monosyllable echo

As the days get thinner and thinner on the wall, we tear off the calendar page by page.

Having to give up the good afternoon to face a pile of cumbersome account books is already very impatient, and repeating the homework that I have mastered also makes me feel extremely boring.

After a few times, I finally made up my mind to skip the best divination theory class, escaped from the classroom, and headed for the student union activity room.

Because it was class time, there was almost no sound in the entire teaching building except for the occasional sound of chalk rubbing against the blackboard from the classroom and the simple interaction between teachers and students.

The quiet atmosphere and the cold wind coming in through the gaps in the windows made me have to wrap up the coat I was wearing tightly again and again, and I began to regret my skipping class on a whim.

Standing inside the glass gate of the teaching building, I kept looking out hesitantly. Should I go back the same way?Or brave the cold wind across the playground to the activity room on the other side to complete the accounting and exchange for a peaceful Friday?

Well, that's a question worth thinking about.

After a few times of hesitation, my heart sank, I opened the glass door and rushed out: "Ah~~ Never mind! Since they have all escaped, it is important to take a good nap on Friday!!"

Even so, it was really cold to death! ——Walking in the empty playground, this is how I feel.

Such a gloomy state of mind kept urging me to speed up my pace and run to the opposite teaching building.

But it's really far away!I usually don't feel...

——"Hey! Kid, you are impatient! Find a fight!"

——"Come here if you have the guts!"

——"Brothers, come on! Clean up this guy who doesn't know the rules!"

--"oh!"

A sudden, unfriendly conversation from the lawn slope brought me to a halt in my urgent steps.

What the hell is this unfolding?Will there be rebellious children fighting in such a cold day?It sounds like a many-to-one unfair game.Nothing big will happen, right?

The more I think about it, the more something is wrong, and the more I think about it, the more I worry.In the end, I decided to take a look. Although it might not be of much help, I still want to go!

The more I walked towards the source of the fighting sound, the more clearly I could hear the sound of the fighting. When I really reached the edge of the slope-it was too much!

Five or six people beat up around one person, this is Hong Guoguo's bullying!And, on closer inspection, the child who was beaten...

No, it must be stopped!Otherwise something will happen!

Thinking of this, I rushed up quickly to stop them: "Stop!!"

However, the result can be imagined, who would care about a person who rushed up suddenly?And it's a girl.

"Hey! Mind your own business!" Being scolded like this, I don't know who pushed me aside.

No, it must be stopped.Seeing that the boy who was beaten was getting weaker and weaker, I couldn't help becoming anxious.

calm down!

Forced myself to calm down, I stood up from the grass, and accidentally saw my classmates among the group of people fighting: "Hyuga? Hyuga Kazuya!! Stop!"

Hearing his name being called out so harshly, the boy turned around and became a little surprised in an instant: "... Natsume?"

This sound successfully stopped the teenagers who were still fighting around——

"Natsume? Natsume Jiu?"

"Who is Natsume?"

After everyone turned their heads and looked carefully, many of them were my classmates.

Taking advantage of the moment when the fight stopped, I quickly walked over to protect the boy who was beaten, raised my head and said to the others: "You guys are all second-year seniors, how can you gather here to beat a first-year freshman! No matter what the reason is, it is unforgivable to bully the few with more! I am a member of the student union now, and you all know this without mentioning it. So, stop, if I stop now, I will not report to the student union, and everything ends here. Otherwise... you all just wait for the punishment on the bulletin board tomorrow! There will be no one left!"

After saying these words in one breath, I stopped making a sound, and just kept looking at the few people standing in front of me over and over again.

In the end, it was Hinata Kazuya who spoke first: "Well...Natsume, what happened today is really because that kid is too arrogant! Well——since you want to stop me, I won't say anything."

"Hey! Kazuya, is this the end?" The guy on the side seemed to be angry and wanted to continue the battle.

"Oh~~ Kazuya Hinata, it seems that you are still the boss of this group of people?" Saying this, I cast an accusing look.

Hinata Kazuya suddenly became angry at the people around him as if he had been hit to the death spot: "Cut! It's gone, it's gone, it's all gone!!"

Without saying anything else, I helped the boy behind me to stand up, ready to walk towards the school infirmary.

"Natsume! Remember what you just said!"

The words that came from behind must be that Hinata Kazuya.Isn't it too late to start getting scared now?But forget it.

"Don't worry, I always do what I say."

In this way, I helped the wounded man to walk forward. I thought that I could walk to the school infirmary in a very peaceful manner, but somehow, just as I walked up the slope and walked to the playground, the boy I was supporting suddenly died. Pushing me aside, I couldn't react for a while, and I just watched him staggeringly push me away and sit on the edge of the slope, without any intention of standing up and continuing to move forward.

"Hey, what are you—"

"I won't say thank you! Because you are completely nosy, I didn't ask you to save me!"

Wouldn't anyone be unhappy if the words of concern that hadn't been said were interrupted so arrogantly?This brat!I finally know why you were beaten up just now. Also, I regret saving you a little bit, no, I regret it very much!

"Hey! Nanami Yata, did you learn your badass temper from your master!? You really got the true teaching!"

My words succeeded in getting the young man to face him in surprise: "How do you know my name? Also, you said my master... how do you know that Brother Kazuki is my master!"

Phew—a gust of cold wind blew by, and I shivered from the cold.so cold!Boy, are you really not going to leave?

Seeing Nanami Yata sitting there without any intention of moving, I had no choice but to sit beside him and take out a clean silver handkerchief. Alas, I was going to return the silver handkerchief today, but it seems , I have to wash it in the dormitory again.

"Hiss—why didn't you answer my question?! And what are you doing?!" Seeing that I didn't answer his question but greeted his face with a handkerchief, the boy hurriedly backed away.

Without intending to stop the movement of my hand, I warned like this: "Don't move! If you just stay still, I will tell you."

"Cut!" Even with such a dissatisfied tone, Qi Hai did not move anymore.So, I officially started my processing work.

Uh, what a pretty face, being beaten so badly, and still being dragged like this, it really... resembles Kazuki when he was a child...

Thinking about it this way, I, who wiped the wound on Qihai's face vigorously at the beginning, gradually became more cautious.

Even so, it still hurts. ——Looking at Nanami's mouth twitching in front of me but unwilling to cry out, I came to this conclusion.

That being the case, why are there still fights?Like a fool.

Carefully wiping off the blood on Qihai's face, I put away the handkerchief and stood up: "Okay, the preliminary work is completed. Next, let's go to the infirmary!"

"Hey! You haven't answered my question yet! Hiss—" Seeing that I didn't seem to intend to answer his question, Qihai yelled at me, and successfully pulled the wound on the corner of his mouth.

"I'm that guy's childhood sweetheart." Throwing this sentence coolly, I didn't intend to explain any more, I just kept dragging the boy on the ground to the infirmary.

"That's it?" Seems to be dissatisfied with my answer?No, it must be dissatisfaction. Nanami Yata conveyed his dissatisfaction to me completely without any cooperation and stubbornness.

I finally started to get impatient: "Get up, you idiot! Do you know how cold it is here?! You have to ask here before you are willing to leave?! And you seem to be in poor health? Stay like this Is it really okay here?!"

Once again ignoring all my questions, Qihai frowned: "How do you know that I'm not in good health? He told you so much just because you and Brother Kazuki were childhood sweethearts?"

please!juvenile! !Are you "how do you know one hundred thousand"? !Since you are determined not to cooperate, I will also make up my mind not to tell you!

"Stand up and follow me to the infirmary, and I'll tell you, otherwise, you'll sit here and hold your 'how do you know a hundred thousand' and freeze to death!"

……

"Ok."

# # #

Thanks to the boy's final compromise, I was able to return to the warm room again!

Don't have any doubts, the above sentence is the ultimate speech after I dragged Qihai boy stumbling to the infirmary.

Of course, when it was me and Yata who came to knock on the door, Teacher Xingyue expressed his surprise unabashedly, although I think it was not aimed at me, but at Nanami.because--

"Yo! Here we go again!"

"Cut, I didn't do it voluntarily!"

"It's not Dongyue or Yejiu who accompanied you this time, it's really rare."

"Mind your own business! Hiss—"

"Oh, I'm so sorry for the slippery hand! Well~ this is what you should end up with if you don't accumulate virtue."

"..."

So, you know...

After dealing with Nanami Yata's wound, Teacher Xingyue went to work on his own and left us alone, leaving Qihai and me in the ward lounge.

Please don't ask me why I didn't wait for the opportunity to escape because this guy won't let go after grabbing my sleeve!

Boy, should I praise you for being smart?

"Okay, now you should tell me why you know so much?"

"So I've already said it, I'm Kazuki's childhood sweetheart, so it's not surprising that he told me about his other friends." Answering similar questions for the second time really made me very impatient, since Having said that, let's make it clear at once, "Besides, I was also there on the night when classmate Yejiu had an accident, but you just forgot."

"Ah, it's you!" Seeing his suddenly enlightened expression, I curled my lips unconsciously.

I didn’t react until I said this, young man, please let me take back what I just praised you for being smart.

Maybe because I mentioned that, the boy's expression became strange.Sure enough, that incident was an eternal wound to both Kazuki and the boy in front of him.That's why I want to become stronger, to be able to protect Yejiu... But, this is really wrong!this way……

I couldn't help it, and I said to Qihai: "Let me tell you! I can understand your desire to become stronger, because I also heard Kazuki say something about you. But, you still have some Something is wrong. The so-called protection is to make the person you protect smile, not make the person you protect look worried for you. You really feel that you are proving that you can protect others Instead of pretending to be strong and using force to cover up the fragility of your heart? Sometimes, the more you move your fist, the more you prove your weakness."

"..."

Looking at the young man with his head bowed and silent in front of him, I couldn't continue to teach him so forcefully, so I softened up and comforted him: "I think Ye Jiu and... Dongyue, yes, they should have told you about these words, right? "

"No, they don't want to say this in front of me." At this moment, Qihai raised her head and replied.

Looking at those deep eyes that contained too much emotion, I suddenly didn't know how to face it. After a long silence, I whispered in a low voice: "It may be because we are too close and have too many scruples. , that’s why you can’t see clearly what you can’t say... However, they cherish your feelings, I think you must be able to feel them.”

"So, cherish yourself a little more."