Chapter 2: The Caged Bird

"What's your name?"

What was his expression when he asked this? Rod didn't quite know, but the afternoon sun seemed to suddenly become so powerful that he couldn't open his eyes a little, and the girl's face was blurred, and it was plated with a thick layer of gold...

"Huh?"

For such a question, the girl was naturally taken aback, and was stunned for a full three seconds before slowly considering whether to answer or not. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

"Well, my name is Ruri, Xia Yue Ruri... So, what about you?"

"Rodritte, Rodrite Saltisius. ”

On the contrary, Rodritte, as if waiting for this rhetorical question, immediately answered his name.

It's like a malicious one...

"Where is the book you're looking for?"

"Ahh

He smiled apologetically, and then walked to the outermost bookshelf, Rodritte's heart was a little mixed.

Probably annoyed, right? How can anyone ask a girl's name when he first sees him? Even if the other party is obviously of mixed race, and he is a 'foreigner', but it is too presumptuous to ask like this.

It's a matter of course to be hated...

Absentmindedly pulled down a book marked with a library from the bookshelf, and then looked absentmindedly at the simple introductory text, but Rodritte's mind was no longer focused on these books.

・・・Really, it seems to be...

I couldn't help but look up again.,And then I made eye contact with the girl who was looking this way...

Bad...

You'll be scolded, right?

In an instant, Rodritte was welling up with remorse, didn't he knowingly commit it?

But the girl asked with a smile.

"Mr. Saltisius, is it British?"

It was as if my heart was stopping beating at this moment...

"Ahh

Is it...

"Hehe, because your name is so easy to remember?"

There is a lot of meaning in the girl's smile, curious, gentle, vigilant, but fortunately, there is no hostility.

"Huh?"

"You have the same name as the Undefeated Lord of the Wind in England!"

・・・That's me...

Rod breathed a sigh of relief and couldn't help but feel lost at the same time.

It's so inferior, what's wrong with you?

"Ah, that guy..."

Scratching his head, he showed a smile that was almost crying, Rodriten didn't know how to continue answering, obviously he was clever and eloquent, but he couldn't show it at all, he was in a hurry to cry... No, it's not to this point.

"Actually, my mother is also British, and Mr. Saltisius has been looking at this place because she found out about it, right?"

・・・Really, this girl... is so gentle.

Rod couldn't help but laugh.

"At this time, don't make excuses for me... It's better to call the police and take me away, maybe it's a kidnapper?"

Although, even if you do this, it doesn't mean anything to yourself, but is it really okay to be so gentle?

Someday, this tenderness will hurt her, too much kindness, will always be a source of sadness...

"Hehe, but Mr. Saltisius is a good man?"

The smiling girl who quietly watched here tilted her head slightly, which was dizzying.

"Isn't it?"

"Ahh

What else could Rhodes say? He could only lower his head, look at the book in his hand again, and start slipping away...

The figure of the girl, just like the person who can never be forgotten in the distant past, the same gentleness, the same innocence, always reciprocating kindness to the people around her, even if it is a person who should be vigilant, he is not afraid to guess with kindness, just like a virtue.

Rodritte loves Nafini.

Yes, this is something that has been clear for a long time.

But this girl is not Nafini, even if she resembles it, it is not... Her hair is the black color of Qili, the color of the most brilliant black pearl...

Time passed minute by minute, Rodriten stood quietly behind the bookshelf as if he was one with the space, the impetuous air outside the window was rested in another world by the cheap aluminum alloy door panel, and the slight incoming car roar seemed to be quiet and precious.

Dusk, old, nostalgic, the warm sun-colored space and the thick pile of books behind the girl holding the book I don't know are forever engraved into Rodriter's memory.

There are not many customers, basically just sixteen or seventeen-year-old innocent teenagers and girls, and most of them are alumni of the same school as the girls, but even fewer actually buy books, and many people just stand and read for a while before leaving. But the girl never urged, as if the bookstore had nothing to do with her.

'Smack...

When the lights were turned on in the store, Rhodes gently closed the book and looked out the window again, it was already approaching dusk, and the warm light of the setting sun was chilling, as sad as the color of a dying day.

Rod pulled two thick stacks of books from the shelves and walked over to the counter.

"Huh?"

The girl was surprised, and then smiled.

"I don't have to buy a book I've read, do I?"

"No, it's okay..."

Rod also smiled, he didn't buy books.

"Well, if you say that..."

And the girl didn't insist much, she just shook her head slightly, smiled and took out the plastic bag from under the cabinet, the faint and almost negligible smell between the slightly raised hair was the scent of lilies... Is it still an accident? Is it still a coincidence? It was Rhodes and Nafini's favorite flower...

"But I really don't see that Mr. Saltisius likes these kinds of books?"

"Huh?"

Raising her head, the girl was staring at herself with a smile on her face, tilting her head and shaking the book in her hand.

Is the cherry blossom printed on the cover?

"It's actually a love story..."

Heh...

I didn't even notice what I was getting my hands on before, but now it seems that I have taken something strange.

"But it's a good book, if you don't mind, read it, right?"

However, in retrospect, it seems that there is nothing bad about it.

"Well..."

Bookstores don't support credit cards, but fortunately, this was expected to be a situation with banknotes.

Rhodes left the small bookstore with a bag full of novels and comics.

Will you come back tomorrow?

I'm a man at war...

However, I like the feeling.

Closing his eyes slightly, Rodriette's chest swelled with something he had never thought of.

It seems that since that day, there has been only gray in my life, but today, it is different.

It's like seeing her again...

Am I using this girl as a substitute? No, no, no, but even if it is, I...

Walking quietly on the way back, I passed by a vending machine again, threw in a coin, and moved my eyes to the position of the cigarette.

Stretching out his hand, he hesitated slightly, and finally pressed the button for carbonated drinks.

Click...

Bending down to pick up the green lacquered drink, he pulled the tab to let the weakly acidic liquid flow down the throat into his stomach, and Rodritte's gaze gradually blurred.

That's it, right?

He told himself.

If you don't know what to choose, you will slowly look for it on the way.

Otherwise, if you blindly hesitate, you won't be able to do anything, right?

"Good!"

Throwing the empty drink can into the garbage can, the blonde youth raised his head and looked at the sunset that was about to disappear, and made up his mind in the last light.

"I'm going to go tomorrow!"

For no other reason, he liked the atmosphere in the bookstore.

On the other hand, the girl in the bookstore is already packing her things.

As always, there isn't much to sort out.

Most of the people who come to the store are regular customers, so even if you don't buy a book, you won't mess things up... However, today was a little unexpected.

Among the people who came to the store, there was a foreigner.

Ruri thought a little hesitantly.

She recalled the look in the man's eyes.

It was surprise, confusion, and then with a nostalgic look...

The feeling of looking at another person through yourself.

It hurts unconsciously to feel your heart.

Why is this so?

After checking everything, I turned off the lights, and then walked out of the store and closed the curtain, and when I locked it, the girl's heart was a little confused...

But...

Why is it even yourself?

Let's go home first...