Chapter 148: First Bell (Part 2)
After showering and drying off, Hitori walked out of the bathroom and blow-dried her hair in the changing room.
Amid the hum of the hair dryer, Hitori's pink hair fluttered.
Although she strongly believed Ishikawa Hayato would keep his promise to take care of her future, there was still a trace of fear in her heart that even she couldn't unravel.
What if...
She then stopped thinking.
Hitori didn't even dare to imagine such a situation.
Even though she had recently been praised often for her improving guitar playing, and have gradually become able to communicate naturally with others, she still felt she had many shortcomings.
Just now, she was about to think about something bad out of dissatisfaction.
Thinking of this, Hitori looked at the summon tickets in the laundry basket, feeling relieved that she hadn't taken that step.
To do things this way, just so she could get closer to Hayato more quickly, would only be considered underhanded and a betrayal to his trust in her.
Speaking of which, this could be considered her now understanding what she wanted, right?
Let's take it slow, and besides, won't she be able to live with Hayato next semester?
Just thinking about living together made Hitori's lips curve into a slight smile, and her blue eyes gazed downwards.
Her clear and bright expression, and her serene and lovely smile, were excessively beautiful.
It was just a pity that no one saw it.
After changing her clothes, Hitori left the changing room and walked into the hall.
As she was about to greet Ishikawa Hayato and Kita, she noticed the slightly strange atmosphere in the hall.
"Um..."
Hitori didn't know what to say at this moment, but Ishikawa Hayato quickly snapped back to reality when he heard her voice.
He turned on the sofa, looked back at Hitori, and said with a smile, "Hitori, are you done showering too? How about we go sunbathe on the beach again?"
"Mm."
Hitori immediately snapped out of her unease and responded cheerfully.
Kita heard them say this, stood up abruptly, and quickly said, "Yes, Ijiichi-senpai must have been waiting for a long time."
Hitori noticed that the two were almost sitting on opposite sides of the sofa.
Their relationship wasn't that bad, was it?
But seeing Ishikawa Hayato stand up and walk towards the door, she also quickened her pace, taking a few small steps to catch up.
...
The three walked towards the beach, and along the way, Ishikawa Hayato held Hitori's hand, casually chatting with both of them.
"Oh, Nijika is too strictーwe can only play for two days."
Kita clearly knew what he was thinking when he said that.
"Ishikawa-kun, haven't you seen enough swimsuits yet?"
"Of course it's not enough. There's no man in this world who would feel they've seen enough of a swimsuit worn by a woman they like."
Ishikawa Hayato declared.
Hitori's small hand stiffened.
She regretted changing out of her swimsuit just now.
She wasn't afraid of the awkwardness of the other three wearing regular clothes while she was the only one in a swimsuit.
Anyway, everyone was more or less used to her strangeness.
Kita glanced at Hitori.
She didn't dare to discuss such suggestive topics with Ishikawa Hayato in front of Hitori.
She changed the subject and said, "Then, after we go back, what about Gotou-san's swimming? Should we go to the public swimming pool to practice together?"
Hitori's mind went blank when she heard 'public swimming pool.'
"No, that is..."
But then she thought this was also an opportunity to wear a swimsuit, so she changed her mind and said,
"Alright..."
Seeing that Hitori actually agreed, Ishikawa Hayato covered his eyes and cried out, "Wuwuwu, I want everyone's swimsuits to be only for me to see!"
"Your possessiveness is a bit too strong!"
Kita retorted.
Hitori's expression stiffened.
...
The ceaseless sound of the waves came one after another, accompanied by the surging sea breeze that seemed to never stop, carrying away the summer's stuffiness and leaving behind a perfectly suitable temperature.
The parasol blocked the dazzling sunlight.
Amidst the noisy yet quiet sounds of nature, the dialogue of the movie on Ryo's tablet continued.
At this extremely relaxed moment, Ryo once again heard Nijika turn over beside her, and the beach chair creaked.
A few seconds later, Nijika couldn't help but say, "Those three are taking too long... I wonder if something happened."
Ryo had heard her express such worries for the third time and couldn't pretend not to hear it anymore.
During such a leisurely time with such beautiful natural sounds, and with such an interesting movie, why can’t she just relax and watch the movie?
She consoled her, "Isn't Hayato there? What is there to worry about?"
She knew what Nijika was worried about, but she thought worrying was a waste of effort.
If something really happened, it wouldn't be impossible to notice, so she’d just observe him later.
Nijika looked at her with a sigh, an expression that said Ryo really didn't understand anything.
Not long after, the three walked over, chatting and laughing.
Ryo glanced at them.
They seemed perfectly calm, and their relaxed demeanor surely meant nothing had happened.
"You're so slow."
Nijika also seemed to relax, complaining softly to the three.
Ishikawa Hayato paused, then walked over with a smile.
As if he didn't know what respect for elders was, he patted Nijika's head and said, "If you were lonely, you could have just called, you know? I've been waiting for Nijika-chan's call."
Nijika looked at him in disbelief.
She hadn't expected him to become so bold, daring to speak to her like that in front of others.
Her eyes shifted slightly, glancing at Kita and Hitori behind her.
Seeing that they had no reaction, she hastily said, "No... no way I would do that!"
Seeing her reaction, the three girls all thought, "Nijika's reaction is too easy to read."
Nijika herself realized her reaction wasn't calm enough.
As she tried to gloss it over, she realized she was still holding her phone and quickly hid it behind her back, as if to conceal it.
Just then, her phone suddenly chimed with a message notification.
Nijika froze, then looked at Ishikawa Hayato with annoyance, holding her phone.
She thought Ishikawa Hayato had deliberately sent a text message at that moment to tease her.
Ishikawa Hayato saw through her thoughts and raised his hands to prove his innocence.
Nijika immediately showed a puzzled expression, took out her phone, and complained to ease her embarrassment,
"Who's sending messages at this time, anyway?"
While she grumbled that the message came at an inconvenient time, she secretly rejoiced that it had come at such a timely moment.
No matter who it was, she wanted to thank them.
However, when she saw an email displayed in the notification bar, and then saw the sender's name 'SeesawFestival Organizer', she held her breath and hesitantly reached out to open the email.
The four looked at Nijika with surprised expressions.
Except for Ryo, who leaned directly over to look at Nijika's phone without any sense of personal space, the others just looked at each other in confusion.
Until Nijika's nervous voice rang out, "Thank you for your support and participation in this event... After review..."
Immediately, Ishikawa Hayato, Hitori, and Kita realized something, quickly moved closer, squeezed behind Nijika, and looked at her phone.
The email wasn't long, but the few of them still slowly browsed the first email they had received from the organizers.
In their ears was Nijika's voice, trembling with unease, reading the email.
Finally, as they saw the result, Nijika also happened to read it aloud, "Application approved! Please come by August 8th..."
Nijika's voice grew softer and softer.
She turned to the others behind her with eyes full of surprise and cheered,
"We passed!"
She was very excited.
This time, it wasn't due to her sister's favoritism, but because of their own strength that they had gained recognition from the music festival organizers.
"We passed!"
Kita's more boisterous voice covered Nijika's excitement.
The others were also overjoyed.
Hitori was so happy that Kita's enthusiasm made her jump up and down with her.
"That's great, we can go to the music festival too."
A little further from the two, Ishikawa Hayato and Ryo weren't as excited as the other two.
They wore faint smiles, as if they had been certain all along.
Nijika quickly noticed the two who were lacking in excitement and said,
"Hey, you two over there, be a little happier!"
Ryo had a matter-of-fact expression, calm yet with a hint of understanding, pride, and a faint cheerfulness, saying,
"I already knew we could participate."
Ishikawa Hayato saw Nijika's disbelief and then glanced at Ryo.
In his judgment, Ryo had most likely just gone along with the atmosphere.
As he was looking at Ryo, Ryo suddenly looked at him, seemingly realizing what he was thinking, and her smile immediately faded.
Feeling that this person, who was usually too lazy to show expression, was trying hard to convey a threat, Ishikawa Hayato zipped his mouth shut as if with a zipper.
Nijika looked at the two of them and exhaled with a smile.
"Alright, then let's go back now and prepare to practice!"
She said to the four.
Suddenly, the four froze.
The warm sand beneath their feet was covered in frost.
"I... Ijiichi-senpai!?"
Kita looked at Nijika in shock.
Hitori felt something was off, but still weakly nodded in acceptance.
Ryo, on the other hand, asked her calmly, "How do we get back now?"
Nijika's expression stiffened when she heard that.
She looked back at the vast sea and the long concrete road they had taken to get there, and she froze completely.
After a slight hesitation, she looked at Ishikawa Hayato for help.
Seeing Nijika's teary-eyed plea for help, Ishikawa Hayato walked forward, sighed, and patted her shoulder.
"It's only half a day. Let's go back after we've had enough fun."
"Y-yes, you're right."
Nijika reluctantly accepted his suggestion.
In the latter half of the day, the four played even more excitedly on the beach.
The prospect of performing at the music festival had given them a strong boost.
Kita, Nijika, and Hitori played in the sand, while Ishikawa Hayato and Ryo played with Nijika.
Normally, Nijika would never meekly let these two bully her.
But now, Nijika's heart had already drifted to STARRY's rehearsal room while her body remained here
She even tried hard to pretend she was having a great time.
Facing the dazed Nijika, the two troublemakers cooperated tacitly, coaxing her into wearing 'equipment' with a back-and-forth routine.
"Nijika, the ground is all sand, be careful of holes."
"Ah, thank you."
"This feels very cool."
"Is that so?"
In the short time while Hitori and Kita weren't paying attention, Nijika had already become a child of a deserted island, a queen of the beach.
It wasn't until Kita realized that Nijika, who had just been beside them, was gone, and she searched everywhere with her eyes, that she noticed Nijika's situation.
Ryo covered her mouth and laughed as she looked at Nijika.
And Nijika, in the center, held a walking stick, looking dazed.
She was draped in seaweed, wore a skirt of sea grass, a vine was draped over her shoulder with a bird's nest hanging from it, filled with conch shells, small shrimp, and crabs; and a feather, from god knows where it came from, was stuck in her hair.
At this moment, Nijika, standing on the sand, looked as if she had truly emerged from a deserted island.
Beside her, Ishikawa Hayato was frantically taking her picture.
When Kita saw this scene, she was stunned for a long time, and after she came to her senses, she quickly rushed over, vigorously shaking Nijika’s shoulders and shouting.
“Ijiichi-senpai, wake up quickly! If this continues, you’ll be bullied to death!”
After being shaken for a long time, Nijika came to her senses.
She saw her attire and immediately understood the situation.
Soon, the sounds of three people running for their lives echoed on the beach.
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