Summer days were long. When Miyano Shiho finally walked out of the laboratory building after so long, the sun on the horizon was still blazing and brilliant.
She stepped out into the sunlight beyond the building, walking at an unhurried pace as she quietly merged into the bustling crowd.
All she saw along the way were ordinary city streetscapes:
Cars, crowds, towering buildings, dense rows of signs, all brimming with noise and clamor.
Yet that gave Miyano Shiho a rare sense of relaxation.
Unlike the cold, monotonous laboratory, walking beneath the sun alongside these ordinary people gave her a feeling of freedom.
Unfortunately, that sense of freedom was ultimately nothing more than an illusion.
"Why are you always walking behind me?"
Miyano Shiho stopped, slipped both hands into her pockets, and turned back with an icy expression.
Lin Xinyi: ""
Nonsense. If I didn't follow behind you, how would I know where we were going?
After thinking for a moment, he quickly came up with a perfectly reasonable answer based on his identity as her "personal bodyguard."
"Walking behind you ensures that you remain within my field of vision."
"That way, I can protect you better."
Miyano Shiho fell silent.
A lingering gloom faintly settled over her face.
Protect me better?
That probably meant that if he discovered she intended to escape, he could more quickly draw that Beretta M92F identical to Gin's and put a 9mm copper-jacketed peanut into her back, right?
Heh. Come to think of it—
Having someone point a gun at her back every moment of every day—wasn't that something she should have grown used to long ago?
Why show Lin Xinyi such unnecessary emotions? He was only a gun in someone else's hand.
At that thought, a helpless smile appeared at the corner of Miyano Shiho's lips.
Come to think of it, this guy had just said such ambiguous things to her in the office.
Could those feelings be real?
If they were, that was truly pathetic.
Because guns did not need feelings, especially not feelings for prey like her.
To hold killing intent and love for the same person—perhaps Lin Xinyi was more complicated, more human, and more like a tragedy than she had previously realized.
"...Sigh."
Miyano Shiho let out a soft sigh, her eyes filled with pity as she looked at Lin Xinyi.
From another perspective, if she did not simply regard Lin Xinyi as a tool sent by the organization to watch her, but as someone who suffered from the same illness as her, then he did look much more pleasing than before.
Of course, looking more pleasing was one thing. Favorability was still completely out of the question.
At that thought, Miyano Shiho immediately restrained her emotions again, afraid that Lin Xinyi might notice her quietly changing attitude—
Since she did not like him, and there was no possibility between them, she absolutely could not show him a pleasant face and give him any illusion that he "had a chance."
That was not heartlessness. It was responsibility.
However, Miyano Shiho had clearly overestimated Lin Xinyi's mind-reading abilities.
"First she's dissatisfied, then she smiles, then she sighs, and now she's gone cold again..."
"What the hell is this woman thinking?!"
Lin Xinyi was completely baffled.
Miss Miyano's inner world was far too rich for him to imagine.
Sure enough, compared with women this difficult to understand, dead people's thoughts were easier to guess.
Miyano Shiho's expression soon returned to normal—the look of a sickly yet icy beauty.
However, she did not immediately continue walking. Instead, she delicately covered her mouth and restrained a yawn.
After wiping away the tired tears at the corners of her eyes, she finally said to Lin Xinyi with a trace of weariness, "Give me some money. I'm going to buy coffee from that vending machine over there."
Uh... this young lady hadn't brought any money?
Lin Xinyi's heart now ached whenever he heard the word money.
After hesitating for a moment, he helplessly opened his wallet and stingily pulled out a single 500 Yen coin.
He had no idea whether the company would reimburse this extra expense.
"Not enough." Miss Miyano held out her hand, robbing him in broad daylight.
"Not enough?" Lin Xinyi had been to convenience stores. He knew 500 Yen was absolutely enough for bottled coffee, even a higher-end one.
"I'm not just drinking one bottle." She covered her mouth and yawned again.
Lin Xinyi pondered for a moment, then said very seriously, "Drinking that much coffee is bad for your health."
He was not being stingy. He was objectively making a suggestion.
Excessive fatigue combined with a large caffeine intake carried a risk of sudden death.
And he had barely practiced CPR since graduating from medical school. His technique was rusty, and accidents could easily happen.
"Oh?"
Miyano Shiho's gaze became somewhat subtle.
This guy actually knew how to say things that showed concern for someone else's health?
It seemed she really had not understood him well enough before.
What Lin Xinyi had said in the office was probably genuine.
Thinking back, the way Lin Xinyi used to look at her had seemed somewhat strange. It was just that she had never considered that possibility back then, so she had completely overlooked it.
Now, Lin Xinyi had perhaps finally made up his mind to take the initiative. That was why he had begun changing his style and slowly showing his concern for her.
But was there any point?
Not to mention that I have no feelings for you. Even if I did—
Given our circumstances, talking about love or health is far too extravagant.
"What does it matter if it's bad for my health?"
Miyano Shiho pondered for a moment before finally returning Lin Xinyi's concern with a cold face.
"After all, we're nothing but corpses pretending to be alive."
"Dying sooner might even be a blessing."
As she spoke those chilling words, Miyano Shiho rudely extended her pale, slender fingers and snatched another precious 500 Yen coin from Lin Xinyi's wallet.
"Mm..." Lin Xinyi's expression stiffened, and his heart hurt a little.
And now, he finally understood exactly what Yamada had meant when he said, "This woman always talks in that weirdly sarcastic way."
Cold personality, strange temper, eerie way of speaking—she was extremely difficult to get along with.
Could the original owner have been driven to suicide by her?
Such an absurd thought even arose in Lin Xinyi's mind.
"Forget it. It's a job that pays 890,000 a month, after all."
"What does something this small matter? I'll get used to it."
Putting an end to his internal grumbling, Lin Xinyi accompanied the difficult-to-please Miss Miyano to buy the excessive amount of coffee she wanted, while mentally reviewing the somewhat unfamiliar motions of CPR.
The two of them walked side by side to the vending machine by the roadside.
The machine stood across the street from a department store, so there was naturally plenty of foot traffic.
By the time Lin Xinyi and Miyano Shiho arrived, two people were already waiting ahead of them.
They were two high school students in blue uniforms, a boy and a girl.
With their backs to Lin Xinyi, they stood shoulder to shoulder at the vending machine, chatting and laughing as they chose drinks.
Soon, the boy inserted some coins and bought a can of iced cola.
Then, while the girl beside him carefully picked out a drink, he suddenly pulled a harmless prank, catching her off guard by pressing the ice-cold cola can against her face.
"Ah!" The female high school student let out a startled cry from the cold.
The boy chuckled mischievously as he immersed himself in the sight of her embarrassed, angry expression.
"Mm, I learned something."
"So this is how young people date nowadays."
Lin Xinyi pondered thoughtfully.
Back then, he had spent all his time practicing martial arts and studying. He had never trained in this area, so he needed to consume more public displays of affection to make up for it.
Fortunately, he had changed jobs in this life and now had time to date.
Now he had the time, had learned some experience, and iced cola was easy to buy. All he lacked was a girlfriend.
Uh... for some reason—
The moment he mentioned a girlfriend, he suddenly thought of Miss Miyano, whom he had just "harassed."
But the thought was instantly erased as soon as it surfaced.
"Forget it. If it were her..."
Lin Xinyi's lips twitched slightly.
A normal girl would show an extremely amusing embarrassed and angry expression if her boyfriend chilled her with cola.
But if he tried that on Miss Miyano, assuming he actually had the chance—
She would definitely take the cola without expression and drink it, then shoot him a frosty look and ask from the depths of her soul, "Are you a child?"
She was far too unlovable.
Lin Xinyi shook his head and drove those uninvited, strange thoughts from his mind.
Once those distractions faded, his attention quickly returned to reality.
Then, he soon noticed—
The backs of the high school couple who had just fed him a huge serving of PDA looked somewhat familiar.
Especially the girl.
"Could this be..." Lin Xinyi tentatively called out to the female high school student ahead of him. "Miss Mouri Ran?"
"Huh?" The female high school student turned around in surprise.
"Mr. Lin Xinyi, is that you?"
It really was her—Mouri Ran, whom he had met only that morning.
Come to think of it, Lin Xinyi was not familiar enough with this high school girl, whom he had only met by chance, to recognize her just from her back.
Not to mention that Mouri Ran had changed clothes. Her blue high school uniform was completely different from the white training uniform she had worn that morning.
The reason he had recognized her so quickly this time was mainly because—
Standing behind Miss Mouri Ran—
He could see her horn, too.
"Haha..."
Lin Xinyi politely did not reveal what he was thinking.
"So it really was the two of you."
"I almost didn't recognize you."
Before you continue