Tokyo Rebirth: Start From Picking Up Sayu

5. Happy birthday, Kato-san

——Buzz.

The sound of the hair dryer sounded low in the apartment and stopped after five minutes.

Click, click.

The bathroom door was opened, and the girl's light voice came out.

"Um, thank you for letting me use the bathroom...the water in the bathtub hasn't been drained yet, do you want to use it?"

"No need." Kato Yusuke responded.

"Really? Well, then I understand."

The door was closed again.

A few beats apart.

When the girl walked out of the bathroom, the clock on the wall had already reached 7:55.

Snap, snap, snap...

Along with the gentle footsteps, Hui's figure also came to the living room.

Kato Yusuke turned around and looked.

What appeared in front of me was a girl wearing school sportswear.

The loose jacket and trousers wrapped around the slender body. Both the sleeves and the legs and feet were obviously much longer, so the other party had to roll up these two parts separately.

A pair of snow-white feet lightly stepped on the floor. The insteps were smooth and delicate, and the delicate toes were slightly red, showing an unusual side and bringing different feelings.

He raised his gaze and saw the slightly damp hair, hot cheeks, flawless skin, and a pair of beautiful and clear eyes.

"that……"

Kato Yusuke walked to the entrance without saying a word, took a pair of slippers, placed them on the ground one step away from Kei's feet, and stepped aside.

See this.

The girl thanked him softly, then gently stretched out her foot and put it through.

"Well, it's almost time to eat, how about just pasta with bacon and miso soup?"

With that said, Megumi walked to the kitchen and rummaged through the plastic bag she brought.

Kato Yusuke was silent for a while, "...there is still some leftover curry from yesterday."

"Hey~~If you leave something like curry for too long, the flavor of the spices will be lost, right?"

"It's already 8 o'clock now." Yusuke reminded him as he glanced at the time.

However, the girl seemed to be completely unaware and responded: "That's true, you must be hungry, right? Then you have to hurry up."

Kato Yusuke then said no more.

Not long after, a cooking melody similar to yesterday's sounded in the kitchen.

During the cooking process, Hui also inadvertently glanced back at the living room.

I saw that the young man still had an indifferent look on his face, his unfocused eyes were a bit depressed, and he didn't know what he was thinking.

So he withdrew his gaze and concentrated on the matter at hand.

Time passes peacefully in the busyness...

After half an hour, dinner was ready.

The two of them were sitting at the low table in the living room just like yesterday.

There is "pasta + miso soup" on the table - this combination of Western food and Japanese food is very similar to the set meals in some restaurants.

Kato Yusuke habitually took a sip of soup first and then fell silent.

"How about it?"

"..."

Hui raised his gaze slightly and asked, "Is it to your liking? Miso soup."

"Oh, that's alright……"

"Oh~"

The girl groaned, looked away, reached for the fork on the side, put it into the plate in front of her, rolled a little spaghetti wrapped in sauce, then put it into her mouth, and chewed it in small bites.

Kato Yusuke continued to drink miso soup and said, "You don't need to do this."

"Yeah~ I know. After all, I helped put the cup noodles into the cupboard. That amount is probably enough for Yusuke to eat for a month, right?" Megumi said this with a hint of surprise and sarcasm in his tone.

"..."

"But that's that, but I'm not here to ridicule you... Anyway, we'll discuss the details later."

After eating and washing the dishes, the time has come to 9 o'clock.

Looking at the girl who still had no intention of leaving, Kato Yusuke finally couldn't help but asked: "Aren't you going home?"

Faced with this question, Hui did not answer immediately. Instead, he walked to the wall and squatted down.

As she opened her sports backpack, she said softly, "About this, do you know what day it is today? Yusuke."

"...?"

"As expected..." The girl murmured softly and took out a long white cardboard box from her backpack, with a store logo that Kato Yusuke didn't recognize printed on it.

"...Before coming here, I met with Jia Zi and contacted my family once. I told her that I would sleep out today, and then I came to you."

"——!"

Her tone was very calm, as if she was discussing what to eat today. However, when Yusuke Kato heard it, his eyes fluctuated slightly.

Hui didn't explain much, just carried the cardboard box back to the low table, put it on the table, and started to open it.

A Napoleon cake covered with whipped cream and filled with bright strawberries appeared in it.

Immediately afterwards...

The girl took out two more numerical candles and inserted the numbers "1" and "6" on the cake.

Bang, the lighter lit the candle.

Kato Yusuke, who was sitting opposite, was slightly startled before he could speak.

"That~~" Hui cleared her throat, a smile slowly bloomed at the corner of her mouth, and said with a slight tone of voice:

"Happy birthday, Kato-san."

The beautiful face shone under the firelight and lights, and was deeply burned into someone's eyes.

Pat pat pat pat, raindrops slapped against the window glass.

The room suddenly fell silent.

Kato Yusuke moved his lips, then lowered his gaze.

"Sorry, after all, I have seen the student union roster, so I know about this." The girl explained first, and then asked softly: "So... let's blow out the candles together?"

a long time……

"Okay..." Kato Yusuke said in a voice that seemed to be squeezed out of his throat, his hands clenched together, and the veins were exposed.

Hui's eyes became gentler, and she moved her body to his side, kneeling on the carpet.

Her eyes fell on his left hand in the next second. The girl gently pulled it up with both hands and placed it on her lap. Then she took out a round box from her pocket and opened the lid.

——There is a transparent substance like colloid inside.

"This is aloe vera gel." Hui explained, reaching out and taking some gel from it, and gently applied it on the back of his hand.

Yusuke was puzzled by this, but still let her do what she did.

"What on earth did it take to get hurt like this?" There was a rare hint of reproach and concern in his tone.

"..."

Kato Yusuke responded with silence, just accepting the manipulation silently, feeling the cold and slippery gel spreading in his hands.

"...I'm sorry, today is also your birthday. I don't have anything to give you."

Hui paused for a moment, then took some more aloe vera gel and began to apply it on the palm of his hand.

"By the way, Yusuke?"

"……What?"

"Well, during your absence, I found two portraits of me in the locked cabinet in the student union room...so was that one painted by you?"

"……Um."

"That's right, it's good, then that is my gift..."

——Boom!

Along with a dull thunder, the light above the head suddenly went out with a "pop".

The room suddenly became dark, with only the faint candlelight slightly illuminating their faces.

"...There's a power outage."

"……ah."

"Aloe vera gel, have you applied it?"

"good."

The two looked at each other and looked away at the same time.

There was a sound of rain outside the window, but it was very quiet inside the house.

The warm candlelight swayed, illuminating the girl's appearance even more delicately.

Immediately afterwards...

Even the candles went out silently.

The living room was completely plunged into darkness.

"..."

The small hand moved slowly, slowly squeezing the fingers between the five fingers of the other big hand, and then clasping their hands together.

Kato Yusuke turned to look in the direction of the girl.

I don't know why, but I always feel like the two sides are looking at each other, but I'm not sure...

The sudden darkness seemed to change something, and a different kind of atmosphere began to flow in the air.

Rustling, rustling...

Along with the faint movement, the faint fragrance of cherry blossoms drifted into the nose.

"..."

Wait until your eyes are almost used to the dark.

The hazy outline of the girl also appeared in Kato Yusuke's eyes again.

A pair of autumn-like eyes are very bright, as bright as sea water without dust particles, quiet and agile.

"...Yusuke, happy birthday."

Hui's crooning voice echoed lightly, bringing with it a faint and warm breath, gently brushing Yusuke's face and blowing his eyes.

"Happy birthday to us..."

There was a gentle squeeze on his hand, as if it was telling him something.

In the darkness, the girl gently closed her eyes, raised her chin slightly, and slowly approached him.

The pale pink lips were slightly open, and the moist lips seemed to be wrapped in translucent gauze, giving off a faint sheen.

Kato Yusuke clearly sensed this.

The atmosphere is really great. It's raining heavily outside, but the glass inside makes the room even more quiet and comfortable.

He instinctively grasped the catkins in his hand. The feedback was soft and delicate, and he immediately let go.

The two heartbeat sounds gradually overlapped together.

Just a second before their lips were about to touch...

sizzling...

The light above the head flickered twice, then bloomed again, illuminating the room brightly.

As the darkness recedes, the emotional side of my heart seems to be swept away with it.

Within a short distance, Kato Yusuke suddenly turned his face to the side and stepped back.

"...I'm going to cut the cake." He said letting go of the girl's hand, stood up from the ground, and walked to the kitchen with the cake.

He didn't look at Hui's expression, and he didn't have the courage to look back. He just cut two pieces of cake with a knife and put them on two plates respectively, and then turned back to the low table.

At this time, Hui was sitting where he had been with her head lowered, her smooth hair covering her face, making her expression invisible.

"...your cake."

Kato Yusuke sat down where the other person had been sitting before, and the two of them switched sides.

"Oh~ yes, it's really~ thank you for your hard work, Kato-san." The girl raised her head expressionlessly, her face was slightly flushed but her expression was as usual... at least on the surface, except for the slightly deeper look in her eyes.

"..."

"Ah, by the way, can you turn on the TV? I feel a little bored."

Kato Yusuke nodded slightly, stood up, turned on the TV, and handed over the remote control.

"Thank you." Hui's voice was very calm. She switched the TV to a TV series and started watching it quietly.

some time later.

The girl watched the TV intently, while Kato Yusuke remained silent, and the two did not speak anymore.

It wasn't until half past 10 o'clock.

Megumi took the initiative to clear away the plates after finishing the cake. Yusuke also got up and walked to the closet, took out a new pillow and blanket, and returned to the bed to replace them.

The two of them were busy each other and became a little silent.

Kato Yusuke put the new pillow on the bed and put the one he used on the carpet with the blanket for later use.

He turned to look at the kitchen and saw the girl still washing the dishes there. The foamy water produced by the dishwashing liquid was stuck to her slender fingers, and she kept rubbing the unstained dishes.

"I'm going to take a shower. I'll give you the bed. Get some rest early."

"...Well, I understand."

Kato Yusuke then came to the bathroom and walked into the bathroom after taking off his clothes.

There are still some water droplets hanging on the smooth porcelain walls of the bathtub.

The scent of shampoo and milk shower gel that did not belong to him floated in the air.

A strange sense of disobedience stirred up ripples in his heart, but he suppressed it immediately.

He didn't use the bathtub anymore, but simply took a shower with the shower head.

After that, I dried my body and hair, and brushed my teeth...

When Kato Yusuke returned to the living room again, the lights and TV in the room had been turned off.

He looked normal at this, and groped his way to the carpet according to the remembered position, and lay down on it.

Rustling.

The girl moved around on the bed and said, "I'm sorry, I'm obviously doing my own willfulness, but I want you to sleep on the floor. Isn't this very cunning?"

"……Won't."

"That's it."

Puff puff……

A sound like two little feet flapping came from the end of the bed.

"Well, can I say one thing?"

"?"

"The bed smells like you."

There was a brief silence.

"Sorry, is that weird...?"

"No, it makes people feel very calm."

For a few moments a silent silence filled the room.

I don't know when the rain stopped, and there was no more tapping on the glass window.