·62｜Exclusive to Jinjiang·62
Saying one thing and meaning another will lead to defeat.
Rumors are circulating throughout the University of Tokyo that Kenji Hagiwara, the most popular student in the Mechanical Engineering Department, has started dating a girlfriend who is still in high school.
Upon hearing the news, Kenji Hagiwara's expression darkened, and he solemnly denied the rumors: "Don't spread baseless rumors; it will have a bad influence on girls."
He had barely finished speaking when...
"Hey Hagiwara, your girlfriend is here to see you!"
Following his classmate's shout, Kenji Hagiwara looked towards the door. There, Yomi Laichuan, dressed in a dark school uniform skirt, was hiding by the door with her schoolbag, only half of her face showing as she looked at him expectantly.
"Why."
Kenji Hagiwara sighed and walked over amidst the jeers.
"Why are you here?"
He smiled and leaned closer, using his body to block the curious stares from those around him.
Lai Chuan Huang Quan kicked the floor, looking down to avoid eye contact. She stared at the tips of her shoes for a moment before turning back to Hagiwara Kenji: "Because we agreed to have dinner together tonight, so..."
She swallowed hard, speaking cautiously, her tone unconsciously ingratiating: "Did I bother you? I'll wait for you at the school gate."
Kenji Hagiwara rubbed Yomi Raikawa's head and laughed, "How could that be? I just thought you'd finish your club activities a little later today."
Growing up in an environment lacking love can have a variety of impacts on a child's personality.
Not every wildly growing bud can bloom.
The prolonged lack of companionship has ingrained Lai Chuan Huang Quan's yearning for and desire for love into his very bones.
Since becoming acquainted with the two students from Dongda University, she gradually started to stick close to them.
Fortunately, Yomi Laichuan simply enjoys having someone around; she doesn't cling to them all the time. Furthermore, years of strict manners and upbringing have instilled in Yomi Laichuan a clear sense of boundaries, and so far, she has never done anything to offend them.
Hagi and Matsu then followed Yorikawa to the underworld, becoming like an extra soft little sister who needed to be taken care of.
Unfortunately, time can slowly change many things, such as food and the delicate feelings between them.
Time will also urge the seeds to sprout, and quietly blossom in the changing of the sun and moon. When an inconspicuous sprout in the soil grows into a remarkable towering tree, it will already stand tall and its roots will be deep.
When Lai Chuan Huang Quan appeared downstairs at Hagiwara's dormitory building, carrying his schoolbag and looking all excited, everyone was already used to it.
Matsuda Jinpei was the first to come downstairs.
They had just finished a basketball game ten minutes earlier and were covered in sweat. Hagiwara Kenji's phone, which was lying on his desk, rang while he was taking a shower.
Matsuda Jinpei glanced at the caller's name and pressed the answer button—given his friendship with Hagiwara, it wouldn't be surprising if they answered each other's calls from Yomi Yorikawa. Upon learning that Yomi Yorikawa was already downstairs, Matsuda Jinpei called out to Hagiwara twice through the bathroom door and then went downstairs first.
A few minutes later, Kenji Hagiwara pushed open the bathroom door, hastily rubbed the water out of his hair with a towel, and hurriedly ran downstairs.
As Hagiwara Kenji walked down the long corridor towards the stairwell, he ran into a male classmate. The classmate nudged him with his elbow and joked, "Raikawa-neechan is here to see you again."
Kenji Hagiwara smiled but didn't say anything.
The classmate continued, "I remember you said you weren't dating."
That short sentence made Kenji Hagiwara's heart skip a beat, as if dark clouds were obscuring the light in his heart, and a storm was brewing.
"Hagiwara, since we're in the same group, can you take me with you next time you go out? I want to pursue Raikawa, and then I'll call you 'brother'."
Kenji Hagiwara laughed and slapped away the arm that the other person was putting his arm around, jokingly saying nonchalantly, "Dream on."
"I'm serious, I really like Lai Chuan's sister."
"I'm serious."
Kenji Hagiwara frowned and smiled, his violet eyes curving into slits, making it impossible to tell whether he was being sincere or joking. He waved to the man and walked away without stopping.
Outside the dormitory building, Matsuda Jinpei, also dressed in sportswear, wore a wicked smile and rested his elbow on Raikawa Yomi's head. He deliberately pressed down on her, making her unable to lift her head, which made the already short girl scream in anger.
Kenji Hagiwara's lips twitched slightly, and his Adam's apple bobbed repeatedly. He paused for a moment, then forced a bright smile and walked towards the two of them.
"Let's go, we'll take you to see the sunset."
When Kenji Hagiwara bent down and got close to Yomi Laichuan, the lingering moisture on his body pressed down on her with a wave of heat.
He flipped himself onto the motorcycle, tossed Lai Chuan and Huang Quan a safety helmet with cat ears, and patted the back seat of the motorcycle: "Get on."
Knowing beforehand that she would be riding a motorcycle, Lai Chuan Huang Quan didn't tie her hair up; instead, she wore her naturally curly black hair loose and obediently put on her helmet.
Matsuda Jinpei chuckled, picked up his helmet, and climbed onto another motorcycle. He patted the back seat and turned to look at Raikawa Yomi: "That Hagi guy always loves to ride fast, you little coward. I suggest you get on my back seat instead."
Lai Chuan Huang Quan turned her head and looked around, hesitated for a moment, then stuck out her tongue and made a "li-li-li" sound at Matsuda Jinpei. Her energetic voice came through the helmet: "No way, you're just trying to bully me again."
After saying that, she hopped and skipped onto the back seat of Kenji Hagiwara, as light and agile as a lively little deer.
"whispering sound."
Even through the black helmet visor, Matsuda Jinpei could imagine how Yomi Yorikawa had stick out her tongue and made a face at him.
He scoffed, covered his sullen face with his helmet, twisted the throttle, and followed the two.
The wind howled past, and Yomi Lai squeezed her skirt into a ball under her thighs to minimize the possibility of exposure. She also had Kenji Hagiwara's coat tied around her waist in the opposite direction, so that when the wind lifted her skirt, the large coat would cover as much of what was underneath as possible.
Lai Chuan Huang Quan wrapped his arms around Hagiwara Kenji's waist, but kept his body about half a hand's width away from his back.
Just like the relationship between them.
Yomi Yorikawa enjoys spending time with Hagiwara and the others.
They took her to experience many things she had never experienced before.
They took Yomi Yorikawa to the annual summer festival, where they cheered with her under the fireworks while she wore a beautiful kimono. Matsuda Jinpei even helped her catch a lot of pretty goldfish, attracting the attention of passersby.
However, after trying his best to raise the third goldfish to death while flipping through "100 Questions on Fishkeeping", the poor surviving fish, which were almost floating belly up, were sent to Ken Hagiwara's second-hand house by a girl with a pouty mouth and a wronged face. He kept them in his and Matsuda's double bedroom.
On Halloween, they were even coaxed by Lai Chuan Huang Quan to wear funny makeup and accompany her to the spooky amusement park. Seemingly unwilling, the two super popular idols at the University of Tokyo had already hidden all sorts of candies in their pockets, enjoying the sweet treat.
Unfortunately, Matsuda Jinpei was too awkward. When he saw Yomi Raikawa smiling broadly as she held a bag of candies with ribbons tied to it, which belonged to Kenji Hagiwara, his pride got the better of him, and he grabbed the candies and hid them behind his back.
They also took Lai Chuan and Huang Quan to the ceramics class to do handicrafts—this was the first time these two grown men had ever been to a ceramics classroom.
Yomi Laichuan rolled up his sleeves with great enthusiasm, but because the finished product was too ugly, it eventually turned into a mud fight amidst the ridicule of Jinpei Matsuda, and both of them were kicked out of the ceramics classroom.
The quiet corridor of the ceramics classroom had clean wooden floors. Matsuda Jinpei and Raikawa Yomi, one tall and one short, knelt on the floor, their faces covered in mud, heads bowed in repentance. Hagiwara Kenji stood in front of them with his arms crossed, almost laughing in exasperation: "How old are you?"
As a result, the two of them pointed at each other and said in unison, "It's all his/her fault!"
Kenji Hagiwara's expression became subtle for a moment. He remained silent for a long time, finally just rubbing his temples and letting out a long sigh.
Time flies like an arrow; time passes swiftly.
It seemed like he had just closed his eyes and taken a light nap, but when he woke up, he was surprised to find that the three of them had been bickering and joking around, and had actually accompanied each other through the first year of their lives.
Yomi Laichuan was deeply grateful to Hagiwara and Matsuda for their care and wanted to repay them, but she didn't know how. After much deliberation, she took out all the pocket money she had saved in her bank account over the years and decided to carefully select a gift for the two of them.
So, two weeks ago, Kenji Hagiwara, holding a meticulously packaged men's watch priced at 500,000 yen, fell silent.
Beside him, Matsuda Jinpei, who had also received the same watch, was clutching the strap, seemingly wanting to say something but unable to, completely unsure of what to say.
Looking at Yomi with her bright, almond-shaped eyes, they really found it hard to say things like, "You shouldn't have bought such an expensive gift, go and return it," which would spoil Yomi's mood.
In the end, Kenji Hagiwara smiled helplessly and gently flicked Yomi Raikawa's forehead with his right hand, which was now adorned with a new watch: "Idiot."
But this also made Kenji Hagiwara realize one thing clearly—the irresponsible father of Yomi Raikawa not only didn't like to come home, but also liked to throw money into her bank account like crazy.
Girls like Lai Chuan Huang Quan, who are naive, rich, and beautiful, are practically the first choice for scumbags to win over.
The budding feelings were quietly taking hold, and out of worry and a sense of responsibility, Kenji Hagiwara kept a closer eye on Yomi Raikawa, making sure to deworm her every day.
Kenji Hagiwara also tried to suppress the seed that had begun to sprout in his heart.
The young sapling, unable to grow upwards, began to frantically send its roots downwards, gradually devouring and eroding Kenji Hagiwara's heart, until the dense roots completely occupied and occupied the beating heart in his chest.
The wind on the mountaintop was slightly cool. Lai Chuan Huang Quan, wearing Hagiwara Kenji's jacket, sat sideways on the back of his motorcycle.
The setting sun painted the sky with a dazzling, enchanting hue. Lai Chuan Huang Quan swung her feet, chattering excitedly. She took out her phone and snapped photo after photo with the two people behind her, secretly saving them all to her phone instead of posting them on Twitter—if her stubborn, irritable old man at home saw them, he would surely fly into a rage and scold her for going to the mountains alone with a boy to watch the sunset.
"The sunset is so beautiful!"
Lai Chuan Huang Quan gazed at the sunset, his face flushed red by the afterglow of the setting sun.
She is admiring the scenery, and it is also the scenery in the eyes of others.
As the sun set and the light faded into darkness, Kenji Hagiwara finally spoke up with a laugh: "Yomi, you're always arguing with Jinpei, aren't you?"
Upon hearing this, Raikawa Yomi clenched her fists and instantly entered the state of an angry pufferfish: "That idiot is deliberately making trouble for me!"
"Eh, really?" Kenji Hagiwara tilted his head, seemingly casually saying, "But you two look like a bickering couple."
Yomi Lai jumped off the back of the motorcycle, ran to Kenji Hagiwara, looked up at him angrily, and said, "Who wants to be lovers with that annoying guy!"
Kenji Hagiwara didn't respond immediately. He just dragged out a meaningful monosyllable from his throat, paused for a few seconds, and then slowly said, "What about me? Does Yomi hate me?"
Behind him, Matsuda Jinpei had already begun to protest loudly, shouting, "Who are you calling a nuisance, you idiot?"
The soft moonlight bathed Lai Chuan Huang Quan's cheeks, her flushed ear tips hidden in the night. She raised her hand to smooth her hair behind her ear, kicked at the pebbles at her feet, and whispered, "How could that be? I'm so happy when I'm with you."
Upon hearing this, Kenji Hagiwara said nothing more. He turned his head to look at the misty sky, a dark and ambiguous color settling in his eyes.
Unbeknownst to Raikawa Yomi, after she was sent home, Hagiwara Kenji, who rushed back to his dorm just before curfew, asked Matsuda Jinpei a question.
Kenji Hagiwara leaned back in his seat, looking up at his childhood friend who was already lying on the bed: "Do you like Yomi?"
Kenji Hagiwara spoke calmly, as if stating a given fact, but it provoked Jinpei Matsuda to sit up abruptly in bed: "What nonsense are you talking about? I don't like her at all!"
Kenji Hagiwara didn't laugh. He rested his chin on his hand and stared intently at Jinpei Matsuda: "But you're just like the boy in elementary school who bullies the girl he likes. You're always bullying Yomi."
Matsuda Jinpei snorted coldly and said, "You're overthinking it."
Kenji Hagiwara sized up Jinpei Matsuda for a moment, but didn't reply. Instead, he smiled and changed the subject: "Yomi is about to take her college entrance exams. I plan to pursue her after her exams."
"Huh?" Matsuda Jinpei frowned, incredulous. "You're actually planning to pursue that coward? Are you serious?"
Kenji Hagiwara just smiled and didn't answer directly: "I'm tired after a long day, I'm turning off the lights."
Some things are better left unsaid.
With the chandelier turned off, the moonlight through the window became the only light in the dormitory.
Under the same moonlight, Lai Chuan Huang Quan lay on the bed, flipping through her phone's photo album. The photos, which almost filled the phone's memory, were all pictures of her and them.
Lai Chuan Huang Quan flipped through the photos one by one in chronological order, his mind filled with memories of the moments he had spent with them.
She buried her head in the pillow, trying desperately to suppress the surging laughter in her heart.
With her ears slightly red, she held her phone, whispered goodnight to the person in the photo, then turned off the bedside lamp, hugged the big white dog he had given her when they first met, and fell into a deep sleep.
[Author's Note]
Matsuda was attracted to her, but he didn't pursue her.
Although the Lai Chuan family isn't a large conglomerate, Lai Chuan's father holds a high position and earns a considerable salary. He expresses his love by showering money on his family, so Lai Chuan Huang Quan is indeed very wealthy, probably belonging to the second tier of financial power?
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