Awakening

“Senior, do I regress a lot?” The kendo girl looked very frustrated.

Wiping the sweat from her forehead with a sleeve, Lei Yin smiled: “Because you have to prepare for the University entrance exam, you don’t have much time to practice before this. After your test, I will help you return to the previous level.”

Rumi looked at him, and after a while, her eyes started to redden, but she immediately bowed her head, not wanting him to see.

“Let’s go outside. It’s almost dinner time. You better take a shower first.” Lei Yin touched her head and then walked up the stairs with her protective mask.

Watching the slender figure went further and further, the girl could not help but gently let out a cry, “Senior.”

“What’s the matter?” Lei Yin looked back at her.

The girl was afraid to look him in the eye, “I, I will work hard.” Lei Yin smiled, “Come on up.”

Watching his warm smile, the girl all of a sudden has the impulse to burst into tears.

“Senior.” When Lei Yin was about to go up to open the basement door, Rumi suddenly called out.

“What?”

“Nothing, just wanted to call.” The girl said with a smile.

Back to the living room, when Amy, who sat beside Kazumi watching cartoons on TV, saw Lei Yin she immediately jumped down from the couch and ran over to him.

Lei Yin easily picked her up and then said to Kazumi: “Is Maeda back?”

“He said he will be back in half an hour. Rumi, look at you so sweaty like that, go take a shower.” She went over to the kendo girl to help her take her protective clothing off.

Amy very curiously watched Rumi took off her protective clothing.

After Rumi went to the bathroom, Kazumi asked Lei Yin: “Brother, how is Naoko-sensei?”

“She is much better now. In a few days, her wounds will be completely healed.”

Kazumi paused and then said: “Brother if Naoko-sensei is all right, can you spend more time with Rumi? For several days you weren’t here, she became dispirited.”

Lei Yin grimaced, “Kazumi, in addition to thinking about Naoko, you should be able to understand my intentions in doing this.”

Kazumi worriedly said, “I know you don’t want Rumi to be too dependent on you, but this time is too important for her, and I really don’t want to see her unhappy look. Brother, please.”

This was the first time he heard her asked him with a face filled with concerns like this. Lei Yin thought and then said: “Let me think about it, okay?”

Kazumi looked at him and nodded.

At dinner time, Rumiko was stunned to see the little girl skillfully eat her meal with chopsticks.

“Masashi, isn’t Amy a foreigner? How could she used chopsticks?”

Lei Yin put a peeled shrimp to the little girl’s bowl and said: “She wanted to learn on her own initiative. When she saw me eat with chopsticks and find it interesting, she wanted to try it. She is very smart; It took only two days for her to learn.” Maeda said with a smile: “When I heard there’s a foreign girl at home, I bought a knife and a fork on my way back, it seems unnecessary now.”

Lei Yin asked Amy: “Kid, delicious?”

The little girl nodded at once.

“Eat more if it’s delicious.” He said while he picked the cooked rice grain from the corner of her mouth.

Looking at this pretty little girl, Rumiko’s motherly instinct flared up and began to give her the dishes from time to time. And each time she gave it to her, the little girl would smile to show her thanks. Seeing how sensible she is, Rumiko became even more fond of her.

Rumi, who sat on the other side of the table, watched the life-size doll-like Amy with great interest.

After eating the meal, Lei Yin noticed Rumi holding a bag as if she wanted to go out. He knew she was about to go to the cram school. Because there were many students enrolled in the Tutorial Agency, the class has been divided into day-class and night-class, and she happened to be placed on night-class.

Borrowing the car key from Maeda, Lei Yin said to the kendo girl: “Rumi, I’ll drive you.”

“Senior, you don’t have to, I can take the subway.”

“What’s with this politeness, come on.”

The kendo girl very happily said: “Thank you, senior.”

Seeing him going out, Amy immediately went after him.

Lei Yin said to her: “Kid, you stay here and watch TV, okay? I will be back soon.”

In order to give them the opportunity to be together, Kazumi immediately came over and took the little girl’s hand to reassure her.

Amy thus agreed.

Seeing the joyful look of Rumi as she walked out with her brother, Kazumi’s face gradually revealed a smile.

After driving for about 30 minutes, Lei yin stopped the car near the entrance of the Tutorial Agency.

When the girl unfastened her seatbelt, Lei Yin asked: “Rumi, you’re going to finish your class in 9:30?”

“Yes, senior.”

“At that time, I want you to wait for me at the entrance, I will come and pick you up.”

“You really don’t need to do this, senior.” Rumi was overwhelmingly flattered.

Lei Yin added: “Not only tonight, until the end of summer, as long as I have the time I will come and pick you up from school. I really don’t feel assured for a girl like you to walk alone at night.”

“Senior....” The moisture in her eyes was more and more welled up, and then quickly merged into water droplets which then flew down.

“Little fool, there’s nothing to cry about this thing.” Lei Yin gently wiped the tears with his sleeves.

Rumi could not stand it anymore and threw herself into his arms and cried out loud.

She did not know why, but after he came back from the vacation, Rumi always felt there was something different in him. He often was not at home and no longer call herself kid. Nor did he gently stroke her hair like before. This seemingly sudden sense of distance made her very upset and confused.

This seems a bit rushed, Lei Yin thought in his heart as he watched the weeping teenage girl tightly clung to him.

After a while, when the girl’s cry slowed down, Lei Yin gently stroked her hair and said: “Do you have something in your mind? If you don’t mind, you can talk to senior about it.”

Hearing his gentle tone, the girl’s tears could not help flow down, “Senior, I beg you, please don’t ignore me.”

“Fool, how could it be? Rumi is the most obedient and well-behaved, how could I ignore you?”

The girl raised her head back and looked at him, and after a while, she suddenly blushed and whispered: “Senior, I, I....”