Kyoto: I just want to be a gentleman

You can't really wear a mask and a chef's uniform, and waste every night in the three-square-meter kitchen of the izakaya, dealing with a bunch of headless shrimps and drunken uncles every day, right?

These days of doing nothing made him feel bored and confused, as if he was trapped in a cycle from which he could not escape.

As he ran into a narrow alley.

He found that under the dim street light, a thin figure was huddled in the corner, shivering.

Watanabe Hideyuki looked closely and saw that it was a little girl. She hugged her knees tightly, her face was pale, and her eyes revealed helplessness and confusion.

Watanabe Hideyuki frowned slightly and stopped involuntarily. He was not a person who liked to meddle in other people's affairs, but facing the situation in front of him, even though he was in trouble, his sense of morality made it impossible for him to turn a blind eye.

He walked slowly to the girl and asked softly, "Little girl, are you okay? Do you need help?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Hideyuki met those amber eyes that made it impossible to look away.

It’s Chiharu Kitano!

Watanabe Hideyuki recognized the girl in front of him, it was Chiharu Kitano from two years ago!

He glanced around with his peripheral vision.

He felt that the scene was unexpectedly familiar.

At this moment, the thoughts in Watanabe Hideyuki's mind were like a tangled mess, sometimes bright and sometimes dark, interweaving into complex and colorful pictures.

At this moment, a flash of inspiration suddenly flashed through his mind, like a bolt of lightning across the night sky, and Watanabe Hideyuki's body trembled suddenly.

Correct.

The second dream.

He experienced the same scene in Kitano Chiharu's second dream.

Watanabe Hideyuki felt as if he had grasped an important clue, which closely linked his past and present together.

He took a deep breath, and his heartbeat seemed to gradually speed up as his thoughts became clearer.

At this moment, he finally understood the doubts he had always had.

That is to say...

Why did he clearly never meet Kitano Chiharu before, but she was so obsessed and attached to him...

Why did Kitano Chiharu have a second dream memory that he regarded as a "fantasy"...

Why Kitano Chiharu...

In an instant, all the clues were cleverly strung together like scattered pearls by Watanabe Hideyuki with a thin thread in his mind, forming a clear and complete chain of thought.

The fragmented clues were glued together again like pieces of glass, and turned into a mirror again. The person in front of the mirror was him, Watanabe Hideyuki, and the person reflected in the mirror was Kitano Chiharu.

Watanabe Hideyuki felt a cold wind blowing and he shivered involuntarily.

It turns out that without him noticing, an invisible hand called "fate" has already...

Then based on Kitano Chiharu's reaction to him before he came, he shouldn't...

Watanabe Hideyuki controlled himself not to think about the possibilities that made him feel cold all over...

Kitano Chiharu's hoarse reply interrupted his thoughts.

"Are you...calling me...?"

What should he do now?

The first rule of the Space-Time Code is that you cannot change what has already happened.

Watanabe Hideyuki searched for the scene he saw in Kitano Chiharu's dream, took a deep breath, and tried to make himself look amiable: "Well, little friend, do you want me to take you to the police station?"

Kitano Chiharu in front of him was slightly stunned, as if she didn't understand what he meant.

Watanabe Hideyuki patiently explained: "If you and your parents get lost, we can go to the police station to look for them."

As he said this, he stretched out his hand and tried to help Kitano Chiharu up.

But Kitano Chiharu still sat there, staring at the boy's hand with empty eyes for a long time, and then slowly said: "I... have no home..."

She...has no home anymore?

Watanabe Hideyuki searched the memories in his mind.

He seemed to have heard Chiaki Kitano mention when he was giving her a massage before that her father seemed to have started a new family outside.

So, the reason why Kitano Chiharu appears here at this moment is because of this incident?

Watanabe Hideyuki is indeed a person with an IQ close to 8.

I actually guessed the cause and effect of the problem at once.

But what should he do now?

Chapter 109 I'll be waiting for you at the end of time (4)

"What's your name?"

"Kitano...Chiharu..."

Watanabe Hideyuki had already made a decision. He took a deep breath, squatted down and looked at Chiharu Kitano at eye level: "Then Kitano, little friend...are you willing to come home with me?"

Looking at the girl in front of him who seemed helpless, frightened, even a bit cowardly and pitiful, Watanabe Hideyuki found it hard to associate her with the confident, quirky and even somewhat scary girl two years later.

Are they really the same person...? No... they are not possessed...

Watanabe Hideyuki began to have wild thoughts.

He couldn't imagine what Kitano Chiharu had experienced during these two years that led to such a transformation.

Looking at Chiharu Kitano who followed him silently home, Hideyuki Watanabe felt quite complicated.

Chiharu Kitano is the only person he can contact openly in this world.

In other words, he will have to depend on the "youth version of Kitano Chiharu" for the next few days.

This doesn't seem like... a bad thing?

With the presence of Chiharu Kitano, many of his troubles can be solved.

Besides, he had a bold plan.

During this time, educate Kitano Chiharu well.

Try to make her become a gentleman as upright as him, and correct her bad habit of being a yandere.

If that was the case, he later found a way to go back two years.

Even if I wake up and am found in the closet by Chiharu Kitano, I guess it won't be... too ugly a death, right?

The more Watanabe Hideyuki thought about this, the more he felt that his plan was perfect.

Regardless of whether he can successfully return to his original time and space, it is always a good idea to cultivate a good relationship with Kitano Chiharu.

When he returned home, Watanabe Hideyuki looked at Kitano Chiharu who was sitting uncomfortably on the sofa in the living room, and issued the first task notice since the establishment of his "Gentleman" education program - to keep personal hygiene.

"Go take a shower..."

"Um..."

Kitano Chiharu followed his teacher to the bathroom without any hesitation.

After teaching Chiharu Kitano how to use his water heater, Watanabe Hideyuki placed the unopened toiletries in the window in front of her, then left the bathroom and closed the door.

...He just made an inadvertent discovery. For some reason, the murder weapon used by Kitano Chiharu was very different from that used two years later.

Hasn't she grown too fast in the past two years?

Of course, this dirty thought only appeared in his gentlemanly mind for a moment and then disappeared without a trace.

How could he possibly have any intentions towards his beloved student? He was an excellent teacher of young girls and would not do anything that would be unworthy of the cherry blossoms on his chest and the four-character idiom "being a role model for others".

Watanabe Hideyuki took out a few T-shirts and bathrobes that he had bought but had not had time to wear from the closet and placed them at the bathroom door. After knocking on the door twice, he returned to the living room.

Not long after, the sporadic sounds of the shower in the bathroom disappeared, and Watanabe Hideyuki only heard the sound of the bathroom door opening. When he looked up again, Kitano Chiharu was already standing in front of him.

Watanabe Hideyuki met her gaze and his mind couldn't help but move slightly.

The bathrobe was dark blue, and the soft fluff fit her skin well. The collar of the bathrobe was slightly open, revealing her slender neck and delicate collarbone. A few strands of wet hair were lightly draped on it, adding a touch of casual charm.

Kitano Chiharu's face was slightly flushed by the hot water, just like the peach blossoms blooming in spring, delicate and beautiful. She walked barefoot on the floor, each step was light and graceful, like a blooming lily, quietly blooming in the living room.

Watanabe Hideyuki had also seen Kitano Chiharu's state after bathing in the hot spring last time. She was as charming as she is now. Now it seems that the word "charming" has nothing to do with Kitano Chiharu's age, but is a trait that she is born with and is charming to the core.

Eyes.

If we have to find the difference, it is the eyes.

At this moment, Kitano Chiharu's eyes revealed a kind of pitiful weakness. This kind of weakness was not weakness, but a kind of innocence and helplessness that could arouse a man's desire to protect deep in his heart.

In order to hide his embarrassment of staring at the other person for a long time, Watanabe Hideyuki brewed a cup of black tea from the coffee table and handed it to Chiharu.

"Would you like something to drink?"

"Warm yourself up."

At this time, Kitano Chiharu did not notice Watanabe Hideyuki's incoherent expression. She took the tea with both hands, held the cup tightly, and took a sip gently. Her every move showed the demeanor of a lady from a noble family.

"Watanabe Hideyuki, 16 years old, Luonan Gaosheng."

Not knowing what to say, Watanabe Hideyuki simply started by introducing himself to break the silence.

After Kitano Chiharu put down the red teacup, she opened her lips slightly and said, "Kitano...Chiharu, 16 years old, Kansaka private school."

Kosaka private school?

Watanabe Hideyuki was a little uncomfortable when he suddenly heard this name.

In his impression, Kitano Chiharu always seemed to be from Ronan High School... When did she transfer from Kansaka Private School to Ronan High School...?

It seems like... ?

Second semester of freshman year in high school...?

After a brainstorm, Watanabe Hideyuki asked again: "What are your plans next?"

Kitano Chiharu shook her head: "I don't know... I just want to find a place to stay quietly now."

Oye.