Chapter 14 exposes the truth about this guy who's hard to refuse.
In the end, everyone unanimously decided that Rei Furuya would stay at the hospital to supervise Ruki Kitagawa's IV drip, while the others would drive the slightly dented Mazda that Instructor Onizuka had been driving back to school to be baptized by the storm.
"Another week of cleaning the bathhouse," Matsuda Jinpei's voice came lazily over the phone, as if he were yawning. "The foreigners' punishments are still so unimpressive."
Morofushi Kagemitsu's voice remained gentle: "We specifically asked the instructors to postpone the punishments until after the sports meet, so that Zero can also experience the charm of labor."
Rei Furuya was deeply grateful and said it was really unnecessary.
The bed curtains in the ward were drawn back, and sunlight streamed through the window, illuminating Kitagawa Ryusei, who looked like a radiant angel from afar.
His gaze lingered on the dripping water from the IV tube, moving it up and down listlessly.
So this is what it feels like to lie in a hospital bed.
Kitagawa Ryusei found it somewhat novel.
In the past, there was only one way to deal with injuries that would land Kitagawa Ryusei in the hospital—his special abilities.
So he only found out now that there are delicious hospital meals!
Morofushi Kagemitsu's culinary skills and his refined appearance are a perfect match!
Knowing that he could be discharged from the hospital the next day if his condition stabilized, Kitagawa Ryusei rummaged through the food in the insulated food container, looking rather reluctant to leave.
Upon learning the situation, Rei Furuya laughed in exasperation: "So having a fever is comfortable?"
The little rascal in front of him shook his head obliviously, picking through the ginger slices in his lunchbox. It took him a full two minutes to react before he slowly raised his head, his tone full of uncertainty: "Um... Furuya-kun, are you angry?"
Rei Furuya lowered his eyes, remained silent, and suppressed his emotions.
He replied curtly, "No."
Alright, the other party's expression is basically tantamount to acquiescence.
He tentatively asked, "Then... I was wrong?"
Unexpectedly, Furuya Rei's complexion darkened again.
It seems that Furuya is different from Instructor Onizuka; he doesn't buy into this.
Kitagawa Ryusei looked at the blond youth in front of him with suspicion. His light-colored eyes were fixed on the other person, and Kitagawa Ryusei's curiosity was successfully piqued.
Why get angry?
He's not very good at deciphering; he's more used to verifying the answers, but the current situation doesn't seem suitable for that.
A silence fell between the two.
After a long silence, Furuya Rei realized once again that Furuya genuinely didn't know why he was angry. His eyes kept glancing at him, and he didn't even touch the rice in his bowl.
He could only back down, sighing, "Really, no."
It sounds even less believable, Kitagawa Ryusei thought.
As night falls, the shadows of the trees are cast on the curtains, swaying in the evening breeze.
Rei Furuya took his temperature one last time to make sure the fever had subsided before turning off the lights in the ward.
There were two beds in the ward. The bed next to Kitagawa Ryusei was empty, but Furuya Rei was too embarrassed to ask the nurse to change the sheets the next day, so he chose to rest on the sofa next to the patient.
He could have gone back to school, but Kitagawa Ryusei hesitated for a moment and didn't say it. Furuya Rei didn't mention it either.
"Can't you sleep?" / "Would you like to come up and sleep?"
The two spoke at the same time, then both froze in surprise.
After he finished speaking, the ward fell silent again.
Finally, Kitagawa Ryusei broke the eerie atmosphere by explaining, "It might be more comfortable in a hospital bed."
Fortunately, he couldn't see the other person in the dark. This time, Furuya Rei clearly realized that his entire body, from his neck to his ears, was probably completely red.
He was about to say it was too crowded when he saw that Kitagawa Ryusei had already moved in to make room for someone to lie down.
He stared intently at himself.
Does he even know what he's thinking...? At this moment, Rei Furuya felt utterly terrified.
Under those eyes, he had no reason to refuse and carefully climbed onto the hospital bed, almost simultaneously.
Kitagawa Ryusei moved further in.
"That's enough, stop moving around." Furuya Rei was afraid he would fall, and only after saying that did she remember that there was a guardrail on the hospital bed.
The blond-haired youth felt slightly annoyed. His blond hair, which hadn't been trimmed this month, hung down beside his ears. He noticed that Kitagawa Ryusei was still watching him, so he covered himself with his blanket and lay down on his side.
Why can't you be more open about it when you slept on the same tatami mat as Hiro when you were little?
Kitagawa Ryusei only considered him a friend, he pursed his lips and silently repeated to himself.
After a while, Furuya Rei gradually relaxed, changed her awkward sleeping position to lie on her back, and started staring at the ceiling.
I'm not used to it... Rei Furuya usually sleeps naked in the dorm, and suddenly feeling the fabric rubbing against my skin makes it hard to fall asleep.
Coincidentally, Kitagawa Ryusei couldn't sleep either. He was still pondering Furuya Rei's strange behavior, his eyes fixed on the young man's profile in the darkness.
But his thoughts kept wandering to the other person's appearance.
He has a high, straight nose and bright eyes.
This angle softens the innocent look of Rei Furuya's baby face, making her appear more mature.
Even though he was covered with two blankets, Rei Furuya's body heat still seeped through the loose seams of the blankets.
Then came his voice, and Furuya Rei finally couldn't hold back anymore, raising the back of his hand to cover his face: "...Stop looking, Ryusei."
The young man's voice was tearful and much lower than usual.
Even those who weren't very familiar with him could sense something was off about his expression.
"What's wrong?"
As if struck by a sudden inspiration, Kitagawa Ryusei slowly opened his eyes in the night, as if he had discovered a new continent.
In just a few hours, he thought of countless reasons why Furuya Rei was angry—he didn't want to stay in the hospital, and he thought he had been too impulsive today and almost let the kidnapper go.
He even considered the incomprehensible yet not impossible reason why Furuya Rei was so eager to clean the bathhouse.
But things seemed to be simpler than he had imagined...
It is also more complicated.
He also lowered his voice: "Furuya, are you—uh!"
A wheat-colored hand emerged from under the covers, its warmth exceeding its usual temperature, and pressed against the lips of the light-eyed youth to prevent him from uttering anything more explicit.
Without much struggle, Kitagawa Ryusei swallowed the rest of his sentence, his eyes still fixed on Furuya Rei.
The question was not asked, but the action spoke louder than most answers.
Those greyish-purple eyes closed tightly and then opened again, filled with trepidation yet unable to hide their anticipation. Under Kitagawa Ryusei's gaze, the blond-haired youth spoke softly:
"Don't rush to give me an answer, okay?"
Give him at least a chance to do better.
Unable to make a sound or make any other movements, Kitagawa Ryusei suddenly remembered the image of Shirakawa Rei running towards the van and supporting himself.
After the initial surprise came a wave of bewilderment brought on by the unknown.
Perhaps even Kitagawa Ryusei himself didn't know how to answer this question.
"I should be happy right now," Kitagawa Ryusei thought.
It's like someone you admire in every way suddenly expressing their feelings for you. And that person also has a face that makes your heart flutter.
But Kitagawa Ryusei knew perfectly well that Furuya Rei had never known his true appearance.
He responded to the blond youth with his gaze: Okay.
Perhaps Kitagawa Ryusei himself also has many things he needs to figure out.
"Go to sleep." Caught off guard, Furuya Rei successfully used his escape to postpone his sentence. He didn't know whether to breathe a sigh of relief or feel disappointed. He put down the hand that was on Kitagawa Ryusei and quickly closed his eyes.
The wind stirred up by eyelashes can certainly create quite a stir.
If you can escape this moment, relax during this time.
Despite their outwardly calm demeanor, both of them were inwardly turbulent.
The events of the day had indeed drained Kitagawa Ryusei of a lot of energy, and the medication she had taken also had the side effect of causing drowsiness.
He fell asleep soon after, lost in his own thoughts.
Rei Furuya only opened his eyes again when the person next to him was breathing steadily.
He slept upright, his hands clasped over his abdomen, ready to be laid to rest in the coffin the next second.
Not rejected? Furuya Rei shifted his gaze to that face, and the joy he had been suppressing with anxiety gradually surfaced in the darkness.
Kitagawa Ryusei had half her face buried in the blanket, and the red mole on her nose stood out against the white blanket, like a touch of cinnabar.
The sleeping person instinctively seeks out a source of warmth, silently struggling with the blanket blocking their path.
Not only him, but also Instructor Onizuka and Hiro have all lamented the troublesome personality hidden beneath Kitagawa Ryusei's innocent face.
Even though she didn't do anything outrageous, Kitagawa Ryusei gives off the feeling that she might fly away if you couldn't hold her back.
Just as he tacitly accepted the change in how people addressed him, he still politely called everyone by their surname.
This uniqueness was the key factor that initially attracted Rei Furuya.
Goodnight, Ryusei.
"By the moonlight," Furuya Rei said softly.
*
The next morning, Kitagawa Ryusei was discharged from the hospital. He didn't seem to be affected by what happened last night and walked back side by side with Furuya Rei.
As they agreed, they won't give an answer now.
But does Furuya Rei always get up this early? Kitagawa Ryusei wondered.
When I woke up today, my side was empty. I waited for a long time before Rei Furuya came out of the bathroom, her hair still wet with water droplets.
Hmm... Morning valleys are quite pleasing to the eye too.
Welcome back!
Morofushi Kagemitsu and the others waited at the dormitory entrance, taking out the number plates that the two would use for the competition the next day.
"You must celebrate after recovering from a serious illness, Ryusuke!" Kenji Hagiwara leaned in: "How about we go out for barbecue tonight?"
Before Kitagawa Ryusei could even speak, Hagiwara Kenji saw Furuya Rei, who had been silent all morning, slap a hand across his face: "Not fully recovered! No barbecue!"
The second half of the sentence was spoken while looking at oneself...
"Wow! Furuya is so strict! Hagi got rejected and needs Jinpei's comfort!"
Matsuda Jinpei's forehead twitched, making him look even more like he wanted to punch him.
Where no one was watching, Morofushi Kagemitsu winked at his childhood friend: Looks like you're making quite a bit of progress, Zero.
Avoiding his friend's gaze, Furuya Rei did not deny it. However, he felt that the "progress" Morofushi Kagemitsu mentioned was probably different from what happened yesterday.
Since that rain, the temperature in Tokyo has been slowly rising, and on the day of the sports meet, most students appeared on the playground wearing summer uniforms.
Because of the special nature of the police academy, it was only at this moment that Kitagawa Ryusei felt a sense of reality that he was attending school with a group of peers.
His young face beamed with a radiant smile, glistening sweat glistened on his hair as he ran, splashing onto the track and field. The announcements came from the microphone on the podium, and cheers echoed all around.
Several sweaty guys were hiding in the shade of the green trees, drinking water offered by their companions and laughing and teasing each other.
"Go Ryusei!"
"You're also Furuya-kun, see you later."
Kitagawa Ryusei's multi-target shooting and Furuya Rei's project started at the same time, and the two went to different venues separately.
"Go for it, Kitagawa! Let these guys see what it means to make things easy!"
"Hold it in your hand and pinch it!"
"Victory is assured!"
The Onizuka Class classmates who came to cheer them on were even more excited than when they were on stage, which infected Kitagawa Ryusei's emotions.
He turned around and raised his hand in a victory sign.
"Aren't you guys being way too arrogant?!" other contestants' supporters shouted.
The Onizuka team ignored them: "Onizuka team! Number one! Onizuka team! Victory is certain!"
Gunshots rang out from the other side, and Furuya Rei and Morofushi Kagemitsu quickly put on their protective gear and ran onto the track.
"Go for it, Furuya! Go for it, Morofushi!"
"Onizuka Class will sweep the sports meet!!" someone shouted at the top of their lungs in a very provocative manner, which drew good-natured laughter from those around them.
The flag printed with cherry blossoms was raised high, fluttering with the flag bearer's movements even without wind.
No matter where you are on the track and field, you can see the dancing five-petaled cherry blossoms as long as you look up.
"What a strange energy and passion..." Kitagawa Ryusei thought to himself, raising his gun with both hands.
Despite it not being a challenge, he still took the match very seriously in this atmosphere.
From the moment he fired his first shot, Kitagawa Ryusei knew that he was not one of those gifted individuals.
Kitagawa Ryusei could only compensate for his mediocre talent through extensive training.
And it has been very effective.
—The enemy is not a wooden stake; he won't wait for you to patiently aim. When he appears in your field of vision, your hands holding the gun should find their positions.
—It's still a bit lacking... Do you know how it feels to be with your lover? You lower your gaze, hear their voice, and your body reacts before your brain even needs to think.
"Bang!"
"Bang!"
Several gunshots rang out from different areas of the track and field, followed by cheers that seemed to shake the sky.
The bullet left the barrel, and Kitagawa Ryusei already knew the outcome without needing to confirm further.
"First, Kitagawa! The Onizuka squad is the strongest!"
The ringing of the score no longer mattered. After reporting to the referee, he took off his protective gear and strode towards another field amidst the congratulations and excitement around him!
"If the project in Kitagawa ends early, will you be able to come and watch my match?"
Looking at those grayish-purple eyes with drooping corners, Kitagawa Ryusei nodded in agreement before his brain could even assess the feasibility.
Sure enough, he couldn't resist a guy like that.
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