Chapter 155 Following and Onii-chan
Day 11 of the road survival game!
He wasn't planning on working this summer either, but he certainly wouldn't get close to a little girl who called him "Matsuda Onii-chan"! What if she misunderstood? He liked bright and strong women like Chisato, not her cute type, even though she seemed capable of racing a bear. -_-||
Feng Xingshou was unaware of Song Tiantian's little thoughts. Hearing him ask so directly, she had no choice but to answer dejectedly, "It's terrible. Even if I raced with the bear many times, I don't expect my score to pass the Chinese college entrance examination."
My brother probably felt it was shameful for his sister to only have a high school diploma, and since he heard that university entrance exams in Japan are quite lenient and don't just look at grades, he specifically brought me to Japan to study.
She recalled how, when she had argued with her brother about wanting to return to China and saying she couldn't adapt to Japan, he had mentioned that she absolutely had to endure it until she got into a Japanese high school...
From what he said, he had already made connections with schools in Japan, and regardless of their grades, students could directly enter the high school section of Japan from the junior high school section. And as long as he became an international student in the Japanese high school section, he had ways to transfer back to China and directly enter a high school in China.
She couldn't bring herself to admit that her academic performance was so poor that she had to waste money and energy studying abroad to avoid the high school entrance exam in China. It was too shameful.
However, even if she didn't say it, with Hagiwara and Matsuda's keen senses, they could guess her brother's plan. And the moment they guessed it, even though it wasn't necessary, Hagiwara, who never exposed other people's shortcomings, couldn't help but subconsciously remark, "Just how bad are your grades that you need your brother to take you abroad to get into high school?"
"..." Seeing that he had been guessed, Feng Xingshou could only give up and answer with tears in his eyes: "Chinese, algebra, English, geography... I failed them all. I did a little better in Chinese, around 50 points each time. I got around 40 points in algebra and 3 points in English. I only managed to guess one multiple-choice question correctly."
"Pfft!" Her answer made Matsuda burst out laughing: "Haha... How did you manage to produce such a report card?"
"I've seen some news reports about parents getting so angry while tutoring their kids that they developed high blood pressure. Is your brother's blood pressure okay?" Hagiwara asked worriedly, suppressing a laugh, but it was obvious he was deliberately teasing the girl who looked like she was about to cry.
Feng Xingshou, who never jokes and doesn't understand jokes, thought he was genuinely concerned about his brother's health! He replied seriously, "It's nothing! My brother is naturally healthy, stronger than a bear, and he never suffers from internal strife. If he gets angry, I'm always the one who suffers!"
"Pfft, hahaha..." Matsuda couldn't help but burst out laughing when he saw that she had answered her childhood friend's joke so seriously, which attracted the attention of people at other tables.
His exaggerated laughter puzzled Feng Xingshou. Hadn't he already laughed after his poor grades were exposed? Why was he laughing even louder now?
"Ahem..." Hagiwara glanced speechlessly at his childhood friend, who was laughing at a girl like that, wasn't he afraid of making her cry? But when he turned his head and saw that Kazesei was only confused and didn't look upset or embarrassed at all, he was speechless.
He was slightly taken aback, thinking that Feng Jiang's personality was really good and strong. If it were her, even if she were heartbroken, she probably wouldn't be driven to suicide like her sister's best friend, causing Kojinpei, who tried to stop her from committing suicide, to get injured.
The thought flashed through his mind, but after clearing his throat, he unusually took the initiative to ask, "Feng-chan, if you need help, I can tutor you during the summer vacation!"
If she doesn't work hard before the high school entrance exam, even in a country like Japan where school admissions aren't solely based on grades, it will be very difficult for her to get into high school! Hagiwara, unaware that her brother had already made connections, was still worrying.
.
"Uh...no need." Upon hearing this, Feng Xingshou quickly shook her head. Just thinking about how her brother's icy face could crumble when he was tutoring her, what if this new friend she wanted to befriend decided to break off their friendship because of tutoring her?
Forget it, more than tutoring, she wanted to make friends in this unfamiliar country. She didn't want to be like before, spending the whole day without anyone to talk to. It was really hard for her, who wasn't introverted, to bear not having friends to chat with!
Anyway, her brother has already taken care of everything regarding her high school entrance exams, so it's okay for her to relax a little in her studies! Thinking this to herself, she made up a plausible excuse for refusing to study: "I don't have the potential to learn anything with my intelligence!"
Don't waste your time. There are plenty of job opportunities in China. Even if I don't learn anything better, as long as I can read and do basic addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, I won't have trouble finding another job in China.
At that time, she did not expect that future technology would develop so fast that not only would someone with her level of education, who was not illiterate, be unable to find a job, but even high school graduates and college graduates would also be unable to find work.
They have all been replaced by AI, making it difficult to find jobs other than those that require heavy physical labor. In fact, many physically demanding jobs are gradually being replaced by various intelligent high-tech solutions, such as fully automated express delivery sorting systems, intelligent unmanned food delivery machines, and driverless buses.
"Tch!" Seeing that his childhood friend's rare attempt at being attentive had been rejected, Matsuda found this junior schoolgirl quite interesting and joked with Hagiwara, "You actually got dumped by a junior schoolgirl, Hagiwara, you've finally met your match."
"Heh... I didn't expect that either." This was the first time Hagiwara had offered to tutor someone! He had never been rejected by a woman before, so it felt quite novel.
'Dumped by a junior schoolgirl?' Junior schoolgirl == herself, dumped == breakup after a romantic relationship? Hearing them say this, Feng Xingshou was startled by the formula in his mind, and his heart pounded wildly.
She felt a mix of indescribable joy and bewildered confusion as she hastily explained, "...I didn't dump Hagiwara-nii! Uh...no, I haven't even dated Hagiwara-nii, how could I have dumped him?"
What did Hagiwara mean by his answer just now? Did he consider her his girlfriend in his heart, and only didn't deny it after Matsuda said that? Cough cough... No way? Absolutely not!
How could handsome college students from prestigious universities like them suddenly and inexplicably confirm a romantic relationship with me after we've only just met? This isn't a plot from an anime or novel; such a thing couldn't possibly happen in reality!
There must be something he misunderstood. After a moment of wild thoughts following the two people's words, Feng Xingshou rationally analyzed that he might have made a mistake.
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As expected, seeing her cheeks flush bright red and her flustered explanation, Hagiwara and Matsuda both realized that their typical Japanese joke had gone too far for a girl who didn't understand Japanese or Japanese jokes and was just beginning to experience romantic feelings.
Matsuda quickly explained, "The Chinese translation of 'being dumped' in Japan is 'being rejected,' not the 'shuai' that commonly refers to one party in a relationship initiating the breakup."
"Oh... It's not just this word. There are many words in Japanese that have quite different meanings from those in Chinese! For example, the Japanese word 'daijou?' means 'Is everything alright?'"
In Chinese, it represents adjectives describing adult men, strong men, etc...." Hagiwara looked at the girl's flushed cheeks and was unusually flustered. He hurriedly changed the subject to change the subject from this embarrassing situation.
Realizing that she had become a gullible woman, asking such an outrageous question without thinking, Feng Xingshou was extremely embarrassed. At that moment, she wished she could escape the scene immediately, but like her brother, she was very concerned about her reputation and hated losing face.
She had to pretend that she didn't care about the joke she had just made and was now listening attentively to Hagiwara's explanation of the interesting differences between Japanese and Chinese words, but little did she know that the burning heat on her face and the persistent blush had already betrayed her...
That dinner ended with Hagiwara making small talk, Kazesei Mori responding with a flushed face, and Matsuda watching the spectacle from the sidelines. When the restaurant became too crowded and they had to clear a table, they even gentlemanly escorted Kazesei Mori to his residence before leaving...
However, after that day, Hagiwara and Matsuda also noticed a lingering effect that seemed to be caused by that day. The two of them walked out of the bookstore carrying the latest edition of science and technology magazines and Yusaku Kudo's crime novel as if nothing had happened.
After a while, Matsuda asked somewhat helplessly, "Is it another junior schoolgirl? What's she up to? Why is she following us? Can't she just ask us directly?"
"Sigh! Girls this age are very shy. She's probably still bothered by the misunderstanding that happened at dinner that day. She wanted to greet us, but she was too embarrassed to come over and talk to us?" Hagiwara had only felt a little awkward on the day of the dinner.
Given his stoic personality, he resolved the misunderstanding in one night. Now, noticing that Feng Jiang was following them without being noticed, he speculated on what might have caused her to do so.
Thinking that he was the one who caused the misunderstanding that day, Matsuda's speechless expression turned helpless: "It was just a misunderstanding, did she have to care so much?"
“She’s only 15 after all!” Hagiwara said without stopping, then asked with some difficulty, “Should we call her over and explain to her again?”
"Tsk! It's rare to encounter a situation that even you find difficult to handle! You don't actually have feelings for her, do you?" Matsuda looked at his childhood friend with some surprise and asked, "Given your personality, you wouldn't not think that leaving it alone is the best course of action in this situation."
On the contrary, the more you explain to her, the more she may care, and she might even transfer her concern about this embarrassing misunderstanding to her concern for you.
"How could that be!" Hagiwara was taken aback upon hearing this, but then casually refuted the topic, explaining, "I just feel that we are five years older than her, and it's our responsibility to make such a joke that caused her misunderstanding. We have a responsibility to explain it to her and dispel the shadow in her heart!"
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"Shadow?" Matsuda savored the word, his half-moon eyes wide as he retorted, "You've managed to drag something that even a young Japanese child wouldn't misunderstand into the realm of psychological trauma, and you're still denying it!"
Besides, given Hagi's personality, if he really didn't care, he wouldn't have explained so much to me just now. He would have just used a half-joking remark to get by. He only explains things very seriously and deliberately when it comes to things he cares about.
Just like whenever someone asks him why they would proactively befriend him, he always deliberately answers that it's because if they're friends with him, the other classmates who want to hang out with him won't fight, since everyone's afraid of him...
That's not actually the case. He actually took the initiative to befriend me when my father was wrongly accused of murder by the police, and when I was being bullied and ostracized by teachers and classmates at school. Although I beat up those who wanted to physically bully me back.
But given his personality, he must have felt bullied and harbored a strong belief in his own injustice, which is why he took the initiative to befriend me, to make me feel that he wasn't hated or ostracized by all the other students who saw him as the son of a murderer...
(*^▽^*) Although I genuinely thought that his family owned a car repair shop and he had all sorts of cars to interact with, I figured being friends with him would be very useful, which is why I responded to him...
“She’s Chinese! Of course we can’t treat her the way Japanese people understand her.” Hagiwara, seemingly oblivious to this, looked completely unconcerned when his childhood friend said this.
She even turned around and waved to Feng Xingshou, who was following behind them, wanting to explain the difference between Japanese and Chinese again. Unexpectedly, when she saw him waving at her, Feng Xingshou seemed to be frightened and turned around and ran away.
Matsuda couldn't help but laugh: "Haha... This is the first time you've scared a girl away again, isn't it? I've noticed that this has happened to you several times already! What if one day she really dumps you?"
"Hey! Jinpei, do you really want to see me get dumped?" Hearing her best friend laughing so happily, Hagiwara, completely unable to imagine why Fuu-chan had been scared away by her, asked him back, feigning grievance.
Faced with his 'wronged' childhood friend, Matsuda 'ruthlessly' said, 'Being dumped is karma for dumping so many girls. If they knew, they would definitely say you've finally met your match.'
"Hey! You've clearly received more confessions from girls, so why do you make me sound like a playboy?" Hagiwara said indignantly, "I was once so disillusioned with this world that judges people by their looks!"
You speak so harshly, you don't understand the art of tact, and your bluntness gets you criticized for being sarcastic. But just because you have a handsome face, all the female classmates are smitten with you, and they secretly scream when they see you..."
"Tsk! How many times do you have to mutter about this boring thing?" Matsuda was also helpless when he brought it up again. Ever since Hagiwara Chisato rejected him on the grounds that he didn't like younger men, he hadn't thought about dating anyone.
He didn't understand at all what the point was for Hagi to tease him about this. He wasn't like the junior schoolgirl, whose face would turn bright red like a frying egg whenever this topic came up.
Hagiwara bluntly stated, "Of course, I have to mention the day I successfully found a partner."
"...If you weren't so picky, you would have found a partner by elementary school." Matsuda doubted the truthfulness of his answer.
Hagiwara merely chuckled lightly, seemingly genuinely: "Heh..."
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They originally thought that after Hagiwara took the initiative to greet the Wind Star Guardian who was following them, scaring him away, the Wind Star Guardian would either stop following them or appear in front of them on his own initiative.
Should she chat with them to change the subject and save face? Or should she keep her distance from them so that she won't remember the misunderstanding that happened that day if she doesn't see them in the future?
Little did they know that that day was just the beginning. From that day on, almost every time they went out, whether it was to a bookstore, a convenience store, a shopping mall, or their favorite snacks or restaurants...
In short, not long after they left home, they always noticed the junior schoolgirl following them. If they didn't know that compared to Tokyo, this was a small place with only a few streets and shops, they would have been surprised.
The chances of spotting her are probably because the place is too small, and she was too embarrassed to talk to them when she went out, so she quietly followed behind, probably still wondering whether or not to come over and say hello.
They were all starting to think they'd encountered a 'female pervert' who liked to stalk them. Although they didn't have such an outrageous misunderstanding, they couldn't understand how long the junior girl would struggle to overcome her psychological barrier and not 'run away' when they greeted her.
Time passed day by day, and as summer vacation drew to a close, the town committee organized a temple fair, where the two of them spotted her again.
Unlike most of the women attending the temple fair who wore kimonos with a classical feel, she was still wearing her own clothes with some Chinese clothing elements, curiously looking at the various stalls at the temple fair.
She eagerly bought some novel foods to try when she saw a stall selling them, but the banana chocolate probably didn't suit her taste, because her face scrunched up after taking a bite.
Seeing this, Hagiwara couldn't help but laugh. He unconsciously took a step forward, reached out and took the banana chocolate from her hand, and said with a grin, "Wow! I was just thinking of eating this! Kaze-chan already bought it for me. We really are in sync."
"Uh... Hagiwara-san, Matsuda-san!" Upon seeing the two figures, Kazehoshi no Mamoru instinctively wanted to retreat quickly, but unfortunately, in this crowded temple fair, Hagiwara and Matsuda were both standing behind her, with food stalls right in front of her.
Unless she pushed them away, she couldn't get away at all, but pushing them away? Just thinking about how much face she would lose in front of them made Feng Xingshou freeze...
Hearing her address, which was different from the way she addressed Hagiwara and Matsuda had addressed her before, and which showed more social distance and Japanese etiquette, Hagiwara and Matsuda both felt that they understood why the girl in front of them had been reacting so strangely these past few days.
They immediately burst into laughter: "Haha... No wonder you've been following us around and avoiding us these past few days. It seems you wanted to explain the misunderstanding to us, Onii-chan, but you were too embarrassed to talk to us?"
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"Looks like you know what the word 'brother' means in Japanese now?" Hagiwara didn't realize the inexplicable sense of relief he felt after understanding why Kazekimoku ran away after greeting him.
He was still teasing the obviously embarrassed girl with a grin: "What? You've been avoiding me for half a month just because I called you Onii-chan a few times? Is that too much to ask?"
Hearing that they could guess exactly what had been troubling her for the past two weeks just by looking at each other, Feng Xingshou felt completely shattered and didn't know what to say to avoid embarrassing herself.
Especially with the help of her classmates who were assisting her in adapting to school, she learned that real Japanese girls rarely call their older brothers so intimately; it's only in Japanese adult films or movies that such a thing is filmed for some taboo purpose.
Feeling that she had unknowingly done something extremely shameful and disgraceful, she wanted to explain to Hagiwara and Matsuda that it was a misunderstanding caused by her lack of understanding of Japanese.
Every time I see them, the thought of how the term "Onii-chan" is only used in certain aspects of Japanese culture makes me feel unable to speak to them or even move my feet.
"Moshi moshi!! It's not broken, is it?" Seeing her frozen there, unlike the day when her face turned bright red due to the misunderstanding of the word 'dumped', her face was now alternating between blushing and slightly pale.
As if she had thought of something terrible, Hagiwara and Matsuda were somewhat confused. Not knowing what else was wrong with the girl's reaction besides this address, they could only joke with her by waving their hands in front of her.
Seeing that her gaze followed their hands, Hagiwara, without any hint of distance, reached out and pushed her towards other stalls at the festival: "This must be your first time attending a Japanese festival, so make sure you have a great time today!"
“Although this town is relatively small and not as bustling as Tokyo, there are still many interesting things to see at this seasonal temple fair. In a little while, there will be not only a fireworks display, but also activities such as carrying the palanquin!” Matsuda walked to her side quite naturally.
The two's natural behavior, without any hint of disgust or aversion, relieved Feng Xingshou. He learned from his Japanese classmate that the way the Japanese word "brother" was pronounced and used was completely different from the anime he had watched in China.
She was conflicted. On the one hand, she wondered if calling them "brother" without their knowledge would make them feel awkward and ashamed to be addressed like that in a public restaurant.
Secondly, I'm a little worried that they might think I'm doing this on purpose, deliberately using this term to flirt with them, or pursuing them.
At the same time, some rather dark thoughts arose in my mind. They were all Japanese, so they must know what the Chinese word "brother" meant in Japan and where it would be used.
They knew this but didn't correct themselves. Later, they even made jokes that could easily cause misunderstandings. Did they mistakenly think I was an improper girl because I called them "brother"?
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