Tokyo: My Girlfriend

As the new week begins, high school students arrive at school in groups, full of energy and enthusiasm.

Shinichi, Rena, Akemi, Hirano, and Kana, the classic five-person group, met on the road and walked forward together, chatting and laughing.

However, when we got to the school gate,

By chance, Shinichi Kitagawa encountered the figure that had been haunting his dreams for the past few nights.

Wearing a blue shirt and a white long skirt, Haruhi Hina arrived at school at the same time, carrying her bag.

When the two unexpectedly discovered each other, Kitagawa Shinichi immediately noticed the haggard look on Haruhi Hina's face, even though she was still so beautiful. The morning sunlight shone on the woman's delicate features, and a few strands of her pale yellow hair clung to her lips.

Even now, Shinichi Kitagawa still can't find any flaws in the other person's face.

Even her eyes were still so gentle.

Shinichi Kitagawa didn't want his emotions to fluctuate any further. Now that they had talked seriously, he should face the fact that they had broken up as quickly as possible.

But when facing someone you've liked, feelings aren't something you can simply control with your mind; otherwise, there wouldn't be so many inexplicable longings in the world.

When Haruhi Hina saw the other person, her eyebrows and eyes trembled involuntarily, and her fingers gripped the strap of her handbag tightly.

Among them, it was Aoki Akemi who greeted them first: "Hina-sensei! What a coincidence, good morning!"

Hirano Aoki and Kana Sato also greeted her together: "Good morning, Hina-sensei!"

Haruhi Hina smiled and hummed in agreement, "What a coincidence, good morning everyone." Not daring to waste too much time or walk with anyone, she could only make up an excuse: "I have something to do later, so I'll go upstairs first. I'll take my leave now."

After saying that, he unconsciously glanced at Shinichi Kitagawa again, and entered the campus with an indescribable low mood.

Everything was progressing according to Haruhi Hina's plan, but just as Tamura Kyoko said...

Her inner strength was not as great as she had imagined. Even two days later, after hearing Shinichi Kitagawa express his disappointment in her on Friday night, she still felt suffocated whenever she thought of that scene.

It felt like there was something stuck in my chest, and I couldn't get rid of it no matter what I did.

My stomach also hurts in a twisting pain.

Rena Kitagawa observed the brief eye contact between the two, then moved closer to Shinichi Kitagawa, trying to divert his attention: "Shinichi, what was the first class again today?"

Kitagawa Shinichi looked at Rena: "The first section is..."

Aoki Hirano raised his hand, taking the lead: "History!"

Kana Sato corrected, "Is it math? Why is history the first period? We've never scheduled classes like this before."

Aoki Hirano scratched his head and chuckled, "I was just saying. So there's no history of the first quarter on Mondays? I didn't even know. What's the second quarter?"

Everyone was ashamed; could this guy's enthusiasm for studying even be one percent of his enthusiasm for bishoujo games?

Kana Sato added, "The second and third periods this morning were both in English."

After these words were spoken, the expressions of the three people changed subtly.

The school bell rang, and the atmosphere of learning was strong on campus.

Before the second English class, Haruhi Hina sat in her office, holding her forehead with her hand.

A message from Tamura Kyoko came through on her phone: "Are you alright, Hina? Come back to the rented apartment for lunch today. I'll eat with you to help you relax. Otherwise, I'm afraid you won't be able to handle it alone."

After seeing this, Haruhi Hina replied, "Thank you, Anzu."

Kyoko Tamura: "You're welcome. I have to help you while I'm still here this week. But even if you're upset, you have to try to control yourself at school. Otherwise, it would be bad if your colleagues found out that your emotions were caused by Shinichi. It could cause trouble."

Haruhi Hina knew in her heart that since they had already broken up, and she had initiated the breakup, she should accept it as soon as possible.

Thinking this, tears still streamed down my face. The more I tried to suppress my emotions, the more they rebelliously surged forth.

A colleague, seeing this, asked in confusion, "Hina-sensei? Why are you suddenly crying?"

Haruhi Hina quickly wiped her eyes with a tissue, forcing a smile: "I saw a really touching movie yesterday, and I just couldn't help but cry when I thought about it..."

When her colleague heard this, she laughed and said, "Hina-sensei is still too young. But even someone as old as me can be moved by good movies sometimes."

Haruhi Hina smiled gently: "Right... I really can't help but want to cry..."

An excuse that is useless to Shinichi might work for others.

During English class, Shinichi Kitagawa and Hina Kasuga rarely made eye contact; they barely exchanged glances throughout the entire lesson.

They were all consciously avoiding it.

But when the students were taking notes, Haruhi Hina sometimes couldn't help but steal glances at Kitagawa Shinichi, but nothing else would happen except for making her frown more and her heart ache more.

This went on for several days.

It was Thursday afternoon, after school.

Haruhi Haruna left the campus carrying her handbag and went to a nearby pharmacy to buy some stomach medicine.

The shop assistants all recognized each other: "Is Teacher Yangcai's stomach problem that serious? Didn't we just buy a box a few days ago? If you want to cure it completely, you still need to control your diet. Taking medicine so frequently isn't good."

Haruhi Hina didn't want to, but what could she do if she was so weak? "I'm much better now. I bought this to keep on hand."

"That's alright, but I've noticed you haven't been in a good mood. The stomach is an organ related to emotions, so you need to be in a better mood for your stomach problems to flare up less often."

Haruhi Hina took out her wallet to pay, smiling, "Oh, I see. Then I'll watch some comedy movies when I get home tonight."

"That's a good idea too," the clerk said.

After paying, she took the medicine, said goodbye to the clerk, and left.

But just as she was about to turn the corner, she suddenly heard the shop assistant behind her say, "Huh? Ms. Hina, what brings you back again? Oh wait... who are you?"

Haruhi Hina turned around curiously upon hearing this, her beautiful peach blossom eyes unconsciously widening.

She also vaguely saw a girl whose back looked a lot like hers... Upon closer inspection, she realized that the person looked familiar. Wasn't that Akemi?

At the entrance of the pharmacy, Aoki Akemi, also dressed in high-heeled sandals and a yellow dress, smiled and said, "I'm not Hina-sensei, I'm Akemi. Please give me a box of stomach medicine too."

The shop assistant realized she had misread the person's face upon seeing it and said with a smile:

"Oh, it's Akemi. Your outfit and hairstyle really do look a bit like Hina-sensei from your school, the same style? And you're here to buy stomach medicine too? It seems like young people these days don't have very good stomachs."

Akemi Aoki grinned and took out her wallet: "Maybe it's because I've been eating too much spicy food lately? I feel a little uncomfortable sometimes."

After receiving the medicine from the shop assistant, Aoki Akemi turned around and unexpectedly discovered Haruhi Hina, who had been watching her the whole time.

Akemi Aoki excitedly rushed over: "Hina-sensei! What a coincidence that you're here too! I need to talk to you about something!"

Haruhi Hina didn't reply immediately as usual; instead, her eyes revealed a hint of confusion and shock, because Akemi's usual style wasn't like this.

Although she knew about the other person's hair dyeing last week, dyeing one's hair light yellow is not a niche thing; many girls have this hair color.

Haruhi Hina didn't think much of it at first, since Akemi usually wore a school uniform and looked quite different from her.

But now, outside the school, seeing her wearing a similar dress to mine, her makeup, hairstyle, and even her high heels all felt so familiar.

All these elements combined made Haruhi Hina realize something.

"Akemi... Good afternoon, what's up?"

Aoki Akemi noticed the medicine in the other person's hand and exclaimed in surprise, "You bought stomach medicine too, Hina-sensei? Have you been eating too much spicy food lately?" She looked up and said, "By the way, I wanted to ask you, Hina-sensei, what kind of shampoo and body wash do you usually use? I'd like to buy some and try them out."

"Shower gel and shampoo?"

Haruhi Hina's red lips parted slightly, feeling her guesses growing closer to reality. She forced a smile: "Did I misunderstand, Akemi... or... is it really what I think?"

Akemi Aoki looked at the other person with a puzzled expression, and after their eyes met, she understood what the other person was thinking.

She knew that Haruhi Hina had already entered the workforce and could see the truth about many things.

However, Aoki Akemi narrowed her fox-like eyes and still smiled, "What is Hina-sensei saying? Why did she suddenly say something like that? I don't understand at all."

The other person's peach blossom eyes showed a hint of confusion, but that expression quickly turned serious: "I knew I wasn't wrong, was I? Mingmei isn't the kind of girl who's completely clueless about relationships. Are you imitating me? You knew all along?"

Now that the other party had made it clear, Aoki Akemi decided not to pretend anymore and calmly looked at her biggest rival in love.

She let out a long sigh, her tone cheerful: "I knew the teacher would find out sooner or later. Now I know, I know about you and Shinichi. Although no one told me, Shinichi's mood changes every time he sees Hina-sensei, so it's easy to guess." She held up a finger as a hint:

"But don't worry, Hina-sensei, I won't tell anyone else this secret. I will keep it a secret for you all, because it won't do anyone any good if it gets out."

"Thank you... so you haven't answered my first question yet?"

"The first question? Oh!" She laughed, "You mean I imitated you? Yes, I think you have great taste, so I wanted to try imitating you, and this outfit actually suits me quite well."

"But this is wrong... this is not right..." Haruhi Hina clearly knew that the other person was lying. Girls are the most averse to wearing the same clothes as someone else. No woman wants to dress up as another woman unless she has a special purpose.

She hesitated before speaking:

"Akami, I know you might have some feelings for Shinichi, but this method..." Haruhi Hina couldn't believe it: "How could you think of using such a method to win him over..."

"Is there anything wrong with it?" Aoki Akemi interrupted her, causing the other woman to pause. She ran her hand through her hair. "Wearing these kinds of clothes, dyeing your hair this color, and doing this kind of makeup are all normal, right? They're pretty common styles. I don't think there's any law against using this style to please the boy you like."

"But apart from your eye makeup, everything else is almost exactly the same as my style."

Aoki Akemi was somewhat helpless for a moment, and stared straight at the other person with a smile: "What can I do? It's just that Shinichi-kun likes this style the most, so I can only change in the direction that Shinichi-kun likes."

Haruhi Hina frowned, grabbed the other girl's wrist, and pulled her to a secluded spot: "Come with me!" She was somewhat agitated because she could clearly see that the girl in front of her had definitely gone the wrong way.

Having reached a corner, I wanted to offer timely advice to the other person:

"I don't know if you're aware, but Shin-ichi and I have already... already broken up! So doing this might not only fail to win him over, but could actually..."

Akemi Aoki interrupted again, "No, Shinichi still likes you. I can tell. Otherwise, I wouldn't have asked you about your shampoo brand until today, although it seems you definitely won't tell me now." She glanced sideways at the ground.

"Actually, I originally planned to ask you on Monday, but I decided to observe further. I thought that if Shinichi really didn't like you anymore, then I wouldn't need to imitate him so closely. But these past few days of observation have convinced me that there are some things I still need to do."

Haruhi Hina's pupils trembled:

"But this is absolutely the wrong path! Even if Shinichi still... even if he still has feelings for me, or even if you really achieve your goal through this method, was the Shinichi you liked the real Akemi back then? That wasn't you!"

Akemi Aoki didn't hesitate at all. She initially wanted to say, "Just because I changed my clothes doesn't mean I'm not me anymore!" But unable to deceive herself, she used a different answer:

"Of course I know these things, but I have to get Shinichi first, right? How can I talk about liking someone if I haven't even gotten them? Feelings need to be cultivated slowly, don't they?"

She gazed enviously at Haruhi Hina's beautiful and gentle features: "Also, I've always been curious, why did you break up with Shinichi? In my opinion, Shinichi has almost no flaws, and he clearly likes you a lot, and you like Shinichi a lot too."

Spring sunflowers trembled between her eyebrows.

I don't know how to correct this girl's views on love.

Aoki Akemi realized that the other person had no intention of telling her anything, and knew that pressing for details would only annoy her.

She slowly removed Haruhi Hina's hand from her shoulder, with a smile:

"Anyway, if I were Hina-sensei, I would never break up with Shinichi. Having such a handsome, strong, and talented boyfriend is the dream of countless girls, right?"

"Akemi, matters of the heart aren't that simple... it's not just about two people being together..."

"The teacher's words do sound a bit like an adult's; they think too much. I just think that being together is enough. As long as we're together, everything else is not a problem."

After Aoki Akemi finished speaking, she took out her phone and glanced at the time:

"Alright, teacher, I have to go home for dinner. Since you don't want to tell me the shampoo brand, that's fine. But I still want to ask you one last question: if I successfully date Shinichi, Hina-sensei will bless us, right?"

Kasuga Hina: "..."

She sincerely advised the other person: "If you continue down this path, you will definitely suffer a lot in the future."

"No, I won't," she replied. "I'll only feel happy."