boyutpedia Page 81
Page 81
"Ugh!"
Kitahara Hakuma's words were like a fine needle, piercing the softest part of Yukawa Sakurako's heart. Her face turned red, and she lowered her head, her brows furrowing with obvious wrinkles.
Saito Harutori stepped forward, placed a hand on Yukawa Sakurako's shoulder, and said gently:
"Let's listen to Master Kitahara. There will be opportunities in the future. The All-Kingdom Conference is still a long way off."
Kitahara Hakuba tidied the documents and put them in his bag, trying his best to keep his voice as steady as ever:
"Minister Yuchuan, I admire your courage to consider the needs of your members, but before doing so, could you perhaps gain a deeper understanding of them before taking any action?"
"Go deeper?" Sakurako's eyes seemed to be misty.
Kitahara Shiro opened the music room door, put on her shoes, and said:
"I don't know about that, but there's one more thing. Rather than showing concern for Kanzaki, isn't her behavior disrespectful to the other members of the oboe? What will the members who were selected for Class A because of her think? How will everyone view her?"
Sakurako Yukawa paused for a moment, then a subtle expression appeared on her face, as if she were feeling guilty.
Mr. Kitahara was far more understanding and sensitive than her, and in her interactions with him, Sakurako Yukawa was always able to realize her own immaturity.
"Be careful on your way home, and remember to turn off the lights in the music room," Kitahara Hakuba said, then closed the door.
Sakurako Yukawa sat down on the carpet, buried her face in her knees, and murmured softly:
"Compared to Kitahara-sensei, I seem so stupid."
Saito Harutori stood still, looking down at Yukawa Sakurako with a stern face, and said as if reluctantly:
“Sakurako isn’t stupid at all. It’s Kitahara-sensei who’s too heartless. When the list is announced, everyone will stand up for Eri.”
No, that's not true.
Sakurako pressed her forehead firmly against her knees, her gaze fixed on the folds of her skirt.
"Teacher Kitahara is absolutely right. I was just being wishful. If I start this trend, the brass band will definitely get out of control in the future."
Saito Harutori's sharp gaze fell on the back of her neck, and for some reason, an indescribable emotion welled up in her heart.
She increasingly felt that the members of the wind instrument club were like balloons whose strings had been cut, gradually drifting away from her.
?
It started raining as soon as I left the school, but thankfully it was just a light drizzle.
The gloomy sky weighed heavily on the entire city, and the asphalt road surface, marked with evenly spaced yellow lines, became dull and damp at a visible speed.
Kitahara Hakuba walked down the street carrying a transparent umbrella. When he was bored, he would listen to the sound of the rain falling on the umbrella to hear what kind of tone it was.
He pricked up his ears, a strange sense of excitement welling up inside him, like seeing a little girl wearing thigh-high boots.
They danced on his umbrella.
Looking up, I saw no girl's dress, only the gray sky pressing down through the umbrella.
Upon arriving at the station and entering the tram car, the floor was covered with splashes of water.
As his body swayed with the car, Kitahara Hakuba thought about the upcoming selection.
Eri Kanzaki's performance this time is absolutely not good enough to get into the A section.
He had previously thought this girl just didn't want to play the trumpet or soli, but he never expected that she didn't even want to join the A-level division.
"Is this what a girl's bond is?"
Kitahara Hakuba gazed at the row of luxurious detached villas in Motomachi, silently praying that Kanzaki Eri would be able to muster her courage before the National Tournament.
Shinomiya Haruka didn't come over for dinner today, so Kitahara Hakuba's dinner was simple: he went to the supermarket to buy a boxed lunch.
It can be eaten after being heated in the microwave.
Upon returning to his rented apartment, he found an umbrella placed at his door.
"what?"
Kitahara Hakuma stepped forward to pick up the umbrella, only to find it moving on its own, which startled him so much that he took a few steps back.
I almost fell down the small steps.
She gave birth to a beautiful young girl!
The girl in the brown pleated skirt uniform stood up. Her long, glossy black hair and her straight, fair legs were the only sunshine on the cloudy day.
Nagase Tsukiyo raised her umbrella with both hands, a slight smile on her face, and said:
"Hello, Kitahara-sensei."
"Nase-san? What are you doing here?"
Kitahara Hakuba caught her breath and noticed a small styrofoam box at her feet.
Nagase Tsukiyo gently turned the umbrella handle with her fingers, a faint smile playing on her lips as she said:
"I'm bringing you something."
Hearing these unexpected words, Kitahara Hakuba asked in confusion:
"Has my Ghost Festival arrived early at your house?"
No.
Nagase Tsukiyo lifted her loafer foot and gently touched the ground with the toe of her shoe.
"I was thinking that we had too much food at home, so I thought I should give something to you, Kitahara-sensei."
"Ingredients? No need, I actually have enough at home..."
Kitahara Hakuba crouched down, opened the lid of the styrofoam box, and what came into view was a rainbow lobster.
Its size is about the same as the upper body of the girl next to it!
Somehow, the words of refusal were swallowed down with a gulp, along with the saliva.
If you used this to cook two kinds of shrimp, wouldn't that be incredibly satisfying?!
Do you sell rainbow lobsters here?
Kitahara Hakuba asked, puzzled. He and Kuno Tachibana and the others hadn't seen this thing at the morning market in Sapporo that day; there were only piles of crabs.
The beautiful and charming Nagase Tsukiyo smiled and said:
"No, there isn't any. It was airlifted from Okinawa."
Air freight...: This is Hokkaido. Including shipping costs, this rainbow lobster is probably worth close to 800,000 yen.
"Is this appropriate? You're sending me this?" Kitahara Hakuba said.
“It’s okay. I told my family it was a gift for my teacher. I didn’t lie, and they were happy to accept it.”
- No, Miss, you're making my 300 square meters of space look really dull.
Kitahara Hakuba stood up and said with a wry smile:
"Since you have these things, why don't you just take them and sell them? Wouldn't that be more convenient?"
"No."
Nagase Tsukiyo looked at the rainbow lobster in the styrofoam box and refused almost without thinking.
"If what you're saying is true, I might as well just confront them directly, otherwise I'll be the one who gets laughed at."
Kitahara Hakuba had a vague premonition about this while asking the question, but he was still somewhat surprised when she said it herself.
"You have a high level of comprehension." He smiled.
But you're still using the kindness of your family to keep those words stuck in your throat in your heart.
"Not at all. Compared to you, Kitahara-sensei, I am far inferior."
Nagase Tsukiyo bowed with exceptional elegance.
"Please accept this gift; it will put my mind at ease."
Kitahara Hakuba didn't really want to refuse; he could easily buy it now, even though Nagase Tsukiyo seemed unlikely to agree.
What would you do if I refused?
Nagase Tsukiyo pursed her cherry-colored lips and said, "It's tiring for me to carry it all back by myself."
"Alright, I'll accept it then, but it's best if you don't come and send me anything again in the future," Kitahara Hakuba said.
"Why? You're my teacher." The girl blinked in confusion, a small patch of her black stockings dampened by the rain.
"You've already said that."
His reminder made Nagase Tsukiyo's face turn red.
Right now, she doesn't have any romantic feelings for Kitahara-sensei; she just feels very grateful to him.
That's it.
But his reminder made it clear that the two did indeed pose a significant potential danger and could be discovered.
It was said that Kitahara Hakuma accepted gifts, which led to malicious speculation from others.
"By the way, Kanzaki didn't make it into Group A for the brass band auditions this afternoon," Kitahara Hakuba said.
"Huh? How is that possible?"
Nagase Tsukiyo was stunned. She couldn't believe that Kanzaki Eri wouldn't be able to get into the A section.
“She said she didn’t want to go,” Kitahara Hakuba said truthfully. “She didn’t want to go with anyone except you to play the trumpet.”
“That doesn’t mean even Editor A is…” Nagase Tsukiyo said worriedly, “How could Eri do this?”
"
Kitahara Hakuba gazed at her beautiful profile and said:
"What do you think we should do, Nagase-san?"
The unexpected whispers that drifted into her ears startled her, causing her to look up and meet his gaze.
"What should I do...? But what can I do to help? No matter how I think about it, I have no reason to go back to the brass band. I said those things before, and if I go back now, won't I just be...!"
She spoke faster and faster, until finally, as if she couldn't bear it any longer, she gripped the rubber handle of the umbrella tightly with both hands, bowed to say goodbye to Kitahara Hakuba, and stepped into the rain.
Kitahara Hakuba watched her walk away, then squatted down and picked up the styrofoam box.