Chapter 367: A Passionate and Generous Pursuit |
"A piano that can grant your wish if you play the first movement of the "Moonlight Sonata" perfectly?"
"A blackboard that lets you meet the person you long for, just by drawing their portrait?"
Scrolling through the urban legend posts on the forum, Carole looked amazed. "Is this for real?"
"There's no way that could be true, right?" Shirayanagi Ayaha stood nearby, leaning over slightly to look at the webpage with her friend. She tapped her chin. "These urban legends aren't very credible."
"No, no," Carole wagged a slender index finger at Shirayanagi Ayaha. "It's true that there's countless fake news on the internet, and some of the ghost stories are purely absurd, but as a seasoned cyber-traveler who has spent years diving in this vast virtual ocean—"
She pointed at the post on the monitor in front of her. "Judging from my experience, I feel like this original poster at least somewhat believes what they are saying. As for the truth of the matter..."
She stood up with a grin, linking one arm with Shirayanagi Ayaha while swiping her other hand through the air to open her [Game Map]. Her finger tapped on a certain abandoned school campus located in Minato Ward on the holographic map. "Anyway, it won't hurt to go take a look!"
......
"Yu-chan, over here!"
Counting them, there were exactly eight people. Four of them were Shimizu Yu's good friends; aside from Suzuki Sawami, there was naturally Oguri Aino, Ito Saki, and Sakurajima Yui. As for the other four, Shimizu Yu didn't recognize them.
'These are probably the Outdoor Adventure Club members Sawami mentioned.'
The two boys were indeed exactly as Suzuki Sawami had described—the type of handsome young men who looked clean and refreshing at first glance. One wore glasses and looked rather delicate, while the other had a buzz cut and radiated a sunny disposition.
Even though they were handsome men, how should she put it? When there was already an unreasonably beautiful youth in their class, it was surprising that Sawami would still get so excited about hanging out with two normally attractive guys. She really couldn't keep her cool!
As for the other two girls, one wore round-framed glasses and had a slightly cute, round face. The other had flashy dyed blonde hair, silver earrings, and wore loose socks with small leather shoes; her attractiveness score was decent enough, making her a fairly standard beauty who would rate a solid seven out of ten.
However, she was currently chewing bubblegum, shooting Shimizu Yu a rather disdainful look. It was likely out of dissatisfaction with the fact that Shimizu Yu was the last one to arrive for the meetup.
When Shimizu Yu approached, the girl snorted and turned her head away, seemingly muttering to herself but speaking loud enough for everyone nearby to hear. "It's so stupid to stand around waiting for so long in this hot weather..."
Shimizu Yu couldn't help but scratch her cheek in embarrassment. "Sorry, I held everyone up."
Before her friends could say anything, the sunny, athletic boy with the buzz cut laughed and spoke up first. "No need to apologize! We didn't set an exact time anyway, and we only got here a few minutes early. Misugi is just being a princess!"
The gyaru-style girl named Misugi immediately glared at him, prompting the boy to grin and raise his hands in surrender. "My bad, my bad, a slip of the tongue."
With that, he turned his attention back to Shimizu Yu. "You're Shimizu-san, right? The rest of us have already introduced ourselves, so we were just waiting for you."
He flashed a bright smile. "I'm Ikegami Shinichi."
He then slung an arm around the delicate, bespectacled boy next to him. "This guy is Fumino Haruki."
The delicate boy offered Shimizu Yu a friendly smile. "It's nice to meet you, Shimizu-san."
Shimizu Yu blinked. "Ah, nice to meet you too..."
Ikegami Shinichi kept smiling as he gestured toward the round-faced girl slightly behind them. "This is Yukawa Miri, the captain of our Outdoor Adventure Club!"
Yukawa Miri simply giggled at Shimizu Yu with her hands behind her back, without saying a word.
Finally, Ikegami Shinichi pointed at the blonde gyaru, who was currently crossing her arms with a cold expression on her pretty face, and chuckled. "This is Kurushima Misugi."
The blonde gyaru turned her face away and let out a cold snort.
Shimizu Yu found it completely baffling. She had arrived a little late, sure, but wasn't this girl's hostility a bit much? She tilted her head in confusion, but ultimately decided not to dwell on it. It wasn't like they would have much to do with each other after this anyway.
She pulled her gaze away and introduced herself in return. "I am..."
"We already know who you are, Shimizu-san!" Ikegami Shinichi's expression turned incredibly enthusiastic. "The 'strongest and most beautiful' swordsgirl, Shimizu Yu, who led our Segawa Kendo Club to win the National High School Comprehensive Athletic Meeting championship! You probably didn't notice, but I watched several of your matches during the summer vacation. You were incredibly dashing, especially when you went up against that Akiyama Mio from Ikebukuro Ward High School!"
Shimizu Yu felt that this boy's enthusiasm was a little overbearing. However, before she could say anything, she heard another cold snort from the blonde delinquent, Kurushima Misugi.
Right at that moment, the clattering sound of an approaching train echoed through the station. The delicate boy, Fumino Haruki, laughed and smoothed things over. "Alright, Shinichi, this isn't a fan meet-and-greet for Shimizu-san. Since everyone has met, you'll have plenty of time to show off later. The train is almost here, so let's get ready to go."
Ikegami Shinichi rubbed his head sheepishly and stole a glance at Shimizu Yu's expression. Compared to his enthusiastic and outgoing demeanor just moments before, he now looked a little shy.
The train finally pulled into the station, and the group of teenagers piled into the carriage.
Even though it wasn't yet the evening rush hour, there were still plenty of people on the train. The sparse empty seats were clearly not enough for the entire group, not to mention that they weren't the only passengers boarding at this stop.
Ikegami Shinichi was quick to secure a seat, but instead of sitting down himself, he enthusiastically waved Shimizu Yu over. "Shimizu-san, there's an empty seat right here!"
Seeing the teasing looks on her friends' faces, even Shimizu Yu slowly caught on to what was happening. She hurriedly waved her hands in refusal. "I'm fine, really..."
Before she could finish her sentence, the blonde gyaru, Kurushima Misugi, marched straight over to the seat Ikegami Shinichi had saved and sat down without a word.
Ikegami Shinichi scratched his head, sounding somewhat helpless. "You really know how to reap the benefits of someone else's hard work, huh!"
Kurushima Misugi kept a cold face and said nothing.
After the train started moving, Shimizu Yu, who was standing in the carriage and gripping a handrail, felt a couple of tugs on the hem of her shirt. She turned around to see Oguri Aino looking at her with a teasing grin. "So, how does it feel?" Aino asked, lowering her voice.
Shimizu Yu asked back in confusion, "How does what feel?"
Oguri Aino gestured with her eyes toward Ikegami Shinichi, who was chatting with Fumino Haruki across the aisle. She chuckled teasingly, "Ikegami, of course! Being passionately pursued by a sunny, athletic, and handsome man doesn't feel too bad, does it?"