dtnovels Chapter 6: Reunion with Sawa in Junior High
Chapter 6: Reunion with Sawa in Junior High
Tick-tock~ Tick-tock~ The hands of time slowly turned, reaching August 25, 1989, the first semester of the second year of junior high school, seven years before the challenge.
Foreword: In the preceding years, there were the Eurasian air disaster of 1986, the U.S.-Island space earthquake of 1987, and the South Kanto air disaster that occurred suddenly on June 30.
Ming had heard about it on TV, and using this information, he discovered that the world he had come to was Date A Live, but it was within his acceptable range.
After learning that this incident was related to Date A Live, the only impact on Akira was that he couldn't help but feel pain every time Sawa stood in front of him. Knowing the fate of his friend, Akira's expression would become difficult to control.
Then, a year ago, Ming and Sha graduated from elementary school and finally reached the age where they could enter the same junior high school.
However, fate always seems to be full of variables. Due to one of the main businesses of the Okamine family, Mei was forced to move away from here and separate from Sawa to go to Tokyo to study. As for Sawa, she could only go to a junior high school called Anzakura Girls' Academy by herself.
However, the two still maintained a regular bi-weekly letter-writing arrangement.
It was 8 p.m. on August 25th, on an old-fashioned steam train.
"Waaaaah—"
With a long whistle, the old-fashioned steam train slowly started moving.
Mingzheng, who had already grown to 1.72 meters tall at the age of 14, sat alone in the VIP room, quietly gazing at the mountains and waterfalls outside the window. His eyes were deep and distant, as if he were pondering something unfathomable.
He still clutched the veil from the day before and the last letter he remembered, reading them carefully and repeatedly, his eyes filled with longing and emotion for the girl.
"This is this week's letter! I've had a really great year because I made a good friend at the opening ceremony last semester. It wasn't convenient to say this in a letter before, so I'm saying it now."
Actually, my new friend is quite a bit like you, Ming. She loves cats just like you, and she's also a very righteous person. If you two were to meet, I'm sure you'd get along very well.
After reading it, a relieved smile appeared on Ming's unchanging face. He muttered to himself softly:
"Sigh... I'm really envious... Sawa, my classmates in Tokyo don't really like me, but... we'll see each other again soon."
Upon reaching this point, Ming slowly pulled out a brand-new student ID from his suit and examined it closely. The school emblem of "Xingying Girls' Academy" was prominently displayed on the side.
'Oh dear... really, Sawa chose to go to an all-girls' school. Isn't she worried about the awkwardness when I transfer? But... I don't think I mentioned in my letter that I was transferring to her school... Oh well, a little surprise is good.'
Ming looked at the words "Xingying Girl" on his student ID card, his face slightly unpleasant, and he couldn't help but complain in his heart, but in the end he calmed down.
Not long after, the steam train slowly came to a stop. With a hissing sound and a plume of white steam, the train finally arrived at its destination.
After packing his luggage in the VIP lounge, Ming got off the train and walked out of the station, slowly heading back to the city he had missed for a year.
Ming carried his suitcase and walked along the familiar path, the moonlight shining on the boy's face. He passed by a mountain house belonging to Sawa, and couldn't help but recall the time he and Sawa used to talk inside when they were children. But Ming didn't go in to find Sawa and experience their reunion after half a year.
He simply continued walking straight toward the Okamine family mansion, each step feeling like he was stepping on fragments of memory, making a creaking sound.
Stepping into the courtyard, I looked around and it seemed as if time had never left this place. The family pond was still vibrant with life, and the rooms, thanks to the servants' cleaning, were spotless and unchanged, until suddenly a little boy's voice called out to me, stopping me in my tracks.
"Brother!"
Upon hearing the sound, Ming glanced to the side and saw a sharp-eyed young boy running towards him. When he saw his face clearly, Ming realized that the person was his younger brother, Kotaro Okamine.
Then his younger brother, Kotaro, ran up to him and showed him a perfect test paper.
"Brother, look, have I caught up with you?"
Ming took the test paper, looked at it, and was quite satisfied. However, because he didn't know how to treat his younger brother, he didn't show his satisfaction on his face. He just stared at Kotaro in front of him with the fierce look he inherited from Wu Yixia, then returned the test paper to Kotaro and turned back to his room.
Before leaving, Ming said to his younger brother, Kotaro, in a tone devoid of emotion:
"good..."
He turned and went back to his room. However, what Ming didn't notice was that after he turned around, Kotaro's expression turned dejected, and he gritted his teeth, thinking to himself:
'Just you wait, elder brother! One day I will surpass you, and on that day you will surely acknowledge my excellence!'
Thinking this through, Kotaro Okamine then returned to his room.
Since Kotaro was born, he has received meticulous care and love from his father, but this deep affection has become a burden for a young child.
Whenever his grades were not as good as Ming's, his father would always mention his older brother's outstanding performance in front of him and point out his own ordinariness, which made Kotaro, who was still a child, feel extremely painful.
Therefore, for his father's sake, and even more so for his own, Kotaro desperately wanted to gain Ming's respect, so that his father would realize that he was no ordinary person, but a genius whom even his aloof older brother would praise.
At this time, Ming was completely unaware of Kotaro's obsession and simply regarded him as a younger brother he didn't know how to get along with.
Later that evening, Ming arrived at the door, put down his luggage, went into his room, and stroked the photo frame on the table. Inside was a photo of him and Sawa at their kindergarten graduation.
Ming gazed at the photo quietly, his eyes darting around for a moment. Soon after, he felt a wave of drowsiness wash over him and fell asleep on his bed in the room.
At 7 a.m. the next morning, at Sandasha and his home.
"Sawa, it's time for school! Your classmates are already downstairs!"
Sawa's mother, Saori Yamada, called out gently from the kitchen after she had finished baking bread.
Hearing her mother's call, Sawa quickly replied, "Okay, Mom! I'll be right down."
She quickly packed her small bag, put on her school uniform, changed the drinking water for Chestnut in the cat's bed next to her, went downstairs, grabbed a piece of bread, and hurriedly rushed out the door.
Just as she stepped out the door, a smiling girl with black hair and wine-red eyes appeared before Sawa and greeted her:
"Good morning, Sawa-kun~"
"Hmm..." Sawa swallowed the bread in her mouth when she saw the person who came in, then smiled and said, "Good morning, Kurumi-san~"
"You seem to be in good spirits today, Sawa-kun. Let's go to school together then."
A girl named Tokisaki Kurumi reached out her hand to her friend, and Sawa naturally took Kurumi's wrist. The two then held hands and walked towards the school.
The two girls walked along the road, chatting and laughing.
They met a year ago, their love for kittens bringing them together. Now, they've become inseparable friends.
"Kurumi-kun, I heard that they're not separating students into different classes this semester~"
"Really? That's wonderful!" Kurumi said excitedly, looking very happy.
The two chatted as they walked and entered the school, then went into the familiar Grade 8 (4) class, and found the adjacent seats that the teacher had arranged for them last semester.
The surrounding area was filled with young girls chatting at their respective tables, and because it was an all-girls school, you could hardly see any boys talking there.
After they found seats and sat down, they started chatting, sometimes about their cats, sometimes about small things at home, until they got to the topic of love.
"Sawa-kun, do you have someone you like right now? After all, romance is a topic we've never talked about before!"
Kurumi Tokisaki spoke with a slightly cheerful tone, but Sawa's face flushed slightly upon hearing this. Then, as if remembering something, she became embarrassed and mumbled intermittently:
"Well... Kurumi-san, well... maybe... probably... there is..."
"Wow, you actually have someone you like? Tell me who it is! Don't worry, as your best friend, I'll definitely help you find love!"
Kurumi excitedly stepped forward, her eyes sparkling with curiosity, just like the excited expression she usually showed when she encountered a stray cat.
As Sawa Yamada watched her best friend's expectant face, eager to hear about her love story, her face turned even redder, like a ripe apple.
More and more steam rose from his head, like a steam engine, and then he said incoherently:
"No! No! No! Kurumi-kun, you must have misheard. I was just... joking, ah... haha... ha..."
Sawa quickly stood up, waving her hands and trying to explain to Kurumi. As for Kurumi, although she was a naive girl, she seemed to have noticed some of her best friend's worries and didn't press the matter further.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The school bell suddenly rang. Hearing the familiar voice, the girls who had been laughing and playing around sat down in an orderly fashion, waiting quietly for the teacher to arrive.
Then, a tall female teacher walked into the classroom with light steps. Her appearance immediately caused a stir and a lot of discussion among the students.
It turns out that this teacher was actually their teacher from the previous semester—Chizuru Fujiwara!
"Hello everyone, it's been a long time! Did you have a good holiday?" Mr. Fujiwara greeted the students as soon as he entered.
"Wow, it's been so long, teacher!" Kurumi, who was sitting at the next table to Sawa, greeted her enthusiastically.
"Yes, it's Tokisaki-kun. You seem to be in high spirits today." Fujiwara-sensei nodded and said with a smile.
"Teacher Fujiwara, we're here too!" the other students shouted, and Teacher Fujiwara greeted each of them one by one.
The classroom was filled with laughter and greetings, but she was alone, reminiscing about her somewhat straightforward "childhood friend," and her thoughts began to become a little chaotic. Fortunately, Fujiwara-sensei was busy answering questions from the students and didn't have time to pay attention to her.
After Fujiwara-sensei finished greeting everyone, she gently tapped the table, making a crisp sound.
The sound seemed to be a signal, instantly silencing the previously noisy classroom. All the students turned their attention to Mr. Fujiwara, anticipating what would happen next.
Fujiwara-sensei smiled at everyone and then said in a gentle tone:
"Dear students, today our class welcomes a new member, a new transfer student!"
As soon as Ms. Fujiwara finished her speech, the students below the stage erupted in excitement, immediately speculating about the new classmates, creating a lively atmosphere.
"Really? I'm so curious about what kind of girl she is. If she likes growing flowers, we should be able to become good friends."
One of the female students passing by said to another female student standing next to her.
"How exciting it is to see the new classmates!"
The students began discussing rapidly. Kurumi, seeing this, was about to talk to her best friend beside her when she noticed someone staring blankly at Saya, holding her head, her eyes filled with nostalgia.
Seeing Sawa deep in thought, Kurumi immediately spoke up to show concern for her close friend:
"Um...is Sawa alright?"
Hearing the sound, Sawa's thoughts were pulled back to reality. She turned her head in a daze and met Kurumi's worried gaze.
"I'm fine~ Kurumi, I was just thinking about what fish to feed Kurumi tonight, it's nothing."
The usually gentle Sawa could only smile at this moment, because the kind-hearted girl didn't want her friend Kurumi to worry about her, so she said this to Kurumi.
"Is that so? That's good. By the way, what do you think about the transfer student thing, Sawa?"
Seeing that her best friend was alright, Kurumi stopped asking questions and instead started talking about the transfer students for the new semester.
"Uh! What transfer student?"
Sawa, who had been lost in thought and hadn't heard what Fujiwara-sensei said, asked in confusion.
"Huh? Didn't you hear? Didn't Fujiwara-sensei just say...?"
Kurumi was about to begin her speech when she was interrupted by the voice of Fujiwara-sensei on stage.
"Please be quiet, everyone!"
Mr. Fujiwara tapped the table, signaling everyone to quiet down.
Seeing that everyone had quieted down, Fujiwara-sensei pointed to the door and then said to the people standing behind it:
"Alright, new student, you may come in now!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the classroom door was pushed open, and a tall boy with pale skin, fierce eyes, and short, jet-black hair entered.
He walked step by step onto the podium, looking around at the students below.
"What a male classmate! Wow, he's so handsome, just my type!" a student in the audience exclaimed first, and at the same time, a large number of girls in the audience also started discussing it.
The girl closest to Ming whispered to her best friend beside her:
"Is he the new transfer student in our class? He's so handsome!"
Her gaze was fixed on Ming, completely captivated by his aloof and handsome appearance.
However, Ming on the stage ignored everyone and just stared straight at them, while Saya and Kurumi below the stage turned their heads in confusion and asked.
Noticing Ming's familiar fierce gaze, Shahe turned slightly back to face Ming, who was looking at her with his unique eyes.
Sawa was startled and stared at the newcomer in disbelief. Ming saw Sawa turn her gaze toward him and make a few mouth movements, speaking in lip-reading.
"Long time no see, Sawa."
Seeing Ming's lip movements, even though Sawa and Ming hadn't seen each other for a year, she was able to respond quickly.
"Ming, is that you?"
“It’s me. Are you surprised?” Ming mouthed, his face expressionless.
At this moment, time seemed to stand still for both of them as they went up and down the stage. Only Sawa and Akira remained in this world, looking at their best friend from kindergarten to elementary school, their hearts filled with countless emotions.