Iruma-san wants to win the Akutagawa Prize

【Shoko...】

Faced with the surging emotions, Iruma Hibiki became at a loss.

What is he going to do?

Comforting?

Or just listen?

He couldn't hug the person on the other side of the screen.

Are we going to rush to the Toyokawa family?

When this idea came to mind, Iruma Hibiki suddenly felt that it was not impossible.

He is the author.

Although there are few such romantic stories in reality.

But perhaps it wouldn't be so strange to do so now?

Thinking of this, Iruma Hibiki sat up from the bed.

After spending a few minutes thinking, he decided to head towards the Toyokawa family.

The predicament faced by the fragile Toyokawa Shoko is beyond the reach of Iruma Hibiki.

His father might be able to interfere in the affairs of the Toyokawa family, but the matter concerning Toyokawa Shoko is definitely not that simple.

but.

Hibiki Iruma knew that he should never let Shoko Toyokawa cry alone tonight.

38 Two People Squatting at Toyokawa Shoko

At the door of the Toyokawa family, Iruma Hibiki wrapped himself slightly in his jacket. The temperature dropped sharply tonight, and it was so cold that people even wondered if it would snow at night.

The humidity in the air was very high and the rain was intermittent. When Iruma Hibiki got off the car, there were only a few raindrops floating.

Iruma Hibiki stopped at the door of Toyokawa's house. Just like the last time he came, there was no obvious change here.

He did not tell Toyokawa Shoko about his plan, probably intending to give Toyokawa Shoko a surprise at the beginning.

So Hibiki Iruma walked around the entire villa and finally found the window of what was probably Toyokawa Shoko's piano room.

The curtains in Toyokawa Shoko's piano room were drawn at the moment, so the scene inside could not be seen from the outside.

But late at night, the young lady on the balcony and the lover hiding in the bushes.

This looks like a Romeo and Juliet rendezvous.

Knowing that Toyokawa Shoko had seen the play and had fantasies about it, Iruma Hibiki smiled softly.

【It would be nice if I could make Xiangzi happy. 】

He thought so and then prepared to take action.

but--

In just a moment, his plan completely failed.

The reason was simple. There was a person standing at the place where he was planning to hide. A beautiful girl with blonde hair was standing at the door of Toyokawa's house. She had almost the same thought as Iruma Hibiki. She was hiding beside the bushes, staring quietly at the window of Toyokawa Shoko's piano room.

It only took a moment, and in such a place where there was nowhere to hide, the two of them had no time to react before they met face to face.

Just as Hibiki Iruma had just judged from her back, the girl in front of him was so delicate that it was a little scary.

She looks like a high school student, but she gives people a sense of maturity. The light makeup on her face is just right, matched with a slightly dark lipstick.

She possesses all the attributes of maturity, elegance, cuteness, beauty, etc.

And a few seconds after the first meeting, Iruma Hibiki suddenly felt that he must have seen the person in front of him somewhere.

"Xiangzi's boyfriend?"

Until the other party spoke first.

The moment he opened his mouth, Hibiki Iruma recognized the person in front of him.

"Have we met before in the planetarium?"

"Well, yes, we've met once before. My name is Sanjiao Chuhua."

"I am--"

"Iruma Hibiki, Iruma-senpai, right?"

【senior】?

The name Sankaku Hatsuka once again shocked Iruma Hibiki.

He thought about it for a while before realizing that the name "senior" might come from the fact that he and the other party were both students, and he should be older than the other party.

When he learned about this, Iruma Hibiki felt a little surprised again.

After all, no matter how you look at the person in front of you—

"Ah."

Iruma Hibiki responded to Sankaku Hatsuka.

"Iruma-senpai, do you have time? Let's go sit in the cafe."

After taking a last look at Toyokawa Shoko's room, Sankaku Hatsuka withdrew her gaze and then extended an invitation to Iruma Hibiki.

"I……"

"If you're here looking for Xiangzi, then she's gone."

Iruma Hibiki heard a hint of disappointment in the other person's tone.

"You're here to see Xiangzi, too."

"Yes, but my purpose is different from Iruma-senpai's... I just..."

Sanjiao Chuhua revealed a faint, somewhat bitter smile.

"I want to confirm Xiangzi's situation."

"..."

Iruma Hibiki fell silent.

He never thought that he would come up empty-handed.

"The coffee shop thing—"

"Well, okay, but I can't stay too late."

Iruma Hibiki responded to Sankaku Hatsuka.

"Yeah, okay, thank you Iruma-senpai."

Iriki O wrote back to Toyokawa Shoko.

It would be a good thing that he chose to give Toyokawa Shoko a surprise before, otherwise he would probably have touched the sore spot of Toyokawa Shoko at the moment.

"When did Iruma-senpai meet Shoko?"

"About last month."

"Huh? So early?"

Sankaku Hatsuka was a little surprised by what Iruma Hibiki said.

"Well, come to think of it, we've only known each other for about a month."

"You confirmed your relationship in just over a month?"

"Hmm... maybe it's because we are destined to be together."

Iruma Hibiki responded to Sankaku Hatsuka embarrassedly.

"What about you? You and Xiangzi?"

"We knew each other when we were little..."

Sanjiao Chuhua said softly.

Suddenly, Hibiki Iruma thought of something.

That was a different memory from the first encounter at the planetarium, but from even earlier.

"Are you the lead singer of sumimi?"

"Ah, I've been discovered..."

Sanjiao Chuhua responded somewhat lively, and then laughed.

"I'm currently active as Sumi with Mana-chan."

"Knew it!"

It was only at this moment that Iruma Hibiki remembered that he had seen Sumimi's poster when he was following girl bands. In addition to Sankaku Hatsuka, another Sumimi member, Junda Mana, also left a deep impression on him.

"When Xiangzi was a child, he came to play on my island and stayed there for a short time. That's when we met."

"Childhood sweetheart?"

"no."

Sanjiao Chuhua shook his head.

Then he looked a little lost.

"It would be nice if that were the case."

Then she continued.

"I'm sorry for the unnecessary words. Since that meeting when we were kids, we haven't seen each other much other than the usual greetings."

"Just ordinary friends..."

Sanjiao Chuhua said softly.

"Perhaps the time we've spent together over the years combined is not as much as you and Xiangzi have spent together in the past month or so."

……

The person in front of me probably has some resentment towards me.

Iruma Hibiki understood this matter.

"My boyfriend is here... after all, he must have heard about the Toyokawa family."

"Ah."

Iruma Hibiki did not hide the truth about the triangle this time.

It was rather unexpected that for Iruma Hibiki, it was great to have someone who shared the same feelings with him about Shoko.

Italian espresso.

This is the drink that Triangle Chuhua chose.

In fact, espresso is different during the day and at night.

Because the subtext of choosing espresso during the day is probably that I want to be able to talk to you soberly without being distracted by sleepiness in the process.

And at night.

The subtext of the espresso is, no sleep tonight.

"I wanted to see Xiangzi but came up empty-handed."

"That's it..."

Although calling him senior.

But Sanjiao Chuhua sat on the other side of the coffee table, like a mature artist. She was silent, serious, and had a look of her own thinking on her face.

Even in comparison, Iruma Hibiki, who should be older, is somewhat——

Looks childish.

Very strange thing.