Tuning

"Even if it's been proven, that was in the past. Who knows what the future will be like?" Hesta paused. "If Madam Kaja specifically told you in a few days, 'Don't skip school anymore,' would you listen?"

Ding Yuqing froze for a moment, then gave Hesta's back a hard shove. "...Can't you just take care of yourself? Stop worrying about me!"

Hesta chuckled twice, but still turned back. "Just tell me, would it work?"

"I know exactly what I'm doing," Ding Yuqing replied with crisp emphasis. "My grades won't leave me with nowhere to study in the end... What's the point of staying in school all the time? There are things school simply won't teach you. Do you know what qualifications my mother and sister have? My mother graduated with honors back then, but look at her now. My sister got pregnant with Miaomiao during the first year of her PhD, and she's never mentioned going back to school since. No matter what, I won't stay in school for too long. The real world is outside of school... If I didn't need a basic diploma, I'd have dropped out already."

Hesta listened seriously. "Then what do you want to do in the real world?"

"...I don't know yet." Ding Yuqing kicked a pebble by the roadside. "But one day, I will."

Hesta was about to say something else when she caught sight of a familiar figure from the corner of her eye—Ksenia and her friends were coming down the steps of Wenhui Building together. They carried instruments on their backs, chatting and laughing, their bright laughter ringing out from time to time.

Hesta fell silent. She stopped at the intersection outside the school gates and watched from the side. After coming down the stairs, Ksenia and her friends turned directly