Tokyo people don't talk about Wude

Chapter 385 382. They One Year Later (2)

After entering the kendo hall, Mizuhashi Eiji went to the locker room to change out of her school uniform as usual, put on a loose kendo robe, and tightened it with the belt of her hakama to outline her slender waist like a water snake.

Then, she neatly rolled up her long hair and tied it into a ponytail, and fixed her hairstyle with a rubber band in her mouth.

"Good afternoon, Mizuhashi-san! We're here for practice again today!"

The students in the Kendo Club had already changed into their sportswear and were training in an orderly manner.

They stood in a row and followed the minister's orders to practice the Suzhen. Although their movements were not uniform, they still made people feel that they were well-trained.

On the wall behind everyone hung a large blue banner embroidered with a mighty golden dragon. It was the "Jade Dragon Flag" that the Kendo Club won during the summer vacation a year and a half ago. It was also the beginning of the legend of this signature sports club of Xiu Jin.

There are more than ten photos hanging around the Yulong Flag, including a group photo of the Kendo Club at the Yulong Flag Competition, photos of their training, and photos of them being interviewed.

However, in Mizuhashi Hideki's eyes, she only saw a photo.

That was a group photo of the Kendo Club after they won the grand prize at last year's cultural festival award ceremony.

In the photo, the club teacher Harumasa Haruhara was lifted high by his classmates, the former kendo director and senior Kyushu each held a small trophy, and everyone was smiling happily.

"." Mizuhashi Eiji rubbed her eyes vigorously to pull her mind away from the photo. Then she squinted her eyes and smiled, clenched her fists and encouraged:

"Well, everyone, please do your best!"

"Oh! Come on! Xiu Jin!" Some boys immediately became excited and swung their swords even harder, making the entire kendo hall full of the sound of "whoosh" breaking wind. Seeing this, most girls shook their heads helplessly and smiled bitterly.

The Xiujin Kendo Club was eliminated in the top 32 at the Yulongqi Competition last year, but it was still a commendable result. The school also knew that they won the championship two years ago purely by luck, so they didn't blame them too much.

However, everyone in the Kendo Club is definitely unwilling to admit defeat. They are training intensively and striving to win the championship again next year.

"Mizuhashi, you're here." Teacher Ushiwakamaru came over wearing sportswear and holding a wooden sword.

"Please give me your guidance, Master Ushimaru." Mizuhashi Eiji put the bamboo sword in a mid-position stance and her eyes became serious.

The training was over in the blink of an eye in an hour and a half.

"You've made rapid progress. You've mastered all the moves I taught you before." Teacher Ushiwakamaru wiped his sweat and said with a smile, "Now even if you're harassed by two or three hooligans on the street, you should be able to get away, right?"

"It's all thanks to the good teaching of Master Ushimaru." Mizuhashi Eiji also bowed and said, "But I'm still far from him~ And I only know swordsmanship so far, I really don't have any talent."

"Hey, I've taught you a long time ago that you can't chew too much." Teacher Ushiwakamaru frowned slightly and said earnestly: "You have reached this level of swordsmanship in just one year, which is already amazing! Don't underestimate yourself!"

"As for him..." Ushiwakamaru paused, his tone became heavier, and he said ambiguously: "I believe that as long as you keep your expectations and don't give up, everything will be fulfilled."

"Well, thank you, Master Ushimaru." Mizuhashi Eiji bowed again, packed up her utensils, and went back to change her clothes.

The kendo club's training was over at this time. Except for a few students on duty who were left behind to clean the kendo hall and scrub the equipment, everyone else packed up and prepared to go home.

"Hey, Mizuhashi, let's go together!" Several students from the Kendo Club made an invitation.

"Okay, no problem."

As the sun sets, the students of the Kendo Club walk out of the school gate, carrying their school bags and bamboo sword bags, talking and laughing. They all commute by train and happen to go to the same station.

"Um, um, Mizuhashi-senpai!" On the way, a young-looking junior with a buzz cut mustered up the courage to talk to Mizuhashi Eiki:

"That's right. I think you look very handsome when you train. Can we exchange contact information?"

The shaved-haired junior blushed, and every word he said was forced out of his mouth. His intention was very obvious.

Mizuhashi Eiji smiled, feeling strangely emotional. She never thought that she would be called "senior" one day.

At this time, a third-year senior squeezed in between the two and said as politely as possible: "Mizuhashi has someone she likes, so please think twice~"

“Huh?!” The junior with a crew cut was stunned for a moment with obvious surprise.

"Senior Hua Huan is right. I have a senior I like." Mizuhashi Eiji followed the topic and admitted generously: "If it's just exchanging contact information between friends, I have no objection. If it's that kind of thing, please forgive me for not accompanying you."

"I-Is that so?" The crew-haired junior bowed hastily: "I'm sorry, Mizuhashi-senpai! I am guilty of offending you!"

"It's okay, please don't take it to heart. I will pretend that what happened just now never happened." Mizuhashi Eiji waved her hand and smiled.

The shaved-haired junior had no choice but to apologize again and left in disgrace. Several freshmen in the Kendo Club of the same grade as him started to giggle, which made the shaved-haired junior blush even more and feel ashamed.

When Mizuhashi Eiji saw this, she deliberately raised her voice and lectured the freshmen who were laughing at him: "Don't laugh at him, he didn't do anything shameful!"

Hearing this, the freshmen stopped laughing. They could see Mizuhashi Eiji practicing "practical swordsmanship" in the kendo hall almost every day after school, and they were somewhat afraid of her.

The commotion was finally calmed down, and the atmosphere returned to normal. Everyone continued to walk and chat, talking and laughing.

Only a few senior students looked at Mizuhashi Eiji with a hint of worry in their eyes.

Mizuhashi Eiji has always liked Kyushu Makoto, and the veterans who have participated in the "Championship Journey" know this very well.

And they also knew very well that even though Kyushu Makoto had been missing for so long, Mizuhashi's love for him had not disappeared.

Of course, they understood this very well. Kyushu Makoto was a very charming man, and even the former Kendo Minister cried at the graduation ceremony, sad that he could not say the final goodbye to his "sworn brother" Kyushu Makoto.

However, Jiuzhou Cheng has been missing for more than a year, and many people have probably forgotten about him. Even in the Kendo Club, only half of the people know him.

In another year or two, no one in the Kendo Club would remember "Kyushu Makoto" anymore, and the only evidence of his existence would be the group photo taken at the cultural festival awards ceremony on the wall.

When the elders of the Kendo Club who had received the kindness of Kyushu Makoto in Fukuoka thought of this, they felt that time had flown by and things and people had changed.

Mizuhashi Hideki ignored their looks and took out her cell phone to read text messages.

[Teacher Payasi, your new book has been reviewed and can be serialized at any time.] This is a text message from the light novel editor:
[By the way, our company has recently expanded the online library project. I recommend that you first serialize it online on the platform we specify, and then publish it in physical form when the time is right. Of course, please come to our company for a face-to-face interview on a certain day for the specific situation.]

"No problem." Mizuhashi Eiki typed deftly on the screen with her thumbs. "I'll find time to visit the editor as soon as possible."

Mizuhashi Eiji's debut work "The Senpai Who Always Holds an Umbrella for Me" was completed in mid-last year. Although the sales of the last two volumes have declined, it has not been cut in half.

However, the ending of the book has caused controversy among readers.

At the end of the story, the male protagonist "Raemura Ri", who had a close relationship with the heroine and even expressed his love to her at the fireworks display, suddenly disappeared.

The story goes that after Yucun Li rescued a child who accidentally fell into the water at the beach, he ran out of energy and was washed away by the sea, never to be seen again.

The heroine can only miss Yucun Li bitterly and spend the rest of her youth in regret. The ending of the story is a sad open ending.

Although Teacher Payasi's writing style is vivid and gentle, many readers claim that they can personally experience the heroine's heartbreak from between the lines and shed tears while reading. However, most readers are still dissatisfied with the ending.

It is clearly a sweet love story with lots of romance, but in the end the hero suddenly disappears and the heroine becomes a widow. Readers cannot accept this ending.

Later, the editor met with Mizuhashi Eiji for an interview, and Mizuhashi Eiji suddenly realized that it was wrong to "add a tragic element of whining to an art work that conveys hope and fantasy." So Mizuhashi Eiji hurriedly wrote a special episode about the heroine going to the beach where the hero disappeared seven years after the story happened to pay tribute to him.

Just as she was sitting on the shore in a daze, she heard footsteps behind her. She turned around and saw that it was Yucun Li whom she had not seen for seven years.

During the seven years, Yucunli grew a lot taller, his muscles became stronger, and his skin became bronze, as if he had been engaged in very hard work.

Fortunately, the vitality in his eyes has not faded, and he returned still the boy as bright as the sun.

Yucun Li told her that he was swept into the sea and was accidentally salvaged by an illegal fishing boat.

The captain forced him to work on the ship as a slave. Since there was no communication signal on the ship, the captain also sent people to monitor him at all times and prevented him from using communication equipment, so he had no way to ask for help for three years.

But he never gave in. Taking advantage of the opportunity when the fishing boat was docked at a Southeast Asian port to unload cargo, he joined other enslaved boat workers to start a riot and escaped in the chaos.

Later, he stumbled around in Southeast Asia for four years, experienced many hardships, and finally returned to the country of Wano after he had been away for a long time.

After hearing Yucun Li's story that sounded like a fairy tale, the heroine cursed him "idiot" with red eyes and went forward to hug him.

[We haven't seen each other for many years, but this hug is worth a thousand words]

Thanks to this post-episode special, the reputation of "Umbrella Master" has improved.

As her debut work achieved good results, the editor encouraged her to keep up the good work and continue to create, and she herself also intended to do so.

Because the identity of "Light Novel Writer·Teacher Payasi" was a gift given to her by the boy, and she would never give it up.

"Hey, come to think of it, there was a very interesting message on the [Gensokyo website] today!"

“[The Gensokyo I hope for is that Wano Country can become the overlord of the world!] Haha, what a bold thought!”

"And this from me, [The Gensokyo I hope for is that all pay-to-play gacha games can be released on the first try] If that happens, the game companies will go bankrupt, hahahaha!"

Mizuhashi Eiji put away her phone. Her classmates were chattering about the [Gensokyo website].

"Speaking of which, that website has been very popular recently~" Mizuhashi Eiji joined the conversation.

"To be precise, it started to become popular last spring, right?" a female classmate recalled. "Even my favorite idol Igarashi registered an account!"

"It is said that the wishes written on the message board of the website will come true! It is very effective!" Another girl boasted: "I wrote a message before saying "I hope to get rich", and a few days later I found a 500 yen coin!"

"It's just a coincidence. But this website is really popular now. If you haven't registered on the website, you will feel like you can't chat with your friends." A male classmate complained:
"But there are indeed a lot of interesting things on the website, which can help kill time. Sometimes I browse the forums of Gensokyo and chat with people, and before I know it, a whole day has passed!"

"Is this the reason why you came to me crying and asked me to copy your homework last Monday morning?" Another boy next to him elbowed him.

"Gensokyo!" Mizuhashi Eiji opened her mobile phone and logged into the website.

Like most of her classmates, she had already registered an account on the website and selected [Yes] in the entry question.

When she first came into contact with this website, she also wrote on the message board her wish of "hoping to find a senior".

However, she soon gave up this meaningless act of prayer. It was during the six months she spent with her seniors that she deeply understood the truth that success depends on human effort.

The idea that you can get rewards by praying on an unknown website is too naive.

If there are things in this world that can only be solved by praying to gods and Buddhas, it is better to ask for help from seniors!

No. What am I thinking about?
Mizuhashi Eiji shook her head, and her long hair swayed gently.

Soon, everyone arrived at the station. Everyone had to go to different platforms to catch the train, so they said goodbye.

Mizuhashi Eiji arrived at the platform and happened to see Mr. Jiangdori waiting for the train. He was wearing the teacher's uniform of Xiujin Academy, so he could be recognized at a glance.

Although Mr. Jiang Niao was not her second-grade teacher, she had heard of this teacher to some extent.

I heard from the seniors that Mr. Jiang Niao was a bad teacher before, but he had his reasons. Later, under the influence of the seniors, Mr. Jiang Niao turned over a new leaf and became a good teacher who was conscientious and responsible, even to the point of being better than a teacher.

"Hello, Teacher Etori!" Before the train arrived at the station, Mizuhashi Eiji took the initiative to greet her.

"Hey, hello, Mizuhashi-san!" Teacher Jiang Niao recognized the little girl who had always followed behind Kyushu Makoto: "Did you just get out of school?"

"Well, I just finished my kendo training!" Mizuhashi Eiji replied, "Teacher, this isn't the direction you're heading after get off work, is it?"

"I'm going to visit a student's home." Teacher Jiang Niao had dark circles under her eyes, but she tried to look energetic.

"She's a student from Class 1, Grade . She's been sick these past few days, so I'm planning to go visit her in person."

"What a hands-on teacher she is." Mizuhashi Eiji sighed, "If it were another teacher, they would probably ask students who live close to her to visit her."

"It's better to let the teacher do home visits in person. After all, I'm her homeroom teacher." Teacher Jiang Niao said thoughtfully:

"I promised him that I would be a good teacher with all my heart. As long as it is for the good of the students, I will do everything I can."

"Is this an agreement with the senior?" asked Mizuhashi Eiji.

"Yes, that's right." Teacher Jiang Niao lowered her eyes slightly, and her profile cast a beautiful shadow in the setting sun.

"I heard a rumor that Mr. Jiang Niao plans to resign during this year's graduation season. Is this true?" Mizuhashi Eiji suddenly asked.

"Well, that's what I originally planned." Teacher Jiang Niao was stunned for a moment, then smiled helplessly: "That's what I originally thought, but now I don't quite understand it."

Teacher Jiang Niao still remembers the agreement he made with Jiuzhou Cheng: when Jiuzhou Cheng graduated, Teacher Jiang Niao would also resign from his position and never be a teacher again.

But now Jiuzhou Cheng is nowhere to be found. If his disappearance does not count as graduation, then doesn’t Mr. Jiang Niao have to be a teacher for life?

But if he has been considered to have "graduated" from the day he disappeared, then Teacher Jiang Niao is still in school now, isn't that a violation of his oath?

Teacher Jiang Niao was so upset that she didn't know what to do. All she could do now was to try her best to live every day as an "excellent teacher" and take care of all the students as much as possible.

While the two were talking, the train arrived at the station.

"Well, I'll go first, Mizuhashi-san." Mr. Jiangdori was riding a train that was going in the opposite direction to Mizuhashi Eiki, so he stepped into the door first:
"Mizuhashi, I heard that a violent killer has appeared in Tokyo recently. He is said to torture and kill his victims in a very cruel way. There have also been victims near my home. I have already warned my classmates this morning, so please be careful."

"Well, thank you, Teacher Jiangdori! Goodbye!" Mizuhashi Eiji bowed slightly to her respectfully, and her right hand unconsciously grasped the long-handled umbrella.

Boom boom boom——

The train leaves.

Today is another ordinary day.

I've long been accustomed to a day without him.

(End of this chapter)