Your hair is messy (20)
Naoki travels to a parallel universe where Kotoko doesn't love him. (2013 Japanese TV series)
40
During Irie's hospitalization, Kotoko avoided him in the hospital in order to avoid meeting him, and would not even pass by his ward door. As for taking care of Irie, she confidently handed it over to other members of the nursing department. After all, it was more reliable to leave it to them than to herself.
But Irie loves to get angry the most. Kotoko is afraid that he cannot understand her painstaking efforts, so she specifically asks Ogura Tomoko to pass on a message to let Irie know that she chose to hide in Irie's critical moment, all for Irie's sake. People should not be superstitious, but they cannot completely disbelieve in metaphysics, especially when it comes to unlucky things, so try to avoid them if you can.
Irie didn't want to talk. He felt that Kotoko's main reason for not showing up was that she didn't want to spend too much time with him. She brought out all that metaphysics and acted like she believed it so deeply. It was Kotoko's way of brainwashing herself and then fooling him.
But except for him, everyone else, including Kotoko, believed that even if Kotoko didn't show up, she just made another lunch box for Irie. The nursing department also conducted a special poison test to confirm that the lunch box tasted good and the ingredients were normal, and would not harm the taste buds or cause food poisoning, and then gave it to Irie. Unexpectedly, Irie choked on the rice grains on the first bite, and not only did he cough until his face turned red, but he also vomited out the fruit he had just eaten.
From then on, the nursing department had another new ban on Kotoko.
Kotoko was temporarily expelled from Irie's world, but her life was not affected by Irie's presence or absence. She was busy every day. Today she had to give an injection to this patient, and tomorrow she had to change the bed sheets for that patient. Seeing the patients gradually recover, she felt that her hard work was given great value.
Another big event happened. Ajin proposed to Chris.
The proposal process was not smooth. Chris actually rejected Jin at the beginning. Kotoko was confused and ran to ask her why she did that. Chris did not give her a clear answer, but asked Kotoko a strange question: "Are you going to break up with Irie?"
Qinzi froze: "Huh?!"
"Compared to Irie, Jin is gentle and considerate, and he can cook, not to mention he's handsome."
"Ajin has liked Qinzi for many years."
"If a woman I don't know marries Jin, I definitely won't accept it. But if it's my good friend Qinzi..."
"Kotoko doesn't really like Irie anyway. Could you please consider Jin again and marry him?"
But I don’t like Ajin very much either.
Kotoko thought so in fear.
Besides, the person Ajin likes now is you, Chris.
Kotoko didn't understand what they were doing. A pair of lovers were about to finally get married, yet they were resorting to some kind of tortured romance? But the torture didn't last long. Later, Jin finally resolved Chris's reluctance to marry because he felt sorry for me, believing he only married me because I had scars from a burn. He then passionately proposed again in the hospital, and this time, he got the nod, resulting in a perfectly happy ending.
Ajin was in high spirits when he saw Irie basking in the sun outside when he came downstairs. He couldn't help but show off: "Although you once stole Kotoko from me, Irie, I was the one who got happiness before you. Haha, I didn't expect that I would be the winner in the end. You have to work hard to catch up with Ajin-sama, haha, come on."
Jin had no ill intentions; he was used to arguing with Irie, and showing off his power verbally was a fun way to pass the time. Overwhelmed by happiness, Jin hadn't anticipated that a casual remark from him would completely overwhelm Irie.
Yes, Jin is going to marry Chris, Yuki and Yoshimi have expressed their feelings to each other and are together. Obviously, he and Kotoko were the first couple to date, so why did everyone get happiness in the end, but only they stopped?
Irie took this matter to heart and kept thinking about it during his boring days of recuperation. In fact, he should have proposed to her a long time ago, but Kotoko's attitude was very clear. She did not have the courage to take on the responsibilities of marriage, so even if Irie spoke up, he would not get the answer he wanted.
But many things are inherently about seeing things through, right? How can anyone accurately predict the future before it actually arrives? Besides, aren't Jin and Chris, who are at the same level as Kotoko, also confident in their marriage? If they can do that, why can't Kotoko?
So Irie's proposal campaign started unexpectedly on the day he was discharged from the hospital.
Irie's injury had not fully healed yet and he walked with a limp. Kotoko hadn't seen him for a while, so her understanding seniors granted her a half-day leave so that she could accompany Irie on the bus home.
While waiting for the bus, Irie said to Kotoko, "Let's get married."
Kotoko freezes again: "Huh?!!"
Irie's face was calm. He looked at Kotoko and said seriously, "You don't need to be a good wife or a good mother. You don't need to bear any marital responsibilities. I can support the family by myself. You can hire a nanny to do the laundry and cooking. I will spend the rest of my life taking care of you. You can do what you want. I won't restrict you. I have no expectations of you. So, Kotoko, marry me."
As is common in novels, the heroine who is proposed to will cover her lips with both hands, with tears in her eyes. Kotoko was so surprised that she couldn't speak, and could only stand there with tears in her eyes.
The weather was nice that day, just like the last day of their love trip. The golden light scattered in the air was like fragments of the sun. No matter from which angle you looked at it, the picture was dazzling.
Tears were about to fall from Kotoko's eyes, as if she would cry out of excitement in the next second. Irie felt strange. How could marrying him be something that would make Kotoko excited?
Then he learned that they were tears of guilt.
"I'm sorry, Irie-kun." Kotoko choked and lowered her head, not daring to look at him again: "I don't want to."
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The 28th was Kotoko's birthday, and she'd already made plans to go out with her friends. The invited nursing staff were skeptical, "Are you just going to hang out with us on your birthday? Why not have some romantic time with Irie?"
"Irie-kun probably doesn't remember my birthday."
"Is Irie really that outrageous? You've been together for years, and he still doesn't remember your birthday? Where's his supposed IQ of 200? This is a sign of a lack of love! He deserves to be spit on!"
Kotoko couldn't stand their fussing. "Don't talk about Irie-kun! Should people who can't remember their partner's birthday be despised?! This is just a very common thing! It could happen to most people. There are so many big and small things in a person's life, how can they remember everything..."
Everyone in the nursing department stared at Kotoko speechlessly, and in unison, they exposed her: "So you can't remember Irie's birthday either, right?"
Kotoko not only didn't remember Irie's birthday, but because she ignored Irie so much, she didn't even know whether Irie remembered her birthday or not, and she just talked nonsense in front of her friends.
But in fact, Irie remembered. He didn't pay attention to them before. Birthdays, graduation ceremonies, and couples' anniversaries were all ordinary and meaningless days in his eyes.
Until he graduated, Kotoko missed the medical graduation ceremony to attend a lecture. Irie sat alone in the auditorium and suddenly realized that even though it was an ordinary day, he still hoped that Kotoko would show up and give him flowers and blessings.
He wanted to find some excuses to make Kotoko notice him, to be the protagonist for a day occasionally, to be accompanied by Kotoko, to create some romantic little surprises together. On the so-called anniversary which was not special, he wanted to be with Kotoko in the name of "commemoration".
Irie himself once reflected that Kotoko never paid attention to him because she was assimilated by his indifferent attitude. His inaction set a bad example for Kotoko, and she also believed that ignoring her partner was the right thing to do.
Irie tried to change the status quo. He later memorized all the holidays and carefully prepared gifts for Kotoko on her birthday. But Kotoko didn't need his company on her birthday. She was too popular and was always surrounded by many people, including friends, colleagues and family. She could hear so many words of blessing that her ears were callused, and the gifts she received could pile up into a small mountain.
The little surprise that Irie prepared for her was like a drop of water merging into the ocean, not worth mentioning at all.
Kotoko has a poor memory, and it is an impossible task for her to match the owners of all the gifts one by one. So compared to the gift Irie gave her last year, she can better remember Irie's reluctant face when he celebrated her birthday every year.
Kotoko didn't blame Irie. Truly, she didn't impose on others what she herself couldn't do. Kotoko liked the non-interference relationship model established by Irie, and she didn't want to break it.
So Irie will find that his efforts have been in vain again. No matter whether he remembers Kotoko's birthday or not, Kotoko will not remember his birthday. No matter whether he attaches importance to their anniversary or not, Kotoko will not take it seriously. At best, she will accommodate Irie's ideas and follow his arrangements to go out on dates, without resistance or expectation.
As for Kotoko's own memorable day, she didn't want to spend it with Irie anyway.
She also doesn't want to marry Irie.
41
Kotoko rejected Irie's proposal with a simple sentence: "I don't want to", and didn't even give him a good reason to resolve the awkwardness between them.
Kotoko didn't see anything wrong with it. She rejected Irie's proposal. What other reason did she need? She didn't want to get married, so she didn't. Such simple logic, is it so hard to understand? Does it need explanation? No.
Irie was going crazy.
Not only can he not change the past, he can't change the present either. After losing the Kotoko of the past forever, perhaps he can't keep the Kotoko of the present either.
But Kotoko wouldn't leave him on her own initiative. She wanted to play the innocent victim in front of everyone, waiting for Irie to be tortured to the point of collapse by his cold violence. Then, when Irie proposed breaking up, she would secretly rejoice while pretending to be sad and saying, "Since it's Irie-kun's decision, there's nothing I can do about it."
Irie would never let her have her wish.
He won't break down. He will pretend nothing happened and continue to be tightly bound to Kotoko as a couple. All he has to do next is wait. When everyone realizes that it's time for them to get married, someone will replace Irie and put pressure on Kotoko from all sides.
If he couldn't get happiness, at least he would get Kotoko.
The weak Kotoko, the hypocritical Kotoko, the Kotoko who disdained him, the only Kotoko he had.
Let us be an unfortunate couple who are physically together but spiritually apart, and stay together forever.
Kotoko.
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Shortly after Kotoko's birthday, the Irie family welcomed a distinguished guest, who was Irie's childhood sweetheart and cousin Rika. It was said that she had immigrated when she was young and was preparing to return to her country to live recently, but her parents had to stay abroad to deal with some things, so Rika, who returned first, had to stay at the Irie family temporarily.
Yuuki deliberately provoked Kotoko: "Rika is smart and beautiful, she is completely different from Kotoko."
Kotoko asked him back, "Really? Then who is smarter and prettier, Rika or Yoshimi?"
Yuuki choked, angrily used a fork to cut the omelet rice on the plate into pieces, and stopped talking.
Irie's mother teased her youngest son with a smile: "Our Yuuki, when he was little, he liked Rika the most. But when he grew up and met a girl he liked, he didn't want his sister anymore."
"Oh, Mom!"
Yuuki couldn't compare Rika and Haomei, or maybe he had already figured it out but was reluctant to say it because he didn't want to appear to be too concerned with beauty.
Naoki didn't have as many concerns as him. In front of Kotoko, he made a blunt comment: "Don't go with Rigabi, okay? You have no chance of winning. Just get along with him."
Irie's mother glared at him and said, "Brother! Stop talking nonsense!"
Finally, the good guy Kotoko came out to smooth things over: "It's okay, I don't mind."
Irie's mother took Kotoko's hand with pity: "Rika is still just a child. Although she is very sensible, she definitely has some shortcomings and needs to learn and improve. Kotoko, just treat her as your own sister and help her as much as possible."
"Um!"
Kotoko's first impression of Rika was that he didn't act like a child.
Maybe it's because the other person has developed too well, with a tall and curvy figure, exquisite makeup, and fashionable and beautiful clothes. She has long lost the childishness that only children have.
Kotoko's second impression of Rika was that she was indeed Irie-kun's cousin.
Rigabi is more like Irie than Matsumoto back then, with a perfect appearance, a mind that is so smart that it puts others to shame, full life skills and learning skills, and even his harsh way of speaking is in line with Irie.
At the welcome party, she clinked her glass with juice and, after saying "Please take care of me," she began to look her over. "When we first heard that Naoki had found a girlfriend he really liked, and that he was the one who took the initiative in pursuing her, our whole family was surprised. We never thought the girl Naoki really liked would be like this, haha."
Qinzi clinked glasses with her again, not taking her words to heart at all: "I didn't expect that either, haha."
Rika and Irie have a very good relationship. They are always sticking together. Rika even came to the hospital to bring lunch boxes to Irie. Irie, who has never been interested in women and is only in love with Kotoko, did not refuse her for the first time.
The people in the nursing department had seen them going in and out of the hospital as a pair many times, and they were worried about it.
"What?! Isn't delivering lunch a girlfriend's thing? Even if she's your cousin, it's too intimate!" Keita angrily slapped Kotoko and pointed at Naoki and Rika who were eating together in the cafeteria: "Kotoko, don't you have any ideas?"
"I have." Qinzi swallowed, her eyes almost falling into Jiang's lunch box: "I want to eat too."
"ah?!"
Facing everyone's surprised looks, Kotoko quickly explained: "You don't know, but Rika seems to have won an award for her cooking. It looks delicious and fragrant... Is there anything I can do to convince her to make bento for me in the future?"
Keita was completely upset and slapped Kotoko even harder, almost knocking her to the ground: "Your boyfriend is about to be kidnapped, and you're still thinking about eating! Idiot! Big idiot!"
Qinzi covered her shoulder in pain: "What? They are brother and sister. It's normal for brothers and sisters to have a good relationship. Don't think too much."
In fact, Kotoko couldn't be sure what Rika thought of Irie. After all, Rika was a nervous little girl. She even said to her, "Kotoko, please give Irie to me." Although she later told Kotoko that she was just joking, it was nervous enough to joke about such things.
As crazy as Irie.
Ever since Kotoko rejected Irie's proposal, Irie didn't say much on the surface, but just calmly accepted Kotoko's choice, but Kotoko could clearly feel his subsequent changes.
Irie stopped tutoring Kotoko and even advised her sarcastically, "If you can't even learn independently, you might as well give up being a nurse. It will save you the hard work and the suffering of the patients you take care of."
Irie was busy with work in the hospital and didn't pay much attention to Kotoko. Even when they met on the road, he would pass by in a hurry. When Kotoko greeted him, he would respond according to his mood. If he was in a good mood, he would just give a cold "hmm", and if he was in a bad mood, he would pretend not to hear anything.
Oh, by the way, he didn’t prepare a birthday present for Kotoko this year. Kotoko went out with her friends during the day, and came back in the evening to attend the party prepared for her by Irie’s mother. Irie didn’t attend either. He said, “I’m too lazy to commemorate these boring days.” Then he went back to his room alone.
After Rika returned to her country, Irie threw Kotoko out of his mind. Even when he talked to Kotoko, he couldn't help but make sarcastic remarks, both overt and covert.
All in all, Irie was in a terrible state.
Kotoko remembers Irie's mother once saying to her with relief, "Kotoko's appearance has made my cold brother more humane. I'm so happy to see him grow up step by step. Thank you, Kotoko, for changing my brother."
But Kotoko didn't tell Irie's mother. She didn't think she was the one who changed Irie, because although the landscape can change, one's nature cannot. The cold Irie would not change. At most, he would suppress his nature for a short time. That's why he kept going back and forth, sometimes good, sometimes bad. He would get angry for no reason, use tricks for no reason, show kindness for no reason, and become gentle for no reason.
Kotoko was moved by Irie's willingness to fight his own nature for her, but she was also certain that the struggle between Irie and himself would end in a tragic defeat.
It's not Irie's fault, it's that she is not worthy, she is not the one who is really suitable for Irie, so when Kotoko saw Irie's patience was exhausted by her and he turned back into the cold and ruthless Irie, she actually felt relieved.
She felt that the time had come, that Irie was finally, finally, finally getting tired of her.
tbc
b Kotoko has become what she is today, and Irie has definitely contributed to it. Having never been in a relationship, she learned too many bad habits from Irie. In the end, Irie was not infected by her enthusiasm and brightness, but she was assimilated by his coldness and ruthlessness.
The scary thing about bad habits is that they are extremely stubborn. It's not like correcting a wrong answer by simply erasing it with an eraser and then rewriting the correct answer. Anyway, with Irie's own level, there is no way to make up for it, and the situation will only get worse.
The final stalemate was only the last struggle after being left with no other options. Irie wanted to hurt B Kotoko, and she was in pain just like him, but would B Kotoko really suffer for him? Obviously not. The knife he stabbed would only return to him double. This is the cruelty of the B world.
No matter which path Irie chooses, it will be a dead end. Even if he can now become one of the top ten best boyfriends and his awareness is so high that he can kill all the male protagonists in romance comics in seconds, his love is destined to fail.
Because what he wanted to write was a romantic fairy tale about him and A-Kotoko, but unfortunately, A-Kotoko did not exist in world B.
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