Chapter 8 scene four

In mid-June, the rain gradually increased.The dry plum rain forecast made by the Meteorological Bureau has once again deviated.Although there is no hope in the first place, people who play tennis as the only pleasure during their lunch break will definitely complain. It has been raining lightly since morning, and it finally stopped before noon.Staring out the window, I figured those guys with itchy hands would be rushing to the court right after lunch. "In short, it's spectacular. Although I can't comment on the specifics, it is simply epoch-making. Maybe it can be called a major discovery that subverts the common sense of the Reality discipline."

A researcher of the 'Memory Processing Research Group' said in an excited tone.His name is Shinozaki, and he is a boy who joined the company at the same time as Mayuko.Yanase, who was talking to him, also just joined the company this year. "Don't be a fool, tell me, what is the discovery?" Yanase urged. "I want to say it, but I can't publish it without further confirmation. I have nothing to say until then." "What, it's still something that is not worth looking forward to after getting it." "Who said that, it's really amazing, anyway, you will know later." Shinozaki was a little annoyed.

"Is it tampering with the memory?" I interjected from the sidelines.Perhaps because he didn't expect me to listen carefully, Shinozaki looked a little surprised, and then nodded abruptly. "Indeed, Tsuruga, you are really clear." "I heard Zhiyan mentioned not long ago that you seem to have different memories from elementary school." "Well, that's right. But there was a breakthrough after that." "Oh? It's amazing" Shinozaki seemed to want to continue talking about the research results, but then he realized that he had an obligation to keep silent, so he ended it hastily with a smile.

"For the details, Miwa and Sudou will announce to everyone in the future." Just at this time, there was a knock on the door. I opened the door and saw that it was Zhiyan.He looked at Shinozaki first, and Shinozaki immediately stood up from the chair and made a loud noise. "Have the materials brought to the brain research been sorted out?" "Well, it's a little bit worse" "Then can you finish it quickly? I hope to have the analysis results within this week" "Ah, yes, yes." Shinozaki saluted me and slipped away from Tomohiko.And Chihiko walked in with a wry smile.

"As long as you don't pay attention, this guy will be lazy. It's really troublesome." "But judging from his self-righteous tone, you seem to be very confident in the research results." I said, looked at Yanase, and he nodded with a smile. "His shortcoming is that he talks too fast," Zhi Yan said, and sat down beside me. "What about you? Is the progress going well?" He glanced at the documents spread out on the desk. "It's an upward spiral" "Heh" Chihiko nodded. I could see from his expression that he seemed to have something to say.At this time, apart from the two of us, Yanase was beside me.I said to Yanase, "Can you go to the reference room once and help me find the materials I need for the next study meeting? You can go directly to dinner at noon."

Perhaps sensing my intentions, Yanase left the room without saying a word. "So, what are you going to say?" I asked Tomohiko when it was just the two of us left in the room. Chihiko moved the chair a little closer to me. "I have something to discuss with you." His eyes were bloodshot. "About her?" "Yes." Zhiyan scratched his head embarrassedly, hesitated for a while, and spoke. "It's her birthday next month, and I'm thinking about what to give her" I didn't know how to respond to his words.It turned out to be a discussion about this, so I couldn't help but find it funny.But then I was a little sad, he has no experience with girls at this age, and of course he can't even talk about giving girls gifts.

"What's the date next month?" "tenth" I glanced at the calendar on the wall, the tenth was Friday, and on the weekend, they might plan to spend the night out after dinner.No, he must have planned that in his heart.Thinking of this, the sympathy he had for Zhiyan just now turned into jealousy in a blink of an eye, and at the same time, there was anxiety in his heart. "It must be better to give jewelry," Zhiyan said, as if he didn't notice the fluctuations in my heart at all. "Anything is fine, she will be very happy no matter what you give"

"That's what I said, but I still think it would be better to give her something she likes as much as possible." "Aren't you giving me a problem?" "She seems to like things like rings and brooches." Chihiko folded his arms. As soon as I heard the brooch, that scene immediately flashed back in my mind.On the day Chihiko had a cold and asked for leave, when she went to visit him with Mayuko, she saw a metal jade brooch on the way, showing that she wanted it very much.If he told Zhiyan this, he would definitely buy this for her without thinking. "Hey, Chongshi, what should I do?"

"Earrings or something would be nice" I said, "she has short hair, they should be good for earrings" "Earrings are pretty good, but it takes a lot of work to choose." "You can ask the clerk to recommend a few for you, tell him your budget, and then it all depends on your feeling." "I don't know anything about it, but it's still worth a try." Zhiyan stared into the distance, as if thinking about which store to go to. "Is that all you want to discuss with me?" "No, there is one more thing" said, Chihiko straightened his glasses, and his expression changed. "About my room key, Chongshi, do you have one?"

"Well, I took a handful, your mother asked me to" I replied, actually already had a premonition of what Zhiyan was going to say. "Did you bring that key today?" "No, no, in my room" I lied, the key is now on my key ring, in the right pocket of my trousers. "You want to take it back?" "Well, but it's not in a hurry..." He pushed his glasses again, and the roots of his ears were also red. I tried to be natural and gave him a teasing look. "Just tell the truth, are you going to give it to her?" "No..." Zhiyan tried to deny it, but then laughed sheepishly, "Actually, that's what I meant, but I haven't told her yet."

"Has your relationship developed to this extent?" "No, I want to use this as an opportunity." "Opportunity?" "Yeah." He lowered his head, then raised his head to look at me again, the smile on his face disappeared, and his eyes became serious. "I want to develop a further relationship with her" "Huh" I replied vaguely, but I could understand what he meant.At the same time, I am sure that there is no physical contact between him and Mayuko.Zhiyan is a virgin, I guess, because of this, he should take twice as much courage as others to take this first step.Therefore, he wants to take this opportunity to embolden himself, and I deeply understand. "I see. I will return it to you as soon as possible. It is indeed very difficult for you to be held by me." I said, my tone became stiff unconsciously.I don't know how Zhiyan understood this, but his expression was a little flustered. "It's not urgent, just bring it here if you remember." "I'd better take a note" I was looking for my laptop when the lunch break bell rang.At the same time, there was a knock on the door, please come in, Chihiko responded. "Ah, you are indeed here." Mayuko walked in, "Let's go have lunch." "Okay, let's go together, Chongshi." Zhiyan patted my shoulder and stood up.It may be because I have been talking about her just now, and my voice is a bit unnatural. What I ate today was not the bento made by Mayuko, but the set meal from the cafeteria.It's not tasty, but it's easier for me. "According to Shinozaki, your progress is very fast. What's the real situation?" I asked Chihiko after finishing the hamburger set meal.At this time, he still had half of the hamburger left, and after swallowing a piece in his mouth, he tilted his head. "How should I put it, there is nothing to comment at this stage. In short, no results that can explain the problem have been obtained so far." "But from Shinozaki-kun's tone, it doesn't seem to be the case." "So he's exaggerating, right?" Tomohiko sought Mayuko's approval.She suddenly stopped her hand scooping up the soup, looked at me, then at Zhiyan, with a smile on the corner of her mouth, she couldn't tell whether it was affirmation or denial. "This guy Zhiyan must have concealed the research results." After seeing the expressions of the two, I suddenly felt this way.When the three of us were chatting together last month, he was obviously so excited to say that the prospects were beginning to be optimistic, but now he speaks surprisingly cautiously.Maybe it's not because the research has stagnated, but because it's reached a stage where it can't be revealed casually.Sure enough, as I expected, after walking out of the cafeteria, Zhiyan suddenly started talking about the latest TV series and favorite music, with no coherence at all. While waiting for the elevator, he finally shut up.Because two men in tennis shirts with towels draped around their necks appeared to be sweating before eating as they descended the elevator. I have an ominous premonition, and feel that Mayuko should be in the same mood as me at this moment.But this kind of worry became a reality, and when there were only the three of us left in the elevator, Chihiko spoke up. "Chongshi, all your tennis supplies are in the locker, right?" My eyes wandered to Mayuko all of a sudden, "Well, yes" "Are there two beats?" "Yes, I have" "Then" he looked at Mayuko, "how about the two of you going to fight for a while? After the two of you have finished the fight, the field should be vacant now, right?" "But" Mayuko turned her face to me with a very embarrassed expression. "Forget it today," I said, "someone might use the venue soon." "yes?" When the elevator reached the first floor, Zhiyan quickly walked to the window and looked out the window.Then he turned around and said to us, "There is no one in the tennis court, you should go and play." "But I have no clothes" "You can wear it like this" Mayuko is wearing a T-shirt and jeans. Of course, she didn't dress like this to go to work, but she changed into clothes after arriving at MAC, because there is a lot of physical work when doing research. "It's good to exercise once in a while," Chihiko continued. Mayuko looked at me with hesitant eyes, she must not know what to do at this time to respect Tomohiko's wishes.I am also a little confused, although I really want to play with Mayuko in my heart, but I must not show it here. "How is it?" Mayuko asked me. "I casually" I can only give a sly answer in the end. "Let's make a call," Zhiyan said, "I have to go to the reference room to do something later." "Ah, is it?" "Well, that's why." Tomohiko smiled at Mayuko and me. Mayuko glanced at her watch, thought for a while, then raised her head and said to me, "Just play for a while." "Okay" I certainly have no objection. About five minutes later, I was standing on the tennis court with Mayuko, who had borrowed a black tracksuit from somewhere. "Sure enough, he still cares about it very much," Mayuko said, referring to what she said when she went to visit a doctor a few days ago. "Because he likes you" "But he's just embarrassing me," she shrugged. "It's better not to think too much, so as not to hurt him" "Yeah" she said with a smile, holding the ball. "Although I haven't fought for a long time, it should be fine. Don't fight too hard." "I haven't played in a few months." We walked to our respective venues. The ground was a bit damp from the rain, but it didn't kick up dust, so it was a good time to play a few rounds.At the beginning, because I didn't know Mayuko's strength, I took a few shots tentatively. I didn't expect the quality of the ball back to be very good, and then I added a lot of strength to my swing.Her backhand is amazingly strong, and she often hits beautiful passing balls to score, which caught me off guard.Mayuko's serious expression when running with the ball can be called the only one possessed by a court master. After playing for about fifteen minutes, I was already sweating profusely.More importantly, I was mesmerized by Mayuko's glowing expression. "You worked hard, you played really fun" "Me too, but my level is too bad, you should be very boring." "No such thing, I really didn't expect you to hit the ball so powerfully." "Really? You can really talk, let's fight together later" "OK" Mayuko's face was flushed, eyes were shining towards me, sweat was all over her neck, and I suddenly had an urge to hug her. At this moment she spoke, "That..." "What's wrong?" However, Mayuko's slightly opened mouth stopped, and she immediately shook her head. "No, it's nothing." He smiled brightly. "Ok……" Could it be, I imagined, could it be that she wanted to tell me about meeting me on the Keihin Tohoku Line?My gut tells me so. As the two walked towards the building together, I noticed someone watching us from the window on the second floor. It was Tomohiko. Mayuko also noticed it almost at the same time. For some reason, she hastily distanced herself from me. I waved at him, and Tomohiko responded, but without a smile on his face. That night, I took the key to Chihiko's room off the key ring, put it in an empty box of staples, and stuffed it in the drawer. Unless he reminds me, I will keep it here, and I will just forget about it.