"Teacher, it's very hard for people to change," Xiaoquan Aonai admired Kiyono Lin, figuring out the conversation entirely.

"It's not necessarily the case," Xiaoquan Aonai said with a smile, "Teacher changed herself completely when she was in her second year of high school."

"Why? Did you go through something?" Xiaoquan Aonai asked curiously.

Xiaoquan Aonai looked into Xiaoquan Aonai's eyes, remaining silent.

Being stared at by her future self like this, the curiosity in Xiaoquan Aonai's eyes gradually vanished, and she eventually had to look away.

She picked up the paper cup on the table, took a sip while looking at the green plant in the corner.

"Your movements seem to have become more elegant," Xiaoquan Aonai observed every move of Dubian Che.

"Well, no one stays the same forever."

"'People are very hard to change,' 'No one stays the same forever,'" Xiaoquan Aonai nodded, repeating these two statements.

Xiaoquan Aonai continued drinking water.

"You're me from the past, aren't you?" Xiaoquan Aonai suddenly said.

"Cough, cough, cough!" Xiaoquan Aonai wiped the water that sprayed out from her mouth with her sleeve.

"To be precise, it's me from ten years ago, just starting my second year of high school," Xiaoquan Aonai said with an unusually affirmative tone.

The conference room fell silent, the ticking of the clock on the wall could be heard.

At that moment, the water dispenser made a buzzing sound as it began to heat the water.

"You've already figured it out?" Xiaoquan Aonai exclaimed with eyes wide in surprise, "How did you find out?"

"I can't believe such things really happen." Despite having confirmed it earlier, Xiaoquan Aonai still let out an incredulous murmur.

She raised her head, looking at her version from ten years prior:

"Starting from the evening of April 2nd, I would have dreams."

"Dreams?"

"Yes, dreams, dreaming about…" Xiaoquan Aonai recalled what Xiaoquan Aonai had done and hesitated.

"What were the dreams about? Come on, tell me!" Xiaoquan Aonai pressed impatiently.

"Dreams about the things you did using Dubian's body." Xiaoquan Aonai averted her gaze to the green plant in the corner and took another sip from her paper cup.

"…Everything?"

"I'm not sure."

"The dressing room?" Xiaoquan Aonai tentatively probed.

"I'm telling you!" Xiaoquan Aonai put down the paper cup, her ears turning red, "I know you're at an age when you're curious about the opposite sex, but that doesn't mean you can do that… that kind of thing!"

"What are you talking about!" Xiaoquan Aonai's ears reddened as well, "That was something you did ten years ago! What does it have to do with me!"

The conference room fell into silence again, both of them took a sip from their paper cups and fell into a mutual awkwardness.

"Click," the sound came as the hot water in the water dispenser was ready.

"What did you mean by 'not sure' just now? Wasn't it very clear?" Xiaoquan Aonai asked with a petulant tone caused by embarrassment.

Compared to her, Xiaoquan Aonai from ten years later was much calmer.

"The things you did, to me, are like a dream, where everything is blurred, ambiguous, so I can't be sure if I remember it all."

"Then why don't you just forget about the dressing room incident?" Xiaoquan Aonai murmured in complaint.

"Not just the dressing room!" Xiaoquan Aonai's face turned red again, "How can you recklessly spend other people's money? And you even bought such expensive things."

"I thought it was a dream, who knew it would be a parallel world ten years later! And, you ended up so poorly, even though you're so pretty, why haven't you ever even held a boy's hand!"

Xiaoquan Aonai's face became even redder, it was hard to tell if it was from shyness or anger.

"Did you think with our level of intelligence that you could get into Waseda without sacrificing anything? I was even studying while eating! You too, being so cute, why don't you have a boyfriend at sixteen?"

Xiaoquan Aonai's face also reddened.

"I don't want to find one! Besides, I will definitely live better than you in the future!"

"By betting on horse races and memorizing Tokyo University exam questions?" Xiaoquan Aonai spoke with a slightly calmer tone.

"That's right!"

"Don't do that."

Xiaoquan Aonai looked at Xiaoquan Aonai's serious expression, asking with some trepidation and stubbornness, "Why not?"

"I'm sorry." Xiaoquan Aonai composed herself, her tone returning to her usual gentleness.

She looked tenderly at her sixteen-year-old self, a young girl in the prime of her youth.

"I really treasure my current life, this job as a teacher, the friendship with Akiko and Miyuki, even if it took ten years for the three of us to buy our current apartment together. But I love this life, I love the feeling of stepping on solid ground and becoming happy one step at a time."

Xiaoquan Aonai remained silent, looking elsewhere.

"Let me call you Aonai, Aonai, please promise me, okay? I beg you," Xiaoquan Aonai pleaded.

Xiaoquan Aonai glanced at her, "I'd like to promise you, but I definitely can't get into Waseda University."

"We are the same person. If I can get in, you definitely can!"

"You had the determination to work hard, but I can't, and it's a parallel world, right? Even if I do something, it won't affect you," Xiaoquan Aonai said.

After saying this, she asked curiously, "By the way, what exactly did I encounter in that world in the future that made me so incredible?"

"I don't know."

"Maybe something happened in the parallel world you're in during this period."

"I have no clue, I completely don't remember that month," Xiaoquan Aonai rubbed her forehead.

She suddenly recalled something, raising her head to ask Xiaoquan Aonai:

"Aonai, did you ever talk to Akiko and Miyuki about going to Tokyo together in the future and becoming close friends?"

"How did you know?" Xiaoquan Aonai asked in surprise.

"When did this happen?"

"Today, no, in my timeline, it was during the day today."

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