After a long sleep until he woke naturally, Jiu Ming opened his eyes to find nothing but pitch-black darkness before him. Strange. Although he had adjusted the lighting here toward darker tones, it shouldn't have been this dark...
"Eh!?" He pulled off the snack bag covering his face, and a pair of golden eyes instantly filled his vision. So it was her. Up close, she seemed even prettier—the long green hair falling from her cheeks, her delicate features, that doll-like face carrying an air of strength, and that indescribable charm. "Are you trying to scare me?"
"I'm hungry. I want pizza."
"So, if you're hungry, go home and eat... Fine, fine, forget I said anything. Wait here." When he mentioned home, Jiu Ming caught the faint, hard-to-detect sorrow that flashed through the green-haired girl's eyes. With how close they were, he saw it especially clearly.
Had he poked at a sore spot? Why did he feel a little guilty now?
"Honestly, what's so interesting about staying in this cage-like place of mine?" Muttering under his breath, Jiu Ming walked over to the coat rack and picked up the coat and large hat hanging there. Under the green-haired girl's gaze, he stepped into a ring of ripples that had appeared in the air.
"A very convenient way to come and go. No wonder there aren't any doors or windows." Sitting back down in Jiu Ming's usual seat, the green-haired girl lightly brushed her long hair, sweeping the strands that had fallen over her shoulders back behind her. As for the sorrow in her eyes?
Had she ever shown any? Exactly!
"What a childish little guy." The green-haired girl murmured softly. Instead, she hoped Jiu Ming would be a little more "worldly." Sometimes, changing the mind of a hot-blooded youth was no