Tokyo: Oreimo

Saori smiled and nodded. "Saoori Phoenix, Ryosuke has always been very kind to me."

"Not at all! It's Takashiro who's always taken care of us! His novels are the backbone of our club! Our achievements at the Winter COMI are also thanks to him! This time we're preparing to make an original visual novel, and Takashiro is in charge of the script, that..."

Tian Zhongxue suddenly realized he had said too much in one breath, but couldn't stop. "In short, our club's success today is all thanks to Gao Cheng!"

"President, calm down."

Ayumi stepped forward, pulled Tanaka back half a step, and then bowed slightly to Saori. "Nice to meet you. I am Vice President Horiuchi Ayumi. We were just discussing the new semester activities when I didn't expect Takashiro to go out and pick you up."

After she finished speaking, her gaze unconsciously shifted towards Ling Nai for a moment.

Ling Nai was sitting at the table, picking up the can of coffee again, but didn't drink it.

Her expression was calm, so calm that it was somewhat unlike her usual self.

Liuli sat next to Ling Nai, one hand already subtly encircling her arm, as if giving her a silent support.

"The manga club is even more lively than I expected." Saori glanced around the activity room, then turned to Ryosuke. "That interesting student council president you mentioned, is that the one from earlier?"

“It’s him,” Ryosuke said.

Upon hearing this, Tian Zhongxue's face instantly turned red, and he muttered in an almost inaudible voice, "That guy Takashiro actually said I'm funny," before Ayumi stopped him from saying anything more with a look.

“Ayumi-senpai,” Ling Nai suddenly spoke, her tone returning to its usual crispness, “Last week you said you wanted me to help you take a look at the original artwork drafts for ‘Mahoutsukai no Yoru,’ did you bring them?”

Ayumi paused for a moment, then realized, "I brought it, it's in my folder."

"Let's see now, while everyone's still here."

As Ling Nai spoke, she got up and walked towards the inner cubicle of the activity room.

Chapter 276 Takashiro Ryouno is in a bad mood

The small cubicle inside the activity room was originally a storage space for the club to store old publications and spare art supplies. Later, Ayumi cleaned it up and put a drawing table and two folding chairs in it, which became her corner where she usually drew original paintings.

Ling Nai sat at the drawing table, flipping through Ayumi's original sketches. Ayumi stood behind her, slightly bent over, her fingers touching a few lines on the sketch.

Liuli leaned against the door frame, her gaze fixed on Ling Nai's focused profile, without saying a word.

“The angle of the wrist is wrong here.” Ling Nai picked up the pencil on the table and quickly made a few strokes in the blank space next to the original manuscript.

Ayumi leaned closer to examine the lines that were meant to be drawn. Her brows furrowed at first, then slowly relaxed. "So, those movements I drew before should also be changed like this?"

"Hmm, similarly, here too, the relationship between the shoulder and collarbone..." Ling Nai's pencil scratched on the paper.

As Liuli listened to their back-and-forth discussion, she shifted her gaze from Ling Nai and, through the half-closed door of the cubicle, could see outside the activity room.

Ryosuke was sitting next to Tanaka Middle School, with Saori holding his arm. Tanaka Middle School was gesturing wildly as he talked about something, probably about the "Mahoutsukai no Yoru" project.

Saori tilted her head slightly, a calm smile on her lips, occasionally interjecting with a soft voice, but Tian Zhongxue always nodded repeatedly after hearing it.

Liuli withdrew her gaze.

The scene outside was all too obvious.

She was his girlfriend, standing beside him, participating in his club activities, and being known by his friends—everything was perfectly legitimate.

But what about Ling Nai?

Ling Nai had been by his side for more than three years, drawing together, playing games together, and experiencing so much together. Now, she could only hide in this small cubicle, pretending not to see the two people standing side by side outside by saying she was "helping her senior revise her drawing".

"Liuli?" Ling Nai's voice interrupted her thoughts.

Liuli blinked. "Hmm?"

"What are you daydreaming about? Ayumi-senpai is asking you what you think of this draft."

Ruri looked down at the drawing table, and Ayumi turned the drawing over to show her. The drawing depicted a girl in a school uniform standing sideways on the edge of a rooftop, with the wind blowing her long hair and skirt. The composition was very dynamic.

“I think it looks great,” Liuli said, her voice as steady as ever. “But I don’t know much about painting, so I can’t really explain why it’s so good.”

“You’re quite honest,” Ling Nai chuckled.

There was a gentle knock on the cubicle door twice.

The three of them turned around at the same time. Ryosuke was standing at the door, holding his phone.

“Saori and I are leaving now,” he said, his gaze lingering on Ling Nai’s face for a moment. “She rarely gets a day off.”

Ling Nai paused for a moment with her pencil, then continued drawing on the paper. "Understood."

His tone was flat, revealing no emotion.

Ryosuke glanced at her, wanting to say something more, but in the end he just nodded to Ayumi and Ruri, turned around and walked out.

A few seconds later, the door to the activity room was opened and closed, followed by Saori's farewell and Da Natsu's shouts of "Come play again next time!"

The activity room fell silent again.

Ling Nai finished drawing the last stroke on the paper with her pencil and then put the pencil on the table.

"Ayumi-senpai, just revise the rest of this draft as I just said. Pay attention to the angles of the shoulders and wrists, but there are no other major problems."

"Thank you." Ayumi took the drawing, hesitated for a moment, and then asked, "Ling Nai, are you alright?"

"What's wrong with me?" Ling Nai stood up, patted off imaginary dust from her skirt, and said decisively, "Let's go. I'm tired after a whole day of the entrance ceremony."

She stepped out of the cubicle, picked up the canvas bag from the table, and waved to the others in the activity room.

"Thank you all for your hard work. I'll head back now."

Before Tian Zhongxue could even say "Be careful on the way," she had already pushed open the door of the activity room and walked out.

Liuli followed behind her, bowing slightly as she passed Tianzhong Middle School, before quickly chasing after her.

The door closed behind them.

There was a few seconds of silence in the activity room.

Okubo spoke haltingly, "Takashiro-neechan... are you in a bad mood?"

Ayumi glanced at him but didn't say anything.

Kobayashi picked up his teacup and blew on it. "Okubo, sometimes not saying anything is a form of consideration."

"Uh."

"..."

Liuli caught up with Ling Nai under the ginkgo tree at the school gate.

The sunset had faded, leaving only a faint, dark purple glow on the horizon. The streetlights came on, casting long shadows behind the two of them.

Ling Nai walked slowly, but her steps were heavy, and her canvas bag swayed beside her.

Liuli walked beside her without saying a word.

She knew Ling Nai didn't want to talk right now. It had been like this since high school. When she was really upset, Ling Nai wouldn't cry or throw a tantrum. Instead, she would become quieter than usual, so quiet that it was as if she had suppressed all her emotions into her chest and only let them out little by little when no one was watching.

And the person who turned her into this is always the same one.

Liuli gripped the coffee can tightly in her hand.

Ryosuke.

You have a girlfriend. That Miss Phoenix Courtyard is beautiful, mature, and generous. Everyone thinks you two are a match made in heaven when she stands next to you.

Since you already have someone like that by your side, why do you still let Ling Nai get so deeply involved?

No. Liuli corrected herself in her mind.

He didn't intentionally let Ling Nai get involved. He avoided, withdrew, and pretended not to understand from beginning to end. Liu Li knew better than anyone that he didn't provoke Ling Nai on purpose.

But that's precisely why it's so infuriating.

Because his very existence was Ling Nai's trap. He didn't need to do anything; he only needed to stand there, and Ling Nai would involuntarily move closer. Yet he lacked both the courage to push Ling Nai away completely and the awareness to reciprocate her feelings, thus maintaining a vague, ambiguous distance that kept Ling Nai forever hopeful.

Too cunning.

If he truly didn't have those feelings for Ling Nai, he should have completely severed ties, instead of gently reaching out to her every time she needed him.

If he truly cared about Ling Nai, he wouldn't have put her in a situation where she could only hide away and cry.

“Liuli,” Ling Nai suddenly spoke.

Liuli's thoughts were pulled back.

"Ok?"

"Thank you for spending time with me today, see you tomorrow."

The two had already arrived at the apartment building.

Ling Nai waved to her, then turned and walked into the building. Her back was illuminated by the hallway lights, her shoulders taut and straight, as if she were bearing all the weight on her spine.

Liuli stood there, watching the door slowly close in front of her.

She recalled how Ling Nai helped Ayumi revise her artwork in the cubicle that afternoon. He was focused, attentive, and professional, never once glancing outside the activity room.

It's not that I don't want to watch it, but that I'm afraid to watch it.

Liuli threw the now-cold coffee can into the trash can and turned to walk into the night.

.....

When Ryosuke returned home, the living room lights were off.

Are you already asleep?

He stood in the entryway changing his shoes and saw Ling Nai's slippers neatly arranged on the shoe rack, her canvas bag hanging on the hook in the entryway, and her lunchbox already washed and drying on the drain rack.

He tiptoed through the living room and pushed open the door to his bedroom.

After taking a shower, he lay on the bed and stared at the ceiling.

Ling Nai's expression in the activity room today, and that unusually calm "I know."

She's probably angry.

Ryosuke believed he knew his younger sister quite well.

He had already clearly sensed that Ling Nai liked him.

And I probably feel the same way about her.

But he treated Saori the same way.