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

Chapter 81 Even Inoue-san gets tired sometimes.

He chatted with Takeda's mother for a while, mostly talking about his hobbies and Takeda's situation at school.

"They're just old songs... You don't know what's popular these days?"

When asked about his favorite music, he mentioned the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Miyuki Nakajima and Teresa Teng, which interested Takeda's mother.

"I rarely have the time, nor am I interested in paying attention to these things... I do watch the Red and White Song Festival every year with my parents, and I do listen to a few songs there," he explained, adding a few lies to make it seem more plausible. "When I was little, I listened to whatever my father listened to. I gradually got used to it."

"So you don't follow trends?" Takeda's mother clapped her hands together. "I can actually chat with Xiaoqi, but she's not interested in that either. She can sing a lot of anime nursery rhymes, though."

If they are not interested in it, we can't talk about it even if we chat, so how can it be called "having a good chat"?

Is this a common hobby?

"I'm in a different class than Takeda at school, so I'm not sure about the situation, but Takeda goes for a run every morning and never comes late for school. He's always better than me."

"How could it be... Did Xiaoqi join any clubs?"

"There's a dubbing club." If there really is one.

Beiying High School has a long history and is quite large, so there must be one, right?

"Ah! Xiaoqi likes dubbing. So there's a club for it?"

"There are quite a few students who like dubbing." He didn't do any research and just made up nonsense.

"Isn't it said that voice actors have a hard life, and even famous voice actors have to work part-time jobs to make money?"

"Dubbing is not limited to anime, but also games and movies... Don't many advertisements require dubbing? If you have good dubbing skills, you can also be good at radio broadcasting." What Takeda said did make some sense. He was a little too skilled at telling lies.

"So..." Takeda's mother pondered for a moment and nodded.

Compared to those parents who force their children to learn a skill that they think is more promising, Takeda's mother is much more gentle in her attitude towards what Takeda should do.

It is normal for parents to worry about their children's future, and it is not easy to understand and respect their hobbies.

"What about you, Inoue? Which club are you in?" Takeda didn't go into the question of the dubbing club, but instead asked about himself.

He showed Takeda's mother the photo of the painting he gave to Takeda.

Takeda's mother suddenly realized and said that the painting was hanging in Takeda's own room in their home, and she spent a long time choosing a frame.

"So that painting was done by Inoue? That's amazing!"

"where……"

After talking too much, Takeda's mother couldn't help coughing again. She quickly took some medicine, waved her hand and stopped talking. With his help, she lay down and rested.

"Inoue had his own plans for the afternoon, right? I'm sorry to have delayed you..." said Takeda's mother.

"Not much, but I do have a dinner party tonight." He said, "Auntie, what would you like to eat tonight? I'll prepare it for you before we go to the party."

"The set meals provided by the hospital will be fine." Takeda's mother said softly, smiling and declining.

"It's just a small favor." He shook his head and continued, "When do you go to bed tonight? I'm afraid it will be after eight o'clock when I get back from the dinner. Isn't it too late?"

"No need to bother you to come back..."

"Then I'll tell Takeda everything I know," he threatened. "And about the cough, too."

"It's not too late! Nine o'clock is fine."

Even he had never thought that to "deal with" Takeda's mother, he would have to use the same tricks he used to deal with Takeda.

He asked about dinner again, and Takeda's mother wanted omelet rice with less ketchup.

I didn't disturb Takeda's mother's rest any longer and left the hospital.

I went to the bookstore and found the first volume of "Wrong Love" which was still available. I stood and read for a while, then felt tired, so I bought it. I found a McDonald's nearby, ordered a Coke, sat down in a corner by the window, and read until the evening.

I took the train to a place a little further away and bought an omelet rice that had good reviews on review websites and sent it to Takeda's mother.

Takeda's mother also said it was delicious, but she didn't finish it because of her appetite.

The piano competition club's dinner was finally held at Igarashi's home. When he first received the address from Sakurai, he thought she had copied it wrong.

Igarashi cooked all the meals herself, as she was the only one at home.

I have a son who is in college and lives in the student dormitory. My husband is out for a social event and is afraid that he won’t be back until the end of the party, so I have to wait until late at night to open the door for him.

Not only is there a grand piano in the piano room, but Igarashi's family also has an upright piano in the living room.

When he rang the doorbell and walked into the entrance hall with permission, Sakurai was sitting in front of the upright piano playing the tune that sounded like a pop song.

There were already many dishes on the table, including grilled fish, fried tempura, stir-fried beef and seasonal stir-fried vegetables, and the aroma of cream stew wafted from the kitchen.

Kimura and Kato sat on the sofa and chatted, while Amano stood beside the upright piano and listened to Sakurai play.

When everyone was gathered and the cream stew was served, Igarashi invited them to eat and chat together. The topics were all about family matters, and there was rarely anything related to the piano.

The food tastes great, with a flavor you won’t find in restaurants.

Teacher Igarashi was also very happy and said that he was worried that his cooking skills had become rusty after staying in the hospital for so long.

After dinner, Mr. Igarashi asked Kato to play the piano and handed him the controller connected to the game console under the TV, hoping that they would stay for a while.

It was completely dark outside the window, and the stars that were not covered by the clouds began to appear one after another.

He sat on the sofa and watched Sakurai dragging Amano to play a racing game, but ended up being overtaken by Amano.

Rather than watching the game, I was actually just staring at the TV screen in a daze.

On the huge screen, he only paid attention to the time in the upper right corner.

It takes fifteen minutes to get to the hospital from Igarashi's house by train, and the current time is 7:10.

At 7:30, he found an excuse to leave, not staying even a minute longer. He let his thoughts wander, considering from a rational bystander's perspective whether Takeda's mother's concealment of her injuries was a good or bad move.

"Stop looking! Inoue-san, come and play a game! Maybe you're not as good as me!" Sakurai suddenly shook his shoulder, interrupting his thoughts.

It took him a long time to come back to his senses.

"...Racing? With whom?" After he came to his senses, he glanced at the time first. There were still five minutes left.

"And me!"

"Okay..." He also put Sakurai in a circle.

"Let Zou-chan fight you again on my behalf!" Sakurai arbitrarily divided the camps and said unyieldingly.

It was already half past seven, but he ignored it and put down the controller.

Igarashi was teaching Kimura to play a pop song. The tune seemed familiar to him, as if he had heard it while walking past the shopping street one day.

He was about to get up and say goodbye to her.

"No." Amano also shook his head to refuse Sakurai, and even stood up before him.

"Igarashi-sensei," she said goodbye to Igarashi before he did, "Inoue-san and I have some things to do, so we can't stay too late. It's time to leave."

He even spoke before he could.

"Ah! Do you need the teacher to take you there?" The piano music stopped, Igarashi stood up and asked them with a smile.

"No need to trouble you." "Be careful on the road!"

"Ah."

Igarashi escorted them out the entrance and waved goodbye in front of the apartment door.

Until he left at the end, he just waved goodbye to Teacher Igarashi, and all other words were omitted because of Amano.

"Do you have something to discuss with me?" He couldn't help but ask as he and Amano walked into the elevator for two households on the first floor.

"You've been looking at the time." Amano glanced at him and sighed, "You haven't stood up, you're hesitant."

"I was just daydreaming," he tried to explain, not wanting to be labeled as hesitant. "Actually, I put down the controller and was about to leave, but you beat me to it."

"Is it……"

"of course."

"Let's just leave it at that." Amano's speaking style sometimes does get irritating.

...Maybe it was intentional.

He stared at Amano's pretty face, trying to see an expression of pleasure on her face for teasing him.

In the end nothing was found.

"So, everything went smoothly?" The elevator went down to the first floor and the door opening tone sounded. Amano stepped out of the elevator first and turned to ask him.

"To be honest, it wasn't very smooth." He thought for a moment and said, "But I wasn't the central figure in this incident. So, looking at it independently, my part went quite smoothly."

“That’s a really unique way of explaining it.”

Amano and he walked out of the high-end apartment building where Mr. Igarashi lived, and walked side by side towards the tram station, chatting and bantering.

"Philosophical?" he asked deliberately.

"It's like a high school syndrome." Amano admitted.

"I'm a sophomore now, so why not?"

"High school second-year syndrome is different from normal high school second-year students. Inoue-san has no common sense, or has he never learned grammar and vocabulary? He even went to the hospital today and couldn't understand the meaning of the word 'disease'?"

"Let's just take it as it is," he said, somewhat unwilling to argue.

Amano stared at his profile for two seconds, smiled faintly, raised his hand and gently brushed the hair that fell in front of his ear, and sighed, "It seems that your role is not as smooth as you said, Inoue-san."

"Is that so..." He realized that Amano was deliberately trying to anger him, and remained silent.

"A person's state of mind can be observed from their words and actions, Inoue-san."

"It's just that things have been very busy lately, but it can't be said to be unsuccessful..." He paused, choosing his words carefully, "I have a clear plan for everything. As long as I follow the plan step by step and proceed in an orderly manner, everything will go smoothly..."

"It has nothing to do with this..." Amano shook his head and didn't insist on the issue. "Hayashiko's command consultant designated the competition venue."

"Venue?"

"It will be on a stage in a large shopping mall. There will be many passersby listening to it. It will be considered a charity performance."

"And the reactions of passersby are also considered in the game results?"

"It will have some impact," Amano said, summarizing the key points briefly. "But in exchange, Kita Sakuragao will decide the order of the ensemble performances."

"I see." He thought for a moment. "If it's the exact same piece, then choosing the order of performance would certainly be an advantage, but the piece that will be performed together at the beginning is your arrangement."

"That is to say, as long as I can successfully complete the arrangement, no matter which order I choose, Zao Shi Gao will have the advantage among casual listeners."

"Playing smart?" he said of Zaoshigao's guidance counselor.

"Perhaps, but it's just to increase their chances of advancing to the Kanto tournament." Amano glanced at him, his lips curled up, hinting, "If this is considered cleverness, then doesn't someone's whole approach also rely entirely on cleverness?"

"If it's effective enough, it's at least 'smart', right?" he retorted.

“…” Amano turned his head away, avoiding his sight, and remained silent for a long time.

The stuffiness gradually dissipated at night, and a rare cool breeze would blow occasionally.

The cherry trees that serve as roadside greenery rustle their leaves as the cool breeze blows.

The moon in the sky was covered by clouds, and there were a few exceptionally bright lonely stars in the distance.

"So? Are you still confident in Kitayukao?" Amano asked softly after the cool breeze blew.

"Let Beiying Gao stay at the back." He had already thought of a backup plan.

"Are you confident..." Amano mused.

"I'm helping you, why does it seem like I'm competing with you again?" He couldn't help but complain.

"Do you think you will definitely win?"

Before he spoke again, he caught a glimpse of a lone star in the sky flashing faintly in Amano's eyes, and he was slightly dazed.

She didn't say this out of an inexplicable desire to win. What she wanted to defeat him was not the final result, but something deeper.

She wanted to prove that what she did was right and that he was just being clever but couldn't change anything.

"Time will tell." He came back to his senses and smiled.
It wasn't a challenge; he had no interest in winning or losing.

It’s just that some facts that seem to him to be rotten will always give him hope for changes when they encounter new rain, hoping that the dead tree will come back to life in spring.

"I will wait until that day." Amano smiled back, his words always filled with great confidence.

Residential areas are always quieter than commercial streets in the evening.

There were not many pedestrians on the street, only the occasional car buzzing by.

It was not until they entered the station that the surroundings became a little more lively and returned to the hustle and bustle.

They boarded the tram together briefly, then got off two stops later and went their separate ways.

He was alone again for the rest of the journey.

He passed the time observing the other passengers in the same compartment.

Two boys, probably middle school students, were playing video games together; the girl sitting diagonally opposite him kept tapping on her phone and replying to messages; a man in a wrinkled suit was swiping his phone screen from time to time with a dull expression.

No one was reading the newspaper this time, and no one knew whether the role-playing enthusiast had become a member of parliament.

He took this as a pleasure to rest, but he still couldn't help yawning.

When the phone receives a Line message, it vibrates, reminding him to check it in time.

It was sent by Amano.

[Amano: Perhaps you haven't noticed it yourself.]
[Amano: Inoue-san's mental state is completely different from the time I met him in gym class.]
[Amano: Please seek medical attention immediately.]
The words were serious, not like a joke, but as if he was sincerely advising him.

He stared at the last sentence and pondered it for a long time. Although it was incomprehensible, he still regarded it as some kind of code.

You can't really think of him as a mental patient...

(End of this chapter)