I push the kid!

"OK."

Koizumi Hanami said she had something to do at home at noon and left early, while Nishida Hideki found a restaurant with them to eat.

The three of them ordered eel rice, udon noodles, and fried chicken set meals respectively. Hideki Nishida also ordered a bottle of Coke, while the other two only bought a bottle of mineral water each.

"You can ask Youxi to reimburse your lunch money~" Maki Teramoto took the eel rice brought by the waiter.

Makimura Taku looked at her, and she repeated emphatically, "It's true. I'm not lying to you."

Nishida Hideki also said: "It is indeed possible, but you are usually the only one who does this, right, Teramoto?"

"That's because you're embarrassed."

"You are so shameless!"

"I've done worse," she said triumphantly.

"Huh?" Hideki Nishida was shocked.

Taku Makimura didn't say anything, but quietly ate a mouthful of udon noodles. He felt that the taste was not as good as that of a small noodle shop in Karuizawa.

"Speaking of which," a few minutes later, Hideki Nishida, who was halfway through his fried chicken rice, suddenly mentioned, "There's an idol selection program that's been getting quite a buzz lately. Have you heard of it?"

"Idol audition?" Makimura Taku looked at him.

"Isn't that kind of thing very common?" Teramoto Maki said with disdain, "I haven't paid much attention to it. Recently I've been staying up late to watch European and American movies, especially those starring Leonardo DiCaprio. I've watched Titanic five times."

"I've seen it a long time ago." Nishida Hideki glanced at her.

Maki Teramoto shrugged: "You've seen it only after you've seen it three times."

"How can you say that?" The two people began to bicker.

Makimura Taku next to him asked cautiously, "Wait, can you tell me about that show?"

Chapter 25 So, Hoshino Ai made a decision

Chapter 25. So, Hoshino Ai made a decision

At around four o'clock in the afternoon, Taku Makimura was sitting alone in the library reading a book. He was reading "The Dancing Girl of Izu" by Yasunari Kawabata, a very thin book.

There were not many people in the library, and it was so quiet that you could hear your own breathing.

Occasionally someone would walk by wearing rubber-soled shoes, and the sound would be unusually crisp, as if trying to draw everyone's attention to him.

People passed by the window from time to time, and some girls even stole a few glances at where Makimura Taku was, and then left reluctantly.

The afternoon sunlight was not too glaring, but rather soft and gentle. When the light shone on the text, Taku Makimura had just finished reading the book.

He stood up and returned the book to the bookshelf, returned to his seat, took out his cell phone and used LINE to tell Hoshino Ai what Hideki Nishida had told him about the idol audition program at noon.

"Did you know this?" he added after editing the message.

Hoshino Ai didn't reply to him, and the message remained unread. He put away his phone, found an original German book nearby and continued reading, reviewing a lot of vocabulary and grammar.

At 5:30 in the afternoon, Taku Makimura returned the book, opened his mobile phone and took a look. The message he sent to Hoshino Ai was still unread.

He stood up and walked out of the library. Looking up, he saw the setting sun sinking between two tall buildings. The fish-scale clouds were painted orange by the setting sun.

Cars were moving on the road, the traffic light turned green, and men and women walked across the zebra crossing.

There was a video game store nearby, and many students ran in with their backpacks on their backs. The boutique next to it was playing the new songs of a popular idol, and a photo of a boy band was hung in the window.

He passed by the store door. Some girls cast their eyes at him and blushed while whispering to their companions, but he basically ignored them.

He arrived at the Starbucks store more than ten minutes later. It was not yet the six o'clock shift change time, but Koizumi Hanami had already returned, and the other two people probably hadn't arrived yet, so he went in first to say hello.

At five fifty-seven, Hideki Nishida pushed the door open. At six o'clock, Maki Teramoto finished her shift on time. The two men and two women from the other shift bowed and left.

"We're here too late, aren't we?" Hideki Nishida complained while putting on his uniform.

Teramoto Maki didn't care much: "Didn't you just get here too?"

"You've totally nailed it."

"It's okay," she said with a grin, "Youxi will forgive me!"

"...You guy."

At around 7:00, Koizumi Hanami ran out of the room after answering the phone and said to Makimura Taku, "Makimura-kun, Sister Youxi asked you to go back first."

Makimura Taku, who had just finished listening to Teramoto Maki's instructions on how to make coffee, was stunned for a moment and walked up to her side: "Did you really say that?"

"Really, really." Koizumi Hanami became a little nervous when being stared at.

Makimura Taku asked again: "She called you and told you that?"

"Yes."

"Why don't you just tell me directly?"

Koizumi Hanami shook her head: "I don't know that either."

"Going home early every day..."

"What's wrong with that?" Teramoto Maki came over and patted Makimura Taku's shoulder cheerfully, "Anyway, Youxi doesn't expect you to help with the work, so you might as well go back and rest early."

"Isn't that too much?" Makimura Taku said with a smile.

"Makimura-kun, don't you think there are too many customers standing here?" Teramoto Maki told him seriously, "Go back early, just to reduce our workload."

Hideki Nishida, who had just recorded an order, interrupted without even looking up: "Although Teramoto often talks nonsense, this sentence is indeed true."

He turned around, put his hands on the table, as if to keep his balance, and faced Makimura Taku: "Go back and rest early, come back tomorrow."

"Okay." After saying that, Makimura Taku said goodbye to them.

At around nine o'clock in the evening, almost the same time as yesterday, Hoshino Ai finally sent a message.

Taku Makimura closed the book he was reading and clicked on the message to take a look.

"You know this too?" Hoshino Ai replied.

Two seconds later, a surprised rabbit emoticon popped up below the message.

Makimura Taku read that sentence three times and replied to her with a "also?"

"I was going to talk to you about this tomorrow." Hoshino Ai replied.

"Could it be possible that you participated?"

"It's boring."

"Really?"

"Let's talk about it tomorrow, Makura." She replied with a yawning bunny sticker, "It's too late today, I want to go to bed."

"Ok."

"Good night." Hoshino Ai sent an emoticon.

"Good night." Taku Makimura replied in text.

After taking a shower at around ten o'clock, Taku Makimura suddenly remembered that he had not yet mentioned to Hoshino Ai that he did not have to go to work during the day tomorrow, so he edited a message and sent it to her, but the message has not been read.

He thought about it and decided to read while waiting. At eleven o'clock, he still hadn't finished reading, so he closed the book, turned off the light and went to sleep.

After getting up the next morning, Taku Makimura looked at his mobile phone first. No one sent him a message or called him. He went for a run and listened to the English radio while eating breakfast.

At around 7:40, Tomoki Ogura called him to say hello. They exchanged a few pleasantries and hung up, still ending with the other person calling him "idiot".

Around eight o'clock, Hoshino Ai replied: Sorry, sorry, I just saw it now. I'll wait for you at Shibuya Station at nine o'clock.

Makimura Taku replied that it was no problem.

When they arrived at Shibuya Station, it was not yet nine o'clock and Hoshino Ai had not arrived yet. Makimura Taku was leaning against a huge square pillar outside the platform waiting for her.

During this time, a young girl dressed fashionably came up to him and chatted with him. She looked like a college student who had no classes. He politely declined the girl's request for her contact information.

With one minute left to nine o'clock, Hoshino Ai ran out of the station.

She wore a white suspender dress without a coat or anything like that, revealing her beautiful and delicate collarbone and smooth shoulders.

The skirt was ankle-length, the socks had lace, and on the feet were white Adidas sneakers.

She rushed to Makimura Taku, panting: "Sorry, I'm late!"

"It's okay, I just got here too." Taku Makimura moved his body away from the pillar.

They set out from the station and walked and talked along the street.

Today is still a sunny spring day, and the wind is warm and refreshing.

Someone was painting on the street, aroma was wafting from a nearby bakery, a record store had just opened, and Takahashi Yu's "Jealous" was playing leisurely from the store, attracting many customers.

"The thing I didn't finish talking about yesterday."

"I participated." said Hoshino Ai.

Makimura Taku wasn't too surprised. He had roughly guessed this yesterday. They continued walking forward, and Hoshino Ai also continued, "B Komachi, the name of our group."

"B Komachi." Makimura Taku repeated.

"It was President Sudo who came up with it. This idol group was also launched by the president's Ichigo Pro agency. At the beginning, they only found three people," Hoshino Ai looked at him and said, "But I decided to join."

Chapter 26 Lies

Chapter 26 26. Lies

Makimura Taku thought as he walked: "It's good."

"Very good?" Hearing this, Hoshino Ai blinked and looked at him, "Any other thoughts or anything like that? Or anything you want to ask me?"

"You probably don't want to answer, do you?" Makimura Taku said with a smile, turning his head to look at her, "Isn't this a secret?"

Hoshino Ai was stunned for a moment, turned her head, and stared absentmindedly at the ground she was about to step on. There were no fallen leaves or stones on it, and the shadows of the trees and the sunlight were a mixture of gray and gold.

"Not this time," she said softly.

"How strange."

"That's not surprising. I came to you specially because I want to tell you something." She lifted the long hair beside her ear, "Are you willing to listen?"

"Of course I do."