Peninsula: Starting with a silly childhood friend!

Chapter 101 The Enchanting Atmosphere of Their Embrace

As fireworks exploded in the sky, Mina seemed to wake from a dream, blushing again as she turned her head away, pretending not to care as she looked at the sky.

It was as if everything that had just happened was just a casual remark.

Liu Baiyuan was stunned when he looked at Mina, who was acting like an ostrich. Of course, he had heard what she said.

However, he didn't know how to face Mina, because he felt... the "like" he expressed and the "like" she expressed... seemed to be different things...

At this moment, he also turned to face the railing, seemingly watching the fireworks, but in fact, he was glancing at Mina beside him out of the corner of his eye.

Coincidentally, Mina's attention wasn't on the fireworks either. When she noticed the subtle glances around her, she felt a slight surge of joy. It seemed that what the older brother had said earlier wasn't entirely untrue...

"Ding! Mina's favorability +1!"

Progress bar: 8%

Hearing the disruptive notification from the mute system in his mind, Liu Baiyuan was slightly taken aback. This little penguin...

However, it was precisely because of this brief hesitation that Liu Baiyuan once again lost the initiative.

"Nii-chan, did you live in Kyoto with Momo when you were little?"

Having gotten the answer she wanted, Mina was visibly relieved. After calming down her shame, she began to "torture" Liu Baiyuan again.

"Hmm? Yes."

Upon hearing Minami's question, Liu Baiyuan's thoughts uncontrollably drifted back to the two houses in the countryside many years ago.

Actually, if you're asking whether Liu Baiyuan has any fond memories of his time in Japan... well, not really.

He vaguely remembered his lifestyle, food, clothing, housing, and language school in Japan.

Almost none of them were places he was familiar with, but perhaps that's why he was able to get to know Hirai Momo, who lived next door to him, during that time.

So looking back now, perhaps he doesn't have any special memories of Japan or even the city of Kyoto; it's just that Momo Hirai gave it a unique feeling.

"Nani-chan, have you ever been to Hyogo Prefecture?"

Mina asked him, her tone carrying a hint of anticipation. As for the reason... well, her family is from Hyogo Prefecture.

Hyogo Prefecture is adjacent to Kyoto, and the two places are only about 100 kilometers apart, which is quite close. Under such circumstances, Liu Baiyuan should have been there before.

The awkward thing is, Liu Baiyuan had never actually been there.

"Hyogo Prefecture... I've never been there, but I go to Osaka often."

Hirai Momo and Hirai Hana used to travel from Kyoto to Osaka to study dance, so when he was a child, he often went to dance studios in Osaka with them.

"Osaka... speaking of which, Sana's hometown is Osaka."

Mina muttered a few words, a hint of jealousy in her voice. "This older brother hasn't been to Hyogo Prefecture, but he's been to Osaka...?"

When I have the chance to go home, I absolutely have to take him on a trip to Hyogo Prefecture!

In TWICE, there are only three Japanese members, Misaka and Momo. Momo is understandable since they are siblings, but what makes Sana so special?!

We can't just say she hasn't been to her hometown!

Wouldn't that make her look shorter?

Mina thought to herself, slowly clenching her little hands to encourage herself.

Sana Minatozaki is from Osaka, while Momo Hirai and Mina Nai are from Kyoto and Hyogo Prefectures, respectively.

Interestingly, the three of them come from neighboring hometowns.

"She's from Osaka," Liu Baiyuan nodded thoughtfully. People from Osaka are generally straightforward, direct in their speech and actions, and have a strong "social" presence.

In that sense, Sana Minatozaki perfectly fits the stereotype of Osaka residents.

Recalling Sana Minato's blunt retorts and the bizarre, zero-frame start she made when they first met, a slight smile crept onto his lips.

If I remember correctly, people from Osaka seem to have an "instinct"... I might try that next time I see her, if she actually agrees...

Then I'll definitely make a good laugh at her!

meow~

Just as the two finished speaking, a cat's meow instantly alerted Liu Baiyuan and Mingjing Nan.

However, the kitten wasn't afraid of people. Before the two of them even started looking for it, it darted out of the bushes on its own.

"Eh~ Kawaii~"

Mina's eyes lit up instantly. It was a little kitten, black and white, waddling along, looking like it had just been born.

Even so, her overall demeanor... well... her cat-like temperament is still quite excellent.

"You like kittens too?"

Seeing Mina instantly transform into a cat lover, Liu Baiyuan squatted down with her, a smile playing on his lips as he asked.

"Of course, I lived in the US for a while when I was little. Back then, my parents didn't allow me to keep cats or dogs, so I would often take a ham to feed stray cats and dogs. Later, after I returned to Japan, my family got a dog named Ray. But if we're talking about who loves animals the most, it has to be Tzuyu."

O

While petting the kitten, Mina said, "When there wasn't much to do before, Tzuyu and Jeongyeon went out to do volunteer work, which involved helping out at an animal shelter by taking care of the animals, bathing them, and feeding them."

Upon hearing her words, Zhou Ziyu's delicate face and tall figure simultaneously appeared in his mind.

I never expected my own twin sister to be so kind-hearted.

However, he then noticed something in Mina's words and asked the little penguin in front of him with a puzzled look, "Mina, you lived in the United States when you were a child?"

"Oh, I was born in the US. Didn't I tell you that, Ni-chan?"

What do you think...?

Liu Baiyuan looked at the little penguin in front of him with a bit of helplessness. This was the first time the two of them had met alone. Apart from the name, which he had learned about at the beginning because of Hirai Momo, he had learned about the rest of the penguin little by little by spending time with the others.

So if Mina hadn't told him, he really wouldn't have known this information.

Mina blushed slightly upon hearing this, but she still stood up while holding the kitten and said to Liu Baiyuan, "Then let me introduce myself properly to Baiyuan-nii-chan. My name is Mina, I am nineteen years old, I was born in Texas, and I am from Hyogo Prefecture, Japan."

As he spoke, Mina nodded slightly to Liu Baiyuan, as if to say a bow.

Liu Baiyuan chuckled and nodded upon hearing Mina's words, but he didn't quite grasp the meaning of Mina's mention of Texas, and asked in confusion, "Texas? Which Texas?"

"Huh? There's only one Texas in the US, right?"

"Ah, Texas in the US..."

"Which Texas are you talking about, Ni-chan?"

"Cough cough...that's not important..."

Liu Baiyuan was embarrassed. The first thing that popped into his mind when he heard "Texas" was the image of braised chicken. However, he definitely couldn't tell Mina about this, or she would turn from a little penguin into a little pancake. In order not to make Mina laugh at him, he quickly changed the subject.

"By the way, Mina, since you were born in the United States, you should have an English name, right?"

"Of course! Nii-chan, guess!"

Seeing that Mina wasn't going to tell him directly, he looked at the girl in front of him with surprise. This little penguin was completely different from usual. If she was usually a cold and proud little penguin, now she was more like a kitten in his arms.

Cute, elegant, and a little arrogant.

"Hmm..." After sizing up Mina, he was about to make a guess, but before he could speak, Mina spoke up first.

"Nii-chan, I feel like you haven't thought of a good name yet..."

"Hey! What are you saying!"

Mina's eyes were filled with distrust. To be honest, for a moment she had no doubt that he would say something like Emma, ​​Ava, or Olivia, which are common names.

Of course, this distrust actually hit Liu Baiyuan's nail on the head, because he hadn't really thought about it deeply. The key issue was that he didn't know the naming conventions in the US, only the more common ones...

It's true that he's good at English, but that doesn't mean he knows a lot of names...

"My English name is Sharon, Ni-chan, you'd better remember it, I might quiz you on it later."

Minami explained the details to Liu Baiyuan word by word, and the latter repeated it twice, secretly memorizing it.

As the fireworks ended, the two people on Namsan Tower instantly felt a sense of quietness around them.

Liu Baiyuan quietly looked at the little penguin beside her. Perhaps feeling uncomfortable from wearing the mask for too long, she gently pulled it down, revealing half of her face.

If she were just looking at her at eye level, it might not seem like much, but Liu Baiyuan was taller than her, and looking down at her, he saw everything.

Just then, a gentle breeze swept by, and the combination of her fair face and the breeze gave Mina a sense of... brokenness.

The mole on the tip of her nose did not detract from her beauty; on the contrary, it enhanced her overall attractiveness.

All of this happened very quickly, in that instant, but Liu Baiyuan caught it precisely in his eyes, leaving him slightly stunned.

This little penguin... it really is a face genius!

"Nii-chan, let's go."

Mina took out her phone, glanced at the time, and realized it was already past six in the evening, so she suggested going back to the dorm.

She's not like Hirai Momo after all. If she and Liu Baiyuan, a man, didn't go back to the dormitory at night, it would inevitably arouse the manager's suspicion.

"Okay, but it..."

Liu Baiyuan looked at the cat in Mina's arms. This little guy was a bit of a problem now. Taking him home was definitely out of the question. Liu Baiyuan himself had never had a pet, and it wouldn't be convenient to put him in TWICE's dorm, since it was a shared dormitory.

"Take it to a shelter."

Mina quickly decided on its destination, and Liu Baiyuan had no objections. However, just as he was about to leave, Mina suddenly seemed to remember something and said to Liu Baiyuan, "Nii-chan, wait for me!"

As she spoke, she turned and ran towards the convenience store not far away, leaving Liu Baiyuan stunned.

He didn't quite understand what the little penguin was up to, but when he saw Mina's pigeon-toed running style, a smile couldn't help but appear on his face.

Soon, Mina returned with a small padlock, and almost instantly, Liu Baiyuan understood what she wanted to do.

"Didn't you already put on a lock? Why did you put on another one?"

Liu Baiyuan pointed to the silver head lock of TWICE next to him and asked her, and Mina suddenly blushed a little when she heard this, and said: "TWICE is TWICE, and what I hung this time is my personal one, how can they be the same?"

As she spoke, she handed the cat in her arms to Liu Baiyuan, and then went to the side, seemingly afraid that Liu Baiyuan would peek, and secretly wrote words on the padlock.

However, a normal person would definitely not know what Mina wrote, but Liu Baiyuan is a man with a system.

"Ding! Mina's favorability +1!"

Progress bar: 9%!

Upon hearing that Mina's favorability rating had increased slightly, Liu Baiyuan seemed to understand something.

Looking at the little penguin's furtive behavior, a somewhat absurd thought suddenly popped into his mind: "This little penguin... could it like me?"

As a wise master once said, there are three great illusions in life:

1. My phone rang.

Second, I can turn the tables!

Third, she (he) likes me.

Soon, Liu Baiyuan came to his senses and shook the somewhat absurd thought out of his mind; such a thing was probably impossible.

He smiled helplessly. He must have been a bit neurotic lately because of the goodwill he received from the mute system. How could this be?

Although he and Mina had met many times, they hadn't done anything.

The only thing worth mentioning is that I stood up for them today, but even so, this little penguin would never like me because of that.

Thinking this, Liu Baiyuan shook his head slightly and stopped thinking about it.

Okay~

Soon, Mina secured the padlock firmly to the iron bars. As for what she wrote, perhaps only Mina herself would know.

As she approached Liu Baiyuan with a smile on her face, he nodded, and the two of them began to walk down the Nanshan Pagoda.

Namsan Tower is a well-known tourist destination, full of couples in the throes of new love. It's not hard to guess what couples might do in such a place.

"Hmm... what's wrong with these people..."

Mina looked slightly embarrassed at the couples on either side who were passionately kissing, oblivious to everyone else.

Liu Baiyuan wasn't surprised at all, having seen this many times back in Yonsei. He simply smiled and said to Mina, "They're just couples in the throes of new love, it's understandable."

Hearing this, Mina turned her head slightly to look at the man beside her, her gaze lingering on his lips. She couldn't help but think, "I wonder... what's wrong with Nii-chan's lips..."

Before she could think it through, she lost her footing on the downhill stairs without noticing.

Fortunately, Liu Baiyuan was right beside her and quickly grabbed her arm, but...

Although they managed to stop Mina from falling, the two inevitably ended up in a hug...

The gentle, soft body in his arms felt like a warm ball of cotton against his chest.

"Are you alright?"

"Ni-chan..."

The warm light shone on the two of them, and the romantic atmosphere around them was instantly enveloped in them as well. Mina's gaze slowly moved from Liu Baiyuan's face to his lips.

Liu Baiyuan, of course, noticed the other person's unusual behavior. He felt Minami's soft breathing, and the increasingly warm body in his arms seemed to be testing his limits. His gaze, without warning, fell upon her lips...

Suddenly, the atmosphere between the two became strange...