The basketball teaching started at around nine in the morning and lasted until just before twelve noon.
"That's it for today."
After the teaching was over, the news agency reporter who had disappeared to unknown places suddenly appeared again and wanted to take photos of the basketball team members and the children.
Naruse and Naoko were almost fully involved in the whole process, and it was much more natural to be dragged into taking a group photo at this time.
Click!
After taking the group photo and saying goodbye to the children, Naruse went to the vending machine outside and bought three bottles of drinks.
"Give."
"Thank you." Hikaru Takigawa took the drink, opened it and took a sip, "I'm a little hungry too, let's find a place to eat."
"Yeah."
She still had to change clothes. Naruse and Naoko were waiting in the gym while watching the nursery staff organize the children's basketballs and basketball hoops and move them to the truck parked outside.
"Snowing is really inconvenient."
"Yeah."
What's more, it has been snowing continuously for several months, and outdoor sports will basically be affected.
After waiting for a while, Takigawa Hikaru changed back into her original clothes and came out.
"I'm leaving first——"
After saying hello to other members, she pulled the two of them out of the gym.
"Do you want to eat nearby, or go to the Civic Hall?"
"It's all fine," Naruse said, "but I'm not very familiar with the Civic Hall."
"Just follow me."
Takigawa Hikaru smiled, "Harumi hasn't been there for a long time."
"Yeah, the last time I went there was when I was in elementary school."
"Sakura Festival?"
"Almost."
"The time the spring sea and starfish fell into the water?"
"No, it's what happens later..."
The Civic Hall is located in Tsumae Park, next to Tsumae Castle. Although it is in a very eye-catching location, it is a little remote compared to Naruse's usual commuting route.
The three of them took the bus there and got off outside the park.
"There is a soba restaurant over there, do you want to go?"
"I seem to remember that store. Let's go."
When we came to the soba restaurant, the interior of the store was very large, with an ordinary lobby on one side and tatami mats on the other side.
When we came to the tatami, there were already a lot of people sitting inside, but it didn't seem crowded, and there were also friends of Hikaru Takigawa among them.
"Are you also here to see the wind club's concert?"
"Yeah. Aren't you going to teach children how to play basketball today? Isn't it already over?"
"It's over already."
"Sit here."
Hikaru Takigawa was pulled by a friend, and Monk Naruse sat at another dining table next to him.
The two of them ordered a piece of soba noodles each, and Naruse ordered a piece of prawn tempura and vegetable tempura.
"I remember when I came here last time, my mother said that the tempura in this shop usually tastes pretty good."
Shangzi looked at him and asked, "Are there any times when the smell is not good?"
"Sakura Festival."
"Eh? Why..."
"Because there are so many tourists, the tempura in the store is fried in advance, so the texture and taste are not as good as freshly fried ones."
Shangzi smiled and said, "That's it."
But today is just an ordinary day, the reception is not stressful, and the tempura that is served is golden, plump and crispy.
Eating soba noodles and tempura, both of us were very satisfied.
"Not bad."
"Yeah."
Naruse finished eating first and did nothing, touching the tatami under him and waiting for Naoko.
Snowflakes were flying outside. Only the shape of the fence outside the window could be seen, and the branches and leaves were all covered up.
He remembered that there used to be a parking lot outside, but it was no longer visible.
A few minutes later, when Naoko also finished eating, Takigawa Hikari was still chatting with her friends.
"Light."
"Ah, has Chunhai finished eating?"
"Yeah."
"Chunhai and Shangzi go over first, I will come to you later."
After leaving the soba restaurant, the two walked into Tsuzen Park. Instead of going directly to the Citizen's Hall, they strolled around the huge park for a while.
Trees stand along the road, their branches are covered with heavy snow, and vermilion bridges dot the boundless white world.
"You can't see the castle tower from here."
"The view is blocked, let's keep walking forward."
Across the inner moat, the two of them looked at the castle tower in the snow, and agreed to come together next spring before the Cherry Blossom Festival.
After wandering around for a while, the two of them went to the Civic Hall.
Walking into the corridor in front of the clubhouse, Naruse stamped his feet a few times and shook off the snowflakes on his body. Naoko came over and patted his shoulders and hair.
Entering the hall, the sign on the front has already hung up today’s performance information.
The entrance to the concert hall is on the first floor, and Naoko took Naruse to the second floor first. Members of the two high school wind clubs were sitting outside the backstage, waiting for the performance to start.
"Kwai."
"Shangzi!"
Shangzi took her friend who was about to perform on stage and chatted with her for a while.
"I'm so nervous..."
"The last rehearsal went very well, wasn't it? It would be nice to do it again in the current state."
"Well - I'm still nervous after all!"
"Well, moderate tension can also make you focus more."
"It would be great if I could always be calm like Shangzi."
Shangzi smiled and said, "If I were asked to perform on stage, I would be nervous too."
Naruse was a little bored waiting on the side, and was a little curious about the changes in the Civic Hall, which he hadn't been to for several years, so he proposed to go shopping somewhere else first.
"Okay... the concert starts at two o'clock."
"I'll just wander around, I won't go too far."
There is a stained glass wall at the entrance, which is very beautiful, just as he remembered it.
A new cafe has been opened on the second floor. There are many students from Jingao and Nangao sitting here. Most of them look relatively relaxed, but there are also poor children who are so nervous that their faces are stiff.
Naruse walked up and down in a full circle. Seeing that it was almost time, he entered the concert hall from the side entrance on the first floor.
There were already many people sitting on the seats near the stage. Except for students from two schools, the rest were basically the parents of the performers.
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Naruse glanced a few times, but didn't see Naoko, so he continued walking up, and on a seat in the middle and behind, someone cast his gaze from a distance.
"..."
After walking up a few more steps, Naruse also squinted at him.
"There's room here." She gestured.
"No one else will sit like this behind you except you." He walked over and asked, "Why is Morimi here too?"
Morimi looked at him and said, "I'm tired from studying, come here and relax a little."
Naruse only believed half of it - this was not the reason for her coming, but more like an excuse to convince herself after coming.
He sat down and asked, "Does Morimi have any friends in the wind club?"
"She's my cousin." She pointed toward the stage below, "And she's not in our school either. She's in the wind club of Nanjing High School."
"No wonder I haven't heard you mention it."
"Because we don't keep in touch with each other very often, I just received a message from her suddenly yesterday, asking me to come and watch her performance..."
Morimi took a breath and was too lazy to say more about this matter, so he asked him instead:
"Naruse came here alone? Impossible, where is Naoko?"
"I'm looking for her too."
Naruse glanced down, but there was still no sign of Naoko. It was estimated that she might still be cheering for her friend outside the backstage.
After sending a message to Naoko, he looked up at Morimi who was staring at him, "What?"
"It's nothing. I just feel a little lonely seeing Naruse and Naoko so close."
"How sour."
She smiled, put her hands on the armrests, and looked at him with her chin in her hands, "This is sincere."
Naruse looked at her and said, "It seems that you have made quite a breakthrough recently."
Otherwise, she would not have the leisure to be "lonely".
Morimi smiled even happier.
"It's just that I got first place in the mock exam at the study school yesterday."
No wonder she was willing to come to the concert and was in the mood to joke with him.
Naruse raised his hand and clapped twice, "Congratulations."
"Thank you."
After sharing this incident with him, the sense of satisfaction that lasted until now after finishing the exam yesterday expanded a bit more. Morimi stretched his body in relaxation and read books
"Okay... don't sit here with me, go find your Shangzi."
Naruse lowered his head and glanced at the message, and said casually: "Isn't Morimi lonely? I want to stay with you a little longer."
There was a sudden weight on the shoulders.
She leaned closer and said, "Is this okay?"
"..."
Naruse leaned to the side, avoiding her support, "バカ(baka)."
Leaning back, she hummed softly and pushed up her glasses again.
"Shangzi didn't come again..."
Before she finished speaking, a hand suddenly stretched out from behind the seat and touched her face.