It'll Be Okay

Qian Huanyue let go of the embrace but did not step back.

"Mm..." She narrowed her eyes halfway, as though she had thought of something amusing. Smiling, she leaned forward and moved a little closer. "Well, please look properly into my eyes. Don't avoid my gaze anymore, okay, Rinne?"

Rinne half-covered her face, the skin visible through her fingers still flushed crimson.

"Ah, ah..." Her voice drifted. "Right now... I can't, Huanyue."

Naturally, she was rejected.

Huanyue showed no surprise. Her gaze drifted elsewhere again as she silently put away her smile.

The next second, she looked as though she might burst into tears, her shoulders trembling faintly. "Honestly, is being liked by me... really that painful?"

She raised the back of her hand in pretend, slowly rubbing at her eyes in a rather convincing performance.

"Well, it's not that..." Rinne looked at Huanyue awkwardly and waved her hands in a fluster. "It actually makes me very happy. It's just, those kinds of words should be saved for someone important..."

"I mean! They'd be better saved for someone Huanyue-chan cherishes in her heart!"

A momentary darkness flickered through Rinne's eyes, but she quickly returned to her usual smile. "Mm... I'm not upset because of it. If anything, I enjoy it?"

"Oh my, I never thought you were... so humble, Rinne? You're a wonderful person. Of course it's only natural for me to cherish you." Huanyue could not keep up her sorrowful tone any longer, so she simply stopped pretending, her voice turning light again.

"—Huh?" Rinne froze.

"Then come eat pudding with me." Huanyue raised her hand, not looking sad in the slightest now, and smilingly linked arms with her.

"Ugh—!" Only then did Rinne realize Huanyue's sad expression had all been an act. Her initial shyness shifted into something