After changing out of his sportswear, he returned to the classroom with the boys. When he arrived at the back door, Naruse saw Hikaru Takigawa leaning in the corridor, looking down at the girl in front of him.
The two were chatting about something, but he didn't pay attention and returned to his seat.
After a while, Takigawa Mitsu and Nakahara Yuki, who came over for a night class meeting, walked into the classroom one after another.
"Spring Sea."
The classroom was gradually becoming quiet, and she called him softly, "My friend invited me to go to the karaoke bar at the Central Station. Do you want to come?"
Naruse was startled, then quickly shook his head.
"Okay. Then I won't go to the handicraft club with you today."
"Yeah."
Zhongyuan Xue didn't have much to explain, and the evening shift meeting was over in a few minutes.
The students gradually dispersed, and the students on duty were preparing to clean up. Naruse packed up his things and left the classroom with Naoko.
There were several boys in the corridor who had not yet left. They all cast meaningful glances at this moment, seeming to express their approval of his choice, but also sad that the person standing next to Shangzi was not him.
Naruse greeted and said goodbye as usual, consolidating the newly established relationship; and although the gaze was not obvious, Naoko was still somewhat aware of it.
"Chunhai seems to have become familiar with the boys in the class."
"Yeah."
"Great."
Naruse also smiled, "Probably because everyone is relatively simple-minded, and I feel that the boys in Class C are easy to get along with."
Shangzi looked at him and said, "That's great."
The two walked past the classroom of Class E, and Naruse glanced inside.
Seeing that Kazuha didn't go home early today, Mori sat by the window and read a book.
Haixing was not here, he estimated that she had been taken to another classroom to prepare for a make-up exam.
"If Kazuha asks directly, will Haixing refuse?"
By this time, Naoko had almost understood what Morimi was thinking.
"Who knows."
Naruse shook his head and then asked: "Do they have any conflicts?"
"No."
Shangzi answered quickly and added, "As far as I know, there shouldn't be."
Qingliu is a small place. We grew up together and are very familiar with each other. We have gone to school together almost every day and have gone home together almost every day over the years. If someone has a conflict with someone, it is actually easy to tell.<
/p>
"That's the problem of Haixing's 'personality'." Naruse said, irresponsibly placing all the blame on his former stepsister.
Shangzi smiled and said nothing.
When they arrived at the handicraft club, Rina Ogawa, who was sitting near the door, noticed the two of them and greeted them warmly.
"Why don't we come together today?"
Naruse bowed his head in greeting, "I'm disturbing you again, Ogawa-senpai."
"No, no, there are not many boys in the handicraft club, let alone handsome guys like Naruse-san, we all welcome them."
Looking around, Ogawa Rina smiled at Naoko again, "I'll go ask the minister for an application form for joining the ministry later."
Naoko smiled and declined, "Chunhai is still thinking about it."
As the largest club in Tsugao, the Handicraft Club has a large number of members, so the club is much larger than the average club.
In addition to a huge long table in the middle, there are also some things that can be considered tables and chairs scattered in various corners, such as wooden boxes and boards. It can be seen that these are the members themselves
Made.
The other parts are the truly carefully crafted works by the members of the Handicraft Club. When Naruse came to the Handicraft Club, it was more like visiting than accompanying Naoko.
For the maker, this is also a happy moment, and the members of the handicraft club are happy to let him look around.
Shangzi sat down at his seat, picked up the half-finished doll and continued sewing, looking up at him from time to time.
While wandering around, Naruse stopped next to a second-year senior sister.
"Shangzi."
While she was watching, a first-grade girl came to her side and showed her a ball of cloth in her hand.
"I've made it." She looked at her expectantly.
Shangzi picked up the piece of cloth, pulled it open and took a look. The details were exquisite and the decoration was gorgeous. Then he remembered that this was some kind of shoulder ornament that the other party had mentioned before.
"It's finally finished. It's so beautiful." She looked at it carefully for a while before saying.
"Yeah!"
After another glance, Shangzi returned the shoulder strap to her, "Next, it's time to make the cuff decorations."
"Yes. But it only took so long to sew the shoulder straps. I don't know if it can be finished before the cultural festival starts..."
The two chatted for a few more words, and Shangzi continued to praise her while comforting her that it was still early, and the girl returned to her seat.
She looked at Naruse again and found that he not only stayed beside the senior sister, but also sat down.
"..."
She wasn't worried, just confused.
What are you looking at?
......
"There are many factions within the handicraft society."
Naruse said this when walking out of Prefectural Tsu High School.
"Those who play with paper, those who play with wood, those who play with plastic, those who play with metal..."
He raised his right hand, bent one finger after listing an item, and finally looked at Shangzi, "There are also people playing with cloth."
The girl playing with cloth smiled slightly, "Is this the result that Harumi got after today's investigation?"
“It’s not an investigation, just a little understanding.”
"After understanding this, Chunhai still doesn't plan to join the handicraft club?"
Naruse pondered for a while.
"Still thinking about it."
Shangzi didn't say anything, and instead chatted with him about the past of the handicraft club.
"The original handicraft club seemed to be split from some club. The members at that time were all model enthusiasts and liked to play with high...high..."
"Gundam?"
"Well, Gundam. After a few years, the club gradually developed and expanded, and attracted many other types of craft enthusiasts, just like the 'paper-playing' and 'wood-playing' people that Chunhai just said..."
Shangzi smiled and continued:
"Later, the tailoring department was abolished due to insufficient members, and the few members were absorbed into the handicraft club. So later on, those of us who 'played with cloth' would also choose to join the handicraft club.
”
Naruse nodded thoughtfully.
"It's really not easy to manage such a large and complex society." He had a new impression of the minister who didn't talk much.
"Yeah." Shangzi nodded without thinking much.
"Speaking of which, is Kazumi Suzuki a friend of Naoko? She seems to be in Class C too." Naruse suddenly asked.
"Ah." Shangzi was slightly startled, "Yeah."
Naruse nodded to express understanding.
"What happened to Kazumi?"
"She seems to be a little concerned about my relationship with Shangzi. She just chatted a little bit more."
"Hemei is one of my very important friends."
"That's it."
After leaving the school, the two of them walked and chatted towards the bus stop.
When they arrived nearby, before they got there, they all saw the girl with blond hair sitting on the bench on the platform.
"... Enemies meet on a narrow road."
Naoko turned his head, and Naruse beside him looked at the sky and chattered.
She smiled and said, "Don't say that."
She vaguely knew that he seemed to have a plan to reconcile with Haixing before, but the last time he invited her to the party, he was rejected, and the idea was quietly extinguished.
Soon, Haixing also saw them.
"Starfish." Shangzi greeted.
"Oh, it's Shangzi."
She stiffly ignored her former stepbrother beside her.
"How's the make-up exam going?" Shangzi asked.
"Ah..."
Haixing didn't expect her to ask this question, so he blushed, gaped, and glared at Naruse who didn't speak at all, only to find that he didn't look at her at all, and more annoyance welled up in his heart.
But she couldn't get angry with Shangzi.
"Oops, it's almost done." She said vaguely.
Shangzi smiled and revealed: "It would be very troublesome if you can't pass all the time."
"...Woo!"
Starfish's face quickly turned redder, "I don't want to either."
"Why don't you ask Kazuyo for advice? With her guidance, it's just a minimum pass, at least it's not a problem." Naoko said again.
"One leaf..."
Starfish pursed her lips, looked down at her toes, and then glanced aside.
"Better...don't bother her with this kind of thing."