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Fujii Itsuki noticed this and brought some beef over, grilled it himself, and then put it into Akai Muko's bowl.
"Hmm?" Akagi Muzi stared at the meat in the bowl and looked up, "Ashu, is this an equal exchange for me?"
Fujii Itsuki: "What kind of exchange is this? Isn't this the care I just mentioned to you?"
Akai Muzi poked at the beef in the bowl and smiled with relief:
"Sometimes I really think you are despicable, Shu."
"mean?"
".It always reminds me of the way you protected me."
"that matter?."
"That time with Ishikawa."
"Oh, that time with Ishikawa." Fujii Itsuki remembered.
Akai Muzi lowered her voice and said while recalling:
"I accidentally offended Ishikawa's group that time, and they sent some boys they knew outside the school to harass me. Eight or nine of them blocked me against the wall. Of course, I was not afraid of them. When they came over and tried to pull off my clothes, I punched them in the face."
While eating the barbecue grilled by Fujii Itsuki for her, Akai Muzi's smile was filled with memories.
"The result was naturally that I was cornered and beaten, and threatened. I had planned to bow down to Ishikawa and the others from now on, but I didn't expect you, Shu, to come.
"Ashu, you were going home after finishing club activities at night, and when you saw me being bullied, you immediately threw your schoolbag at the other person's face, yelled - 'Asshole! Look at me!', and then rushed over."
They did rush forward, but after all, there were nearly ten people on the other side.
Fujii Itsuki: "Then we were both beaten up by those guys, but we saved our dignity. Later, you treated me to a barbecue, right?"
"Ashu, you remember it quite clearly!" Akai Muzi looked up.
Fujii Itsuki smiled and said, "Of course. This is the first time someone has invited me to eat barbecue. At least it lets me know that helping classmates is not without reward. My beating and help were not in vain."
Akai Muzi stirred the bowl with chopsticks:
"The clearest memory I have of this incident is that I invited you to eat barbecue, and you took the initiative to put a piece of meat in my bowl and said to me, 'You are a girl, eat more, your face cannot grow without nutrition'.
"Hey, Shu, do you know? I was bullied by that group of people for most of the day, and my face hurt for a long time. But you gave me a piece of meat and showed concern for me, saying that I was a 'girl'. I was so touched."
"Now that I think about it?"
“Still moved.”
"Is it?"
"Um"
The table for the two of them fell into silence again.
Fujii Shu knew that Muzi was telling him that she was reluctant to part with him through their memories.
That's how adults talk in a roundabout way.
But what can be done?
Fujii Itsuki did not agree to Mu Zi's reason for reconciliation. After all, he still had Chitose to get into his heart.
Fujii Itsuki took the initiative to change the subject.
"Jiuhua wrote to me."
".Your little friend wrote to you?"
"Ah."
Akai Muzi laughed, "What do you think of her?"
"Jiuhua, I feel bad."
"Because of her experience?"
"What makes me even more distressed is that there is no one around her to support her. Xinchun is quite suitable for this person, but the things between Jiuhua and the Matsumae family are too complicated for me to explain clearly."
Akai Muzi took a bite of vegetables and said, "It's hard to do it alone, right?"
"Yes," Fujii Itsuki replied, "Kuhua invited me to her performance in her letter. Do you think I should go?"
".What do you think?"
"I'll still go."
Akai Muzi: "Reason?"
"I have already stated the reason. I asked Muzi what you think, and I also want to ask you what you think about Jiuhua."
Since Muzi was not aware of Jiuhua's experience, Fujii Itsuki specifically told her Jiuhua's story.
"Shu, you said you felt sorry for Jiuhua, so that's why you felt you had to go see her performance?"
"Yes."
Fujii Itsuki thought that Akai could have an expression of understanding.
But unexpectedly, after hearing this story, her eyes suddenly lit up.
"Muzi?"
Of course, this state only lasts for a moment.
Fujii Itsuki had no idea what Muzi was thinking at this moment, but he could see that Muzi no longer had the kind of heartfelt sadness he had before.
"Nothing, just figured out some things. As for why your little friend hated performing at Takarazuka so much but still invited you to see her, it's probably because she wanted you to get to know her better."
"." Fujii Itsuki put down his chopsticks and fell into deep thought.
"For Jiuhua, Takarazuka is her past, and it is also a past that she has to face. From the story you told, Shu is now Jiuhua's spiritual support. She hopes that you can understand her better. She also wants to know whether the acting skills she has practiced for so many years are really effective.
"Of course, this is just my personal guess, you can just use it as a reference."
What Akai Muzi said makes sense.
Jiuhua is a child that reveals loneliness everywhere.
Whether at school or at home
She will be extremely happy if you just share with her something she likes.
Fujii Itsuki still can't forget the way she secretly wiped away tears when I gave her a New Year's gift
Uncle, what do you want for breakfast?
Uncle, do you like the dinner I made today?
Uncle, am I useless? I lost to Chitose.
I don't want to go back to Tokyo.
All kinds of memories emerged, and Fujii Itsuki's heart was filled with emotion.
Akai Muzi saw Fujii Itsuki's dilemma and smiled:
"Are you planning on visiting your little friend tomorrow?"
Fujii Itsuki sighed: "I will definitely go. After all, I have already made the decision, but the wind band——"
"It's okay, I'll take care of the orchestra! Just go ahead and don't worry."
"Muzi?"
"Ok?"
“Why are you so supportive of me?”
"Haha, it's nothing, nothing, I just found a small weakness. I'm just very happy, that's all."
"weakness.?"
Chapter 144: The Purple Flower Reflected in the Sunset
The biggest difference between Tokyo and Otaru is probably the people.
Fujii Itsuki took the JR Hokuriku Shinkansen and transferred to the Marunouchi Subway to arrive at Ginza Station in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo.
Today happens to be Saturday. As soon as I get out of the subway, there are crowds of people. The air seems to become dull and thin.
This was even more so when he got near the turnstile, where Fujii Itsuki was forced to follow the crowd and squeeze out.
This is a scene that you would never see in Otaru.
After exiting the subway, I arrived at Ginza.
People in Tokyo dress fashionably and look very young.
Fujii Itsuki walked through Ginza's most prosperous central passage, beneath giant screens and brightly lit billboards.
People were coming and going, and he suddenly remembered that he seemed to have walked here in the past.
Now I am walking in the crowd again, but I no longer feel the loneliness I felt when I was hidden in the crowd.
As for why I think so, it’s probably because my life is very fulfilling now?
Fujii Itsuki arrived at Hibiya, the entrance of the Tokyo Takarazuka Theater.
This is a commercial pedestrian street. Fujii Itsuki saw a poster for today's Takarazuka Revue performance in the window outside the theater.
The poster introduces the performance status and time of this and next episodes.
Fujii Itsuki saw this episode, which was the summer performance in early June.
The show was the same as the one on the ticket, "The Purple Flower Reflected in the Sunset" starring the Takarazuka Theater Company's Moon Group.
The protagonist on the poster, who is also the protagonist of the story, the eldest prince - Kazama Jin, is played by Jiu Huayue.
Fujii Itsuki knew this story in advance.
It is Takarazuka's original play.
The story is set in the Asuka period.
The plot is that the elder brother, the eldest prince, discovered that Zi Zhihua (the heroine), who had married his younger brother and had a child, was no longer the little girl who used to pester him when he was a child, but had grown into a great beauty, so he chose to forcibly snatch her back.