"What...eloquence?"
Horikita Manabu was lost again, thinking what does this have to do with your eloquence.
The next second, a mobile phone with a lit screen was handed to him, showing the chat messages from the past few days. There were only a few messages in total, and judging by the time, there was exactly one message per day, and all of them were in the "read but not replied" state.
Horikita Manabu only took a quick glance and his eyes changed slightly. There was an obvious change in the meaning of his gaze towards someone.
The meaning of this can be translated as - if Lingyin didn't come today, you would be at least 90% responsible.
"Hey, don't look at me like that. I'm just reminding her not to let her arrogance ruin her life." Wu Yi quickly clarified.
"……I know."
Horikita Manabu withdrew his gaze, and his expression did not change much.
"But Lingyin is not the kind of girl who will change her decision because of this factor. If she really doesn't intend to come and say goodbye to me, no matter what others say, it will be useless."
"Is there a possibility that your sister actually wanted to say goodbye to you, but she was troubled all night and couldn't sleep, so she overslept this morning."
Wu Yi said quietly.
"It doesn't mean your sister is a tsundere, so as a brother, you should also be a tsundere. If it were me, I would definitely call her right now and wake her up, regardless of whether she is sleeping in or doing something else."
"...If that's the case, then there's no need to wake her up." Horikita Manabu was silent for a moment and shook his head.
“I think it’s necessary, and it’s very necessary.”
Wu Yi said solemnly and was about to take out his cell phone to make a call.
But Horikita Manabu reached out his hand in time to block his finger that was about to click the dial button and sighed.
"I told you, Lingyin isn't the type to..."
Halfway through his words, Wu Yi waved his hand helplessly and interrupted him.
"Stop, stop, stop. How about this? Let's change the bet. I'll call her now. If she says she can't come or doesn't answer the phone, then you get on the bus and leave immediately. Is that okay?"
"Why should I..." Horikita Manabu couldn't argue with this guy.
"Your sister isn't coming anyway, so what are you waiting for here?"
"I just……"
"Then get in the car now."
Wu Yi pointed at the bus in the distance.
"Come on, don't waste time here. It's tiring to stand. Get in the car and sit down. Go, go quickly."
"..."
Horikita Manabu had no way to deal with this reckless guy and could only let go of his hand to show his compromise.
"Ha, that's right."
Raising his eyebrows as if in victory, Wu Yi turned up the call volume to the maximum and clicked the dial button.
beep--
Horikita Manabu was standing right next to him, and even without getting too close he could still hear the waiting tone on his phone.
It's strange to say, he has been able to hear this sound since he could remember, but he seemed to have never listened to it as carefully and seriously as this time, and every second seemed so long.
After all, deep down he was still expecting Lingyin to come and see him off.
However, the waiting tone sounded again and again, but the call was never connected.
Horikita Manabu breathed a sigh of relief, but no white mist condensed in the air.
Because the weather has turned warmer.
Finally, just when he was about to give up waiting, the waiting tone on Wu Yi's phone suddenly stopped.
Horikita Manabu's eyes focused for a moment, but to his disappointment, the latter just put down his phone, glanced at the screen, and then clicked his tongue.
Wu Yi looked at the call time that had already started counting down on the screen and sighed with pretended regret.
"What a shame! It looks like I lost this bet."
"I know, then I'm leaving."
Horikita Manabu didn't want to listen anymore, so he picked up his suitcase and turned to walk out of the school gate.
"Bye now……"
Before he could finish his words, the familiar voice of the girl came from the phone, panting.
"Are you...are you at the school gate? I'll be there soon!"
"!?"
Horikita Manabu stopped in his tracks for a moment, and looked back in astonishment at a guy who looked as if it had nothing to do with him.
Wu Yi spread his hands.
"A surprising parting gift, right?"
Volume 320: Chapter : No Longer Chasing the Sister Behind Me
"elder brother--!"
This shout came from behind the two of them five seconds after Horikita Manabu was stunned.
The expression on his face had not yet fully recovered, and Horikita Manabu subconsciously turned his head to look.
Then he showed an even more surprised expression.
Under the golden sunlight shining directly down at noon in spring, the beautiful but freezing girl as usual was waving her hands and running towards the school gate.
However, the difference is that according to Wu Yi's impression, Horikita Suzune should be a girl with long straight black hair, but what caught her eyes was short hair that just reached her shoulders, with a small braid next to her bangs as an embellishment.
Image: "Short hair ringtone 1", location: "Images/"
Image: "Short hair ringtone 2", location: "Images/"
"That is……"
Horikita Manabu murmured subconsciously.
[What is that? Do you mean she cut her hair short? ]
Wu Yi wanted to ask this, but now was obviously not a suitable opportunity. He smiled silently and stepped aside, leaving the space to the brother and sister.
Horikita Suzune had apparently run all the way from a place about as far away as the dormitory building to the school gate, panting and gasping for breath.
But she managed to catch up in the end.
"I'm late, sorry..."
Barely controlling her breathing, the girl stopped in front of Horikita Manabu and bowed her head sincerely to admit her mistake.
'Why are you late?'
This is usually the answer.
But this time, Horikita Manabu did not say such seemingly cold and harsh words. He just looked at his sister who had tried her best to come to him in a daze, and muttered something.
"Lingyin, you seem to have changed."
"Have I...really changed?"
Horikita Suzune subconsciously touched her hair which she had just cut less than half an hour ago.
Horikita Manabu shook his head slightly.
"No, just correct the wording a little bit, Suzune, you're back to your old self."
That’s right, it’s not a change or improvement based on the original basis, but a return to the origin, the most original origin.
She turned back into the Horikita Suzune who had not yet blindly followed her brother and radiated her own unique brilliance.
Of course, Wu Yi, who only met the other person after coming to this school, definitely didn't know.
But for Horikita Manabu, who has always strongly resisted his sister blindly following him and hoped that his sister could be himself, this is simply the best graduation gift.
"A year, no...it took me several years to find myself again."
Horikita Suzune adjusted her breathing and spoke slowly.
"Why couldn't I find myself earlier... It's useless now no matter how much I regret it."
"So what are you thinking about now?"
Horikita Manabu took a step forward, and for the first time took the initiative to shorten the distance between him and his sister.
"I don't know. How should I put it... To be honest, I'm still a little confused."
Horikita Suzune hesitated and continued to speak incoherently.
"But, there is only one thing I must make clear. I... have always been chasing after my brother, but now I no longer exist in this world."
puff~
Wu Yi, who was sitting on the flower bed not far away, leisurely eating melons and watching the show, was amused by the complicated conversation between the brother and sister.
You don't exist in this world, it sounds like you are dead, O Moses Roy.
However, Horikita Manabu obviously didn't think so. He looked at his sister, who could only look up at him because of her height, and pursed his lips slightly.
"So, now that you're no longer chasing me, what are you going to do?"
"I……"
Horikita Suzune took a deep breath.
"I have stopped chasing after others. I am going to find my own path. In order to find my own path, I will study and improve together with my friends in this school."
Horikita Manabu didn't comment or respond immediately, but the raised arc at the corner of his mouth clearly stated everything.
"I see. Finally, you really have... turned back into the old you who still lingers in the corner of my memory."
he continued.
"I have always been very cold to you. Do you know what the most important reason is?"
"What... is it?" Horikita Suzune was a little confused.
"Because I cherish you very much."
Horikita Manabu stared at his sister and spoke with a more serious tone than ever before.
"Secondly, when you were very young, I felt that you had great talent, Suzune. Although you were still immature, you still radiated the brilliance of a rough stone. I expected that this rough stone would experience the desert and eventually have the ability to surpass me... However, you were trapped by the illusion of 'me'. You arbitrarily concluded that you were worse than me and felt that you could never surpass me. Therefore, you ignored your own growth and only regarded the goal of 'catching up with me' as your final destination. This is the only thing I cannot forgive no matter what."
Chasing after his brother and wanting to stand shoulder to shoulder with him is not a bad thing. In some ways, it can be said to be a great goal.
But in other words, for the younger sister who has more talent than her brother, this goal has become her limiter.
He could have seen the scenery farther away, but because of himself, he gave up moving forward halfway, as if he had stopped at the terminal... In the final analysis, what Horikita Manabu could not forgive was the consequences he had caused.
"Go and become stronger and gentler than anyone else. If that's you now, I'm sure there won't be any problems."
Horikita Manabu said gently.
"Lingyin, I will wait for you outside the main gate in two years. Let me see how you have grown up by then."
"Well, I will do my best... and fight till the very end."
"By the way, there is one more thing I have kept from you for several years. I must apologize to you."
"Apologize……?"
Horikita Suzune looked bewildered.
"Correct."
Horikita Manabu nodded slightly.
"I once said that I like long hair, that was a lie I blurted out casually."
“Eh? Is, is that so!?”
Horikita Suzune exclaimed in surprise.
"I told you that lie in order to confirm whether you would still keep your hair long even if it meant losing your personality, but you, who have always liked short hair, listened to my lie seriously." Horikita Manabu said while stroking his sister's head.
This is also why when they met again in this school, Horikita Manabu treated his sister, who had been following him, with disappointment.
The moment he saw that long hair, he knew that Horikita Suzune had not made any progress, and he didn't even need to check on his sister's academic and sports performance.
