[Net King] Pilgrim

Machida Kazu never mentioned in front of others that his brother didn't understand the rhythm.

In fact, to be more precise, if she hadn't accidentally brought up the memory of the past just now, she would have almost forgotten that even if she is as good as Machida, there are things she is not good at.

Echizen Ryoma was slightly taken aback when he heard the words, silent for a few seconds, and nodded.

Thinking about his indifferent personality, he didn't seem like the kind of person who would be bored enough to gossip, so Machida stopped thinking about it, and naturally let go of his hand that was holding him.

When she was about to walk back, she stopped suddenly, thought for a while, then turned her head and asked him: "I laughed like that just now, isn't it kind?"

Echizen Ryoma glanced at her, "It's okay."

Hearing what he said, Machida rolled his eyes and felt that it was not that serious.

She breathed a sigh of relief, and as soon as she lifted her foot, she heard him walk a few steps, and then said without looking back: "But as a junior, you are very impolite."

She paused, and for a moment she couldn't hear what he meant, but felt that the words and sentences of this sentence were very familiar.

She lagged behind slowly, and when she was almost at the gate of the courtyard, she remembered her misleading speech during the dinner, and felt aggrieved.

Really... What kind of grudge is he remembering!

She couldn't help but whisper behind him, and when she raised her eyes, she found Machida Hisahi was looking at her not far away, smiling inexplicably.

He folded his arms in front of his chest, and after stopping for a moment on Echizen Ryoma, he stared straight at her.

Machida thought he had nothing to be guilty of, straightened his back, and walked quite calmly, meeting his gaze while also intending to ignore the obvious teasing in his eyes.

Before she walked to the door, Machida raised his hand to hide the smile on his lower lip, and said slowly: "If you don't come back again, I doubt..."

He hesitated to speak, but she was taken aback by the familiar scene and words, and the next second, the image of him leaning against the door of the house the night before popped up in his mind.

In the blink of an eye, Machida was shocked, and immediately guessed what the remaining half of the sentence he didn't say was.She subconsciously glanced at Echizen Ryoma who was a few steps ahead of her, and then yelled at Machida, "Stop!"

Echizen Ryoma turned his head to look over, there was no abnormal reaction, but his eyes were full of puzzlement.

On the contrary, Machida Hisashi was visibly startled when he saw the scene in front of him.

He originally thought that she would be the same as usual, choosing to ignore his teasing from time to time, and on rare occasions, she would just throw him a warning look. Break him, and still in such a resolute posture.

Although the current situation is really not suitable for such a joke, and he didn't really want to say anything regardless of the occasion, but in his opinion, Machida Kazu's behavior is somewhat abnormal.

He came back to his senses, and was about to discern something from her eyes, only to find that she had already tiptoed to the door, and then without stopping for a moment, he took Echizen Ryoma's sleeve, pulled him and slipped in. courtyard.

-

Machida dragged Echizen Ryoma all the way across the front yard, let go of his cuffs when he entered the house, stood at the entrance and let out a sigh of relief.

She looked up and saw that he straightened his sleeves a little, and then looked at her, as if he was waiting for her to give an explanation.

The shadows of the trees outside the house whirled and rustled.

Machida's head suddenly became dizzy.

Just now, she only cared about avoiding Machida Hisashi, and didn't think about how to deal with the aftermath for a while. She had been busy for a long time just trying to avoid embarrassment, but now...it seems even more embarrassing.

Fortunately, Echizen Ryoma didn't intend to get to the bottom of it, seeing her in a difficult situation, he didn't ask any more questions, turned around and walked into the house.

The seniors also just came back from the hot spring, so they were relieved when they saw the two entering the room, and then told them the time for breakfast tomorrow.

Machida lay down on the tatami after returning to the house, and it took him a long time to get up to light candles in the bright white moonlight outside the window.

Among the clusters of ignited blue flames, she hugged her knees and leaned against the side table, rolled a thin blanket over her body, quietly watching the flames licking the candles in front of her.

The roaring wind in the mountains and forests could be vaguely heard outside the soundproofed room.

At this normal time, she is probably still reading a book, or doing some exercises, or something else, except that she won't be in a daze like she is now.

Echizen Ryoma's words at night were like a heavy hammer hitting her heart, shaking her mind a little.

She has always regarded Machida Hisashi as her goal. In order to catch up with him, she tried her best to study, and even joined the debating club because of this.But when she learned that he used to be a member of the tennis club, she suddenly realized at that moment that the goal she had been chasing all along was like a swaying shadow.

If Machida Kukuni hadn't quit the tennis club for a while, if he was still a member of the tennis club, would he be running around the court every day and practicing his swing instead of participating in group discussions like he does now? , doing round after round of speech practice?

Machida shifted his gaze to the black luggage bag by the wall, and sighed slightly.

forget about it.

After extinguishing the candle, she hugged the blanket to the soft bed, lifted the quilt and got in.

As Echizen Ryoma said to her, keep a proper relaxed state and do the things in front of you first.It's rare for her to have such a relaxed mood now, but she can't be nervous anymore.

After a long time, she finally felt sleepy, and finally fell asleep gradually.

When I woke up, the sky was bright.The hotel's electrical circuits have also been restarted.

Machida rubbed his neck, which was about to stiffen, got up with a mess of hair and went to wash.

Amakusa carefully chose a room with a bathroom for her, so that she didn't have to worry too much about her scruffy image when she got up early, but she hadn't slept on tatami for a long time. loose.

But this uncomfortable feeling was quickly replaced by a pang of hunger.She basically didn't move her chopsticks for dinner last night, and then she was brisk outside blowing the air. She was already very hungry by now.

When she sat at the dining table and ate the third bowl of rice contentedly, Amakusa, who had come over to add milk a few times, looked at her, and finally couldn't help but said with a smile: "It turns out that Hajime's appetite is so good, I'm still here I'm worried, you look so thin, is it not good for you to eat?"

Machida smiled embarrassingly, then silently stretched out his chopsticks and took a piece of yokan into his mouth.

The early dinner table was quiet, and Amakusa's crisp tone was particularly eye-catching, and the attention quickly gathered.

The seniors began to teach her the experience of exercising. The content was so detailed as to how to increase muscle mass, diet before and after exercise, and even talked about what to eat to help grow taller... Of course, the topic of growing taller is not only involved left her alone.

While listening carefully, Machida looked at Echizen Ryoma who was scooping up miso soup from the corner of his eye, and secretly estimated his height in his heart.

Uh...it seems to be about the same as her.

When she was wondering how he would deal with those tall opponents on the court, she suddenly heard the senior Gan opposite her say to her in a serious tone: "Actually, compared to what they said, I have a faster effective method here." He said He took out a water glass and handed it to her, smiling unfathomably, "Nutritional supplements, do you want to try it?"

Everyone's voices stopped suddenly, and they all looked at her... the water glass in front of her as if seeing a ghost.

Machida blinked, and took a closer look in the stagnant air.The word "INUI" is marked on the wall of the cup, so it is for the personal use of the senior?

It seems that there is nothing abnormal, but at this moment, she has a bad feeling in the atmosphere. After all, she has seen the seniors play cards out of common sense yesterday.

Out of curiosity, she was about to raise her hand to pick it up, when Echizen Ryoma suddenly said, "You will definitely not be able to participate in tomorrow's competition after drinking." He stopped the chopsticks in his hand, glanced at her, and emphasized, "Absolutely."

Machida was stunned for a moment, he can be so sure, he must have a deep understanding...

Thinking that she was in a critical period, she shivered suddenly, smiled sincerely and waved her hands, "Thank you, senior, but I think it's better to forget it."

Senpai Gan looked rather regretful, and poured out a glass casually. She looked at the unidentifiable color of the liquid in the transparent glass, and felt a little lucky for a moment.

The table gradually became lively.When talking about the hot spring last night, Kikumaru put down the fried egg in his hand and asked curiously: "By the way, Hajime, your name is clearly written as 'one', but why does it read as 'Hajime'?"

Seeing her stunned, he grinned, "I happened to see your ID at the hot spring yesterday, and I thought it was strange, so I wanted to ask~"

Taocheng was surprised: "Really? Listening to the pronunciation, I thought your name was 'Chu'..." While speaking, he gestured with his hands, "I didn't expect it to be 'One'."

Machida explained with a smile, "Actually, the name was given by my grandfather." Her voice suddenly became softer, "My father said that when I was just born, my grandfather was fascinated by the comics in the Kindaichi Junior Casebook, so he named me It has the same name as the protagonist, and even the way it is called is the same."

At first glance, this is the reason, and the seniors thought it was unbelievable at first. Could this be too... a little casual?

Kikumaru suddenly realized, and asked again: "Then do you feel inconvenient, such as being called by the wrong name?"

Machida paused, and continued following his train of thought naturally, "It's not inconvenient, but it's true that some people will make mistakes..." She stopped suddenly in the middle of speaking.

She remembered that she was called by someone's wrong name two days ago, and that person is sitting next to her now...

In order to avoid "disaster coming out of her mouth" again, she kept her sitting posture without turning her head, and forced to hold back the second half of the sentence, and said instead: "...but my name is indeed easy to be called wrong."

Seeing that she didn't mind, everyone smiled and changed the subject.

Machida Kazu patted his chest quietly, subconsciously turned his head to look at Echizen Ryoma.

He was slowly picking out the fishbone, kicking the fish meat into the bowl, he seemed to notice her gaze when he reached for the tissue, and turned his head to look, "What's wrong?"

She was taken aback for a moment, then immediately shook her head, "...it's nothing."

-

Machida Hisashi estimated that he would return to Tokyo in the afternoon, so after breakfast he asked Machida Kazu to call his grandfather.

In one morning, everyone who wanted to go to the aquarium went to the aquarium, and those who wanted to go shopping, the people were scattered, and when they got on the return bus in the afternoon, Machida had time to talk to Machida Jiu.

She stood in the gap in the last row of the car, watching him stuff her luggage bag into the storage box above her head, "I forgot to ask, how did you meet Grandpa yesterday?"

"During lunch, in the restaurant."

Thinking that the old man usually hang out with friends outside, she nodded, "Oh", and didn't ask any more questions.

Machida went to the front to confirm with the driver the drop-off place after returning to Tokyo. She found a corner seat and sat down. She lowered her head and opened the review book she had taken out in advance, when she suddenly heard a "boom" from the side.

She was slightly startled, turned her head, and saw a dark luggage bag on the seat in the other corner.

She looked up at the slightly empty storage box, and kindly reminded, "Echizen-kun, you can put your luggage on it." She raised her finger and pointed, "There is still space there."

Echizen Ryoma stepped forward and sat in, "It's okay."

As soon as Machida saw him close his eyes and lean against the car window, with the brim of his hat pulled down, he sat cross-legged on the seat with a luggage bag between his body and the window, sitting in a very casual posture.

The gap in the last row is narrow and the ground is high. She didn't feel uncomfortable reading with her knees bent, but such a closed space might be very uncomfortable for him, especially since he still looks like he is going to sleep...

But if it's sleeping... She straightened her neck and looked at the front of the carriage. There were obviously a lot of empty seats and it was very spacious.She tilted her head and looked at him again, feeling a little puzzled, not sitting in so many comfortable seats, just nestling in the back and looking for guilt...?

But thinking of himself doing the same, he guessed that he might be hiding here for a quiet time, so he didn't care too much.

When the engine was started, the body trembled slightly, and the seniors in the front row laughed one after another, as if they hadn't enjoyed themselves enough yet.

Machida stared intently at the book spread out on her lap for a while, and it was so densely packed with handwriting that it made her dizzy.

She pinched her temples, closed her eyes, and buried her face between the books. After a few minutes, she leaned her head back on the back of the chair. After tossing for a long time, she finally threw the book aside as if giving up, and raised her chin to look out the window. .

Looking at the blue sky and the floating sea, she slowly felt at ease when she looked at it, and the corners of her lips curled up unconsciously.

It seems that something is different.