There was a lively and noisy crowd of lights next to him, but it was incompatible with the silence of the tentacles at this moment.

Sakurano withdrew her gaze as the black sedan drove quietly away, and lowered her head in silence to look at the white envelope that had been stuffed into her hand before getting out of the car.

The words of the driver who belonged to the "ghost skeleton" in the car still lingered in his ears.

"According to the club's default rules and final results, this is the team's proof of ownership of the two players for the next three years."

The envelope was covered with a simple "R" on the familiar gold lacquer, but nothing else was special.

She didn't open it, she stared at the fire paint for a long time, and a smile of joy slowly oozed from her eyes.

Even though he was standing beside her, separated by a very close distance, Echizen felt as if the girls who were breathing were out of reach, in another isolated world.

Inexplicable sadness and complicated emotions filled the space that he couldn't touch, and it was incompatible with everything around him.

"I ...... Send you back. ”

After a while, he just spit out this sentence in a low voice and walked beside her silently.

Many people said that he was arrogant and arrogant, and his father often laughed at him for being awkward and naïve.

Echizen scoffed, or was noncommittal. In his eyes, all that matters is to keep getting stronger...... It's just a matter of constantly defeating stronger opponents.

But, at this moment, he had a sudden sense of frustration.

Turning his head, he looked at the side face with long hair half-hidden, and the flowers and trees on both sides of the street blew off a few petals from time to time, and scattered between her raised hair.

He wanted to get stronger and stronger...... Strong enough to stand on a higher ground and see what the world looks like through her eyes.

Unconsciously raising his hand, Echizen carefully brushed off the scattered flowers, and his eyes were complex colors that he had never perceived.

"Huh?"

Awakened by his movements, Sakurano, who was immersed in thought, turned her face, and her eyes, which were still dotted with fireworks all over the street, were facing the unconscious gaze of Echizen.

There was a special beauty in those eyes, born among the flowers and vines that flew in the sky, and fell on the gorgeous and bewitching throne, slender...... Powerful...... Wrapped in an anonymous attraction.

She's special.

From before to now, from memory to reality, she always seemed to be special.

The deepest part of my heart was slightly pryed, and my mind, which had been only focused on the ball and the racket, the battle and the victory, suddenly fell into such a soft and delicate whisper.

An unknown sigh rang in my ears.

Echizen suddenly curled up his slightly ironed fingers, skimming over the glossy feelings in his heart.

"The petals, glued on."

Retracting his hand, Echizen shook the half of the broken flower on his fingertips, and explained unnaturally as he glanced at it.

"Ryoma, do you remember the flower forest planted behind my house when you were a child?"

Sakurano looked at the broken flowers in Echizen's hand, stunned for a moment, and then smiled, thoughts flashing in his eyes.

"I remember you went to see me once."

"Hmm. It's big, I've been looking for it for a long time. ”

Echizen bowed his head, and he looked at the side face of Sakurano next to him, recalling that time.

At the end of that summer, when the girl who had been visiting outside the fence of his yard every day had not arrived, he remembered that he had heard the girl mention the vast sea of flowers, and he went to look for it.

It was a sea of dreamy flowers, full of flowers as far as the eye could see.

He searched for a long time, and finally saw the little huddled man under a certain flower tree of strange colors, with a hollowness and despair on his face that he had never seen before.

It seems that something terrible has happened to make the girl who has always smiled brightly and gently show such a sad look.

He vaguely remembered that he didn't seem to be able to do anything, except that he clumsily gave the girl the ball he was carrying, trying to give her the same ironing that had always given him joy and comfort.

Until the end, he didn't figure out what he had to do or what he could say...... It's just that in that boundless sea of flowers, I sat for a long, long time with the girl who radiated sadness all over my body......

In the end, he made a panicked appointment to go to her the next day.

However, Echizen frowned, a trace of remorse flashing in his eyes.

The next day, he missed his appointment and unexpectedly failed to go to the flower forest to see her.

After the fall of that splendid flower season, after the girl never came to his courtyard again, he had gone to the flower forest many times to look for it.

However, all is in vain.

Flowers thank people to go, and the splendor eventually withers.

"After that, it didn't take long for my family to move somewhere else."

Sakurano brushed the scattered hair, and at this moment, the eyes of the sunken fireworks melted into the ink-like gloom.

"Come to think of it, in fact, everything seems to have started from that day."

"What the hell happened?"

I had never felt like this, and at this moment, Echizen knew very clearly that he wanted to know the answer to this question.

Spanning more than ten years, what is it that makes the bright and delicate little girl in my memory so powerful, mysterious and full of danger and pain.

Without answering Echizen's question, Sakurano just raised the corners of her eyebrows and talked about irrelevant topics with a light smile.

"From the first time I picked up the ball, people around me said that I was born with an incredible talent, born from the pure passion that melted in my parents' blood."

A pair of gentle eyes appeared in front of him, and there were deep thoughts hidden in them that no one else knew.

"However, I often find that my father always has a trace of worry and even fear in his eyes when he looks at me, as if he has seen some unknown demon through me."

The excitement around them gradually faded, and the two walked into the street with few people, the flowers and trees on both sides rustled in the night breeze, and the moonlight was gentle and slightly cool, suitable for memories and sadness.

"In the past few days, have you awakened your momentum?"

Sakurano turned her eyes and looked at Echizen, who frowned unconsciously.

"No, I just saw it, and many moments flashed a strange feeling that I couldn't grasp."

Echizen shook his head in denial, but grabbed the strange word between Sakurano's words.

"Awakening? Why not cohesion? ”

"The potential inherited in the bloodline is talent, and when the time comes, it will awaken."

Said lightly, Sakura's lowered eyes seemed to remember something, and she glanced at Echizen's eyes with a smile.

"When I was five years old, I heard my mother talk about Uncle Minamijiro's power, and I heard her talk about you, so I went to take a peek."

That's why I got acquainted with that summer.

Echizen suddenly understood.

"When I was five years old, by chance, I woke up very early."

To put it mildly, Sakurano crushed the petals that fell on her palm.

"That was the first time I saw the nightmare that my father had been worried about and had been dormant in my body for a long time."

That's why you have that kind of expression?

The scene in the forest passed by.

Echizen's words were held in his heart, but he turned his gaze slightly.

Seeing Sakura's expression change slightly, it seemed to end the memories of the origin of this pain, and returned to this cool evening breeze and the summer night that had passed for many years.

"It's all gone. It's all back. ”

"I've already remembered who I am."

"Wait until Ryoma awakens too......"

The light under her eyes bloomed, and at that moment, Sakura's smile seemed to pass through the years, and it coincided with the pure and delicate smile standing outside the fence, which was the same.

The corners of her mouth curled and smiled lightly, carrying a sense of war.

"Let's have a fight."

In front of the fence, in the flower forest, on the high platform...... A heavy smile flashed away, each scene was a different expression, and every time I looked at it from a distance, it aroused the same strange heart shock.

Echizen watched all the memories flow, and finally froze on the light and calm face in front of him.

Not long ago, on that high mountain, behind the low slope, he and she broke the night of his brother's night talk. He heard vague memories of the past, and saw the vague side face hidden in the shadows.

"You're amazing. When you remember who you are...... Let's have a fight. ”

I thought of my clumsiness, and still fell into the comfort or agreement on that side.

His words are still warm, and his voice is cool at this moment.

"Wait until Ryoma also awakens,"

"Let's have a fight."

The shadows of the trees moved, casting a leaky moonlight like silver beside the two of them.

The wind is rustling, and the flowers are scattered.

He turned his head sideways, met his moonlit eyes, and whispered in promise.

"Okay."

The moonlight enters the house, and the dimness of the room is slightly illuminated through the window.

Sakurano pushed open the door of her room, and the shallow curvature of her mouth slightly declined.

She leaned her head back against the door and slowly slid down to the floor.

Coach Ryuzaki has not yet returned, and at this moment, she can only be heard breathing slightly rapidly in the extremely quiet home.

It seems to be relieved, but it seems to be exhausted.

Sakurano thought back to the ups and downs of the past few days, and for a while, she covered her eyes in the moonlight and sighed softly.

A little glimmer of light shone into her eyes through the gap between her fingers, and Sakurano lowered her hand.

Silently looking at the beautiful light revealed in the unclosed wooden box not far away, she only felt that the envelope in her pocket and the light in front of her were ironing and burning her lungs.

Unlike the last time when her memory flashed, Sakura leaned against the door and pressed the number with great determination, only a slight trembling fingertip revealed a hint of her secret trepidation.

"Toot-toot......"

After a brief and extremely fast few seconds, she heard the phone answered, and the sound of a small wind on the other end of the line was heard, carrying with it the faint sound of breathing.

She held her breath and listened...... The voice that had disappeared for a long time came into my ears.

"Sakura."

Like the thousands of calls in the past, the voice as low as a violin is warm and mellow in the ears, brewing an aged slightly drunk pampering.

She gasped heavily, tilted her head back and closed her quivering eyelashes, the corners of her mouth pulling into a shallow ...... Return to the arc of the sigh.

"Why don't you come to see me?"

She spoke, only to end her words with a momentary shudder.

"Finally, I remember......"

……

He put down the phone in his hand and looked at the dimly lit mansion not far away.

The evening breeze slipped through the rolled down window, and he sniffed lightly, as if the scent of flowers was blowing by.

"Let's go."

After a long time, he finally turned his gaze back, and his voice was as low as a whisper.

Sakura Sakura ......

He lowered his eyebrows, and the faint light in his eyes flickered.

This...... You're coming to me.

()

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