Miss Heir wasn't very kind to me.

Chapter 57:24. "Cultural Festival - End"

The bright sky blue skirt fluttered before my eyes like a fragment in the blue sky as autumn deepened.

Masumi heard the voice, swallowed the takoyaki in his mouth, and then slowly raised his head. The girl with long hair in front of him was smiling like a flower.

"Oh yeah? What a coincidence, Barista-kun, we meet again."

Her voice was soft and gentle as she gently sat down next to Masumi, her long, fair legs sticking out from under her dress.

"Ah."

Masumi responded calmly, noticing that there was a black violin case behind her compared to before.

After a moment of silence, he couldn't help but ask, "...was it really a chance encounter?"

"Well... half, huh?"

The girl had an ambiguous smile on her lips.

"track?"

"Hey, that's an extreme statement."

"I just happened to finish watching the play in the courtyard, and I saw you walking around the campus alone, and I couldn't help but follow you."

She stared at Masumi with eyes sparkling with curiosity, and the corners of her lips curled up mischievously: "You... don't you have any friends?"

"nothing dealing with you."

Masumi lowered his head in frustration and ate the last takoyaki in the box.

The girl seemed to think that this was a tacit agreement that she was unwilling to admit, and then she heard her soft voice approaching slowly.

"Don't get me wrong, I don't mean to tease you."

"I've been like this before, with no friends and always alone."

This was her first sentence, and then she continued to talk like a bursting dam.

He was a little hesitant at first, but after the words came out, he spoke more and more fluently, even a little chattering.

"...In kindergarten, I always made it to the end when playing dodgeball. In elementary school, no one wanted to team up with me for orienteering at the Forest School. In junior high, I had to practice tennis against the wall by myself..."

“…Apps like LINE and Instagram are completely unnecessary for me, because apart from my parents and push emails, no one will ever send me messages…”

"Going to cultural festivals alone is pretty commonplace. Even if I ask for a full-day shift, everyone just says, 'I just want to enjoy the festival,'" I said.

The girl's voice trembled as if she was about to cry: "I couldn't even say, 'I don't have any friends to go to the festival with,' so I could only walk around in circles around the campus."

Stop, don't go on.

Masumi glanced at her strangely, wondering what kind of person this was. She sat down next to him and then, with her brows lowered, began to talk about her own tragic experience.

"...So, I can understand your loneliness right now."

The girl whispered weakly in a voice that only the two of them could hear.

"I think we are probably the same kind..."

"That... is not what you think."

After a brief hesitation, Masumi interrupted, "Actually, many people invited me to join them at the cultural festival, but I wasn't interested and turned them down because it was too much trouble."

"Eh--"

The girl's eyes widened in disbelief, and then her cheeks flushed as if she had made a mistake. She said incoherently, "How, how can you do this! You're actually a popular sunny guy!"

"Woohoo! Give me back my feelings and sympathy!"

The girl's fair and slender wrists were revealed from the slightly raised cuffs. She placed her hands on Masumi's shoulders and shook him violently. The scent of shampoo filled his face.

"Stop, stop, stop!" Masumi was dizzy from being shaken.

"Calm down, I'm not some sunny guy, I'm just an ordinary junior high student."

"Besides, you're going to make me dizzy."

"Uh...sorry."

She suddenly loosened her hands and chuckled self-deprecatingly: "I've shown you my embarrassing side."

"I do not mind."

Masumi didn't have anything else to say, so he just shook his head indifferently.

Finally, after thinking for a while, he said, "Actually, I don't have many friends."

"That's not a very convincing answer."

The girl relaxed her brows and answered with a gentle smile.

"Thank you, you're so gentle, little barista."

"How can this be called gentleness?" Masumi shook his head and sighed.

Just two sentences can get gentle comments. This is not a romantic comedy.

"Well, I said that because I thought this word would make the person being praised happy."

Masumi retorted: "...Will it?"

"I think so." The girl nodded in affirmation. "Isn't that what the male protagonists of light novels do? With just a few thoughtful words, they can win the heart of the female protagonist."

"I don't really understand that." Masumi shook his head: "But I think that gentleness is not such a cheap thing."

"Oh? Could you share your opinion?" The girl acted as if she was all ears.

"There's nothing much to say."

Masumi sighed softly.

Sometimes people would say that because of his actions, but he never thought that was gentleness.

He did that to the people around him just to fit in and be accepted by them, and most of the feedback he received was superficial.

"You're thinking too much, little barista." The girl sighed in dumbfoundedness.

"But, after all, he's just a junior high school kid, so it's normal for him to feel a little awkward."

This condescending tone, as if speaking from the perspective of a senior, made Masumi feel a little uncomfortable.

However, he wasn't one to get angry easily, so his expression remained calm. He simply said nonchalantly, "You act like you know it all. You're just a high school student, aren't you?"

"High school students are considered mature adults. After all, they can work part-time, form a band, and do other 'adult things,'" the girl said in a coquettish tone.

"That's because you're a high school student, so you say that."

"Hehe, I don't deny that."

After she finished speaking, the girl narrowed her eyes and smiled, "Actually, you don't have to worry so much. Having this kind of thought is very gentle in itself."

"Thank you."

Masumi fell silent after he finished speaking. The two of them sat on the bench in silence, their double shadows lengthened by the sunlight, and they were surrounded by the cool and refreshing air of late autumn.

"Hey, little barista, what's your name?" the girl suddenly asked him.

“Before asking others, it’s better to introduce yourself first.”

"That's true." The girl smiled and uttered a sweet name from her soft lips: "I am Rugu Qiansui."

"Ok?"

"Let me introduce myself. I'm a sophomore at West High School, my name is 'Wo Ru Gu Qian Sui'. Thank you for your guidance."

The girl stood up solemnly, and the breeze, carrying the faint fragrance of October cherry blossoms, gently swayed her gorgeous black hair.

Masumi also stood up and nodded: "Miyazawa Masumi, please give me your guidance."

"Uh-huh, hello there, Masumi-chan."

He called me by my name affectionately from the start, which didn't seem like a friendless person at all. And the word "little brother" also made people feel a little uncomfortable.

"Well, although I didn't have any friends before, I'm not alone now."

Masumi took one more look at the guitar case she was carrying: "Are you playing in a band?"

"Yeah." I nodded gently, "A band is a place where even a loner can shine."

"I used to be a person without any aspirations, but now I have my own expectations."

Masumi's eyes flickered when he heard that, revealing a stunned expression, and then he listened to the girl in front of him continue speaking.

"I'm here this time to support your school's light music club as a guitarist."

"The light music club of our school?"

This was the first time Masumi had heard of this. He vaguely remembered someone mentioning it to him: it was said that some new students had rebuilt the disbanded light music club, but he had never heard any practice sounds in the music classroom. It was said that they were just drinking tea and chatting all day long.

"That's right. By the way! If you have nothing to do, why don't you come and see our performance?"

I extended an invitation to him as if I were a thousand years old.

As Masumi hesitated, she casually glanced at the time on her phone screen, then said with a sigh, "It's already this late, I should go to the gym to get ready."

"Well, see you then, Masumi-chan. Be sure to come and see us!"

She smiled and waved, her jogging posture with her guitar on her back a little urgent.

Masumi stared at her departing back, his heart filled with inexplicable waves.

The noise of students at the cultural festival, the occasional reminders about fire safety and missing persons notices for lost children on the radio, everything seemed to have disappeared.

Only the girl's footsteps echoed in his ears.

Masumi felt his heart invaded by an unfounded emotion.

He has always been tired of his current life which lacks expectations, but he doesn't know how to say goodbye to this situation.

He felt that it was a bit unrealistic to suddenly say goodbye to the ordinary life that he had taken for granted in the past.

But at this moment, Masumi couldn't help but think——

I always feel that if I don’t take this step here, I will definitely regret it.

When he realized this, he had already stepped onto the ground unconsciously, chasing after my figure like a thousand years old.

As the door of the gymnasium was pushed open, hot air swept across the entire venue.

Young boys and girls in uniforms crowded the venue, their cheeks flushed from the heat of the cultural festival, their eyes fixed on the brightly lit stage.

Masumi squeezed into the crowd like a fish swimming into a school, raised her head, and cast her gaze towards the stage in front of her.

A string sounded——

　Thanks to book friend 20230610233906405 for the reward, and thank you all for your monthly tickets, recommendation tickets and comments
　　This year is the Minor New Year in the South, happy Minor New Year to everyone
　　
　
(End of this chapter)