"Wait, why are you carrying me?!" Dubian Che exclaimed.
"At my frail stamina, let alone run, just walking from the station got us weird looks from everyone else." Jiutiao Meijie continued to carry him on.
"Meijie, you?!"
"Unfortunately, we still didn't make it in time," Kiyono Lin responded, "The Akita Line, headed from Iwate Prefecture to Tokyo, departed without us."
"Damn it—" Dubian Che spat out the next line and expressed his feelings simultaneously.
"A crow flew across the blue sky, passing Miyagi Prefecture, Nikkō, and finally landed on the barbed wire of a high school field in Tokyo," Jiutiao Meijie said, taking a sip of juice.
"It blinked its dark eyes, gazing at a certain classroom on the third floor, where our story began."
The two ladies listened with interest, occasionally eating barbecue, drinking, and asking about the storyline.
"Mr. Dubian, why does the male lead always say he is done being human?" Mrs. Kiyono asked.
"To cater to the market."
"Why can you see underwear at the staircase? Are the school skirts very short?" Mrs. Jiutiao asked.
"I made that up."
"Oh wow, he even burst into the girls' locker room? And in that moment, remembered all the bra styles? Mr. Dubian, you're incredible!" Mrs. Kiyono exaggeratedly praised.
[Task two completed, player receives "May Gift Package" *1]
"...Thank you."
They didn't finish their family trip's final night until twelve o'clock.
After soaking in the hot spring, Dubian Che lay in his tent—Jiutiao Meijie didn't actually sleep with him.
'When we get back, I'll share the good news with Mayi and Mr. Xiaoquan.'
'I don't know how they'll react; I'm really looking forward to it.'
Thinking about the return, Dubian Che closed his eyes, ready to sleep with a pleasant mood.
Surrounding silence, the lake slapped against the rocky shore, and the campfire had yet not died out.
Just as he cleared his mind, an emotion he'd been suppressing instinctively burst forth violently.
It was an almost suffocating sadness.
It swept over him, causing spasms in his stomach.
The space around him seemed to contract, squeezing him out.
He couldn't hear any sound, smell any scent, or remember anything happy.
Is this how it ends?
He and Kiyono Lin, is this it for their lives?
That unreachable dream, forever unattainable, remained a dream.
His sadness stemmed not from reluctance but from a decision. The firmer the decision, the deeper his sadness.
Finally, Dubian Che abruptly opened his eyes as if he had held his breath for too long and took deep breaths.
At this rate, tears...
He stood up, lifted the tent flap, and walked towards the lake.
The moon was bright, and the lake shimmered, the night breeze slight.
In the distance by the lake, Kiyono Lin stood alone, gazing up at the brilliant Milky Way.
Dubian Che watched her, ready to return to his tent, but in the next moment, Kiyono Lin made a gesture.
She reached toward the moon reflected in the water, trying to grasp something.
Dubian Che stood there, unable to move forward or return to the tent.
Suddenly, Kiyono Lin turned around; her hair gently swayed in the night wind that carried a fresh grass scent.
Her skin was as pale as the moonlight, her dark eyes shining like stars.
She looked at Dubian Che with those eyes.
"Can't sleep from excitement?" she asked.
"...Good evening." Dubian Che leisurely walked over, stood by the lakeside, and tried to appear as relaxed as possible.
Upon closer inspection, the previously glistening summit lake, except for the moon, was pitch-dark, like an abyss.
Kiyono Lin stood next to him, both shoulder to shoulder, looking out over the water.
"Can't sleep?" he asked.
"Dubian."
"Hmm."
"Once a person has expectations, their mood starts flickering between brightness and darkness."
"That seems so," Dubian Che nodded.
"I still miss a certain moment."
"With Meiji when she was little?"
"Last Christmas, the train ride home."
Dubian Che stared silently into the distance.
Below the canopy of the sky, around the lake's top, the dark outlines of hills emerged.
After a moment of silence, Kiyono Lin suddenly smiled, slightly dissolving the nearly solid gloom.
"I'm very pleased that you showed up here tonight."
"Excited to the point of not being able to sleep, what's there to be happy about?"
"Sad enough to want to cry, right?"
Without waiting for Dubian Che to answer, Kiyono Lin turned to him with a smile, "So am I."
"...," Dubian Che tried to seem indifferent, "I thought you wouldn't have emotions of discouragement or sadness."
"That was before I met you," Kiyono Lin turned back to gaze at the moon in the lake, "Once one wishes to fight for their happiness, naturally, they must endure sadness."
"I've already made up my mind, what do you plan to do?"
"The world isn't gentle to those who compromise. I will never give up on myself, nor compromise with anyone."
Dubian Che fell silent once again.
"Dubian, I have something I want to ask you."
"Hmm."
"I want to know, did you deliberately reveal things about Mayi Asuka and Xiaoquan Aonai to Jiutiao Meijie?"
"Why would you think that?" Dubian Che was startled.
"Including your incidents in Ochazuke and the gym?"
"How could that be possible." Dubian Che tried to laugh it off naturally, "No matter how clever, I couldn't possibly have foreseen things a year ahead, right? Everything was a coincidence, no, it was fated."
"Is that so?" Kiyono Lin remained noncommittal, "Xiaoquan Aonai could travel through time; who knows which attempt this is in your life, seeking out the best solution to fully win over Jiutiao Meijie after numerous tries?"
"...Am I playing a game?"
"Isn't life a game?" Kiyono Lin asked.
"If you say so, sure, it is and it isn't. Forget it, I didn't come here in the middle of the night to discuss 'what life is.' I'm going back to sleep."
Dubian Che turned, walking toward the tent.
"Dubian, you came here tonight with a heart full of sorrow, allowing me to sleep well. Hearing that I won't give up, can you also sleep now?"
"I've already made up my mind."
"Then let me change your mind with a single sentence."
"Impossible." Dubian Che reached the front of the tent.
"You haven't realized yet how important I am to you," Kiyono Lin's voice was clear and pleasant.
"I know, but I've still made up my mind," Dubian Che reached out to the tent.
"Not everyone is like you, to encounter a soulmate who also loves you. Are you really going to give her up?"
The tent's opening paused in its movement.
"See?" Kiyono Lin's voice carried a hint of a smile, "You can't let me go."
"That's not true." Dubian Che crawled into the tent.
Kiyono Lin stood alone under the bright moonlight, lifting her face to the moon above.
"It's a lie, Mr. Dubian."
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