Restricted Death

Chapter 57 Could it be that we like the same person?

The moonlight is cold and bright, casting a silvery white light.

Hinamori clung to the wall, breathing heavily. The feeling of suffocation was slowly fading away, and she felt like she was alive again.

Two people came out of the izakaya nearby and seemed to glance over here.

Hinamori's face suddenly turned red and she quickly turned her head away.

Fortunately, the two men did not come here, but went in the other direction of the street.

She straightened her clothes and hair, then looked around helplessly with her head down.

The president was standing right in front of her, but Hinamori didn't know what to say.

"I...I'm leaving first..."

Finally, she uttered these words and fled from the scene.

Xin looked at her hurriedly leaving back, chuckled, and reached out to wipe the marks from the corner of his mouth.

【Favourability: 83】

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The next day.

The first-year class A classroom of the Spiritual Arts Academy.

"Good morning, Hinamori."

"morning."

Hinamori responded absentmindedly to the greetings from her classmates.

She sat alone in her seat, staring out the window with blank eyes.

"peach?"

Rukia patted her shoulder.

Hinamori then turned around and said, "Rukia, you're here?"

"What's wrong with you? You didn't even respond when I greeted you."

"I... nothing, just thinking about something."

Rukia sat down next to her and looked at Hinamori strangely.

After class, Hinamori was still in a state of flying away, which made Rukia suspicious. She felt that Hinamori's state was very familiar, as if she had experienced this before.

"Taozi, why are you so absent-minded throughout the class? What are you thinking about?"

"Nothing, nothing." Hinamori just said.

Lucia: "..."

Another class passed, and Hinamori was still in the same state, as if immersed in her own world, blushing from time to time.

"Let's go, Peach, and have dinner."

"Ah? Oh!"

Hinamori seemed to have just realized that the get out of class was over, and she quickly packed up her textbooks and stood up from her seat.

In the cafeteria of the Spiritual Arts Academy, Rukia, Hinamori, Renji, and Kira were sitting together.

"What's wrong with her?" Kira looked at Hinamori who was not participating in their conversation at all and was alone in a daze.

"It feels like there's something wrong with my brain." said Renji Abarai.

Hinamori heard this and glared at Renji: "You're the one with a problem in your brain!"

"Ah, it's normal." Renji said.

Hinamori waved her fist at Renji in a threatening manner.

But soon, after taking two bites of food, she immersed herself in her own world again.

"Want to practice after the afternoon break?"

"No, I want to go to the student council." Kira refused.

"Where's Rukia?"

Rukia also shook her head slightly.

Renci said, "What should I do? If you guys don't go, I can't use the kendo classroom."

He is not a member of the student union.

Kirara mused, "Let me go to the kendo classroom with you first, and then we'll go."

Lianci immediately took a few mouthfuls of rice: "Okay, then eat faster!"

Kirara said helplessly: "It doesn't matter if these few minutes are enough."

But seeing that Renci seemed not to have listened and was still eating with big mouthfuls of food, he couldn't help but mutter, "What a lunatic!"

Renji finished his meal quickly, and then urged Kira to hurry up. The two boys left the cafeteria first.

"Let's go first!"

"it is good."

Rukia looked thoughtfully at Hinamori's barely touched food.

After lunch, Rukia did not go to the student union, but went with Hinamori to take a rest under the cherry tree next to the teaching building to cool off.

Rukia also brought a book. This was not a textbook from the Spiritual Arts Academy, but a book about Hadō that she brought from Kuchiki's house.

Kira had also borrowed it from her, and she said she would lend it to Kira after she finished reading it.

There were quite a few students around, chatting and talking.

Although Rukia was reading, her mind was elsewhere. She called out softly to Hinamori beside her, "Momoko?"

"..."

Rukia suddenly shook Hinamori's shoulder: "Peach!"

"what?"

"Are you ill?"

“…I’m fine.”

Facing Rukia's scrutinizing gaze, Hinamori felt a little guilty and said, "Sorry, I'm thinking about something."

"What's the matter? You've been thinking about it all morning."

Hinamori's face flushed, "Nothing."

Lucia: "..."

Hinamori came back to her senses and looked at Rukia who was reading. After hesitating for a while, she took the initiative to speak: "Rukia, I want to tell you something."

"what's up?"

"It's...about the president." Hinamori said cautiously.

Rukia paused and suddenly closed the book.

"Taozi, I also want to tell you something."

Hinamori felt strange when she heard that, and seeing him staring at her, she said, "Then you speak first."

Rukia took a deep breath and said, "I've thought about this for a long time, and I feel like I have to say something. Momoko, I know what you're thinking, but Renji and I are just friends who grew up together. We don't have that kind of relationship, so please...don't try to bring us together anymore...I really don't like it, and it's going to make things awkward between us."

Hinamori stared at Rukia blankly. She thought of something, her eyes trembled, and asked, "Why... why did you say that suddenly?"

Rukia turned her head back and looked at the closed copy of "Hadō Detailed Explanation" between her knees.

"Because I have someone I like."

"..."

Hinamori sat there in a daze for a long time, then slowly turned her head. They sat side by side like this in silence for a long time.

"Could it be that the person we both like is the same person?"

"..."

Rukia's eyebrows trembled and her hands suddenly clenched.

"Momo, even though you said it first, but...but when you told me, I already...Momo, you must have noticed it a long time ago, otherwise you wouldn't have asked me like that then, so I don't want to hide it from you. Besides Renci, you are my best friend."

The midday sun was no longer as scorching, the wind blew the branches and leaves, and the cherry blossoms fell.

Hinamori said, "You just told me not to let me match you and Renji up... you mean you want to pursue the president too, right?"

"..."

Hinamori grinned silently, not knowing whether she wanted to laugh or what.

She finally said, "I'm sorry Rukia, but I won't match you and Renji up anymore."

The girl stood up gently, leaving Rukia with her back.

Rukia felt her heart aching and she sat there with a dazed look on her face.

Did I do something wrong?

She thought that Hinamori was her best female friend and was very kind to her.

But Rukia quickly denied her thoughts, saying that she had done nothing wrong and that she had not betrayed her relationship with Hinamori.

Didn’t Taozi realize a long time ago that she liked the president?
But he still deliberately tried to match her up with Renci. How should such behavior be interpreted?

Even though she thought so, Rukia still felt like crying.

(End of this chapter)