Awakening

The young man walked quickly while Ai was not far away from behind him.

“Please, wait, Please wait for a sec.” Ai ran up a bit breathless.

Around the boy’s shoulder was a bag, not hearing anything, he continued to move forward.

“Please wait a sec, Masashi, Gennai Masashi.” Ai ran up in front of him.

The youth stopped, and looked at her, “How do you know my name?”

“You, you may have forgotten, I am Aiko’s classmate, Ai. I’ve seen you at Aiko’s home.”

Masashi thought for a moment and vaguely remembered her.

“Hello, what can I do for you?”

“I ..... In fact, I just .... Just .... I just wanted to thank you.” Ai, being asked such a question by Masashi, didn’t know what to say, but with great difficulty still managed to speak.

Looking at the flushed, helpless girl, Masashi also couldn’t blame the girl for what happened. He said: “This is just a simple thing. Later if you encounter such a thing again, don’t hold back your voice it would only allow more bad stuff to happen, so it’s normal for those perverts to be arrogant.”

“I...I know. Thank you.” Ai’s voice almost couldn’t be heard.

“It’s all right, I’ll be going, you also have a class now right?”

“Yes, I ..... Can you give me your phone number?..... I actually, I didn’t mean anything by that, I just want to find more time.... To thank you ..... Please, please don’t get me wrong.” Ai was having difficulty to explain.

“Do you have a pen? I’ll write it to you.” Seeing the way she flustered, Masashi smiled.

“I’ll take one out, please wait....” Ai immediately opened her bag to find a pen.

“Where do you want me to write?” Masashi holding her pen asked her with a smile.

The girl was surprised for a moment, and immediately reacted, “I’m sorry, I’ll find a book.” She immediately opened her bag.

“Well, I’m not a star, but I’ll just write on your hand,” He said while pulling her hand, and wrote down his phone number on her palm.

“If something happens just dial this number, then you can find me. Class is about to start, if you don’t go now, then you’ll be late.”

“I, I know, thank you.” Ai bowed towards him.

“I have to go now, bye.”

“Goodbye.”

Ai stood still and looked at his figure getting farther and farther away from her.

Gently holding the phone number written on her left hand, she blushed.

He must have forgotten, in fact, the first time she met him was not at Aiko’s home, but in the park, where he also saved her.

Compared to a year ago, he was now a lot taller, his face changed a lot, and only his eyes hadn’t changed.

I hope that the next time we meet, things will change, and maybe I’ll be able to see him more.

“Senior, have you ever cut your hair this month?” After a pleasant surprise meeting, Rumi put her hand on Masashi’s shoulder who was watching television, while the other hand fiddled his hair.

“I forgot. What, Do I look like a thug?”

“I just got used to senior’s usual appearance. You look so different, so it’s a little uncomfortable,” Rumi said while looking carefully at Masashi. After a month has gone by, he tanned a lot but looked even stronger than ever. Maybe because of his long hair, she felt that her senior seemed to be a bit different, but couldn’t tell what the difference is.

“Do I have something on my face?”

“No, no.....” Rumi bowed her head a little flustered.

Lowering her head, she saw that she was holding her senior’s right hand. She usually wouldn’t notice this small detail, but now somehow noticed it and made her heart skip a beat while her face felt hot.

“Do you not feel well? Masashi saw that Rumi kept her head down, so he put his hand on her forehead, checking her temperature.

“I..... I’m fine. I think aunt and Kazumi need my help.” Rumi said as she immediately ran towards the kitchen.

But not long afterward, sounds of dishes falling on the ground can be heard, then a sound of Rumi constantly apologizing could be heard.

‘There’s something wrong with the kid today,’ Masashi thought, ‘it’s not because I suddenly came, right? Well, she might be hiding something she doesn’t want to talk about.’ Masashi picked up an apple on the table to eat.

Not long after was dinner. The table was filled with Masashi’s favorite food. Preparing to eat, Rumiko began to complain about him going out for so long while she wiped her tears with her sleeves.

Masashi immediately looked at Kazumi, but she just made a face and continued to eat her meal.

At the same time, Masashi cursed her disloyalty in his heart, immediately walked over and hugged Rumiko as he admitted his wrong.

“Mom, have you invited Maeda that fellow to dinner?” For a long time, Masashi was unable to persuade her and had to resort to his killer move.

Sure enough, hearing this, Rumiko’s face immediately turned red.

“You’re so rude, how can you call Mr. Maeda that fellow?” Rumiko said angrily.

“There’s no progress in your relationship, always focused on his job, and only calls you,” Masashi smiled and said jokingly.

Rumiko’s face became redder, then struck his head “Just eat, but don’t eat too fast it’s impolite.”

Masashi grinned while sitting down.

“Rumi, eat more, you see, you’re so thin, you too Kazumi.” Rumiko gave Rumi and Kazumi more food.

“Thank you, Aunt.” Rumi had her head down for a while now, as she didn’t want to look at Masashi.

Rumiko smiled at her, the more she lived longer with this cute girl, the more she liked her.

As he looked at Rumiko’s eyes, he understood how she felt, Masashi smiled while pretending to be eating but there was something he didn’t know. Retribution would quickly come towards him.

The next morning, the three people have to go to school.

Even though he was away for a month, Masashi still didn’t want to go but was in the end dragged by the kendo girl.

“Senior, you haven’t gone to school for a whole month, how can you be so calm when you haven’t done any school work?” In the train, he could see Rumi’s worried expression.

“Rest assured, the exam, I think I can get a full mark while even using only my toes to write.” Masashi then yawned.

“Senior, can you please be serious?” The girl was very dissatisfied with his attitude.

“Oh, you little kid you don’t need to be anxious. Don’t worry. I still remember our bet.” Masashi helplessly touched her head to comfort her.

Again, this feeling. Just being touched by her senior, her heart would skip a beat, but also make her face hot. Last night, was also like this, was she really sick? Rumi was both excited, nervous and confused.

Going back to school, Masashi saw the big gate with a big sign on top, adorned with colorful ribbons, covered with a piece of red cloth in the middle, and can’t see what was written.

Walking inside, he found wooden stalls lined up, which differed in sizes. Some were half completed, which exposed its support. There were also those that were completed and carefully modified; each sign said “fresh burn cuttlefish,” “shooter,” “fortune telling” and so on.

Each class door windows were covered with ribbons and balloons. Some students standing on a chair decorating their classroom’s door can also be seen.

“Can someone tell me what’s going on?” Masashi turned to look at Kazumi.

“Fool, did you forget? Tomorrow is the annual school festival. Teachers and students are now getting ready for tomorrow.”

Masashi searched his memory and found the same information.

The school held a school festival celebration every year. The school would invite other students and teachers not far from the private school to join them. In contrast, when the other private schools hold a school festival, the school teachers and students would also have to go.

During the school festival, two schools will have small school sports. This tradition has been going on for almost a decade. Last year, Masashi was in the hospital during that time, just when his private school held the festival making him unable to participate due to his injury.

“Kazumi, what is your class doing this year?” Rumi came over and was vigorously interested.

“Very boring drama.”

“So it’s the theater, what time is the performance?”

“Class is about to start, let’s go.” Kazumi didn’t answer and just kept going.

“Kazumi, tell me, what role are you playing?” Rumi caught up and asked.

“You’ll know during the performance. Just come quick.”

“Why are you keeping it a secret, come on, just tell me.” Rumi didn’t give up and kept shaking Kazumi’s arm.

Watching the two girls far away, Masashi smiled, “school festival huh? Anyway, I have nothing to do, so I’ll just take a look around.”

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