After listening to today's story, Xiaoquan Aonai took the train back to her apartment.

The crowd was bustling, fashionable advertisements were everywhere, and the air always seemed tinged with industrial pollution.

This place was nothing like the countryside.

"Next stop, Shinano Town, Shinano Town."

Xiaoquan Aonai hopped off the train, swung her backpack to her back, and slung the strap over her right shoulder.

She shoved her hands in her pockets and bounded towards the ticket gate as if walking on springs.

She was in an exceptionally good mood.

So good, it felt like she could extend to the railway tracks that reached all across the country.

She could go anywhere she wanted.

"Hmm hmm hmm, hmm——, hmm hmm."

Humming a catchy tune she made up herself, she moved with a dance-like grace, dodging a high school girl who nearly slipped while horsing around.

After dodging, her hands still in her pockets, she lifted her knees high, gently propping the back of the stumbling girl with her knee.

"Be careful, okay?♪~" she winked with her right eye.

Amid the enamored gazes of the high school girls, Xiaoquan Aonai didn't pause, humming along, floating towards the ticket gate like a string of musical notes.

"So cool——" Behind her, a suppressed yet excited scream rang out.

Exiting the station, she bought a fresh baguette and a beautiful cake at a bakery, the baguette wrapped in equally pretty paper, and the cake in a delicate box;

On her way to the traffic lights, she tidied her hair using the rear-view mirror of a motorcycle, feeling very suave;

Crossing the zebra crossing, she helped a young mother with her shopping bags and playfully poked the baby's walnut-sized fist before parting.

The usual scenery, the many-times-walked path home, everything felt so vivid, as if the saturation of a photograph was perfectly heightened.

Passing by 501, she knocked on the door, snickered, and slipped back to 502 regardless of any response.

"I'm back." She'd shout, even if nobody was there.

After placing the bread on the table, she returned to her bedroom and rolled back and forth on her super large, super soft bed.

Finally, content, she lay back.

She straightened her right hand towards the ceiling, spread her fingers wide, seemingly trying to grasp something, but she was actually admiring her own "self"—the clear, slender, fair hand.

"Feeling good today?" Dubian Cat was perched on the bedroom's bay window, its arrival unnoticed.

She wasn't startled anymore, prepared for two to share the space.

"Not telling you." The cute, sixteen-year-old Mr. Xiaoquan turned over, sprawling across the bed, and pulled out her phone.

Continuing to play with her phone, she said, "Dubian, I want to ask you a question. Among Kiyono, Jiutiao, and Mayi, who do you like best?"

"Hmm—" Dubian Cat hesitated.

"Kiyono?" Xiaoquan Aonai turned her head.

"Her legs, which one can't stop looking at and hates to leave, are indeed nice, but, hmm—"

"Jiutiao?"

"Ah, a woman who stands above! Bright and passionate lips!" Dubian Cat exclaimed, then hesitated again, "But—"

"So it must be Mayi Asuka, right?"

"Sempai, whose emotions are all because of Dubian Che, who only loves Dubian Che in the whole world, what to say—"

"Annoying, who do you like the most?" Xiaoquan Aonai sat up discontentedly.

"What do you think, Little Mr. Xiaoquan? Also, can you please not sit on my body in that duck-like manner?" said Dubian Cat.

"I want to, I insist!" Xiaoquan Aonai supported herself on the bed, adopting the standard squatting position.

Looking at her smug expression, Dubian Cat thought that for the current Mr. Xiaoquan, the sixteen-year-old Xiaoquan Aonai might be the most troublesome student.

Yet even for the most bothersome student, Xiaoquan Aonai would still guide patiently, never giving up; that was just who she was.

In the heart of the sixteen-year-old girl before him, the same kindness and gentleness were hidden.

"Scared, huh? If you're scared, just tell me straight!" The girl said, absentmindedly playing with Dubian Che's foot.

People who sit like ducks seem to have this habit?

Dubian Cat decided it was best not to point it out specifically.

Killing a cat is something that must be criticized, but it ultimately isn't illegal.

"The person I like the most is Mr. Xiaoquan," the cat said.

"Eh?" The girl seemed surprised, even stopping her sock-fiddling hands.

"Not you, the current Mr. Xiaoquan."

"I obviously know that!" Xiaoquan Aonai's face flushed, her hands fumbling more fiercely as she twisted the toes.

After an interval that could cover fifteen centimeters of cherry blossoms falling, she asked again, "So, why do you like her?"

"Because I didn't want to answer your previous question."

No heart for sure!

Xiaoquan Aonai grabbed a pillow and threw it at the cat on the bay window.

As the pillow flew through the air, Dubian Cat dispersed into countless fireflies, swirling and flying towards Xiaoquan Aonai.

"Ah—" Xiaoquan Aonai pulled the blanket over her head, cocooning herself, "Go away, don't come any closer, go away!"

The girl's emotions were truly rich, full of drama.

The next day, Friday, the last day of the first week of school.

Dubian Che held fallen rose petals as he stepped into the classroom, where Kunii Shuichi immediately approached him.

"Dubian, got something for you!"

"Can't play games tonight."

"That's not it, the coach asked me to see if you're planning to play baseball."

"What's in it for me?" Dubian Che walked back to his seat.

As he passed by Kiyono Lin, he set the rose petals on her desk: "Deal with your own trash."

Kunii Shuichi's attention was briefly captured by the rose petals out of place in the classroom, but then he quickly looked at Ichiki Aoi in front of the roses.

"Good morning, Kunimi," came Ichiki Aoi's cheerful greeting.

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