"...just wait for me!"
Her moist and soft lips were slightly pursed, and her cheeks were puffed up as if she was sulking, but her hands that were held with his were so tight that there was no gap left.
There was no need for Ming Hai to comfort her. The cheerful, innocent and lovely eldest lady quickly smiled again and happily told him about today's date arrangements.
The two walked towards the cinema.
In this busy urban street, there is an ordinary and intimate couple.
-
"By the way, did you tell her that we were going on a date today?"
After picking up the reserved ticket from the ticket gate and waiting in line at the food counter for the popcorn set, Ming Hai suddenly remembered something and asked the girl who was clinging to him obediently.
"Mr. Sushi?" Toyokawa Shoko raised her hand and rolled up the hair beside her ear, revealing half of her small pink ear. She said casually, "I happened to talk about you on the way to the club a few days ago, and I accidentally said it out loud."
Beautiful and bright sky blue hair, snow-white and delicate skin, pure and elegant dress, slender figure, exquisite and lovely facial features, and noble upbringing emanating from every gesture.
No matter what, the young lady should watch the movie alone on the big screen in a private cinema, instead of queuing up with ordinary people in an ordinary theater. She was accustomed to the curious glances from people around her, and her eyes were looking straight ahead calmly.
After looking at the men who were peeping at his teacher Xiaoxiang even though they were with their girlfriends, Ming Hai touched the girl's head, pinched the black ribbon on the edge of her hair between his fingertips and played with it casually, blatantly declaring his ownership.
The prying eyes suddenly decreased by half, and I successfully received a lot of envious and jealous looks.
——Haha, cool.
With a curled mouth, Ming Hai continued to tease: "How many times have you been careless... I call you a jealous person and you still don't admit it."
Toyokawa Shoko didn't notice his little action, but after hearing what he said, there was a hint of guilt in her eyes, and she didn't dare to turn her head to meet his amused gaze.
He just stuck out his neck and snorted stubbornly.
"Okay, then I'll be frank - I don't mean to show off to Su Shi, but since she asked me, there's no need for me to lie, right? Or do you not want Su Shi to know about our date?"
"Don't you have the right to choose whether to let her know or not? Why are you blaming me again?" Ming Hai rolled his eyes and said unhappily, "Instead, I want to ask you, what did you two say a month ago that made her act like a 'love strategist' and point fingers at our affairs?"
"Well...it's not what I said, but Su Shi-san..."
Toyokawa Shoko pursed her lips as if she was speechless, leaned back, and gently rested her head on his chest.
Like a hare hiding in the shade of a tree or a migratory bird finding the pier, his expression was clearly relieved, but a barely perceptible sigh still slipped out of his mouth.
"…I'm sorry, Narumi-kun, we agreed not to tell you."
What's the reason? Ming Hai subconsciously wanted to ask.
But after thinking about it, he shrugged his shoulders indifferently and said lightly: "It's a secret between girls, right?"
"You can think so."
"That goes without saying. Just as you trust me, I also trust that you won't do anything I don't like."
Based on his understanding of Nagasaki Suyo, the reasons why she couldn't tell him were probably just those few points, so there was really no need to ask specifically.
——Besides, if he really wanted to know, he felt it would be faster to ask Nagasaki Motoyo directly.
As long as you threaten her with not letting her into the house, you can probably even find out what color underwear she is wearing today, right?
But in front of Toyokawa Shoko, he no longer had the idea of getting to the bottom of things. If she didn't want to talk, there was no need to ask.
Anyway, as long as it doesn't interfere with the relationship between them, that's fine.
As if he was holding a doll, Ming Hai stretched out his arms and embraced her slender waist from behind.
As slender as a willow branch, or like a hot water bottle that has just been warmed up, the girl's slender but not thin body was completely pressed against his chest, allowing the heat from their skin to blend through the clothes and gradually heat up.
By now, Toyokawa Shoko has long been accustomed to such intimacy, and even took the initiative to snuggle into his arms, as if she were sinking into the highest-grade leather sofa, her eyes lazily closed, and her breathing soft and steady.
Her slender white fingers climbed up his forearm around his waist, unconsciously rubbing the soft and somewhat sexy veins that were vaguely protruding. She suddenly opened her eyes again and asked with some doubt:
"Narumi-kun, what is that hard thing behind me?"
Ming Hai calmly replied, "It's my phone. It's okay, I'll put it somewhere else."
Toyokawa Shoko seemed to understand something: "It was the same last time, could it be that..."
"You usually put your phone in your left pocket? But wouldn't it be inconvenient to put it in the middle when you walk?"
"...No, thank you for your concern."
While the two were chatting, as if hooked by the question, the fish of memories suddenly jumped out of the water.
Toyokawa Shoko couldn't help but recall what happened at Tsuki no Mori Academy about a month ago, the week after she and Ming Hai returned from the aquarium.
——It was the break between the second periods, with a fifteen-minute break.
Nagasaki Suyo invited her to the small pavilion behind the teaching building, saying that he had something important to tell her.
Skirt~
Volume 72: Chapter Chapter Nagasaki Suyo's Revenge
"Except for the time when I invited you to join the band, this seems to be the first time we have had such a formal face-to-face chat in school."
There was a cool breeze, and even in May when the temperature was gradually getting hotter, the pavilion covered by the shade of trees was still a bit chilly.
Toyokawa Shoko sat down, holding up her skirt, smiling brightly and looking directly at the brown-haired girl in front of her. Her voice was gentle but serious:
"You specially invited me to come out and talk to you in person during this time... Mr. Sushi, what you want to talk about is not only very important, but also not related to the orchestra, right?"
Simply put, it is a very important private matter.
"As expected of Xiangzi-chan, you are really smart."
Nagasaki Suyo also smiled, and gently pressed her palms down on her long hair that was blown by the wind. She looked as gentle and elegant as always.
Toyokawa Shoko couldn't help but slightly suppress her smile, and her hands hidden under the table unconsciously clenched slightly.
——There wasn't a hint of sincerity in that compliment, and for some reason the look in her eyes as she looked him up and down contained a hint of unpleasant pity and smile.
Is it an illusion?
Without waiting for her to think, Nagasaki Suyo continued, "If we really want to talk in detail, fifteen minutes may not be enough... So, please let me get straight to the point and make it short, Xiangzi-chan."
“…Well, please let me listen attentively, Suyo-san.”
Toyokawa Shoko's expression was tense, her back was straight, and she looked into her eyes seriously.
The air suddenly fell into dead silence.
It was as if the heavy atmosphere swallowed up all the sounds around them, and only the gazes of the two girls colliding in mid-air emitted a faint sound of sparks.
But that was just an illusion caused by the gradually clearer heartbeats of the two people.
Like the beating of drums on the battlefield, blowing the horn of war.
"I like Narumi."
Nagasaki Suyo spoke without question. She disregarded everyone's feelings and declared this in a condescending manner.
Toyokawa Shoko seemed to see her own angry expression as she bit her lips hard in those icy eyes.
——But in fact, her response and expression were so calm that the other party couldn't help but be stunned.
"I know, just like you know I like him."
The day the band was formed, they probably understood each other's feelings.
They clearly hadn't discussed it specifically, but they sent him similar messages at the same time... Doesn't that mean they were thinking similar things?
Therefore, what should be surprising is not this long-established fact, but...
"Mr. Sushi, why did you say that?"
Toyokawa Shoko sighed softly, helpless and a little sad: "I thought we had a tacit understanding, as long as we didn't say it out loud..."
"Nothing will change, right?" Nagasaki Suyo interrupted her, placed both hands solemnly on the table, and pointed her gaze like a knife. "In order for [CryCHIC] to continue to exist, and for us to continue to live in harmony in the band, we must act dumb in front of everyone and avoid everything related to Ming Hai... I think it's time to end this tacit understanding."
"Mr. Su Shi, you can hate me, but please don't take your anger out on [CryCHIC]." Toyokawa Shoko frowned in dissatisfaction.
"Ah, you seem to have misunderstood something, Xiangzi-chan." Nagasaki Suyo suddenly laughed, inexplicably giving people a feeling of ill intention, "I don't hate you, nor do I intend to vent my anger on the band. Rather, it is because I like [CryCHIC] and Xiangzi-chan very much that I specially asked you out to talk about these things~"
"What do you mean?" Toyokawa Shoko blinked in surprise and looked at her expression, but she couldn't tell the truth of her words from the subtle changes like she could with Ming Hai.
Nagasaki Suyo changed the subject at this time: "By the way, you two went on a date yesterday, right? And it seemed like you did something very intimate."
"..." After a brief silence, Toyokawa Shoko pursed her lips, and her eyes, which were always gentle and cheerful, finally showed a bit of unprecedented hostility.
"How did you know?"
"Of course it was Narumi who told me." Nagasaki Suyo smiled happily, and seemed to enjoy the change in her expression because of him, as if she had become a different person. "Ah~ I really want everyone to see Xiangzi-chan now. Especially Deng-chan, when Narumi hugged her, did you stare at Deng-chan like this? How scary~"
"I told you this..." Toyokawa Shoko took a deep breath, trying not to lose her composure and confront her with a confused attitude. Instead, she said coldly, "It seems that your relationship is more than just ordinary neighbors."
"I've told you before, we are very good friends. We go to school together every day and even eat together occasionally." Nagasaki Suyo tilted her head slightly, looking somewhat innocent, "Didn't Ming Hai tell you about me? How come you only know about it now?"
"Yeah... I asked him to take good care of you, but I didn't expect he would take care of you to this extent!"
At this point, Toyokawa Shoko couldn't help but grit her teeth. She always felt that she didn't bite hard enough yesterday. She should gnaw him all the way from the neck to the chest and leave her marks all over his body!
She was sulking and didn't realize that this sentence also dealt a critical blow to Nagasaki Suyo.
"...No, Ming Hai is not being so nice to me just because of you. Absolutely not, absolutely not..."
With her eyes shrouded in shadows, she repeated it several times in a low voice, hypnotizing herself with an expressionless face.
Toyokawa Shoko came back to her senses and saw her scary appearance. She couldn't help but ask with concern: "Mr. Sushi, are you okay?"
"...Ahem, sorry. I was distracted for a moment." Nagasaki Suyo raised her head, her right hand unconsciously kneading the joints of her left index finger, and said with a nonchalant smile, "After Ming Hai came back yesterday, she told me everything about your date. I didn't expect Xiangzi-chan to be so bold... This time it left a kiss mark, will it be a direct French kiss next time?"
Toyokawa Shoko was not embarrassed by this. Instead, she withdrew her concerned look and looked at her expressionlessly: "Is this all you want to say? Since you have already provoked me, I will excuse myself. I still have things to do."
Well, she was going to call someone right now and ask him to explain the whole matter of Su Shi from beginning to end - and let him know that her "heavy feelings" were not just talk.
"...Well, that's the revenge." Suddenly, Nagasaki Motoyo let out a long breath, and her superior appearance was like a mask that was taken off, revealing a helpless expression like a wry smile underneath. "It's really not easy to play a bad woman... Although I did feel relieved, I really don't want to play this kind of role again."
"……revenge?"
Toyokawa Shoko, who was about to get up and leave, looked at her in surprise as she suddenly relaxed and stopped confronting him.
"That's right, it's revenge." Nagasaki Suyo said with a smile, her tone a little more relieved, "This is your revenge for my failed confession... Congratulations, Xiangzi-chan."
"Congratulations, I...?" Toyokawa Shoko opened her mouth, but suddenly didn't know what to say, so she could only stare at her blankly.
Like a child who had pulled off a successful prank, Nagasaki Suyo began to explain in a cheerful tone.
"To put it simply...after you came back from your date, I confessed to Ming Hai."
"But unfortunately, because he couldn't think of anyone other than Xiangzi in his heart, he rejected me very straightforwardly... I asked him to tell me about your affairs so that I could die with a clear mind."
Volume 73: Chapter Chapter Even if we like the same person, we won't be rivals in love
The hustle and bustle of the campus in the distance was blurry, as if it were a world away.
Under the pavilion covered with shade from trees, the breeze was gentle, and only the sweet and gentle voice of the girl was spreading in this remote corner of the campus.
"Ming Hai, he is really a very gentle person..."
After telling Toyokawa Shoko roughly what they had talked about last night, Nagasaki Suyo lowered her brows and stroked her fingers as if she was worried. Her voice was as soft as the longing that could dissipate at any time:
"Even though he rejected my feelings, he didn't mean to stop associating with me... He said that as long as I didn't cross the line of friendship, he could pretend that he knew nothing and we could continue to get along as before, and nothing would change."
"He didn't even tell you about it in order not to affect my relationship with you and the band."
Toyokawa Shoko listened silently without questioning what she said.
Ming Hai is indeed such a person.
Whether it is towards classmate Deng or classmate Su Shi... he is always considerate and takes into account the girls' feelings, but at the same time keeps a suitable distance from them and does not flirt with other girls.
——After all, to him, the most special person is only me.
This thought became firm again, and the complaints against Ming Hai gradually dissipated like melting spring snow, leaving only a faint warmth flowing through his heart.
There's nothing I can do about it. It's not his fault that he's too popular...
Although I hope he can make more male friends, as long as he doesn't get along too well with girls, it won't be a problem even if he has a bunch of friends of the opposite sex who like him.
Judging from this alone, Toyokawa Shoko is still quite confident in him——
With Ming Hai's active confession, she believed that she knew his private life and interpersonal relationships better than anyone else, and there was really no room for any sense of uneasiness to grow.
She even refused to look at Ming Hai's phone and chat records, just to let him know: "You don't have to report everything to me. I trust you and am willing to respect your privacy."
