"A fateful encounter?"
"Me and her?"
The taciturn girl's abrupt remark was like a stone stirring a thousand waves, leaving both Lin Xiaolu and the blonde girl voicing their shock. What followed was an inexplicable exchange of glances.
Looking at the somewhat familiar blonde girl before her, Lin Xiaolu instinctively shook her head, rejecting the absurd notion in her heart. Just as she was about to say something, however, a burst of fierce applause and cheers suddenly erupted from the venue beside them.
The noisy uproar interrupted the girls' conversation and drew their attention. Their gazes shifted together toward the nearby intersection of corridors, toward the wide-open doors of the venue.
Walking to the entrance and peering curiously inside, Lin Xiaolu first looked at the vast sea of people, then at the stage beneath the spotlight. To her surprise, a familiar figure stood on that stage.
—It was Larkspur.
Larkspur had been called onto the stage after receiving the flower accessory, under the pretense of inviting a "lucky audience member" to give a speech.
If possible, she had not wanted to receive such an abrupt gift under everyone's watchful eyes, much less be shoved into the spotlight for such a bizarre reason. Unfortunately, by the time she realized this might have been Asō Madoka's scheme all along, it was already too late.
The moment she received the flower accessory, she had become the center of attention for the surrounding audience. Everyone wanted to see what this "lucky girl" actually looked like.
When they discovered that the recipient seemed to be a young child, some people immediately began trying to coax it away from her. Some asked whether Larkspur would let them take a look, while others asked whether she would trade it for a bag of candy... The