Sigrika, the Birdwatching Content Creator

Monday, seven in the morning.

"Yaya, you look really tired. Are you sick?" Sigrika asked, a little worried as she looked at Dania, who seemed even sleepier than usual. She placed her hand on Dania's forehead to check her temperature.

"...I'm fine." Dania gently pushed Sigrika's little hand away and gave her a weary smile. "I just didn't sleep well last night."

Ever since she had secretly kissed Xiao Ling late that night, Dania had kept having strange dreams over the past two days.

In her dreams, she and that bad guy seemed to be doing something... very intimate. She had forgotten most of the details, remembering only his somewhat heavy, hurried breathing and how light she had felt, as though she were a soft cloud.

Then she would suddenly wake up with some indescribable sensations in her body. That was roughly what had been happening.

So she looked sleep-deprived now because she kept waking up suddenly in the middle of the night.

Dania thought she might really be sick. After all, nothing like this had ever happened before, but she was too embarrassed to bring it up...

Back to the matter at hand, Cartethyia's sudden appearance in the house had indeed aroused the other four girls' suspicions. But Cartethyia had quickly won their trust with the story she had prepared in advance and an innocent, well-behaved little expression.

(Harmless, soft and adorable Little Cart.jpg)

They were all from Solaris, after all. Naturally, they had to lend a helping hand when a fellow countrywoman was in trouble.

So, as you could see, Cartethyia quickly hit it off with the other girls in the house.

"Speaking of which, what happened to those grandpas in the end? Are they being properly looked after?" Aemeath was quite concerned about the group of wandering elderly men Cart had mentioned.

"Yes. The volunteers sent me a message saying they'd picked them up, and they've all been properly settled in now." Cartethyia smiled in relief.

Little Ai had already heard about his adventures in Rinascita from A-Piao. Since she and Cartethyia were both Sentinel Resonators, they naturally grew closer and had more to talk about. The other girls occasionally shared some interesting things that had happened to them too, and the atmosphere at the table was quite pleasant.

Well, all in all, things had turned out reasonably well. There had been no Asura field.

After breathing a sigh of relief, Xiao Ling finished the half bowl of congee in his hand in one go.

After classes ended at noon.

"Wait, Xiao Ling, did the sun rise in the west?"

When Brother Yang saw that Xiao Ling had voluntarily submitted an application to participate in the sports meet, his eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

After all, ever since the guy in front of him had started university, he had never once volunteered for an event. The few times he had shown up were only because the school had made attendance mandatory for everyone.

And now he was being told that this little rascal had actually submitted an application of his own accord? For the 3,000-meter race, no less?

"Can you handle it? With your build, I think it might be a bit much. Why don't we switch you to something else?"

"Brother Yang, this is the only event I'm any good at. Besides, no other guys in our class have signed up for the 3,000 meters, right?"

That was indeed the case. Three thousand meters was simply too exhausting for frail college students. Even those who could run 1,000 meters in under four minutes after starting university were in the minority, and 3,000 meters was an even worse nightmare. Besides, with the weather as it was, the day of the sports meet was guaranteed to be sweltering.

"If you're doing this to show off in front of those beauties, I really don't think you need to."

"If you don't believe me, Brother Yang, how about we go for a run right now? We can treat it as getting used to the intensity in advance."

Brother Yang's expression stiffened for a moment. He immediately waved his hands and said, "Forget it, forget it. Since you're confident, I won't try to talk you out of it. Just prepare well for the race."

What a joke. How could he really fall for this guy's trick? It would be bad if he ended up getting himself into trouble.

With the matter of his participation settled, Brother Yang sent him on his way without hesitation, and Xiao Ling naturally left the teachers' office.

What should I do next?

Dania was definitely asleep at this hour, while Aemeath and Lynae were probably training. Come to think of it, he had only just learned that Lynae had also entered the women's badminton competition, teaming up with Aemeath.

Haha, everyone else is screwed. With those two teamed up, probably only Augusta and Iuno could give them a fight.

Chisa was probably at her club studying cooking. After all, she had been trying to cook all along. He still didn't know whether she had entered any competitions, but if she had, he thought it was most likely tennis, since the girl was quite interested in it.

As for Cartethyia... come to think of it, he hadn't seen her again since they parted at the school gate. He was quite curious about what Cart got up to at school.

And lastly, there was Sigrika...

Xiao Ling was lost in thought when he suddenly heard a familiar, sweet female voice call out:

"Wait for me-!"

He came back to his senses and saw Sigrika chasing a flock of birds. Strangely enough, the birds were flying neither too fast nor too slow, as though they were taking Little Orange out for a run.

After watching with interest for a while, Xiao Ling decided to let Mandarin Orange, who had run a little too far, have a good rest.

As it happened, he still had some whole-wheat toast he hadn't finished. Although it wasn't particularly suitable for birds, it was at least a way to get them to stop.

So Sigrika saw the birds, which had been flying higher just moments ago, suddenly swoop down together toward one spot.

She looked toward where the birds had landed, and her eyes lit up.

"Senior-!"

At the end of her gaze stood Xiao Ling, a faint smile on his face. Beside him, the birds had already buried their heads in the toast crumbs, eating away.

"Look how worn out you are." Seeing Little Orange drenched in sweat, Xiao Ling took out the tissues he carried with him and handed them to her. "Wipe yourself off. You'll feel better."

"Thank you, Senior!" Sigrika accepted the tissues with both hands, pulled out a few, and carefully wiped the beads of sweat from her forehead and cheeks.

The city had one foot in midsummer, and the weather was growing hotter by the day. The cicadas' raucous cries protested the sun's mercilessness.

Xiao Ling took Sigrika to sit on a nearby bench before asking her, "Why were you chasing those birds?"

"The school's column is due for an update, so I'm gathering material!" Sigrika held a small electric fan in her hand. The hot air passed through the fan and blew against her face, gently stirring the hair on her forehead and bringing her a little relief from the heat.

"Then why does it have to be birds? There aren't supposed to be any restrictions on what you can cover, are there?"

"Actually, it's because I wanted to gather some material for myself while I was at it!" Sigrika said proudly. "After all, I'm a birdwatching content creator now! I have lots of followers too!"

"Hm? You're that good? Let me see?"

"Here, Senior, look!"

Sigrika opened her account page and began showing Xiao Ling the various birds she had photographed, one picture at a time.

"Look, Senior! This is a spotted dove. It has a ring of white spots around its neck that look just like pearls. That's where the 'pearl neck' in its Chinese name comes from! When I photographed it, it happened to be foraging on the grass!"

"This little guy looks pretty relaxed, but it's actually very alert. Make the slightest big movement and whoosh, it flies right off. It took me a lot of effort to get that picture!"

The photo showed a spotted dove leisurely foraging on the grass. Sigrika seemed to have taken it from very close by, as every pearl-like white spot on its neck was clearly visible. The gentle setting sun provided the perfect lighting for the picture.

"Oh, right, right! There's this one too!" Sigrika switched to the next picture and introduced it. "The first time I saw it, I mistook it for a crow because its feathers looked so much like a crow's. I was so happy at the time! Only later did I find out this bird was called a blackbird. It's smaller than a crow, and its beak is a little smaller too. The color is different as well: a crow's is black, while a blackbird's is bright yellow..."

Xiao Ling listened as she enthusiastically described every bird she had documented. It was as though she had drawn him into a bird exhibition belonging to the two of them alone, where she vividly painted for him each of her encounters with the different birds.

For some reason, he suddenly reached out and placed his hand on Little Orange's head, as if possessed.

He had to admit, Little Orange's hair was quite soft and smooth. It felt nice.

Feeling the sudden touch on her head, Sigrika turned in surprise and found herself looking straight into Xiao Ling's smiling eyes.

Her heart skipped a beat the moment their eyes met.

Sigrika suddenly felt her cheeks burning. Her earlier enthusiasm as a bird connoisseur vanished in an instant, and the girl's shyness and fluttering heart completely took over.

Senior... that's not fair...

Not far from the bench, the birds Xiao Ling had fed were still eating, but Sigrika no longer had any attention to spare for them. She let them eat and drink their fill before they flew high into the clear blue sky.