Chapter 107

“But they had already been expelled, at most they were locked up by the police station for a few days, accepted some ‘ideological education’ and were released.”

“Later, because of this, many students donated money to them, calling them ‘heroes’. The two of them took the money and went abroad to study.”

Fujiwara Aoi breathed a sigh of relief and smiled.

“In that case, it can be considered a... happy ending?”

Otsuka Takuyuki nodded with a smile.

“You could say that.”

Natsume Chikage didn’t expect that a cherry blossom tree would involve so many causes and effects.

But he still had many questions in his heart.

“What is the name of that girl? What happened to her later?”

Hearing this question, Otsuka Takuyuki was silent for a long time, his expression becoming a bit complex.

“Her name is Nishino Tsubaki. Later... she didn’t cause any more trouble, and finished high school smoothly...”

Natsume Chikage pondered for a moment, always feeling that after this story, something was still hidden.

But he didn’t pursue it, just asked:

“Teacher Otsuka, can I write this past you told me into the first issue of our Collection Force?”

Otsuka Takuyuki smiled slightly.

“Of course.”

“Rather, Tsubaki often mentioned later that she shouldn’t have been a coward back then, if she had stood up to be a hero, the ending might have been better.”

“She wanted to tell others several times that she was the ‘instigator’.”

“But for various reasons, she never said it out loud...”

“Now that so many years have passed, the era has changed, and when everyone hears this kind of thing, they probably just treat it as an anecdote from the old era.”

“If you can record it and spread it, it can be considered... helping her complete a wish that has been shelved for many years.”

Natsume Chikage responded solemnly.

“I understand.”

“I will record this matter truthfully.”

Otsuka Takuyuki nodded with satisfaction.

“Then I’ll leave it to you.”

Natsume Chikage asked the last question.

“One more question I’d like to ask you.”

“Do you know who this cherry blossom tree belongs to, legally or substantially? Is it the school, the principal, the board of directors, or...?”

Otsuka Takuyuki shook his head.

“None of them.”

“This cherry blossom tree, since ancient times, has always belonged to the Omidou family.”

“The actual manager of this school now is actually Omidou Orihime.”

“So, this cherry blossom tree should be hers.”

“But I still remind you, although she is young, her methods and city government are unfathomable...”

“If you want to know about related things, I suggest you... try not to take the initiative to contact her.”

Natsume Chikage’s brows couldn’t help but knit together, why is it Omidou Orihime’s again...

Otsuka Takuyuki stood up slowly.

“It’s getting late, my wife should be here to pick me up, I should go too.”

“You two asked me so many questions just now, help me take some things back to the teacher’s office by the way.”

Natsume Chikage and Fujiwara Aoi didn’t refuse and nodded in agreement.

The two took a detour, helped Otsuka Takuyuki take some teaching tools, and then returned to the teacher’s office.

Just as they reached the door, they saw an old lady with white hair and elegant temperament, chatting and laughing with the teachers in the office.

As soon as the old lady saw Otsuka Takuyuki, she walked over with a bad look.

“Let’s go, old man. I don’t know where you’ve been wandering all day, I can never find you.”

Otsuka Takuyuki laughed.

“Mm, let’s go.”

The two held hands very naturally and left the school side by side.

Fujiwara Aoi asked Sakai Shion curiously:

“Teacher, was that the history teacher’s wife just now?”

Sakai Shion nodded.

“Yes.”

Natsume Chikage’s gaze fell on the old lady’s bag—there was a small pink card ornament with a sense of age hanging there.

His face was stunned, and then he asked:

“Teacher Sakai, the history teacher’s wife... what is her full name?”

Sakai Shion answered casually:

“Otsuka Tsubaki.”

Natsume Chikage was stunned for a moment, then couldn’t help shaking his head and laughing softly.

‘This old man...’

Fujiwara Aoi hadn’t reacted yet and asked confusedly:

“Natsume-kun, why did you suddenly sigh and laugh?”

Natsume Chikage smiled helplessly.

“Nothing, just suddenly thought of a very funny thing.”

He looked at the time and found that this search and questioning had taken nearly an hour.

It was time to go back to the clubroom.

So, he took Fujiwara Aoi back to the Collection Force.

Pushing the door open, the familiar two came into view—Saionji Nanase and Yukimura Suzune had already borrowed a few books from the library and were carefully reading and organizing notes at the table.

Saionji Nanase noticed they were back, raised her eyes, and asked curiously:

“Did you two gain anything?”

Fujiwara Aoi immediately made a “V” gesture and laughed energetically:

“Of course!”

“And it’s big news!”

Yukimura Suzune heard this, also raised her head from the page, looked at the two, and curiosity flowed in her eyes.

The relevant records she and Saionji Nanase found in the library were indeed not many.

After Natsume Chikage and Fujiwara Aoi sat down, they began to tell the true origin of the “romantic rumor” about the hundred-year-old cherry blossom tree.

Natsume Chikage didn’t point out the whereabouts of “Nishino Tsubaki” at the end of the story.

After listening to the whole story, Saionji Nanase opened her eyes wide in surprise.

“Eh? The real origin... is actually like this?”

Yukimura Suzune fell into a brief contemplation.

Afterward, she said nothing, as if inspiration burst forth, and picked up her pen to write quickly in her notebook.

Saionji Nanase didn’t disturb her, just sighed in a low voice:

“I thought... this legend might have some truth.”

“After all, in the fragmented records we found, there were indeed a few couples who confessed under the cherry blossom tree and finally stayed together for life.”

Natsume Chikage recalled the back of the history teacher and his wife walking away hand in hand, and smiled slightly:

“Actually, look, in every student era, there will always be a few couples who go all the way from a successful confession.”

“The records you saw are likely them.”

Fujiwara Aoi suddenly realized.

“Indeed!”

“According to this statement, it’s actually that... um... what bias is it?”

Yukimura Suzune, who was writing furiously, didn’t look up and spat out a few words coldly: