Junior High School
Since Hinata Aoi and Inumaki Tsutomu went home with Sakurai, the coach didn't let anyone else go.
Sakurai still had a lingering sense of fear in his heart. Looking to the left, he saw a mute who was of a different gender and couldn't be intimate with him. Looking to the right, he saw a mute who was of the same gender but had some reservations about being intimate with him.
Seeing that the two people beside him had no intention of initiating a conversation, Sakurai silently took out his mobile phone and played his own playlist to give himself courage, and his body instinctively leaned towards Hinata Aoi.
Because of the offset of Sakurai's body position, Gojumaki seemed to be isolated, and there was a distance of one person between him and Sakurai who was closest to him.
After thinking for a second, Gojuan gave up being Sakurai's left protector, and naturally took two steps behind to go around to the other side of Hinata Aoi and tried to get close to her, but moved away when their arms were about to touch.
With the blessing of Sakurai's loud singing, people passing by couldn't help but glance at them, so Goujuan had to give up the idea of getting close to them.
He stole a glance at Hinata Aoi's expression out of the corner of his eye, and only with relief when he saw that she was as calm and composed as ever did he look away.
Hinata Aoi certainly didn't suggest going to Sakurai's house because she was afraid.
Sakurai had just been talking incoherently in her ear after being stressed out. She had intercepted the fact that Ikeda was very close to Sakurai's grandparents, so she wanted to take Inumaki Saki to Sakurai's house to see if the old people had been infected with any dirt.
She was sure that if Gojutsu found anything at Sakurai's house, he would definitely take action to solve it. If he couldn't solve it, he would contact teachers or seniors in the world of sorcery for help.
As long as she doesn't confront Gojumaki, the problems in Sakurai's family can still be properly resolved, achieving the best of both worlds.
After six songs, the three of them arrived at Sakurai's door.
The outer doors of the old-style houses were not locked, so Sakurai simply opened the door and led Hinata Aoi and the others in.
Grandma Sakurai was sitting on the floor between the low sofa and the wooden table, her back leaning against it, fanning herself with a round fan and watching TV sleepily.
"Grandma, I'm back!"
This shout dispelled grandma's sleepiness. She immediately turned around, sat up on the sofa, and hugged Sakurai who buried himself in her arms.
"Hey, my dear granddaughter, why are you back so early today?"
"Your grandpa just put the watermelon in the well to cool it down. Grandma will cut it for you later."
The moment Sakurai threw herself into her grandmother's arms, she felt her nerves relax and couldn't help but cry.
But considering that there were outsiders around, it was not appropriate to act coquettishly, so she could only get up reluctantly.
"...I don't have anything to do today, so I'll come back first."
"These two are my junior high school classmates - Hinata Aoi and Inumaki Satoru. I invited them to play. Let's go back to the room first~"
After saying that, Sakurai didn't give Hinata Aoi and Inumaki Tsutomu time to introduce themselves. He led them into the room and went out to prepare tea and snacks.
The room was covered with tatami mats, and all the things were kept in the closet, leaving only an electric fan outside.
Hinata Aoi and Inumaki Satoru randomly found a place to kneel down.
Only when no one else was around did Goujuan dare to move closer to Hinata Aoi and whispered:
"…Are you okay?"
After the coach came over, he no longer had to look after Ikeda, so he went to find Hinata Aoi first, but was stunned by the girl's red eyes from crying.
He had never seen Hinata Aoi cry before. When he was kidnapped by the curse master, he cried alone.
The girl's tears fell on his heart, making him feel bitter. He hurriedly wanted to go forward and hug Hinata Aoi to comfort her, but was stopped by Hinata Aoi's calm look.
The tacit understanding made him realize that this was just acting. After Goujuan relaxed, he felt a little melancholy again. Now he couldn't help but ask, worried that Hinata Aoi's being fine was also an act.
Hinata Aoi shook her head upon hearing this, and naturally raised her hand to stroke the dog's soft hedgehog hair.
Compared to her who ran away when something happened, Inumaki Saki who was fighting with Ikeda in the kitchen deserved more comfort.
He was just a grade above the age of a child, but he was not afraid when faced with a mad man covered in blood. He made a quick decision to let the girls run first, and then he tied up the criminal with the rope he carried with him.
It's not because they are so precocious, but because they are used to being in a state of preparation for danger.
She felt sorry for the boy, but she also knew that her sympathy was useless. The boy was just walking on the path he was destined to take.
According to what Sakurai said, Hinata Aoi originally wanted to remind Goujuan indirectly about the suspicious existence of the cursed spirit.
But she was rarely able to open her mouth. Finally, she could not take advantage of him against her conscience and sighed:
“Remember to protect yourself first.”
Just hearing such a sentence was enough to make Goujuan happy. His amethyst-like eyes were filled with joy, and he couldn't help but lean closer to Hiashi Aoi.
Just then, Sakurai opened the door and came in, eyes red, holding a plate in her hand:
"This is a very famous dim sum in the area, you should try it."
She was so immersed in her own thoughts that she didn't notice that Gojumaki moved half a body length in the opposite direction of Hinata Aoi in an attempt to hide his mistake.
It was not until he sat on the tatami with Hinata Aoi and Inujuki, looking at each other in silence, that he felt that there might be something wrong with him, so he called two mutes to talk to him and help him calm down.
When she got home, her fear receded like the tide.
She wasn't very familiar with these two classmates, they just went through a crisis together, and both of them seemed calmer than her.
Inumaki Satoru was the hero who controlled Anna Ikeda. No one knew where he learned the kidnapping technique, but the police praised him for his experience.
Although Hinata Aoi shed a few tears, she did not act in a panic at all. If Sakurai had not been unable to speak, it would not have been her turn to call the police.
They could not accompany Sakurai to express their feelings like the survivors.
Seeing how calm they were, Sakurai felt like whatever he said was just making a fuss out of nothing, but strangely, it also had the effect of calming them from another perspective.
Unexpectedly, it was Inumaki Saki who broke the silence first and took out his cell phone to chat with Sakurai.
He had been tracking Ikeda for the past two days but had gained nothing. He wondered if he could get any useful clues from Sakurai. After some deliberation, he typed:
"Has Ikeda always been like this?"
Finally they found a common topic. Momoko Sakurai had a lot to complain about, but when the words came to her lips, they didn't come out like when she was frightened.
Some things sound like tattling no matter how you say them, so Sakurai feels uncomfortable and just avoids the important points.
"She wasn't like this before. She was very timid." She was only a bully at home and would punch anyone who was nice to her.
"This time she came back, it felt like she was a completely different person. Much more cheerful than before?... I don't know how to describe it, it's just a state of liberation."
"I haven't seen her for two years. Before that, she never acted so affectionate in front of others, and she had never been so affectionate with anyone else." Even when I asked her for forgiveness at that time, I didn't dare to be too loud for fear of being heard by others.
"...I don't know what stimulated me in the past two years."
He couldn't help but blurt out something. The more Sakurai spoke, the clearer his thoughts became. He was about to overturn the idea that Ikeda was crazy and think that Ikeda was a pervert.
All crazy people are more normal than Ikeda!
Hinata Aoi found it amusing to watch Inumaki Tsuchiya's lies up close, but since he was talking about things she already knew, she got up and went to the bathroom without any reluctance.
"It's the first one on the left when you go out."
After talking about the location of the bathroom, Sakurai continued to discuss Ikeda's behavior with Gojumaki, and he couldn't stop gesticulating.
When Hinata Aoi opened the door, she was facing her grandmother who was pretending to sweep the floor at the door. She pretended not to see through him, closed the door, and smiled at her grandmother as a greeting.
"Grandma, is the bathroom over there?"
"Yes, I'll take you there."
Grandma learned about their physical condition from Sakurai, and there was pity in her eyes.
Hinata Aoi did not refuse her grandmother's kindness, and when she came out of the bathroom, she ran into her grandmother who seemed to be hesitant to speak.
"Do you have something to ask me?"
"Um...did something happen today?"
Even though they haven't gotten along well for a long time, the grandmother can still see through her granddaughter's emotions.
She could tell that Sakurai had cried, but since she couldn't hear Sakurai say anything herself, she could only come to Hinata Aoi to ask.
Facing this old man who used family affection to "kidnap" Sakurai to help Ikeda, Hinata Aoi could probably guess what the old man was thinking.
I just hope that Sakurai can be more lively, hang out more with his former classmates, rekindle their relationships, make more friends and have more paths to explore.
Sakurai also revealed nothing to the old man, which led to the two people who loved each other deeply to end up hurting each other sooner or later.
Hinata Aoi looked at the kind face opposite her that showed traces of time and decided to be an informer.
Sakurai might blame her if she found out, but it didn't matter. Their relationship wasn't that good anyway, so not caring was even worse.
Pretending to be embarrassed to speak, Hinata Aoi typed and deleted a line of words and held up the text:
"Sakurai won't let me tell you."
Grandma became more determined in her decision and immediately spoke:
"Just tell grandma about it, and she'll pretend she doesn't know anything, okay?"
Hinata Aoi hesitated for a moment and continued typing:
"You know Ikeda Anna, right?"
"I know. She was Taozi's good friend from elementary school. What happened to her?"
Hinata Aoi's face showed confusion, as if she didn't understand why Grandma Sakurai said that:
"I don't know what they were like before, but Ikeda has been saying bad things about Sakurai to us these past couple of days."
"It's said that Sakurai loved to lie in elementary school, stole class funds, and took the lead in isolating others."
"In the end, no one wanted to be her friend, and she transferred to another school after being persuaded by her teacher to leave."
"No, Taozi was taken away because her parents had stable jobs!"
The old man was confused and subconsciously explained to his granddaughter.
"But Ikeda also said that Sakurai bullied her in the past, and now she's chasing her down and insisting on repairing their relationship before coming to help us."
"Don't worry, Gojumaki and I know Sakurai's character."
"We are classmates. Sakurai has a good friend in the class named Fushiguro Miki. You know that, right?"
"I know. Taozi told me..."
Hearing Grandma Sakurai's tone become weak, Hinata Aoi continued typing:
"Well, we know Sakurai and Fushiguro are close, so there's no reason for him to come back and make friends with someone else. Besides, Sakurai is optimistic and generous, not at all like what Ikeda said."
"So we suspect there's some grudge between Ikeda and Sakurai, and Ikeda is trying to get revenge on Sakurai."
“No way…”
"Don't underestimate the differences between us children. Because we are still immature, we are more likely to act impulsively and make mistakes."
The adult's thinking was still stubborn. Hinata Aoi pursed her lips and pretended to hesitate:
"There's something else I told you, but don't tell Sakurai that I told you that."
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