Tokyo: Who would still fall in love after being spoiled?

Chapter 116 The distance of longing is more than seven hours
At noon, A'an asked him to have lunch together, and Tsurumaru showed up as usual at the restaurant that served pork cutlet rice set meal.

The three of them naturally gathered at the same table.

"Ah! I almost forgot—Tsurumaru, what are the plans for the Obon Festival?"

"There's nowhere I want to go." Tsurumaru answered quickly without thinking for a few seconds.

This person was completely focused on eating pork chop rice - this was his only purpose in coming to this restaurant and sitting here. The next step was to finish eating pork chop rice and then go back to the bass classroom to continue practicing.

"You don't want to go and watch the fireworks over the Sumida River? There's only one such day a year!" Ah-yi asked in surprise.

"That means it happens every year." Tsurumaru didn't find it surprising.

"That makes sense." He agreed with this statement.

"No way—Anyway, Tsurumaru, you don't have anything else to do besides staying at home, right?"

"Yes." This time Tsurumaru thought about it seriously for a while.

"Very important?"

"There is no guide for the game activities yet, and the limited characters are still in the card pool. These three days of Obon Festival are my last chance." Tsurumaru said solemnly.

"What's so good about games?!" Ah-yi yelled and slammed the table in anger.

"Games are indeed important." He thought of the NS placed in the living room of the rental house and agreed.

He didn't put the NS into the suitcase, but instead asked Takeda to take it with him on the train tomorrow to kill time on the way.

"No," Tsurumaru suddenly contradicted his agreement and emphasized to him, "It's the characters in the game that are important."

"You guys!" Ah-yi had had enough. "Don't you think this Obon Festival is, in a sense, your last chance?"

"It happens every year." He repeated Tsurumaru's words.

"We're all sophomores now, right?"

"And then?" He found the curry a bit too salty, so he drank a large mouthful of miso soup, which was just as salty. So he took a break and listened to what Ah-yi had to say.

"Third graders need to study hard for the exam, right?"

"Yeah." Tsurumaru nodded, "We can't play games during next year's Obon Festival."

"Game, game..." Ah-yi choked and said something a little awkwardly. He picked up the miso soup and took a sip.

"Don't--" He reminded too late.

“Why is it so salty!”

"I'm going to buy a can of soda. What are you guys going to drink?" He was really thirsty because of the salty food.

"Coke." Ah-yi said without hesitation.

"Tsurumaru?"

"I..." Tsurumaru's quick lunch plan had failed. Knowing that Ah-yi would not let him go, he asked for peach soda after hesitating.

After buying the soda, Ah-Yi took a big sip and asked, "Where were we talking about?"

"Third graders need to study hard for the exam."

"After the third grade, we will graduate and become adults. Entering university is almost like entering another world. When we watch the fireworks again, our mood will definitely be different, right?" Ah-yi continued.

Tsurumaru had already finished his pork cutlet rice and was sitting in the booth waiting for him to finish, occasionally glancing at the time on his watch.

"It's different." He waited a few seconds before hearing the next sentence and couldn't help but agree.

"So, this might be the last time in our lives that we can celebrate Obon without worries," Ah-yi concluded. "As far as I know, many high school students confess their love at this time."

He and Tsurumaru stared at the man at the same time.

"Why are you looking at me? Isn't it?" Ah-yi said angrily.

"Nothing." He looked away.

"That's one thing." Ah-yi first extended his index finger, then his middle finger, "On the other hand—"

He also finished his curry rice and wanted to leave.

Tsurumaru has stood up.

"Wait until I finish! It's very important, very—"

"Yes, it's very important." He smiled kindly at A'an and waved goodbye.

When he and Tsurumaru reached the crosswalk on the west side of the school gate, Ah-yi rushed over from the restaurant, panting.

"For the wind band, the Ullambana Festival is also the last chance!" the man said anxiously.

"Brasil?" He looked at the red light counting down, there were nine seconds left.

"Ah..." Ah'an opened his mouth, but hesitated to continue, "It's okay..."

"Let me guess—"

"Nakayada?" Tsurumaru asked directly for him.

"You know that too?" Ah-yi was surprised for a moment, then suddenly realized, "Yes... you practiced with Suzuka, Inuyama and the others..."

"Yeah." Tsurumaru nodded in response. The two of them immediately set their eyes on him.

"I don't know anything about Nekayada-san's situation, and I don't have any personal opinion on it," he stated.

"Then..." Ah'an was still hesitating.

"Inuyama wants Nekayada to go to the benefit performance," Tsurumaru said.

“What does that have to do with Obon?” he asked.

"It's related to the situation at the Nekoyada family..." Tsurumaru seemed to know more than A-yi, "She doesn't have much time to go out, and her family doesn't want any classmates to look for her, and they can't contact her on Line."

"So," he concluded, "Obon Festival is the only chance we have to meet, and I want to take this opportunity to make things clear."

"Well... almost." Ah-yi scratched his head. "Suzuka probably didn't agree because of this... ah!"

After accidentally saying too much, Ah-yi came to his senses and looked into the distance with a little embarrassment.

"Everyone knows." He said it flatly.

"What...?" But Tsurumaru didn't know.

"Nothing!" Ah-yi winked at him, "Anyway, I also want to help do something during the Obon Festival."

"Do you need help?" Tsurumaru's attention was successfully diverted. "They're all girls... I can't be the only boy here, right? That would be awkward, right?" Ah-yi danced with joy.

Tsurumaru was silent for a while and promised him that he would go to Sumida River on the night of Obon Festival, and they would only contact each other on Line at other times.

As they walked through the corridor and went upstairs, Ah-an mouthed to him - how did you know?

He thought about it and responded with his lips - Fei Niaojing, watching A'an's eyes gradually become relieved and determined.

It can also be regarded as revenge for Asukai's failure to recognize his position in the group.

In the afternoon, before school was over and it was time for group practice, Nishimura came and knocked on the door of the trumpet classroom and showed up.

The sun was just beginning to set, around three o'clock.

Nishimura led him to the corner of the corridor where the sink was, looking like he had something important to say.

On the way, he thought of several lines to reject the confession, but he was not satisfied with any of them.

"What's the matter?" he asked.

"Have you forgotten something..." Nishimura stared at him for a while and sighed.

"what?"

"Historical Notes."

"Ah—" His forgotten memories were awakened, and he suddenly realized, "I didn't return it to you then?"

"You ask me?" Nishimura wrinkled his nose.

"Why didn't you ask me before the holiday..." He recalled the scene at that time - borrowing notes, being interrupted by physical education class, then meeting Amano, and going to the art classroom after school...

After that, I completely forgot about the historical notes.

"Eh?!" Nishimura was suddenly stunned, his face flushed, "I..."

Finally, he just gave up and said, "I forgot too! I just remembered when I saw you suddenly come to the wind band!"

She folded her arms, her words flowing non-stop, the blush on her face never fading. "And I remember you were in the art department? How come you can play the trumpet, and you play it well?"

"Did I tell you about the Art Department...?" He didn't remember.

"How else would I know!" Nishimura stamped his feet, feeling a little anxious, not knowing what to say. "Anyway, anyway... remember to return the historical notes to me as soon as you find them!"

"Of course, of course." He thought it was a confession, but when he heard it was just about the notes, he felt much more relaxed and in a good mood.

"Also, Obon Festival..." Nishimura's voice suddenly dropped.

"A seven-hour train ride." He sighed inwardly.

Well, the notes are just a cover after all.

"Seven hours...what does that mean..." Nishimura was stunned.

"From Tottori to Tokyo—" He didn't say anything further, but instead asked, "Didn't I tell you that too?"

"I..." Nishimura lowered his head as if feeling guilty.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, he quickly slipped back to the trumpet classroom.

In the trumpet classroom, Tamura was out of the loop and temporarily stopped practicing because of his absence. Asuka, who had been waiting for an opportunity for a long time, finally got to chat with Tamura.

The topic was naturally the Obon Festival, and they asked Tamura about his plans.

"I already have an appointment."

"Well, our team leader Inoue - ah, forget it... forget it..." Asuka waved his hands in disgust at him in a self-directed manner.

Tamura also looked at him, watched him come back, and walked closer.

"I have an appointment too," he said.

"The girlfriend we were chatting with today?" Asukai teased.

"Actually, it's another one. I'm dating two girlfriends at the same time. Each of them is a beautiful girl more beautiful than you." He fought back and picked up the trumpet.

"Sigh—he's really a scumbag." Asukai curled his lips.

"It's not true." Tamura glanced at her and spoke for him.

"Whether it's true or not, to say something like that makes you a scumbag."

"Inoue-san is not the kind of guy who would be a scumbag." Tamura said firmly and started arguing with Asuka about his character.

"Indeed, indeed." He and Tamura stood on the side of facts and truth.

"Asami! You still know too little about men."

"You know that well?" he interjected.

"Of course I understand!" Asukai crossed her arms and put her hands on her hips.

"What a scumbag..."

"If you say so, then so be it! At least I dare to do it and take responsibility for it!"

"So I was just judging others by my own standards." He said suddenly.

Tamura covered half of his face below his nose with the music score and blinked.

Asukai was furious.

After making a lot of noise for a while, Suzuka called him to a group leader meeting and talked about ensemble for a while, mostly about song selection, saxophone, competition and other issues.

After the group leader meeting, the ensemble practiced "Tomorrow Spring" for another hour. Nishimoto clapped his hands and announced the end of the last day of practice before Obon Festival. Like a class teacher before the holiday, he reminded some precautions about the festival.

Like other students in the wind band, he packed up his instruments and left school.

I went back to the rental house, picked up my luggage, and took the tram to the airport.

When we arrived at the airport, it was already dark. Just then, a plane took off and a huge buzzing sound breaking through the wind could be heard in the distance.

He stared at the departing plane for a long time, watching it fly into the distant twilight and disappear into the gradually darkening night. Then his phone rang with a Line message notification.

He guessed it was from Takeda, and it should be "Bon voyage". He looked away and took out his cell phone from his pocket.

[Takeda: Remember to pick me up!]
He stared at the message for a long time, no less than the time he had just stared at the plane.

[Inoue: I'll be holding a watermelon, and I'm sure you'll be able to see it.]
(End of this chapter)