[Net King] Pilgrim

Taking the bus from Youth Station is the best way for Machida to go home.

Although the subway network in Minato-ku, Tokyo is convenient and fast, because the villa area in Minami Azabu is quiet and not very close to the main road, it takes [-] minutes to walk from the nearest subway entrance to the residential street.

Machida had tried it a few times when she first entered Seigaku. Although she claimed to have good physical strength, after a day of school classes, she really didn't want to bother to walk a few kilometers to exercise her body.So from then on, every day after school, she obediently took the bus and got off at the corner of the street less than 200 meters away from home, and then walked home in a leisurely manner.

She stepped up the steps and took out the keychain from her schoolbag. As soon as she took out the house key, the door was pushed half open from the inside.

Machida was leaning idly by the door, surrounded by the soft light of the entrance, and asked with a half-smile, "If you don't come back again, I suspect that you are dating some boy."

Machida glanced at him, and threw the keychain back into his schoolbag when he entered the room, not paying attention: "I didn't say I was going to be on duty today." Opening the shoe cabinet, he caught a glimpse of an extra pair of sneakers on the floor of the entrance ,"have a guest?"

"You'll know if you go in and have a look." Machida bent his lips, took her schoolbag, and frowned heavily.

Suspiciously, Machida walked towards the living room with his slippers on, bypassing the ancient Kutani incense burner placed on the high stool, and his field of vision suddenly became brighter.

Qingxue’s navy blue uniform coat hangs on the hanger in front of him. In front of the open kitchen half surrounded by solid wood cabinets, his mother is making soup with a smile.

She saw the boy behind her mother facing the stove and helping to serve the food, picking up the plate and walking towards the dining table.

"Brother Zhou Zhu?"

Fuji Shusuke put the hot tempura on the table, before he could raise his head, Machida flew over like a sparrow, casting a light and shadow beside the table.

"Ah Yi is back." He smiled gently, "Go and wash your hands, dinner is ready."

Machida smiled and said, "Okay."

After washing his hands, he went back to his room and changed into his home clothes. When he went downstairs, the dining table was already full of fragrance.

Mother had already sat down, and when Machida took out a few sets of tableware from the kitchen drawer, she got up again to help.

"Mom, please sit down, let Hajime come and get it." He counted the number of chopsticks, turned his head and gave Machida a wink of "Come and help".

As soon as Machida took the tableware, he looked at Fuji Shusuke who was making tea with his head down.

His eyebrows and eyes were warm and pure, he pinched the torn opening of the tinfoil package with his fingertips, carefully poured an appropriate amount of tea into the teacup, then picked up the teapot and filled it with water.

In the mist that filled her eyes, she remembered that the last time she met him face to face like this was about a month ago.

Machida recalled that it was the day before Seigaku played against Tatekai University in the national competition.

During that time, she was extremely busy preparing for the monthly test for the first month of school and the selection for the debating club at the same time.

That morning, she continued her habit of going to the classroom for self-study before the morning class for several weeks.When passing the huge green belt in front of the teaching building, I heard the continuous sound of hitting the ball in the direction of the tennis court. After walking, I saw the tennis team members training as expected.

It was Machida who told her that Qing Xue will face Rikkai University in the final.

Not only that, her brother, who has always been called the "real version of Naoki Irie", also gave her a brief summary of Qingxue's performance in the previous competitions, as well as an analysis of the pros and cons of this final, just to help her popularize science knowledge of tennis.

Although there is a relationship with Fuji Shusuke, who is also a classmate and a junior, Machida still finds it incredible that Machida is still busy watching and studying tennis in the midst of his busy schedule.

She hesitated on the sidelines for a while, although Fujisuke and her were only separated by a net, but in this case, it was naturally difficult for her to call for a stop.

When she was thinking about whether to wait for today's lunch break to send a text message as a pre-match encouragement, she suddenly heard someone calling her not far away.

The first person to notice Machida was Kikumaru who practiced with Fuji. When he was about to serve, he caught a glimpse of a figure out of the corner of his eye. Is the girl next to me Ajiu's younger sister?"

At first, Fujisuke thought he was wrong. After all, Machida had never been very interested in tennis, and as far as he knew, she was busy with her studies these few weeks, so she shouldn't be thinking about other things. Seeing her I couldn't help being surprised, "Ah Yi?"

As soon as Machida came back to his senses, seeing Fujisuke walking towards her, he asked with a smile, "What's the matter?"

She said with a smile: "Encouragement before the game. I hope you all go well in the game tomorrow."

She pursed her lips, and her smile faded a little, "Because I have to prepare for the exam and the debate competition, the time is very tight, so I won't go to the scene tomorrow to cheer for Qingxue."

Bu Er Zhou listened to her and finished speaking with great effort, but the voice of "sorry" was drowned at the end of the whole sentence, and she knew it in her heart.

After a long while, he gently comforted him: "It's okay, there's nothing you can do about it." Noticing the dark circles under her eyes, he half-joked, "I heard from Ajiu that recently you go out early and come back late, just like summer days are long and nights are short .”

"He and I are not on the same latitude." She obviously resisted.

Fujisuke smiled, "Then I hope your hard work will pay off, but you should also pay attention to rest while working hard." His tone softened, "Yi, don't work too hard."

She was slightly taken aback, and the tiredness in her eyes flashed, "Well, I will pay attention."

Machida Kazuki leaned against the cooking table and sighed silently in his heart.

She sometimes felt that she was like a fish that surfaced due to lack of oxygen in the deep sea.

There was a chill on her cheeks, she turned her head and found that Machida Jiu was holding a bottle of wave soda close to him, and the side face was wet from the water vapor from the glass bottle.

"It's cold." She frowned and avoided it.

"Why are you in a daze, you plan to let everyone eat hand-picked rice?"

Fuji Zhouzhu asked with a low smile, "What were you thinking just now? Ajiu called you several times and you didn't respond."

"...It's nothing." Machida touched his nose in embarrassment.

Machida walked to the hanging cabinet, flipped two goblets between his fingers on the countertop, opened the freezer of the refrigerator, and asked her, "Ice cubes?"

"No." She nodded.

He threw a few stainless steel ice cubes into the glass, and poured the wave soda into it. The crystal light pink liquid collided with the metal and burst out cascading bubbles instantly, making a pleasant sound.Glancing at Fuji Zhousuke who picked up the teacup and put it on the tray, "Sure enough, Zhou Zhu is still oolong tea."

"Well, it's like you two always have plum-flavored soda."

Machida put the cutlery on the dining table and turned back to the cooking table.Not two weeks later, the assistant brought over a cup of tea, smiled and said to her, "This cup is for Aunt Heyin."

She took the teacup in response, then remembered something, and asked, "Brother Zhou Zhu doesn't go to the tennis club anymore?"

"I seldom go. After the national competition, the third grade is semi-retired, and I have to prepare for the next year's entrance exam."

She nodded, and saw Machida Jiu take over the conversation, "Does Zhou Zhu have a pre-selected school?"

"Currently there is only Qingxue, and the rest are still under consideration."

Machida walked back to the dining table with a teacup in his hand, and his mother sat at the table and looked at her with relief, "I heard from Ajiu the other day that you wanted to eat grilled mackerel. It happened that your father asked Watanabe to bring some boxes of seafood back yesterday. I looked at the mackerel. It’s quite fresh, so I kept some for myself.”

She looked at the two people who were serving rice in front of the island stage, "And in the afternoon, Ajiu said on the phone that Zhou Zhu would come over tonight, so I just thought I'd cook fish for you guys."

As a university professor, Machida Heyin doesn't have much time to take care of his family's daily life.But it should be out of instinctive love and responsibility. In the early years when the two children were young, she always asked the aunt who came to help with cooking and cleaning at home for advice on housework skills after work. Once you are familiar with it, you will do everything by yourself.

So even though she is not a full-time housewife, she can still keep the house in order without losing her style.

As soon as Machida heard the word "grilled mackerel", his eyes drifted to the dining table.

Machida walked over to the table with a soda, looked at her restrained but eager look, and sneered unceremoniously: "Excellent."

Machida snorted softly, sitting upright as if welcoming an important moment, full of ritual.

After everyone was seated, she quickly put her hands together and said, "I'm starting."