The Heroines Want to Fall in Love 24
by TINY FAN FICTIONThe Heroines Want to Fall in Love 24
Edited by: Tiny Fan Fiction
Chapter 24 A Chance Encounter by the River
After leaving the theater,
the 4 of them went to a restaurant inside the mall for lunch.
In the afternoon, they watched a popular sci-fi movie.
That’s how Asakura Yuu spent his Golden Week, hanging out with the Service Club members.
Later, he even went to play baseball with Hayato and the others.
But since almost all the participants were guys, there’s not much to talk about.
After all, this is a novel for guys, and beautiful girls are the main focus.
…………
Asakura Yuu’s part-time job wasn’t far from his school, and after class, he just had to walk past a iconic slope and a river bridge to get there.
The path from the bottom of the slope to the middle of the bridge was a riverside walkway that stretched along the turbulent river, with a sparkling river surface about 50 meters wide.
Under the orange sunset, the area looked peaceful and serene.
Occasionally, you could see a few boys, who were either in middle school or elementary school, chasing each other… kids these days grow up too fast, and some elementary school kids are already 1.5 meters tall, who knows what they’re eating.
Asakura Yuu was enjoying the sunset when he was about to reach the small bridge.
Two little boys ran past, chasing a little girl.
“Ugly!!! Stop!!! Give me back my homework!”
“Idiot!! I won’t give it back! Go home and drink your mom’s milk!!”
Wow, elementary school girls these days have some serious trash talk!
Asakura Yuu was left speechless.
“Give Uta’s homework back!!” someone else shouted.
Before he could finish, the boy who was shouting fell to the ground.
Asakura Yuu saw the boy’s expression change.
If they were just playing around at first, now things were getting serious.
The boy in the lead, Uta, was quite strong and was catching up to the little girl.
“Ugly!!! Give it back!!! You’re a nobody, a loser without a dad!!”
The next moment,
the two of them fell to the ground and started rolling around, fighting.
At first, they were holding back, but soon they were getting more and more intense.
The girl was at a disadvantage because of her long hair, and soon she was on the losing end.
“Give it back!”
The little boy took back his homework, and then his eyes landed on the turbulent river next to them.
Emboldened, he was still fuming from the chase, and his anger got the better of him.
Soon, he grabbed the girl’s backpack and ran to the riverbank.
Then, he lifted his hand high and threw it… into the river!
“It’s all your fault!!! You’re the one who took my homework first!!! And I wasn’t wrong!!! You don’t even have a dad!!”
Asakura Yu quickly dropped his bag and prepared to jump into the river to help the little girl retrieve her schoolbag.
The river’s current is so fierce; if I don’t hurry, it’ll be too late!
The quality of schoolbags in this country is good, but they’re not waterproof to this extent!
If her textbooks get wet, how will this child attend class tomorrow?
She might not only be bullied by the opposite sex, but even by her own!
“Splash!” Someone beat him by a step!
All Asakura Yu could see was that this person seemed to be a woman.
Seeing the schoolbag being retrieved, he breathed a sigh of relief in his heart.
“Wuu~ I’m not a child without a dad!” The little girl’s crying voice filtered into Asakura Yu’s ears.
He turned his head to look and saw the two little boys standing there silently.
For elementary school boys, making a girl cry is quite a shameful act.
They didn’t regret throwing the bag, but the girl’s crying made them feel embarrassed; the boys cared about their own dignity!
Even kids care about saving face.
But their shame only lasted a moment…
“Serves you right! You shouldn’t have stolen from me! A thief doesn’t deserve such a pretty schoolbag!”
“Ugly! Ugly! Nobody wants an ugly girl!”
“Child without a dad! Child without a dad!”
“Wuu~”
The little girl no longer retorted with her sharp tongue, only crying her heart out.
Asakura Yu quickly walked over.
“Hey, you two!”
Seeing him approach, the boys shouted, “Ahh! An adult bullying kids!” and ran away.
Asakura Yu didn’t chase after them, instead walking to the girl’s side, ready to comfort her.
But the girl just stubbornly stood up, rubbing the corners of her eyes.
Seeing this, Asakura Yu decided against speaking immediately.
He took out a handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to her.
“…I have my own.”
The little girl, acting independently, took out a pink handkerchief from her school uniform pocket, wiping her dirt-stained face.
“Mom told me not to cry so easily. Because when you cry, there might be creepy lolicons who take advantage. Are you a lolicon, Uncle?”
“I’m only 16, shouldn’t you call me big brother?”
Asakura Yu said in a voice just loud enough for her to hear, “Little girls these days are hard to find cute; they’re full of dirty words, and if you offer a handkerchief, you even get called a lolicon.”
The little girl put away her handkerchief, looked up at him with disdain, and said, “Go die!”
After saying that, she covered her right arm, then casually moved it behind her back.
Asakura Yu noticed this and took out a roll of quick-healing bandages from his bag.
The child must have twisted it accidentally; there was a small, swollen area on her wrist.
This little one deliberately hid it from Asakura Yu’s notice; good thing his eyes were sharp.
“You’re hurt, aren’t you? Even if you hide it now, your mom might find out when you get back. Do you want to worry her?”
“Stay away, you lolicon!”
Asakura Yu observed her stubborn expression; the tears that had been like pear blossoms in the rain were now replaced with a hint of strength, as if she had forced all her grievances back down.
“This bandage is a new product from a pharmaceutical company. Once it’s on, the wound will heal quickly… You wouldn’t want to worry your mom, right?”
After a few seconds of silence, the little girl seemed to have been struck a soft spot…
“If you’re lying, I’ll call the police right away.”
The little girl turned her head, offering her swollen little hand.
“If I’m lying, I’ll call the police myself and have them lock me up.”
Asakura Yu unwrapped the bandage and, without another word, began to dress her wound with care.
A dozen seconds later.
Asakura Yu tied a neat butterfly knot with the bandage, “There, it’s done. Take it off when it doesn’t hurt anymore.”
“…Mhm.”
A few seconds later, the girl whispered, “Yuuzuki.”
“What?”
“Hanami Yuuzuki.”
It dawned on Asakura Yu that this was her name, and it was rather cute.
“I’m Asakura Yu, nice to meet you.”
“Thank you.”
Hanami Yuuzuki glanced at the pretty butterfly knot in her hand, and a faint smile couldn’t help but curve her lips, but upon looking up and seeing the girl who had helped her retrieve her backpack after Asakura Yu, she reined in her smile.
She scurried over to the girl, taking the soggy backpack, saying, “Thank you, kind big sister!”
Then, with a slight bow, after casting one more glance at Asakura Yu, she quickly left the riverbank.
…………
The gentle breeze by the river, the dazzling sunset in shades of madder, so tranquil that only the sound of the wind could be heard whispering in one’s ears.
Asakura Yu stood up and turned around; the first thing to catch his eye was the girl’s wet clothes, but under the troublesome sunset, there was nothing eye-catching to be seen.
Neither underwear nor anything else for that matter.
Her hair, face, and even her clothes were stained with quite a bit of mud.
The river water wasn’t exactly murky, but it certainly wasn’t clear either.
Asakura Yu instinctively tried to deduce her identity.
She probably wasn’t a local high school student, and a corporate worker was even less likely…
“The water’s so cold,” the girl said with a troubled expression as she sat down next to Asakura Yu.
“Well, it’s not summer yet,” Asakura Yu also sat down.
He had some time before work and wanted to chat with this girl who had jumped into the river without a second thought.
“I didn’t think it would be this cold when I jumped in.”
“I didn’t think you’d jump at all.”
“If I hadn’t jumped, you would have, right?”
The two exchanged a smile.
Yū Asakura turned his head to look at her, introducing himself, “My name is Yū Asakura, a student at the nearby high school. Are you a college student?”
“Mhm, I had fewer classes at the university today, so I came here to take a stroll. I didn’t expect to run into something like this.”
“Can you tell me your name?”
“If I tell you directly, it loses the mystery. A girl’s mystery is very important, you know.” The girl teased with a playful smile, “Just call me Big Sister Haruno.”
Is there really a surname like Haruno in this country?
After the introductions, there was a brief silence.
The warm spring breeze blew past.
Haruno parted her soft lips, speaking in a gentle voice:
“Yū-kun, did you have gym class today?”
Yū Asakura looked at her drenched figure and said,
“Just finished in the afternoon. My gym clothes are soaked with my sweat.”
After another silence…
“…Even though I’m a bit conscious of the onlookers’ gaze, big sister will just head back like this.”
Haruno tugged at the collar of her white blouse.
Seeing this, Yū Asakura took off his upper uniform jacket: “Here, wear my school jacket to go back.”
Haruno accepted the jacket he handed over, her expression one of surprise.
“Do you want to take a sniff? It doesn’t have any sweat smell.”
Haruno did as he suggested, taking a gentle sniff of the jacket.
“It smells like a smelly rag soaked in expired milk… so gross…”
“Really?”
“Sorry, just kidding. It smells of sunshine and detergent, thank you for lending it to me.”
…………
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