I won't even mention Himeko breaking my heart—why did BT have to break my heart too?!
Sob sob! My Himeko! My BT! Sob sob!
Even liking a robot got me stabbed in the heart. Are they seriously not treating us like people anymore?!
Why was there fanfiction even more heartbreaking than the original?!
The initial outrage gradually turned into tearful wails of heartbreak. After thousands of comments venting their emotions, the newest comments finally began discussing the plot.
I never expected Himeko's death to be fated. How could that be changed?
Didn't Ye Ming enter the Gate of Time and Space? Was he going to do it all over again?
It was no use. Didn't BT say so? Himeko had endured far too much pain over the past ten years. Even if he had joined the battle from the very beginning, he still couldn't save her.
Let's see how the author ties this up. There's still a huge pile of foreshadowing that hasn't been resolved.
Is no one going to mention Ragna? She feels like a key character.
She seemed to be an original fanfiction character? Let's see what the official side says.
I hope Ragna is a beautiful young lady.
Please don't. I don't want to start liking another character, only for her to get killed off.
At this point, the video finally came to an end, and the girls in the studio could no longer hold back their emotions.
Kiana and Keqing nearly flipped the table when the video ended. Clearly, they were the type who hated cliffhangers.
Ganyu and the others had been sniffling the entire time, most likely among those who had cried from the heartbreak.
As for Bronya... after seeing people online say that Ye Ming was a terrible protagonist, she began furiously arguing with the trolls.
She even used her superb skills to track down their IP addresses and dox them.
Only Himeko, after finishing the video, tremblingly took out her phone and dialed a number.
Reaching for Unrequited Love
"Himeko? Long time no see~~ What is it?"
As soon as the call connected, Himeko immediately asked:
"Senior Ragna, are you... are you all right?!"
"Huh?"
Ragna asked in confusion:
"I'm fine. What's wrong?"
"That's good... that's good..."
Hearing that her senior, who had always taken care of her during their student days, was safe and sound, Himeko let out a long breath.
"You really are something. We haven't spoken in so long, and the first thing you do is ask me something so strange."
Ragna asked in return:
"What about you? Have you been doing well lately?"
"I..."
For a moment, Himeko did not know how to answer. As far as life itself went, she was certainly doing fine.
But the sense of déjà vu brought on by The Last Lesson and this fanfiction had left her mind in utter turmoil.
"Don't push yourself too hard. Things must have been difficult for you lately, right?"
"Huh? Why would you know that, Senior...?"
"Hehe, do you know how popular your The Last Lesson is? I watched it several times too."
"I-I see..."
Even though they could not see each other during a voice call, Himeko still covered her face in embarrassment.
"Oh, right. Should I set Nightglow as my ringtone?"
"Please, absolutely do not do that, unless you never want to contact me again."
"..."
Since the voice call was on speaker, after hearing Himeko say that, the girls present hurriedly changed their ringtones to music other than Nightglow.
So they had all been thinking the same thing as Ragna.
"Still, it really brings back memories. Seeing your story with Kiana makes me think of the days we spent together."
"It's not that similar..."
Himeko looked at Kiana, then recalled her younger self and argued:
"At the very least, I wasn't as much of a headache as Kiana."
"Hey, hey, hey!!"
Kiana nearly cried from the injustice, but after thinking about how many times Himeko had beaten her up in the past, she was too embarrassed to argue back.
"By the way, Senior, there's something very important I need to ask. Do you know Ye Ming?"
"That name sounds so familiar... It feels strangely close."
"Close? Then it really is!"
"Let me think... Ah~!"
"Senior?! Did you remember?"
Ragna's cry drew everyone's attention.
"No... my little sister is messing with me. She scared me."
Immediately afterward, a noisy voice came from the other end of the call:
"Big Sis, I'm back~~"
"Rita, weren't you with Schicksal?"
"She said she was taking me to MiHoYo for an interview, so she told me to come back first and get ready."
"Then go get ready. Don't stay here... Ah~! Where are you touching?!"
After a burst of commotion, Ragna hung up the voice call and sent a message as well:
"I'll contact you once I remember."
"Ha..."
Himeko sighed deeply.
"The lead has gone cold again."
"Still, if Ragna really is Himeko's senior, then this video becomes quite intriguing."
A-Tzu analyzed:
"At the very least, the video's author knows Himeko inside and out."
"Could it have been made by Ye Ming?"
"Ye Ming certainly has the means, but judging by his shocked reaction, he seemed not to know about this either."
"Ah, Ye Ming sent a message. Everyone, check the group chat."
At Bronya's reminder, everyone looked at their phones. In the work group, Ye Ming said excitedly:
"I'm contacting the author right now. You all didn't watch the video, did you?"
"..."
The guilty girls did not know how to respond for a moment.
"You watched it, didn't you?"
Ye Ming truly understood his own women. Even from a stretch of silence, he knew what had happened.
Ganyu: "Th-that video was so popular. We just happened to come across it."
Kiana: "We didn't see the part where you cried, really!"
Bronya: "Idiot Kiana!"
Kiana: "I-I mean... ahh~~ Please forgive me this time."
Keqing: "So this video wasn't made by you, Ye Ming?"
Ye Ming: "Of course not! Would you show other people yourselves getting emotionally wrecked?"
Kiana: "But you showed everyone the part where I got emotionally wrecked!"
Himeko: "And me..."
Ye Ming: "Ahem, at least that proves from another angle that the video's creator is someone else."
Seeing everyone's reactions, Ye Ming roughly understood. At least the leak had not come from the studio.
But that only made it stranger. Who could possibly be so capable—not only knowing his experiences, but also turning them into videos and releasing them?
"Damn it, does this uploader never reply to private messages?"
Ye Ming stared at the uploader ID, "Reaching for Unrequited Love," his fingers flying anxiously over the keyboard.
He checked the person's posting history and found that aside from uploaded videos, there was no other activity at all.
It was practically as if they were deliberately hiding their tracks.
"Hello, I have something I'd like to discuss with you."
"Could you please reply?"
"I'm not here for a business promotion."
"I have a very urgent matter to discuss with you."
At first, Ye Ming had remained polite, but when the other side kept refusing to respond, his private messages grew increasingly irritated:
"Can you fucking say something already?"
"My home is on the left side of the fourth floor, No. 12 Westwind Road."
"Huh?"
Just as Ye Ming was preparing to curse the person out, the other side suddenly gave up their address.
And said with great confidence:
"If you want to know what's going on, come find me."
"Tomorrow at two in the afternoon."
"..."
Although Ye Ming had always wanted to know the other person's identity, he had not expected them to be so straightforward.
"Though it's only fanfiction, it still left quite a deep impression."
In a study lit by only a single lamp, a young woman sighed after watching the truth behind The Last Lesson.
"Not only that, but I have a feeling the next installment will be even more moving, whether it brings heartbreak or sweetness..."
After watching the video, the surging emotions in the young woman's heart made her ample chest rise and fall.
"Good! I need to work harder too!"
Inspired by such a good story, the young woman immediately became fired up.
She tied a white ribbon around her forehead, like a warrior from the ancient Far East.
Then, with jade-like fingers, she began rapidly typing on the keyboard.
Gradually, line after line of text appeared on the blank Word document, seemingly weaving together a wondrous story.
Before you continue