"Ah!"
Xi Anya's shout startled the three people on the other end of the phone.
"W-what's wrong?"
"Hui Hui..."
Xi Anya looked utterly crestfallen. "I missed an opportunity that would never come again in my lifetime!"
"W-what opportunity?"
Hui Hui asked instinctively.
"..."
But the other end of the phone fell silent.
After a while, just as Hui Hui was about to speak, Xi Anya's voice came through.
"The chance to visit Alice in Wonderland."
"...Huh?"
Hui Hui, Xiao Lan, and Miao Miao exclaimed in unison.
Xi Anya smiled apologetically at the students on the road who had been startled by her sudden shout.
She hadn't felt comfortable showing how much she regretted it in front of Master Xiao and the police officer.
Nor had she felt comfortable asking for more.
She had been the one to make the choice in the first place.
But when her friends asked about it, she couldn't hold back.
She really...
regretted it so much.
She wanted so badly to meet the owner of the feather.
She wanted to be friends with the feather's owner, just like An An.
But...
She wasn't that An An.
She wasn't that An An... Even the feather had been deliberately shown to her by the other person...
"...Chongming Bird..."
Xi Anya murmured softly.
She'd heard Master Xiao call the other person that.
So it really was a bird?
Xi Anya pressed her lips together and smiled.
"An An?"
Her friend's puzzled voice came from the phone. "What's wrong?"
Xiao Lan and Miao Miao spoke up, too.
"Have you been reading Alice in Wonderland lately?"
"Are you okay?"
"Are you feeling unwell?"
Xi Anya looked up.
The dormitory building was just ahead.
She could see the balcony of her room.
"I'm fine."
"I just said