Miss Heir wasn't very kind to me.

Chapter 61 27. "Performance End"

Kobe's central district at night looks like a street in the deep sea. The neon lights are soaked by the rain, like colorful jellyfish trapped in a tank.

Masumi ran wildly on the street holding an umbrella.

Bathed in the night, blue sneakers made hurried footsteps on the asphalt road, which were quickly swallowed up by the rustling sound of rain.

...What the hell is this?

Masumi let out a distressing sigh.

Having just witnessed a failed performance, and still unable to imagine how it would end, on the other hand, the girl with strange behavior suddenly rushed out of the LiveHouse in a panic, as if stimulated by something unknown.

Unanswered questions swirled in my mind.

Masumi ran wildly in the direction where Hanekawa Kaigetsu disappeared.

Strange, it shouldn't be able to run far.

After walking around the LiveHouse, I still couldn't find Hanekawa Kaizuki.

Because it was a rainy night, there were few people on the street. The dazzling neon lights of various billboards made people dizzy.

Where will it be?

Masumi tried hard to control his emotions and calm himself down, not being affected by his anxiety and panic.

He pondered, imagining where Hanekawa Kaizuki might be hiding.

Speaking of which... On the way to LiveHouse, there is a townhouse coffee shop and bakery across the street. When Hanekawa came, he bought a red bean bun there.

Is it there?
After making his guess, Masumi walked straight along the rain-soaked street. The air on the early summer night quickly cooled down in the cold rain.

He carefully avoided the water on the road beneath his feet and crossed the lane after the traffic light turned from red to green.

The bakery had closed its shutters, leaving only the cheap light of the street lamps. In that light, a small figure huddled in front of the shop, her posture reminded Masumi of the way she looked when they first met during the rainy season.

The headlights of the cars passing by on the road illuminated the girl's dark feet.

It's actually here.

"Don't just run out like that, it's dangerous."

Masumi walked up to her quickly, held the umbrella over her head, and said helplessly.

Hanekawa Kaizuki's entire clothes were soaked.

Hearing Masumi's words, those blue eyes raised up, their eyes were bewildered, and they looked slightly wet, with drops of water dripping from the wet bangs and sliding down the cheeks.

She looked paler than usual.

Masumi subconsciously took out a small portable package of facial tissues from his pocket, tore open the package, pulled out several sheets, and handed them to the girl.

He hadn't known when it started, but he'd gotten into the habit of carrying tissues instead of handkerchiefs. It seemed like it was influenced by a senior. "It's a plus if a guy carries tissues," she remembered saying to herself.

From the perspective of being shareable, paper towels are indeed more convenient than handkerchiefs, like we are doing now.

"Here, wipe your face and hair first."

"……Thanks."

Haiyue said softly in a weak voice, but did not reach out to take it. Instead, she stood up slowly and raised her cheek towards him.

The girl's soft and plump lips were pursed into a line, and she closed her slightly trembling eyelids, her long eyelashes fluttering up and down.

What is this?

Masumi blinked. Did he want her to help wipe his cheeks and hair?

There was a strange atmosphere, like waiting for a kiss.

Since Hanekawa Kaigetsu moved into Fanxing, she has been taken care of by Kamishiro and Seno, after all, there are differences between men and women.

"Let's go back to LiveHouse first."

Haiyue completely ignored it and looked indifferent.

There was no other way, so Masumi had to pick up the tissue and wipe her wet hair and cheeks.

However, wiping with tissue paper is a bit inefficient, and the rainwater easily spreads and soaks the tissue paper.

"...There is a handkerchief...in my pocket...given by Rinne..." Haiyue said slowly.

"Since you have a handkerchief, just wipe it yourself." Masumi sighed: "Which pocket is it in?"

"...right side...waist..."

Hearing this, Masumi subconsciously stretched out his right hand to touch the pocket on her waistband. Because Haiyue didn't want to wear clothes that exposed her skin, she was dressed in a slim-fitting outfit of a white long-sleeved T-shirt on the upper body and high-waisted jeans on the lower body.

After being wetted by the rain, the clothes tightly outlined the slender and beautiful body lines.

There are only two areas of skin on the front and back of the body, which extend rapidly from top to bottom in an arc that is quite eye-catching.

He carefully avoided these two places, giving people the feeling that he was a soft, plump, ripe peach. Just by rubbing it gently, he could break the skin and pick out the juicy and tender flesh.

Stop and observe!

Masumi suppressed his chaotic thoughts and concentrated on finding the handkerchief.

When his fingertips touched the empty pockets, he remembered that the right side the girl was talking about should refer to his left side, so he unconsciously let go of his left hand holding the umbrella, handed the umbrella handle to Haiyue, and placed both hands on both sides of the girl's waist.

When Masumi came to her senses, her first thought was that her waist was so thin.

Haiyue bit her lower lip, lowered her eyes, and let out a soft moan from between her lips.

"Wait a minute! Don't make such a misleading sound."

Masumi quickly untied his hands, glanced around vigilantly, and after making sure that no one would mistake him for a pervert who molested girls, he breathed a sigh of relief and put his left hand back into his pocket.

Hanekawa Kaizuki's expressionless face finally showed a change. She frowned slightly, tilted her head, and murmured softly:
"itch."

"Okay, okay, I got it. It will be fine soon."

It’s even more troublesome that I’m ticklish.

Masumi sighed in frustration and finally pulled the neatly folded handkerchief out of his pocket.

It was a handkerchief with anime characters drawn on it. I remember that in April, when Mami was drawing the Ichiban prize, she drew several duplicate D-prize handkerchiefs. Except for one that she kept for herself, she gave the others to everyone in Fanxing. This one should be Kamishiro's.

He clenched his handkerchief, gently wiping the girl's wet hair, and asked:
"What happened just now? Why did you run away suddenly?"

“…I…ran away…”

The voice that Hanekawa Kaizuki made was very helpless, and the weak murmur was almost inaudible.

"I know that." Masumi nodded slightly: "Luckily you didn't run far, otherwise I wouldn't know where to find you."

"...ran away from the stage..."

After hearing her say this in a mosquito-like voice, Masumi realized that the "escape" that Haiyue mentioned was not the same as what he understood.

He kept wiping his hair with his hands, and after his thoughts raced through his mind, he blurted out, "Have you performed at LiveHouse before?" while cautiously observing her expression.

"Yeah." The girl nodded slightly: "...with Shao..."

"...But...I ran away..."

Hanekawa Kaizuki's eyes darkened, and he took a quick breath, as if to utter something that had been stuck in his chest for a long time: "Even though... I only have the singing voice..."

"Unlike others... this is all I have left..."

“…but I messed it up…”

"I'm a coward... disgusting..."

After Haiyue told the story in a halting manner, she gently closed her eyelids, and the corners of her lips seemed to be twisted in pain.

Masumi sighed as if he understood what was going on.

Although I don't know the specific situation, I can roughly guess that it was because of seeing Jiuyuan Future's performance on the stage just now, which brought back memories.

Could it be that this incident is the reason why he ran away from home?

"You go first..." Haiyue murmured weakly.

"Let me...be alone for a while..."

Masumi said nothing, but narrowed his eyes and listened to her continue.

"I remember the way... I can get back to the store by myself..."

The last sentence was as light as a wisp of floating smoke, as if it could be easily extinguished by rain at any time.

Masumi shook his head. If it were the old him, he would definitely leave at this time and leave her alone to comfort herself.

However, "Being alone can also make you feel uneasy." He remembered someone once said this to him.

So he simply said nothing, just took the umbrella from Haiyue and stood silently by to hold it for her.

The sound of rain and the heart-wrenching silence made time seem very long.

Masumi quietly looked at the girl in front of him.

Even wet from the rain, her face remained beautiful. Her eyes were lost, and her expressionless face was like a beautiful doll without any will of its own.

jellyfish.

He thought again of the sea creature.

The girl, drenched by the rain and with her face slightly raised, exuded a colorless and transparent aura of sadness.

It's like a moon jellyfish that can't swim.

In order to avoid drowning, he tried hard to follow the current, but he didn't have the strength to swim to the surface. So he exuded a weak breath.

Masumi sighed quietly again, and the two of them stood silently under the umbrella, surrounded by the dull air of the early summer rainy season.

Suddenly, a LINE message notification sound came from the phone.

Masumi came back to his senses and swiped the screen. It was a message from Asami—

　Thanks to Big Ear Tutuh for the reward

　　Thank you for your subscriptions, monthly tickets, recommendation tickets and comments

　　It is temporarily put on the shelves, and the manuscripts in stock are running out. I will see if I can write another chapter, but because I am used to letting myself feel unfamiliar with the article before revising it, it will probably be included in tomorrow's update. I am very sorry!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)