The Fourth Class Is Modern Chinese (Continued)

The route to Sobu High School, where I attended, ran along the river and had a long bike path. No cars drove on it, so you could get around safely and comfortably by bicycle.

Riding downstream led to the sea, while riding upstream led to Inba Marsh. If you kept going, you would probably reach the Sakura City area. Since it was popular these days, I had been seeing a lot of people riding road bikes lately.

Orioto probably went riding there on weekends too.

At that thought, she clapped her hands.

"Then why don't you buy a road bike too?"

"No way, those are expensive... And weren't you the one who said they'd get stolen...? Who would dare ride one to school...?"

"True."

She covered the corner of her mouth and giggled as she spoke. I had no idea what was so funny.

The residential neighborhood was silent at night, but for some reason, her soft laughter lifted my spirits.

That secretive atmosphere was like talking during a school trip at night or in a park late at night. Thanks to it, even the most ordinary conversation made us want to laugh.

Some time after entering high school, I had seen similar scenes all over the city where I lived.

From dusk into the night, high school students who had once attended the same middle school, now wearing different uniforms, would sit on their bikes in front of convenience stores or someone's house and casually update each other on their lives or reminisce about the past.

I would occasionally see scenes like that in April or May.

From the outside, some of them seemed full of anticipation for their new lives, while others had failed to settle in and were longing for the past. It was practically a miniature