionless face. He looked at the revision comments in his hand and said, “The error bars in Figure 3 are not clearly labeled, and the position of the salience star is also easy to cause ambiguity.”
They recently collaborated on a paper submitted to an SCI journal, and just yesterday they received feedback from the reviewers that minor revisions are needed.
"You can just readjust the chart format for this part. I suspect you're dissatisfied with the second work because you made this mistake." While mercilessly criticizing her cousin, Kazusa turned to look for a reference book on the carpet.
Then, her raised hand froze in mid-air.
Tezuka, who was sitting quietly reading a book on the sofa behind her, had fallen asleep leaning against the back of the sofa at some point.
The thick, hardcover book slipped to his side. He closed his eyes, his breathing even and deep. His usually somewhat austere features softened completely in his sleep, and a few strands of chestnut hair fell across his forehead as he lowered his head, giving him a relaxed and unguarded look.
Letting yourself fall asleep while reading is a very lax behavior, which is quite unlike "Tezuka Kunimitsu".
But seeing how easily he relaxed in front of her, a warm feeling of satisfaction welled up in Kanade's heart. Looking at his perfect profile in the sunlight, the corners of her mouth slightly turned up.
She turned to her cousin on the other side of the screen and made a pause gesture, then quietly got up, went back to her bedroom, found a pair of Bluetooth earphones, and tiptoed back to the computer.
After connecting the headphones, He Zou said to Bilu Shi, whose vision was limited, "Kunimitsu is asleep."
The obvious softness and laughter in that voice almost made Yagyu Hiroshi think that the person he had almost argued with was a completely different person. However, what surprised him even more was that the highly self-disciplined Tezuka Kunimitsu had actually fallen asleep amidst the sounds of others discussing work and typing on keyboards?
Of course, along with the surprise came subtle dissatisfaction.
When he first discovered that Mero had a subtle affection for Tezuka, he really didn't think the two of them could be together, so at that time he could still tease her with a "let's watch the show" attitude. But when the two of them actually got together, he felt a little uneasy.
To be fair, he respected Tezuka Kunimitsu and rationally knew that he and Mero were a good match. But the thought of becoming family with him in the future gave Hiroshi a strange feeling of...suffocation?
These pent-up frustrations manifested in his words: "Doesn't he have to train this afternoon?" He'd also been following those pointless comments online lately, and he wondered how much of a ripple effect Mero would suffer if he didn't win the French Open.
Thinking about it this way, Hiroshi now wanted to reach through the screen, shake Tezuka awake, and question him, "How could you sleep like that?"
Ignoring her awkward cousin, Kazusa turned around and, out of the camera's sight, reached out and gently touched Tezuka's fingers on the sofa. Feeling a slight chill, she quietly stood up, walked to the armchair, picked up her usual cashmere blanket, and gently covered him with it.
The moment the blanket fell, Tezuka, who was a light sleeper, woke up.
He slowly opened his eyes, his beautiful eyes still slightly dazed from just waking up. It softened He Zou's heart, and she spoke softly, as if afraid of disturbing him: "Did I wake you?"
Tezuka's initial confusion upon waking lasted only a moment. As his gaze focused on her smiling eyes, his own eyes, now clear as ever, reflected a similar smile. He took Kanade's hand, which was still resting on the blanket against his chest, and gave it a reassuring squeeze, whispering, "No."
The voice carried a low, husky languor, as if the person had just woken up, making Kazusa's ears twitch. Her gaze then shifted to the pair of long, slender fingers that held hers...
Images from last night uncontrollably surfaced in He Zou's mind. The shocking memories made her ears burn suddenly, and even the places where his fingers touched felt incredibly hot!
Without looking in the mirror, Kazusa knew that the tips of her ears and even her cheeks were red, but she still tried her best to restrain the urge to pull her hand away and looked up directly at her boyfriend who had tempted her last night, whether intentionally or unintentionally.
Her long hair was loosely tied behind her head, and although a few strands of hair still covered her ears, it was enough for Tezuka to see the lovely blush on the tips of her snow-white ears.
Kazusa unconsciously pursed her slightly dry lips, "You..."
“Mero, let me remind you.” Yagyu Hiroshi’s voice came through Kazusa’s earpiece; he was probably laughing in exasperation.
He Zou was feeling guilty when he suddenly heard his cousin's voice. He instinctively took off his earphones and threw them far away, but the Bluetooth earphones could not detect a human and automatically disconnected.
Then, Hiroshi's mocking voice immediately came from the computer speakers: "Just a reminder, you're wearing headphones, but you haven't turned off your microphone."
The sudden sound between them made Tezuka frown. Looking at Kazuna's pursed lips, he felt even more guilty for teasing her. He released her hand, threw off the blanket, stood up, took a half-step, and sat down next to Kazuna, appearing in the camera's view as well.
When he looked up and met Yagyu Hiroshi's displeased gaze on the computer screen, he had already suppressed his emotions and regained his usual composure, nodding slightly to the other side of the screen: "Sorry to have disturbed you."
Hiroshi adjusted his glasses, noticing that while his tone remained polite, it lacked the distance he once had when they were rivals, and he no longer seemed so serious. Carefully observing this subtle change, he suppressed the complex emotions welling up inside him and replied in a calm voice, "It's alright, it's about time to end this."
After calming her racing heart, Hezou sat back in front of the camera and immediately retorted to her cousin's earlier mockery: "That's right, all that's left is for someone to correct the stupid mistakes they made."
Hiroshi rolled his eyes unabashedly in front of Tezuka, "I remember that after I finished making this sequel, I asked the original author to personally check it."
"Who knew you'd need me to change even something like this?" Kazusa tapped her fingers impatiently on the table. "Out of trust in this top student from a prestigious university—"
Seeing that they were about to start arguing, Tezuka patted her back and said in a low voice, "The coffee is cold, I'll go get you a new cup."
His tone was natural, and after speaking, he took her mug and walked towards the kitchen.
The two siblings from the Yagyu family were left staring at each other across the computer screen.
When Tezuka returned with a steaming cup of coffee, the two were already calmly continuing their discussion on revising details and dividing tasks. He raised his lips slightly, placed the coffee on his right-hand side, a little further away from her computer, picked up the book he hadn't finished reading, and sat down next to Kanade.
With Professors Antberg and Uchida overseeing the process, there shouldn't be any major issues with the content of their papers. They only need minor revisions, which is a common problem encountered during the submission process.
After finalizing a change regarding the way the data is presented, He Zou breathed a sigh of relief and took a small sip of his coffee.
Then, as if she had just remembered something, she casually said while holding her mug, "Oh, right, Hiro, my application for a short-term overseas internship came through. I'm leaving for Kenya in two weeks."
She said this in a casual tone, as if discussing "what to have for dinner," but it caused both of them to fall silent.
Tezuka remained silent, his gaze quietly fixed on Kazuna, who had already made her decision.
In contrast, Yagyu Hiroshi's silence betrayed a sense of suppressed anger. His right index finger, resting on the table, tapped unconsciously, the same motion he'd made when Wakana had been irritable. After a long pause, he stared at Wakana on the screen and asked, "You've made up your mind?"
He Zou wasn't afraid of his appearance; he simply raised an eyebrow as if he had asked a pointless question.
Hilus realized this as well; he had indeed known Mero's goals and the path she was about to take all along. He wasn't surprised now, but even with his mental preparation, he couldn't help but worry—they were family.
An unstable situation, potential illnesses, an unfamiliar medical environment... these are all things she will have to face.
He actually understood his uncle's anger to some extent. The Yagyu family could provide her with a sufficiently comfortable life, and her talent would be enough for her to gain a reputation in the Japanese medical community in the future. She could have avoided these hardships and prevented those who cared about her from worrying about her day and night.
But he was also the person in the Yagyu family who understood Mero the most, and he couldn't bring himself to say anything to stop him.
Suddenly, his gaze bypassed Kazusa and landed on Tezuka, who had been silent all along. His words were as sharp and direct as his gaze: "Tezuka, what do you think about this?"
As he spoke, he glanced at Kazusa out of the corner of his eye. He had assumed that, given how much she cared about Tezuka, she would at least be somewhat nervous before hearing his answer, but she simply lowered her eyes, held her mug, and took another sip of coffee, looking rather... pleased?
When suddenly asked a question—which could even be described as an interrogation—Tezuka's expression remained unchanged. His calm gaze remained fixed on Kazuna, and when he saw a strand of hair slipping from her ear, he naturally raised his hand to tuck it behind her ear. Kazuna looked up and smiled at him, and the smile was conveyed from one pair of eyes to the other.
Then he turned to the screen, meeting Yagyu's gaze, and said, "This is what Melodia wanted." His voice was calm but not harsh, with a touch of gentleness.
The brief words startled Hiroshi; he didn't think Tezuka would be unaware of the situation he and Kanade would face in Kenya.
Tezuka's answer, besides showing respect for Mero, also indicated his willingness to bear the risk and torment of losing his lover. Perhaps he already knew that not only this time, but for many, many years to come, he would be plunged into fear and anxiety because of this.
is that so?
While Hiroshi was still watching Tezuka investigate, Kanade put down her mug and, out of the frame, took Tezuka's warm, dry hand resting on his lap, inserting her fingers between his. He immediately grasped hers tightly, their fingers intertwined.
After glancing down at their clasped hands a few times, Kazusa looked up at her cousin with a victorious smile.
Hiroshi looked at his silly little sister, who was smiling but had tears in her eyes, and suddenly understood her earlier joy. Looking at the two people on the screen, he felt a pang of melancholy—he hadn't actually said he objected, had he? Don't make it seem like he's the stubborn one.
In the end, all of Hiroshi's emotions turned into a sigh.
He glanced at his watch and said, "I'll send the revised paper to your email tomorrow. I have to go to Kirihara's birthday party at noon, so I can't be late, otherwise he'll cause trouble again. I'll log off now."
Kazusa smiled genuinely: "Then please tell Kirihara-kun a happy birthday for me, and wish him... well, that he passes his exams with flying colors and wins all his competitions."
“That’s a truly heartfelt blessing. That kid will be delighted to hear it.” Hiroshi finally smiled. “Mero… be careful.”
"Okay," Kazusa waved to him, adding, "Don't tell anyone else in the family yet."
Upon hearing this, Hiroshi only said cryptically, "If it can be kept secret."
Before I could understand what he meant, the video went dark.
The apartment quieted down, and the spring sunshine danced and dappled the skin, warm and comforting.
He Zou relaxed and stretched, then reached out and gently poked the knee of the person next to him.
Tezuka understood and adjusted his leg position accordingly, putting his arm around her shoulder so she could lie back on his lap.
"Kunimitsu," Kazusa called out, looking up at him.
"Hmm?" Tezuka lowered his head, touched her cheek, and smoothed the hair beside her cheek, looking at her with gentle eyes.
He Zou looked at him with bright eyes, pointed to the sun shining through the window, and smiled, "Look, what a beautiful day it is."
Tezuka glanced out the window in the direction she was pointing, then looked down at her, smiling faintly as he replied, "Yes, very good."
"The weather is so nice..." Kanade propped herself up, moved closer to him, and softly suggested, "Kunimitsu, let's go on a date!"
Tezuka looked at the radiant smile on the face of the person in his arms, tightened his arms around her, and placed a light kiss on her cheek.
"Okay." His deep voice held a hint of amusement. "Where do you want to go?"
"It's all good. Just wander around and see Heidelberg in spring."
"good."
What we didn't finish saying in winter, we'll continue to say in spring.
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