RNP Page 547
Page 547
Mia Nagasawa almost spat out the rice in her mouth:
"What do you mean 'this is making a fuss'? Ma Gui dating a boy is something to be shocked about! Logically speaking, she should be ranked after us!"
Kurosawa Maki pouted, slightly furrowed his brow, and said in a low voice with a hint of complaint:
"Hey, don't talk to me like that."
Her voice sounded so helpless, as if she were about to die.
"Who is it? Could it be Tenkai-senpai?" Kuno Tachibana asked, resting his chin on his hand and staring intently at Kurosawa Maki.
However, before Kurosawa Maki could answer, Nagasawa Mia slammed her fist on the table and said:
"No way! Absolutely not! I don't agree! He likes that kind of thing!"
"It's not him, it's him"
Kurosawa Maki pondered for a moment, her lips initially tightening in an attempt to suppress the inexplicable smile, but ultimately succumbing to the urge, a faint, shy curve spreading across her lips.
"He's very talented, good-looking, has abs, is tall, has a sweet smile, and has great taste and personality."
He's from a wealthy family, and he's a very gentle and kind guy who can quickly understand my thoughts.
"
She was warmed by the romantic characters she had created in her mind, and unconsciously swayed her body from side to side, her smile carrying a hint of infatuation and an indescribable sense of satisfaction.
"Really? How is that possible?" Nagasawa Miya drank the miso without taking it seriously.
Kurosawa Maki seems to be protecting his "beloved," and says urgently:
"It's true! He exists!"
Nagasawa Miya said without any mercy, "What I'm saying is, how could he possibly be interested in you, Maki?"
“Ugh—” Kurosawa Maki gritted his teeth.
"Teacher Kitahara?"
Just then, Kuno Tatsuka's voice came from beside him, startling Kurosawa Maki.
"Huh? Why!"
Chapter 387, Section 386: Kanzaki Eri's Thank-You Gift (4) >>
She was startled because she noticed that Kuno Tachibana's gaze towards her was different; the previous urge to give up had vanished without a trace.
"Because that's the kind of person Kitahara-sensei is."
Kirishima Mai suddenly spoke, but then hesitated.
"Sorry, I don't know if he has abs."
Kuno Tachibana almost blurted out "some," but he calmed himself down, frowned, and asked:
"Ma Gui, although this is your own choice, I still want to warn you not to do anything reckless. He is a teacher, you know?"
In Kuno Tachibana's mind, what Kurosawa Maki said wasn't entirely false; it might even be true.
Since she herself has fallen for it, why shouldn't her best friend fall for it too?
What if, on some other day, Maki had also been forced to crawl into Kitahara Hakuba's bed and, like himself, had voluntarily done those things for him?
However, Kurosawa Maki's next move immediately put Kuno Tatsuka's guard down.
"No, no, no! How could that be! How could I do such a thing!"
Kurosawa Maki blushed deeply and hurriedly waved her hands back and forth, exuding the most touching innocence of a young girl and a cute, silly charm that made people smile.
Seeing this, Kuno Tachibana laughed again, poking at the rice with his chopsticks and saying:
"Then who is it? Tell me!"
"Hmm," Kurosawa Maki narrowed her eyes slightly and said in a low voice, "No, I'll talk if you tell me."
"What should we say?" Nagasawa Miya asked.
"I don't believe you two aren't secretly dating. We're all good friends, so if I told you, I could help you check on your partners," Kurosawa Maki said in a low voice, her eyes darting left and right.
Mia Nagasawa blinked, tilted her head, and said:
"Ma Gui, have you discovered that one of us is in a relationship?"
Kurosawa Maki straightened her upper body and said, feigning surprise:
"Mistake? Did I say that?"
"Isn't that what you meant?" Kuno Tachibana retorted. "Huh? Was my meaning that obvious?!"
"Mai?" Nagasawa Miya suddenly looked at Kirishima Mai and said, "You're in a relationship?"
Suddenly splashed with water, Kirishima Mai looked a little dazed, pointing at herself and saying:
"Me? In a relationship?"
Kurosawa Maki: "Misunderstanding?"
Misaki Nagasawa took the initiative to explain:
"I know perfectly well that I'm not in a relationship, and neither is Xiaoyou, and it's even less likely that Lihua is."
"Wait! It's one thing for you, but why can't Yuuki and Tachibana have a chance?!" Kurosawa Maki quickly said, "These are all secrets! How could you possibly know secrets!"
“Because Yuuki wouldn’t hide anything from me,” Nagasawa Miya said confidently. “Tachibana likes Kitahara-sensei—”
"Ugh—!"
Kuno Tachibana's throat tightened. Although she and Kitahara Hakuba were already a done deal behind the scenes, being told this by her best friend still made her so excited that she blushed.
"I never admitted that!"
"You don't like it?" Nagasawa Miya narrowed her eyes, her face full of disbelief.
Kuno Tachibana shook his head, feigning indifference, and said:
"Even if I like him, it's not to the point of wanting to be in a relationship. I've already said it, he's a teacher and I'm a student."
"Alright, alright." Nagasawa Miya also felt it was a bit far-fetched.
Kirishima Mai felt that if she didn't speak up soon, she would be labeled as "already in a relationship":
"Sorry, I haven't."
"Then who else could it be?" Nagasawa Miya said, glancing at Kurosawa Maki. "I think it's you, isn't it? Just an excuse to try and share our firepower?"
"No! I didn't!"
Kurosawa Maki clenched her fists and pounded them up and down in protest, then turned her gaze directly to Kuno Tachibana, saying in a defiant tone, "What the hell?"
"Li Hua is in love!"
Kuno Tachibana's shoulders, which had been relaxed just moments before, tensed instantly, like a startled cat, and a surge of hot blood rushed to his cheeks, ears, and even neck.
"What are you saying, Ma Gui?!"
Kurosawa Maki's eyes widened, and she held the hem of her pleated skirt with both hands, saying:
"I smell it! I can smell it all! You smell like a rotten stench! I smelled it on Hariya-senpai and Goto-senpai during bass part practice too!"
"What does it taste like?" Nagasawa Miya didn't quite understand.
"It smells like love! That stench is so foul I want to run away right now! It's outrageous that someone would go and fall in love all by themselves!"
Kurosawa Maki's voice sounded somewhat shrill. "Tachibana has this scent! I didn't smell it before the school trip!"
"Hey, you—!"
Kuno Tachibana's delicate body trembled, and her face turned slightly red.
She didn't know where things went wrong, but Kurosawa Maki noticed some clues. However, she didn't seem to know that the person in question was him, otherwise she wouldn't have said it out loud.
Just as the atmosphere was becoming somewhat awkward, the door to the empty classroom was knocked on with knuckles.
The girls thought they were making too much noise and had attracted the teacher, so they quickly shut their mouths and turned to look.
It turned out that the person standing at the door was someone unexpected.
The girl wore a fitted Shenxu uniform, with a scarf pressed against her chest, exuding an ascetic neatness.
Beneath the pleated skirt were two bare legs, and in this weather she was only wearing white lace socks. It was hard to tell whether she genuinely wanted to or simply didn't feel cold.
"Kanzaki-senpai?"
Mai Kirishima was the first to speak out. Among these people, she was the closest to Eri Kanzaki, and the two had even gone to the bathroom together before.
Eri Kanzaki blinked, her eyelashes fluttering, her hands clutching a small brown bag.
She took a step forward, her posture almost rigid, her spine maintaining an absolutely straight line.
This lovely and youthful body, under her lifeless face and posture, was transformed into a strange beauty that was misleading, like that of a highly advanced humanoid machine.
They were all from the brass band, and Kanzaki Eri was a key member of the oboe team back then. Out of respect for their seniors, Nagasawa Miyako and the others stood up one by one, and Kuno Tachibana was no exception.
"Kansaki-senpai, what's wrong?" Kirishima Mai asked proactively, knowing that if she didn't speak first, her senior might not say anything at all.
Eri Kanzaki's cherry-colored lips parted slightly, but she was only breathing shallowly, and her gaze swept over their lunchboxes.
Kurosawa Maki asked cautiously, her voice completely different from her previous sharp tone.
She was afraid that if she raised her voice, the delicate senior in front of her would shatter like glass.
Eri Kanzaki shook her head, her clear eyes shifting to look directly at Tatsuka Kuno, and said:
"this is for you."
Kuno Tachibana looked at the small brown bag she was offering, took it, and saw that it contained a few cucumbers.
"???"
"It's very cold in Hakodate. These were bought from the market. They're grown in a greenhouse and taste good. They're grown better than mine."
Eri Kanzaki's lips curved into a very shallow smile, not a full bloom, like the first fine crack on the surface of a river when the ice and snow begin to melt in early spring.
Faint, yet clearly visible.
"Ne-yi-yi!"
Kurosawa Maki raised her hand to cover her heart. She had never seen a girl so cute. She wanted to hold her in her arms and cuddle her like a cat.