Chapter 388 Determination
The inner wall of the carriage was white, and the electronic screen on the side vaguely showed a promotion for a newly opened hot pot restaurant. The salaryman uncle next to him was bored playing cards, and the aunt behind him held a shopping mall promotion coupon, seemingly going shopping a few stops later…
Yokota Noyoru held his breath, his perception ability pushed to the maximum at this moment, constantly dispersing his attention to everything around him. But in the end, those damn eyes couldn’t help but look back, finally resting on the girl’s profile, which was so close.
Having never interacted with girls before, he had no idea what to do at this time. Although he knew that Kazumi didn’t want him to maintain that strenuous posture and chose to do this, now, even thinking felt strenuous!
A faint fragrance came from the girl, like a spark falling into a haystack, igniting 5100 milliliters of blood flowing through his body.
He could clearly feel his heartbeat gradually quicken, and it even affected his ability to suppress it at all times. At this moment, Yokota Noyoru realized something was wrong. He quickly moved his gaze away forcefully, took a deep breath, and asked a topic without thinking.
“Shimizu… do you usually like watching these?”
The whisper so close was hard to ignore. Kazumi nodded, but her eyes seemed oblivious to the boy’s actions behind her, continuing to slide her finger across the screen, browsing the daily news inside.
“Yes, there’s a lot of information in the news that you can’t learn in textbooks, and you can also infer some of the heroes’ recent situations from it. It’s more real-time than the information books.”
Yokota Noyoru, who had asked such a impolite question for some reason, calmed down slightly with the calm and clear words. Fortunately, Kazumi didn’t seem to mind him looking at her phone, and her answer was unexpected but perfectly fitting for her personality.
“Sorry, I accidentally saw it because of the angle. But do you usually do this, Shimizu? Entertainment activities are also important, otherwise it’s quite tiring.”
After thinking for a while, Yokota Noyoru decided to apologize first, then continue to try to start a conversation with his disastrous topic-fetching ability without restraint.
“It’s okay, it’s not something very private. For entertainment… this should count.”
The girl didn’t mind the meaningless, humble apology. After all, she had displayed it like this, so she didn’t care about being seen by others. Then she returned her phone to the desktop, revealing the pure black background she had previously replaced with incredibly moe cute icons.
“Ah, it counts. Shimizu, you play this kind of game?”
Interacting with the girl always surprised Yokota Noyoru. He had seen the icons on the girl’s phone. It seemed to be a dress-up mobile game that was quite popular among girls. But he didn’t expect that Shimizu Kazumi, who looked so indifferent on the outside, would like games with such a cute style.
“Please remove the word ‘actually,’ thank you.”
“No, no, I just thought you might prefer mobile games like ‘Mr. Deduction’ or ‘Ghostly Spirit’.”
“I’m so sorry for being seen as that kind of person by you.”
“No, Shimizu, I didn’t mean that…”
“……”
“Dingling—”
The crisp train bell rang again, interrupting the conversation between the two leaning against each other. It seemed that because it had reached the city center stop, the number of people getting off finally increased, and the center of the carriage, where the most people were, finally became a little less crowded.
With the carriage no longer crowded, Yokota Noyoru no longer had a reason to be so close to the girl, so he quickly moved aside and let out a breath of relief.
Holding the overhead bar with one hand, a strange sense of loss inexplicably surged into his heart. Although it had only been a few minutes of extremely ordinary conversation, and Kazumi was even looking at her phone while responding to the awkward topics he now regretted, the conversation with the girl at close range that made his heart race, the faint unique fragrance of the girl lingering under his nose, and the imperceptible touch of her body were like indelible movie scenes, constantly replaying in his mind.
Looking at the black-haired girl leaning against the wall sideways, looking at her phone, Yokota Noyoru couldn’t help but lower his head and look at his empty chest. Perhaps the boy had never felt such emptiness.
【Is… is this like?】
He pursed his lips and looked up at Kazumi in front of him, but just looking at the girl’s focused and serious expression was like drinking a large bottle of ice-cold soda in one go at noon on a hot summer day, making him feel happiness from head to toe.
In fact, Yokota Noyoru himself didn’t quite understand what kind of feelings he had for this junior at their part-time job. Perhaps it was just the natural goodwill from her saving him when he was most desperate, or perhaps it was the sense of familiarity generated by her treating him normally without any reservations about his appearance over a long period of time, which led to these incorrect feelings.
He also knew that people like him probably didn’t even have the right to like someone, or rather, his past experiences made him completely unwilling to touch his true inner self.
But at this moment, he truly felt the palpitation transmitted from his beating heart to his brain. It wasn’t because of the girl’s appearance, nor because of her similar experiences. If he had to say, it was probably the comfort of interacting with her for a long time, and the warm daily life of being able to chat with someone he cared about.
【I have to leave some memories for myself, isn’t it beautiful even if it’s a failure?】
His friend Takuma’s teasing words suddenly echoed in his ears, but this time he didn’t evade as usual. His complex gaze became serious at this moment, he discreetly glanced at the girl not far away, and finally put on an incongruous gentle smile, saying in his heart the thought he had been avoiding and unwilling to face.
【If it’s her, it’s something worth working for.】
However, what the poor boy, who had finally solidified his belief in love, didn’t see was the girl leaning emotionlessly against the wall playing with her phone, her dead eyes showing no fluctuation, and on the other side, hidden from view, leaning against the inner door of the carriage, a cold sneer with a hint of mockery was hidden at the corner of her mouth.
