Chapter 11
Two days later, an uninvited guest came to Echizen Ryoma.
Echizen Ryoma received a sudden notice from the Dean of Studies asking him to go to the office. Although he didn't understand why, he still went to the office. Inside the Dean's office, the bald Dean of Studies was standing aside, chatting with a woman on the sofa.
"Mr. Maeda, what's going on?"
Director Maeda smiled and pointed at the woman beside him. "Echizen-san," he said, "the main reason I asked you to come to my office is because this lady...she has something she wants me to ask you to do."
Ryoma Echizen looked at the woman on the sofa, pursed his lips and remained silent.
Of course he recognized who she was at first sight.
A little different from her stage image on the promotional poster, where she was hailed as the "elegant black swan", the woman wore a rare casual outfit today, in black and white, which looked simple and elegant.
That is Koizumi Na's mother - Masako Takahashi.
Echizen Ryoma didn't understand why she suddenly came to him, and just looked at her with a little vigilance.
However, Masako Takahashi seemed unaware of his alienation and indifference. She immediately stood up and looked him up and down, with an expression like that of an elder caring for a younger person.
Then, she said with emotion: "It's been a long time since we last met. Longma has grown so tall... I heard that you have also achieved remarkable results in tennis. I remember that you loved tennis as a child and were always practicing at a young age..."
Echizen Ryoma still didn't respond. Although they used to be neighbors, their interactions were pitifully rare. So why was he pretending to be close to the younger man now?
Seeing that he remained silent for a long time, the Dean subconsciously wiped the sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief and quickly tried to smooth things over, "Hahaha, yes, Echizen-san represented our school in the national tennis tournament and achieved very good results..."
Masako Takahashi is no longer the same as she used to be. She is one of the few Japanese dancers who has made it big internationally. She has a high social status, and her husband's family also has considerable influence in the Japanese business community. If one accidentally offends such a person, one would be doomed.
On the contrary, if this matter is handled well and satisfies her, I will definitely benefit from it...
Takahashi Masako's smile deepened. "Really? To achieve such results at such a young age, it seems Ryoma is truly talented in tennis... Keep up the good work and don't waste your talent!"
She complimented Echizen Ryoma, but he didn't give her any respect and interrupted her bluntly:
"Hey, old lady, what do you want from me?"
Old! Granny!
The dean was so frightened by these three words that his hands began to tremble and his handkerchief almost fell to the ground. He was about to speak to smooth things over, but Takahashi Masako seemed not to care at all and still had a smile on her face.
She waved her hands. "Ah, ah, ah ~ I am indeed an old woman. The world is changing so rapidly now. People like us, the older generation, should have retired long ago and left the stage to you young people to shine..."
Fearing that Echizen Ryoma would say something to spoil the mood, the Dean quickly agreed, "Yes, yes, Ms. Takahashi is right..."
"Um, Mr. Maeda, I have a favor to ask of you."
"Eh? What's the matter? Feel free to tell me."
Takahashi Masako clasped her hands together and said, "Is it okay if I want to talk to Ryoma alone?"
"Huh?"
*
As soon as the dean left the office, the entire office space instantly became much larger.
"Ryoma, your teacher has left. You can relax and sit down so we can talk."
"I guess we don't have much to talk about..."
He lowered his hat, feeling that he had wasted dozens of precious minutes of his life.
"If nothing else, I'll go back to training..."
"Auntie, let's be frank. I came back to Japan this time to look for Nana... Actually, I saw Renko a few days ago and asked her about Nana, but she didn't seem to know... I hired a private detective and asked many friends to look for Nana, but to no avail. However, I know she must be in Japan..."
"You and Nana were such good friends when you were little. Has she... ever contacted you?"
Hearing this, the thought "As expected" flashed through Echizen Ryoma's mind.
It's funny to say that it was she who left young Koizumi Na alone at home and ran away to pursue her dreams. Now she is the one who keeps saying that she wants to find her daughter...
That year, Naomi Koizumi was only eleven years old. Masako Takahashi quietly left her alone in the United States, hired a nanny to take care of Naomi Koizumi, and went to Europe to pursue her dream of dancing again.
But the nanny was unreliable. Seeing that the mistress was always not at home, she had evil intentions and often left Koizumi Na at home, causing her to often go hungry.
But the guy kept silent and endured it all by himself most of the time. He endured this kind of life for a full six months. Finally, he fainted from hunger at the door of his house and was discovered by Lunzi who was passing by.
Things got very ugly at the time. Child protection laws in the United States are very strict. The police contacted Masako Takahashi several times, but she always made excuses that she had something to do and could not return to the United States temporarily, and said that she would fire the nanny and hire a new one.
However, the U.S. Child Protection Act does not tolerate her. According to the law, if the guardian cannot fulfill his or her obligations, Koizumi Na will be sent to an orphanage. In addition, her father is not in the United States and there is no way to contact him. Seeing that Koizumi Na was about to be sent to an orphanage, fortunately, Emi appeared in time and prevented it all.
Later, Emi took Koizumi Na back to her country.
After returning to China, the two of them seemed to have disappeared from the face of the earth, with no news at all. On the contrary, Takahashi Masako's career flourished after her comeback with several important performances, and she frequently appeared in major entertainment newspapers.
It was not until some time ago that Ryoma Echizen unexpectedly reunited with Na Koizumi.
Even with this, she still has the nerve to say that she wants to come back to find Nana?
Where was she when Koizumi needed her the most?
So when he heard Takahashi Masako's words, Echizen Ryoma snorted coldly and said bluntly: "I don't know where she is, but I think she may not want to see you either."
Masako Takahashi automatically ignored the first half of his sentence and focused on the second half.
She just had an inexplicable intuition that Ryoma Echizen had seen her daughter.
But this guy clearly had a strong prejudice and was wary of her, so she changed her mind and immediately changed the subject -
"I deliberately searched a lot of industry newspapers and weeklies to see if there was any news about Nana... You know, Nana has been very talented in dancing since she was a child."
When she said this, a look of pride and nostalgia appeared on her face.
"The media back then all thought Nana would surpass me when she grew up and become a major figure in the dance world... Ryoma must have seen Nana dance. I remember when we first participated in a dance competition in the United States, Ryoma must have come to watch the performance... Nana on stage was simply shining, like a star."
"So, when I looked through all the Japanese newspapers and newsweeklies over the past three years, and even visited my former teachers and colleagues, there was absolutely no news about Nana. Do you know how sad I was?"
"Ryoma, you're a talented person, right? You understand... If one day you no longer play tennis... and can no longer stand on your favorite tennis court, what will happen to you?"
Seeing that Ryoma Echizen fell into deep thought, Takahashi Masako knew that he had listened to her words and was ready to call it a day.
She picked up her bag and stood up. "Believe it or not, I want to find Nana. On the one hand, I want to make up for neglecting her over the years. On the other hand, I really hope she doesn't waste her talent. She belongs on the stage."
"If you really know anything about Nana, please tell me... Here's my contact information, I hope it'll be useful to you."
After saying that, she handed her card to Ryoma Echizen, patted his shoulder, walked past him and prepared to open the door to leave.
The stage belongs to... Nana?
*
Masako Takahashi and Ryoma Echizen left the office one after another.
When Ryoma Echizen came out, he happened to meet Shusuke Fuji who was walking out of the large office next door.
He was a little surprised, "Senior, why didn't you go to the tennis club for training?"
It is now time to go home from school. Logically, the seniors should be in the tennis club. After all, the district trials for the national competition are imminent, and everyone is training hard. If Ryoma Echizen had not been called away by the dean of studies, he should be training with everyone on the tennis court right now.
"Well, the monitor is sick and has gone home to rest. I'm here to help him hand in his homework to the teacher."
Echizen Ryoma nodded, "Senior, you are such a nice person."
"Yeah?"
He smiled with his eyes curved, but spoke with a hint of meaning,
"But sometimes, you have to be careful about good intentions leading to bad results!"
Good intentions... leading to bad consequences?
After saying goodbye to Fuji Shusuke, Echizen Ryoma walked on the road. The more he thought about it, the more he felt something was wrong. He took out his phone, opened the chat dialog box with Koizumi Na, and asked the question again -
【Echizen Ryoma: Why don't you dance anymore? 】
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
