Zongman: Unknowingly trapped in the hatchet

?

After going down the stairs, Su Qing looked back at the old-style apartment for some reason, only to see Yukino, who shouldn't be there, standing in the shadow not far away.

She walked over slowly, her long black hair covered with fine snow, as if it was sprinkled with icing sugar.

"Yukishita?"

Su Qing was stunned. So was the sound he just heard in the house made by the other party?

He thought it was a wild cat or something like that.

“Are you going back now?”

The white mist exhaled by the girl floated in the neon lights.

"I'm not in a hurry. Just tell me what you want to say."

"Then...can you walk around with me?"

"Okay, let's go."

"Thanks……"

Yukino raised her eyes, and a faint smile appeared on her usually cold face, like an early cherry blossom suddenly blooming on the snowy field.

……

?

The snow in Ginza was still falling, and it seemed that it would not stop until dawn the next day.

A park somewhere near Marunouchi Avenue.

The fluorescent light of the vending machine illuminates the park bench. After the sound of metal rollers turning, two cans of MAX coffee appear on the snow-covered seat, steaming.

"It's sweet. Drink it. I'll treat you."

Su Qing pushed the can with a palm tree pattern on it over, and water droplets immediately condensed on the surface of the aluminum can.

Yukino's fingers, which were about to touch the can, suddenly stopped:

"I think this isn't the first time you've treated me to a drink. Do you have some kind of obsession with treating people to drinks?"

"What nonsense are you talking about? Just be happy if someone treats you." Su Qing glanced at Xue Noi calmly, tilted his head back and gulped down the hot drink, his Adam's apple rolling with a slight sound of water, "Didn't you go back? Why are you here again?"

"I borrowed a bag from the subway station and wanted to return these ten flowers to you. They are yours."

Following Yukino's gaze, ten roses wrapped in brown paper bags were lying quietly on the edge of the bench, and the snow was slowly melting on the dark red petals.

"Just for this? Didn't I say I'd give it to you next time we meet?"

"I don't know why, but I have a feeling that if I don't give you the flowers after tonight, I will fail due to some unexpected events."

Xueno shook her head, then smiled and gently put the flowers into Su Qing's arms.

Your hunch is really accurate...

Su Qing sighed inwardly. He had originally wanted to just say he didn't want those flowers.

After all, there's not much use in keeping it.

Forget it, I'll just go back and grow it as an ornamental flower.

"The little girl asked me to give you the money."

Su Qing took out some banknotes, counted them, and then shook them out deliberately.

"Is your name...Misaki?"

Yukino didn't take the money immediately.

Su Qing glanced at Yukino, noticing the tiny shadows the girl's eyelashes cast in the moonlight.

"Yes, did you hear everything outside?"

“I only heard some of it…”

"I'm so glad you found it. How did you do it?"

"Based on your footprints..." Yukino's gaze fell on the snow. The footprints along the road were like stars in the sky.

She smiled inexplicably and added, "Also asked passers-by if they had seen a suspicious person following a little girl."

"Drink more coffee, it's sweet, see if that can remove the poison from your mouth."

Su Qing felt contempt in his heart, he was not a lolita complex.

By the way, I don’t think I’ve ever seen Mahiru tie her hair into twin ponytails... I suddenly feel a little curious about what’s going on.

"Actually, it's not just about the flowers. Before you leave, do you have anything to say to me?"

Yukino didn't get angry even though she was criticized, she just smiled faintly.

Then he looked at the gift box containing the music box, and then looked at Su Qing.

“Is this… for Yui?”

Shit, can someone really read minds?

Su Qing looked at Xue Nai in surprise. The reason she gave was very simple:

"It's just a process of elimination. Your relationships are so simple, if you were giving it to me, Hikigaya, or your girlfriend, you wouldn't have to hesitate, right?"

"I'm not hesitant. I'm just wondering if it would be a bad idea to ask you to give it to her. But I don't seem to have any other choice."

Su Qing put down the hot drink in his hand, and the metallic resonance startled the sparrows that were foraging for food.

"Although I don't know why you suddenly sent this, I think you have your own reasons. If you think it's inconvenient, let me deliver it for you. You don't have any other choice, right? What's more, Yui and you... are both my friends."

Yukino pulled the scarf around her shoulders, the friction of the wool fabric mixed with the sound of falling snow. Her voice was gentle.

"Well, I'll leave it to you. She hasn't been in a good state recently and needs to vent some emotions."

Su Qing said, staring at Xue Noi thoughtfully, "Speaking of which, you are quite amazing. You have the potential to be a famous detective."

"Am I awesome?" Yukino was stunned at first, then her eyes quickly shifted upwards.

She shook her head to deny the statement and spoke in a voice that seeped through the snow.

"I'm not that great. You and your sister are the ones who are great, right? We are different..."

"What's the difference? They all have one head and two arms."

Su Qing said sarcastically.

He just thought Xue No was going to sing "We are different, different"...

Forget it, it's a bit weird for a cool girl to sing that kind of thing.

"Not the kind of..."

Yukino tilted her head, and a layer of icy light appeared on her deep blue irises.

She unconsciously placed her palm against the bottle of coffee, and the white mist she exhaled spread out in the neon lights:

"You and my sister both have something in common that I don't have.

I always thought, if only I had something like that, I could save something.”

"What do you want to save?" Su Qing asked.

"Who knows?"

Yukino turned her head again and her eyes fell on a stray cat not far away.

The corners of her mouth slightly raised, and she blew white mist into the void, watching the mist being dyed light purple by the neon:

"What could it be?"

“Even if we have it, it doesn’t necessarily mean we can save something, and even if we don’t have it, it doesn’t necessarily mean we can’t save something.

People always imagine that the other road they didn’t take is full of flowers, but in fact it is no different.”

Su Qing was playing with the ten roses in her hands. Xueno had cleverly tied them into a bunch in a bag. No one knew how she did it.

"That's just a way of comforting myself... If everything is the same, then what's the point of [choosing]?"

Yukino pursed her lips and asked back.

“It’s meaningless.”

Su Qing responded in a matter-of-fact tone.

"what?"

Yukino opened her eyes in surprise.

“It just doesn’t make sense.”

Su Qing repeated it.

"If there is any, it's just that you will be a little more willing to choose what you choose than to let others choose for you."

The night continued to rise from the earth to the sky, and a small half moon was slanting in the southwest sky.

The snow is sparkling.

……

……