Tokyo: My Girlfriend

In Shinichi Kitagawa's bedroom in Kabasaki Town, his fingers typed a series of messages on his phone's keypad and sent them.

Unread.

Scrolling up, I found that the other party hadn't viewed the previously sent messages, and the phone calls wouldn't go through.

Shinichi Kitagawa stared at the screen, remaining silent.

His brows furrowed unconsciously.

With a ding, his phone received a text message. He quickly picked up his phone to check, and it turned out to be from Rena.

"Shinichi, are you home now? I'll be in Kabasaki Town soon."

Shinichi Kitagawa replied, "Okay, I'll be waiting for you at home."

Kitagawa Shinichi was so oblivious to the passage of time that he didn't even realize it until he came to his senses and heard noises outside the door.

That sounded like Rena's voice: "Hmm? Isn't Shinichi home this late? He promised to wait for me at home."

Rena Kitagawa unlocked the door with her key and saw the shoes askew in the entryway, indicating that her brother hadn't gone out.

Reina Kitagawa's sensitive nerves immediately realized that something must have happened, otherwise her brother wouldn't refuse to open the door for her.

There was no one in the living room, so she went straight to her brother's bedroom.

Upon opening the door, one could see that half of the curtains in Kitagawa Shinichi's room were drawn, and the boy sat wearily at his desk.

Hold the phone in front of your face.

Shinichi Kitagawa turned to look at Rena, whom he hadn't seen for two days, forcing a smile, and spoke in an older brother's tone:

"Rena's back? You must be exhausted after a long day of travel. Go and rest. I've put the gift I brought you in your bedroom. See if you like it."

Rena Kitagawa was very puzzled by Shinichi Kitagawa's expression.

"Shin-ichi? What's wrong...?"

She went over to him with a pained expression and immediately hugged him, pressing his face against her chest: "What happened? Can you tell me?"

As Shinichi Kitagawa felt Rena Kitagawa's scent and warmth, he closed his eyes, and even though he didn't want to, tears involuntarily streamed down his face.

His heavy head rested on Rena's body:

"I don't know what happened, I just suddenly feel a bit tired..."

"Is your heart hurting again?"

"It's not about that...it's not really a serious problem..."

"Nonsense! With that expression, how could it not be serious?"

Rena Kitagawa glanced at the phone on the table with her cool eyes and immediately realized who might have caused it. The only person who could hurt Shinichi without even meeting him was that woman.

She pressed her face against the top of his head: "If you're tired, take a rest. It's okay... Go lie down on the bed for a while... I'll stay with you."

"No need... This is fine for now. I'll be fine soon. It would be too spineless to give up so early before we know the specific outcome. Although Rena is already comforting me as your older brother."

When Rena heard him say that, tears welled up in her eyes, and she shook her head.

"Isn't it only right that I comfort Shin-il? Shin-il has always been the one helping me move forward, and I haven't really helped him much. I've always been looking forward to times like this... looking forward to the time when Shin-il can rely on me too."

Shinichi Kitagawa also put his arms around Rena's back, gave a soft "hmm," and didn't say anything more.

At dinner time, Shinichi Kitagawa didn't say why, and Rena didn't ask again, but he still forced himself to wash his face to cheer himself up.

Before the meal, he sat at the table and saw on his phone that Haruna Haruna had no intention of replying to his messages, so he knew she wasn't joking this time.

Everything happened so suddenly that when he received the text message, Shinichi Kitagawa couldn't even believe his eyes.

Being dumped without any logic, with the promise to remain friends in the future—is this something Hina would do, or is it something only Hina could do?

Shinichi Kitagawa wasn't entirely oblivious to her meaning. Did she want to be with Rena? Did she feel she liked Rena more?

Shinichi Kitagawa couldn't describe the feeling in his heart.

Even though he had already expressed his feelings for Hina without reservation, it still...

"Shin-ichi, shall we eat?"

Kitagawa Shinichi looked at Rena, whose tone was no longer cold, and smiled: "What do you want to eat?"

"Tonight's barbecue is to celebrate my brother and me starting a new life. May I sit next to Shin and eat with him?"

Shinichi Kitagawa was surprised that Rena Kitagawa could be so polite to him, and joked, "Rena actually talks to me like that? Is she being a well-behaved and sensible little sister today?"

Rena Kitagawa snorted softly, "Isn't it always something Shinichi can't guess what I do?" After saying that, she looked at Shinichi Kitagawa's sad expression and felt even more sorry for him, "Well... anyway, let's not banter with you today. I'm not in the mood to put on that arrogant act."

She sat down next to Shinichi Kitagawa and put food into his bowl.

Shinichi Kitagawa picked up his chopsticks and took a bite: "Delicious."

"Shouldn't it be delicious? You know I've always been a good cook."

Shinichi Kitagawa suddenly remembered something and looked at the pretty and cute Rena: "That's true, Rena's cooking skills have always been pretty good."

Rena Kitagawa clasped her hands together and said, "I'll start eating too!"

During the meal, Shinichi Kitagawa chatted with Rena about her trip to Tokyo the day before.

Rena Kitagawa spoke eloquently, revealing her thoughts and the events that had transpired. Shinichi Kitagawa truly recognized the girl's progress.

Everything is really getting better, just as I expected.

The next morning, Shinichi Kitagawa and Rena Kitagawa changed their clothes and went to school together.

Shinichi Kitagawa remained silent as he looked at his phone on the road, still receiving no reply.

Rena Kitagawa saw it but didn't say anything. After a while, she said, "The weather is really nice today, Shinichi!"

Shinichi Kitagawa responded, "It's very good."

Suddenly, a strong force came from behind, and Aoki Hirano appeared out of nowhere, casually putting his arm around Kitagawa Shinichi's shoulder: "Partner, good morning! The weather is so nice today! How was your trip to the city with my older sister yesterday? Did you make any progress?"

Kitagawa Shinichi looked at the other person: "Good morning, Hirano. You must have had a lot of fun with Akemi over the weekend."

No sooner had Aoki Hirano finished speaking than Aoki Akemi kicked him from behind.

Hirano looked innocent: "Why did you kick me, sis? I didn't say anything bad about you this time!"

Aoki Akemi replied matter-of-factly, "There's no particular reason, I just wanted to kick you because you were so rude to Shinichi-kun." She greeted Kitagawa Shinichi with a smile, "Good morning, Shinichi-kun. You went to bed early last night, we didn't even video chat."

Shinichi Kitagawa tried his best to act as if nothing had happened, and replied with a smile, "I was a little sleepy yesterday, sorry."

However, Aoki Akemi was now quite familiar with Kitagawa Shinichi, and the smile on her face vanished as she noticed his micro-expression, wondering what was wrong with him.

Everything was fine when we parted the day before yesterday, so why does Shinichi have this expression today...?

Such a sad expression... I've never seen that before...

During class time, in English class, Shinichi Kitagawa looked at the substitute English teacher who came to the podium to teach the class.

The other person announced to everyone from the podium: "Teacher Hina has taken a short leave due to some family matters and will not be back until Friday. I will be temporarily filling in for you this week."

Kitagawa Shinichi, recalling Hina's figure during class, tried to clear his mind and looked out the window.

Rena Kitagawa witnessed this entire scene. Sure enough... something must have happened between Shinichi and Haruna Kasuga to cause this reaction.

Akemi Aoki was also observing the expressions of the brother and sister.

Realizing that Shinichi's emotions today don't seem to be influenced by Rena, then it must be that mysterious ex-girlfriend?

And it must have happened yesterday.

The moment the school bell rang, Aoki Akemi ran to Kitagawa Shinichi's side: "Shinichi-kun! Let's go to the rooftop for lunch!"

Shinichi Kitagawa picked up his lunch: "Hmm, Rena brought me pork cutlet again today, let's eat together. What did Akemi bring today?"

"Several kinds of rice balls! I made them myself!"

Sitting on the rooftop, Shinichi Kitagawa munched on a fried pork cutlet and glanced at his phone.

Mingmei snuggled close to the person next to her, happily examining the silver star bracelet on her wrist: "I love it no matter how I look at it. I even thought about it yesterday. Since Shinichi gave me a star, how about I give him a moon-themed piece of jewelry in a while?"

She cupped her face in her hands and grinned, "Just kidding. If we did that, people would think we're a couple, right? It would definitely cause misunderstandings."

Shinichi Kitagawa seemed not to hear, or perhaps he didn't care at all: "Hmm, moon-themed ones are good too."

Akemi Aoki was stunned. Even being mistaken for a couple wasn't a problem...

She looked towards the distance where Kana was having dinner, but she remained very concerned about Reina who was here.

Aoki Akemi took a bite of the rice ball, and an idea suddenly popped into her mind.

Could Shinichi's ex-girlfriend be... Hina-sensei?

Although there's no real evidence, it inexplicably makes people think that way, and in this way, everything seems to make sense.