They all have hidden attributes!

"Yes, the corn is very tender this season."

Shiraishi Junka hooked her arm around his, her gaze wandering among the various plants: "The vegetables are edible too, and we even planted eggplants."

"I thought Junko was only interested in drawing." Takahashi Makoto looked around the courtyard with curiosity.

He also remembered that Shiraishi Junka said that on the day she couldn't see him, she stared at corn all day to pass the time in order to endure it.

"What about the oil painting?" Makoto Takahashi asked.

"I didn't like it before."

"Do you like it now?"

"I enjoy attending art exhibitions with you."

Shiraishi Junko pulled him to the tea room and instructed Shiraishi Chitose to pick tender corn and cook it.

Going on a date with Shiraishi Junka is simple: just don't push her away or avoid her when she gets close. Most of the time, Shiraishi Junka is very well-behaved.

Takahashi Makoto casually started talking to her about vegetable growing. As a result, when they left Shiraishi's house in the evening after their date, Shiraishi Junko stuffed all sorts of fresh vegetables and a lot of corn into her hands.

Back at the apartment, Makoto Takahashi handed over everything to Maya Uesugi, saying it was a friend's allowance from Junko Shiraishi.

August 31st, the last day of summer vacation.

Makoto Takahashi didn't go to the Uesugi family's house for breakfast. He slept until he naturally woke up, then went to the port area to accompany the young lady to work. They took a nap together, played chess together, and finally had dinner at the Tachimi main house. After soaking in the hot spring with his girlfriend, he returned to his apartment.

Summer vacation is over.

Chapter 122 The Beginning of the Autumn Semester

Tuesday, November 1.

Tsurumizawa's first day of school.

The streetcar, moving slowly along the tracks, weaves through the dense buildings of Tokyo. The two carriages appear quite short, and the red paint gives it a nostalgic feel.

Makoto Takahashi sat quietly on a bench in the carriage, his gaze sweeping through the window across the blue sky between the tall buildings. To his left and slightly ahead, Maya Uesugi leaned against the railing, reading a hardcover book.

She always reads works whose titles alone are uninteresting; compared to "Flanders Road," Makoto Takahashi prefers "My Popularity Is Just a Misunderstanding ~Surrounded by Beautiful Girls~."

However, speaking of beautiful girls, today Uesugi Maya wore Tsurumi Sawa's school uniform for the first time in a long time.

The clean, long-sleeved white shirt remained perfectly wrinkle-free, a black bow tie held the collar in place, the hem was tucked into a black pleated skirt, and black stockings accentuated the elegant curves of her legs.

The black belt around her waist subtly accentuated her slender waist and well-developed breasts, creating an alluring silhouette.

If the skirt were any shorter, you could see the absolute territory of the thighs, right?

The perfectly placed creases created by the cuffs are absolutely the essence of stockings.

As Takahashi Masashi was thinking this, Uesugi Maya noticed his gaze and curled her lip in disdain.

"You insist on taking the tram just for this?" she asked coldly.

Tachimi Yuki arranged for a luxury white sedan to be parked downstairs at their apartment building, along with a driver. This morning, Uesugi Maya wanted to take the car to school, but Takahashi Makoto insisted on taking the streetcar.

"No, I just wanted to chat with you for a bit."

Makoto Takahashi openly admired the elegant black stockings, then adopted a humble tone and asked, "I'd like to give Reiko a gift, and it would be best if Sachi were here too. Do you have any good ideas?"

His artistic soul instinctively rejects either-or choices, yearning to find a path that gains the approval of both sides and moves towards his ideal.

"Isn't Kashima's birthday inappropriate?" Uesugi Maya asked in a cold tone.

"I want to choose it before the cultural festival."

"So, she actually didn't tell you her birthday?"

"No." Makoto Takahashi looked up at her with a blank expression.

Kashima Reiko never mentioned it. It's unclear whether she's indifferent to her birthday, deliberately choosing not to talk about it, or if there's some deeper reason.

—For example, you need to discover it yourself, or you don't celebrate your birthday?

"September 4th, Friday."

Maya Uesugi closed the book in her hands, hugged it to her chest, raised her face and turned to Makoto Takahashi with a contemptuous look: "Unbelievable, you only found out today. You really are scum."

"Lengzi wouldn't be like you, not celebrating her birthday, would she?"

"I don't know about this kind of thing."

“That’s true.” Makoto Takahashi took out his phone and sent a text message to Yuki Tachimi, inviting her to celebrate Reiko Kashima’s birthday together.

Hopefully, this is a good time.

"But I've already prepared the gift."

He tapped his phone screen lightly with his finger while continuing to chat with Maya Uesugi: "As the club president, are you going to organize a celebration?"

"I will inform the others to prepare gifts; whether or not to celebrate is up to them."

Even though she acknowledges they are friends, Maya Uesugi still keeps her distance from the other band members, but not in a distant way; she just has a very strong sense of boundaries.

"Train is approaching, please be aware."

An announcement came over the loudspeaker, and after the train came to a stop, the two got off at Waseda Station and walked towards Tsurumizawa, chatting casually.

As I entered the college gate, a cool breeze blew through the cedar grove in the courtyard, and the hems of the uniforms all around me swayed gently, filling the air with a youthful vibe.

There were many people on campus during the summer vacation, but almost no one wore uniforms. The sight that made me realize the allure of the word "under the skirt" was something I hadn't seen in a long time.

As the cicadas' chirping, which had lasted all summer, came to an end, Makoto Takahashi looked around the courtyard and walked towards the teaching building on the sun-baked pavement.

"Sachi told me a few days ago that the cultural festival would be held together with the visitor day. What kind of activities will the light music club be holding?" he asked casually.

"The light music club will be closed for those three days, and I have no plans to recruit new members next year."

"Won't Hanaori be bored after we graduate?"

"Ha, I didn't expect you to think so far ahead."

Maya Uesugi looked ahead at the road and adopted an indifferent tone: "Graduation doesn't mean the band is disbanding. As for the light music club, let her decide for herself when the time comes."

"Too."

"What about the archery club's cultural festival?"

"I don't know, I'm not the club president." Makoto Takahashi looked uninterested; he didn't even remember the name of the archery club president.

Under the watchful eyes of their classmates and upperclassmen, the two walked into the teaching building together.

As always, Maya Uesugi didn't change into her indoor shoes. She followed Makoto Takahashi to his shoe cabinet and stood aside to wait.

Open the shoe cabinet, and there's only one pair of indoor shoes inside.

Makoto Takahashi took it out and threw it on the ground, saying unhappily, "I even had some expectations. Back in Shimokitazawa, so many people wanted to confess to me."

“I suspect that Ritsumi already arranged for someone to handle this for you,” Uesugi Maya said with certainty.

"Being in love isn't all good."

Makoto Takahashi closed the shoe cabinet door, turned around and walked with her toward the stairs: "I quite enjoy reading love letters."

"If you date me, I'll write to you every day."

"It's too much, I refuse."

The two walked up the stairs to the second-floor corridor and parted ways at the back door of the classroom for Class 1-C.

Maya Uesugi walked alone to the classroom of Class 1-A. Makoto Takahashi pushed open the door and entered the noisy classroom. Compared with before the start of summer vacation, nothing much had changed.

Everyone had a wonderful holiday. Upon returning to the college, the girls' clique remained unchanged, and no one readily changed their image.

Makoto Takahashi walked to the back row by the window, pulled out a chair, sat down, opened the window to let in some fresh air, and then took out a light novel to read.

No strangers approached him to talk.

In a place like Japan, casually approaching him or striking up a conversation would attract a lot of attention and lead to people talking behind his back about him as "annoying" or "overconfident," ultimately resulting in his isolation from his group.

Nevertheless, Makoto Takahashi was not bothered by this; on the contrary, he quite enjoyed the peace and quiet he had now.

Even though he was determined to make changes because he wanted to break the status quo between Kashima Reiko and Tachimi Yuki, he didn't want to be too flamboyant in the class and cause trouble and unnecessary waves.

Let's make a series of changes on Kashima Reiko's birthday.

Makoto Takahashi used to dislike conflict, but now he wants to create conflict within a controllable range to achieve his goals.

—It's said to be controllable, but it's still very dangerous.

Just then, a familiar, energetic voice came to my ears.

Good morning, Acheng.

Nekoya Hina broke away from her group of chatter and walked over confidently, her handsome face adorned with her usual cheerful smile: "So, how about we have lunch together sometime?"

"Why not?" Takahashi Makoto asked without even looking up.

Aren't you going to spend time with your girlfriend?

"Okay, I'll go later."

Last night, he and Tachikami Yuki discussed it and decided to go to the student council after lunch to accompany the young lady for a short nap, and then come back to class in the afternoon.

"Senior Lijian seems to trust you quite a bit."

Nekoya Hina leaned her hips against the edge of the desk, raised her left hand to loosen her black tie slightly, and fanned herself with her other hand: "Shall we go to the student cafeteria for lunch? Or just eat bread?"

"Reiko will bring me a bento box." Takahashi Makoto turned a page of the book in his hand.

"I see. Speaking of which, I've already confirmed that I'll be the captain of the badminton club after the cultural festival."

Hina Nekoya looked away from him, turning her gaze to the distant sky outside the window. She smiled wryly and said, "Yesterday, after Hanori went to the badminton club, she practiced guitar on the side, but Coach Shirakawa pretended not to see her."

"It's better to leave her alone. Besides, Hina, I've always wanted a little sister."

Makoto Takahashi raised his face, looked at her with a calm gaze, and said half-jokingly, "If only we could adopt her."

Hanakawa Kaori is the lead vocalist of NiceFold, so no one can force her to do something she doesn't like.

"Well, it seems like Tachimi-senpai likes her quite a bit too."

Hina Nekoya gave an apologetic smile and raised her hand to scratch her head: "I'm not saying I absolutely have to let her come back to play badminton, it's just that I feel it's a real shame."

"As long as she's happy." Takahashi Makoto wasn't surprised that Hanakawa Kaori and Tachimi Yuki got along well.