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

Chapter 62: Inoue, the wanted criminal who can perform bread magic, and Officer Amano who comes to arrest him

Amano counted out enough bread, repacked it, and took away a bag of mixed bread.

Apart from the extremely disappointed "Inoue-san..." when he just opened the door, he didn't say anything else to him.

He came back to his senses and found that Low Ponytail couldn't help but pick up the bread, leaving small bite marks. In addition to paint, her face was also smeared with cream. She puffed her cheeks like a hamster, chewing and swallowing.

"tasty?"

“…Ah! Delicious!”

"I'll keep this for you too." He picked out a red bean bread, tore off a corner of the bread oil paper bag, and placed it on the table.

"...No." Low Ponytail struggled, "One person can only eat one..."

"There's always some left over." He began sketching a sample diagram on a blank piece of paper and said nonchalantly, "Didn't you have breakfast this morning?"

"I've been painting for too long... I've neglected time..." With her ponytail in her hand, she watched him quickly sketch out a composition similar to her watercolor on a blank piece of paper. Her voice gradually faded away. "When we got to the cafeteria, all they had left for me was a carton of milk..."

"Like here, here, and here..." He pointed out the corresponding spots for improvement in the low ponytail painting on the draft. "You don't need to be so detailed. Like this... using relatively vague blocks of color to briefly depict the painting can better highlight the narrative focus."

"Well……"

"There are also some issues with the shadow handling in some places... Also, fireflies can't be this bright in the early morning, right? The sunlight is this bright."

"That, that's..." Low Ponytail tried to argue, but was embarrassed, "Won't it be bright...?"

"If it's in the shadows," he pointed at a few spots under the shade of the trees in the deep forest, "it will be bright."

"I'm sorry... I've never seen... fireflies. I've only read about them in novels... in the books in the library downstairs." Low Ponytail explained to him haltingly and even apologized.

"Why should you apologize to me... I'm neither a teacher nor a judge, just a nosy bakery employee." After pointing out the major problems, he put down his paintbrush and palette, picked up the bag of bread that Amano had left for him, and prepared to leave.

"Hmm..." The girl with low ponytail nodded confusedly, and watched him walk out of the room, and couldn't help but speak.

"That!" she called out, not even knowing his name.

"I have something else to ask." He thought someone was asking him a question.

"Will you also participate? Youth Painting Competition."

"Yes." He thought for a moment and smiled back at the girl with the low ponytail, "The oldest group."

"Oh..." The girl with low ponytail took a bite of the butter bread and couldn't help laughing.

The Youth Painting Competition is divided into four groups: one group for those aged 18 and under, one group for those aged 19 to 22, one group for those aged 23 to 28, and one group for those aged 29 to 35.

Perhaps it is because of the rapid development of science and technology in today's era, the average human life expectancy has increased a lot - people between the ages of 29 and 35, who can already be called aunts and uncles, are now defined as young people.

He was now wearing casual clothes, short-sleeved shirt and long pants. His hair and skin quality did not look like that of a man in his thirties. At best, he could be mistaken for a hapless young man in his twenties who had just graduated from college and was working in a bakery to earn money.

He said this just to prevent Low Ponytail from treating him as a peer and losing confidence in painting.

But when he thought that if he, a senior who graduated from a fine arts university, actually worked in a bakery to earn money... it seemed that it was no longer a matter of undermining his confidence.

However, it is not uncommon for art students to work in various industries to make a living after graduation.

He went up to the last floor and saw a boy playing the piano in the piano room. Although he was not wearing formal clothes, he sat upright with a standard posture. Next to him was a pretty girl with hair that reached below her ears, playing the violin with him.

He walked closer and tore off two pieces of oil paper from the bread bag, placing them on the table next to him, leaving two loaves of bread.

In another music room, several girls were holding different musical instruments, including guitar, bass, drums and keyboardists, and singing a recently popular rock song with great voice and color.

He listened to the entire song and offered bread as a ticket to be a listener.

When asked if they had any performances in live halls or bars recently, they turned out not to have a band name yet.

In the last large room, which looked like a wind band activity room, three boys and one girl were cleaning. The boys were sweeping, mopping and moving stools, while the girl was concentrating on wiping the windows until they were sparkling.

There were six loaves of bread left, so he simply kept them all. He went downstairs with the empty and broken bread bag, took out his cell phone, opened the "Listen to the Exchange Group" which had been silent for a while, and took the time to ask questions.

[Inoue: Where are you?]
[Natori: Does Inoue-san still have any bread?]
[Amano: On the fifth floor of the welfare school building.]
[Inoue: Didn’t Amano-san count them and take them?]
[Sakurai: I forgot to count the girl who hid in the locker during hide-and-seek...]
hide and seek……

[Inoue: Do you want to look under the desk, in the locker room, in the utility room, and in the restroom?]
After walking out of the activity building, he looked around, identified the direction, and walked towards the only five-story building in the welfare home.

[Natori: I asked the kids playing hide-and-seek, and they said there was no one else.]
[Inoue: We can't rule out the possibility that some children might be ostracized, right? What if?]
[Natori: Inoue-san...]
At the age of sixteen or seventeen, the things that one can think about are usually things that one has experienced or seen.

It seems that Natori had a pretty happy six years in elementary school.

[Sakurai: So dark.]
So does Sakurai.

[Amano: I separated the two children and asked them individually, and there was no child who was isolated.]
How could a young lady be isolated? Why... because she's so outstanding and special that she attracts envy?

[Inoue: Which classroom on the fifth floor?]
He walked into the welfare school building, changed into the disinfected indoor shoes prepared for visitors, and glanced at the floor plan posted in the lobby.

The first floor is the kindergarten, the second, third and fourth floors are primary school classrooms, and the fifth floor is special classrooms such as art, handicrafts, home economics and music.

[Sakurai: Handicraft classroom.]
He climbed the matted stairs and ascended to the fifth floor. He could hear the laughter and playfulness of children in the hallway. This orphanage seemed well-managed. None of the middle and high school students gave up on themselves; they were all actively finding reasons to love life. There was no discrimination or bullying among the elementary school students.

When I went up to the fifth floor, I saw a girl with long hair lying on the door frame of the handicraft classroom, with half of her body sticking out, looking eagerly.

"Bread... Big Brother Bread——!" Seeing him appear with an empty bread bag, the girl waved and shouted to him excitedly.

"Coming!" He also waved his hand and approached slowly.

The girl hesitated for a moment, then lay down at the door frame and waited for him.

"Inoue-san?" Sakurai's voice came from the handicraft classroom, unable to bear any disturbance.

"But he probably doesn't have any bread anymore, right? He didn't respond in the discussion group." Natori's voice
"You're so uncooperative—" They showed no signs of coming out to greet him, so they must be busy with other things.

"Well, he was essentially tricked into it after all... I'm already very grateful for his help."

There was no sound from Amano.

It wasn't until he got closer that he heard the sound of a bench being moved inside the room.

"Good morning, Big Brother Bread!" the girl greeted him politely.

He squatted down in front of the girl and showed her the empty bread bag.

"Big brother, there's nothing left..." The girl suddenly felt disappointed.

Amano appeared behind the girl at an inopportune moment.

Fortunately, he managed to close the opening of the bread bag that was torn by Amano before Amano walked out of the handicraft classroom.

"What flavor of bread do you want?" He ignored Amano who was watching coldly and asked the girl who was about to collapse.

"Chocolate..." the girl answered blankly.

"There are only two flavors to choose from: cream and red bean." What about chocolate?

"But, Sister Amano gave me a piece of chocolate to try...it was delicious." The girl insisted.

"Brother, there are only cream and red beans here." He couldn't help but look at Amano.

Amano stared at him for a few seconds, then rummaged through his pocket and found a piece of chocolate wrapped in candy paper. He asked him seriously, "Do you want some too?"

"..." He took a deep breath, not wanting to argue with the mentally ill Amano, "What flavor of bread does Amano-san like to eat?"

"Me?" Amano looked at the bread bag in his hand, then glanced at the girl, and immediately understood, "Butter bread."

"Sister Amano, do you like cream bread?" the girl looked up and asked curiously.

"Yeah." Amano nodded to her.

"Then I want butter bread too!" The girl's thoughts changed immediately.

"Come on, blow on it." He put the bag close to the girl's mouth and called out the points store at the same time.

"Hu——" The girl took a deep breath and blew it with her cheeks puffed up.

-2 points

"Hey! Please keep the cream buns that the two ladies ordered. Remember to enjoy them while they're hot—" He suddenly opened the bread bag, and two cream buns appeared out of thin air.

"Wow!" The girl opened her eyes wide, took the butter bread out, and examined the bag curiously, "It was clearly empty just now..."

"Brother can do magic! He can even make red bean bread and cream bread." He began to brag.

"How great!" The girl handed one of the breads to Amano and clapped awkwardly.

"Well, big brother who can do magic." Amano looked at him with a half-smile, "I want to change the cream bread to red bean bread now, can you help me?"

"Is it possible? Big brother is so awesome." The girl also immediately became excited.

"...In order to avoid being discovered by the bad guys who practice black magic. Big Brother can only use magic once a day."

Under Amano's sabotage for unknown reasons, he was forced to start making up magic stories.

"In other words, Brother Inoue is now a wanted criminal, and he will go to jail if his whereabouts are exposed." Amano once again tampered with his story and slandered him.

What is this... a punishment for his slacking off?
But let me make it clear first, he hasn't agreed to join the Listening Group yet...Amano-san.

"Who is Tian Ye-san?" He felt that he had to be serious and maintain the righteous image of the magician.

"I'm a police officer who arrests wanted criminals." Amano said with a smile, lightly touching his hair.

(End of this chapter)