Comet Dragon, breaking into the gravity field

"Actually, that shop only needs two people. It doesn't matter if they're male or female, old or young—as long as the age difference isn't too great. Since it would be a bit strange for me to be alone, I decided to get rid of you and come with me."

As they were talking, the two of them got on the tram and wandered around to another shopping street in the city.

When he saw the words "event" and "lucky draw" written on the sign at the door of the store, the last bit of doubt in Ritsu Narose's heart disappeared.

34. Learning from Others

——I made money playing in a band!

Really? How did you do that?

——Rent out my guitar.

Looking at the beverage store in front of him that was holding an event, Ritsu Narose suddenly remembered a joke about musicians he had seen before.

The reason is simple: in addition to the classic tissues and coupons, the store's raffle wheel also has mysterious grand prizes such as music albums.

Although it is a second-hand item, it is a second-hand item signed by a famous musician and has been well maintained. The prize displayed there is impeccable in any way.

The most important thing is that there are many niche masterpieces among those record albums that were released in small quantities at the time. You can tell at a glance that they are the treasures that some people have kept in their closets.

No wonder Hachiman Kailing would set his sights on this place.

While waiting in line, Ritsu Narose looked around the store.

The decoration here is just like most of the stores he has seen. They are small and exquisite, yet have their own style, rather than being a franchise store with the same homogeneous style.

The clerks behind the counter were busy, a man and a woman working together efficiently. However, judging from the details of their behavior, the relationship between the two seemed unusual.

"You...ah, it's Hailing-chan!"

When it was Naruse Ritsu and Hachiman Kairin's turn, the female clerk was surprised at first, then smiled with great joy. She seemed to have a lot to say, but the unfinished work at hand didn't allow her to act so willfully.

Although she looks much older than Hachiman Kairin, she is still as lively as a little girl in her youth.

After choosing their favorite drinks, Ritsu Narose and Kairin Yawata did not leave directly after drawing the lottery like some other customers, but sat in the few seats available in the store.

While inserting the straw, Naruse Ritsu asked curiously, "So you know her?"

"Well...she is the person involved in the story I told you yesterday."

"Cough-cough!"

He choked on the spot. Ritsu Narose never thought that such a thing would happen in the world.

Before he could put his hand into his pocket, the girl sitting opposite him had already taken out a tissue with a faint fragrance and handed it to him.

"As you can see, they've given up playing in a band and chosen to open their own beverage shop. But they can't completely let go of their past lives, so to attract customers with similar interests and to say goodbye to the past, they even use their old collection of albums as prizes for events."

There wasn't much regret in Hachiman Kailing's tone, as her relationship with the band was already tenuous. If it weren't for that factor, she would have come here purely as a customer.

"So, Hai Ling feels regretful?"

"That's right..."

Watching familiar things disappear or change, the melancholy of how things and people have changed is ultimately unbearable.

When the customers gradually dispersed and the waiter was free, Hachiman Kailing suddenly said, "Excuse me, can I go talk to her? It'll only take a few minutes."

"of course can."

Nodding, Hachiman Kailing, who was wearing her school uniform, walked to another corner of the store and started talking to the bassist who had undergone a huge change.

Noticing the ring on the other person's finger, Hachiman Kailing asked in surprise: "Are you engaged to him?"

"Yes."

"But you said before, 'I might as well just stay single forever'?"

"Because being single is so hard." Revealing the attitude of someone who's experienced it, her smile became a little complicated. "When I was young, I was free and felt like I could live a good life no matter what. But once I reached a certain age, I couldn't help but want to find someone to accompany me."

"but you……"

She opened her mouth but couldn't utter the rest of the words.

Since they are already engaged and living together, is it really necessary for her to tell the other party the facts that he already knows?

"Well, he's still the same as before, but he's become much more restrained. Since he's willing to give up his past interests and use his savings to start a business with me, there's nothing I can't accept, right?"

"So there are two of you now..."

"That's not the case. At least those annoying thieving cats are still here."

"……what?"

Seeing the cute, dull expression on the face of this cold-looking girl, she couldn't help but smile, then showed the ring on her finger.

"But now I'm number one."

Hachiman Kailing found it difficult to understand the other person's way of thinking.

At the same time, she also didn't understand why the bassist who used to tell her stories with such a resolute attitude would become like this.

Is loneliness really that scary?

However, thinking back on my actions so far, I don't seem to be qualified to ask this question.

Seeing that the bass player, whom he had only met once, fell silent, the clerk who had long since "retired" looked at Ritsu Narose who was standing on the other side of the store and talking to the manager.

"Is that boy Hailing's boyfriend?"

"No, it's not."

"Is that so..." As if she had read something from Hachiman Hailing's attitude, she suddenly patted Hailing on the shoulder and whispered, "Come on!"

"Although I don't know what his personality is like, it's much better than the one in my family."

"I told you it wasn't."

"Really? But I still have to say: if you see a good man, don't let him go easily, otherwise, some thieving cat might jump out and snatch him away one day."

Ignoring the girl's resistance, the shop assistant left the place where the two were talking and got busy again after warning her with her own personal experience.

Unable to recover from the shock brought by the other party, Hachiman Kailing's expression at this moment was no less than that of a student who had been tortured by math problems all night.

When I returned to my seat, the ice in my drink seemed to have shrunk a bit.

She didn't even hear what Ritsu Narose said to her. She followed him to the lottery wheel in the store and stared at the words written on it with marker in a daze.

"Hai Ling, do you want to try it?"

"Me?"

After thinking for a moment, Hachiman Kailing accepted Naruse Ritsu's kindness.

I reached out and casually moved the huge pointer on the roulette wheel. Within a few seconds, it stopped at the "mystery jackpot" area - below.

A pack of ordinary tissues.

Picking up a pack of loose tissues next to her and putting it in her pocket, Hachiman Kailing had no intention of commenting on the expected event.

However, when she turned to leave, Naruse Ritsu stopped her: "Don't worry, there are still three chances to draw a lottery."

"Where did you get three times?"

"I just bought three more double drinks on the delivery app in front of the store manager, so I have three chances to enter the lottery."

A moment's thought told her where the other drinks would be delivered, so Hachiman Kailing didn't say much. Standing next to Naruse Ritsu, she simply watched quietly, her schoolbag in hand.

Then she saw that after the first "trial and error", Ritsu Narose won the "mysterious prize" twice in a row.

35. Instinct reaction

One is the album "Quadrophenia" by The Who released in the 1970s, and the other is an album by The Rolling Stones.

Under the store manager's grief-stricken gaze, Naruse Ritsu solemnly accepted the album the man had collected for years. As they left the beverage shop, the man's sobs drifted faintly from behind them, like the howling of a ghost.

With her eyes half closed, Hachiman Kailing's expression was a little subtle: "You cheated, didn't you?"

"No," Naruse Ritsu shook her head, speaking nonchalantly, something that sounded outrageous to others. "I simply estimated the force I'd need to apply when turning the needle, and then based on the sound of the needle rubbing against the axis, I could tell how much force was needed to stop it in a specific area. Calculating the exact number of turns the needle makes is a bit tedious, but you'll get the general idea after just one try."

"Besides, this shop's raffle wheel doesn't have any tricks like magnets. It simply minimizes the uncontrollable luck... so overall it's pretty simple."

Hachiman Kailin didn't think that the "simple" that Ritsu Narose said was the same as the "simple" she understood.

"This is no different from cheating..." As she said this, she suddenly saw the other party handing her an album.

"Give it?"

"what happened?"

"Is this what you drew?"

"Hai Ling, you don't mind if I give away the things I won in the lottery as gifts, right?"

Picking up one of the albums, Hachiman Kailing looked at Naruse Ritsu and said, "Are you trying to improve my favorability?"

"Just thank you for your help yesterday."

Ritsu Narose had no intention of establishing any special relationships with other women.

On the one hand, it was because his girlfriends were good enough to satisfy his emotional needs, and on the other hand, he had already spent a lot of time with these girls.

If he continues to recklessly enter into irreversible relationships with other women, his life arrangements will probably become a tangled ball of wool that cannot be sorted out.

However, reality will never develop as someone expects.

Feeling something dripping on her face, Hachiman Kailing raised her head and saw that the clouds above her head were getting darker.

"It's raining."

As she spoke, a few more raindrops fell sparsely to the ground, and the rain was getting heavier.

"Huh… has the weather forecast finally gone crazy?"

Seeing that the weather forecast on his phone still showed "cloudy", Ritsu Narose thought it would be better to use his own method of cloud observation and divination to predict the daily weather.

Putting away his phone, he shook the paper bag in his hand and said, "Anyway, let's run! Find a place to shelter from the rain first."

Students who have taken physical tests know that if there is someone leading them in front when running, running will feel much easier.

In order not to leave the girl behind him too far, Naruse Ritsu could only control his pace and try to keep Hachiman Kairin at a speed that could just keep up with him.

Luckily, they didn't run far before they came upon a tree large enough to shelter several people. They couldn't run all the way to the station, but they could hide from the rain in the park for a while.

They temporarily turned into a roadside park, and stood under a tree with Ritsu Narose and Kairin Hachiman to tidy up.

"I'm soaked to the skin."

"It's better than nothing, but I'd better wipe it with a tissue first."

While taking out the still dry tissue and handing it to the girl, Ritsu Narose checked the clothes in the paper bag.

The crisp sound of the plastic bag was particularly obvious in the quiet park. After carefully checking and seeing that the clothes in the bag showed no signs of being wet, Ritsu Narose put them back into the paper bag, which could still provide some protection.

Although the rain dampened the rest of the afternoon's activities, Hachiman Kailing did not seem to lose interest.

Tilting her head to look at Naruse Ritsu, she jokingly asked, "Are we trapped here?"

"That's it."

Ritsu Narose could fly away at any time, but he couldn't abandon the girl he was traveling with.

"If it's just for a little while... this kind of time isn't bad either."

"Does Hailing like rainy days too?" Naruse Ritsu casually responded, then opened the weather app on his phone. "Let me see... is it expected to rain... for two hours!?"

Ritsu Narose's face looked a little hesitant.

His trust in the weather forecast was now so low that it made him shudder, but he had no choice but to use this extremely unreliable thing.

Compared to him, Hachiman Kailing seemed calm and composed, as if she was sitting on a fishing platform. "The rain will eventually subside, and then we can rush to the station in one go."

"It can only be the."

However, after half an hour, the rain not only showed no signs of abating, but instead intensified and the wind direction changed, causing Ritsu Narose and the others to circle around the tree trunks.

"Ah chirp——"

A gust of cold wind blew by, and Hachiman Kailing suddenly made a very cute sound.

"We have to go, otherwise you will catch a cold if we continue like this." Frowning, Ritsu Narose began to think about the best solution to leave this area.

But before he could think too much, Hachiman Kailing suddenly suggested in a very calm tone: "I remember there seemed to be an inn on the way here. Why don't we go there to take shelter from the rain first, and we can also change our clothes and dry them."