[Net King] Pilgrim

Machida closed the extra-curricular reading list in his hand, leaned his head sideways in front of the desk in the room, and sighed for the tenth time tonight.

During the lunch break, Echizen Ryoma said to her, "Go and try it." She thought about it all afternoon in her seat, and spent a long time lying on the window sill outside the corridor during class break.

Maybe it was because she was a little delirious from the wind blowing outside the window at that time, she gritted her teeth for the last time, and went to find Aihara before school was over.

Aihara was very surprised that she wanted to sign up for a solo, and even showed an unbelievable look.

It's not because Machida has never been a frequent visitor to campus activities, but because he thinks that some people are willing to sign up for a slightly difficult program category like solo singing, but on the other hand, he is not sure whether she can handle it, after all In such a school-wide performance in the form of a class, the performers more or less represent the image and appearance of the class.

In order to dispel Aihara's doubts, Machida sang a simple song in the empty classroom after school, but before she sang a few words, Aihara gradually changed from initial surprise to pleasant surprise, and finally suddenly pressed her shoulder, looked at her imposingly and said: "It's you!"

……

Machida stood up straight from the table, resting his chin on his hands, and sighed again.

Why was she so hot-headed at that time... Isn't she so cold-headed that she went to sign up?

Presumably, Echizen Ryoma's words touched a certain nerve in her, and she, an outsider who hadn't participated in activities for thousands of years, volunteered, and it was the first time she took the initiative to participate in such a large-scale performance.

She sat cross-legged on the chair, clutching the pillow in her arms, while thinking about what he said to her at noon.

After a few seconds, I finally couldn't help complaining in a low voice, "Why falling from the top three in the grade to the top ten doesn't count as an influence..."

... How can anyone encourage others like this!

-

For several days in a row, in addition to homework and extra-curricular exercises, Machida had one more thing to do in his spare time, which was to choose the performances for the cultural festival.

Because the debate competition had just ended, the debate club didn't have much to do recently, so the time and energy she had spent preparing for the competition was almost filled up by listening to music and choosing songs.

The classmates in the class learned that she was going to participate in the performance at the class meeting.After finishing the summary, Teacher Ayase specially announced the matter in the class, and encouraged her with a smile.

After class, a group of people quickly gathered around Machida's seat. A few people expressed surprise that she would participate in the performance, but most of the students cheered her on as soon as they came up.

Matsuzaki didn't seem to remember that she had rejected the party invitation at all. Instead, she said straightforwardly that if she wanted to, he would be very happy to accompany her to KTV to practice on weekends.

As soon as Machida was immersed in the joyful atmosphere, he suddenly felt that it was a happy and happy thing for him to be able to participate in group activities like this.

When the crowd dispersed, the smile on her lips was still there, and she subconsciously shifted her gaze to Ryoma's seat not far away.

There was only a row of seats between them, and there was no one there during the class break, so she could see it when she turned her head.

Echizen Ryoma was lying on the table, burying his head in his arms in a comfortable-looking posture, as if he was sleeping.

It may be because the temperature in the classroom is a bit high, and when the sun turns west, his seat by the window is exposed to the warm sunlight. He is not wearing a uniform jacket at this time, only the white shirt inside is left, and the cuffs are rolled up a few times at will. Loop folds at the elbows.

Noticing that a few strands of his dark green hair were slightly raised, Machida curled his lips and couldn't help laughing.

She seriously suspected that he slept through the entire class...

but.

Thank you.she said silently.

-

After finishing homework in the evening, Machida sat on the carpet beside the bed, stuffed a disc into the CD player while eating strawberry daifuku, and pressed the play button amidst the soft and sweet aroma in his mouth.

Recently, she hasn't paid much attention to the news in the music field, and she doesn't know much about the new song list, so she plans to select some from the songs she used to listen to frequently.

"This one doesn't seem appropriate..." After a few minutes, she paused the machine, carefully took out the CD and put it back into the CD box, and picked up another one from her side.

At this time, Machida knocked on the door and came in, seeing her sitting in the middle of the CD cases all over the floor with her hair tied into a ball, feeling helpless and funny.

During dinner a few days ago, his younger sister, who has never been keen on school cultural and sports activities, suddenly said uncharacteristically that she would participate in the school festival performance. The dusty CD player was also removed.

My mother was surprised and delighted when she saw it, and asked her if she wanted to buy a new one. After all, the CD player was old, and the style was so old that it looked unreliable. In the end, she waited for her to clean the machine. , after trying to place a disk, he happily dusted off his dusty clothes and said, "It's okay, just use it!"

Machida leaned against the door frame and said with a smile, "I'll take you to Ginza to buy some records this weekend."

"It doesn't matter, I still prefer to use the one I'm familiar with." Machida pushed back the CD-ROM drive where the CD was placed, put his fingers on the play button, and finally looked up at him, "What's the matter?"

Machida straightened up, walked over and handed her two leather-colored paper bags, "I just picked up the photos from my trip to Shonan earlier today."

She raised her hand to take it, and heard him say: "One is for you, and the other is for your little confidant, you can give it to him."

Little confidant?

Holding the brown paper bag, Machida looked at him suspiciously, and didn't realize who he was referring to until he saw the unserious smile on his lips.

She lowered her head and opened one of the bags with a serious tone, "Did you say Echizen-kun, just a friend."

Machida looked at her, his smile deepened, "I think you can talk to him quite well..." He bent down and picked up a CD on the floor, and looked back and forth in his hand, "I thought you were very close OK."

... Could it be that it is not good to say?

It was obvious that he was trying to catch her words.

Machida thought that if he kept talking to him like this, he would have to get himself involved, so he unceremoniously used his trump card.

"I'm going to play music."

She propped herself up and took the CD from his hand, and looked at him with a smile, "The kind that circulates."

Somewhat unexpectedly, the little girl blatantly exposed his shortcomings, Machida stood there for a moment, raised his eyebrows.

After she finished speaking, she slipped back to the carpet, fiddled with the CD player in front of her, and never looked at him again.

Seeing her apparently "seeing off guests", Machida Hisahi stopped teasing her, smiled and closed the door and went out.

As soon as Machida sat on the ground, he poured out the photos from the brown paper bag and scattered them on the blanket. He could see that there were quite a few of them at a glance.

She randomly fiddled with it a few times, fixed her eyes on the one that was pressed underneath, and reached out to pick it out.

It was a group photo of them standing under the laurel tree in the botanical garden.

She remembered that she and Echizen Ryoma were suppressed too badly because of their height, and were pushed to the front by the seniors, but looking at the photos now, it felt like everyone was gathered together, and there was no distance between their feet.

But even so, Echizen Ryoma's dark green hair was really eye-catching, Machida moved his eyes down, said "Huh", and then couldn't help laughing.

In the photo, Echizen Ryoma is frowning, with Kikumaru-senpai's "rabbit ears" on his head, and his cheeks being pulled by Momoshiro-senpai's hands, his expression is full of helplessness.

When I went to school the next day, the teacher of the grade group leader informed me that I had to confirm with the students in each class who participated in the cultural festival performance. Machida ran to the staff room several times during the break before listening to the teacher explain all the complicated details.

Ryoma didn't show up until the lunch break. She searched around the corridor twice, and even went to the rooftop, but she didn't see anyone.After a busy day, she found the opportunity to show him the photo when school was over.

Thinking that today is Friday, if you don't give it to him now, it will be next Monday, so Machida went around to the tennis court from behind the teaching building after school.She vaguely remembered that he carried a tennis bag today, planning to try his luck.

The autumn in Tokyo this year is like endless lights in the dark night, and I don’t know when it will end.

Machida tightened his windbreaker over his uniform, copied the distribution of the entire stadium in his mind based on his impressions, and then patiently searched for players one by one.Although I haven't been to the tennis court a few times, fortunately, the directions and numbers are marked around the court, and there are quite a few people watching, so it is not difficult to find it.

She stretched her neck and looked back and forth, and it took her a long time to find someone.

On a green court, Echizen Ryoma is standing on the baseline on one side of the court holding a racket, preparing to serve.

He was wearing a blue and white Qingxue official selection team uniform, with a white cap on his head, and the smile on his mouth was undisguised, wanton and dazzling.

As soon as Machida approached, he happened to see him throw the ball into the air, and then he jumped lightly, and after hitting the ball with a neat swing, the bright yellow ball quickly passed the net and flew to the other side of the court in an instant.

Her gaze also followed the ball to the other side in an instant, and saw that after it hit the ground and spun strongly, it bounced straight to the opponent's face.

"Wow..." Machida stood on the sidelines and whispered.

The senior who dodged the ball on the opposite side straightened up stiffly, and shouted helplessly and angrily: "Echizen, you don't have to be so serious! Can't you simply serve the ball!"

"No."

Echizen Ryoma refused flatly and naturally.

Machida was stunned for a moment, looking at his posture about to serve again, he thought that he was indeed... quite arrogant.

Her gaze inadvertently fell on his right hand holding the racket, and she wondered, isn't he left-handed?

After a while, she smiled suddenly, put her hands in her pockets and buried her face in the collar of her jacket, "Duplicity."

The score was so overwhelming that even Machida Kazu, who didn't know much about tennis, could see the disparity in strength between the two sides, and the game ended very quickly.

Echizen Ryoma walked towards the sidelines with the racket on his shoulders, he paused when he looked up and saw her, as if he was a little surprised.

Machida stood outside the barbed wire fence and raised his hand to greet him, with some admiration hidden under his calm expression.

As expected of the main election, he used his right hand throughout the whole process, but did not sweat a single drop after the game, and his breathing seemed to be very steady.

It seems that in the match just now, the strength gap between the two sides should be much larger than she imagined.

Echizen Ryoma put his racket on the rest chair in the arena, and raised his water glass, "Is there something wrong?"

As soon as Machida came to his senses, he hurriedly took out a plastic-sealed paper bag from his schoolbag, "I'll come over and give you the photos I took in Shonan."

He drank his saliva, stared at the paper bag in her hand for a moment, and then walked out of the court.

Machida handed the bag to him and explained, "I was a little busy during the class break and didn't have time to bring it to you. I wanted to wait until the lunch break, but I couldn't find you, so I wanted to come here after school to try my luck." Maybe I thought I was lucky Not bad, she bent the corner of her mouth.

Echizen Ryoma took the brown paper bag, looked at it standing there, and tore off the seal.

He took out a few photos from the bag, looked down at random, "I was at the stadium at noon."

Machida was slightly taken aback.

After a while, she realized that he was explaining.

But thinking that he just said it casually just now, he really didn't know what to reply at the moment, so he nodded and let out a dull "oh".

Speechless for a while.

Echizen Ryoma stuffed the photo back into the bag, and suddenly a voice full of vitality came from beside him.

"Yo Echizen, let's compete!"

"A Tao-senpai?" Machida turned his head, surprised to see Momoshiro who appeared at some time.

Apparently the fighting spirit in the game was too high, Momoshiro only noticed her at this time, "Machida is here too, are you here to cheer for Echizen?"

Machida was stunned for a moment, but before he could speak, Momojo nodded happily, "Very good, very good!" He paused, with a regretful tone, "Recently, seniors in the third grade seldom come to training, and I feel that the stadium This place suddenly became a lot deserted, and I'm really not used to it."

After hearing what Taocheng said, she remembered that Fujisuke had said before that the third grade would half-retire after the national competition.For them who have no chance to return to the court, there must be too much reluctance.

But in fact, it's not just them, the younger generations will also be reluctant.The days of training and playing together, and the teammates who fought side by side are very precious memories.

Machida Kazu swallowed the words he was going to deny at first.

Taocheng was talking about how everyone went to eat together after training, his eyes lit up, and he looked at her, "After I finish fighting with Echizen, the three of us will go eat ramen together!"

"what?"

Taocheng was taken aback, "Do you have anything to do tonight?"

"That's not..."

"Then it's settled!" Taocheng said with a smile.Can't wait to take the racket and walk to the court, "Come on, Echizen!"

Machida Kazu obviously hadn't reacted from this dramatic change, and stood there, looking at Echizen Ryoma with a confused expression.

Echizen Ryoma looked away from Momojo and back to her.After a moment of silence, he stuffed the paper bag in his hand to her, "Help me get it."

The moment he turned around, he hooked the corner of his lips, "I won't wait too long."