I won't be a loser.

"I don't have any objections. What about Rio?"

Xianren looked at Futaba Rio and came in front of Xianren. The girl looked down at Xianren, was silent for a moment, and nodded.

"Then let's go to the barbecue restaurant."

After a little preparation, the group set out from home, crossed the road and walked a short distance before arriving at a famous barbecue restaurant nearby. After entering the restaurant, the three of them sat down and ordered the meat and vegetables they were interested in.

The task of settling the bill was left to Mari Fukaoka. As a tenant and also Kento's editor, she couldn't let Kento pay the bill every time she went out. Occasionally, she had to show her adult demeanor.

"It's 17,890 yen in total."

It was a relatively high-end restaurant in the area, and the prices were definitely not cheap. The expense for three people made Mari Fukaoka feel a pang of pain. She handed over the money with a calm expression on her face, but she couldn't stop sighing in her heart.

The set meal for one person is 4,500 yen, and the price for three people is 13,500 yen. Add the price of two glasses of shochu, and it's about the same.

"Okay, now let's go back and rest, right?"

Feeling pained, Mari Fukaoka no longer had the courage to stay outside. She just wanted to go back and rest as soon as possible, hoping that she could numb herself with glass after glass of wine and completely forget about this matter.

"I'm going to the bookstore. Rio, would you like to come with me?"

"Ah."

"Then I'll go back and rest."

Mari Fukazaki had no interest in going to the bookstore and just wanted to go back and rest early. Xianren looked at her face full of mental fatigue, as if she had been tortured. Thinking of the price just now, he smiled slightly and did not keep Mari Fukazaki.

Looking at the other person's back, Futaba Rio turned her gaze to the wise man beside her.

"Aren't you worried?"

"It's not a big deal. Just let her go back and rest. Let's go to the bookstore and see if there are any interesting new books recently."

"Ah."

There really aren't many books to read, and Futaba Rio also wants to go to the bookstore to see if there are any new works related to quantum physics. Kento won't be with her for the time being, so the only things that can accompany her are books.

In the park, Fujiwa Ninju was gently pushing the swing in front of her, while her daughter Fujiwa Elio was sitting on the swing with Miyamizu Futaba beside her.

No one spoke and the atmosphere was a little awkward.

"Come to think of it, eggplants were only 15 yen a bag at the supermarket yesterday, so I bought a lot. I'm going to use them to—"

"There's absolutely no need to carry on alone. This is also the responsibility that the Miyamizu family should shoulder."

"Huh? I'm not trying to force it. Look, I'm pushing the swing properly, right?"

"As the child's grandmother, I think I should do what I should do. She is still a child now, but sooner or later she will grow up. At that time, she will also be confused about her father's affairs and will not be able to hide it forever."

"How about making dumplings tonight? The supermarket is having a promotion today, and the price of meat filling will be discounted. And there are other things like..."

Looking at Miyamizu Futaba's serious expression, Fujiwa Nunu sighed helplessly.

"It's been so long. Xianren has probably forgotten about me, the girl next door. I'm already in the second year of high school now, right?"

"Spring just entered my second year of high school."

"At that time, Xianren was still a cute boy. Ah~ These were all my mistakes back then. There's no need to tell the little Xianren. It's not a bad thing to just forget about my existence."

"Is it okay even if I marry another woman?"

The hand pushing the swing couldn't help but pause, and pushed it again. Teng and Nunu were a little confused and didn't know how to answer this question.

"You've got a cute girlfriend, right? Xianren, he was so cute before, and now he must be even more popular with girls. He's loving and loving with his cute girlfriend~"

"During the time when Itomori was there, quite a few girls did send him letters, but he didn't accept any of them."

"But now I'm in high school, and things are definitely different from when I was in middle school."

Thinking of something, Fujiwa Nunu looked at Miyamizu Futaba beside her, showing a concerned expression.

"It's the weekend today, isn't he at home?"

"Something happened."

"Ok?"

Fujiwa Ninju looked at Miyamizu Futaba in front of her with a smile, an expression of "I see". She looked around, but did not see the figure of Xianren. She frowned and looked at Miyamizu Futaba in front of her again.

"Did you meet your girlfriend?"

"Do you care?"

"It's not that I care, I just don't want to meet Xianren for the time being. It's like the father of the child. When no one accepts Xianren, I will meet him again."

She chatted with Fujiwa Nunu for a long time. She didn't seem to care much about most things. Only when she talked about things related to the sage did she become slightly interested and asked a few questions about the sage, but didn't ask any further, leaving Miyamizu Futaba completely unable to guess what she was thinking.

Looking at Fujiwa Elio who was still a child and knew nothing, Miyamizu Futaba handed the gift to Fujiwa Elio and said goodbye and left.

Looking at Miyamizu Futaba's leaving back, Fujiwara Nobunaga's eyes dimmed for a moment. Looking at her daughter, her mood became even more complicated, but after a moment, she adjusted her mentality and took her daughter home.

I walked around the bookstore with Futaba Rio for a while, looked at the newly released popular works, but felt that they were not interesting, so I sent Futaba Rio back to the "coffee shop" and went to say hello to Fukioka Mari.

At around 2 p.m., I returned to my apartment.

"I'm planning to move to a new apartment. In the near future, I'm planning to rent a single-family home or take out a loan to buy one as my new home."

Seeing his mother sitting in the living room, Xianren looked at the apartment and expressed his thoughts.

"Buy a house?"

"I looked around and found an apartment near Koishikawa for 6,480 million yen. It has three rooms and is 67 square meters. The monthly mortgage payment is around 25 yen over 20 years."

Miyamizu Futaba was feeling a little confused, not knowing how to answer Xianren. She looked at the phone handed to her, and then at the message on it, frowning, not knowing how to respond.

“Isn’t it too early to think about this now?”

"Now, the monthly rent for Setsuna and my family and our two families has exceeded 20 yen. If we continue like this, we might as well just buy a house. The savings I have now are enough to buy a house."

After hearing Xianren's answer, it seemed that there was no problem. However, looking at her son, she opened her mouth to say something, but after a moment of silence, she handed the phone back to Xianren.

"Then, did the Qingpu family agree?"

— — — —

Thanks to Trees and Leaves, Dog Agent 76, Magical Shuke, White-Haired Sage Meteora, Tsuk, and This Place is Infinite for their monthly tickets and blades! Thank you all for your recommendation votes!

Another year begins to sprout: 316. The girl in the classroom

The matter of purchasing the apartment does need to be discussed with Qingpu's family.

Just now, he suddenly got inspired and talked about this matter with his mother. He had seen the apartment online some time ago. It was located near where he lives now, in 2-chome, Koishikawa.

The only difference is that the apartment is located at the west end of Koishikawa, while the place where Kento lives now is at the east end of 2-chome.

The apartment is near Bunkyo Ward Rikawa Elementary School, and a short walk south is the Tomisaka Metropolitan Police Department.

In terms of safety and education, he is personally quite satisfied. However, the apartment was built in 1978, which is a very long time ago, which makes Xianren a little conflicted.

"I haven't told them about this yet. I plan to talk to them about it after a while."

"This isn't something you can just take lightly. You should really consider it and not come across as flippant. Also, the price of 80 million yen might be normal in a place like Bunkyo-ku, but you can probably buy a much better apartment somewhere else, right?"

"I'm studying here now, and buying a house somewhere else is a bit... I'll think about it seriously."

Maybe it is indeed a bit early. I am still in school here in Bunkyo Ward, and I don’t know where I will go to college in the future. If I buy a house hastily now, I will have to worry more about what will happen when I go to college and after I graduate.

Tokyo’s transportation is indeed developed and convenient, but no matter how developed and convenient it is, it is not as good as living nearby. It is best to consider buying a house after you graduate from university.

The wise man sitting in the house thought about it seriously, and the idea of buying a house in his heart was extinguished all of a sudden.

Seeing that his son was persuaded by his words, Miyamizu Futaba felt a little relieved. He didn't know when the wise man would have such thoughts again in the future, but it was enough that he didn't have such thoughts in the short term.

She bit her lips lightly, and the conflict hidden deep in her heart made her want to tell her son about the things related to Teng and the mother and daughter, but she held back.

There weren't many topics to talk about between mother and son. They just broke down and rehashed the topics they had talked about countless times before and repeated them over and over again.

"A photo of Mitsuha wearing a shrine maiden costume during the New Year?"

"I'm not in Itomori, am I?"

"Because I can see it so often, I didn't take a picture of it. Next time you go back, let Mitsuha wear it. As long as you don't forget the gift, she shouldn't refuse it."

I have seen Mitsuha’s shrine maiden costumes many times before, but after thinking about it, I feel that it is unnecessary.

"I'll probably be staying in Itomori this New Year. Oh, and by the way, I want to graduate from high school a year early and go to university."

Miyamizu Futaba, who originally didn't care much, couldn't help but look at Xianren when she heard the word "university". She stared at Xianren closely, looking at her son, she wondered if she had heard it wrong.

"University?"

"Chiba University, as long as you meet a certain number of credit hours, you can enroll early, and they can also help you with high school graduation matters."

"Will you graduate this year and go to university next year?"

"I've already mastered the content of the three years of high school, and based on the test results from my time at the private school, I should have no problem getting into a regular university. So I'm thinking of entering university a year earlier, and entering society a year earlier."

"Why do you have such an idea?"

"Is high school too boring?"

Faced with his mother's question, Xianren thought about it seriously and gave his own answer. During this period, he did not have much interest in class and was just sitting in the classroom to kill time.

He had already mastered and was familiar with what others were learning, and he would not be able to learn anything new by listening to it again. Instead of wasting a year in the classroom, he should have started his studies earlier.

“Only once in high school.”

"We only live once, and everyone has their own life. Staying in high school doesn't seem to make sense anymore, so I plan to go to Chiba for further studies and then return to Tokyo after I enter graduate school."

Looking at the wise man in front of him, his eldest son, Miyamizu Futaba opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but felt it was inappropriate.

"If you've already considered it, then I won't object, but you should still think about it seriously."

"Ah."

The idea that had only been growing in his heart suddenly became firm. People of his age should have been promoted to the third year of high school, but because of Itomori, he started school a year later.

Now that I can go directly to university, there is no need to stay in Fengzhizaki any longer.

"In the next period of time, I plan to go to Chiba during the summer vacation to inquire about admission matters."

"Ah."

There was no expression of joy or anger on Miyamizu Futaba's face. Xianren himself didn't know his mother's specific opinion on this matter. He just felt relieved because she didn't seem to have any objection.

When the night completely enveloped the city, Xianren lay in bed but did not fall asleep immediately.

I felt a little lonely sleeping in bed alone. I could have gone out to meet other people, but my mother was in the apartment, so it was not appropriate to go out at this time.

Lying quietly on the bed, closing his eyes, he began to count sheep.

'One sheep, two sheep, three sheep become four sheep... Five sheep plus six sheep make eleven sheep, twenty-two sheep, forty-four sheep...'

So, the more I counted, the more excited I became.

I don’t know whether it was nine or ten o’clock when I fell asleep in a daze.

I woke up early in the morning, had the breakfast prepared by my mother, and then hurried out to school.

I didn't meet any acquaintances on the way, so I calmly arrived at the classroom, sat down at my seat, and casually picked up a book, opened it, and began to read until the bell rang...

"script?"

"Ok?"

"Have you forgotten what happened at the movie last time?"

"Well, I haven't forgotten it, but I just don't know what to write for the moment. I'm thinking about whether to write a simple ordinary story or a suspenseful script with ups and downs."

The girl in school uniform sat at the table, looking at the wise man standing in front of the window, with a strand of hair on his forehead blown by the wind. Seeing the other person's slightly sad expression, her eyes wandered for a moment and she did not continue the topic.

At that time, I felt that it was just a spur of the moment decision by the wise man, and even if he forgot it at some point, it was to be expected.

The boy leaned against the window and looked at the students walking in the campus garden under the shade of trees and school buildings. He stared at them for a while, then looked at the girl not far from him and talked about what he had just decided.

"I plan to finish my studies a year early. During the summer vacation, I will go to Chiba University to see if I can get admitted."

"Jump in?"

"Well, a year can do a lot of things. I don't feel any value staying here. Instead of staying here, I might as well go to university and graduate a year earlier. Maybe I can also get my freedom a year earlier."

It was the first time that Feng Xiaochun heard this news from the wise man, and he was also surprised. He did not expect that the wise man would make such a decision.

"Does anyone else know?"

"Not yet. I think most people would discourage it, thinking it's unnecessary. Once you enter Chiba University and then drop out, you might not even be able to get a high school diploma."