Lonely Rock: Love Songs Dedicated to the Stars

Chapter 67 School Trip (Part 7)

The schedule for the third day of the school trip was to meet at the hotel at 4 PM, where the homeroom teacher and class committee would take attendance and then lead the students home. So everyone had plenty of time to explore and have fun on this day.

Yuma and the other three planned to visit Nara, which would only take about half an hour by train.

Early in the morning, Kenzaki Yuuma arrived at the hotel restaurant to have breakfast.

The restaurant's breakfast was also buffet style; you could help yourself to whatever you wanted. Yuzhen picked out her breakfast with her tray and then noticed a long queue in front of one of the stalls.

What are they doing over there?

Xingge carried the tray to Youzhen's side; she had just gotten up and come down to eat breakfast.

"I don't know." Yu Zhen shook his head honestly.

“That was Aikawa’s doing.” Kamishiro walked toward the two of them. “When that guy came here for breakfast this morning, he saw the tools for making takoyaki on that stall and insisted on showing off his skills, and that’s how it happened.”

"So everyone's queuing up to wait for him to serve the food?"

Yuma looked at the stall and, sure enough, saw Aikawa making takoyaki.

Aikawa's movements were very skillful, and the transitions were very natural; it was obvious he was a master. Yuuma and Hoshika hadn't expected him to know this kind of thing; they had really underestimated him.

“His takoyaki is delicious.” Kamishiro shared the takoyaki on his plate with Yuzuru and Hoshika. “You should try some too. I heard from Aikawa that it’s a family recipe. But his dad didn’t want to learn it, so his grandfather had to pass it on to him.”

Yuma and Hoshika tried the takoyaki made by Aikawa, and it was indeed delicious.

"It tastes great!"

Yuma gained a new understanding of Aikawa. It's no wonder it's a family heirloom; the skill is truly impressive.

"Indeed, it tastes very good."

Xingge also thought that Aikawa's takoyaki was delicious.

However, the three of them quickly realized the problem. Aikawa was currently busy making takoyaki and couldn't get away, so it seemed their four-person trip to Nara would have to be postponed.

"I'm sorry, I've taken up everyone's time."

After the stall ran out of ingredients, the people in line dispersed, and Aikawa was finally able to get away and eat his breakfast. He decided that he would never again try to stand out in such matters.

"Speaking of which, your takoyaki is really delicious." Yuuma showed great interest in this. "Could you teach me how?"

"I'm sorry, I'm afraid that won't work." This time, Aikawa wasn't as playful as usual. "Grandpa said that this is a craft passed down from generation to generation in the family, and it's not to be passed on to outsiders."

"Okay, I understand."

Yuzhen had asked with a bit of wishful thinking, wondering what if he could actually teach him? But he wasn't too disappointed after being rejected, since he had expected it.

……

After dinner, everyone boarded the train to Nara. Clearly, there were more than just the four of them going to Nara; they saw three other groups from their class, but they weren't traveling together, as it would be inconvenient to move around in a large group.

As they walked from the subway station toward Nara Park, they passed through the shopping street near Nara Station. Yuma and Aikawa saw a few shops where they could spin gashapon toys, so they went in and played for a bit.

"Kenzaki, what did you get?"

Aikawa held up a pendant of an anime character that he had gotten from a gashapon machine and sidled up behind Yuuma.

Yuma and Hoshika drew from a different gashapon machine.

"This is mine."

Yuma was still squatting next to the gashapon machine, holding up the mini Agito belt pendant she had just gotten for Aikawa to see.

"What a pity, I would have preferred the EA pendant, but the Agito one is not bad either."

After he finished speaking, he stood up and felt Xingge pat him on the shoulder from behind.

'You've done all sorts of bad things, Agito, for hindering my EA draw.'

Clearly, he wasn't as indifferent as he claimed.

"Here, take this."

Xingge opened the gashapon machine and found that what she got seemed to be the EA belt pendant that Youzhen had mentioned. She put the pendant into Youzhen's hand.

"Then you won't have any, senior."

"I don't like this kind of thing anyway, so it doesn't matter whether I have it or not." Xingge said indifferently. "Let's go, let's hurry up and go to Nara Park. We've wasted so much time here."

"That's right, let's go quickly."

Yuma stuffed the two pendants into her pocket.

The four left the shopping street and soon arrived at Nara Park.

"There are indeed deer everywhere here."

As Yuuma was still looking around, a deer approached him, stretched its neck, and sniffed him.

"Hehe, give it a touch."

Yuzhen patted its head, but it didn't react. He looked at the fawn's face and felt that from this angle, the fawn looked like a puppy.

"Shall we go buy deer crackers?"

Aikawa saw a place selling deer crackers. There was a small house there, and a salesperson inside.

“Since we’re already here, let’s buy some.” Yuma and Aikawa walked towards the small house. “Senpai, you and Kamishiro wait for us here for a while, we’ll be right back.”

"Okay, you can go ahead, don't worry about us."

The two bought a lot of deer crackers, and as they walked back, several deer followed them. One of the deer even tugged at Yuu-chan's clothes, trying to stop him from leaving.

"The way back was fraught with difficulties too." Yuzhen took out a tissue and wiped the drool from the hem of his shirt. His shirt pockets were soaked.

He and Aikawa divided the deer crackers in their hands into four portions. After receiving their portions, the four of them broke off a small piece and took a bite. They had been curious about what this stuff tasted like for a long time.

"It has no taste."

Yu Zhen couldn't taste anything. He felt the texture was okay, but it had no flavor. But since it was for deer, whether humans could taste it or not was irrelevant.

"It really has no taste."

Xingge couldn't taste the flavor either.

Aikawa and Kamishiro also felt it had no flavor.

As they were enjoying their meal, the deer surrounded them, forcing them to move to a secluded corner where they managed to shake off most of the deer.

Yuma took out a piece and fed it to the little deer that had been following him.

"Why would deer like to eat this kind of thing? It has no taste."

"You're not a deer, how could you possibly know how a deer feels?" Xingge, who was standing next to her, was also feeding the deer crackers in her hand to the deer that surrounded her. But two more deer came over, and one of them almost stuck its head into Xingge's chest in an attempt to snatch the deer crackers from her.

"Go away, go away." Yuzhen gave the deer cracker in her hand to the little deer to lure it away. "Honestly, I haven't even touched it yet, and you want to touch it."

"What are you arguing with the deer for?" Xingge finished feeding the deer crackers in her hand, sat on the bench next to her, and looked at Youzhen. "And can you please not be so blunt?"

She had long realized that she couldn't control Yuuma's language system, which was as explosive as thunder and could suddenly erupt at any moment, but Yuuma's bluntness made her feel ashamed. Fortunately, there was usually no one around when this guy said things like that.

“What’s wrong with that?” Yuma finished distributing the deer crackers in her hand and sat down next to Hoshika. “I only said that because you’re mine, senpai.”

"How did I become yours?"

"So that's what you think, senpai?" Yuma feigned a pitiful look. "So I got dumped? Oh well, it seems you're starting to dislike me too, senpai."

"What nonsense are you talking about?" Xingge punched his shoulder and shoved him irritably. "It's yours, okay? Stop using that disgusting tone."

"Hehe, I knew you wouldn't want to part with me, senior."

"Stop being so narcissistic."

Chapter 68 Ramen, Report, Back Massage

Because Aikawa had wasted too much time in the morning, the four of them played with the deer in Nara Park for a while until noon, so they found a ramen shop nearby for lunch.

Yuzhen glanced at the menu and discovered that the ramen at this shop could be topped with extra toppings, as many as she wanted.

“Then I’ll have a char siu ramen,” Yuzhen put down the menu. “I want double the char siu, and I want firm noodles, thick broth, double the amount of vegetables, garlic, and lard.”

He spoke so fast; it was clear this wasn't the first time he'd eaten like this. The shop assistant checked with Yuuma again before leaving. The three people sitting next to him stared at him in surprise. Although they knew Yuuma had a big appetite, they hadn't expected him to eat so much.

"I didn't see you eat this much noodles at Uncle Jingtian's place."

Xingge was surprised to learn that Youzhen had this habit of eating ramen for the first time.

“Didn’t we always eat breakfast at Uncle’s place?” Yuzhen broke off her disposable chopsticks. “I can’t eat that much so early in the morning, and I definitely don’t want to eat something so greasy.”

"That makes sense."

When the ramen for the four of them was served, Yu-ma's bowl stood out. It was a size bigger than the other three's, and it was covered with vegetables and minced garlic, with the noodles pressed down underneath.

Yuzhen first mixed the noodles with the vegetables and minced garlic, and then started eating.

He eats faster than others; it's become a habit. So even though he makes more ramen than the others, it doesn't take him much longer than Xingge and the other two.

The three watched him finish the last of his noodles, then drink some soup before putting down his bowl and taking a tissue from the tissue box on the table to wipe his mouth.

After lunch, the four of them returned to the hotel. They went back early to pack their luggage, then rested for a while before heading home.

"Oh no, the pendant you gave me, senior, is gone!" Yuzhen frantically searched his pockets, but found nothing. It was a gift from Xingge, and he was planning to display it in the most prominent spot in the showcase when he got back.

"Could it have been snatched away by a deer?" She remembered that Yuzhen had put the pendant in his shirt pocket, and that was the pocket on the side that got wet.

"Maybe. What bad luck."

What an inherently evil deer!

……

When Yuuma and Hoshika returned, they found that Aunt Ijichi and Nijika had already been back for two days, so Yuuma moved back to his own house. The school trip and the fact that he couldn't hold Hoshika to sleep for the next few days made him a little uncomfortable at first, but he gradually adapted and returned to his normal routine.

Two days have passed since the school trip ended.

The school trip report is due by the weekend. Yuma managed to gather information while having fun, so writing it went quite smoothly, and he's already halfway done.

But Xingge started to worry. When she tried to recall the tourist attractions these past two days, all she remembered was Yuma's confession to her at Fushimi Inari Shrine; she'd forgotten everything else, like the attraction's description. Her phone's photo album also contained no pictures of the attractions, only photos of Yuma that she'd secretly taken. So she could only ask Yuma to help her after school.

"I've sent you photos of Kinkaku-ji, Fushimi Inari-taisha, and Kiyomizu-dera. Oh, and photos of Nara Park too." Yuma put her phone away after sending the photos and picked up her pen again. "Photography isn't allowed at the other attractions. Ask me again when you get to those places."

"Thank you, you've been a great help."

Xingge breathed a sigh of relief as she looked at the photos on her phone.