Chapter 20 Section 20

The exhaled breath turned white.Heisuke put his hands in his coat pockets, and walked up and down in small steps.Not because of the cold, but because of excitement. He never expected to experience such a scene so early.According to his initial estimation, at least Sami Nami should have experienced such a thing when she was in high school. Look around, most of them are parents and children together.Those parents seem to be very rich and highly educated.Their kids also seem to be very smart.Hirasuke couldn't help worrying, would Naoko be the only one who failed the exam? At this time, a pack of facial tissues was handed to him.Naoko, wearing red gloves, said to him, "The snot is coming out."

"Ah." Hirasuke took out a tissue to wipe his nose, and seeing that there was no trash can around, he stuffed the tissue into his coat pocket. "You are quite calm." "It's useless to be nervous at this time, anyway, the result has already come out." "That's true." "Besides," Naoko continued after nodding her head, "it should be fine." "You are so confident." "If I fail the exam, no one will, absolutely!" "So, if you don't pass the exam, the responsibility should be entirely on me. It's all because I said the wrong lines during the interview."

When Hirasuke was asked by the school why he chose this school, he fluently said several reasons he had prepared in advance.He has been playing well before.But when he made the final summary, he accidentally said, "So I decided on this school after discussing with my daughter" instead of "Discussing with my wife".The interviewer immediately showed a surprised expression.They knew in advance that there were only father and daughter in the Sugita family. "It's not a big deal." "Really?" "Maybe it'll help a lot. You know, this school has celebrity allergies."

"Celebrity allergies?" "It's just that there is no resistance to famous people, such as writers and artists." "So what?" "Dad's wrong words will remind them that we were the victims of the famous traffic accident. That way, they will not have the heart to let me fail. And, they may care about the media attention." "Is there such a good thing?" "In short, it won't have negative effects, don't worry!" Naoko patted Heisuke's arm with a "slap". Today is the day when the private middle school she applied for announced the results.The test was conducted yesterday.Naoko's expression was completely the same before and after the exam.After the exam, she only said to Hirasuke, "Prepare the tuition for me."

The admission notice was finally posted on the bulletin board.A piece of paper with numbers densely written in black pen.The surrounding parents and children all gathered around. Heisuke widened his eyes and searched for the examination number that Naoko had told him.Her test number is 236, two three makes six, and she can memorize it all at once by applying the math nine-nine song. "Found it." Naoko said, her tone as if it had nothing to do with her. "Hey, where is it?" "Where are you looking! It's on the left." He looked in the direction of her finger, and sure enough, he found the number 236.

"Ah, really, I saw it, I saw it! Oh, isn't this admitted!" Heisuke made a triumphant gesture. "I told you it's all right. Hurry up and go home after completing the admission procedures." Naoko turned around and took a big step. While chasing after her, Hirasuke savored another mood.If it was the real Sami Nami who qualified, and Naoko was beside her as a real Naoko, maybe she would cry with joy. It seems that she has changed a little bit, Heisuke thought. After completing the admission procedures, the two came to Kichijoji.The middle school that Naoko was admitted to this time was near Kichijoji.After that, the two went shopping again.After shopping, we went to eat together again.

"It's been a long time since the two of us went to an authentic French restaurant together?" Naoko said excitedly as she sat across the table. "When you said that, I remembered that since Sami Nami was born, we have been eating home-cooked restaurants." "That kid likes to eat hamburger patties." Heisuke drank red wine.When the drink was about halfway down, Naoko asked for a drink too. "Didn't you not drink before?" "Yeah, but I don't know why, but I really want to drink now. Maybe it's because my body is different from before. We can't drink alcohol at the other end of the house, but now I have my father's genetic factors, so I can drink too .”

"But you are still a primary school student." "I'm already a middle school student!" After she finished speaking, she picked up the wine glass, stretched it towards Heisuke, and poured some for me. " "I didn't see it." Heisuke poured a small amount of red wine into the big glass while paying attention to his surroundings. Not knowing where she learned it, Naoko gently shook the cup under her nose, pretending to be smelling the aroma of wine.After that, she moistened her throat with the red liquid in the cup, but immediately showed an expression as if she had eaten a plum.

"How is it?" Hiroshi asked. "not sweet." "Of course, it's not juice." "However—" She took another sip, smacking her mouth as if savoring it carefully, "I'm still used to drinking it." "yes?" Eventually Naoko drank one-third of the remaining half-bottle. The two hailed a taxi in front of the restaurant.Naoko fell asleep on the way.Looks like the red wine is still working.Judging from the actual performance, she does have a certain resistance to alcohol.Staring at her cheek, Heisuke had an incredible feeling for a moment: the woman in front of her was Naoko at heart, but her own blood was truly flowing in her body.

It was past 9pm when I got home.Heisuke carried Naoko up to the second floor.Although it took a lot of effort, he still changed her pajamas and let her lie flat on the bed.She didn't know whether it was talking in sleep or drinking, but she kept saying "Heisuke, I'm sorry. Heisuke, I'm sorry." Not long after lying down, she let out even breathing. Hirasuke came to the bathroom and took a full bath to warm up his body.After emerging from the bathroom, he opened another can of beer while watching the sports news.The training situation of the Giants is being reported on the TV.

Before going to sleep, Heisuke came to Naoko's room to take another look.Naoko was sleeping soundly hugging the quilt.He put the quilt back on Naoko, turned off the light, and left the room. Back in the bedroom, Heisuke got into the quilt and closed his eyes.But he didn't feel sleepy at all, and immediately turned on the lamp by the bed.There was a series of pocket books next to the desk lamp, and he had just stretched his hand halfway over it before retracting it.He had finished reading that mystery novel the day before yesterday.Next to it is a bookshelf, but there are no books on it that he wants to read right now. He lay face down on the bed, resting his chin on the pillow, staring blankly at the grid in the tatami.The straw mats were green when they first moved in, but now they have completely turned brown under the sunlight.Time has indeed passed since then, and will continue to pass.It is estimated that the brown color of the straw mat will become stronger and stronger, and I will also grow older. A sudden and inexplicable loneliness hit Hirasuke's heart.He felt that he was walking alone in a dark tunnel with no end in sight.Naoko who was walking with him before is gone, only her voice can be heard.She is already walking in another world, and only herself is walking in this world. At the same time, he also developed a feeling of resentment.I became a victim of an unreasonable incident.Where is my life?Will I go on like this all the time? ... Heisuke stretched out his right hand from under the quilt, and pulled out a book called "Quality Management" from the bottom of the bookshelf.This is a very professional book.Of course, he didn't want to read the book right now.He opened the book, and there was a photo inside.He took out the photo. Hashimoto Takeko was smiling at him.This was secretly photographed by him on the day of the sports meeting. Heisuke stretched his hand between his thighs. He couldn't help thinking, couldn't he be in love?You also have the right to fall in love!I have nothing now, no wife, no object to share my sexual joy with.What I have is only a distorted fate. While looking at Hashimoto Takeko's face, Heisuke desperately imagined some obscene images.He wants to masturbate. But he was unsuccessful, so he gave up, put the photo back in the book, and buried his face in the pillow. In the haze, Hirasuke suddenly felt a bit of coolness around him.He opened his eyes and found Sami Nami's face in front of him.Under the light of the desk lamp, she was looking at Heisuke and smiling. "Sorry for waking you up," Naoko said. "what time is it now?" "3 o'clock in the middle of the night." "what happened?" "I don't know what happened. I woke up suddenly, and then I couldn't fall asleep again. How long did I sleep?" "You started sleeping in the taxi, and it's been more than 6 hours now." Heisuke yawned as he said. "I feel like I haven't slept so soundly for a long time. Although I was able to sleep almost 6 hours a day before." "That's because you relaxed after the exam." "Maybe." Naoko leaned over and pressed her face against Heisuke's chest.It was the face of his daughter, the face of the daughter he had loved and protected for a long time. She stared at Heisuke's face motionlessly, as if she was thinking deeply about something.Does she have something important to confess to herself?Thinking of this, Hirasuke's body stiffened. But her eyes suddenly turned upward.Then, she held out her hand. "What is this? You still watch this before going to bed?" It is the book "Quality Management".He forgot to put it back on the bookshelf.This is too bad, he secretly groaned in his heart. She flicked through the book, but Hirasuke didn't know which page she saw. "Why is it all data?" "Yeah, don't you think it's boring?" As soon as Hirasuke finished speaking, Naoko's expression froze, her lips parted, and her eyes focused on a point in the book. She must have found a photo of Hashimoto Takeko.In an instant, various excuses flashed through Hirasuke's mind - I don't even remember when this photo was taken, and it was supposed to be given to her, but I accidentally forgot it; There is no bookmark on the head, so I used it as a bookmark... But none of these excuses came in handy in the end.Naoko closed the book without saying anything. After about a minute of this, the smile returned to her face. "I'm sorry for waking you up when you were sound asleep." "Are you going back to your room?" "OK, good night." "Good night." After Naoko went out, Heisuke looked at the book next to his pillow. Although "Quality Management" was co-authored, about half a centimeter was exposed in the corner of the photo. Heisuke put the book back on the shelf and turned off the desk lamp.