Fate Play (9)

"Do you really like roller coasters?" Chu Zihang steadily held down the safety bar. "I never got the chance to thank you after Six Flags Amusement Park. Thank you for saving us."

"Good grief, we're both students at Cassell College, and we used to go to the same school too. How are you going to thank me? Take me to the aquarium or the movies?" Xia Mi turned around, waggling her brows.

"Come to think of it, did Doraemon have a new movie out recently?" The more she spoke, the more animated she became, beginning to reminisce about the old days.

Not only were they Cassell classmates, they had also attended the same school before—middle school or high school... Chu Zihang froze slightly.

That had to be another slip of the tongue, right?

No, Xia Mi had said they had been classmates at Shilan.

But why did he have no impression of Xia Mi at all? By all rights, she was the sort of girl an ordinary person would never forget after one glance. She was also so talkative and bouncy that he should not have been an exception.

Chu Zihang sank into thought. Those scattered, ancient memories were like a thin spring trickling from between rocks. He followed its flow back through his recollections, like when he had followed his father along a receding beach as a child, gathering seashells.

It was not that he did not believe her. He simply truly could not remember.

It seemed as though he really had gone to see Doraemon with the bouncy girl before him.

No matter how he thought about it, it all seemed very distant and blurry.

Xia Mi leaned over the railing, seeming somewhat dissatisfied. "If you want to give me an answer, please do it soon. I'm the kind of person who stomps her feet and runs off in a flash when she can't wait for what she wants."

Chu Zihang raised his head. "Then... let's go to the aquarium sometime."

An aquarium would probably be more interesting for a girl, especially a girl like her who loved running around everywhere like a rabbit.

Xia Mi pressed her lips together and placed a hand on Chu Zihang's shoulder. "The aquarium sounds great! If we meet dolphins that can perform, they can do backflips and balance balls for us. If we meet dolphins that can't perform, I can put on an animal show for you. Dolphins get dried fish; I get movie tickets."

Chu Zihang imagined Xia Mi doing backflips while balancing a ball and running about wildly. Strangely enough, it did not feel out of place in the slightest. It seemed like exactly the kind of thing she could do.

"I really want to say more. I've got this feeling that if I don't say something now, chances like this will be hard to come by later," Xia Mi added softly. "My family always said my instincts had been incredibly accurate since I was little. I'm the kind of psychic girl who was born to be a fortune-teller."

"Senior Brother, you wouldn't dislike me for being such a chatterbox, would you?" she asked hesitantly.

At that moment, she suddenly stopped bouncing around. Dejection lay hidden beneath her question, like a rabbit that had suddenly gone quiet and let you stroke its fluffy ears, placing its softest side into your hands.

Chu Zihang shook his head without speaking. He was only occasionally slow in this regard; he was not completely a blockhead who understood nothing.

He knew that, many times, what a girl meant by saying something like that was a half-coquettish threat along the lines of, "If you dare dislike me, you're dead..." That was what the seventh issue of the Cassell Love Formula Book said.

The author of that serialized book was "Flame Demon Poet," Fingel's pen name. His work had gained some renown within the college because he frequently stopped updating and habitually left readers hanging.

Under dangerous and uncertain circumstances, his thoughts had slowly wandered in a direction they should not have.

The surroundings were dim and murky, without a trace of light. Only the sound of water dripping from cracks in the tunnel ceiling could be heard. The drip-drip-drip sounded like footsteps, but in reality, aside from the two of them, no one had probably visited this place in decades.

It was as though the entire world had been reduced to just the two of them.

What a strange illusion—one that should not have existed, yet could not be cast aside.

Having received an affirmative answer, Xia Mi seemed to suddenly find her confidence. She planted her hands on her hips, eyes sparkling. "If you don't find me annoying, hurry up and find something to talk about! I can tell there's something you really want to say to me."

"I..."

Chu Zihang hesitated, then asked, "Junior Sister... tell me, how should someone like another person without losing himself? And if he thinks something is hopeless, how can he... help that person find hope? At least give him a little more hope."

Xia Mi's expression stiffened when she heard the first half of his question. When she heard the second half, the corners of her mouth lifted slightly. She pondered for a long time.

Chu Zihang quietly waited for her answer without urging her at all.

"Hope... Wow, that's such a grand and empty topic. Perfect for a middle school essay. Come to think of it, after I got all melancholy back then, Shilan teachers often used my essays as model compositions." She looked up at the tunnel above them and suddenly grew serious. "Before answering that question, I think you need to figure out one thing first."

"That idiot friend of yours—do you want his life to have hope, or do you want him to have hope when it comes to pursuing that girl? Those are two entirely different things. You have to distinguish them clearly. That's the foundation." Teacher Xia Mi adjusted a pair of nonexistent glasses and sternly instructed Student Chu, who was utterly ignorant and unlearned in this particular area.

Chu Zihang considered it. "I want his life to have hope. So the two things... conflict?"

"They conflict! They conflict enormously! They're practically mortal enemies!" Xia Mi bared her teeth, a little angry, like a strict homeroom teacher looking at a hopelessly poor student.

"Look, that Brazilian turtle has focused all his energy on one thing, so you want to help him accomplish it. But do you think that once he succeeds, he'll suddenly become tough and spirited, with a life full of hope? You can't even tell whether the Brazilian turtle you care about wants to lie in a puddle, or whether he merely saw a puddle while baking in the sun and went blank."

"It really is difficult for me to tell." Even after thinking as hard as he could, Chu Zihang still could not find the key to it, so he humbly continued asking, "Then what should he do?"

He wanted Lu Mingfei to become formidable and accomplish the things he himself found difficult to do, yet he had never considered what Lu Mingfei truly wanted.

"Only heaven knows... You're looking for a strategist for Senior Brother Lu, aren't you? Or do you want to give him a pep talk? Wow, what wonderful brotherhood. So I got excited for nothing." Xia Mi dejectedly moved closer, tilting her head and narrowing her eyes.

As the girl drew close, Chu Zihang smelled a citrus-like fragrance, with a faint hint of jasmine. The girl in the Bohemian dress, with masses of pale blossoms around her, somehow produced a tissue and wiped away the blood on him, looking at him with the adorable gaze of a raccoon.

When he stood shoulder to shoulder with Xia Mi, he had the illusion of being in a flower shop on a small alley. Inside, red bricks and green foliage filled the space, cats and dogs played about, and Xia Mi leaned close to a pet dog before grabbing a pet cat by the scruff, rubbing herself until she was covered in orange fur.

Not long after the atmosphere between them had suddenly gone quiet.

"Senior Brother, you seem to be doing pretty well—keeping company with a beauty amid flowers and moonlight. Meanwhile, poor little me has been worrying day and night..." A resentful voice sounded from behind them.

Someone stood behind the maintenance cart like a wooden post. His trench coat fluttered sharply, and his left eye shone like a light bulb in the dark tunnel.

In fact, his appearance really was like an oversized light bulb that had gained sentience after the founding of the nation.