In the classroom at dusk, the chirping of cicadas echoed with a long tail.

The girl in the seat lowered her head, pursed her lips stubbornly, and her bangs blocked the expression on her face. Textbooks and exercise books were scattered around, and girls smiling maliciously surrounded her, muttering malicious words.

words.

"Shiraishi, you——"

She tilted her head slightly, looking over the girl's shoulder and looking out the window.

In an instant, the cicadas chirped harshly and filled the sky with boiling water.

"Mai-like!"

The sudden sound awakened Shiraishi's consciousness again.

The roaring baseball passed by her ears for a moment, the wind howled, and then hit the barbed wire fence behind her.

Shiraishi still maintained his preparatory posture before hitting the ball and had no time to react.

December 25th, Christmas Day, 5pm.

Inside the baseball stadium.

"I said, you're so beautiful Mai," Hashimoto, who was leaning on the barbed wire fence, sighed slightly, "I came with you because you had to come over, but why did you start to feel so stupid instead?"

"...Ah, sorry, sorry, something suddenly occurred to me." Shiraishi apologized.

"The party after?"

"No, Meicai and Maimai are preparing for the party. Anyway, we can just buy some ingredients when we get there... I just thought of some things from the past."

"Eh? Mai's past? When she was a student?" Hashimoto's eyes lit up, looking quite interested.

"...Well, more or less." Shiraishi pursed his lips, as if he didn't intend to talk more about this topic.

Hashimoto did not delve into it.

"Speaking of which, this is my first time attending a Christmas party." Hashimoto changed the subject.

"Yeah?"

"Last year, didn't Maihan and Sayuri go to a party at Xiao Shixiao's house? Although they invited me, they had already made an appointment with friends in Tokyo at that time, so they didn't go. So I'm really looking forward to this group party.

...Ma Yiyan, ball!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Shiraishi had already knocked the ball away.

"...Ah, I remember," Shiraishi retracted his movements after hitting the ball and smiled while leaning on the bat. "Last year, Sayuri and I just went to help make food, and it felt like taking care of a group of children."

"It's a pity that Sayuri didn't participate this time."

"There's nothing we can do about it. She is also a reserve member of the Five Horses Group after all. Besides, our notification time was a bit late. She has already been punished. It's not good to regret it temporarily." Shiraishi said. Then he noticed that he stood and watched for a long time.

Hashimoto

"Won't Nanamin have a shot?"

"I'd better forget it. I played with you last time, Mai, and my back hurt for several days." Hashimoto simply refused, "Christmas is once a year, and I don't want to spend it with sore muscles."

"...I'm sorry, it's been a long time since I played last time, so I was a little excited."

"It's not that I blame Mai, I had a lot of fun too," Hashimoto glanced at Shiraishi on the batter's bench, suddenly thought of the home run he hit at five o'clock that day, and laughed.

"Could it be that Xiao Shixiao aroused the competitive spirit?"

"Huh? What?" Bai Shitou didn't reply.

"Home run."

Shiraishi's swing stagnated. The hit baseball bounced several times on the ground. It was a ground ball.

"Nanamin..."

Shiraishi smiled bitterly and turned around, only to see the girl smiling narrowly.

"I guessed wrong?"

"...Guessed it right."

"Let me tell you," Hashimoto smiled even more enthusiastically, "Mai-san has been coming too frequently during this period."

"If you see through it, don't say it."

"Ma Yiyan, your birthday has passed in March this year. You are already an adult. You should act like an adult and don't be too competitive."

"...Sir." Shiraishi tightened the bat in his hand, not knowing what to say.

Fortunately, at this moment, the phone rang. It was Fukawa.

Hashimoto answered the phone.

"Hey, Mai Mai... Okay, can you do it now? Well, no problem. You can send me the information about the ingredients you need to buy. Yeah, Mai and I are together... Okay, I will be there before six o'clock."

"Maimai asked us to go to the supermarket to buy some ingredients before we go there." Hashimoto hung up the phone.

However, Shiraishi did not listen to her carefully.

She swung the bat hard and hit the baseball flying high into the air, flying farther and farther. However, before hitting the disc, the baseball lost its momentum and fell helplessly.

"What a pity." Hashimoto said.

"We have made great progress," Shiraishi put the bat on his shoulders and smiled carelessly, "Let's go, that's it for today."

The two put on their coats and walked out of the baseball stadium, shivering in the cold wind passing through the street.

Hashimoto was right. The home run in the fifth watch did arouse Shiraishi's curiosity. But it was not entirely because of this reason that she came here many times during this period.

Some time ago, her manager briefly mentioned to her that next year she might do an adult planning program for the members. Only then did she realize that she was already an adult. She felt a little panicked. She couldn't explain the reason. She pulled the bridge hard.

Originally, playing baseball was probably more about venting my worries.

It was still dark, and the trees and signs on the streets were decorated with all kinds of unlit lights, and there were stickers of Santa Claus and snowmen on the windows. She could probably imagine how the city would be filled with light when night fell.

She had never told the members about her school days, the boring daily life, the pictures were dominated by black and white and gray, pale and sick, and there was no trace of youthful color embellishment in them. Christmas is very important to a person like her who is out of touch.

In other words, it's like the smile on a clown's face, with an inexplicable sense of irony.

After more than a year in Nogizaka, she actually made friends with whom she could spend Christmas, which she felt was a bit unreal.

In her memory, that evening, the girls surrounded her in the classroom.

"Shiraishi," one of them said with a sneer, "a weirdo like you must not have a single friend."

At that time, she couldn't refute, so she had to cool down her feelings and get used to it silently.

Then she thought about it, those people would grow up with her and become adults in other people's words. Do they regret or don't care about the memories of those who hurt her?

"Mai-like." Hashimoto called her softly and pointed to the little girl standing by the tree in the street in front of her.

The two looked at each other, and Hashimoto ran over first.

"What's wrong?" She knelt down and patted the girl's head.

The girl looked at her timidly and shook her head gently.

Hashimoto looked around and didn't see his parents.

"Get separated?" Bai Shi asked.

"should be."

"Do you want to call the police?"

The girl then pulled down the hem of Shiraishi's coat. She remained silent.

Looking at the girl who lowered her head and remained silent, Shiraishi seemed to be looking at himself sitting silently in the classroom.

"How can my sister understand your thoughts if you don't speak?"

The girl's hand gripped her clothes tighter.

"What's your name?" Shiraishi asked.

"...Hongmei."

"Okay, Hiromi-chan, are your parents around?"

The girl raised her hand and pointed to the convenience store on the roadside.

Shiraishi was about to get up and go into the store to look for her parents, but the girl still grabbed her by the hem of her clothes and wouldn't let go.

"Hiromi-chan, do you need my help?"

The girl nodded, then looked up.

There was a balloon wrapped around the branch next to them. It was probably distributed by a nearby shop during an event. On the tree decorated with various colorful ribbons, the red balloon was not very conspicuous.

The branch that was entangled in the thread was nearly three meters high. Shiraishi handed the bag in his hand to Hashimoto, but failed to get the balloon after jumping several times. Several passers-by pointed and laughed.

"Maiyang, why don't we bother the nearby store clerk."

"...No need. I have no problem, I can get it right away."

Hashimoto shook his head, finally seeing how strong Shiraishi's competitiveness was.
To be continued...