Iruma-san wants to win the Akutagawa Prize

Page 252

70 The Troubles of Shiina Riki

Travel has to be put on hold anyway.

The train going home rumbled, and Iruma Hibiki began to feel sleepy halfway through the journey.

He used the last bit of his energy to set an alarm on his phone to pick up Toyokawa Shoko, then he just lowered his head and fell into a deep sleep.

Everyone on the train was silent.

It was a failed trip, but I was actually quite happy.

The training camp at the simple Lu Lin Temple was pretty good.

At least that was the case until yesterday.

From now on, things should go smoothly...

Thinking of this, Shiina Riki looked at the rapidly changing scenery outside the window. He had something to say, but he couldn't say anything. He was probably feeling a little melancholy.

This melancholy also reminded her of her childhood training camp.

At that time, her relationship with her sister was not as bad as it is now...

No, perhaps, to her sister, they have always been good sisters, but later on, she arbitrarily regarded her sister as a rival.

Becoming inferior under her brilliance.

Shiina Riki probably has a problem of feeling melancholy the moment something happy ends.

The train was very quiet, without any sound.

Gao Songdeng's attention was all on the mobile phone in his hand.

"Deng, planning to go to the aquarium?"

“Eh—yeah.”

After being startled by Shiina Riki, Takamatsu Deng nodded.

Perhaps for Takamatsu Teru, she did not expect that Shiina Riki would talk to her directly about this topic.

"Sorry, I just saw it by accident."

"Ah, it's okay..."

Hearing what Shiina Riki said, Takamatsu Deng simply placed his phone towards the middle, and the screen on the phone showed news about Kasai Aquarium.

It seems that the Kasai Aquarium issued a regretful announcement because the Dumbo octopus that it had previously said was successfully bred died.

"Deng, you wanted to see this before?"

"Well, because Xiangzi was very busy, I didn't go at that time..."

Gao Songdeng showed a regretful expression.

Shiina Riki also saw Takamatsu Deng's comment below, which was a crying emoticon that many people posted under this notice.

"There should be another chance next time."

Shiina Riki didn't know how to comfort Takamatsu Deng, so she said this.

"Besides, didn't Xiang say that the Toyokawa issue has been resolved?"

"Ah."

Gao Songdeng nodded.

I quickly regained my spirits.

"After that, I plan to invite Hibiki and Shoko to go to the aquarium together!"

"what……"

"pretty good."

Shiina Riki responded.

Yes, Takamatsu Deng did not mention her name, and probably she was not in Takamatsu Deng's original plan to go to the aquarium.

Shiina Riki didn't feel any sadness or anything like that.

I fell behind on my work during this trip out to play, so I’ll have to make up for it later.

Perhaps this was her only thought.

After all—

If she didn't go to work, she would start to worry about the wild cats that were always active near the Ring.

Although the stray cat had definitely been active in that area for a long time before she and Hibiki Iruma worked together, but... if she couldn't see it, she would still be worried.

For some reason, Shiina Riki was thinking about strange things at this moment.

She didn't focus her eyes on anyone, not even Hibiki Iruma.

Maybe he was just trying to escape.

Or rather, she encountered a situation where she didn't know what to do.

Because of Shiina Riki's unexpected silence, Takamatsu Deng secretly put away her mobile phone after a few minutes. Then she looked for other information about the aquarium and looked over her calendar and plans for the next few days over and over again.

Soon after, it was time to get off the bus, and the opportunity to say goodbye had arrived.

Before saying goodbye, Shiina Riki had a strange feeling for some reason...

She always felt that this farewell was different from the previous ones.

There is an inexplicable...

A sense of separation.

Therefore, Shiina Riki turned his attention to Iruma Hibiki who was standing aside.

Iruma Hibiki seemed to be avoiding Nagasaki Suyo, and Nagasaki Suyo also lowered her head and said nothing.

The atmosphere was silent.

Wakaba Mutsu and Takamatsu Touma are not the kind of people who can liven up the atmosphere.

When leaving, Iruma Hibiki just said:

"Sorry, let's hang out together next time."

Then the others just nodded, and Nagasaki Suyo didn't react at all.

"There's nothing we can do about this. Let's find a better time next time."

So Shiina Riki stood up and took the initiative to respond to Iruma Hibiki.

Of course, she was also worried deep down in her heart about many things, both before and after.

"Well, Lixi, are you going back to Ring to work part-time after this?"

"Well, after the show next week."

Shiina Riki responded to Iruma Hibiki.

She was waiting for Hibiki Iruma's next response.

Because she had already vaguely guessed the reason why Iruma Hibiki asked this, probably because he was thinking of the wild cat.

When the two talked about part-time jobs, it was often related to Kaname Lenai.

At one time, Shiina Riki had the illusion that their conversations would never end except with Rakuna. Thinking about it carefully, in the past, the opportunities for her and Iruma Hibiki to meet were mostly because of that strange wild cat.

"Please say hello to Lenai for me. I haven't had time to visit her lately. What a shame."

"I see."

Shiina Riki agreed.

In fact, she was probably a little envious of the relationship between Hibiki Iruma and Kaname Rakuna...

After all, the relationship between those two people at that time... was really good, very close, they depended on each other, and paid attention to each other quietly.

It's really enviable.

Shiina Riki thought so deep in his heart.

"Excuse me, if I have time, I'll go play with Lenai after the show."

"Um, by the way, Hibiki, are you planning to just end your part-time job?"

Shiina Riki suddenly asked Iruma Hibiki.

And Iruma Hibiki hesitated for a moment.

"It's not like I won't do it. I'll probably be forced to work part-time soon. I'll definitely come back then. I still prefer the atmosphere of Ring."

"what……"

"Forced to work part-time?"

Shiina Riki asked back with some curiosity.

"Well, for various reasons..."

Hibiki Iruma gave an ambiguous answer.

As for Tatsuki Shiina, she could actually more or less guess the reason.

Especially after seeing the situation Toyokawa Shoko was in last night.

"Aren't you going to write Xiang's book anymore? It was selling pretty well before."

"Novel..."

Iruma Hibiki was silent for a moment.

"Maybe I'll continue writing. I don't know."

Finally, the time had come to say goodbye. Shiina Riki no longer had the time and opportunity to continue asking questions, so she chose to say goodbye to Iruma Hibiki.

Nagasaki Suyo and Takamatsu Deng left early because it was not on their way.

71 Likes and Dislikes

"Mu?"

The last person left was Wakaba Mutsuki who had been staying in the corner from the beginning. Seeing that Wakaba Mutsuki seemed to have no intention of leaving, Iruma came to her side with a sigh.

"what happened?"

He asked with concern.

In fact, he was very worried about Wakaba Mu. After all, in the matter of Toyokawa Shoko, Wakaba Mu was to some extent——

Victim.

"fine."

Wakaba Mu responded to Iruma Xiang while shaking her head. It was hard to tell what she was thinking or worried about at the moment.

"Mu, are you planning on going home next?"

"Hmm (II) Zero mixed Ling wife like eight spirit dream."

In response to Iruma Hibiki's question, Wakaba Mu nodded in confirmation.

I don't know why, but at this moment, Hibiki Iruma's expression towards Wakaba Mutsu was actually somewhat puzzled?

After all, at this moment, there was a faint smile on Ruoye Mu's face, as if it didn't matter if the trip ended like this.

"I'm sorry, Mu, you must be looking forward to this trip, but because of me, this is the only way."