Accompanied by the cicadas' chirping and the scorching heat, summer vacation arrived.
It had been a long time since Fang Wuwei had a holiday, and he really wanted to just lie at home, play games and exercise when he had time, and practice his skills, which would be so pleasant and comfortable.
It's just that Kuzuha and the others went abroad to find their father, otherwise he could have visited them.
Fang Wuwei, who had just finished exercising, lay idly on the sofa; he had completely adapted to student life, and for someone like him, who used to be a socialite, student life was simply a rare paradise.
His phone, placed beside him, rang, and he lazily picked it up to see it was a call from Yuta.
Without much thought, Fang Wuwei answered the call; he remembered that some plot seemed to need advancing this summer.
Sure enough, Yuta, on the other end of the phone, did not go abroad with Kuzuha and the others but stayed in Neon.
"Hello, Wuwei, Toka invited us to her hometown this summer, are you coming?"
Yuta invited Fang Wuwei; if he remembered correctly, this trip to Rikka's house seemed to be a key point for their relationship to warm up rapidly, so he definitely had to get involved.
"Go!"
And so, Fang Wuwei accepted Yuta's invitation and gathered at the station one day at noon to spend a summer together.
————This is a cute dividing line————
"Why is it so hot~~~"
"Yeah..."
Nibutani complained while sitting in the waiting shed, and Isshiki, wearing a baseball cap beside her, echoed her words; he was almost dead from the heat, and it was indeed too hot that day, making Yuta not want to speak.
"Good morning~~"
A somewhat lazy voice came from afar, instantly waking Isshiki Makoto; he saw Koushou, dressed in a white camisole dress and wearing a white beach hat, exuding a wonderful sense of purity that made Isshiki's eyes go wide.
Ever since Isshiki Makoto shaved his head last time and was gently comforted by Koushou, Isshiki Makoto became infatuated with Koushou, in his words, "Koushou, who doesn't despise me for being bald, is an angel!" That's how it was.
At that time, Nibutani was speechless; before, he was still annoyed about being dumped by the girl who left him a love letter, not even meeting her, and in a blink of an eye, he fell for Koushou.
Looking at the pure Koushou, Nibutani made two sarcastic remarks, "How can she wear such clothes on the street? It's not like she's an idol from the Showa era."
These two sentences naturally aroused Isshiki Makoto's dissatisfaction, and he turned back to retort to Nibutani, "Koushou is different from you; she is a sincere girl who will not be swayed by the times!"
"Hmph hmph... What are you, a primary school student, talking about?" Nibutani wasn't angry; instead, she flicked Isshiki Makoto's hat off his head with a finger, revealing his newly grown stubble, which was indeed as short as a primary school student's.
"Don't call me a primary school student, ahhh—" Isshiki Makoto quickly covered his head with both hands; without his hair, he was extremely sensitive, his hair was his life, and now that it was gone, he naturally wouldn't allow others to talk about it.
But...
"Isshiki, you look like a primary school student~" Koushou walked over and said to Isshiki.
Upon hearing this, Isshiki put his hands down and kept smirking, letting Koushou rub his head.
Except for Koushou.
After that, just as the train was about to depart, Fang Wuwei finally arrived late.
"You're too slow."
Nibutani couldn't help but complain, truly no sense of time, no wonder he's late every day.
"Sorry, sorry~"
Fang Wuwei didn't care at all, a wide smile on his face, holding up a basket of fruit in his hands, "Didn't I go shopping? I can't just go to someone's house empty-handed, can I? That would be so rude."
Nibutani, standing next to him, sighed upon hearing this and accepted it; she had also brought something.
Totsuka, Yuta, Isshiki, and Koushou, who were empty-handed: "..."
Oh no, I've become the rude one.
"By the way, Isshiki, your current hairstyle actually suits you better than before you shaved it."
"Don't talk about hair anymore!!"
Amidst the laughter and chatter, the train finally arrived at the station, and everyone could board.
But Totsuka got carsick, so in desperation, Nibutani pulled Isshiki Makoto, who was staring obsessively at Koushou's sleeping face, and took Totsuka to the restroom to vomit first.
Only Yuta, Rikka, Fang Wuwei, and the sleeping Koushou were left in the carriage.
Yuta looked at Rikka sitting beside him; ever since Rikka got on the train... no, since she arrived at the station, Rikka had barely spoken, just staring blankly into the distance with an unhappy expression.
Yuta also saw Rikka's obvious low spirits; he knew why Rikka was like this (the protagonist revealed it in Chapter 24), and Toka even invited him to come along, even saying, "You are very important," so he could vaguely guess why.
However, he believed that Toka's desire for Rikka to face reality was correct, and he naturally hoped that Rikka would no longer avoid it and calmly face the facts that had already occurred.
He didn't comfort Rikka, nor did he try to counsel her; he wasn't qualified. All he could do was stay by Rikka's side and interact with her, trying to make Rikka temporarily forget the pain of reality.
So, he started to act silly, trying every way to chat with Rikka.
However, even with Yuta being so proactive, Rikka still avoided speaking whenever possible, which frustrated Yuta, but an inexplicable pang of heartache surfaced in his heart.
Forget it... Wuwei might be more familiar with the sudden death of a loved one; I'll ask him when I have time... No, wouldn't that just open his old wounds?
What a headache...
"I'm so worried, Rikka-chan~"
Even Koushou noticed Rikka's unusual behavior after waking up; she also hoped that everyone could have a happy time playing together.
"Does Rikka-chan have something on her mind?"
Regarding this, Yuta did not respond, nor did Fang Wuwei, and Rikka also did not turn her head, quietly staring blankly at the rapidly receding scenery outside the window...
————This is a cute dividing line————
The train quickly arrived at the station; Neon is a small place, so a train ride only takes a few hours, naturally not too long.
After getting off the train, Totsuka still hadn't recovered for a long time, leaning on her oversized rabbit backpack, sitting on the ground, dizzy and spinning, not even noticing a frog on her head; Koushou squatted beside her, quietly guarding Totsuka.
"The world is spinning Death~ Thunder Hammer Dance..."
"I told you to shut up!" Even so, Totsuka insisted on being chuunibyou, which made Nibutani angry.
The reason for her anger? Just look at Isshiki Makoto, who also had a dejected look on his face behind her.
After Isshiki Makoto went to the restroom with the two, he saw Totsuka lie on the toilet, and Isshiki was actually led to vomit as well, and Nibutani was in front of Isshiki, so...
We still don't know how desperate Nibutani was, facing two vomiting people when the only escape route was blocked...
We only know that after coming out, Nibutani had already changed into a new set of clothes.
"As expected of the class president... she's really good at taking care of people..."
Isshiki Makoto, with a dejected look, squinted his eyes and walked over; as one of the culprits, he helped Nibutani wash the clothes stained with that stuff, and accurately stepped on a landmine.
Could Nibutani tolerate it? She directly used the wet clothes in her hand as a whip and flung it at Isshiki Makoto's face, "Do you think I wanted to?!"
But the kind Nibutani wasn't truly angry; even if she was, it had subsided, and she still had the leisure to care for the dizzy Totsuka and the obviously troubled Rikka.
"Is she really okay?"
Rikka was currently detached from the group, standing alone in the sunlight, holding her black Gothic lace umbrella.
"Takanashi invited us, saying she was going back to her hometown and asked if we wanted to come along."
Except for Fang Wuwei, who was invited by Yuta, reportedly because Toka specifically asked him to come... everyone else was brought along by Rikka. Yuta could roughly guess the reason for this: not understood by her family, she didn't want to go home alone, and the more people, the better, naturally.
But others didn't know, especially Nibutani; she thought the reason Rikka was so unusual was likely similar to novel plots like "fell in love in middle school, then became long-distance after going to different high schools...".
Nibutani was always very interested when it came to love stories.
Even Yuta reacted a little; hearing Nibutani's deduction, a hint of unease couldn't help but surface in his heart.
A small minivan capable of accommodating everyone drove up from afar; Toka had come to pick them up.
But seeing Rikka assume a defensive posture towards this beautiful, black-haired mature woman, Nibutani noticed something was off...