Dusk.
Chu Ge and Qiu Wuji strolled around the neighborhood, facing the sunset glow.
They had said they were going out for dinner, but they passed several places to eat without either of them so much as glancing inside.
It was as if they had come out just to walk.
"So... that Origin Returning Liquid from the Heavenly Origin Sect. I didn't realize there was that to consider..." Chu Ge kicked a little stone along the roadside as he walked. "In that case, I should write that Elder Yang of your sect develops a new medicine to nourish the Divine Soul. Then you won't have to buy it from anyone else."
Qiu Wuji suppressed the strange feeling inside her. "Isn't that... a bit too much of a cheat...?"
"Someone wasn't worried about cheating when she publicly blurted out something she'd only say in this world."
"..." Qiu Wuji turned her head slightly and muttered, "I never wanted to follow your setup anyway."
"You can try to change things however you like in private, but be a little more careful about what you do openly. If you suddenly started talking about subways and taxis in that world, for instance, it would be so, so out of place I couldn't even describe it."
Qiu Wuji pouted. "Oh."
Chu Ge found her so adorable that he lowered his head and kicked his stone without another word.
A fallen leaf drifted slowly down beside the road, and Qiu Wuji caught it casually. It fluttered in her palm, stirred by the evening breeze but never blowing away, like a butterfly dancing in her hand.
"Only when I saw a falling leaf did I realize autumn was here," Qiu Wuji suddenly said. "Your world is hotter than ours. I kept thinking it was still summer."
"Mm...