Will anyone truly want this girl in the future?
Hayato sat on the train, looking at Ryo gazing out the window with a slight grumble.
Not only did she force him to pay just now, but she also peeked into his wallet while he was paying, as naturally as if it were her own.
Fortunately, he dodged quickly and didn't let her see his full wallet, freshly stocked with manuscript fees.
Otherwise, he would surely be exploited in various ways in the future… On the sparsely populated train.
Sitting beside Ryo, Hayato, though he didn't understand what this girl was thinking, could sense that she didn't have much desire to communicate.
So he took out his phone and started studying in his spare time.
Enjoying his growth process was also a mandatory course for a Pervert.
Before long, Ryo withdrew her gaze and looked over, noticing Hayato was still studying at this time, and asked:
"Is Hayato very good at studying?"
"It's alright. I was sixth in the national unified exam last time."
Listening to his calm tone, Ryo was momentarily dazed and looked at Hayato's face.
Seeing his truly casual demeanor, she quietly moved a little further away.
"The unbridgeable line between an academic ace and a slacker?"
Hayato asked in a calm tone.
Ryo didn't speak, turning her gaze elsewhere.
Hayato looked at her. She was slightly tilting her head, her chin soft, fair, and clean-cut, looking out distractedly, the scenery outside flowing past the window behind her.
He then closed the study app, opened Spotify, took out his headphones from his messenger bag, leaned towards Ryo, and nudged her shoulder.
He offered her the headphones, saying:
"If you don't mind."
Ryo turned her head, her golden eyes looking at Hayato, then at the headphones in his hand. She complained:
"These can only make noise, right? Next time, I'll lend you mine."
But despite saying so, she took the headphones and put them on her ears without much thought.
While Hayato was happily and Pervertedly saying strange things like he'd sleep with the headphones if she lent them to him, Ryo watched the young man beside her.
After he finished speaking, she asked seriously:
"Are you intentionally trying to match me?"
Hayato was surprised by her blunt question. Noticing her gaze, he turned to face her, their eyes meeting directly without shyness or unease.
He thought to himself how long Ryo's eyelashes were, and how her golden eyes with their calm expression gave her the cool beauty of a handsome woman, but what he said was:
"In a way, yes, and in a way, no."
He didn't hide it, explaining directly:
"It's like two people walking together; the one who notices will unconsciously match their pace. It's that simple."
After explaining, he proudly pointed to himself and said:
"So thank me! A Pervert is lofty!"
Ryo calmly retorted:
"This is the first time I've seen a Pervert like you."
Hayato smiled, clicked on a song, and casually placed his phone between them.
The Y-shaped headphone cable met between them. They sat two palms apart, one casual, one proper.
As if time stood still.
In the flowing light, the boy and girl savored the same song.
But good times are always short-lived.
After one song ended, it automatically skipped to the next. As soon as the intro played, Ryo raised an eyebrow and instructed Hayato:
"I'll choose the song."
Hayato silently unlocked his phone and handed it to her.
After Ryo pressed a few times, a melody that sounded unfamiliar but pleasant began to play in the headphones.
As mentioned before, Hayato's choice of music was simply 'if it sounds good,' so whatever song Ryo chose didn't matter to him.
But once the vocals came in, he couldn't hold back and turned to look at her.
"Saudi Arabia?"
Ryo tilted her head slightly, a confident, almost mischievous smile on her face.
Listening to the strange vocals, Hayato chuckled and quipped, "You really are something, aren't you?"
Ryo smiled back, "Didn't we agree to go at my pace?"
Hayato leaned back in his seat with a relaxed posture.
"Fine, just for the sake of you helping me pretend to be a hostage."
He finished speaking, closed his eyes, as if beginning to understand and enjoy this novel music.
Ryo leaned slightly forward, looked at his completely closed eyes, thought of something, and her eyelids drooped… The train arrived at the station. As soon as Hayato got off, he felt as if he had ridden one of those old country minibuses.
Upon arriving at the station, he immediately felt like he had been dropped in the middle of nowhere.
Dense greenery enveloped the small town's station, and an ancient aura emanated from afar, as if only a lingering breath of humanity remained here.
After the train pulled away, he felt even more that the place had suddenly lost all human sounds, as if he and Ryo had been abandoned in a corner of this world.
The May sun in Japan wasn't too hot yet. Bright sunlight fell from where the train had departed, spilling into the waiting area and making the ordinary concrete ground dazzling.
In the corner, an old man with white, slightly balding hair seemed to be asleep, leaning back on a slightly faded blue waiting bench.
Hayato noticed his chest was still gently rising and falling.
He then looked at Ryo, but she was already walking towards the exit.
She really is free-spirited.
He quickly followed her.
Coming out of the exit, Hayato saw Ryo-neechan take out her phone and scroll through it.
"Is this Ryo-neechan's first time here?"
"Yes." Ryo-neechan replied.
After she finished speaking, she confirmed the direction, and started walking with her phone in hand.
Hayato followed a couple of steps behind her.
But in less than two minutes, Ryo-neechan turned her head and asked in a puzzled voice.
"Why are you walking behind me?"
"Ah, I just wanted to see when you'd turn around."
Hayato smiled and caught up with her pace.
Ryo-neechan said with a hint of disdain.
"Are you a child…?"
Hayato cupped his hands in front of his chest and sweetly called out.
"Ryo-neechan."
Ryo-neechan silently quickened her pace, and Hayato closed his mouth and quickly followed… The place Ryo-neechan wanted to go was a little further than Hayato had imagined, and she also surprisingly had a lot of stamina. Although she wasn't walking fast, she hadn't stopped since leaving the station.
Passing a vending machine, Hayato felt thirsty and ordered a bottle of mineral water and a bottle of orange juice.
Ryo-neechan didn't look back, but she slowed her steps slightly, her black Martin boots kicking up dust from the packed dirt ground.
Hayato took out the drinks from the vending machine, caught up, and handed her the orange juice.
"I didn't know what you like to drink, so I got you the ultimate drink, orange juice, which has a 63% sales rate for minors inside livehouses."
"If you thought so much, couldn't you have just asked?"
After walking for quite a while in the somewhat warm weather, Ryo-neechan's fair skin was faintly covered in sweat. She took the drink.
"Thanks, but I don't have any money to pay you back."
"It's fine, I'm only just now paying you back for the drink from our first street performance."
Hayato didn't dwell on why she could afford it before but had suddenly fallen into long-term poverty now.
He replied to Ryo-neechan's previous sentence.
"Walking together quietly just now felt so good, I didn't want to talk and ruin the atmosphere."
Ryo-neechan tilted her head slightly as she drank, glancing at Hayato, but the next moment...
"Cough, cough!"
She choked.
Hayato quickly took out a handkerchief and pressed it against her collar to prevent the drink from flowing down her neck, while patting her back.
"Relax."
From the feel of patting her back, he felt that Ryo-neechan's body was worryingly slender, but the sensation was surprisingly good.
Fortunately, she didn't choke too badly, and she recovered quickly.
Her slender hand, with slightly rough fingertips, pressed against Hayato's hand, taking the handkerchief.
"Thanks, I'll borrow it."
She took the handkerchief, wiped her juice-stained cheek, and after cleaning it, her gaze searched around, looking at a house by the roadside.
She naturally walked over, knocked on the door and asked, then used the sink to wash the handkerchief clean.
Hayato stood watching.
Soon, she returned, wringing the handkerchief.
"It's still wet."
She returned the handkerchief to Hayato.
Hayato took out a waterproof bag from his satchel, put the handkerchief in it after sealing it.
"No matter, a handkerchief with a maiden's sweet sweat and fresh orange juice, I can take it home and hang it by my bedside to collect."
Ryo-neechan's speaking speed quickened slightly.
"I washed it."
"A Pervert's sense of smell is a thousand times that of a human."
"Are you a dog?"
"Hmm? Is Ryo-neechan a dog person?"