Zongman: Unknowingly trapped in the hatchet

?

At 21:30, Tokyo was immersed in the dripping sound of melting snow.

Perhaps because he is still trying to prepare himself mentally, Mahiru is staying at home right now.

Probably will come later.

Taking this opportunity, Su Qing checked the message from twenty minutes ago.

Very baffling.

[Yui: Xiaoqing, I think I know what I should do, so I'm fine now.

You really don’t need to worry about me this time! 】

The phone screen glowed a cold white light in the palm of her hand, and the chat background was still the photo of three people that Yui had taken that day.

In the photo, Yui's tiptoes seem to be about to jump out of the pixel grid.

In a blink of an eye, the voice and appearance of that energetic girl occupied half of Su Qing's mind.

He seemed to hear again the girl waving her hands high and her smile making the spring flowers bloom.

It looks like Yukino gave the music box to Yui tonight?

Now it seems that things are going smoothly.

But I have to say, Yukinoshita is really incredibly active.

Actually, it’s okay to give it to her tomorrow, right?

No, that's not right, now is the best situation.

Su Qing lowered his eyes and brought in a wisp of snow when he opened the balcony door.

The starlight flickered among the cumulus clouds, and the pattern formed was like the burnt cookies that Yui had baked that time.

He remembered how she always confused salt and sugar and naively thought that adding more milk would remedy that.

A question suddenly occurred to him: Does Yui like him?

The girl never confessed her love to him, but her eyes would never lie.

Just as Mahiru looked at him with love, Yui was also looking at him with the same eyes.

Just more speechless.

So don’t make any more excuses or reasons, and stop attributing your liking to some kind of yearning or longing.

There is no doubt that Yui likes him.

So, does he like her?

……

But people cannot and should not fall in love with two people at the same time.

In this case, there is no point in discussing this issue.

Su Qing would not "gently" ignore the relationship and pretend nothing happened.

That would just be unnecessary tenderness to the cherry blossom-like girl.

Unnecessary gentleness is a sin.

But he would not choose to ignore it.

Because after tonight, they will still be friends.

But we are just friends.

With his eyes full of confusion, Su Qing suddenly laughed at himself.

When did he become so indecisive and heavy-hearted?

What is to be done has already been decided.

Giving Yui a music box will help her stop suppressing her emotions and learn to release them.

But whether she understood what he meant or not, he had to cover up certain emotions of his own.

Yes.

If the memory archive can even cover the degree of pollution, then can the budding feelings also be covered?

This is an unnecessary emotion that should not exist and should be sealed.

So, let’s start now.

In a trance, the girl with a pink bun on one side seemed to be very close to me.

This is not an illusion, it is the [memory recall] necessary to [overwrite].

He had to find a time point, a time point that... he didn't like.

"Xiaoqing, your girlfriend is waiting for you..."

"We want to be good friends for life?"

……

"Well, I have a commission. I want to give a boy some cookies."

"No, it's not charcoal!"

……

"I know that Xiaoqing is the best to me!"

……

"I'm sorry, this is my Sabre."

The fragments of memories of our time together flashed by like old-fashioned slides.

This is the starting point of their meeting.

Su Qing said softly.

As the thought of [overwriting the save file] passed through my mind like a crow flying over a dead branch, the starry sky was dyeing the snow into a silver-blue color.

He looked up at the sparse stars in the velvet night sky, and the light dragged the arc of his eyes on his retina.

The girl looked gentle and smiled brightly and said:

"Ah hello!

then.

さようなら (Goodbye) Xiaoqing..."

next moment.

Covering...Done.

……

?

Time goes back to half an hour ago.

Yui's house.

"Yui, are you still studying?"

From outside the door came the mother's gentle voice, tinged with worry.

Yui's thoughts on the knowledge point suddenly retracted, she subconsciously turned her head and whispered:

"Ah, not yet. It should only be nine o'clock now, right? It's still early. Just go and do your own thing, Mom."

It is true that it is still early, and there are many people who start learning later than this.

But the problem is that since you came back from the school trip, you have been maintaining a schedule of studying except for eating and sleeping.

It's almost like...he's trying to escape from something.

Yuigahama's mother sighed softly, then knocked on the door again.

"I know, but your friend is here to see you."

"Eh? Friend?"

Yui's extremely surprised voice was heard in the room, and there was also some strange sound coming from it, like something fell and hit the floor.

“Anyway, this is her current situation, although I don’t know what happened to the child.

But, I’ll leave it to you…”

Yuigahama's mother's worried hand was suspended in the air. She wanted to say something but stopped herself. Finally, she turned her head with a struggling expression and looked at Yukino, and begged sincerely.

"Aunt, don't worry. She is my most important friend."

This is also... a request from another of my most important friends.

After Yuigahama's mother passed away, she completely left the space to the two girls.

Yukino coughed lightly, then knocked on the door and shouted:

"Yui, it's me, I'm coming in?"

"Is that Xiaoxue? You scared me... You can come in."

After getting the owner's consent, Yukino pushed the door open and walked in.

But what caught my eye was a mess.

Yui had just picked up the chair from the ground. Although I didn't see it with my own eyes, thinking about the noise just now, she must have fallen, right?

After closing the door, Xue Noi held her forehead and said helplessly:

"Did you fall down while sitting on the chair?"

“Ahahahaha…the floor was so slippery, and I was scared when I heard it was you!”

Yui endured the pain and rubbed her injured buttocks with one hand.

It's really a headache.

After Xue No noticed it, her tone was quite helpless, "Really? I thought you fell off the chair because you were thinking about Su Qing."

"Hey, hey, hey? Why did you suddenly mention Xiaoqing?" Yui panicked and quickly denied it with both hands.

But when she saw Xueno's half-smile, she put it away with embarrassment, "It has nothing to do with Xiaoqing."

"Oh." Yukino responded indifferently, walked forward and glanced at the girl's learning results.

It was a densely packed notebook, where the girl had written down some wrong questions and knowledge points in neat handwriting.

If you review it regularly, it's a great way to learn.

"Did he teach you to do this?" Yukino asked without thinking.

"Yeah, but he said before that my foundation was too poor, and it would be appropriate to do this kind of thing when my grades reach the middle level."

Yui said softly, then smiled smugly, "And I was ranked 500th in the last exam!"

"Really? But isn't that enough?" Under Yui's puzzled gaze, Xueno tilted her head and said, "Su Qing is the top student in the grade, and by a huge margin. Last time, he almost got a perfect score."

"So why do you mention Xiaoqing?!" Yui was stunned for a moment, and then asked anxiously the next moment.

"Yes, why is that?"

Yukino's eyes wandered, her fingertips brushed across the notes, and she murmured.

She didn’t understand why Su Qing and Yui had such a good relationship, but they didn’t end up together.

Now, looking at these efforts, she seemed to understand a little bit.

"Here, this is a gift from him to you. For some reason, he asked me to give it to you."

Yukino handed the gift box to Yui intact, and the girl only then noticed that the other person had such a thing in his hand.

"Xiaoqing gave it to me? What is it?"

Yui took it, looked down, and quickly raised her confused gaze.

"Take it apart and have a look. It should be a music box.

Maybe he gave it to you so that you can relax and listen to music after studying." Yukino guessed.

"A music box? It sounds very expensive..."

Yui scratched her head, thinking that she didn't seem to have much musical talent.

but……

Why did Su Qing suddenly give her this?

With curiosity and trepidation, Yui slowly opened the gift box.

A gift box with mechanical butterfly wings hanging from it was revealed, along with a note on which Su Qing had written an English word.

That was Su Qing's handwriting, the girl would not make a mistake.

"Hey?"

Yui was slightly stunned, and her thoughts returned to the English word chain game on Friday.

The next moment, she seemed to understand something and opened the music box as if possessed.

Soon, an unknown melody came from the box, which was somewhat similar to "Spring Sea" by Michio Miyagi.

Sad but not hurt.

The two of them listened to the music quietly, and the pair of mechanical butterfly wings folded up with the end of the last note.

That’s it, is that all?

Yukino frowned slightly. What was Su Qing trying to do by letting Yui listen to such music?

Yui does need an emotional release now, but she is probably more confused now, so she keeps numbing herself by studying.

No...that person won't do meaningless actions.

"Do you want to listen to it again?" Yukino asked, but got no response.

She turned her head in confusion, only to see the sparkle in Yui's clear eyes.

It's like a heavy autumn rain.

Then, a quiet smile flowed from her eyes, flowing all over her face like tears.

"Yu...Yi?"

Yukino's heart trembled violently.

Hearing this, Yui came back to her senses as if she had woken up from a dream.

No itching, no soreness.

It wasn't until her tears fell on the ground like raindrops that she realized that she seemed to...

is crying?

Then, the emotions that had been accumulating for who knows how long burst out like a dam breaking.

"Why...why did you send me something like this?"

"Stupid Xiaoqing... Is he a fool..."

Unclear words came out continuously from the girl's gradually aching throat.

Yukino heard with her own ears how the originally soft and energetic voice gradually became hoarse and struggling.

She didn't say anything, but walked forward silently and patted Yui's shoulder gently.

After an unknown amount of time, Yui raised her face, her eyes red from crying.

The girl sobbed, looking at Yukino, trying to string the unspoken words together into a sentence:

"Why... Why did Xiaoqing bully me and make me cry... I clearly... I clearly didn't want to cry..."

I didn’t even cry that day, and I tried very hard to stop my tears.

We clearly agreed to be good friends for life.

Why are you doing all these unnecessary things now?

You just know how to bully me. You just know how to bully me.

Why do you have to make me cry?

Why……

"Xiaoxue...Xiaoxue..."

Yui suddenly grabbed one of Yukino's hands tightly and buried her head deeply into the latter's heart.

Until this moment, when no one in the world could see her, the girl, who was not brave but certainly gentle, dared to say something.

It was at this moment that Yukino caught a glimpse of the English words written on the note.

——[release].

In addition to publishing, it also means...releasing.

It is about releasing emotions...【release】.

"Why am I so stupid..."

“If only I were better…”

"Why was I so timid that I didn't even have the courage to..."

"I obviously don't want him to worry about me anymore, but why can't I stop crying?"

"Xiaoxue, do you know? I like Xiaoqing, the most!!!"

In the end, the girl hugged Yukino tightly, choking with sobs, but finally vented her emotions.

But it's too late.

Justice delayed is not justice delayed, it is retribution.

Courage that comes late is not courage, it is regret.

But what can the girl who realizes that she likes do to be brave?

In Yui's eyes, Su Qing was always glowing.

It's like a fire that never goes out, shining brightly.

Excellent grades, handsome appearance, mild temper...

There are so many people in the school who like him, why should she express her love for him?

Because Su Qing once said that she was cute?

But apart from this, what else does she have left...

In terms of looks, she thinks she is not as good as Yukino or Mahiru.

In terms of family background, her family is just an ordinary working class.

In terms of grades, she did terribly.

Even a simple cookie can be made into charcoal...

But even so, the boy would still finish it bit by bit.

……

She once thought that such a relationship could last for a while.

It doesn't take long.

Because she thought that she would make herself excellent as quickly as possible.

If I become excellent, I can be worthy of Xiaoqing, right?

Even though this idea is stupid, the reality is that there is no Cinderella story.

Even if a mediocre person forces himself to be with outstanding people, he will eventually be separated by the crowd.

But it seemed like it was too late from the beginning.

It turns out that the boy has always been accompanied by a girl who is many times better than him.

During the sports festival, Yui saw Mahiru with such a gentle smile for the first time - she only smiled like that to Su Qing.

She had understood it since then.

There was like a door between her and him. Even though the distance between them was very close, there was always a door between them.

She wandered in front of the door, hesitating and not knocking.

Like a coward.

But during that time, there must have been another girl who confidently and bravely opened that door, right?

The wind outside the window suddenly became strong, rustling as it passed over the notebook.

The page number suddenly came to the first page except the cover.

This page is also called the title page.

People usually write their names and other information on it.

But just like this sincere book of the girl.

There is no name "Yuigahama Yui" written on the title page.

Instead, the handwriting is so close to melting into the paper texture that it looks like footprints repeatedly traced in the snow with a pencil.

There is a word "Qing" hidden inside.

……

As if the tears had run dry, they suddenly stopped.

Yui raised her eyes, tears still flowing from the corners of her eyes.

She smiled and said:

"I'm sorry, Xiaoxue, I'm a coward and made you worry...

But I think I know what I should do.”

Not far away, the whistle of the Yamanote Line separated the night, and the mechanical melody that had long ended floated into the night sky, singing in the biting north wind.

Like a whisper.

Like a curse.

-

We are all cowards.

Like fireflies afraid of moonlight.

Hide the heart in a tin box.

Then one day, we will all be killed by the brave man holding the torch.

I think it must be no one else.

I think they must be a group of young boys and girls - another "us" when we were young.

……

……