By noon, the morning training session had wrapped up. With the afternoon's regular performance approaching, everyone had about two hours to eat and move around.
Watanabe Tetsu went off on his own.
To help Rinn Kiyono fit in with the wind ensemble, he deliberately kept his distance from her in front of everyone else.
And that worked perfectly.
At least Yuuki Miki wouldn't find a reason to punish him. And right now, Watanabe Tetsu didn't want to be anywhere near anyone.
After all… he still had a pair of women's underwear on him.
Disgusting!
Standing on the platform, he couldn't help but worry that a station staff member might suddenly rush over to search him.
If that happened… he'd really have to jump onto the tracks.
'From now on, I should keep my distance from Asuka Mai,' he thought, raising his palm toward the azure sky, then slowly blowing onto the back of his hand.
This was the breathing technique Rinn Kiyono had taught him.
"Don't let the air break, and build a bridge of breath between your lips and the back of your hand."
He could still repeat her words perfectly.
White clouds drifted lazily between his fingers, as if he had blown them away himself.
Just then, a group of girls in Kamikawa Private Academy uniforms—members of the ensemble's lower brass section—walked onto the platform.
To escape the sun that could burn their skin, they dashed into the shelter where Watanabe Tetsu was standing.
Asaoka Hanada and Aoi Ichiki nodded politely to him. The others ignored him entirely. Only Asuka Mai sat casually beside him, acting as if nothing had happened.
Her familiar scent immediately reached Watanabe Tetsu's nose.
The rest of the girls paused for a moment, then assumed that Asuka Mai simply didn't care about the notoriously difficult Watanabe Tetsu. They didn't suspect anything between them.
Watanabe Tetsu glanced at her skirt, then quickly moved two seats over.
If he was going to keep his distance from this… flirt, he needed to act immediately.
But he hadn't expected Asuka Mai to scoot closer anyway.
The lower brass section stared in disbelief at her boldness.
Asuka Mai patted the empty seats and gestured to Hanada Asaoka: "Sit."
Ah, so she was making room for the others. Though her demeanor was cold, her heart was still warm—at least that's what the lower brass thought.
"This girl is scary… I want to go back to the countryside," Watanabe Tetsu muttered silently to himself.
The lower brass gathered around Asuka Mai, chatting happily about the weather and swapping recommendations for sunscreen.
The atmosphere was lively, but Watanabe Tetsu only felt it was noisy—like the heat had doubled.
Summer can't be a little quieter? Are these sparrows or cicadas? he thought, letting his gaze drift to the contrails in the sky.
The train rumbled into the station, kicking up a blast of hot air.
When boarding, Asuka Mai leaned close and whispered in Watanabe Tetsu's ear:
"Don't worry. I won't let anyone else see."
What did that mean?
So he was off the hook?!
Women were too cunning. Saying that, Watanabe Tetsu couldn't bring himself to think of her as a flirt anymore!
In the afternoon's regular performance, the wind ensemble earned applause.
Although the audience's enthusiasm was modest, it was worlds apart from last time, when they had been laughed at.
After the performance, Rinn Kiyono announced an early dismissal for the day: everyone should rest tonight and resume practice tomorrow.
Watanabe Tetsu's route home overlapped with Rinn Kiyono's, and they ended up walking together for a stretch.
"After all that strict training, they should finally behave and listen to you, right?" Watanabe Tetsu smiled, deliberately showing the ugly grin of a capitalist squeezing his workers.
Rinn Kiyono shot him a dissatisfied glance. "Don't act like I'm some villain—you took it upon yourself to decide and implement all of it."
"You did cooperate, didn't you? Technically, that makes you an accomplice."
Rinn Kiyono sighed. "I can't argue with that."
They walked along the Shinjuku highway for a while. Passing a bus stop spraying mist, Rinn Kiyono suddenly said,
"Thank you for what you did today."
Her tone was sincere, refreshingly open.
Watanabe Tetsu wasn't used to such scenes. It was like hearing his dad suddenly say, "Son, I love you."
Understanding the sentiment was enough. There was no need to be so formal—it was embarrassing.
"Helping beautiful girls like you is my duty," Watanabe Tetsu joked to diffuse the serious mood.
Rinn Kiyono covered her mouth and laughed. "Ah, I thought I was special… so you treat every cute girl this way?"
"No, no," Watanabe Tetsu flustered and corrected himself, "I only do this for you, Rinn!"
Rinn Kiyono blinked quickly, staring at him in surprise.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
She turned her head away, muttering quietly: "Thank you."
If they hadn't been so close, and if the streets of July at two or three in the afternoon weren't eerily quiet from the heat, he probably wouldn't have heard her.
"Why thank me again?! I was just telling the truth!"
"…Yes."
"Don't misunderstand, Rinn. I don't like you! I just think someone as honest as you should have someone on their side—supporting, helping."
"Oh… I thought it was a confession of love, and I was already thinking of how to refuse so you wouldn't run into the street and… die."
"Die… Rinn, you might be sun-stroked."
"Sun-stroked? No."
"But your face looks awful."
"I…"
"Hey, Rinn! Are you okay?!"
The sun-warped road stretched ahead. Watanabe Tetsu's voice grew distant. After a moment of dizziness, Rinn Kiyono lost consciousness.
"…Even a hundred-yen store fruit knife can peel without sticking…"
Rinn Kiyono slowly regained awareness. The sterile hospital scent filled her nose, and incomprehensible muttering came from Watanabe Tetsu nearby.
"What… happened to me?"
"You're awake?"
Seeing Watanabe Tetsu approaching with a peeled apple, she didn't feel like eating.
"No thanks… not now…"
Crunch. A perfect bite taken from the apple.
"You're welcome. I just called an ambulance. The doctor said you're fine—just low on stamina, haven't rested properly, overworked your brain, and got hit by the sun, that's all."
Watanabe Tetsu savored the sweet juice and firm fruit.
Rinn Kiyono watched as he finished the apple, then closed her eyes again after he helped her wipe her hands with a wet towel.
"Anything else bothering you?"
"…."
"If something hurts, tell me—I'll call the doctor." Watanabe Tetsu took another bite.
"It's fresh, full of juice, and has a unique fragrance. I've only eaten apples like this back home, freshly picked. You know, at my school, there's an old apple tree over thirty years old. Every year it bears green apples. Have you eaten green apples? Not sour—they're very sweet."
The hospital room was filled with the sound of crunching and Watanabe Tetsu's endless chatter.
Rinn Kiyono felt dizzy, trying to massage her temple with one hand, only to find the other arm occupied by an IV.
Once he finished the apple and tossed the core, Watanabe Tetsu washed his hands.
"Want something to drink? I can get it for you."
"Apple."
"Oh, you mean another? I thought you said no earlier."
Rinn Kiyono flushed, incredulous. "You did that on purpose?"
"Ha ha ha." Watanabe Tetsu laughed heartily.
Rinn Kiyono pulled the blanket over her head, playing dead.
Lying in bed made her seem weak. In the activity room, she would have snapped back with sharp words.
'But this guy is too cute. Doing this at nine o'clock… is he trying to seduce me? He must be,' Watanabe Tetsu thought.
He picked up another apple, peeling it carefully.
"This one's from a street stall outside the hospital—not some shiny Ginza fruit shop. Not sure if you're used to it."
"Does it matter?" Rinn Kiyono's weak, husky voice came from under the blanket.
"You clearly have no sense of everyday life, princess." Watanabe Tetsu kept peeling smoothly. "Do you know Ikebukuro Nishi Ichibangai?"
That had been his main shopping spot before the system and before mooching off Yuuki Miki.
"No."
"You wouldn't. Locals know the area's fruit shops are shabby compared to Ginza. Still acceptable for ordinary people."
"Why can you tell just from the name?"
"Because the neighboring shops are massage parlors, adult video stores, and barbecue places. You get it?"
"You went to adult video stores," Rinn Kiyono said with certainty.
"Wrong. Three out of four options, and you still got it wrong. No idea how you got first in your class."
"You left such a bad impression on me that I picked wrong," she muttered.
"Alright, alright. Bad me has peeled the apple for you. Eat, princess."
Rinn Kiyono peeked out from the blanket, her color back to normal.
She took the apple with her delicate hand, said thanks, and bit into it with quiet satisfaction.
The peel had broken once in the trash—what a pity.
Clearly, he needed a proper fruit knife to reach full potential, so he blamed the cheap one from the hundred-yen store.
After Rinn Kiyono finished and wiped her hands, Watanabe Tetsu looked out the window.
The sun had begun its descent.
"Since you're fine, I'll head out."
"Yeah, thanks for today."
Watanabe Tetsu waved, picked up the oboe case on the sofa, and left the hospital room.