Chapter 65: Split
The day after the sports festival ended was the weekend. The early morning sunlight was shrouded in milky white mist, and the street lights were covered with a layer of white frost. Fengjian rubbed his hands together to keep warm, and through the hazy mist he saw a figure walking from the end of the street.
Tezuka stood in front of her in an off-white woolen coat, his voice mixed with white steam, "Sorry, I kept you waiting."
"I just got here too," Kazama waved his hands hastily, a few strands of hair leaking out from under the brim of his hoodie, making his black crystal-like eyes shine unusually brightly, "Senior Tezuka, let's go in."
Tezuka responded softly.
In the early morning, the library was deserted and as quiet as a lake, with only the rustling sound of pen tips touching fingertips.
Fengjian sat by the window, poked his face with the tip of his pen, and stared at the German paper spread out in front of him with a distressed look.
She thought that Senior Tezuka called her out just to study, but who knew that he actually took great pains to prepare a German test paper for her. The fear dominated by the midterm exam a few days ago made her eyebrows twitch.
As expected of Tezuka-san, he is meticulous in everything he does.
“Is it too difficult?”
Tezuka's voice suddenly came to his ears. When Kazama came to his senses, he found that the tip of his pen was resting on the white paper, leaving a black ink mark.
She quickly pulled back the pen, turned back cautiously, and met Tezuka's calm gaze. She immediately lowered her head guiltily.
"No..." She laughed it off, but Tezuka had already picked up the papers and glanced at them. "It's indeed a bit difficult, but if you come across something you don't understand, you can leave it blank and I'll teach you later."
As he placed the paper back on the table, his hand accidentally brushed against the back of hers, causing both of them to pause. The warmth that penetrated their skin felt like a gentle tickle on their hearts.
Feng Jian quickly pulled his hand back, suddenly stood up, and stammered, "I, I'm going to the bathroom."
Tezuka curled his fingertips slightly and looked at the figure that was almost fleeing in panic. He didn't say anything. After a while, an imperceptible sigh was heard in the air.
The sunlight spread from the window all the way to the bookshelf. Gradually, more and more people came into the library, and the sound of keyboard typing mixed with the rustling of pen tips could be heard.
Fengjian supported his face, bit his nose lightly, and looked at the densely packed German book. He caught a glimpse of the figure sitting next to him in the corner of his eye. The sunlight from outside the window shone through the chestnut hair and cast fine shadows on his face. His expression was as quiet as a sculpture.
Suddenly, I remembered what Chiba once said: "Boys who work hard are super handsome, like Gan Senior."
The second half of the sentence can be ignored, but Fengjian felt that she was right about the first half.
"Have you finished the test?"
Unexpectedly, he bumped into a pair of brown eyes. Feng Jian blinked, lowered his head and turned away in panic, and said in a low voice, "I'm doing it..."
It's terrible.
I was caught peeping at someone.
Tezuka adjusted his glasses and looked away from her red ears. He twirled the pen lightly between his fingers, and the corners of his lips, which were stretched to the limit, began to melt bit by bit like ice.
The morning passed quickly and the library was mostly empty at noon. Fengjian sat upright, looking at the test paper and then at the boy who was marking it carefully. He was so nervous that he felt like his heart was about to jump out.
The pen tapped on the paper a few times, and Tezuka looked up and nodded at her, "Well done."
The heavy stone in her heart finally fell. Before Kazama could breathe a sigh of relief, Tezuka's voice made her heart rise again. "However, if you pay more attention when doing the questions, your accuracy rate might be higher."
His expression was as serious and meticulous as ever.
Fengjian choked and immediately realized that he was talking about how he had just peeked at him. He rubbed his red earlobe and lowered his head to admit his mistake.
"But you've made great progress during this period," Tezuka said with a faint smile in his eyes, "You're quite talented. Keep going all out."
She was slightly startled, and a light of joy rekindled in her eyes. "Thank you, Tezuka-senpai. I will keep working hard." She glanced at the empty library and scratched her head. "Tezuka-senpai, I'll treat you to lunch today as a thank you for teaching me German today."
"Don't take it to heart." Tezuka pushed up his glasses.
"That won't do," Feng Jian shook his head. "You helped me so much before, I really should thank you. Oh, and this..."
As she spoke, she pulled out a gift box from her bag and handed it to him, scratching the back of her head sheepishly. "Although it's not a big gift, I made this myself." She coughed lightly and turned her face away. "I heard from Senior Fuji that you've been practicing tennis recently. Bringing this will help relieve the strain on your wrists."
Tezuka was slightly startled, looking at the gift, then at her, "I..."
Feng Jian spoke first, clasping his hands together in a prayer gesture, "If you refuse, I will feel bad."
Tezuka laughed dumbly, his fingertips resting on the gift box, and nodded slightly, "Thank you."
She breathed a sigh of relief and her tone brightened. "So, what are you treating me to later, Senior? Sister Ling said there's a really good Chinese restaurant nearby."
He looked at her, his expression slightly relaxed, and responded softly.
The midday sun shone lazily on my body, the streets were crowded with people, and the breeze blew through the skirt of a girl in a sailor suit, bringing the aroma of warm food.
When passing by the supermarket, Feng Jian belatedly remembered what Ling Jie had told him before leaving this morning, "By the way, Tezuka-senpai, can you wait for me for a few minutes? I'll go buy something for Ling Jie first and I'll be out soon."
Tezuka nodded.
Kazama carried the basket, checked the memo, and walked towards the food area.
"Soy sauce, and star anise," she muttered, "and chicken essence..."
After putting the last bottle of seasoning into the basket, Fengjian turned and walked towards the cashier, but bumped into another figure at the corner of the shelf.
"I'm sorry..." The apology was cut off before she could finish it when she looked up and saw that familiar face.
"Kazama"
Asagiri frowned, glanced at her basket out of the corner of her eye, crossed her arms and sneered, "I didn't expect you to have such an easy life."
Feng Jian clutched the basket tightly, responded softly, and turned to leave when Asagiri's voice came faintly, "I remember you promised me that you would never participate in the Century Cup."
Her footsteps seemed to be nailed to the spot, and she could only hear the footsteps behind her getting closer and closer, and finally disappearing in front of her.
Asagiri's deep blue eyes stared at her expressionlessly, "Why did you break your promise?"
"Didn't you promise me that you would never participate in such an event?"
Asagiri pressed on, "Why did you break your promise?"
"I..." Fengjian pursed his lips and stepped back under Asagiri's pressure.
Until her back hit a solid wall of people, a pair of hands steadied her shoulders, and a calm voice sounded from behind her, "I asked her to participate."
Kazama raised his head suddenly and met Tezuka's calm profile. He spoke calmly, "It's not fair to always put the blame of others on innocent people, isn't it, Asagiri-san?"
"Innocent." Chao Wuyuan sneered silently, as if he had heard a huge joke. "What about me? It was me who was lying under the wheels back then. Am I not innocent? That car accident took away my legs and my dancing career. Am I innocent?"
"Someone has to take responsibility for these mistakes, right?"
"Then this person is definitely not Kazama," Tezuka looked at her steadily, his brown eyes like the surface of a frozen lake, "Asagiri-san, didn't you already know who caused the car accident and who pushed you out? Don't you know that Kazama is innocent? Why do you keep holding on to her?"
Chao Wuyuan was as if he had been hit by a slap in the face, "How could you..."
When she caught a glimpse of the silent face behind Tezuka, her voice stopped abruptly, her eyes slowly widened, and a voice of disbelief burst out of her chest, "Kazama, you, already knew it..."
Fengjian stared down at the white sneakers without saying a word.
She knows everything.
She knew it long before Atobe said those words to him, or even five years ago.
Asagiri is such a proud and strong-willed person. She devotes all her efforts to dance and naturally will not allow anyone to trample on her dignity.
So even if she finally realized that Asagiri might have other motives and was still treating her like this while still knowing the truth, she could not turn against her former friend.
After all, they had such a good time.
She sighed in her heart and gently tugged at Tezuka's clothes, "Senior Tezuka, let's go."
Tezuka nodded, took her wrist and walked away past Asagiri.
"Didn't you say you would always be by my side..."
Kazama's footsteps slowly stopped, Tezuka stopped and looked at her, quietly watching her reaction.
Asagiri clenched his hands, turned his back to them, and said in a muffled voice like a taut string, "Kazama, didn't you say that we are best friends? Why did you break your promise?"
The last words were washed away by the noisy crowd in the supermarket, and her back disappeared along with it.
When Chaowu looked back, there was only a crowded and unfamiliar crowd in the supermarket, and there was no longer the familiar figure who always stood there waving at her and asking her to hurry up.
The midday sun was scorching hot. Feng Jian stood on the busy street and rubbed his sore eyes hard.
Tezuka looked at her, and out of the corner of his eye he saw a high school girl passing by with an ice cream cone in her hand, and suddenly asked softly: "Kazama, do you want an ice cream cone?"
Feng Jian looked up and saw a faint smile in the boy's eyes, and the chestnut hair was slightly warm. "Just think of it as a reward for doing well on the test paper just now, how about it?"
…
Passing by the windowsill at night, the dim desk lamp illuminates the figure sitting at the table. Tezuka leans back in the chair, stroking the black arm guard in his hand, with a bright yellow warm light flashing in his brown eyes.
"Brother," there was a sudden knock on the door, and a head with twin ponytails poked in from outside the door, "Mom wants to call you for something, it seems a bit urgent."
"I understand." Tezuka put the arm guard back into the gift box, closed it again, and turned to leave the room.
The little girl standing outside the door looked at the figure coming down the stairs, then looked at the light purple gift box on the table, and whispered, "When will my brother accept gifts?"
Before she could rush in, Tezuka had already grabbed her collar and carried her out like a sandbag.
The door slammed shut again.
"Stingy." The girl curled her lips, and when she saw Tezuka looking at her expressionlessly, she walked away quickly.
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