Chapter 205: Casual Meal
For Kazumi usually, time at school always passed quickly and fulfilling.
But today was exceptionally agonizing compared to the norm. No matter how much she tried to earnestly listen to what the teacher was saying, it was all in vain. Those thoughts kept swirling in the young girl’s mind.
“Ring Ring Ring—”
The familiar bell rang over the classroom’s broadcast. The usual music sounded like heavenly music to the girl’s ears. She didn’t care about the strange gazes of the surrounding classmates and directly stood up, walking straight towards the classroom door.
The school’s infirmary was located on the first floor of the teaching building, on the side near the playground. It was probably set up that way to make it faster for students injured from exercise to receive treatment.
The afterglow of the sunset shone on the corridor between the two teaching buildings. The orange-red sunlight filtered through the green glass, emitting a psychedelic color, changing the shade of the girl’s school uniform.
The short-haired girl stopped at the door of the room. Her originally jet-black hair emitted specks of orange radiance under the afterglow. The sounds of boys exercising on the distant playground drifted over sparsely, giving Kazumi a sense of time travel, as if she were in a different era.
“Am I…?”
The young girl raised her head, looking at the word “Infirmary” in large characters hidden in the shadows above. She felt inexplicably speechless in her heart.
She had clearly thought so much during class and decided to resolve this little trouble that was affecting her emotions cleanly and promptly while the development of the situation was still within her control.
Although her various methods of solving problems from within had repeatedly failed, Kazumi still had her usual ultimate plan, which was to directly deal with the person causing the problem!
But looking at the current outcome, even directly dealing with the person causing the problem didn’t seem as simple as she imagined…
“Sigh…”
With a long sigh, Kazumi decided not to fight her inner thoughts anymore. In fact, the young girl had been in a state of struggle all along.
Perhaps humans are such contradictory beings, setting boundaries that cannot be touched while repeatedly breaking their own rules.
Kazumi was like this too. In her heart, she knew that her current situation might be due to some problems caused by physical emotions, and she should temporarily avoid contact with Sato Shinichi.
But on the other hand, she felt that the secret involved in this matter might be of great benefit to her, and she even thought that if she could gain more benefits, delving a little deeper wouldn’t be too much of a problem.
“No more thinking. Since I’m here, let’s just do this first.”
She reached out and patted her cheeks, a way to strengthen her resolve a bit. Unlike her usual calm decisions, Kazumi, influenced by emotions, had two completely different thoughts swirling in her mind, unable to make a perfect choice.
“Ding dong— Ding dong—”
She reached out and pressed the doorbell of the infirmary. After the crisp ringing sound, faint footsteps could be heard from inside the door.
“Crrk—”
The green door was opened from the inside, and what appeared before the girl was someone she didn’t quite expect.
“Grandpa Sato!”
White hair, a stern face that commanded respect without anger, and the familiar deep brown shoulder wrap. The person who appeared in the infirmary was not the school nurse, but Sato Shinichi’s grandfather, the former Professional Hero, [Warhammer].
“It’s Little Kazumi, are you here to see Shinichi? Come in, come in.”
The originally terrifyingly stern face melted away the moment he saw the girl. He flicked the cigarette butt in his hand accurately into a distant ashtray and led the girl inside.
At the same time, he walked into the room, opened the window that was slightly ajar to the fullest. A gust of golden energy swept through, expelling the faint smell of smoke from the room out the window.
“Kazumi!”
Hearing Hamano Tsukasa’s voice from the doorway, Sato Shinichi, who was lying on the hospital bed, suddenly sat up. His face, covered in bandages, poked out from behind the railing.
“Yeah, Shinichi, are you okay?”
Kazumi nodded and walked into the room. Seeing the familiar guy, who was completely fine and without any missing parts, her worry in her heart eased a little.
“This brat is fine. But I think he has something to tell you.”
Hamano Tsukasa, sitting beside them, picked up his insulated thermos cup and took a sip. He said to the two in front of him with a faint smile.
“Something to tell?”
Kazumi tilted her head in confusion. If anyone had something to ask, shouldn’t it be her? She had a head full of questions now. If Grandpa Sato weren’t here, the girl would have put on her less-than-skillful tea ceremony performance.
“Yeah, I’ve talked a lot with Grandpa. I feel like there are some things I need to apologize to you for seriously.”
The blond young man’s azure blue eyes emitted a faint glow in the dimly lit room, and he looked at the cute girl with a worried expression very seriously.
Suddenly standing up from the bed, Sato Shinichi’s body, clad in a hospital gown, stood straight and bowed earnestly towards the girl before him.
“I’m sorry, Kazumi. I shouldn’t have done such a thing alone without any confidence and without informing others, and I almost got you involved in danger. I’m truly sorry. For doing something like this, even as boyfriend and girlfriend, I can hardly forgive myself!”
The earnest and sincere words were spoken word by word from the young man’s mouth. His booming voice even made one wonder if he was actually a patient.
Hamano Tsukasa looked at Sato Shinichi, who was seriously apologizing to the girl, and nodded with satisfaction. This was also why the old man held him back here after the young man finished his statement at the police station. Perhaps for a young man of this age, the meaning of didactic teaching was far less than what he could understand through actual practice.
Although this incident was indeed quite dangerous, it greatly improved the young man’s growth in character.
And for the girl in front of him, who had followed him out of concern even in the face of such danger, Hamano Tsukasa felt that the young man truly owed her an apology.
“No… you, you’re still injured…”
Under the girl’s actions, Kazumi instinctively reached out to support his arm, wanting the disobedient injured person to return to the hospital bed to rest. But before she could continue speaking.
A broad and gentle large hand gently stroked her fluffy little head. A kind and deep voice sounded in her ear.
“Shinichi is fine. The doctor said he can go home after school, so you don’t need to worry, Little Kazumi.”
“Also, are you free to come to our house for a casual meal today?”
