Chapter 4: Chapter 4: Falling in Love with a Childhood Friend
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The next day, "What are you looking at?" Just as Teacher Emi was teaching everyone to sing, Shinichi suddenly said to her, looking displeased.
"Huh? What did you say?" Teacher Emi asked, confused.
"You've been looking since just now!" Shinichi said, pointing at Ran, "Look at her!"
"Teacher Emi is looking at everyone! Because she's a teacher!" Sonoko said, defending Teacher Emi.
"Oh, really?" Shinichi said, indicating he didn't believe it.
"Yes!!" Ran also spoke up, "And everyone else is also looking at Teacher Emi!"
"Because Teacher Emi is very popular," Yū said, "There are countless girls here who say they want to marry Teacher Emi when they grow up!"
"Eh, so you like him too?" Shinichi looked at Ran.
"Why would I tell Shinichi-kun that?! Do you think I'm stupid?" Ran shouted shyly.
"Really? Sorry about that..." Shinichi said, then felt a little bored and walked away.
"Eh, was he annoyed?" Ran asked, confused.
"No, not at all. That's just Shinichi being tsundere. Don't take it to heart. He likes you very much; how could he dislike you?" Yū waved his hand dismissively. Damn it, as soon as I said that, I regretted it. Shinichi and Ran were still only at the stage of having a vague mutual liking. Ran was still quite shy. What if... how could I be so quick to speak? Yū immediately looked towards Ran and saw that Ran's face was already red. Ran said angrily, "Yū-kun, if you talk nonsense again, I won't play with you!"
Just as Yū was thinking about how to remedy the situation, Sonoko suddenly interjected, "Hey, Yū-kun, what does 'tsundere' mean? I don't understand what you're saying?"
When Yū heard Sonoko's words, he really wanted to give her a thumbs up and say, Well done, girl! Nice assist! You successfully diverted Ran's attention, so she won't mind what I just said. After all, they're just kids.
So Yū went along with Sonoko's words, "Well, 'tsundere' is a very profound word!" Anyway, the famous tsundere characters in anime hadn't appeared yet, and no one had given a definition to the word "tsundere," so Yū could just say whatever he wanted. "Tsundere refers to people who usually speak harshly and have a strong, arrogant attitude, but under certain conditions, they tend to be shy and clingy. In my opinion, Shinichi is a typical tsundere."
"Then Shinichi-kun just has a bad attitude, but he doesn't cling?" Okay, here comes Sonoko, the curious cat, again. Yū practically wanted to give Sonoko a big award. The name of this award would be 'Haneu Yū Peace Prize,' specifically awarded to those who made significant contributions to peaceful and friendly coexistence between Yū and others. Alright, that's enough of the jokes. Yū still needed Sonoko, the curious cat, to cover up his previous slip of the tongue. "So, Shinichi has only shown his 'tsun' side so far. His 'dere' side is quite worth looking forward to, isn't it?" Saying this, Yū looked at Ran and Sonoko.
"Really?" Sonoko asked. May heaven forgive me for deceiving such a naive Sonoko, amen, Yū thought to himself.
"Hmm, really?" Ran said, squinting at Yū.
"Uh, I suddenly remembered that my family is still boiling medicine at home. I have to go back and turn off the fire immediately. Goodbye!" After saying that, Yū immediately disappeared from Ran and Sonoko's sight. His speed was so fast that even the Robert who ran faster than Liu Xiang probably couldn't match it.
"Sigh..." Ran was stunned for a moment. "Honestly."
...
The next day, at a crossroads, Teacher Emi was leading everyone across the street.
"Shinichi, you seem very unhappy. Why is your face so grim? Did you not sleep well last night?" Yū noticed that Shinichi's expression was off.
Shinichi heard Yū's question, looked at Yū expressionlessly, then turned his head and continued to look at Ran.
Following Shinichi's gaze, Yū saw Teacher Emi holding Ran's hand as they crossed the street. Yū immediately understood everything.
In the kindergarten, "Alright, children! It's nap time!" Teacher Emi began to urge everyone. "Lie down as usual. That's Ran's spot, Shinichi."
"Isn't that strange? Why is only Ran's spot fixed?" Yū said.
"Ah, no, that's..." Teacher Emi began to explain.
But before she could finish, Shinichi interrupted, "Besides that, you have three other suspicious points. When crossing the street, you always hold her hand. When waiting in line for the slide at the park, even when others are waiting, you let her go first. Most importantly, that park is farther than the previous ones, and has more dangerous crosswalks, doesn't it?"
"Heh heh." Teacher Emi chuckled and said, "Because Ran had to go to the bathroom once, but she didn't make it in time..."
"You did that...?" Shinichi was somewhat disbelieving.
"It was too far... What do you care about me!" Ran shouted shyly.
Teacher Emi continued to explain, "I held Ran's hand because last time Ran fell behind and I almost couldn't find her. I let Ran go first on the slide because she always watched others play. Going to a farther park is because I want everyone to learn more about traffic rules. Also, there's another reason that I'll tell you tomorrow when we go to the park, little detective?" Saying this, Teacher Emi patted Shinichi's head.
...
"See that window?" Teacher Emi pointed to a hospital behind a cherry blossom tree and said, "There's a woman looking this way. That's actually my wife. She's in the hospital because she's not well, but she really loves children, so I brought you all here to see her. Teacher is a bit selfish, aren't I?"
"It's okay to be selfish! Let's all wave to Teacher's wife!" Ran suggested.
"No, we don't want to play with people who wear strange badges." It was those same boys again.
"Shinichi and I also have badges like that. If three people have the same, it means we're friends, right?" Yū retorted.
"If you're friends, you play together!!" Saying this, Shinichi fiercely headbutted the boy, making him afraid to speak again.
"So that's it, this boy saw it, that's why..." Ran suddenly understood why Shinichi said his badge was missing, and she smiled happily.
"Alright! Shinichi, let's wave to Teacher's wife together!" Ran said, raising Shinichi's hand.
"Shi... Shinichi... you're calling me by my given name?" Shinichi blushed.
"It's okay! You can call me by my given name!" Ran said, smiling.
Watching Ran and Shinichi's relationship grow so close, Yū felt a little envious. "Ah, ah, where's my other half?"
With the cherry blossoms fluttering, another person fell in love with their childhood friend!