MM Racing Page 18
Page 18
Naoka Ueno stopped in front of a bench and turned around abruptly.
“Yuto Itsuka, he’s dead, isn’t he?” she asked bluntly, her tone icy.
Shoko felt a sharp pang in her heart.
Even if you've accepted the truth, hearing it from someone else can still hurt.
She gripped the straps of her backpack tightly and nodded silently.
Upon seeing her confirmation, Naoka Ueno felt all her strength drain away, staggered, and leaned back in her chair.
Her eyes were red-rimmed, but she held back her tears.
“…When did it happen?”
Shoko took out her notebook, thought for a moment, and wrote down the date of that summer festival.
Naoka Ueno looked at the date and let out a self-deprecating laugh.
"Ha, ha, so that's when it was..." she murmured to herself, as if speaking to Shoko, or perhaps to herself.
"I thought... I thought he just transferred schools quietly, like he did in elementary school... I thought that I would see him again someday when I went to high school and college. I kept trying, trying to study hard, trying to become a better person, just for... for..."
Her words became incoherent, and finally, all her emotions turned into questioning.
"Why?" She looked up, staring intently at Shoko. "Why wasn't it you who died! Why him? If it weren't for you, if it weren't for you being such a burden, he wouldn't have died! He was so outstanding, he deserved a bright future! It's all because of you! You killed him!"
These words were like daggers to the heart.
If it were the old Shoko, she would probably have collapsed by now, kneeling down, crying and saying in sign language, "I'm sorry, it's all my fault."
But now, she just listens quietly.
A cold wind blew, swirling up fallen leaves from the ground.
Shoko tucked the strands of hair that had fallen to her cheek behind her ear, revealing the ear with the hearing aid.
She looked at Naoka Ueno, who was on the verge of a breakdown, and took a deep breath.
Then she wrote in her notebook:
You're right.
Naoka Ueno was stunned; she hadn't expected Shoko to admit it.
Glass didn't stop; she continued writing:
[Yuto-kun, you died to save me]
Therefore, I must live on, for his sake as well.
I want to live a life where I work harder than anyone else and am happier than anyone else.
I want him to see that the girl he protected with his life has not let him down.
This is the best way I can repay him.
After writing, she opened her mouth again and said firmly in a muffled tone, "This...no, it's none of your business!"
Naoka Ueno was completely stunned.
She looked at Nishimiya Shoko in front of her as if she were seeing her for the first time.
There was a dazzling light about this girl that she had never seen before.
That wasn't given by Itsuka Yuto, but rather, it was the light from which he was reborn from the ashes of despair.
All my so-called efforts and changes over the years seem so laughable in the face of this brilliance.
It turns out that I never truly understood Yuto Itsuka.
I have never entered his world.
She lost.
A crushing defeat.
Naoka Ueno couldn't say another word. She turned around in a disheveled state and stumbled out of the park.
Shoko stared in the direction she had left, remaining motionless for a long time.
She looked up at the gray sky.
A tear finally slid down her cheek, but the corner of her mouth slowly curved upwards into a smile.
I can now face things on my own.
……
In the evening, I returned home.
Shoko put down her schoolbag and went to the fish tank as usual. The goldfish were still swimming happily, and they had grown a little bigger than when she first arrived.
She took out her diary and turned to a new page.
Outside the window, the afterglow of the setting sun dyed the sky orange-red.
She held the pen and wrote a sentence on the paper.
The words she didn't get to say on the night of the fireworks festival.
She practiced those words a thousand times, but in the end, they could only remain buried deep in her heart forever.
【Yuto-kun, I like you】
After finishing writing, she closed the diary and hugged it tightly to her chest.
She knew he could neither hear nor see.
But as long as she is still living happily, his existence will never disappear.
They will be together forever, in another way.
……
Volume 1: Chapter 23: "An Unattainable Flower on a High Mountain"
"What a beautiful sunny day!"
"Everywhere you look, the scenery is so beautiful!"
Yuto Itsuki reached out from under the covers, fumbled for his phone under the pillow, and squinted as he turned off the alarm.
Afterwards, with her hair all messy, she got out of bed to wash and rinse.
Put the toast into the toaster, spread condensed milk on it, take out milk from the refrigerator, and you have a simple breakfast.
Time of observation: Wednesday morning at 7:20.
Just in time to catch the tram.
With his schoolbag in hand and trash in hand, Itsuki Yuuto went out the door.
Last night I was thinking about the simulated world and had an unusual bout of insomnia, only sleeping for five hours, which made me feel a bit drowsy.
Arrive at the station, swipe your card, and enter the station.
"Clang, clang, clang—"
A pungent perfume scent wafted into his nostrils, which invigorated him considerably.
He recalled the floral water that was a must-have in the countryside when he was a child, the kind that came in glass bottles, and for a while he would use it as perfume.
During rush hour, the train carriages are like sardine cans, impossible to move from side to side, and he can only endure this invasion that lasts for more than twenty minutes.
When the tram arrived at the station, Yuto Itsuka quickly got off and took a deep breath of the fresh air outside.
At the school gate, a group of track and field team members dressed in dark blue sportswear were running around the school in the morning, chanting slogans.
Yuto Itsuka walked towards the teaching building along the slope lined with cherry blossom trees. Along the way, girls in uniforms kept glancing at him and whispering greetings.
Good morning, Itsuki-kun.
Good morning, Itsuka-kun.
He nodded politely in response.
He ranked first in his grade in both the entrance exam and monthly tests, was handsome, and had a good personality, so it was only natural that he was popular with girls.
He changed into indoor shoes at the shoe cabinet and glanced at his cabinet as usual.
Several pink envelopes lay quietly in the corner.
He took it out expressionlessly and casually stuffed it into his schoolbag.
This started happening in the second week of school, and he's gotten used to it.
I strolled into the classroom of Class B, Grade 11. It was just past 7:50. There weren't many people in the class yet; a few students were scattered around, either engrossed in their homework or eating breakfast.
After sitting down, Yuto Itsuka habitually rested his chin on his hand, stared blankly out the window, and began to think about the contents of the second volume of his light novel.
The deadline is next month, and he has only written a little over 100,000 words for the second volume, which is expected to have a total of 200,000 words.
According to the outline, the next part should be the core part where the relationship between the male and female protagonists heats up.
This is also why he has been unable to put pen to paper for so long.
You can't write well, you simply can't write well.
The images of romance in his mind came either from movies and TV shows he had watched in his previous life, or from scenes from sitcoms written to him by Kato. But when he tried to translate these into his own words, it was a complete disaster.
He could even imagine readers' complaints: "The author is clearly Xiao Chunan, who has never been in a relationship."
"Hey, my dear friend! Contemplating life here so early in the morning?" Yoshihiko Uesugi's loud voice rang out from the side. He carried his schoolbag and sat down casually in front of Yuto Itsuka.
"Could it be... that you played Star Island all night last night?"
"I didn't buy it."
"Oh, by the way, what did Hasumi-sensei talk to you about yesterday? Was it to criticize you for not participating in club activities?" Uego Yoshihiko asked curiously as he leaned closer.
"It's really unfair, actually. It's been almost three months since school started, and you've been staying home all this time. She hasn't given you a single problem!"
“That’s the privilege of being a top student.” Itsuka Yuto glanced at him. “It’s like homework. Even if I didn’t do it, the teacher would just think I forgot to do it, not that I didn’t know how to do it.”
"Damn it! You never pay attention in class and even borrow Kato's notes, so how come you always get such good grades on tests!" Yoshihiko Uego gritted his teeth in jealousy.
“Yes, why?” Yuto Itsuka asked in return.
"You...you wouldn't be secretly studying every night, would you?! That's disgusting!" Yoshihiko Uego had a look on his face as if his "friend had betrayed him."
"Hey, Kangping! You tell me, what do you do every night?"
"Me? Studying, what else could I be doing?" said Kohei Onodera, who was stopped as soon as he entered the classroom.
"Hehe, okay, so you guys study all night, never mind then." Yoshihiko Uego chuckled mischievously.
Yuto Itsuka and Kohei Onodera exchanged a glance and said in unison, "Disgusting."
If only one friend is secretly studying, they'll be seen as someone who can't read the room.
If the mainland's Ying (7) Yi Ren Er is secretly learning from the dead VIII family, it can only mean that they are birds of a feather.
"So, Hasumi-sensei is looking for you about the club, right? Perfect timing, Itsuka, why don't you join our games club? We can all eat potato chips and drink cola together, happily conquering all sorts of beautiful girls, wouldn't that be wonderful?"
"You said it was too late."
"Ok?"
“I’ve already joined the club,” Yuto Itsuka said.
What kind of club is it?
"Literature Club."
Yuto Itsuka briefly recounted his experience of signing up for the club yesterday afternoon.
"Kasumigaoka Utaha?" Yoshihiko Uego exclaimed in surprise.
"It's Kasumigaoka Utaha, the second-year student!"
"Do you know her?" Yuto Itsuka asked.
"Nonsense! My dearest friend, do you live in some remote mountain forest?" Uesugi Yoshihiko grabbed Itsuka Yuto's shoulders excitedly and shook him vigorously.
"Kasumigaoka-senpai is one of the three beauties of our Toyonosaki Academy! No, in my heart she is the only goddess!"