I'm Not a Flame-Chaser - Chapter 108

"Knock knock knock".

Just then, someone knocked on the door. Lin yawned and called out, "Coming!"

"Who could it be so late at night...?"

Lin opened the door, and a burst of fireworks exploded above his head. "Bang!"

Plastic streamers landed on his stunned face. Kevin and Chrono stood side by side in the doorway. "Merry Christmas, Lin."

The light was so bright that Lin covered his eyes.

"What brings you here?" These were truly unexpected guests. Lin glanced at the time; it was already past 11 p. m. Kevin was carrying an ice cream cake and an iced beer, Chrono was holding a game controller, clearly there to play games.

"Chrono said a woman is planning to invade our territory." Kevin discreetly tugged at his collar, striking a signature cool and aloof pose, and gave a cold snort. "We're here to protect you."

"But I heard that Chrono is going to celebrate with Kosma and Griseo today? And Kevin, you..." Lin was about to mention the date he saw with Mei today, but then he remembered that Chrono was still here, so he couldn't just say anything.

Chrono, still wearing his Santa Claus outfit, waved his hand dismissively. "I had Kosma take Griseo to see a movie at Vill-V's place."

"Alright, let's go inside and cut the cake. Sue won't be here for a while." Kevin strode in without waiting for a reply.

The quiet room quickly came alive and became lively. Lin turned on the light and slumped onto the sofa, watching Kevin decorate their so-called "Merry Christmas Room" for men. She felt so soft and languid that she was almost asleep again.

I have filming tomorrow... Oh well, whatever.

They don't have much time to get together.

"Knock knock knock".

Someone knocked on the door, Kevin went to open it. This time it was Sue.

"Lin, it's been a long time."

"Su... haven't you gotten rid of your bad habit of squinting yet?"

"... But that's not a problem."

Except for one younger man who had to take care of a child and was excluded from the group of adult men, the four men raised their glasses and drank ice-cold beer, starting this year's Christmas Eve.

"Speaking of which, I tricked the ticket seller when I got here by car," Kevin said abruptly after downing a beer.

Lin unwrapped the snow skin cake. "Hmm? What's going on?"

"I bought a ticket, but I didn't get on the train."

"..."

"..."

"..."

Everyone felt a cold wind blow over their heads.

"Left, left!"

"Su, open your eyes and shoot! You haven't hit me at all!"

"A thousand—calamities—"

"Lin, your character's leg has been broken! Back off!"

After playing games for several hours in a chaotic frenzy, Lin finally saw the three off, exhausted. As dawn broke, he looked at the mess in the room, shook his head, and lay down on the bed.

He closed his eyes and quickly drifted off to sleep.

The three people quickly crawled out from under the bed and stood silently by Lin's bedside.

"How about we call it a day?" Elysia suggested, looking at Lin's tired face.

"...Never mind, I'm going back." After a moment of silence, Mobius turned and left the room first.

"And you, Aponia?"

Aponia followed Mobius away, saying, "Let Lin rest well today."

"Goodnight, Lin."

Elysia was the last to leave the room.

"..."

"Click".

Elysia stared speechlessly as Mobius and Aponia re-entered the room from the closet and the window, respectively.

"You're despicable!" she protested, raising her hand.

"You have no right to judge us."

"Click".

The three of them hid back at the same time.

"Phew, it wasn't for nothing that I waited outside for so long, they're finally all gone..."

After unlocking the door with a key, she walked into the house, then skillfully locked and braced the door. She crept furtively to Lin's bedside.

Who is it?

The three people hiding inside the house quietly opened a crack in their doors to peek inside.

The pink-haired girl with long ears reached out her hand to Lin on the bed, somewhat embarrassed.

Cherry?!

The fourth person to appear in Lin's room was none other than Sakura, who had almost no presence!

"Smack."

However, what happened next was something no one expected.

Lin, who had been fast asleep, suddenly opened his eyes, grabbed Ying's hand, then rolled over and pressed her to the ground, holding her down firmly with both hands, his gaze fixed steadily on Ying, whose eyes were darting around nervously.

"Sakura, I didn't expect it to be you."

Lin's sharp gaze made Ying even more flustered, and the pink blush on her cheeks almost completely covered her pretty face.

"Luckily I woke up in time, otherwise you would have succeeded again. Tell me, have you been coming here often lately... come here..." Lin carefully chose his words and said sternly, "Coming here often to harm me."

"Um... no, it wasn't me, I just wanted to come and visit you..."

"Then how did you know where I live, and how did you get into my house?"

"This... that..."

Sakura's eyes were practically turning into mosquito coils, but she wasn't good at arguing or explaining herself, and besides, there didn't seem to be anything to argue about...

"Tell me, what exactly are you up to!"

"I... I like you! Haven't you noticed!"

"...What?"

The Christmas special scrolled towards the end credits.

"This..."

Lin's anger, mixed with confusion, was overwhelmed by surprise, but before he could respond, a handkerchief was covered to cover his mouth and nose.

"Ugh..." After inhaling two mouthfuls of the liquid from the handkerchief, Lin felt an overwhelming wave of dizziness wash over him. Less than a second after letting go, he collapsed to the ground unconscious.

"Lin..." Sakura reached out her hand in silence but couldn't grab him.

Mobius coldly stared at Lin, who was lost in a dream, and casually tossed the handkerchief onto the table.

"Oh dear, things still turned out this way."

Elysia covered her forehead and jumped down from the ceiling in frustration, followed by Aponia into the room.

"What do we do next? Should we wait until Lin wakes up and tell him it was all a dream?" Elysia teased, half-jokingly.

"Don't be silly. Using this excuse once is fine, but if you use it a second time, do you think you can fool him like an idiot?"

"So, everyone's still here..." Sakura pretended to be clueless and touched her head, her ears drooping down.

Elysia looked at Sakura with a meaningful smile, "Sakura... sometimes you..."

"Cough cough..."

"As expected, we have no choice but to fight." It was surprisingly Aponia was usually the most gentle, who spoke first. She pulled up the hood of her coat and covered her head.

"Wait, is it the worldview...?"

"Usually, it's time to fight by this time." Mobius's voice changed from mature to childlike, and as he opened and closed his eyes, golden snake eyes appeared in their sockets.

Sakura coldly drew her sword. "Agreed."

"Wait a minute, there are still some characters in the script who haven't appeared yet..."

"Click!"

Thank you for watching. The following is the list of performers.

The actor who plays Lin: Lin

The actress who plays Elysia: Elysia

Kevin's actor: Kevin

The actress who plays Aponia: Aponia

The actor who plays Eden: Eden

The actor who plays Chrono: Qian Chrono

The actress who plays Su: Su

Sakura's actress: Sakura

The actor who plays Kosma: Kosma

The actor who plays Mobius: Mobius

Griseo's actress: Griseo

The actor who plays Hua: Hua

The actress who plays Pardofelis: Pardofelis

Mei's actress: Raiden Mei

Other roles: Played by Klein

Not yet appeared: The actress playing Vill-V: Vill-V

Script: Elysia

Director: Elysia

"It ended just like that, all anticlimactic?"

"Shouldn't it be called 'echoing the beginning and the end'?"

The projector, which looked like an antique, flickered a few times and then stopped working, after which the overhead light came on.

Sitting in the front row, Raiden Mei looked as if she had just eaten an expensive but extremely unpalatable dinner, wanting to give her opinion but not knowing where to begin.

"Putting aside the uneven distribution of screen time among the characters, most of them just flash by, and some don't even appear. Why is the entire plot of this short film about Lin's decadent private life? No, it doesn't even revolve around that. Instead, it just keeps repeating the same thing throughout." Mei's right eye twitched as she complained. "And the last scene was clearly something they couldn't keep up with."

"They really couldn't keep up the act anymore. According to the original script, the next thing to happen was that Vill-V would appear to disrupt the battle and reveal a shocking secret—that Chrono's sexual orientation is actually crooked, and he secretly orchestrated it..."

"Stop, I can't listen to this anymore."

"Anyway, it should have been a happy ending where everyone loved each other," Elysia, sitting next to her, smiled. "It's just that some people can't stand telling 'lies,' so they want to end it."

"I'm even more surprised that Chrono would accept such a role..."

Mei glanced at Chrono sitting in the corner and received a glare in return.