[Shenya] Aphasia

"Would you like a chocolate cone, sir?"

The boy in front of him blinked his eyes and looked up at Kanda. He was pushing an ice cream cart covered with cartoon stickers, and crisp and cheerful music was playing on the cart.

"Do you think he has a sweet tooth?" the rabbi protested loudly. "Why don't you ask me?"

The young man rolled his blue eyes, and with an idea, he replied: "If this gentleman buys them all, then you will definitely buy them too. This is my trust in you."

"Look," the rabbi scratched his red hair and leaned into Kanda's ear, "he doesn't trust you."

"I think you could give him ten ounces of purified water and he'd be happy."

Kanda couldn't bear to knock on the people around him: "Coffee, do you have any?"

The boy shook his head like a rattle: "I only have coffee-flavored snow pudding."

"..."

"Alan likes to eat sweets."

While walking on the boulevard in the campus, the rabbi suddenly said while licking the cone: "So I gradually like eating it."

"What does it have to do with me?"

The road they walked led to the student dormitory of the engineering building. It was the season when the leaves of the plane trees on both sides were yellow. The overwhelming red and yellow covered the sky, and the sunlight seeped through the gaps in the leaves, forming spots of light on the road. .Against such a background, the young man's red hair seemed to be on fire.

"Because I heard that you don't get along well." The rabbi smiled heartlessly and patted Kanda on the shoulder. "Maybe the culture and customs are different? In fact, that guy is easy to talk to."

Kanda tutted, "It's easy to talk? I didn't see it. That's a freak. If I had known today... I might as well go out and find a low-rent apartment."

"Huh? Is it that bad?" The rabbi was surprised, "But Allen told me happily before that when he lived with the Japanese, he might have Mitarai meatballs—his favorite snack. But usually you can only buy boxes in big shopping malls, after all, even Japanese food stores don’t sell this stuff.”

Kanda didn't answer, he turned his eyes to other places. On the lawn by the side of the road, there were girls with blond hair and long legs sitting and reading a book, and curly-haired boys with freckles on their cheeks listening to music with headphones. They were in twos and threes, without the noise of car engines or neighbors. barking dogs, clean and peaceful.

The rabbi stared at him for a while, swallowed the last bite of the egg roll, and sighed faintly.

"He's lived alone since I've known him."

Seeing that there was no response from the other party, he continued to speak.

"I never questioned his family directly, and he laughed it off when I mentioned it side-by-side."

The phone on the table vibrated and buzzed.

Li Nali buttoned up the last shirt button in front of the mirror, and answered the phone: "Hello?"

"I'm about to go to the bookstore. Ah, the weather has been good recently. It's sunny today. What's the matter? Don't worry so much."

With the phone tucked over her shoulder, she packed her bag and walked out of the hotel, locking the door.

In front of you is the glimmering lake, and two or three pedestrians are walking by the lake, and the air above the water is dry and quiet.

"The recent handicraft class went well, and Mrs. Teresa was very satisfied. She also approached me last week and asked if I would like to teach in the urban area, but I declined her. I said that the Lake District is more suitable for me." Li Nali smiled softly, and greeted with a hand, "Kuro, come here!"

The golden retriever who was resting in the garden heard the sound and happily stretched out his head to rub against the girl's leg.

Li Nali stroked its head and handed it the biscuit in her hand: "I plan to stay here forever. I went to Edinburgh a few days ago and bought a lot of dried mutton. I'll send it back to you when I'm free... ...Well, eating too much will make you fat. I'd better send it to you, haha!"

"Alian's place is also very good. He found a Japanese roommate. Yes, they are living together now... You mean me? Of course I live alone. What are you worrying about?" the girl said. Then he smiled, warm like a clear sky, "Then I'll pick you up to live here, okay?"

"Li Nali! Let's go!" A girl urged at the door.

Li Nali nodded over there, and said to the phone: "Then I'll set off first, and I'll talk back... huh? Tell me."

She walked out of the garden with the phone in her hand, and when she reached her companion, she suddenly froze and stopped.

"so fast……"

"what happened?"

Facing her friend's question, she shook her head slightly, grabbed the other's hand and clenched it tightly.

"I see, you arrange it. Looking forward to seeing you, brother."

It was already dark when Kanda returned to the house.

The room was dark, and when he turned on the light, he saw a person snoozing on the sofa hugging a woolen pillow, and the lit oven in the kitchen was like a cluster of flames in the dark, with a plate of something heating it.

Kanda deliberately threw the supermarket pocket in his hand heavily on the table, frowned and patted the sleeping guy: "Hey, bean sprouts."

Allen rubbed his messy hair with teeth and claws unhappily, and there were still tears in his sleepy eyes: "What are you doing?"

"You didn't eat?"

"Eat," Allen muttered and was about to go back to sleep, "Who will wait for you."

Kanda pouted, and pulled out the pillow from Allen's arms with one hand: "Don't sleep."

Unexpectedly, Yalian grasped it tightly, and was caught off guard for a moment and was dragged to the ground by Lian's pillow and someone. When he got up, he was already glaring: "Kanda Yu!"

And the instigator was holding a pillow and laughing mockingly: "This can be overthrown, as expected of bean sprouts."

"Ah, yes," Allen replied, holding his forehead, "I didn't expect a guy with a woman's face to be so rough."

He noticed the things on the table behind the other party, stood up and opened it to look. In addition to the expected large bag of soba noodles, there was also a bag of rice flour, some starch, brown sugar, etc., in addition to a book of Japanese desserts recipe.His expression suddenly became richer.

"This is……"

Kanda's face was cloudy and uncertain.

Allen didn't speak, but from the slightly raised corners of his mouth, it could be seen that he was secretly happy.

This is a simple guy who can feel better just by seeing snacks.Kanda thought to himself, he probably didn't know that he was smiling like a flower now, and looked soft like a child—although he was like a child in the first place.

"If I'm not mistaken, Kanda doesn't have a sweet tooth."

"Yes, very annoying."

Annoyed, Kanda walked into the kitchen carrying the bag, and turned around to see a head sticking out of the door.

"I can help with the meeting."

"no."

"Hey, thank you," the person at the door narrowed his eyes, "Although I don't want to say that, but this is the first time I feel that living with you is actually pretty good, really."

Kanda stared at him for a while, then turned his head: "Really, but I feel terrible."

Allen smiled noncommittally, picked some chopped brown sugar slag from the chopping board, held it in his hand, and ran out as if he had found a treasure.

"That's why I'm trying to get you to know each other."

The rabbi leaned on the stainless steel railing, put his chin on it, and looked a bit embarrassed: "I always feel that there are more and more partners, and there will always be someone who can approach him. He will listen to all your complaints, but about He doesn’t like to talk about himself. He looks like the sun on the surface, but he’s actually too restrained. As a friend, I worry that what’s in his heart will crush him one day.”

The class bell rang in the distance, Kanda followed the sound and looked at the teaching building opposite, the air was quiet for a moment.

"Of course, you don't need to deliberately do something," the rabbi said slowly, "I don't want to give up any possibility, but this is just my wishful thinking and has nothing to do with anyone. After trying to get acquainted with him, You can hate him all you want, too."

Kanda was about to say something when suddenly there was a burst of pleasant music, and then he saw the rabbi take out his phone.

"Yo ma'am, what's the matter?"

The red-haired young man listened to the phone, his smile gradually froze on his face.He was in a hurry to ask something, laughed a few more times, and hung up the phone after a few words of teasing.

"how?"

The rabbi turned his head and found that he was at a loss clearly reflected in the black eyes of the eastern man.

"Li Nali is going back to China."

The Starbucks on the second floor of College Street is always crowded with idle young people. There are discounts for Manchester students, but because of the huge number of customers, it makes a lot of money.So Starbucks is also very generous. It has expanded its store three times in the past two years. Even so, people in the store are still coming and going, and the ordering counters are tightly packed during peak hours.

From Li Nali's coffee cup, it can be seen how upset she is, because the latte art in the cup has been stirred into an incomprehensible milk froth by her, and some of it has flowed along the edge of the cup on the table.

"My brother said that his company has already handled the business and is short of manpower. Asking me to go back to help is also an exercise for myself."

"But don't be so anxious, right?" Kanda said.

"The house I bought recently is going through the handover procedures, because my name is written on the real estate certificate, so I have to go back and sign it myself." Li Nali bit her lips uneasily, "Brother means, just go back to take over at this time, so I will There is no need to come back."

"Sister Komuy, I've never liked you staying here. If I had known, I wouldn't have come." The rabbi muttered in a disinterested manner, and was stabbed by Allen after he finished speaking, screaming in pain.

"Can't you really take it easy?" Allen shrugged, "This is so sudden, we don't have time to prepare any gifts."

Li Nali rubbed her temples: "Yeah, I was supposed to treat you to a good meal, but the rabbi is going to London soon, and Kanda is going to class again... Allen, can I hand over the hotel to you?"

Allen bit the straw and nodded.

The rabbi pushed away the chair and stood up with a strange expression: "I'll go out for a while." After saying that, he walked out without looking back.

Kanda saw the girl stroke the long hair on her shoulders, and threw herself on the sofa with some abandonment, her eyes were slightly red.

"Don't you want to go home?"

"I want to, but not now," Li Nali said, "and going home shouldn't be a farewell."

"It won't be a farewell." Although any consolation seemed futile at this moment, Allen still said seriously, "You will come back, and you will even come and go repeatedly, because you have homes at both ends of the Eurasian continent. "

Kanda looked out through the floor-to-ceiling windows, and the person who ran out was pacing back and forth outside the door of Starbucks, occasionally kicking up the fallen leaves on the ground violently, looking almost crazy.Li Nali followed his gaze and saw it, and stood up silently.

"I'll call him back."

When there were only two of them left, Allen finally let go of the terribly bitten straw, picked up the snack plate containing almond muffins on the table, and stuffed them into his mouth one by one.Kanda didn't say a word, tore open a bag of brown sugar and poured it into his Mocha.

After a confrontation for a while, it was Allen who finally spoke.

"Poor Rabbi."

Kanda went downstairs in a blink of an eye, and the girl was excitedly explaining something to the red-haired young man with her head hanging down. Seeing that he was ignored, she wiped her face and rushed forward to hug him.

Although he couldn't see the expression clearly, Kanda could notice that the rabbi shook his head slightly, and stretched out his hand to hug the girl's waist tightly.

"Although I don't know much about their situation," he couldn't help but said quietly, "I think it's better for you to worry about yourself more on weekdays."

Allen frowned, his mouth was still covered with muffin crumbs, and his speech was slurred: "Why are you dragging me again for no reason? What does it have to do with me?"

Kanda didn't intend to make a slip of the tongue, and blurted out without paying attention while staring at the other party.This sentence contains too much emotional bias, but fortunately, Bean Sprouts was too stupid to hear it.

One didn't answer, and the other didn't want to ask again.In the white sky outside the window, a group of wild geese flew by, as if it foreshadowed the parting that will be experienced in the tail of this autumn.It's just that both of them firmly believe that where there is separation, there must be reunion, so they are completely unable to integrate into some kind of sentiment that can be called sad.

The customers in Starbucks are still bustling, chatting and joking, as if they are showing off the unique capital of young people, clamoring that they are not afraid of anything.

Say the future is the prey, they are the hunters.

Outsiders seem to be noisy here, but everyone's ears only receive sounds of a certain frequency, and the rest are automatically classified as background cloth, forming a small world of silence with strong contrast.

Two little boys appeared in Allen's silent sight. They seemed to be twin brothers. The short one was pouting and tugging at the corner of his brother's clothes.However, he was not tall enough for the countertop, and with adults coming and going, he was still unable to get close, and he didn't even notice that the change in his hand was wet with sweat.

Allen couldn't help but got up and went over, patting the shoulders of the two boys: "Boys, what would you like to drink?"

The child didn't seem to understand the situation, and he couldn't explain why he was hesitating. Allen squinted his eyes and smiled, and lined up in front of the ordering counter: "Two Frappuccinos, matcha and vanilla."

Kanda, who was lazily watching with folded arms in his original position, suddenly sat up straight.

He had never seen Bean Sprouts with such an expression.

It's hard for Kanda to describe that kind of smile, the corners of his lips curled up, his brows and eyes are curved, what should be an ordinary soft smile, but it looks a little moving on his face.He couldn't believe that this kind of smile should only appear on the faces of a certain type of people, who usually love life, cherish life, are tolerant and graceful, forbearing but not dull.

"That guy is a good talker."

"He doesn't like to say anything about himself."

Kanda suddenly fell into deep thought, so that Allen returned to his seat and stretched out his hand in front of his eyes before he came back to his senses.

"Do you guys put so much effort into everyone?" Kanda asked as he packed up his things and was about to leave.

Allen stopped, but didn't look back: "I don't understand what you mean."

"Tell me about yourself."

"The people around me make me up, and their things make up my business. If you have any questions, you can ask them or yourself. As for me, I have no comment." This sentence was a bit convoluted, but Allen spoke quickly.

"Are you pretending to be stupid or do you really not understand what I mean?" Kanda became a little annoyed.

The person in front froze, and turned half of his face for a long time, with a stern expression.

"I don't think I have anything to tell you, Kanda. Don't forget our promise."

Kanda's chest rose and fell sharply, and he closed his eyes trying to calm down his anger. When he opened his eyes again, the person in front had slipped into the crowd and disappeared.

Let him escape in a protective shell?

Li Nali's flight is on the weekend night.Having lived in England for six years, and going back to her home in the subtropical zone at this moment, the girl didn't even have a sense of reality.

The rabbi walked in front with a large bag of luggage, and the three followed closely behind.

"Britain is really good," Li Nali said suddenly. "In my memory, the cities in China are so big that I can't get out of it for the rest of my life. Idle mountains and rivers are everywhere. Everything here seems to have shrunk compared to China." Ten times, pocket-sized streets, pocket-sized scenery, but all internal organs are complete, and there is nothing missing. I can’t judge which is better, I love China, but this is my second hometown.”

Allen said with a smile: "It's great to make you think so. We will wait until the day you return home."

Before entering the boarding gate, Li Nali hugged everyone and whispered instructions to them. No one said anything, only the rabbi reminded her hoarsely to call herself when she got home.

There was a cool breeze at night, and Allen watched the planes outside through the floor-to-ceiling windows of the waiting room. The various indicators on the runway were brighter than the stars in the sky, illuminating the entire ground.

"I'm leaving in a few days, and I won't be returning to Manchester City this year," Rabbi said slowly, gazing at the planes taking off and landing outside the window, "It's just the two of you, don't mess around."

Allen cast a glance at the oriental man beside him, and laughed: "What are you talking about, how can we mess around."

"Of course Ayou won't mess around, I mean you," the rabbi gave him a blank look, "Li Nali should have told you, don't always go out to meet those people in the middle of the night, understand?"

Allen nodded seriously.

"By the way, Ayou," the rabbi put on his usual joking expression again, "Alian is in the late stage of Lu Chi, don't let him run too far..."

"I know, this guy can go the wrong way home from Chinatown." Kanda ignored the boy's silent protest with raised fists, interrupted him lightly and added a shot.

The rabbi chuckled: "If you both get lost, ask more, if you really can't, call me."

He stretched, restrained his expression, and continued to look out the window.Kanda and Alian looked at each other, neither of them dared to ask more, only he knew his own affairs well, no one could help him, so he didn't say anything.Everyone is an island, which is probably the situation.

Since then, Kanda never inquired about Allen's personal affairs again.

They were not born to be good at rattling swords. Kanda, who was trying to get close to the setback, gave up trying. In addition, the semester was coming to an end, and all kinds of trivial matters were very busy, so staying at school on weekends was commonplace.So Allen was the only one left in that not-so-spacious house.

As if he had ignored the rabbi's words, he still occasionally went to the bar to meet friends. Li Nali's hotel was temporarily closed by him, and he lived alone in Manchester after a long absence.

This person living in the information age bought a copy of the Times on a whim one day, stared at the headline with the clear words "flight crash" for a long time, and then spent 10 minutes scanning the list of missing persons.This was his habitual action. In Rhodes' words, he cherished world peace as if it came from outer space. When she said this, she was disdainful, but Allen didn't care.

"If we have to talk about lofty ideals, I hope to become a superhero to protect the world." He half-joked, but his eyes were still hovering over the newspaper.

Rhodes clapped his hands and laughed: "Okay, okay, maybe you are a superhero living in another parallel world, where you protect the world, and I protect you."

Allen laughed and threw the newspaper: "Where did you learn these words, girl?"

"I was born with it," Rhodes playfully lay on the seat and looked up at the white-haired boy, his eyes sparkling, "Because I like you."

-TBC.