20demayo Page 48
Page 48
"I didn't slack off!!" Hearing Taro say that, Aine suddenly raised her head and excitedly retorted, then lowered her head and said uncertainly, "I just don't have the talent of Taro, Rana, or Nyanmu..."
Upon hearing her name called, Lena tilted her head slightly but didn't say anything.
Miao Meng's heart sank. She hadn't expected Aine to say that. Although drums and guitar weren't the same sport... Aine's talent...
If Momo was still lost in thought, she believed that Momoi Taro would be able to handle these matters well.
Hai Ling, on the other hand, casually took out a citrus-flavored chocolate milk pudding and drank it, seemingly unconcerned.
"That's not what I want to hear!" Taro's loud voice made Aine lower her head even further. Taro looked down at Aine and asked coldly, "What I want to say is... why are you running away..."
Upon hearing the key phrase, Ai Yin stood up excitedly and shouted, "I didn't run away!"
"What I want to say is, why run away—" Taro wanted to say what he wanted to say without thinking. Aine gritted her teeth, left a sentence, and rushed out the door.
"I have something urgent to attend to, so I'll be leaving now!"
She dashed out of the practice room like a gust of wind.
Xiao Lena tilted her head, blinked her big eyes, and looked at Taro with a puzzled expression, asking, "Is the band over?"
"What... what is this?" Miao Meng smiled bitterly.
"Should we change the reservation date?" Hai Ling remained businesslike, showing no sign of nervousness.
Taro glanced at the entire band and loudly quelled their panic: "Don't panic! Ladies! You all practice individually now, I'll go and bring her back!"
He placed his keyboard in the corner and walked out of the practice room at a leisurely pace...
Aine, her heart pierced, rushed out of the practice room, panting and bending over.
"Saying there's no running away... isn't this a full-scale escape?" Aine slowly caught her breath and muttered to herself, "I really am..."
She was terrified of hearing Taro's scolding. She thought she had grown up and could move forward, but just thinking about the past made her feel incredibly uncomfortable...
"What will happen to the band now...?" With me suddenly showing up like this, everyone's bound to be in chaos...
"Is that Chihaya?" A somewhat familiar female voice came from inside. Aine subconsciously exclaimed "Eh!" and stood up, seeing two unusually familiar people.
“1 Qi Liu Yi 厁栮児$⑨栮栎. Yi is indeed Qianzao.”
They were two of my junior high school classmates, and they both seemed to be doing very well.
As they walked towards her, they said:
"It's been so long!" "How's it going in England?" "Are they on holiday yet?"
The two girls asked Aine a question, one after the other. Aine's eyes trembled slightly, showing no joy of a long-awaited reunion, only a deep and unfathomable fear.
“Um…” Aine wanted to say something, but couldn’t get the words out.
No...don't come any closer!
The girl wearing the Moon Forest school uniform looked at Ai Yiqiu and asked in confusion, "Huh? This school uniform... is it Yuqiu's?"
Another person asked in confusion, "Huh? That's strange, where's England?"
"Didn't you go abroad to study? Why are you back?"
"Um... this..." Aine tried to explain something... but couldn't say anything. Her pupils contracted, and her body trembled slightly.
hum...
The surrounding scenery became blurry...
Ah...it's all over.
"Chihaya? What's wrong?" "Are you alright?" Both of them looked at Aine with great concern.
buzzing...
[Run away...run away one more time, once I'm out, everything will be alright...after all, that's just who I am...?]
buzzing...
Ah... I can't hear anything anymore. Run away quickly...
"Trust Taro Momoi."
The fortune teller's words suddenly appeared in Aine's heart... Believe in Taro...?
"Yes, trust Momoi Taro. He will definitely appear when you need him most."
I have a feeling... it's the present moment, right? But... what should I do?
Not far away, under a tree, watching Aine stand frozen in place like a wooden statue, a mysterious and satisfied smile appeared on his face as he slowly left.
"Aine, what are you doing standing there?" A calm male voice came from behind Aine, pulling her back from her reverie.
"So handsome!" "Does Chihaya know him?" The two classmates watched Taro walk over with great curiosity.
Taro reached out his hand to Aine. To Aine, it felt as if his hand had shattered something unseen and reached out to grab her wrist. Taro's face turned extremely serious, and he said in a deep voice, "Practice isn't over yet. Come back with me!"
"Hmm, um..." Aine was pulled without much resistance. For her, all she wanted was to leave this place, to leave this embarrassing place.
The two girls—Yi Liu Yi Ni Yi Yi Ba Si Shi Ba Sheng—quickly stopped them. First, the girl from Tsuki no Mori asked, "Um, may I ask what your relationship is?"
"Could he be Chihaya's boyfriend?" another person speculated.
Taro stopped and said to the two of them, "No, we're not that kind of relationship, we're omega—"
"A bandmate!" Aine sensed something was wrong when she heard her classmate's question, and quickly interrupted Taro. She took the initiative to answer; if she were called a servant here, her life in a social sense would be over.
"Right? Taro?" She looked at Taro, who nodded and didn't continue, acknowledging Aine's answer.
"What's your name, Chihaya's bandmate?" The girl in the Tsukimori school uniform looked at Taro with great curiosity.
"Momoi Taro!" Taro replied very naturally.
"Um, do you know why President Chihaya came back from England?" Another girl looked at Aine with a very worried expression, seemingly concerned about her.
This only made Aine's heart sink deeper into despair; this was the situation she feared most.
She wanted to avoid being asked about this, so she quickly struggled to pull her arm out of Taro's grasp.
"I don't know!!" Taro answered confidently, his tone flat: "That's her personal matter, I don't know!"
"Stop talking!" Aine shouted in fear, which stunned her two junior high school classmates. How could their usually gentle, generous and cute student council president, Chihaya, lose her composure like this?
Seeing that everyone seemed stunned, Aine hurriedly tried to pull her arm out of Taro's grasp, but it was in vain. Taro's hand was like a chain, tightly binding Aine's wrist, completely killing Aine's desire to escape.
"Why did you tell others about me?!" Aine looked at Taro in confusion, trying desperately to pull her hand away, but naturally failed again.
Taro replied in his usual matter-of-fact tone, "Because they asked!"
"Wen Yue/Yi-Er Jiu Qi Liu Jiu Yi San 8 Liu, then tell me!"
"Of course!"
Seeing the two girls arguing like a young couple, the two junior high school classmates exchanged a glance. The girl in the Tsukimori school uniform pointed to a street lamp in the distance and said in a very monotone tone, "Ah! That street lamp over there really is a street lamp!"
Another girl quickly replied, "Really! I've never seen a street lamp like that before."
"Let's go closer and take a look." "Okay, okay." The two held hands and walked towards the street lamp not far away, leaving the fountain to the two of them.
The air fell silent.
Chapter 47, They Made Up (6K)
The sun was half-sunken behind the mountains, and the sunlight and shadow formed a strange line between the two people. Taro had his back to the sun, and under the sunlight, his eyes looked so resolute, like a hero.
Ai Yin remained silent, curled up in the shadows. Her long pink hair seemed to have lost its luster, and her eyes drooped listlessly. Her gray eyes had lost their former vitality, and the two of them stood frozen in place.
Two of Ai Yin's junior high school classmates stood under a street lamp not far away. Although the sky was not yet dark, the street lamp was already lit. At this distance, although the two could not hear each other's conversation, their movements could be seen clearly.
Finally, it was Aine who broke the silence first. She lowered her head slightly and asked in a hoarse voice, "Why did you chase after me..."
She looked at Taro with the helpless eyes of a stray dog drenched in a downpour and unable to find food: "Why don't you just leave me alone...?"
“You are my servant! As your master, it is my duty to bring you back.” Taro answered Aine’s question without hesitation: “You are the one who ran away! Why did you run away!”
"Taro really speaks his mind..." After responding to Taro's words, she bit her lower lip tightly and didn't say anything more. The only thing that remained free was her fist, which she used to try to forcefully pull her restrained hand out.
Seeing Aine's deeply hurt expression, Taro frowned. He didn't quite understand what was wrong with her, but he still answered in his own style: "As I've said before, language is the voice of the heart, and lies are meaningless. Right is right! Wrong is wrong! Only the truth has value!"
Hearing Taro's resolute words, Aine bit her lip even tighter. She could no longer suppress the grievances in her heart. Her voice was hoarse as she questioned Taro: "Do you even know that the truth you speak is the most hurtful thing?"
Lies don't hurt, but the truth is the sharpest knife. This is the truth of the world.
"I know!" Taro's gaze remained unwavering as he looked down at Aine. The dim sunlight filtered through from his side, hitting Aine's eyes and causing her to squint.
His matter-of-fact words pierced Aine's heart. She could no longer suppress her emotions and roared at Taro, "Then why say anything at all! Wouldn't it have been better to say nothing at all!"
Taro looked into Aine's eyes. Her once bright and lively eyes were now clouded with fear, anxiety, and resentment, but Taro remained unwavering and spoke his mind:
"Saying nothing is also a lie. Only by fully expressing oneself can one be truthful. That's my belief. To this day, my words have hurt countless people—I'm certain of that. Although I don't know why they were hurt just because I told the truth!"
He tilted his head and looked at the fountain beside him. Memories of the past erupted with the water. His eyelids drooped slightly as he said, "I didn't actually live in Tokyo when I was a child."
“When I was little, when I saw other people doing things…” Taro’s eyes turned to the fountain’s eruption point, his gaze returning to the past. He softly described his childhood: “When people on the street did something, I would always say that it was wrong. For example… when the aunties on the street were putting away their clothes, I would tell them that the way they were putting away their clothes was wrong.”
“Then, I would tell her why folding clothes like that is wrong, and then I would demonstrate the correct way to fold clothes and help her fold them properly. This happened countless times.” He shook his head, as if to make himself more clear-headed, or as if to deny these things: “Finally, for some reason, the people on the whole street banded together and wrote down a sign telling me to get off the street, so I moved.”
Aine looked into Taro's eyes, but she could hardly read his emotions from them. However, this situation didn't seem like something she could feel good about.
"Also, I don't think I've told you about my school yet?" Taro didn't give Aine any more time to think. Aine thought about it carefully and said definitively, "No, but I'm still quite curious. Why didn't Taro go to university?"
“When I was in school, I learned the school’s knowledge in advance. If the teacher taught something wrong, I would point it out directly and then teach the teacher how to do it correctly.” Taro unconsciously let go of Aine’s wrist. He just lowered his head and confided, “In the end, all the teachers told the principal that either I would be expelled or they would resign.”
"After that, Taro stopped going to school?" Aine looked up, letting the sunlight shine on her face. Although her hands were no longer restraining her, Aine didn't want to run away. She just looked at Taro curiously, waiting for his answer.
"No, I changed schools, but the same thing happened again. This happened several times. In the end, I gave up going to school and chose to learn at home."
Taro's storytelling ability isn't very strong. No, maybe it's because he doesn't treat it as a story. To outsiders, it would be a very boring thing, but Aine can easily imagine that feeling... She has had similar experiences, but not as severe as Taro's.
When I was studying at a school in the UK, things weren't going well. My spoken English was often ridiculed, and I felt out of place. I felt like an outsider, unable to integrate well into the environment, so I ran away and came back. Even now, I can't face those memories... When I see two of my junior high classmates, I instinctively want to run away.
But Taro's situation... it's not just a matter of being out of place, it's practically bullying! Being ignored and being hated are completely different feelings. She tried to put herself in Taro's shoes; if it were her, she probably wouldn't have had the courage to correct the teacher's mistakes after her first suspension.
Her gaze softened as she looked at Taro, and she took his hand and asked softly, "Aren't you scared, Taro? After what happened."
"No!" Taro said firmly, "What I said is correct! Even if someone gets hurt because of this, things will only get better as long as we keep moving in the right direction! If no one points it out, we will only go further and further down the wrong path!"
Taro gazed at Aine and said earnestly and solemnly, "Aine, I hope you can also continue on the right path!"