As usual, we parted at the third signal light at the second intersection, with Lola walking with her back to me; With a clumsy wave of her hand, her small figure became blurred little by little, and finally completely covered by the shadow of the distant building.

Next, I went to the convenience store that I frequented recently, about two blocks away from my home, with pharmacies and restaurants on both sides. But now, it's all closed. That's why the twilight light coming out of the window is so eye-catching, which makes me breathe a sigh of relief.

The moment I walked into the convenience store, my stomach started to bulge, which made me a little embarrassed. But at this time, it was just me and a clerk. "Welcome—" she said to me as she looked over the door. After that, he lowered his head and started the machine in front of him, and his expression barely changed.

I went to the shelves and grabbed a few cheese noodles and packed them in bags. I wanted to check out and leave quickly, so I walked to the counter without looking at anything else. "Is that all?" She took the bag with a smile on her face and asked.

"Yes, I'm sorry for you."

After saying that, I'm going to wait on the sidelines. As the numbers popped up on the machine, I reached for the extra change. —At this moment, the other party suddenly called my name in a surprised voice, "Chihiro? ”

Since I didn't expect to be recognized at a convenience store, I also raised my head in surprise and looked at the clerk's face—slowly narrowing my eyes, "Shion?" "Now she wears a peaked cap, a high single ponytail, and a light blue jacket—

Until I was called by name, I felt like I couldn't possibly know her. Instantly, I was a little embarrassed. "Who are you?" Shion smiled at me again, "As you can see, I work at this convenience store. ”

She said it very simply. But the gaze quickly returned to the machine. "Wait a minute, I'll be done soon." So, I put a hand on the counter, took the bread out of the bag, tore open the package—

"Are you hungry?"

"Sort of—"

I took a few bites of bread on one side; While answering her. "Dinner hasn't been eaten yet." Immediately after swallowing the bread, I added another sentence. At this time, Shion also came out of the counter and said to me, "Come with me to the lounge, this is not a place to eat after all." ”

"Oh."

Without much thought, I followed her. We walked around the rows of shelves and came down the hallway, "This is it." She stopped in front of the first room after turning left, pushed the door open and walked in. There was a longer table and about 5 or 6 chairs.

She sat down in one of the chairs and patted the empty seat next to her. — After shoving the rest of the bread in my mouth, I sat down in the chair next to her. "How do you feel? Is there anything else uncomfortable? ”

"Nope."

I shook my head lightly and said, "I'm sorry I couldn't see you—" At this point, Shion stared at my face, a faint sense of guilt. "It's okay, it's not a big deal!" I immediately waved my hand and said.

But at this moment, even I know how stiff my laughter is. "Look, I'm not still alive and kicking now?" After saying that, I deliberately waved my fist a few times in front of her eyes. "So it seems!" In an instant, her expression finally relaxed.

"To be honest, I really wanted to see you, more than once. But I don't know what to do with you, so I'm just—" Her voice grew quieter as she spoke. "It's okay, it's okay, I didn't take it to heart."

In an instant, my voice overshadowed hers, "If I really cared about this, I wouldn't be here talking to you for so long—" and then I shoved a cheese bun into her hand. "That's right."

Somewhat surprised, she turned her gaze back to me this time and smiled. This made me finally breathe a sigh of relief. "Only bread is hard to swallow, right? Wait a minute—" he said, getting up from his chair and stepping out.

After a while, I saw her walk in again with two cups of hot coffee. Then, naturally, graciously, he handed me one of the cups. "I'll add milk and sugar to my taste—"

The moment I was about to drink, she added. As a result, after taking a sip, the rich and fragrant sweetness quickly spreads. "How?" She looked at my expression a little nervously and asked, "Will you not get used to it?" ”

"No, it's delicious." I said it without even thinking about it. — "Actually, some of it is too sweet. But I couldn't help but secretly think in my heart, but now I know that if I honestly say this part of my feelings, it will definitely make her unhappy. So, it's better to accept her kindness honestly, right?

"By the way, I decided to move out of that house—"

After a short period of silence, Shion finally spoke to me. At this time, her expression seemed to be a little apprehensive, probably hesitating whether she should tell me about this, right? "Really?" I held the cup and asked her with some surprise.

"I've been thinking about it ever since the incident hurt you." She avoided and dodged my gaze; He continued. "And I don't want to continue living with that man."

I nodded, waiting for her next words.

"I always feel that there is no place for me in that house." With that, she gently placed the coffee on the table, which had about half a cup left. Then, he smiled at me. Although the smile seemed a little reluctant, it was heartfelt. "By the way, did she beat you again after that?"

Shion shook her head and clenched her fists—"No, I just threw all my stuff away." She whispered. In an instant, the smile was a little lonely. "What......?" I was a little stunned, and I didn't know what to say.

"Don't show that expression!" Instantly, she comforted me, "Although it was true that he threw them away, I picked them all up from the trash can!" Then she added triumphantly in front of me.

Thank you, thanks to you, I was able to make up my mind – and then, slowly approaching, he patted me on the shoulder. "So, don't worry!" Then, he said in a very energetic and relaxed tone.

The street lights outside the window have gradually gone out at this time, "Let's go back together?" I'll send you—" Unexpectedly, after I made such a suggestion, Shion waved his hand disapprovingly and said, "It's not in the same direction again, so don't worry." With that, she turned around and picked up the half cup of coffee on the table and poured it down her throat.

"See you tomorrow—" So, we said goodbye in front of the convenience store. What I didn't expect was that as soon as I got home, I received a message from Lola - "It's a big deal!" Chihiro! "Turn on Li

e jumped out of such a string of text in an instant, and it was still written in oversized font.

And it was accompanied by a very flustered expression - a cat at a loss. Suddenly, this made me laugh for a few moments, and at the same time hammered the table in front of me with a bang. "What's wrong? Is the end of the world coming? ”

Because I thought it was funny, I was going to tease her.

"It's not!"

She sent another cat who was very angry, as if she was angry, "What's the matter?" I tried my best to hold back a smile and continued to ask her. Did you know that the school anniversary will be in the near future, and the teacher asked us to come up with some programs by next week! ”

"Huh? When is the school anniversary? "As I spoke, I couldn't help but get nervous." Just next week! At this time, even through the screen of my phone, I seemed to be able to see Lola's helpless and frantic expression.

It was as if it was right in front of you. "I can't come up with any good ideas after racking my brains, so I want to ask if you can do anything about it......" After reading all the messages she sent, I couldn't help but sigh for a moment—

"Obviously, when I was in school, I didn't even participate in the club. How could I have done anything about this? Thinking about it, I couldn't help but sigh heavily. Then, I went to the kitchen and got a pack of cigarettes. At the moment when he opened the box, Izumi's words came to mind again.

It was replayed over and over again like a slideshow, as if she was really staring at me behind me, and her hand kept knocking on my head. "I see—" I reluctantly put the cigarette back on the table.

Then, he turned his gaze back to the half-typed text, "If that's the case, how about the other classes?" Then, I changed it I don't know how many times, and finally, I finally pressed the send button.

"Okay, I'll try it tomorrow!" However, while my advice was a bit perfunctory, Lola seemed to be full of energy. "Well, that's it!" To end with this, she didn't send any more messages.

However, just as I was about to put down my phone to wash up and get ready to go to bed, I received a strange phone call: "What are you worried about now?" The voice on the other end of the line laughed playfully. Who are you? ”

I interrupted her without even thinking about it, and asked with a little impatience. "The secret, at least not yet." The other end of the phone sighed, a little disappointed and a little smug.

"Really? I don't have that much time to play guessing games with you. At this time, I tried to resist the urge to get angry at her more and more. And this is already the second time I've received a call from you, why would you know? I don't remember ever telling anyone other than my classmates. ”

"It's a secret—" interrupted me from the other end of the line. "I'll have a suggestion for what you're bothering about—" and then moved on to something else. Completely ignoring my mood that was getting worse and worse as the call progressed on.

"Suggestions?"

"Yes, suggestion."

I thought about hanging up the phone right away, but I couldn't help but want to hear what kind of advice she would say. "No matter how hard you rack your brains, it's useless, so let's join the club first, right? You can only participate in school celebrations on a club basis, right? ”

As soon as she finished speaking, I was startled—"Could it be that she saw the conversation just now?" Suddenly, something unbelievable came to my mind. As the drowsiness became more and more pronounced, it refused to go away until the moment I collapsed on the pillow.