Chapter 32 Section 32

Starting from Wednesday, for three days in a row, Naoko barely talked to him. She didn’t come home until after 9 o’clock every day. Immediately after arriving home, she locked herself in the room, and did not leave the room except to go to the bathroom and toilet. The phone rang only once on Wednesday night, and neither Thursday nor Friday.Maybe Naoko said something to Soma. On the first day of the campus cultural festival, that is, early in the morning on Saturday, Naoko suddenly came to Heisuke's bedroom.Hirasuke was still wrapped in bed at that time. "Here you are." She said, placing a piece of paper beside Hirasuke's pillow.

He picked up the piece of paper, rubbed his sleepy eyes and looked at it.A few words were typed on the pink paper with a computer: "Do you want to enjoy a wonderful video while holding a drink in one hand? We are looking forward to your arrival. ——Coffee Cinema" There is also a map of the school under the slogan. "What does it mean?" "If you are interested, come and take a look." "Do you want me to go?" "As I said, if you're interested, come here. I'm leaving." After speaking, Naoko left Heisuke's bedroom. Heisuke sat up cross-legged on the quilt, staring at the leaflet for a long time.

He wants to go.He really wanted to see Naoko's campus life with his own eyes.Thinking about it carefully, he hadn't seen Naoko outside much before. However, he didn't want to go.In fact, he was a little scared. It wasn't that he was afraid to see Naoko having trouble at school.Now he doesn't worry about it at all.What he was afraid of was just the opposite.He was terrified to see that Naoko was now fully integrated with everyone, not only physically, but also mentally, like a high school girl.He was afraid that when he saw this scene, he would feel a sense of loss, loneliness and anxiety.

In the end, instead of going to school, Hirasuke spent the day in indecision.Naoko came home around 8:00 p.m. and didn't say anything about why he didn't come to school, not even how the cultural festival was going. The next day, Naoko left the house without saying a word.She probably felt that Hirasuke would not go anyway.Hirasuke really couldn't make up his mind.In the morning he has been lying in bed reading magazines, in the afternoon he began to watch golf and baseball live TV.The baseball league in the upper half has come to an end. What finally made him decide to take a look was the picture of a famous restaurant shown on TV.A couple of actors and actresses were there tasting the restaurant's signature dish.

Last night, Heisuke's dinner table had food again after a few days, but it was all lettuce that Naoko bought from the underground food supermarket in the shopping mall.It is estimated that I will still eat those things tonight.If he went to the school cultural festival, he and Naoko could eat out on the way back. It was already past 2 pm, and the leaflet stated that the cultural festival would end at 5 pm.He quickly made preparations to go out. This is the first time Heisuke has come to Naoko's school since the results were announced.The atmosphere of the school is completely different from that time.The school gate is full of colorful signboards, and posters are posted everywhere on the walls of the campus.The biggest change is the students.On the day when the results were announced, there were still a few childish faces, but now such faces can no longer be found.

There are also many people who look like parents of students walking around the campus.However, they don't seem to have much interest in the cultural festival.They seem to come to the school just to test the school environment. The classroom doors of Class Two in Grade Two were decorated with colored cardboard boxes and colored paper.A girl wearing an apron smiled sweetly when she saw Heisuke, "Welcome!" "Ah, may I ask..." Heisuke scratched his scalp while looking inside.Many desks were put together to form several larger tables, surrounded by seats.There seemed to be a lot of "customers" gathered inside.The back of the classroom is separated by a baffle, and the situation behind cannot be seen.I guess the back is the kitchen.There is also a boxy opening on the baffle, through which girls with trays come in and out.

"Excuse me, is Sugita Sami here?" "Ah, you are Sugita-san's father, right?" the girl in the apron asked, blinking. "right." "Ah, it's terrible." As soon as she finished speaking, she turned and ran away, disappearing behind the baffle. Immediately afterwards, Naoko came out from inside.She also wore an apron like the girl just now, and her long hair was tied back like a ballerina. "Why are you here today?" Naoko asked calmly.There is no particularly happy expression, nor does it look very unhappy. "Ah, I kind of want to take a look."

"yes……" She took him to a seat by the window.The VCR was right next to him.There are four video recorders in total, all of which are connected to the TV through a video transcription device.Hirasuke imagined how difficult it would be to carry these things. "What are you drinking?" Naoko asked. "Ah, yes, what would you like to drink, let's have a cup of coffee." "Coffee, right?" Naoko quickly turned and left, disappearing behind the fender.Heisuke noticed that her school uniform skirt was much shorter than usual.The hostesses in the nightclub also wore such short skirts. Heisuke didn't know how she made the school uniform skirts so short, but was worried that her panties would be exposed when she bent down.

Videos taken by the high school students themselves were continuously shown on the TV, but they were all boring scenes.A group of crows and cats are looking for food in the garbage dump, and there are lines used by Kansai local ruffians at the bottom of the screen, which makes people feel a little funny. "Interesting?" Naoko came back with a tray of coffee in a paper cup. "The spoof is quite interesting." "This is what the boys put in a lot of hard work to do." Naoko sat down beside him, poured some milk from a small container of milk into the coffee cup, stirred it lightly, Put the coffee mug in front of him.

Heisuke took a sip of the coffee and felt it was a bit sweet, which may be the reason why he was in a slightly better mood than before. "Did you do all of these yourself?" Heisuke asked while looking at the colored paper and balloons hanging on the walls and windows. "Of course. Although it's not very good, it took a lot of time." "It can be seen." Ping Jie nodded.Now it's not difficult for Hirasuke to understand why Naoko came back so late for several days in a row. A few faces poked out from behind the baffle, secretly looking towards Heisuke.When Hirasuke looked there, several faces retracted again.

"I seem to be getting a lot of attention." "Maybe they were surprised. They didn't expect my father to come. I basically didn't mention anything about my family in school." "yes?" "You think, I can't tell them the truth, can I? But lying is a very painful thing." Hirasuke also understood her thoughts, and lowered his head to take a sip of coffee. "The cultural festival ends at 5 o'clock, right?" "yes." "Then let's go out to eat together. It's been a long time since we went out to eat together. Let's find a place when your activities are over." I thought Naoko would be happy to hear this, but she showed a troubled expression. "The cultural festival itself ends at 5 o'clock, but there are still many things to do after that." "There are many things?" "Such as cleaning up the classroom, bonfire party, etc..." "Where is the bonfire party?" It was only then that Hirasuke remembered the existence of such activities.For him, the bonfire party has long been a long-standing memory. "Then you're coming back very late?" "I guess it won't be that late. But the time is not sure yet, so..." "I see." "I'm sorry." Naoko lowered her head. "Ah, it's okay, then I'll buy you some sushi tonight. In that case, if Naoko comes back hungry, she can eat right away." Naoko nodded slightly, leaned into his ear and whispered, "Don't call me Naoko." "Ah, I forgot, sorry." At this time, the girl wearing an apron came over: "Sanami, excuse me." "What's wrong?" "I ran out of coffee filters." "Sure enough, it's not enough. Then use paper towels instead." "But we don't know how to use it." "I really can't help you." Naoko stood up and disappeared behind the fender with the girl in the apron. Heisuke also stood up, walked to the front of the baffle, and looked inside.A few girls were making sandwiches, and others were peeling fruit for juice.Naoko cut the paper towels, and then began to teach a few people around her how to use the paper towels with the coffee machine.Although there is not much difference in their ages from the outside, in Heisuke's eyes, she looks like their mother at this time. He was about to return to his seat when he suddenly found a boy standing next to him.The boy was tall and his face was tanned with sharp angles.Hirasuke thought he was just a student who had nothing to do with him at first, but the student followed him until he returned to his seat and sat down. "Excuse me..." the boy spoke. As soon as he heard his voice, Hirasuke felt a violent uneasiness.He had heard this voice before. "Are you Sugita-san's father?" "I am." Hirasuke's voice was hoarse.He felt that the blood in his whole body was flowing backwards, and his body was heating up rapidly. "I was so sorry a few days ago. I'm Soma from the tennis club." The boy stood there and bowed his head after speaking. "Ah..." Hirasuke didn't know how to respond for a while.When he was about to say something again, he noticed that there were many eyes watching them. "First..." Heisuke said, "Let's sit down and talk." Soma agreed and sat down opposite Heisuke. Heisuke looked at the baffle in confusion, but his eyes met Naoko's.Naoko was looking at the screen.Surprise was also written on her face, it seemed that she was not the one who called Xiangma here. "I called your house several times at night, I'm so sorry!" Soma bowed his head again. "Did Sami Nami tell you anything?" "Yes, she said that you have to get up early every day, so it is not convenient to call at night." "Oh." Now Hirasuke understood why there was no phone call for the next two days. "I'm so sorry!" "Ah, it's okay. I'm not too angry." After being apologized in front of the other party, Hirasuke had no choice but to react like this. "It's really that good." The boy showed a slightly relieved look on his face. "Did you come here just to say that?" "That's right. A schoolgirl told me that Sugita-san's father is here." "That's right." Heisuke thought about what was going on in his heart.Why did his school girl run to inform him?Doesn't this simply show that he and Naoko are a recognized couple? "Then I'll take my leave." After Soma finished speaking, he stood up, "Goodbye." "Ah, goodbye." At this time, Heisuke noticed that Souma gestured towards the back of the classroom, moved the corners of his mouth as if to convey some signal, smiled and left the classroom.You don't need to look at Hirasuke to know who he is smiling at. Immediately after Soma left, Naoko came to Heisuke and asked in a low voice, "What did he come to ask you for?" Ping Jie recounted the conversation just now, and then added: "It's like a scene in a youth drama." Half of the voice was ironic, and half was his true feeling. "It's still kind of provocative." "That guy simply regards himself as the hero!" "How is it possible! Stop talking nonsense!" she said without moving her lips. Suddenly the bell rang outside, and there was a broadcast that the cultural festival would end in 15 minutes.There were sighs all around. Ping Jie stood up: "Then I'll go back first." "Be careful on the road. I'm glad you're here." "Don't make it too late!" After speaking, Ping Jie left the classroom. It was not yet 5 o'clock when he walked out of the school gate, and Heisuke felt that he didn't really want to go home directly, so he got on the tram and came to Shinjuku.He visited the large electrical appliance store first, and then planned to visit the bookstore.However, when he saw a man and a woman coming out of the electrical appliance store, he stopped immediately. The two looked like high school students.The boy has long hair and the girl wears heavy makeup, but both seem to be wearing school uniforms.Boys put their arms around girls' shoulders, and girls hug boys' waists.They didn't seem to care that this was a public place, and their faces were so close, it seemed that their lips would meet at any time. Heisuke suddenly felt that those two people had become Naoko and Haruki Soma, and immediately got goosebumps all over his body. For a moment, Soma Haruki's expression before leaving the classroom flashed in his mind.He suddenly understood the message Soma was sending Naoko with his lips. See you later! —He must have meant that.That's right, that's what it means!As if recalling a scene in a movie, he accurately recalled the movement of Soma's lips. What exactly does "see you later" mean, and what will happen between them?Thinking of this, Hirasuke made waves in his heart.As if he had something urgent to do, he turned around and walked towards the station. He kept asking himself along the way, what on earth are you doing?But it just never stopped.When he came back to his senses, he found himself standing in front of the school gate. The sun had completely set.If it is usual, the whole school should be in tranquility.However, today is different. There are still a large number of students on campus, and the sound of music and singing comes from nowhere, which should belong to that kind of light music. Heisuke walked through the school gate and ran to the playground, and the bonfire could be seen in front of him.The campfire was surrounded by students, some standing and some sitting, with different postures. A simple stage was set up in the corner of the playground, and a band composed of several people was playing on the stage.Singing on stage was a girl in a sleek black dress that reflected the light of a campfire.Although she looks very mature, there is no doubt that she should be a student of this school. Ping Jie couldn't help feeling that today's Lihuo party is very different from his time.He had imagined all singing and dancing around the campfire. There seemed to be no off-campus personnel on the playground, but no one cared about Heisuke's arrival, firstly because it was too dark around, and secondly because everyone's attention was on the performance. Heisuke looked for Naoko in the crowd as he moved his feet as if he was picking through the vegetation in the jungle.Fortunately for the girls, many boys are taller than Hirasuke, and once they walk among them, they can't see anything around them. At this time, the band's playing style changed.The songs I sang before have always been relatively slow, but now they suddenly become full of speed and rhythm.At the same time, the students in the audience reacted accordingly. The people who were sitting just now stood up now, and almost all of them jumped and clapped their hands. With so many young people moving all at once, Hirasuke couldn't help feeling the illusion of thin air.Panting for breath, he continued to crawl through the crowd. Accidentally, Hirasuke tripped over something under his feet.It must be someone's foot.After a stagger, he put his hands on the ground.So, he simply crawled forward.The flying dust covered his face.Probably because of the distance from the stage, there are fewer and fewer students around.He was very close to the campfire in the middle of the playground.He stood up, wiped the dust off his body, and raised his head. At this moment, his eyes caught Naoko's figure. She was standing a few meters away from the bonfire, facing Heisuke sideways.She didn't keep time with the clapping, but kept her eyes on the stage. Beside her, Hirasuke also found the figure of Soma Haruki.The distance between the two people was less than one meter. For a moment, Hirasuke seemed to see their hands holding each other.This is just his psychological function.Naoko kept her hands folded in front of her body. The other students were swaying non-stop, only Naoko and Soma remained motionless, as if frozen in this time and space. Hirasuke couldn't move at all, and couldn't make any sound. The flames of the bonfire burned higher and higher, and the faces of Naoko and Soma turned red.As the flame danced, the shadows of the two people also swayed.