Page 573
Page 573
Banami, still somewhat oblivious to the situation, said, "What kind of growth is it if you don't drink milk?"
Xiangzi was speechless. What she was talking about wasn't really milk... no, it seemed like it was milk too.
Waaaaah, Bana sees this idiot... she herself is an idiot too.
During breakfast, only Xiangzi knew the multitude of thoughts running through her mind, but Banami was already helping her plan her day.
"Today I'll help you retrieve your luggage from the ferry, and then... I'll take you to... the villa in the mountains for a stroll?" Banami said, then added a question mark to her own words.
Xiangzi's face immediately darkened, and he said, "That's my home. How can this be considered a tourist attraction for locals?"
Hatsune chuckled to herself and said, "Xiao Xiang, you know what? It's rare for tourists to come to the island, so we always recommend that they visit the Toyokawa Villa on the mountain."
After all, in this resource-poor town, it's quite a spectacle.
“This island isn’t exactly a tourist destination, and I can’t think of anything particularly special about it,” said Yami.
Xiangzi thought for a moment and said, "Um, I want to learn to swim, Banami, can you teach me?"
Banami was slightly surprised and said, "It's possible, but why? I remember you never wanted to learn before."
Xiangzi paused slightly, then said, "If I learn to swim, you won't need to save me next time."
Once she learns to swim, the unsettling situation she experienced yesterday will never happen again.
She will graduate properly from Banami.
"Hmm, I see. That's good. I can also teach you how to spear fish with a bamboo spear. It's a lot of fun." Banami didn't seem to have thought much about it and just said in a light tone.
However, Hatsune, seeing Shoko's overly serious expression, said softly, "That's perfect. Let's have a picnic at the beach today. It's a pity I can't go in the water right now, otherwise I could teach Saki-chan."
Xiangzi now understood how Banami felt and said, "Hatsune, please, just sit quietly on the beach."
"cut......"
Chapter Eight: Those Years, Childhood Sweethearts
At this moment, Toyokawa Shoko was changing into her swimsuit in a deserted changing room near the beach... well, strictly speaking, just a simple bamboo shed built by the bamboo along the coast.
The light blue two-piece swimsuit perfectly accentuated the girl's graceful figure. Although she didn't do it intentionally, when Xiangzi was choosing this swimsuit, all she could think about was making the boy look at her with surprise.
"As expected, I'm an idiot."
Xiangzi said in a low voice, "Even though my childhood sweetheart already has a wife, and even though my belated first love has long ended, I still enthusiastically picked out a beautiful swimsuit when I decided to come here."
Even if Hanami really thinks it's beautiful, so what?
Now that she had decided to "graduate," the girl took a deep breath, pushed open the bamboo door, and stepped out. The salty sea breeze, along with the cries of seagulls soaring and the sound of waves crashing against the fine sand, entered her ears. In the distance, there was an endless expanse of azure sea.
After retrieving Xiangzi's luggage from the ferry, the three went directly to this deserted beach, which is said to be a place exclusively for locals. Even the bamboo shed for changing clothes was built by the islanders themselves.
Not far away, a young man with bronze skin wearing swimming trunks stood there, seemingly setting up a parasol next to the picnic blanket to prepare a place for his wife to rest.
As Xiangzi drew closer, his heart pounded even harder, like the nervous anticipation of a young girl in love wondering how the person she liked would rate her.
Even though I've decided to give up, my body's reactions don't lie.
Perhaps hearing footsteps, Banami, who had just put up her parasol, slowly turned her head and was slightly taken aback when she saw the girl in a beautiful swimsuit.
"H-How is it?" Xiangzi asked nervously.
"Uh, she's pretty." Banami scratched the back of her head.
Although it was clearly a compliment, Xiangzi felt a little disappointed because she could tell that it wasn't a compliment born of male instinct, but merely a friendly compliment.
"After all, it took me a long time to choose it," Xiangzi said expressionlessly.
She couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. That's how it should be. Banai saw that his attitude was correct. The two of them were just very good friends now.
Her childhood sweetheart was indeed a genuinely good guy.
Just then, Banami walked towards her, making her eyes widen slightly. But the next moment, he passed by her like a gust of wind.
"I told you I'd pick you up after you changed into your swimsuit, why did you walk back by yourself?" Banami complained.
"Don't always treat me like a fragile porcelain doll. There are many aunties on the island who still work in the fields during my month of pregnancy," Hatsune said coquettishly.
Xiangzi couldn't help but turn her head to look. Banai saw that Hatsune was already being supported. When she saw Hatsune with a big belly, wearing a swimsuit and a semi-transparent veil, her round belly, the bra size that fit a mother who was about to breastfeed, and the fact that she was a teenage mother, all these elements were very visually striking.
We lost...
In every aspect, Xiangzi felt like he had lost.
Even though she no longer wanted to compete for anything, her natural pride as a woman, her pride as the eldest daughter of the Toyokawa family, and her pride as Hanami's childhood friend all made her feel utterly defeated at this moment.
****
“Yes, that’s it. You have to keep kicking with your feet, just like a frog.” Banami held Shoko’s hand and guided her swimming posture in the shallow water.
"Who are you calling a frog?" Xiangzi exhaled inexplicably.
Banami was both amused and exasperated: "Isn't this how all swimming is? Why are you so angry?"
"I'm... not angry at all," Xiangzi said, somewhat annoyed. What annoyed her even more was that she couldn't control her emotions.
She glanced at the shore, where Hatsune Miku was sitting elegantly under a parasol, reading a book.
"Hanami... I remember you weren't very good at swimming before," Shoko asked.
She remembered yesterday when the bronze-skinned boy jumped into the water, like a nimble silver fish, even the way he entered the water was incredibly graceful.
"Isn't it because you, Xiaoxiang, didn't like going into the water before, which meant I never had the chance?" Banai said with a smile.
Hearing this, Xiangzi felt inexplicably better.
The two had indeed acted together in the past, so their knowledge was quite similar.
"But I also know that to live on an island, you absolutely can't do it if you can't swim. So when I first arrived, I asked Hatsune to teach me to swim. I practiced for about a month, and that's when my skin got tanned."
The timid and gentle air that remained among Tokyo high school students was completely worn away by the wind and rain during this period.
Xiangzi stared blankly at the boy in front of him. He had indeed grown up very quickly. Before he knew it, they had drifted apart.
He wasn't a coward; he just had his own charm hidden. When he was away from himself, the boy's inherent resilience shone even brighter, whether in his musical talent or his adaptability to life.
Xiangzi's eyes became increasingly unfocused.
"Xiao Xiang, move! Why aren't you moving?" Banai asked curiously.
Xiangzi panicked immediately, and her movements became chaotic. The strap of her swimsuit accidentally touched the boy's hand, and her two-piece swimsuit was inadvertently torn off by the boy's fingers.
In the crystal-clear seawater, Xiangzi's fair skin was completely visible.
Now even Banai couldn't stay calm. He immediately helped Xiangzi up, then turned around and said, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to."
Xiangzi quickly said, "It's not your fault, I just got confused..."
But after saying it, the two became even more silent, because such formality should not have been between them.
After all, they had often bathed together since they were little. When they were children, Banami even asked her why she didn't have little pigtails.
Back then, the two of them were childhood sweethearts.
For some reason, Xiangzi really wants to cry right now.
"You go keep Hatsune company first. I think I've learned how to swim, and I want to try it myself," Xiangzi said, covering his chest with his hands.
"Okay, then don't go too deep. Just swim around in the shallows. I'll check on Hatsune Miku and come right back." With that, Banami walked towards the shore without looking back.
Xiangzi watched his back as he walked towards his wife, the two of them chatting and laughing. For a moment, she even forgot to put on her swimsuit; all the memories of growing up with him flooded her mind.
If life is just like first sight, why is Qiu Feng sadly painting a fan.
"Hanami, do you no longer like me?" the girl said in a slightly sorrowful voice.
Clearly, you've liked me for so many years. Now, have you completely lost all feelings for me?
Waiting for leisure to change but the old people's mind, but the old people's mind is easy to change.
Chapter Nine: My dad has never hit me!
As Banami stepped ashore from the shallow beach and walked to his wife's side, she personally handed him a segment of orange.
"Is it sweet?" Hatsune's tone was light and playful.
"Hmm, it tastes pretty good." Banami nodded gently, a smile unconsciously spreading across her face.
"Mom sent it by hand." As she finished speaking, the girl placed another segment of orange between her fingers and her husband's lips, her fingertips brushing against his lips and creating a hint of ambiguity.
"How are you, Saki-chan?" Hatsune turned to look at Shoko, who was still in the sea, and asked with a smile.
"Hmm, she's learning quite well. Xiao Xiang has always been a capable person, she learns everything very quickly, she just wasn't interested before." Banami chewed on an orange, her gaze inadvertently falling on the girl still soaking in the sea.
Hatsune Miku burst out laughing and said, "Who was talking about that? I meant... Saki-chan's breasts, aren't they pretty? Aren't they teardrop-shaped?"
Hanami nearly spat out the orange she was eating, her eyes widening as she stared at her wife, her voice trembling with panic: "Hatsune-chan, you..."
“My eyes are like rulers. I saw everything you were doing just now.” Hatsune’s tone was playful.
"You've misunderstood, it was just an accident..."
Banami wanted to explain seriously, but was interrupted by Hatsune's laughter: "Why are you so nervous, you idiot Xiaoxi? I know you too well. You just rushed back to me in a panic."
Banai lowered his head awkwardly, momentarily at a loss for words. In front of Hatsune, he would always feel like a "younger brother." Even when she was pregnant with his child, even when he was much stronger than her, even when he was almost a head taller than her, whenever he was with her, it was like facing a gentle yet strong older sister.
"SAKI-chan, I still like you even now." Hatsune Miku unintentionally uttered another extremely explosive statement.
Banami first looked at the girl not far away, and then slowly said, "Just because she likes me, does that mean I have to like her back?"
The truth of this world is so simple yet cruel, and ironically, the one who truly made him understand this was always Toyokawa Shoko.
"You cried your heart out in my arms back then because you couldn't be with Saki-chan," Hatsune teased her husband gently.
Banami's cheeks flushed instantly, but thankfully her bronze skin made the change less noticeable. This is the downside of having a childhood sweetheart as a wife—she knows all your embarrassing moments and all your dark history.
"Hatsune-chan~ Why are you saying this?" Hanami turned her face away, somewhat annoyed.
"Probably because I'm still undecided." Hatsune gently stroked her round belly, where a brand new life was growing.
Just as Banami was about to say something, a weak cry suddenly came from the sea not far away.
"Hachi...Hachimi, help...help me...I'm having cramps..." Xiangzi's voice trembled.
Upon hearing this, Banami immediately rushed away from Hatsune Miku and, not long after, pulled Shoko out of the sea again. She was wearing a swimsuit and looked disheveled, her hair wet and plastered to her face, and she was shivering all over.
Banami immediately began performing CPR on her. A moment later, the semi-conscious Shoko coughed up a mouthful of water, and Banami breathed a sigh of relief.
"Sorry, I should have kept an eye on you the whole time," the boy said, somewhat annoyed.
"I was too eager for quick results and practiced too much." Xiangzi wiped his mouth awkwardly, avoiding eye contact with him.
Hatsune slowly walked over, and seeing that Shoko was alright, she smiled and said, "SAKI-chan, you seem to have a problem with water."
"Haha..." Xiangzi couldn't help but laugh dryly, but his mind was in turmoil.
*****
The night was slightly cool, and a gentle sea breeze rustled through the wooden walkway of the courtyard. The silver moon cast its soft light, shrouding the entire island in a hazy and mysterious veil.
Xiangzi sat in the corridor, looking down at his phone at the live stream of Banami Yu. There were many viewers in the live stream, and song requests kept pouring in. Behind Banami was the stage of a small bar.
This is his life now: singing in a small bar on an island and live streaming online. I heard he earns a good income, enough to support his wife and unborn child.
Xiangzi watched the boy gently strumming the guitar strings and murmured, "What...am I doing?"
His tone carried a hint of regret that even he himself couldn't understand.
"Aren't you watching Xiaoxi's live stream?" a cheerful voice came from the side.
Xiangzi looked up in surprise and was startled to see Hatsune standing beside her. She quickly said, "Uh, Hatsune-chan, you... aren't asleep yet?"
Hatsune sat down with a smile, her tone natural: "Is your leg alright? Is it still cramping? Speaking of which, Saki-chan, you've had some bad luck, falling into the water two times in a row."
She was even given artificial respiration by the same boy several times in a row.
Xiangzi silently added in his mind, but immediately rubbed his left foot and tried to appear calm: "It's okay, look, I'm normal now."
But Hatsune's next words made Xiangzi's body instantly turn cold: "But Saki-chan, when you were twitching at the beach, wasn't it your right leg?"
Xiangzi's eyes widened suddenly, his mind went blank, and he opened his mouth but couldn't say a word for a moment.
Hatsune looked at her childhood friend, her tone calm but incisive: "SAKI-chan, actually you didn't have cramps today, did you? You just deliberately drowned so that Banami could save you, and then he would have to give you CPR, just like... yesterday, a kiss."
Xiangzi's head buzzed, not because he was "slandered," but because—she had accurately spoken the truth.
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