In the middle of the night, Naoko was initially asleep, woke up abruptly due to an endless stream of crying.
As she was partially awake, she thought she was hallucinating, but realized slowly that she wasn’t.
As Naoko slowly sat up, she looked down at the sleeping Lei Yin and could not help but reveal a gentle smile.
After putting on her silk thin dressing gown, Naoko slowly stood up and gracefully went out of the room.
She walked past the wooden corridor and went outside. Under the silver bright rays of the moon, Naoko walked over to the cherry tree in the middle of the back garden. A little girl in a kimono sat there with her head buried between her knees and wept with great sadness.
Naoko saw this and she was touched, she felt the same way a mother would when she saw her child in pain.
Naoko as a child was prohibited from playing outside the family house because of her heart condition.
Although she could not enjoy the fun of playing around like other children, Naoko did not feel too lonely because of her siblings.
However, after her siblings left for school one after the other, Naoko started feeling more alone than she usually did before. Although her mum looked after her and accompanied her at home, children like her needed playmates around her age, rather than playing around with old people.
The situation continued until a few years later, her body gradually stabilized and she was able to attend school like the others.
At this moment, as she looked at the little girl sitting alone under the cherry tree crying, Naoko felt a strange feeling well up in her. All she wanted to do was comfort this child.
So, Naoko slowly walked up to her.
Naoko…
when she was about to walk in front of the little girl, Lei’s deep voice sounded.
Naoko looked back, she saw Lei Yin walking up to her in their matching dress robes, his hand clutching his overall as he walked over.
I’m sorry i woke you up.
Naoko replied apologetically.
It’s not a problem,
said Lei Yin, covering her with the overall.
After helping her, Lei softly said:
it’s a bit cold out tonight, be careful not to catch a cold.
Lei …
Naoko very hugged his waist, her body tightly nestled in his arms.
Gently stroking her hair, Lei Yin said:
Let’s go back to the room.
Naoko was about to agree. Suddenly, she remembered the crying little girl and said to him:
Lei, this little girl has been crying here, and I want to know why she is crying.
What little girl?
Lei Yin asked.
Naoko looked back and said:
It’s the little girl that was sitting under this tree crying. W..Where has she gone to?!
She was just here, a moment ago.
Naoko looked around the garden, her eyes searching. She was certain that there had been a weeping little girl here
Oh.. Maybe its the hotel manager’s kid, it’s no use looking for her, let’s go back.
Ok.
Naoko took a look around once more and nodded.
Lei Yin bowed low kissed her face and held back into their room.
Naoko lay in Lei Yin’s arms; she gazed upon his face intently, her expression revealing her overwhelming emotions.
The next morning, they continued to visit various Nagoya tourist spots as they did the day before.
After lunch at noon, Lei Yin insisted they visit Naoko’s high school where she was studied. Naoko was really pleased with lei Yin about this.
Naoko’s former school was an all-girls high school located in southern Nagoya; it was a well-known school in Japan. The school had towering high wa
lls, which kept many prying eyes out and unaware of the situation within. However, such all-girls college that was composed entirely of female students and mainly female teachers and only a small number being male teachers, remained a place which aroused the obnoxious fantasies of many men, especially young boys.
The only time this all- girls’ high school would be open to the public was only during the annual school festival which lasted a day (TL: Too short I am sure the boys would agree me on this.) At that time, the school would invite teachers and students from other schools nearby to attend the celebration. However, in order to limit the number of students, other than the teacher, other students will pay for admission by obtaining entrance tickets.
So on this day of each year, the tickets to this Festival became the most sought after object; each ticket became the object of competition amongst various male student. Although these tickets were competed for, it was always available to be sold on the day of the festival albeit at much higher price. However no matter how expensive the tickets got, it was always sold out completely.
Regardless of whether the tickets were sold or bought at a high price, everyone had only one purpose: to get into this island of beautiful girls, where all boys fantasized of living.
After about an hour’s drive, Lei Yin and Naoko got off the bus near the entrance of the girls’ high school.
In the hallway outside the quiet reception hall, rapidly approaching footsteps could be heard. The approaching footsteps quickly reached the door to the reception hall. Then the door was forced open, and finally, a short-haired young woman came in.
The woman hastened her footsteps when she saw the woman sitting on the couch.
It’s really you sister Naoko so you really came.
The woman excitedly took Naoko hands and jumped up and down and screaming excitedly.
You, you are Ikehara?
Naoko was not sure as she looked at the woman in front of her.
It’s me, I am Ikehara, Naoko sister you still remember me, I’m so happy.
Why are you here?
Naoko was also delighted to see her former schoolmate.
When I graduated from university, I came here to be a teacher, and I really didn’t think I would see you here again,
Chihiro Ikehara said more and more excitedly.
At this moment, a coughing sound came from behind, and then the voice of a middle-aged woman passed over.
teacher Ikehara, please do not forget you are a teacher, please mind your behaviour in the school premises, if the students had seen your uncanny actions a moment ago, how would that have been?
Chihiro Ikehara made a funny face and looked Naoko, and then turned to the middle-aged woman and said,
I’m sorry, director, and I will pay attention next time.
Naoko saw this face from the past; she looked at the serious faced elder behind Ikehara, this unsmiling elder had not changed. After a brief moment, Naoko immediately went over and greeted respectfully:
Hello, Mrs Himeji.
Mrs Himeji smiled and looked at her for a moment, then said:
Naoko, it has been a long time.
Yes, I have not seen you for several years since I graduated from high school. Your health has been good?
I’m fine, how about you?
You care? I am also very good.
Then Naoko introduced Lei Yin to the two of them.
When Ikehara knew that this plain looking man turned out to be Naoko’s fiancé, she could not help but observe him more carefully, a little bit surprised showing on her face.
After exchanging a few words with them, Mrs Himeji had to leave the reception hall to handle some issues, before leaving; she had Ikehara attend to them as guests. Ikehara immediately agreed to this.
After Mrs Himeji left the reception hall, Ikehara immediately relaxed, breathing out hot air said:
Fortunately, she finally left; otherwise I would not be able to even speak.
Naoko smiled and said:
sister Ikehara you are still as afraid of Himeji teacher as you were before.
Ikehara said with a smile,
You know, she was a very serious person, when we studied under her tutelage and now i work with her, she still scolds me…I am wrong here, I am wrong there.. Even when I laugh a little louder than usual, she would say I give the give the teachers a bad reputation.
Naoko smiled,
I really didn’t think you would be a teacher, even a teacher at the high school you attended.
Chihiro Ikehara sighed as she replied
I didn’t think so myself, after graduating from college I worked at a bank for more than a year, I really could not stand the dull working environment, so I resigned. After coming out, I looked for other jobs and got two other jobs, but I didn’t get the satisfaction I was looking for. Finally, accidentally, I participated in the teacher qualification examination, which I didn’t expect to get through, but afterward, the most funny aspect was I was actually assigned to come here to report here, when teacher Himeji saw me in the new teachers queue, and her facial expression was so funny I laughed
Chihiro Ikehara laughed.
Naoko looked at this character from high school that had not changed a bit since the old days, was still her carefree school self, Naoko could not help but chuckle.
After chatting with Naoko and learning about her, Ikehara brought them to the campus to go shopping and site seeing.
The all-girls’ high school had a very large surface area, they had a standard stadium, several tennis courts, and other facilities such as basketball courts, indoor swimming pool and these other sports facilities were met the highest standards.
As they strolled in the three-lane road, they saw the students perform in the various sports activities. Naoko felt nostalgic whilst she watched all this.
Chihiro Ikehara further introduced:
Since we graduated, there has been a lot of expansion here, and a few tennis courts and gymnastics halls were built later on. What a pity, we didn’t have these facilities when we were studying here.
Naoko after looking at several passing students asked:
The school uniforms have changed?
Yes, the school uniforms are not the same as ours at the moment, the skirts are a lot shorter than they were.
Ikehara said very delightfully.
Listening to her say this, Naoko couldn’t help but laugh.
At this moment, Lei Yin suddenly asked Ikehara:
tell me some of the things that happened to Naoko when he was studying here?
Hearing this question, Chihiro Ikehara immediately became very excited and said:
Naoko was in fact very famous; from the first grade to the third grade of high school, she was the precious flower of the school. She not had her beauty she had a good character, so she was the most popular girl. Heh heh, many juniors wrote letters of admiration to her and do you know what she did after receiving those letters? She really met those girls personally and she gave the letters was back to them and thanked them for their love, but after she did that, the girls got more crazy, and some girls even waited at the classroom door to get a glimpse of her. This made Naoko extremely anxious and caused her to flee after every class.
Naoko blushed, she said:
Well sister, enough! Don’t talk about it again. She smiled sweetly and said to Lei: you are not being fair, how you would suddenly ask such a question!
Lei Yin heart jumped when she ask him this question coquettishly, could not help but smile and held her fair soft hands.
Lei……
let us not be so intimate before sister Ikehara.
Naoko could not help but feel ashamed, but eventually she couldn’t free hand from his, after struggling a bit, she shamefacedly gave up and let him hold her.
Ikehara smilingly looked at them.
