Daily life in Zongman

She looked at her sister's stunned expression, said nothing more, and turned to go to school. If encouragement didn't work, she wanted to try to stimulate her sister.

Yuzuru Nishimiya cares very much about his sister.

At the fork in the road, Nishimiya Glass looked at her sister walking away, and walked towards the school with her head slightly lowered.

She was still in Class 6-2 at Shuimen Elementary School. After Fujiwara Haru's speech, the bullying in the class had basically stopped. She was very happy and felt that she would be able to make friends quickly.

However, after that, things did not go as she expected.

After changing seats, Ueno Naoka, who was sitting behind her, rejected her. The students sitting on her left and in front of her did not respond to her. The one sitting on her right was the class monitor Igawa.

Class monitor Kawai wrote a long message in her notebook: "I'm sorry I bullied you before. I don't know how to express this, but this is what I truly feel: I don't want to help you anymore. Helping you has caused me a lot of trouble in my life and studies. Please solve your problems on your own in the future. I'm sorry."

They are still desk mates, but the distance between them has become greater.

Nishimiya Glass put away the notebook, no longer placing it on the table for people to doodle, nor did she show it to anyone at random. She only had one target in her mind: Fujiwara Haru.

She flipped through the page that was left out. There was no graffiti or feces on it, nor were there any traces of other people's writing. It was a very clean page with only seven lines of words on it.

"Hello, nice to meet you again. My name is Nishimiya Shoko."

"I'm sorry, please say it again, I didn't hear you clearly."

"I'm so sorry, I didn't hear you clearly. Could you please write it down in the notebook?"

Light handwriting: "Have we met before?"

"Three days ago, you helped me on the bridge."

"I'm sorry, I didn't hear you clearly. Can you write it down? I'm sorry."

The handwriting was simple: "I remembered that incident. No need to thank me. I want to study. Don't disturb me."

Nishimiya Shoko knew very well that Fujiwara Haru was a good man, kind-hearted and brave. If it were him, they would definitely, probably, should, possibly, perhaps... become good friends.

Her confidence continued to decline as she got closer to Fujiwara Haru. She was very scared, very scared to say the words: "I want to be friends with you."

She was very afraid that after she spoke out, she would not get the result she wanted. Nitro knew very well that the probability of being rejected was very low and she had a high chance of success.

But as long as you don’t say it, that tiny probability is zero.

Nishimiya Shoko, because she cared too much, lost her former courage and she has never been able to take the first step: to walk over.

Today at school, she was still secretly paying attention to Fujiwara Haru. She found that he was sitting alone at the back of the classroom as usual, listening carefully in class and flipping through books to prepare for get out of class after class.

In her mind, she heard her younger sister Yuzuru's words: "Is this really okay? Time is running out. Are you going to keep hesitating, sister?"

The words kept echoing in her mind, and her courage kept churning.

Even after school, she still couldn't walk over. It was her turn to be on duty today, and she bit her lip as she watched Fujiwara Haru leave the school.

Squad leader Kawai began to assign tasks. She and Naoko cleaned the windows together, while the others were responsible for sweeping the floor and arranging the tables and chairs.

Nishimiya Shoko began to wipe the windows without motivation. She looked at the class monitor Kawai not far away and felt a little envious of her. Class monitor Kawai would occasionally take questions to Fujiwara Haru during breaks, but she didn't even dare to go over to him, let alone ask questions, for fear of being seen as a fool.

The two of them wiped from the windows on both sides of the classroom towards the middle, and finally met in the middle.

The others were cleaning the classroom while playing and laughing. Suddenly, Nishimiya Shoko heard the voice of the class monitor Kawai. She was very familiar with the voice of her deskmate.

"I failed."

Nishimiya Glass looked at the squad leader Kawai beside her, and the squad leader Kawai looked out the window, wiping the window as if he was not talking to her: "He is very handsome, I admire him very much."

"I've observed him for a long time, and I know very well that he has never had any friends. You know that too, right?

I tried to be friends with him, but failed. There was a rift between him and me.

It’s not that we isolated him, it’s that he didn’t want to be friends with a group of bullies like us.”

After squad leader Kawai finished wiping the window on her side, she looked at Nishimiya Glass next to her and said, "If it's you, it should be okay."

She turned around, put the rag away, picked up her schoolbag and left the classroom. Nishimiya Glass watched her go away, silently packed up her things and left the school.

At this moment, she didn't want to go home, so she sat on the swing in a small deserted park.

The words of her younger sister, Yuzuru, and her class leader, Kawai, echoed in her mind. She made a decision: she had to ask once. Be brave, be confident, be bold. She had to express her feelings!

Very good, let’s set it for, let’s set it for...tomorrow?

At dusk, Nishimiya Shoko was walking home. At a crossroads, she saw a familiar figure. He also saw her and nodded at her.

Nishimiya Glass stood in place, her eyes fixed on the red light in the distance. As the red light flashed, she walked closely on the zebra crossing and crossed the intersection.

Looking at Fujiwara Haru who was about to turn and leave, her mind suddenly went blank and she reached out to grab his hand.

Snapped,

However, she failed to grab it, and she was extremely nervous and slapped Fujiwara Haru on the back of her hand.

"Sigh~"

Fujiwara Haru rubbed the back of her hand which was a little red, and looked back at Nishimiya Naoko in surprise, and found that she had a devastated expression on her face, with tears quickly overflowing from her eyes.

"Waaaaaah! Ugh!"

Nishimiya Shoko broke down and cried. In her opinion, she had messed up everything.

Fujiwara Haru, completely bewildered, pulled her to the side of the road, bought some tissues from a street vendor, and handed them to her. He squatted beside her and waited for her to stop crying before asking, "What's wrong? Why are you crying all of a sudden?"

Nishimiya Glass stumbled and sobbed as she responded, "Duibuchi... Ugh (sob) ah... Oh (sob) it's too big..."

Apart from the "I'm sorry" at the beginning, I couldn't understand what Fujiwara Haru said afterwards. There was something different about the way Glass spoke, and with the sobs when she was sobbing, it was impossible to hear what she was saying.

There was no other way, he could only express it in sign language: Use sign language.

Thanks to Teacher Kita, under her guidance, Fujiwara Haru learned a lot of sign language.

Nishimiya Shoko responded: I'm sorry, I hit you.

Fujiwara Haru: It’s okay, why are you crying suddenly?

Nishimiya Shoko didn't reply, so Fujiwara Haru chose to change the subject and asked: Are you feeling better?

Nishimiya Glass: Thank you, I feel better.

Fujiwara Haru: Then, go home?

Nishimiya Glass didn't reply. She lowered her head and tried to stop sobbing. She stretched out her hand, pointed at herself, then at Fujiwara Haru, and then closed her palms.

Fujiwara Haru subconsciously muttered the meaning of the sign language: "You and me, what?"

He didn't understand the meaning of putting his palms together at the end. Teacher Kita didn't teach him that.

However, Teacher Kita taught that in the first sign language class, she taught that putting your palms together means: friends.

Fujiwara Haru skipped that class.

Fujiwara Haru asked simply: What does this (putting hands together) mean?

Nishimiya Glass blinked through her bangs, quickly put down her schoolbag, dug out her notebook, took out a pen and wrote: "Friends"

"Can I be your friend?"

Fujiwara Haru leaned over to watch her finish writing and nodded: "Oh, that's what I meant."

He looked up at the sky, at the sunset, at the cars on the street, and lowered his head to tuck his toes in his shoes.

Hmm…making friends…making friends…

How should you make friends?

Fujiwara Haru didn't know that he had no friends.

Anyway, let me respond first.

He stood up, motioned for Nishimiya Glass to stand up as well, and then said using sign language, "Okay."

Nishimiya Glass looked at Fujiwara Haru in surprise, her face full of joy. She asked again in sign language: Um, is it true?

Sign language + words: "Really."

Fujiwara Haru didn't dislike Nishimiya Shoko. She was quite discerning in choosing him as her friend. So, they would be friends from now on!

Sign language + words: "Let's go home."

Nishimiya Glass nodded quickly and responded: "Yeah!"

Fujiwara Haru made her first friend, and so did Nishimiya Glass. It wasn't formal, or exciting, just a simple one: she asked, and he agreed.

He took a step forward, and Glass quickly followed, following beside him half a body length behind.

In the dim sunlight, the shadows of the two people were stretched very long, intertwining and interweaving under the street lights.

——End of Chapter————

Note ①-Teacher Arato: From the Arato family of traditional Chinese medicine in "Food Wars! Shokugeki no Soma", he is an expert in medicinal cuisine and is set to be a relative of Arato Hisako.

Note ②-The rice cake shop in Rabbit Mountain Shopping Street: From "Tamako Market", it is the shop of Tamako family.

28. Things that are not available to young people

Fujiwara Haru has been feeling a bit fatter lately, and it's especially noticeable when she looks in the mirror. Her face is puffy, and she's also gaining weight on her arms, chest, stomach, thighs, and calves.

I wanted to weigh myself to calculate how much heavier I was than before, but I found that I had no idea how much I weighed before. I only knew that I was 35kg now.

As for height, I am 140cm now and I have grown a lot taller this year.

On the first screen of the light blue screen, strength and agility became 3.1, and constitution also changed from the lowest attribute 2.6 to the highest attribute 3.3.

The second practice picture on the light blue screen remained unchanged, and the prompts were still: eat more, exercise more, eat less snacks, and get more sleep.

Fujiwara Haru followed his instructions and ran around the city every afternoon, exploring the city's vibrant spots and exercising. Thanks to Ms. Yukino's care, he had a rich and varied breakfast, lunch, and dinner. In the evening, after taking a bath at home, he would watch some TV before going to bed, sleeping from 9 pm to 7:30 am the next morning.

Drink a glass of milk before going to bed and a glass of milk after waking up, two large glasses a day.

He knew very well that these were conditions that were very beneficial to his physical development, and therefore he became more grateful to Miss Yukino. As the New Year was approaching, he began to prepare New Year's gifts.

I was browsing the shops today, trying to decide what gifts to give.

"Nishimiya, I want to give Miss Yukino a New Year's gift. What gifts do you think would be good?"

"I think pine flowers are very delicate."

"I deliver it every week and want something new."

"Whose favorite coal food is it?"

“It’s also delivered every Monday, which isn’t very good.”

"So...do you have medicine...Fujiwara-kun, can you please go back and ask Ms. Yukina directly?"

"No, if I ask, it won't be a surprise. I want to prepare a surprise."

"Look like this..." Nishimiya Glass walked beside him and helped him choose gifts.

After they became friends, Nishimiya Glass often came to visit him, and he would also visit her at her house. Today, they had an appointment at Usagiyama Shopping Street, and Fujiwara Haru hoped to refer to her advice and choose a New Year's gift for Miss Yukino.

After shopping for an afternoon, before the sun set, Fujiwara Haru sent Nishimiya Shoko home, watched her enter the house, and then went home too.

The next day, after finishing his homework, Fujiwara Haru turned on the TV and watched it for a while. The movie "Godzilla" was playing on TV, and the huge monster gave him a great shock.

Since he had finished watching "Ultraman Tiga" in his dream last night, his first reaction now was that it would be great if he had a magic wand so that he could directly transform into Tiga and fight Godzilla.

Miss Yukino sat aside. After watching the show together, she brewed two cups of green tea and placed them on the table. The two of them continued to watch the subsequent programs together while drinking tea.

Looking at Miss Yukino, Fujiwara Haru decided to ask directly: "Ms. Yukino, I want to give my friend Nishimiya a New Year's gift. What do you think is a good gift?"

"Nose?" Nishimiya Shoko had come to play several times, and Yukino Shindong had some impression of her.

Fujiwara Haru nodded in response: "Yes."

Yukino Shindong thought for a while and said, "How about a bracelet? Or a headband or something, practical and beautiful."

Thinking about it, he nodded: "This is good."

On the third day, December 12, the last day of the year, Fujiwara Haru and Miss Yukino stayed at home together, had a sumptuous New Year's Eve dinner, and then sat on the sofa watching TV programs together.

As the New Year countdown bell rang, he took out the prepared New Year gifts from under the table.

"Jiangjiang! New Year's gift!"

This way of expressing surprise is a bit childish, but children always start by imitating others. Fujiwara Haru learned this way of expressing surprise from Miss Yukino, and no one said he was childish, so he kept it.

Xue No Shen Dong accepted the New Year's gift with joy, shook it gently, listened to the sound inside, and asked, "Is it delicious?"