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

Chapter 120 I would rather it rained heavily tomorrow

There were still times when he worried that his mother would shout to Amano, "Is that Ms. Takeda?"

But when Amano came down the wooden stairs in the hotel with a box of salty cheese cookies she had made herself and a trumpet on her back, which she always brought with her even when traveling, and walked past the girl who was guarding the stairs and didn't want him to go up, and came to him, he was no longer worried.

Even though he wanted to appear a little partial or cruel, Amano and Takeda were two completely different types of people. It would be much more troublesome for him if someone mistook Takeda for Amano than if someone mistook the Amano next to him for Takeda.

Perhaps it was due to the distance they shared, but he and Amano had never truly been close. Regardless of their approach to others, their outlook on life, or anything else of relative spiritual importance, they were always like two opposite ends of the same axis.

Only when he needed to find something would he try his best to get closer to the other end where it was, but the distance was still much farther than the distance from Tokyo to Tottori.

Takeda was much closer to him.

Although Takeda's perspective on the world was also very different from his own, he never sought spiritual meaning in his interactions with them. He simply passively accepted and responded to their situations.

He didn't know what Takeda brought to his life, nor did he know what he was looking for in Amano.

It may take a long time to figure this out, but intuitive feelings do not need to be delved into or falsified.

"Amano-san," he said, walking half a body length in front of Amano's left, leading the way to his home, "if my mother mistook you for Takeda-san, how would you respond?"

"How does Inoue-san want me to respond? Do you want me to pretend to be Takeda-san? What about next time?"

"It's just that the probability of this happening is not small, so I'm curious."

"I'll say I'm a Cybertronian." Amano had hardly given him a good look today. "If I still need to explain this misunderstanding myself, what's the role of Inoue-san?"

"Well……"

He was finally enlightened by a sentence and suddenly realized that if he had spoken first, there would be no problem of being misunderstood.

The magnanimous Miss Amano did not mind the fact that he had just asked such a direct question, and she had actually learned a new skill in dealing with people.

He had been following other people's advice and responding to situations improvisationally for too long, so such a proactive approach was indeed quite practical for him.

“I see…” He responded.

"Finally admitted that you are a useless person?"

"..." How could he think that this person possessed the virtue of "magnanimity"...

Amano walked with him through the streets of the town, turned the corner, passed the bathhouse, and walked into a street on the west side of the town.

When we got to his door, he was the first to shout—

"Mom! A friend is coming to visit and brought some cookies as a gift."

He waited until his mother in the house heard his shouting and came out from the entrance before he pushed open the gate and walked into the courtyard.

"Are there friends visiting?" The mother first looked at the girl beside him and was stunned for a moment.

"Amano, I met him by chance in physical education class," he said.

"Amano Kanade." Amano nodded slightly to his mother.

"Well, welcome, welcome - is that a musical instrument on Amano's back?" His mother glanced at him inconspicuously, smiled gently, and asked her softly.

"It's the trumpet." Amano smiled politely. "I came to see Inoue-san during the two days of Obon Festival specifically to practice trumpet with him."

"Small trumpet?" His mother looked at him in confusion.

Amano was slightly surprised by his mother's reaction and looked at him in return.

"I'm interested in the trumpet and have just started learning it. Amano-san taught me many of the playing techniques."

After he said this, his mother looked at him with a more meaningful look.

"But Chu didn't bring the trumpet back, did he?" said the mother.

"I brought a spare mouthpiece that I haven't used yet, so we can share a trumpet for practice," Amano continued.

It was probably a prepared statement, as it sounded flawless—he himself had no idea that Amano came to him to practice trumpet.

He is full of lies and not as honest and trustworthy as him.

"Well, well...ah! Let's go inside and talk—I just made candied pears and haven't refrigerated them yet. Do you want to try some first?"

"Inoue-san just told me."

"And pear salad," he said.

"That's what's left over from the mixture I made at noon! I'll go make some new." While they were walking into the entrance, the mother gave him a slightly warning look.

The pears in candied pears are usually boiled in syrup made from wine, lemon and other ingredients for about half an hour, and then put into the refrigerator to soak for a period of time.

Once it’s fully marinated, you can eat it directly as a dessert, or take it out of the glass jar, slice it, and dry it.

It tastes very sweet and is very popular with children.

Amano changed into the slippers his mother had given her and sat down on the sofa in the living room. While Amano was tasting the syrup from the jar with a spoon, he opened the box of salty cheese cookies and tasted one.

Even though I had just heard Amano say that he had no idea how to make desserts and that he was learning on the job, after taking a bite, I still couldn't imagine that it was something a baking novice would make for the first time.

The taste, appearance and texture are all impeccable.

"Amano and Hatsu, did you meet by chance in physical education class?" The mother made a salad, brought it to the coffee table, picked up a cookie, sat on a separate sofa on the side, and talked to Amano.

"I guess so." Amano nodded.

"Both classes have physical education classes together. On the day that Amano-san transferred to Kitakura High School, my badminton partner happened to take a leave of absence." He spoke first to explain.

"So..." The mother was a little confused.

"So, Inoue-san was sitting on a bench in the shade of a tree, lazing around." Amano poked a piece of pear in his salad with his fork. "I just transferred to another school and don't have a partner, so the teacher asked me to go find him and team up for a class."

"Hey, hey, what do you mean by being lazy? Didn't I have no choice?" He heard something was wrong and corrected her.

"Even if you're playing badminton alone, you can practice volleying and receiving against a wall... Oh, sorry, I forgot you don't even know the rules of serving. You've basically been slacking off in PE class."

"What do you mean by idling away? You said I knew nothing about badminton, but didn't I score two points on you?"

"So the total score is 2 to 23? And you have the physical advantage. I can only play badminton at a barely adequate level." Amano immediately exposed him and said with a smile.

Why did this person suddenly feel resentful towards him and target him everywhere?
"Just letting you do it." He was already thinking about using points to upgrade his badminton skills so that he could find an open space nearby to play again.

"Is that so..." Amano showed a slightly sarcastic expression, as if he was confident that he could beat him in badminton.

He gave up arguing and didn't bother with her. He saw his mother next to him smiling but not saying anything, just listening to their conversation.

I felt a wave of anxiety, as if my mother would blurt out something like, "Amano and Hatsu have a good relationship."

"Mom, let's add Amano-san's portion to dinner." He suddenly said, putting into practice the preemptive strike he had just learned.

"Dinner?" Amano hadn't reacted yet.

"As long as Miss Amano doesn't mind." Mother nodded and smiled.

"You're not familiar with the restaurants in town, so why don't you stay and eat with our family?" "It's not even four o'clock yet..."

"That's right... Mom, I'm taking Amano for a walk around the town, so I'll leave dinner to you!" He had already stood up from the sofa.

"Okay, remember to come back early--"

"Of course, of course..." He ignored Amano who was still sitting on the sofa, walked into the entrance first, changed into outdoor shoes, and left the Inoue family, a place of trouble.

The wind has been blowing all day and still shows no sign of letting up.

The sparse clouds in the sky drifted by on the wind at a speed visible to the naked eye. The sun hung unobstructed in the sky, shedding its rays.

The weather forecast for tomorrow is that it will still be sunny and windy.

He stood in the yard, feeling the cool breeze that he had never felt in Tokyo's summer, and watching the ginkgo leaves swaying in the wind.

"Where do you want to take me?" Amano came to his side and asked him in a slightly teasing tone.

"Not ready yet."

"Just don't want to stay home anymore? Afraid of misunderstanding?"

"Almost..." He withdrew his gaze from the ginkgo treetops and looked at the girl in a white dress beside him. Her long, smooth black hair fluttered gently in the wind, dancing with the ribbon at the waist of the white dress.

Under the skirt are white cotton socks that just reach above the ankles and lightweight mesh breathable sneakers.

At this moment, just like he had just done, he was staring at the ginkgo branches bending and swaying in the wind.

"Isn't autumn beautiful?" she asked.

"It was only for those few dozen days, but the people who came to visit really enjoyed it."

"Are you different?"

"This ginkgo tree is female, so butterflies and bees always fly in from somewhere to help pollinate it, and then it produces a lot of ginkgo nuts," he said. "In late autumn, they will fall all over the ground like fallen leaves, which is really troublesome to clean up."

"Ginkgo nut?"

"Only the cores were worth preserving. Every time the fallen fruit was collected, my mother would sit by two wooden basins, crushing the flesh with her fingers, removing the cores, and then rinsing them. It took a long time."

Human beings always have a certain degree of novelty towards everything at the beginning.

This sense of novelty will greatly reduce their sensitivity to various shortcomings. Once the novelty wears off, even the most beautiful scenery will become ordinary, and even the most passionate love will fade away over the long years. Only the usual routine can continue.

Perhaps, only after a period of separation will one begin to miss someone. The reason why he and Amano saw different ginkgo trees is probably due to the same reason...

"I want to hear you play the trumpet. Stand on that bridge and wait for the train to come." He came back to his senses and said suddenly.

Amano tilted his head slightly and looked at him with the corner of his mouth raised.

"How much?" she asked.

"I would rather there were heavy rain, flash floods, earthquakes, and tsunamis tomorrow."

"Really?"

"I could swear by the Mississippi River..." he rambled seriously.

Amano ignored his words and said, "You are at least separated from the Mississippi River by the Pacific Ocean. How can you swear by it?"

"I could swear on Mount Everest or Mount Tarzan, or, failing that, on all the cats in the Wildcat Cattery."

"All... they can't even understand what you're saying... Forget it, just assume you really want to hear it." Amano still hadn't heard a satisfactory swear object, so she generously forgave him this time and seemed to be in a good mood.

"But there's still some time before the evening train passes by. Is there any place you want to go?" he asked, changing the subject.

"Isn't it said that Master Inoue's family has several mountains?"

"Yes, yes, do you want to go and see it?"

"Enough time?"

"When we get to the outskirts, I can point out the mountain to you. It's just like any other hill, only a few hundred meters above sea level, not even as high as the Tokyo Skytree. It's really plain and nothing special to see."

"Other ordinary hills are rarely seen in Tokyo." Amano shook his head.

"Haven't you been out of Tokyo before today?" He was a little surprised.

“I’ve been to Kyoto, Sapporo, and some places on the mainland, but it was all for tourism, and the itinerary was rushed.”

"The photos on your phone wallpaper, and the buildings in Western Europe." They walked on the quiet streets of the town, strolling and chatting.

"I went there with my father...but I didn't like it there."

"dislike?"

"Be it the people or the things I see, everything seems so gloomy... When I return to Tokyo, I feel like I'm not in the same world anymore." Amano saw a skinny calico cat standing on the eaves of someone's house and whispered to him.

"What about the mainland?"

"It's much more vibrant there. At least from the faces of the people, you can see that they are all longing for something, wanting to pursue something..."

The calico cat suddenly jumped and disappeared into the yard. Amano came to his senses and noticed that he had been looking at him, avoiding his gaze without leaving a trace.

"In short, everyone has their own happiness. In order to overcome the various disappointments in life, we struggle hard and work together."

"What about Tokyo?" He thought again of the subway photo titled "Although this island is rich, most people still cannot achieve happiness."

"Tokyo..." Amano was silent for a moment.

The whistling wind, the fluttering white skirt, the cleanly swept sky, and the shadows of mountains in the distance.

He felt all of this very clearly, and for some reason he was expecting Amano to give an answer.

Even though it was just a random chat, he suddenly felt that the answer was extremely important and hard to give up.

"If I had to describe it... it's on the verge of death." The girl followed his gaze, looking at the misty mountains in the distance, and carefully considered her words. "It seems to be full of vitality, with all kinds of competitions and activities, and people also celebrate happily during festivals. But it always makes people feel that everything is so fragile, like an old wooden guitar. If only one string breaks, the rest will quickly fall apart..."

He listened quietly until Amano came to his senses.

"I'm sorry for talking too much..."

"That's the mountain shadow we just saw." He said indifferently.

"Mountain Shadow..."

"Go through the town, head to the suburbs, cross the rice fields, and then follow the forest path into the mountains. I can take you in and take a look tomorrow."

"You lead the way? Will there be signal in the mountains? Will we get lost..."

"How is that possible... I know every corner of this mountain by heart." He looked at the clear blue sky and suddenly smiled. "It's a pity there's no cabin inside, nor any entrance guarded by two soldiers. It's just an ordinary mountain."

(End of this chapter)