The azure sea, but a lonely, fulfilled life.

Hachiman naturally couldn't accept the money, so he waved his hand. Iori noticed his predicament and stepped forward, saying, "Actually, we were planning to leave soon; we have other things to do this afternoon."

"Do we have something to do this afternoon?" Kohei asked, puzzled, then, after a moment of silence from Hachiman and Iori, he understood and changed his mind. "Yes, we do have something to do this afternoon."

"Is that so?" Totsuka looked at Hachiman, who nodded. He felt disappointed, but he knew there was nothing he could do about it.

"It seems that a swordsman still needs to undergo some trials before he can truly shed his former glory," said Cai Muzuo quietly.

"What a pity." Ebina sighed softly. It was truly sad that he couldn't witness the boys' overflowing passion.

"So, let's part ways here for today."

Hachiman gestured to the two of them, said his parting words, and the three of them walked towards the high-speed rail station.

None of the three spoke until they arrived at the high-speed rail station, when Iori finally asked, "Do we have enough money for tickets?"

“Not enough,” Hachiman replied.

"What about Kohei?" Iori looked at Kohei. In his opinion, Kohei was someone who could be abandoned, but for the sake of brotherhood, he still pretended to ask.

"Why did I become the one to be discarded?" Kohei was very puzzled. Shouldn't the decision to sacrifice one person be made by drawing lots?

"Nonsense, you're the only one who came penniless."

"There's a reason for that!" Kohei looked at Hachiman, hoping he would make a careful choice. After all, they were kindred spirits! Their relationship was even closer than that of brothers.

Hachiman took out their last ten thousand yen from his wallet. Looking at the money that wouldn't increase no matter how many times he opened his wallet, he took a deep breath.

I shouldn't have just walked away to act high and mighty. The main problem is that I just refused to lend them money, and it would be so unlucky to ask them for money right away. It would make the atmosphere really awkward.

“Now, we have another option,” he said.

"What choice?" they both asked.

“You two go beg on the street. If you can get three thousand yuan, we can go home. Otherwise, you two will have to stay here.”

"Why do I have to stay here too?" Iori pointed to himself in disbelief. Didn't he pay the money?

"Wouldn't it be too lonely for Kohei to stay here alone?" Hachiman looked at him with dead fish eyes. "Besides, you only gave me 1,100 yen, that's not enough."

"So you don't have money to go home either!" Kohei pointed at Iori. He thought this bastard was all talk and no action, but it turns out he's just like him.

"...There was a reason for this."

"What a wonderful sentiment about sharing joys and sorrows! Iori, I knew I hadn't misjudged you!"

"After all, we're brothers, Kohei! Come on, let's work hard for these three thousand yen!"

The two looked at each other with eyes full of relief. At this moment, they knew that no matter what difficulties they encountered, they would face them together. They were a combination of steel and iron!

"Are you done with your passion? If you're done with your passion, can you let go of my legs?" Hachiman looked down at the two people clinging to his legs. Please, he sent you to beg on the street, not to beg from him.

"No, unless you're willing to take both of us with you."

"I already said I don't have enough money."

"God, please send the wind again, bringing the grace of dawn!"

"Kouhei, have you finally lost your mind?"

Just as Iori was complaining, a gust of wind actually blew through the station. Kohei closed his eyes and listened carefully, finally hearing a different kind of origami sound amidst the noise.

He stood up, and under the puzzled looks of Hachiman and Iori, put on the blindfold he hadn't used in the mall, and followed the sound of origami to a certain place.

As he got closer to the sound, it suddenly disappeared, but he keenly heard a woman's voice.

Why crumple the money into a ball?

It's right there!

Suddenly, Kohei strode forward with incredible speed, stopping amidst the exclamations of the two girls, and ripped off the blindfold.

Before him stood three girls in casual clothes. Two of them stared at him with surprise, while the last one hid behind the other.

Footsteps sounded, and Hachiman and Iori arrived. They saw Kohei standing in front of two unfamiliar girls and were unsure what had happened.

"What's wrong, Kohei?" Hachiman asked. Could it be that he really believed him and was going to beg from people? Actually, he had already prepared to go back and get the money himself.

"Hachiman, do you believe money can be blown in by the wind?" Kohei didn't answer, but calmly asked in return.

"No one would believe that," Hachiman replied. Unless there's an extremely small chance, finding money on the street is practically impossible.

“Yes, no one will believe it.” Kohei walked up to the two women and, using his height advantage, saw the girl who was hiding. “Thank you, I’ll return it to you when we get back.”

Hearing his words, the girl slowly raised her head, her long, smooth hair cascading down her back like a waterfall, her pure face flushed slightly. She nodded slightly and then handed him the five thousand yen that she had almost crumpled into a ball.

-

The three of them sat on the Shinkansen. Iori looked at Kohei, who had a calm expression, and couldn't help but ask, "Kohei, who is that girl?"

His words drew Hachiman's attention. He was also a little curious that Kohei had someone they didn't know, and that person was a woman who seemed to be the same age as him.

At first, he thought that a naive young girl had taken a liking to Kohei and that was why she lent him money. But from Kohei's words, it seemed that they had known each other for a long time.

"That girl?" Kohei thought for a moment, then said, "Oh." "It's Yoshida-san. What, didn't you recognize her?"

"Yoshida?" "Yoshida?"

Both of them were stunned. Hachiman carefully recalled the girl's face, but couldn't find any similarity between her and the girl who always wore glasses. Although he could tell from their last meeting that she had changed, now that he saw it, the change was too thorough.

"I've already told you, haven't I? A 'clumsy, bespectacled girl' might actually become a fantastic character if she took off her glasses," Kohei proudly recounted his years of experience conquering visual novels.

"How did you recognize her?" Iori asked, puzzled. Her appearance had changed so much that even Nanaka would be shocked. How did she manage to tell them apart?

"I could tell at a glance." Kohei shrugged, as if to say, "Does it even need recognizing?"

Watching him so smug, Iori's heart ached. He hadn't initially had much of a problem with this guy's luck with women; after all, his looks were what they were, so it wasn't a problem for him to attract a few girls.

However, the fact that she was willing to spend money on him before they even started dating really made him jealous. What made him even jealouser was that she was a beautiful girl of that caliber.

How come he didn't notice this potential stock in the first place?

Now look what's happened! Hachiman has a ton of female admirers, and Kohei has found a girl who likes him, while he has nothing. He's so jealous, so incredibly jealous!

No, he's going to cry if this keeps up. We need to do something to distract him.

Thinking this, Iori sent a few private messages to Yamamoto and the others on his phone. After sending the messages, he silently put his phone on silent mode and closed his eyes peacefully.

Now I feel much better.

Sitting in the front row, Hachiman and Kohei, who were holding a new Lala doll and seemingly lost in thought, didn't notice his antics. Hachiman lay back in his chair, looking up at the metal sheet above him.

He'll be very busy for the next while. After today, he'll be going to the aquarium with Chisa in two days, and next week he'll be going home to visit and take care of some things that are bothering Komachi.

Perhaps in the near future, I will have to face even more things: lost memories, dealing with relationships, overcoming fears, preparing for graduation, and the uncertainty of whether I will be able to see the people I want to see again after everything is over.

Indeed, one cannot imagine the future; the more one thinks about it, the more depressed one becomes, as if a mountain is pressing down on one's body.

[Beep beep beep.]

My phone rang; someone had sent me a text message.

[Maya: Have they gone back yet?]

[Hachiman: Hmm.]

He didn't know what to say in response. In the end, he had no idea how to treat the other party.

[Maya: I want to talk to my manager about taking a break for a while.]

Taking a break for a while, could it be for him?

Hachiman found it a little funny to himself. Even if they were childhood friends, she was now a big star. Was it really necessary for her to temporarily take a break from work for someone as ordinary as him? She was probably just tired.

[Hachiman: It's alright. If you're tired, take a rest.]

He replied curtly.

[Maya: You too, university courses must be very busy, you need to make sure you get enough rest and try not to stay up late.]

[Yamanta: I rarely stay up late.]

The other person sent a smiling emoji.

He replied with an innocent, scratching-head emoji.

Just when he thought the conversation was over, the other person's next sentence was like a pebble dropped into a lake, creating ripples in his heart.

[Maya: I miss you.]

Missing him? What does that mean? If you break it down, it's wood, eye, and heart. Wood represents concrete things, eye represents the eyes, and heart represents the heart. In other words, she wants to see her own heart. No, no, that sounds even stranger.

Hachiman slammed the back of his phone onto his lap with a "thud," his earlobes turning bright red. He secretly glanced at Kohei sitting behind him and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that Kohei was still deep in thought.

"what happened to you?"

A sudden remark startled Hachiman so much he almost dropped his phone. He looked up at Iori, who was peeking out, and asked in a sharp voice, "Why are you standing up?"

Iori glanced at him: "I heard a noise coming from your side, so I got up to check."

He looked at Hachiman, whose face had suddenly turned red, with suspicion: "What's wrong? Why is your face red?"

"Really? Maybe it's just too hot." Hachiman heard that he had just stood up and breathed a sigh of relief, then pretended to fan himself with his hand.

Iori looked at the air conditioner vent that was working, and a refreshing breeze was blowing out.

It's too hot?

"Ah, speaking of which, Kohei, this is for you."

"what?"

Hachiman handed Kohei the autograph of Iida Maya from his pocket: "This is what I asked for you, the autograph of Mizuki Natsuyo."

After receiving it, Kohei gasped for breath; it was an authentic piece.

"From this day forward, I, Kohei, will obey Hachiman's every command! If you have any trouble, just come to me!"

"It's just a small thing, don't worry about it."

“How could I, Gengping, be an ungrateful person, godfather!”

Iori watched the two men's brief but sincere exchange of toasts and clicked his tongue. He couldn't ask any more questions in this situation. The numbers were unequal, and what if these two ambushed and killed him here first?

Let's wait until we get off the train and meet up with Yamamoto and the others before we discuss it properly.

Seeing that Iori didn't intend to continue the previous topic and instead sat quietly in the chair, tilting her head to look at the scenery outside, Hachiman calmed his anxious emotions, picked up his phone, and prepared to exit the interface and turn it off.

But as soon as I picked it up, I saw the last text message the other party had sent.

[Maya: I've prepared a surprise for you. Don't ask what it is; you'll find out in a few days.]

Surprise.

Although he didn't know what she was talking about, Hachiman felt a strange sense of unease. This feeling stayed with him until they got off the Shinkansen and, just as they exited the high-speed rail station, they bumped into four hideous demons before the feeling disappeared.

Oh no, there are five.

Looking at Iori, whose face had been assimilated, Hachiman silently gazed at the sky, thinking, "What a mess, what a pile of trouble."

Seeing the five people rushing towards him and Kohei with lightning speed, Hachiman had already prepared a plan in his mind.

He held his breath, focused his energy in his dantian, took a deep step, and turned around sharply!

Just run away.

Are you kidding me? If he can't beat me, can't he at least outrun me? Besides, he doesn't need to be fast, he just needs to be faster than Kohei.

Given his stamina from running every morning, he should be faster than Kohei. This time, he's a sure thing.

Just as Hachiman was thinking this, a whooshing sound rushed by, accompanied by the cry of "God, grant me the speed of the wind!" as it whizzed past him.

Looking at Kohei running ahead of him, Hachiman couldn't believe it. This guy must be using cheat codes.

"Quickly capture them! There will be a generous reward for whoever catches them!"

"The one with the dead fish eyes is Hachiman, and the one holding the doll is Kohei. Don't let them get away!"

"Yahoo!"

And so began a thrilling race of speed and life-or-death struggle.

Chapter 52 A Perfect Dating Spot – The Aquarium

"I'm done eating."

Putting down his bowl and chopsticks, Hachiman Hikigaya got up and walked towards the door, talking as he went.