Lola

The librarian's dorm wasn't in the same building as Elizabeth and Nancy's; she had clearly followed them here specifically to find someone to chat with.

The senior student said she has found the girl who was involved in the incident.

She took this matter very seriously.

Nancy was overjoyed.

Elizabeth, watching from the side, asked them if they wanted to go find that girl.

"Yes, yes," Nancy replied.

"Or what?" the senior student countered.

"But if we do that..." Elizabeth hesitated, "Wouldn't it be too abrupt?"

Nancy and her senior exchanged a glance.

The senior student said, "Probably not. Although we don't know her yet... that's how people meet. She's downstairs."

"But Nancy, aren't you going to sleep?" Elizabeth asked again.

Nancy didn't speak, but stared at her with wide eyes.

Elizabeth understood somewhat how those boys in the philosophy section felt; they had been tricked by Nancy into spending hours helping Nancy with chores because of those same eyes.

Elizabeth nodded, but said she would go along.

That girl was in the same year as Elizabeth, Elizabeth had similar brown hair to Elizabeth, but was shorter and had shorter hair.

She was somewhat surprised by the three men's unexpected visit, but still welcomed them.

She said her name was Lola.

She seemed very nervous at the arrival of the three people.

"It's... it's Little Hawkins," Lola said. "He's not a student at the college, but he's Professor Hawkins ' son, and Professor Hawkins spoils him a lot."

Elizabeth knew Professor Hawkins; he was a professor in the Faculty of Arts who taught Classics, a very gloomy man who almost never showed any expression, and nobody liked him.

Lola continued, "He threw his empty beer bottle next to the trash can earlier. I was passing by, so I picked it up and threw it in the trash can. He held a grudge against me for that, saying I didn't give him face."

"He's a jerk," Nancy said. "I know how to deal with people like that. You just yell at him or hit him, and he'll leave on his own."

Lola kept her head down, ignoring Nancy's advice. She was clearly a timid person, and Nancy's words could not change her timidity.

Elizabeth put her arm around Lola's shoulder.

Lola seemed to agree with Nancy's assessment of Little Hawkins.

"He's a complete jerk. After that, whenever he saw me, he'd try to scare me with a baseball bat..."

"But it's really nothing. I was a little scared at first, but I got used to it later. He didn't dare to do anything really at school."

"But today is different," the librarian encouraged Lola excitedly.

In stories, we often say, "But today is different," and this phrase often marks the beginning or end of a story.

Lola smiled. "Yes, but today is different. That white-haired gentleman in the raincoat passed by..."

"It's Aquinas," Nancy said.

The senior student held Nancy down. "His name isn't Aquinas, it's Love."

Lola continued, "Well... Mr. Love walked by, then came over, snatched Little Hawkins ' baseball bat, and beat Little Hawkins up."

"Then Little Hawkins went to the hospital," Nancy said.

The senior student pressed Nancy down again, pushing Nancy back. "Don't talk, Nancy, don't interrupt her."

Nancy made a whimpering sound of dissatisfaction, but didn't say anything more.

The senior student looked at Lola excitedly and asked, "And then?"

Elizabeth could hear the tremor in her senior's voice; she was clearly very interested in Lola's story and was trying to calm herself down.

Lola shook her head. "That's all."

"That's it?" The senior was stunned. "Didn't Love tell you anything?"

"What did you say?" Lola didn't understand.

"So... what did he say after he beat Little Hawkins?"

He told Little Hawkins to never come to school again.

"He's handsome, charismatic, and has a very Aquinas- like style," the senior student said. "But that's not all. What did he say to you?"

Lola blinked, then shook her head. "He didn't talk to me."

"Didn't... talk to you?"

The senior student clearly didn't want to believe it.

Elizabeth guessed that she not only didn't believe it, but also hated the answer, because her eyebrows were noticeably furrowed.

But Lola didn't notice; she kept her head down and continued:

"Love didn't even pay attention to me. He suddenly walked over, suddenly beat up Little Hawkins, and then suddenly left."

"But... but..." the senior student said.

"But it shouldn't be like this... Didn't he just happen to be passing by, see a girl being bullied, step in, defeat the evil Little Hawkins, and then politely ask the girl if she was hurt?"

"Senior, this isn't a novel plot," Elizabeth reminded her. "Reality is different."

Lola said uncertainly, "He might actually be concerned about whether I was hurt."

"That's right!" the senior student said.

"But he just took a few steps toward me, glanced at me, and probably even smiled."

Lola said, "I was going to say hello, but he left before I could even speak."

The senior student sighed in disappointment.

Nancy looked up, as if she had suddenly realized something:

"Sounds like the Savage Gale type, who likes to help others quietly but doesn't like to talk, and will leave immediately after confirming that the other person is safe."

Her words offered some comfort to the senior student.

"The type who's not good at expressing emotions?" the senior murmured. "That doesn't seem so bad."

Elizabeth wanted to remind the two that this was just their subjective conjecture based on rumors, and it did not reflect Love's true character. Many factors could affect the veracity of this judgment.

But seeing that both her senior and Nancy seemed satisfied with the conclusion, Elizabeth didn't say anything in the end.

She didn't want to spoil the fun.

The senior student quickly shifted her focus to other aspects, and then asked Lola, "Did you see his face?"

"I didn't have time to look at it carefully."

"How about it?"

"Hmm... it seems pretty good?" Lola said.

Unlike her senior and Nancy, Lola is reserved and subtle when evaluating others, so Elizabeth can't be sure what "not bad" means; it could be good or bad.

The senior student nodded:

"Right? I feel he'd at least be in the top three in the ' Campus Hunk Guide,' I'd personally give him number one. His last name should be ' Lancaster ' or ' Bourbon.'"

Elizabeth had nothing to say about Love's appearance, since only Lola and her senior had actually seen Love.

Elizabeth still can't prove that Love is Hope, and even if they really are the same person, she can't quite remember what Hope looks like.

But she was curious about how her senior had decided on the name Love.

"Don't you know?" the senior student retorted, "These are both very famous aristocratic surnames, and they both sound very nice!"