[Net King] Pilgrim

Without the mood of visiting and sightseeing, everyone decided to go back the same way.

It was almost sunset when we turned back to the entrance of Enoshima, and the sky was getting dark. The shops on both sides of the approach were lit up, and the star-like lights danced slightly in the evening wind, lighting up the entire commercial street one after another.

Considering going to the hot spring at night, the dinner time is much earlier.

Machida Jiu reserved a specialty restaurant. The small canteen is hidden in the residential area on the other side of the commercial street. It is not as lively as the main street, but it is very quiet.

The interior decoration is simple but warm. Machida sat in front of the wooden window set up on the second floor and looked out casually. He only felt that night was coming in a short time.

Thinking of this, I felt a little bit of emotion in my heart.

Before leaving the house this morning, she was still planning her study tasks for the day, and promised her mother that she would go home early, but now that the evening was approaching, she was in Shonan, sitting with a group of seniors she had just met, an hour's drive from Tokyo. Eat at a restaurant outside.

A layer of warm orange light is spread on the dining table, dyeing the food evenly.

But I don't know if it was because she ate a large portion of shortbread at the shrine at noon, but she didn't have any appetite when she looked at the sardine sushi in front of her.

Machida sat on the outermost side for a long time, and scooped up vegetable soup for everyone one by one, "The hot spring is after seven o'clock, it's still early, we can eat slowly."

This excursion was nominally organized for the tennis club, from the round-trip bus, accommodation, to restaurant reservations and route planning, this series of organizational work was almost in charge of Machida Hisashi.But he is not a member of the tennis club, not even a foreign aid, at best he can only be regarded as an occasional audience outside the court.

Machida picked up the soup bowl and took a sip.

The soup was a little hot, and she glanced at Machida Hisahia with her head down, wondering when did he have such a good relationship with the tennis club that he even took on the job of a tour guide?

During the dinner, everyone chatted and laughed, Oishi poured a cup of tea and brought it up, facing Machida Hisashi, "Ajiu, I haven't thanked you yet, you can have such a good time by taking care of things related to this itinerary in advance."

The surrounding conversations quieted down, and Oishi straightened his sitting posture, "Mr. Ryuzaki didn't come together because of a temporary business at home, and Tezuka made an appointment with the doctor for a routine checkup. Although they are not here today, they also told me to convey Their thanks."

Perhaps because the atmosphere was too formal, he suddenly showed a little shyness, and half-jokingly said: "There are also Hecun, who said that there are many customers on weekends, so he will stay in the shop to help, but he said that he will definitely give you a sushi shop in the future." You can use the free meal coupons at any time!"

The last sentence really made the atmosphere a lot easier. While thanking Machida Hisashi with a smile, everyone automatically put themselves into the category of "you can use the free meal coupons with all your money".

Machida raised the teacup in his hand and said with a smile, "You're welcome. Leaving aside the childhood experiences of growing up in Shonan, we are old friends. Of course we have to help with this."

As soon as Machida put down the soup bowl, he was suddenly a little confused by his words.

old friend?

Apart from his classmates, Fuji and Kikumaru, who is his old friend?

Taocheng was stunned: "Senior Jiu and Senior Dashi are also acquainted?"

Fuji explained with a smile: "Not only Oishi, but also Akan, Tezuka and Takashi." He glanced at Machida Hisahisa, "Actually, Ajiu was also a freshman in the tennis club when he was first year of junior high school."

Machida took a sip of tea, and continued: "It's just that I quit after less than half a semester."

Machida froze suddenly, suddenly felt that this should be the worst thing she experienced today.

What suddenly came to Shonan from Tokyo, fell on the steps, and visited the rock house like a haunted house...all of them were not as shocking as this news, which made her suspect that she was dreaming at this time, and pinched her arm, "... ...!!"

Taocheng: "Really! Then why did you quit? Senior, don't you like tennis?"

Machida pondered for a moment, "I like it, but I don't particularly love it."

In fact, he joined the tennis club at the beginning, mostly out of curiosity and a mentality of experimentation.He has always been handy with problems that only need to be solved by the mind, but often because the things are too simple, he loses interest in in-depth understanding before he starts to do them.

But after watching several tennis matches, he found that tennis can not be played well only by using brains. Physical strength, perseverance, tactics, talent, cooperation and trust between players, and sometimes even a little bit of luck are needed.

That was the first time he felt as if there was an electric current passing through his body, which ignited his heart that wanted to challenge, and his attitude towards a matter was not just to follow the process, but to really do it and experience it with his heart. .

Later, with his talent and hard work, he became one of the few freshmen with astonishing skills in the tennis club in a short period of time, and he was close to his contemporaries, but unexpectedly submitted an application for resignation in the middle of the semester.

It's not that I don't like it, and it's not that there is no room for improvement, it's just that I don't love it that much.

Although on the surface, he is still the same as before, choosing to give up after being familiar with things, but in fact, the enthusiasm that gushes from the bottom of his heart for the first time, and the friendship that he spends with his teammates day and night together, after such a long time Still dripping inside him.

Taocheng nodded clearly: "If you don't love it, it will be difficult to continue."

Machida's hand holding the spoon shook slightly, and he accidentally spilled the food and soup on the table.

She was startled, subconsciously raised her eyes and scanned the crowd, and was relieved when no one noticed this corner, and hurriedly looked for a tissue to wipe it clean.

The light and shadow in the corner of her eye dimmed, and when she lowered her head to search, suddenly there was a small packet of pocket paper at hand.

She was slightly taken aback, turned her head, and saw Echizen Ryoma next to him retracted his hand and looked at her, and raised his chin towards the small mess on the table.

He didn't speak, his eyes paused for a moment on her face, and then he turned his head away.

As soon as Machida came back to his senses, he whispered "thank you", but he didn't know if he heard it, and hurriedly took a piece of paper from his bag to clean up the table.

Kikumaru grabbed a piece of conger eel sushi and threw it into his mouth, and said vaguely: "Although Ajiu only played for half a semester, he doesn't look like a novice at all." He took a big sip of tea, "So when he quit the club , Minister Yamato has talked with him for a long time."

……

Machida couldn't hear what someone said later, she was picking at her untouched sardines indiscriminately, a little disturbed by this sudden fact.

Until she heard Buer say: "Because the activity didn't take long, many new students who joined later didn't know him, and only thought he was here to watch the game." After a pause, "He slowly found what he wanted to do. , appearing on the sidelines less often.”

Haitang was puzzled: "Slowly found what you want to do?"

In a very tacit understanding, all the third-year seniors present smiled heartily, and Oishi pretended to be serious: "The current president of the Qinggaku Debate Club, Machida Hisashi." The tone sounded like he added some teasing.

Taocheng was surprised: "I heard that the president of the school debate team won the title of best debater for three consecutive years. Is it you, senior?"

Machida put down his teacup and smiled, "Yes."

"That's amazing!" Momoshiro turned to the nearest Echizen, intending to whisper admiration to each other, "Isn't Echizen?"

Unexpectedly, the latter was concentrating on the shrimp pancake in front of him, without even raising his eyelids, and muttered: "...uh."

Taocheng: "..."

"By the way, I remember that Zhou Qingxue is going to participate in the final of the Tokyo Junior High School Debating Competition next year, right?" Dashi asked.

Machida nodded, "Well, next Monday. The opponent is Hyotei."

The wind blowing in from the window was a little cool, and the conversation between the dinner was blown loose.

Fuji looked at Machida Kazu with a smile, and asked softly, "Is Haji's preparation going well?"

Xu Shi didn't expect to be called. She stopped her chopsticks and nodded in the doubtful eyes of everyone, "Well, I have learned about the subject knowledge and checked a lot of relevant information." She pursed her lips, "And my brother has already led the team I have practiced for a long time, so everyone is quite confident in this competition."

Kikumaru blinked: "If you say that..."

"Then you are also a member of the debating club?" Momoshiro was so surprised that he ignored Echizen who was in the middle, and pressed his whole body on him, and went over him to ask Machida Kazu.

Echizen Ryoma's disgusted expression was undisguised, "A Tao-senpai, you are too exaggerated."

The scene in front of Machida and his wife was a bit unexpected, they were stunned for a moment, and the corners of their mouths curled up, "Well, it's a freshman."

Everyone seemed to have discovered something more novel, and asked her one after another:

"What is the day-to-day activity of the debating club like?"

"As the president's younger sister, will there be a lot of pressure?"

"You can still participate in the capital competition as a freshman?" Compared with someone in your own department horizontally, "Are the freshmen now so rude...?"

……

After receiving the endless questions, Machida thought for a while, and calmly answered one by one:

"Daily speech is relatively free, focusing on discussing ideas and training critical thinking skills, and sometimes there are speech exercises." Good official...

"There's pressure, but there's also drive." Common phraseology...

It was not until the last question that she pondered for a moment before she opened her mouth: "There are many outstanding seniors in the club, but participating in competitions really depends on strength."

What she said was natural and ordinary. When everyone present heard this sentence, they were slightly taken aback for a moment, and then they all raised the corners of their mouths knowingly.

Then, after Machida Kazu silently said "Besides... as a junior, I'm still very polite", as if thinking of something tacitly, the seniors finally laughed out of embarrassment.

Compared to everyone's obvious ridicule, Machida didn't feel that his words had much meaning.

Although since Yuta showed his anger towards Echizen Ryoma in front of her, and she has heard a little about his "deeds", his arrogance and seeming sloppiness are impressive, but she always thinks that, People with outstanding ability will naturally have a kind of confidence and arrogance, and they should keep a low profile when they should be low-key. However, at the right time and occasion, once there is an opportunity, they should not suppress and restrain themselves, and it is okay to show off.

But maybe it was because among all the people present, she and Echizen Ryoma were the only "junior" in her mouth, so inexplicably, she felt a sense of guilt that there was something hidden in her words.

And besides that, whether on purpose or not, he had quietly helped her when she had just knocked over the food.

...Sure enough, he was short-handed.

Thinking in this way, she poured a cup of tea from the teapot at hand, picked up the teacup, and glanced at Ryoma Ochiqian lightly from the corner of her eye guiltily.

He was wiping the corners of his mouth with a napkin, and he looked normal, with no unusual emotions.

As soon as Machida was about to breathe a sigh of relief, he saw him put the napkin on the table, and suddenly said, "Hello."