"Though what I'm saying might sound a lot like self-deception."
Mu Mei looked at Zhang Juntang, clenched her fist, and made an encouraging gesture, her face full of determination:
"But if you don't even have this much resolve, then don't become a simp!"
"It's impossible to get the rewards you want with the smallest cost, the least effort, and the bare minimum of work, isn't it?"
Zhang Juntang nodded her little head repeatedly as she listened. As expected of a senior—her experience was truly abundant!
She glanced at Jiang Linyuan, who was still drinking water and resting, then withdrew her gaze, gathered her courage, and asked again:
"Then... then, Senior, how do you take a secret crush further? I mean... the kind of person who feels so far out of reach."
Mu Mei put on her baseball cap, her expression solemn.
"Since you've fallen for someone unreachable, you need to be shameless! Otherwise, do you expect pie to fall from the sky?"
Mm, it felt... it felt like she'd seen right through me!
Zhang Juntang's heart thumped wildly.
"B-but I'm scared..."
"That's what a secret crush is—fifty percent delusion and thirty percent fear. Only what's left is affection."
Mu Mei raised a finger and lightly waved it before Zhang Juntang.
"Ninety percent of the time, you're overthinking things. Only the remaining ten percent is spent gathering courage. That's a simp's dereliction of duty!"
S-Senior Mu is my kindred spirit!
"Then... then if you get gently rejected, what... what do you do?"
"Are you planning to give up too?"
"N-no."
Even though Senior rejected me, it didn't seem to affect me much. I could still secretly take pictures of him.
Although I really wanted to take things further, this was good too.
"The more someone rejects you, the more seriously they'll