[Net King] Pilgrim

In fact, Echizen Ryoma doesn't know much about comforting people, so he can only start from his own past experience, and then try to consider the problem from her perspective.

He had an intuition that Machida could understand what he said, but it might take some time.

But it turns out that the time she needs...should be more than a little bit.

He belatedly recalled what he said at dinner, she had a debate match to take part in on Monday, and at this moment, pushing her, who was already in a state of turmoil, one step forward, and asking her to sort out her thoughts, might be counterproductive.

But the words can't be taken back.He was thinking about how to explain clearly to her, but in the blink of an eye, he found that there was no one around him.

Echizen Ryoma stopped, thinking she was behind and did not catch up, subconsciously turned around to look for someone.

In the wide field of vision is the endless coast, only a few couples of young men and women are sitting scattered on the beach in the distance, and they seem to be quite close to each other.

not behind.

He turned around with an inexplicable expression on his face, and he couldn't help being taken aback when there was a touch of milky white in the corner of his eyes.He remembered that Machida Kazu's yukata seemed to be this color.

When he moved his gaze away again, he took a closer look and found that she was standing...in the sea?

"Hey."

The figure a few meters away froze when he heard the sound.

Machida was dazzled by Echizen Ryoma's words for a long time, and when he was dragged back by his voice, he suddenly felt a chill below his ankles, and then realized that he deviated from the original route at some point, and fell into the sea at an angle.

She was startled, and after realizing it, she hurriedly jumped out of the icy water onto the beach. Before she could stand still, she heard his flat tone almost helpless, "Are you going to jump into the sea?"

"..."

... This person is really becoming more and more outspoken.

She coughed twice in embarrassment, while shaking her wet feet, she said plausibly, "I'm thinking."

The person beside her raised her eyebrows and turned the corners of her eyes. She raised her hand to touch the tip of her nose, and added without blushing, "Next time...try to avoid being so involved."

The obviously weakened voice and momentum were sucked into the wet and cold sea breeze. Echizen Ryoma looked at her insteps that were still stained with water, put down the clogs in his hand and put them on, "It seems that the road next to her can be directly worn to Main Street." He straightened up and turned his head to look towards the shore.

Machida was stunned for a moment, and followed his gaze.

Under the dim light and shadow of the street lamps, a narrow path can be vaguely seen beside the beach, separated by a sparse forest, and not far away are flashing neon lights and reduced traffic flow.

She originally planned to walk a little further to the intersection ahead, and then follow the route in memory to the main street, but she didn't notice that there was a shortcut here.Just when she was about to tell Echizen Ryoma that his eyes were so good, the next second the cool wind came straight up along the bottom of her feet, making her shiver uncontrollably.

Regardless of admiring him, she quickly shook the sand on her feet, and nodded while stepping on the wooden clogs again, "Then let's go from here, if we go forward, we may go around a long way."

The two quickly walked along the gravel path to the spacious street.

As soon as Machida crossed the road, she stood on the side of the street and patted the hem of the yukata. When she walked up the moss-covered slope just now, the soles of her feet slipped, and she accidentally fell, and the hem of the clothes was stained with some mud.

As the night was getting dark, she glanced back at the bright shore of the Lantern River, turned around and quickened her pace, keeping up with Echizen Ryoma who had already walked a few steps ahead.

The alleys near the Yuling Shrine are surrounded by alleys. Although the walls and eaves that extend layer upon layer look tight and narrow, they have an indescribable feeling.

The dim street lamps on both sides of the alley shone straight on the stone road, winding from the corner to the end of the approach road.

Machida started from a pastry shop at the intersection, and talked about several popular shops nearby with special interest, and then brought the topic to various elegant and unique temples in Kamakura, unconsciously giving Echizen Ryoma introduced all the way, and almost forgot that she was so confused that she almost "jumped into the sea" just a moment ago.

Maybe it was because of the refreshing air she had breathed all day, or maybe it was just because in the past two short hours, she rarely confessed her all-time stress and mood in front of others.

All in all, at this moment, Machida seemed to have been pressed a certain switch, and couldn't help but want to release the clarity and casual factors that had been silent for a long time in his body.

Echizen Ryoma listened to her nagging all the way, but he didn't seem impatient.

Her voice was neither high-pitched nor deep, but refreshing with a hint of hoarseness. It had a particularly pleasant echo in the quiet alley, and she didn't feel noisy.

As soon as Machida walked ahead, he turned around and faced him, walking backwards step by step.

She was talking about the Great Buddha of Kamakura in Kotoku-in. When talking about the height of the Buddha statue, she looked amazed, "It is really tall! And it is said to weigh 120 tons! But I always feel that it is more than this figure, it should be more Make it heavier..."

As if she felt that the language was not vivid enough, she stood on tiptoe and raised one arm above her head as she spoke, making a "very tall" gesture.

She speaks with a serious look and slightly exaggerated movements, which makes people want to laugh inexplicably.

Echizen Ryoma's eyes stopped for a moment in the middle of her slowly retreating steps, and suddenly interrupted her, "Machida."

As soon as Machida heard the words, he stopped speaking abruptly, followed suit, looked at him inexplicably, and said "ah".

Before she could put down her raised arms, he saw him squinting his amber eyes in the deep night, and said to her in a calm tone: "I think you have great potential to be a comedian." .”

"..."

The direct consequence of Echizen Ryoma's comment was that when Machida put down his arms resentfully and planned to continue to retreat, the soles of his feet became chaotic, and finally fell to the ground with no image.

……

After a long time, she struggled to sit up, her mind full of echoes of despair.

What's worse, when she rubbed her tailbone and looked up at the "instigator" with grief and indignation, she found that not only did he not step forward to ask, but he turned his head to one side with his eyes closed, expressing a look that he couldn't bear to look straight at. expression.

Seeing this, Machida raised his hand to his forehead, resisted the urge to grab the wooden clogs and throw them at him, and sat there angrily, picking up the small objects scattered around him into the wooden frame.

When she was about to stand up, the light and shadow above her head dimmed, she raised her head, and saw Echizen Ryoma standing in front of her at some point, looking down at her.

The outline of his face was rubbed in a hazy light, and his expression could not be seen clearly, but because of such a condescending angle, she felt a sense of oppression.

... He would never have come to help her stand up.

I don't know how long it took, but when she felt a slight soreness in her neck, the person in front of her opened her mouth to break the silence, but the words she said were vague, "At least if it's in this state."

She still kept her head up, and when she was confused, she heard him add: "Although I don't know much about debates, a properly relaxed state is still good on the court."

As soon as Machida sat on the ground and looked at him, he was inexplicably dazed for a while.

So... is he reminding her to relax?

She blinked, thinking of herself who was upset when she was at the beach just now, and his words of encouragement later, she couldn't help but feel relieved.

She seemed to be pushing herself too hard.

"Is there any priority? I understand that right now after the game." She looked at him and nodded, with a vague smile on her cheeks, which seemed to be covered with a layer of glow under the moonlight.

Echizen Ryoma looked at her for a moment, didn't say anything more, only looked at her waist for a while, and then left her back, "The fall is not heavy, so get up by yourself."

"..."

The smile froze on his lips for an instant, and Machida closed his eyes in displeasure, and could only comfort himself that what he said just now was a disguised form of helping her.

She stood up with some difficulty clutching her lower back, turned around, and saw Echizen Ryoma standing a few steps ahead without making a sound, with his back straight, and his blue bathrobe made him stand out from the dust.

He turned his head slightly and glanced back before she realized that he was waiting for her.

The light and shadow above the head were scattered by the wind, and a cat on the eaves suddenly "meowed", tiptoed lightly over the tiles, and there was a slight sound.

Machida lowered her head and pursed the corners of her lips silently, she thought she probably understood what he meant when he said that he was not good at speaking.

She followed him, and when she looked up, she realized that they had reached the deepest part of the alley, and the ancient homestay at the end was the hotel where they stayed tonight.

Looking from a distance, there are only a few weak candlelights in the ancient courtyard coming out of the room, melting into the thick night.

Looks like the circuit is still not fixed...

She sighed inaudibly, and began to think about how to review in her room.Before he could think of anything, he heard soft jazz music faintly coming from the quiet street.

The two of them had a great meal when they heard the sound.

The melody of the music is simple, the rhythm is fresh and a bit lazy, the volume is not loud in the quiet atmosphere, but it still catches the ears.

Almost without thinking, Machida stopped and said in surprise: "It's "FlyMetotheMoon"."

She turned her ears sideways as if to identify it carefully. After a while, she grinned and looked at Echizen Ryoma beside her: "It's sung by Lisa Ono, one of my favorite cover versions."

Her voice was clean and soft, and her eyes were shining like stars hanging in the night sky.

Echizen Ryoma raised his eyes to look at her, and remembered the scene of her standing by the window humming a tune when she was on duty after school the day before.

At that time, when he returned to the classroom after throwing out the trash, he saw her holding the tune while opening the window as soon as he entered the room.He didn't pay attention to it, thinking that she was passing the time on a boring duty, but he thought it was amazing that she could act so happily in such a boring atmosphere.

Echizen Ryoma was silent for a moment, and it was rare for him to extend his thinking to fields other than tennis, "I only know that this song is a few years old."

After he finished speaking, he felt that it was as if he hadn't said this sentence, so he bit the bullet and added another sentence: "It was originally a waltz."

Machida was immersed in the music, and he didn't seem to care too much about his difficulty in speaking. On the contrary, he became more happy after learning that he had also heard the song, and continued, "Yes, I heard it for the first time. When I was still young."

As if thinking of something interesting, she suddenly laughed, "I remember that my brother helped me find various versions of CDs, and then I held the pile of CDs and played them on loop at home for a month, which really annoyed him. As a result When I went to the central government to ask him to help borrow records, that guy began to make three chapters with me, saying what... 3-minute songs can be played up to 5 times, 5-minute songs can be played 3 times, and 10-minute songs can only be played once... ..."

Her laughter was muffled at the beginning, but at the end she couldn't help but overflowed from her chest. Along with the melodious music, she laughed unscrupulously in the quiet alley.

Perhaps because of the atmosphere, Echizen Ryoma suddenly realized at that moment that Machida Kazu's hearty laughter was inexplicably contagious, a power that could make people feel the same emotion.

So for no reason, after she finished speaking, a smile spread around his mouth that he didn't even notice, silent but clear.

When the two walked back to the hotel, they happened to meet Hisashi Machida who was waiting for them at the door.After some distance, as soon as Machida saw him, he immediately pulled up Echizen Ryoma by his side and hid in a corner.

Before the person who was dragged away had time to be surprised, she heard her say to him in a low voice: "Don't mention what you said just now in front of my brother." She said as she gestured to the person standing not far in front of him, " Those are the words about the three chapters of the covenant."

Echizen Ryoma turned his head to look at her, and his gaze fell on her right hand that was holding his wrist, and he paused for a moment.

Obviously her attention was not on this at all. He just wanted to say that he didn't talk too much, but the next second, when he raised his eyes to meet her innocent eyes, he turned the corner as soon as he spoke. ,"Why?"

Machida pursed his lips, looked at him, and explained somewhat reluctantly, "Because...he is a tone idiot."