Chapter 61
With the help of Coach Ryoma Echizen, Senior Fuji and I successfully reached the lounge reserved for athletes.
When we passed the gate, we saw many fans holding Echizen Ryoma light signs, it was like an idol meeting.
I couldn't help but poke Fuji-senpai's elbow and whispered, "Are all you tennis fans this crazy?"
"By the way, are Zhou Zhu's fans also like this?"
"As for me, I don't think I've seen one..." He just shook his head. "Maybe it's just because Echizen is more popular. It seems everyone prefers Echizen's type?"
The young man lowered his eyebrows and skillfully concealed the cunning light in his eyes the moment before I looked up. When I looked over, I just felt that he looked pitiful.
How could Fuji-senpai not be as popular as Ryoma! He was a super popular guy when he was in Seigaku...
As for Ryoma, he has the style of a cool kid, which is ok for fooling younger sisters, but it is totally not good enough for me... After all, our senior Fuji, who is a gentle, considerate and understanding big brother next door, should be more popular!
but--
I changed my mind, and another more terrifying fact suddenly appeared in my mind.
Could it be that the current fashion trends have changed?
Is my taste no longer up to par with the version of the answer?
I:! ! !
There is absolutely no possibility of this!
"No way! Zhou Zhu is also liked by many people, okay? For example, I like Zhou Zhu very much!"
"But Nana likes Yukimura too, doesn't she?"
I was speechless for a moment. I didn't expect him to bring up this topic suddenly.
Like Fuji-senpai, Seiichi Yukimura lived up to expectations and embarked on the path of a professional tennis player. Yukimura-senpai can often be seen in the live broadcasts and rebroadcasts of major competitions. However, one time when he saw the TV broadcast while eating in a restaurant, he inadvertently exclaimed, "Yukimura-senpai is still as handsome as ever", and as a result, Fuji-senpai remembered him.
As luck would have it, one day not long after that, I was buying cleaning products in the supermarket and happened to buy the ones endorsed by Yukimura-senpai. This further confirmed my identity of "liking Yukimura-senpai (that face)", and in Fuji-senpai's eyes, I couldn't wash it off even if I jumped into the Yellow River.
I do like Yukimura-senpai's face, but that is just a very superficial appreciation of a beautiful appearance.
Am I a good person if I look at my inner self?
Oh, of course, Fuji-senpai is beautiful both inside and out!
However, for now, we should quickly calm the other person down.
So I took his arm and said, "No way, I love Zhou Zhu the most in this world!"
As soon as he finished speaking, I felt that the low pressure on him dissipated a lot.
Tsk.
Men are so easy to coax.
*
When Senior Fuji and I followed the instructions to the backstage, we happened to see him talking to... Edward.
Only when I reached the door did I hear what they were talking about.
"Just wait, sooner or later, I will definitely defeat you!"
"Oh, good job then."
Echizen Ryoma responded coldly without even raising his eyes.
Edward's expression instantly cracked. "Stop looking down on me. I was just careless this time... You little brat, I'm your senior! Show some respect to me, senior!"
Such familiar lines about a stereotypical villain being defeated...
Echizen Ryoma: "Madamadadane!"
Here it comes!
It's Ryoma Echizen's classic line that is so infuriating and adds fuel to the fire!
As expected, Edward looked excited when he heard these words, and his clenched fist, as big as a sandbag, seemed to be about to hit Echizen Ryoma's face in the next second.
Just when I thought a tragedy was about to happen, he just raised his fist, squeezed out a short sentence through his teeth, and said viciously,
"We'll see!"
I:……
What a joke. Much ado about nothing.
No, I realized belatedly - buddy, you can actually understand Japanese?
Aren't you a pure American?
Edward turned around angrily and was about to leave, but ended up meeting us standing at the door. Seeing me, he was obviously stunned for a moment, then suddenly laughed in anger, with a hint of sarcasm at the corner of his mouth. He turned around and replied unyieldingly,
"You're still talking about me...Madamadadane."
Echizen Ryoma glared back at him almost instantly.
The latter walked away from me with a haughty look on his face, like a victorious rooster.
And when he passed by me, I clearly heard him chuckle in a low voice.
"No, it turns out he can not only understand Japanese, but also speak it?"
The person who said madamadadane said it better than Ryoma Echizen himself. Is this true?
etc--
"Ashi, so when he said 'You're still far from it' just now, was he mocking me?"
I suddenly realized this and looked at Echizen Ryoma in disbelief, then pointed at myself and then at Echizen Ryoma.
"This is definitely a case of venting anger on someone! This is definitely a case of venting anger on someone! I don't even know him!"
So, why would he mock me for not being even close?
Did I provoke him?
When I looked back, the person had disappeared.
Damn it, there's no way to talk back!
So I looked at Echizen Ryoma, and when he looked at me like an idiot, I said viciously, "It's all Ryoma's fault, that big idiot!"
It’s okay, I’ll vent my anger on you too.
This resentment went back and forth between the three of us, and finally returned to the culprit.
Echizen Ryoma: “…”
"As expected, you're more of an idiot."
Putting aside other things, the way he held his forehead in silence hurt me deeply.
I immediately tugged at Senior Fuji's sleeve and said in a coquettish voice, "Zhou Zhu, he scolded me."
Senior Fuji just smiled, then rubbed the top of my head and said in a gentle tone,
"Well, Echizen is bad, Nana is good."
I called him the Great Lord!
The tail (which didn't exist) almost wagged into the sky.
Only Echizen Ryoma looked depressed: "...Fuji-senpai, just spoil her."
*
Due to our schedule, Ryoma Echizen was unable to have dinner with us, so we just found a nearby cafe and sat down to chat for a while.
After all, we still have to watch his final in two days, so we can just leave some time to celebrate when he wins the championship.
That's what he said.
"Ryoma, you're too confident! Are you so sure you can win the championship?"
He just looked at me, his eyes full of confidence, and said, "Of course, they are still far from it."
I immediately became interested. "How about a bet? If I don't win, you give me one million."
"What if we win?"
"Then you don't have to give me a million."
Without thinking, I blinked my eyes and added with a wicked smile,
"Isn't that reasonable?"
Echizen Ryoma gave up talking to me and turned to look at Fuji Shusuke.
"Senior Fuji, don't you care about her?"
Senior Fuji handed me the matcha flavored ice cream cake at just the right moment. I opened my mouth subconsciously and was fed a bite.
The rich aroma of matcha instantly filled every corner of my mouth.
He asked quietly, "One million... Japanese yen or US dollars?"
*
Echizen Ryoma was speechless.
Good guy, each one is more ruthless than the other...
You two should just lock it up.
He thought gloomily, feeling as powerless as if he were punching cotton.
The funny and cute beautiful girl, the gentle and elegant beautiful boy who always smiles with squinting eyes, the interaction between the two is full of nature and intimacy. The atmosphere is as if there is an invisible air wall around them, blocking out all people and things except the two of them, and others have no chance to intervene.
Boring.
But...
Koizumi Na's expression was more relaxed and natural than he had ever seen her. Her appearance here was already surprising enough to him. He had thought that she had some resentment in her heart, but it seemed that he had overthought.
Well, as long as she is happy.
Thinking of this, the boy who always had a rebellious face suddenly had a rare gentle curve between his eyebrows.
On the way out, Koizumi Na casually said that her mouth was a little dry, and Fuji Shusuke very consciously went to the convenience store they just passed by to buy some water.
After he walked away, Ryoma Echizen looked at the girl sitting on a bench by the roadside. Worried that she would be exposed to the sun, Fuji Shusuke was very considerate and held an umbrella for her. He went to a convenience store and left the responsibility of holding the umbrella to himself.
One gives naturally, and the other receives naturally.
After a long while, he slowly realized why he should hold an umbrella for her.
Doesn't she have hands?
Just as he was about to complain, the girl suddenly patted the empty seat on the chair and said, "Don't stand there like an idiot. Aren't you tired? Sit down!"
“…”
Well, it turns out she also knew that he would get tired standing...
Someone who was inexplicably coaxed curled his lips and sat down next to her reluctantly with a stern face, but still held the umbrella with his hands very consciously to prevent the other person from being exposed to the sun.
The sun is really strong at this time. If you walk around in this weather, you will probably get several degrees darker.
He is a boy, and getting tanned is inevitable during sports competitions, so it doesn't matter to him.
But she... may not say anything now, but when she looks in the mirror and sees the comparison, she will definitely scream.
To some extent, Fuji Shusuke understood her very well.
"Nana."
The girl looked up and stared at him with a strange and wary look on her face, "What?"
No, what are you wary of?
His eyelids twitched, and he said speechlessly: "What's that look in your eyes?"
"Strange but beautiful eyes."
“…”
He wanted to say a few words to show his concern for her, but he took the words back as soon as they came to his lips.
Damn it, he was worried about whether she was living a good life and was happy.
This is not about being unhappy, it's clearly about being too happy.
So he changed the subject and said, "I met that woman two months ago."
Seeing her expression somewhat stunned and confused, as if she hadn't reacted yet, he didn't intend to continue explaining, but just continued to talk: "She gave me a box, saying it was your childhood things, hoping that I could help pass it on to you... I originally wanted to find a time to mail it to you, or bring it to you when I return to Japan, but I didn't expect you to come to the United States first..."
"Put the box in the hotel where I'm staying. I'll have someone deliver it to you when I have time. If you leave it there any longer, I'll have to charge a storage fee..."
Upon hearing this, the girl became angry again and her face turned into a pufferfish.
"Echizen Ryoma, you're such a stingy person!"
*
I didn't take the box to heart, nor did I ask Longma more about the woman's current situation. Naturally, Longma would not take the initiative to mention it to me.
But I didn't expect that when he said he would find someone to deliver it to me when he had time, it would take at least one or two days, but the actual situation was that the box arrived as soon as we arrived at the hotel.
Frankly, I don't even remember what was in the suitcase; it was probably just some toys. When I left my home in the US, I only packed some light clothes. I left most of my stuff at my old house, treating it like just some old stuff.
When the box arrived, I was in the bathroom, fresh out of the shower and getting dressed.
When I heard the noise outside, I asked curiously, and Senior Fuji said it was a box.
I didn't think much about it and let him open it first.
As I expected, there were some old toys inside.
When I changed into my pajamas and came out of the bathroom drying my hair, Senior Fuji was taking out a notebook from his suitcase.
The coffee table was already filled with toys of various shapes and some were old.
When I was a child, I loved to hug a brown plush bear to sleep with when my mother was not at home, a piggy bank filled with coins that I was reluctant to break, a diamond crown that I kept because I thought it looked so beautiful on my birthday cake one year, and various birthday and holiday cards... Each one of them seemed to take me back to that childhood that was yellow and sour, but also mixed with short-lived happiness and expectations.
If you don’t understand, just ask, why does that math test paper with a score of 0 appear here?
There's also a weird bearded man's head painted on it, with the word 'bastard' written in broken English below...
Oh, it was the math teacher at that time.
It seems that my bad relationship with my math teacher started a long time ago...
"Nana, can I open this and take a look?"
Senior Fuji raised the notebook in his hand, looking very interested.
Looking at that notebook, it feels a bit familiar and a bit strange.
By the way, those tattered notebooks of mine placed next to the math test paper with a score of 0, right?
When I first came here, my English writing was pretty ugly...
"Of course, open it and take a look."
I also became interested and put my head over.
Then I watched as Senior Fuji turned to the first page, where a sentence was written in clumsy Japanese.
"Nana's personal diary. Whoever secretly opens it will be a puppy."
Then it dawned on me.
Oh, it turns out to be my diary... When I was a kid, I used to write harmless and childish curses like this... It's so cute!
I fell into a short period of narcissism, and then realized it later——
wrong--
ah? ? ? ? ?
My! Diary!?
It says...
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