Crossing over, and then being blocked by a rich JK.

Chapter 481 Expectations
After leaving the classroom, Watanabe Yu and Hamabe Ryoko walked down the corridor toward the equipment room.

Because of the upcoming school festival, the club activity room was very quiet, and the corridors and activity room were extremely peaceful.

"Are you surprised?"

After looking left and right to make sure no one was paying attention, Ryoko Hamabe started the conversation in a lively tone.

She would only show this side of herself to him.

Of course, in the future, that little guy will definitely be able to see it.

"What's the surprise?"

Watanabe Yu didn't quite get what she meant.

Strangely enough, after spending a lot of time with him, Ayana and the others all learned his erratic thinking, but he couldn't keep up, and could even be said to have become somewhat sluggish.

"It's about my visit to the set."

Ryoko Hamabe slowed her pace, tilted her head, and a hint of playfulness appeared between her brows.

At this moment, she had lost the aloofness of a high-and-mighty flower, and gained more of the liveliness and vivacity that should be present in someone her age.

"Well, it's not exactly unexpected, but it's also unexpected." Watanabe paused, stopping his internal debate. "After all, you told me about it, but I really didn't expect you to choose to come today."

He thought she would wait two or three days before visiting the set.

"Because today was the only day I was able to take leave."

Ryoko Hamabe shrugged, looking somewhat helpless.

Although she had excellent grades and her teachers respected her opinions, unfortunately, she was in the college entrance exam preparation class, which was the best class in the entire grade. As a result, even if the teachers wanted to favor her, they couldn't be too biased.

Even this brief 'vacation' today was a decision made unilaterally by the teacher, against all opposition.

—For their class to request leave, apart from special circumstances where there are genuine family matters, more than half of the subject teachers need to agree.

This is not a complicated process designed to deliberately prevent students from getting leave; it's simply a way to encourage students to carefully consider each leave request during the academic year as they prepare for their next academic year.

"So strict?"

Watanabe Yu was somewhat surprised. In his opinion, given Ryoko's status in the class, as long as she didn't take a long leave, there shouldn't be any major problems.

"Half and half."

Ryoko Hamabe leaned closer to him and gently touched his hand with her delicate hand.

This was, after all, at school, and without embarrassing the teachers, in public, this was the extent of physical contact she could manage.

After all, she is a graduating student, and this is a crucial point in her life. No matter how much the teacher favors or takes care of her, they still need to be accepted by the public on this kind of issue.

"Who is your other half?"

Feeling the tingling, itchy sensation on the back of his hand, Watanabe Yu somewhat absentmindedly continued the conversation.

"I just took a day off last week, didn't I?"

Ryoko Hamabe reminded the 'forgetful' person of something.

If you say he has a good memory, that's absolutely true. Things that take others half an hour to memorize, he can basically remember after just one glance. But if you say he has a good memory, he sometimes forgets things.

This is both laughable and frustrating.

In Ayana's words, someone has focused all their memory on important matters, and their memory for everyday trivia isn't so good.

"Oh yes!"

As soon as Hamabe Ryoko mentioned it, Watanabe Yu immediately remembered.

That's true. You took leave last Friday and now you want to take leave again on Monday afternoon. Although it's only a little over half a day in total, what are other people going to think?
They'll just think the teacher is biased; someone else can ask for leave and get it approved right away, but if they want leave, they have to go through that whole process.

"so."

Ryoko Hamabe winked and gave him a helpless look.

"It'll be over soon this year," Watanabe Yu comforted her. "If you think about it, it's not that long now, it'll be over soon."

It's been less than half a year, which is much easier than his senior year of high school before he transmigrated.

"uh-huh."

Ryoko Hamabe nodded and responded.

During their conversation, the two walked out of the club activity building and arrived at the door of the nearby equipment room.

Of course, to be more precise, this should be called a storage room, since most of the items stored here are classroom supplies, such as spare tables and chairs, as well as cleaning tools.

Watanabe Yu took the key out of his pocket, inserted it into the lock, and turned it clockwise twice to open the door to the equipment room.

"They shouldn't be locked up inside this time, right?"

Looking at the open door, Ryoko Hamabe made a pointed remark.

She and Ayaka both knew perfectly well what had happened when he and Yuki were locked in the sports equipment room.

"I don't know."

Watanabe Yu shrugged and made a small joke.

How could he possibly be locked inside? He has all the keys, okay?
He took the key and stepped inside.

To be honest, although this equipment room is more like a storage room, it's not very dusty. At least, it doesn't have the kind of dust that you see in classic movies where you pry open the door, let a ray of sunlight in, and then the air is full of particulate matter.

It still looks quite clean.

"Were you panicked when you and Yuki were locked up inside?"

Ryoko Hamabe glanced at the open door, gently closed it, and then stepped inside.

“She was definitely panicked, but I was alright.” Watanabe Yu thought for a moment, his eyes scanning the shelves, looking for a bucket. “After all, this isn’t some horror movie, and we weren’t locked alone in the gym equipment room.”

"So you mean it's quite romantic?"

Ryoko Hamabe stopped and looked thoughtfully at Yu Watanabe's back.

"This can't really be described as romantic; I think 'unexpected' would be a more accurate description."

Watanabe Yu shrugged. The good news was that there weren't many shelves here, but the bad news was that due to the limited visibility indoors, finding a water bucket might take a while.

As for why the lights weren't on, it's because he couldn't find the light switch.

“But according to Yuki, she was quite satisfied with this ‘accident’.”

She was even holding back when she said that.

During their subsequent conversation, Yuki's demeanor suggested she hadn't been confined to the equipment room, but rather that she had just completed a performance she was incredibly satisfied with; she was radiant and beaming with pride.
Even though they were chatting on Line back then, she could still guess the expression on Yuki's face.

"The same thing will definitely have different effects on different people. Similarly, different people will have different opinions on the same thing. What I mean is, please stop asking. If you keep asking, I won't know how to answer you."

Watanabe Yu said these words in a very straightforward manner.

Compared to when he first transmigrated, he has indeed gained a lot more experience in dealing with these issues. Unfortunately, he cannot draw upon his future self's 'wisdom' now, so he can only avoid answering these questions by being honest.

"Humph."

Ryoko Hamabe gave a soft hum.

How could she not understand what he meant? But since he had already said that, she couldn't say anything more. "Found it!"

After walking half a circle around the shelves, Watanabe's eyes suddenly lit up as he spotted the switch on the wall behind the fourth row of shelves.

pat.

As the lights came on, the equipment room, which had been somewhat dim, suddenly became bright.

"Oh, so it was right here."

Because of the ample light and unobstructed vision, he easily spotted the water bucket on the third-row shelf.

It's just a bit of a shame that there's only one of these.

But that's not something he should worry about.

Now that we've found the bucket, it's time to get down to business.

So, shall we sit here for a while?

Watanabe Yu turned her head and looked at Hamabe Ryoko, who was standing in front of the shelf with a bored expression.

Although he wasn't very good at answering those tricky questions, he could understand the meaning behind them.

Given Ryoko's usual personality, she would never have said something like that, but she did, which means she wanted to experience it herself.

"you sure?"

Upon hearing this, Ryoko Hamabe's eyes lit up. She quickly looked away and stared straight at him.

Those beautiful eyes were filled with an obvious sense of anticipation.

However, out of a girl's modesty, she still asked that question.

"Why not?"

Watanabe Yu took two steps forward, lifted the last bucket off the shelf, then found a place that looked relatively clean, pulled over some newspapers, placed them on the ground, and sat down.

"Speaking of which, I also have some questions I'd like to ask you."

He waved to her.

"what is the problem?"

Ryoko Hamabe placed her hands behind her thighs, pulled down her skirt, and sat down next to him.

Even though they have developed a closer relationship, she still pays close attention to these details in her daily life.

Just like the Russian girls she saw in the video, they were really beautiful when they were young, but they aged very quickly after getting married.

Although this analogy wasn't very good, she still hoped to maintain a good impression of herself in front of him as much as possible.

Just as Grandma had implied before, for a relationship to last, both partners must be sufficiently attracted to each other.

If one party becomes too indulgent after starting a relationship, causing them to lose their attractiveness, it can easily lead to problems in the relationship.

Although the transformation from romantic love to familial love is an inevitable process, there are still ways to slow down this process.

"It's about Akane Eda."

If possible, Watanabe Yu would like to start by talking about some gossip that couples usually talk about, but unfortunately, this is something that must be brought up first.

"Her? What happened to her?"

She still had a deep impression of Eda Ikumi's cousin.

After all, according to Yu Mei's description, that girl was very unruly, but after actually getting to know her, she even felt that Jiang Tianqian was a bit too polite.

They are more polite than the vast majority of junior high school students.

Did you tell her that someone like that would be a delinquent girl?

Please, apart from her bleached hair with a slight gradient color, she really couldn't see any connection between Jiang Tianqian and delinquents.

"If nothing unexpected happens, in a few days, Sister Eda will definitely call me to bring this up." Watanabe Yu didn't keep me in suspense and began to speak, "It's about Eda Akane coming to our place for a free meal."

His certainty wasn't based on any insider information, but simply on his reading of the news.

The news reports that an important figure will be giving a speech in Bunkyo Ward this month.

Given the actual situation at this police station, barring any unforeseen circumstances, preparations for this event should begin a week in advance, starting with preliminary screening, followed by a second round of screening, and finally the deployment of personnel when the event officially begins.

"Her asking for a free meal??" Ryoko Hamabe paused for a second, then asked with a strange expression, "Is Yumi-nee going to ask for something like that?"

Coming over for a meal occasionally is one thing, but coming over for a meal every day is another matter entirely.

Although she respected his decision, she still felt a little unhappy about it.

After all, dinner time is one of the few relaxing times they have when only their families are around.

At this time, she can be her most authentic self, instead of the aloof beauty, academic star, or cold senior who keeps her distance from everyone at school.

She was simply herself, Ryoko Hamabe, his girlfriend, his future wife, nothing more.

Similarly, this also applies to Ayana.

“It’s not up to her,” Watanabe Yu explained. “Here’s the situation.”

After explaining the situation in a few words, he looked at Ryoko Hamabe again.

The dissatisfaction in the latter's eyes had vanished, replaced by a visible sense of helplessness.

"In that case... there's really no other way."

Although she was still somewhat unwilling, there was nothing she could say in this situation.

She couldn't bring herself to say things like, "A middle school student can't cook for himself," and she would never say such a thing.

Because Qian doesn't really seem like a bad kid.

"So you need to be mentally prepared in advance."

Watanabe Yu gave this preventative injection.

"I will."

Ryoko Hamabe nodded, then sighed with some relief, and rested her head on his shoulder.

Although the matter is still unresolved, she knows You's personality well and understands that he wouldn't speak without reason. In other words, since he said so, it was only a matter of time before this happened.

It might be even earlier than he mentioned.

"Ahem." Watanabe Yu coughed lightly. Now that the important matters were over, it was time to talk about topics that normal couples should discuss. "You know what? There's another couple in our class now."

"Who?"

Ryoko Hamabe's low voice suddenly rose.

Indeed, watching the drama unfold is human nature.

"That boy who always greets his classmates and gets along well with everyone confessed to that popular girl in our class, the one with the curly hair."

Seeing Hamabe Ryoko's reaction, Watanabe Yuuya felt relieved and then focused on telling the gossip he had just heard that day.

(End of this chapter)