bookbashuk Page 19
Page 19
“Let’s watch for a little longer, then we’ll head down the mountain,” he said.
"Ah."
-
They went down the mountain together, and then took the tram home separately.
Kitahara Hakuba, feeling only soreness in his ankle, walked along the familiar street and could already see the telephone pole in front of his house.
"JK? This uniform is so pretty. I wonder if the clothes underneath the skirt are pretty too?"
As a typical thug's line rang out in the night, he saw a middle-aged man in a suit, reeking of alcohol, standing by the telephone pole.
Kitahara Hakuba was taken aback. Could this guy be getting aroused by his rented apartment?
He quickly went over and found a girl wearing the uniform of Shenxu High School sitting on the low steps in front of his house, keeping her head down despite the harassment.
"Hey, what are you doing here! I'm calling the police if you don't leave!"
Kitahara Hakuba strode forward, grabbed the drunk man's arm, and said in a gloomy tone.
Seemingly terrified of the police, a hint of panic appeared on the middle-aged man's face, but he still feigned concern and said:
"I was just passing by! What can you do to me?"
"Get out of here!"
Kitahara Hakuma gave him a hard jerk, and his whole body swayed to the side. Without causing any more trouble, he ran away in a flash.
The girl, who was sitting on the steps hugging her legs, finally looked up at Kitahara Hakuba. Because of the sports seat, the view under her skirt was completely exposed.
The girl's appearance was very cute, with a kind of innocent and hazy quality, as pure and white as the fabric.
[Character: Yuka Isomoto]
[Instrument played: Euphonium, LV8]
[Growth Potential: D]
[Resilience: D]
What? It's Yuka Isomoto! He thought she was some kind of Hokkaido war goddess who had just delivered herself to his doorstep.
"Isogen-kun? What are you doing here?" Kitahara Hakuba quickly squatted down to ask, her eyes red, as if she had just been crying.
"me......"
Yuka Isomoto's gaze was somewhat blank, her nails dug slightly into her soft skin, her vocal cords emitted a strange sound that was almost a wail, and glistening emotions slid from her eyes.
No, don't cry in the street. If passersby see you, they'll think you're bullying a young girl.
"What's wrong? Tell the teacher what happened." Kitahara Hakuba was almost paralyzed with fear.
Yuka Isomoto knelt directly on the ground, her fingers tightly gripping Hakuma Kitahara's trousers, looking up at him and saying:
"Teacher, please help me! I'll do anything I can!"
Chapter 22. Let's Show Some Determination
Feeling in the dark, Kitahara Hakuba pressed the switch on the wall, and instantly, the cold white indoor light illuminated the room.
"The room is a bit small, come in and sit for a while," he said, turning to look at Yuka Isomoto standing at the door.
"Is this... convenient?"
Yuka Isomoto sobbed, her nerves taut, her eyes darting around in confusion.
Kitahara Hakuba was a little puzzled. "You've come crying to my door. If I don't invite you in for a while and just kick you out, wouldn't that make me seem heartless?"
Although his profession is sensitive, he couldn't let Isomoto Yuka go back because of his professional ethics as a teacher.
If something really happens, he will regret it for the rest of his life.
"It's alright, come in. It's very cold outside. Your fingers are all red from the cold, aren't they?" Kitahara Hakuba said softly.
Upon hearing his words, Yuka Isomoto subconsciously curled her fingers, took off her black loafers in the entryway and placed them neatly before stepping onto the wooden floor with her feet encased in black ankle socks.
"sit down."
Kitahara Hakuba pointed to the single sofa where he usually sat and poured her a glass of water that had been kept warm all day.
"Thank you."
"How did you know I lived here?" Kitahara Hakuba asked.
He has never told anyone where he lives, not even Shinomiya Haruka knows his address.
Yuka Isomoto bit her lower lip, and a sticky silence built a transparent high wall between the two of them. She stared quietly at the floor, as if she was running away from something.
The girl pressed her fingers firmly against the cup, and through the cup, Kitahara Hakuba could vaguely see the white ridges of her thumb in the water.
Seriously? Someone opened my box?
"Never mind that, can you tell me what happened?" Kitahara Hakuba asked.
Anyway, he didn't owe any high-interest loans and didn't have any enemies, so having his address known wasn't a very annoying thing.
"I...I'm going to find Yueye."
What offensive things did she say to you?
"No, no, it's my fault. If I had played the euphonium properly, if I hadn't dragged everyone down last year, Tsukiyo wouldn't have left the club. She did nothing wrong."
The sound emanating from Yuka Isomoto's throat was utterly helpless, a barely audible, heart-wrenching sigh escaping between her teeth.
Kitahara Hakuba was speechless for a moment. How could I possibly understand what you're telling me?
"You went to see her, and then she beat you up?" he asked.
"No, Yueye is very gentle."
"So what exactly happened? Is it just because she left the department that you're so upset?"
Yuka Isomoto bit her lower lip, her long eyelashes fluttering like butterfly wings: "It hurts so much...it hurts so much, I feel like I'm going to die."
Surely not...
Kitahara Hakuba felt a chill run down his spine.
"Then it's no use you coming to me. Nagase-kun won't come back just because I say something."
"If I play the euphonium well, the moon will return, so please, Kitahara-sensei—!"
Yuka Isomoto became increasingly agitated as she spoke, and with a thud, she knelt on the floor again, her heart-wrenching words echoing between the floor and the ceiling.
"Make me a really amazing person! I'm willing to do anything!"
Kitahara Hakuba was startled again by her, and he knelt down as well, saying helplessly:
"Don't keep doing this. Get up quickly, it's not a good influence."
Ah, I really want to take a shower and go to bed.
Yuka Isomoto buried her face in her thin palms, her trembling voice laced with barely audible sobs: "I want to become stronger. I'll do anything to make myself stronger."
"If it's playing an instrument, I will teach you properly out of a sense of responsibility."
Despite this, what troubled Kitahara Hakuba was that Isomoto Yuka's double-D qualification was really difficult to handle.
The same practice can be completed in one day by Kirishima Mai, while it might take Goto Yu, who is at the A-level, about three days.
Those with a growth potential of D will likely need a week, or even longer.
The key figure in her growth was not him at all, but Yuka Isomoto herself.
"If I don't get stronger and Yueye doesn't come back, Qingniao and I will be doomed."
Kitahara Hakuba didn't know anything about matters involving girls and, unsure how to comfort her, could only say:
"No such thing."
Yuka Isomoto's fingers gripped the hem of her pleated skirt tightly, and her expression gradually turned somewhat anxious:
"Moonlight is the only bridge between me and Qingniao. Without her, we would definitely become strangers. I don't know what to do at school anymore. I really don't know."
"Aren't we still here? If you're unhappy, you can come to the teacher, and the school will help you with psychological counseling." Kitahara Hakuba's voice was gentle.
Yuka Isomoto's eyes flickered slightly. She took another breath, tilted her head back, and gazed at Hakuba Kitahara, saying:
"Teacher, are you saying you don't want to help me?"
"I never said that..."
Kitahara Hakuba sensed a somber mood in the air. He stared at the girl's flushed cheeks and said...
"If you really want to learn properly, bring your instrument to the music room at 5:30 tomorrow morning."
"Half past five?"
Too early?
It was 5:30 in Hakodate City, and it was still dark. However, Kitahara Hakuba was just saying it casually, since he had seen too many people who talked a lot but did nothing.
Even if they did it, it usually took three days.
—Let me see how determined you are.
"No...no, I'm fine with anything." Yuka Isomoto quietly looked away, feeling a slight astringency on her tongue.
"It's too late now, I'll take you home."
"Thank you, teacher. I can go back by myself."
"If you encounter anything strange on the road, I'll feel guilty."
Kitahara Hakuba stood up, a tingling sensation running through his legs, and extended his hand to the girl, saying...
"Get up."
Yuka Isomoto made no attempt to hide her flushed cheeks as she stared intently at Hakuba Kitahara in front of her.
"Teacher, don't you dislike me?"
"You're so cute, how could I possibly dislike you?"
He smiled, and his straightforward answer gradually changed Isomoto Yuka's mood. She grasped Kitahara Hakuba's hand in return.
Is this a man's hand? It's so big... and so hot...