Mygo, you guys seem to be getting a bit heavy-hearted.

Yanming gave a wry smile and beckoned, "Come here."

Xiangzi couldn't refuse him, so he reluctantly shuffled over.

Then, Yanming lifted her up by the waist, and she could only stand on tiptoe.

"You're so 'heavy'."

Yanming complained.

...From now on, I should try to see things from her perspective more often. I always take things for granted and ignore myself. If I accidentally expose a flaw, not to mention others, just if Xiao Xiang discovers that I am actually dying, this child may find it hard to smile at me again...

We can't let that happen.

Chapter 115 Penguins Don't Want to Be Human.

In short, Xiangzi's face turned red again.

It could be out of embarrassment, or it could be out of anger.

"I'm not heavy! It's just that you're too weak, Yanming! I can't even lift you up..."

Yanming agreed, "Hmm, maybe so."

He was indeed too weak to lift Xiangzi to a higher place on his own; the most he could do was hold her like this.

Li Xi looked away and coughed to remind them, "Ahem—hey you two...you should probably tone it down a bit, the lamp is still watching."

Xiangzi: "...!"

The little lamp is watching!

"Yanming, let go! Hurry up!"

Yanming released his hand, and Xiangzi immediately located the lamp. At that moment, she and Ruoye Mu were standing together, looking in their direction.

Xiangzi quickly ran over and grabbed the other person's hand: "Xiaodeng, let me explain, it's not what you think..."

"Xiao Xiang, what are you saying?"

Deng looked at Xiangzi, who had suddenly become agitated, with a puzzled expression.

The latter paused for a moment, then seemed to realize something and awkwardly turned on the light.

'Oh right, Xiaodeng is still young and doesn't understand these things... That's good, it scared me to death...'

"Don't you understand? It's very simple, it's actually just Xiang He Yanming... mmm mmm mmm—"

乲.

I'm having my first amazing, suffocating play experience with Wakaba Mutsu.

Is this what best friends are like? They show absolutely no mercy when they go at it.

"Xiao Mu! Are you alright?!"

In the hazy state caused by oxygen deprivation, Mutsu's consciousness seemed to have traveled from Earth to the edge of the universe, countless light-years away. In that dark and desolate abyss, an almost endless array of primordial gods began to play a chaotic and disordered melody around Mutsu... though it sounded somewhat like "Spring Shadows."

Then, an indescribable deity appeared before Mu, the ultimate chaos beyond the universe, the god of the Blind Girl Band.

Mu: "?"

She seemed to have seen something extraordinary.

Forget it, it doesn’t matter.

"I'm fine, Xiang. I just almost died."

Mu remained expressionless.

Sometimes it only takes a few seconds to see a person's true colors.

In those few seconds, Mu thought of many things: Crychic, Su Shi, her little cucumber, and Yan Ming, but she didn't think of you, Toyokawa Shoko.

Because I'm thinking of you.

But you want me dead.

"Ah...that? Xiao Mu?"

"Xiang, I'm so sad."

"Gorgeous, those stockings!"

……

"..."

The lamp stood to the side, silently watching the friendly interaction between the two sisters.

I'm sorry, Xiao Xiang, I lied.

I am sorry.

……

"Hmm? What's wrong, Little Lamp?"

Yanming was strolling around the aquarium with the others when he was startled by a light suddenly blocking his way and asked instinctively.

"Mr. Yanming..."

The lamp stood with its hands behind its back, slightly turning its gaze.

Yanming followed her gaze.

"Oh, it's a penguin."

He knew that Deng really liked these black and white birds, and would even collect picture books and band-aids with penguins on them.

This wasn't a secret; most of the people at Crychic knew about it.

"Yes, it's a penguin."

Deng nodded, but her attention was never truly focused on the penguins, even though they were her favorite animals. "Mr. Yanming... what are your thoughts on penguins?"

My opinion on penguins?

Yanming thought for a moment and said, "If I had to use one word to describe them, I think it would be 'strong'."

Long before humans appeared on this planet, penguins had already settled here. They are the oldest swimming birds on Earth, enduring millions of years of ice and snow, and desperately thriving on that remote Antarctic continent to this day.

Although they are birds and possess a pair of wings, their short wings prevent them from flying in the blue sky, forcing them to spend year after year in the icy, frigid seawater in search of food.

Because of their skeletal structure, penguins always waddle when they walk. When they encounter predators or other dangers, their escape is quite comical. They often fall on the smooth ice, get up again, and repeat the process until they are far away from danger.

Such a species is an extremely insignificant existence on a star, and it would have no impact even if it disappeared one day.

But they still survived on that icy plain where even humans could hardly live for long, without yielding to the cruel nature.

“‘Strong’… Mr. Yanming, do you think there might be a penguin in the world that isn’t so strong, that has no companions and accidentally gets lost in the snowstorm?”

Penguins are typically social animals, just like humans.

Even when hunting, most penguins are accompanied by other penguins from their colony.

"Maybe there will be."

This was the only answer Yanming could give.

"Is it an Adelie penguin, a yellow-browed penguin... or an emperor penguin?"

Deng knew she had asked a question that sounded meaningless, but she still felt that Yanming could give her a suitable answer.

...If Xiao Xiang can do it, there's no reason why she can't...

"What kinds of penguins are there...?"

Yanming didn't know much about these; he was only familiar with a few common varieties, basically the ones Deng mentioned.

Adélie penguins are quite fierce and will not easily back down when faced with danger. They like to collect stones to build their nests.

Yellow-browed penguins are highly territorial and, despite their small size, can roar when faced with powerful intruders.

Emperor penguins are the largest known living penguin species, and their temperament is more docile and peaceful compared to the other two.

But... it doesn't seem like it.

They don't resemble each other, or rather, they're not entirely similar.

They are different species from penguins. In terms of social structure and emotional processing, humans are several times or even dozens of times more complex than penguins.

Some humans may indeed share some similarities with certain penguin behaviors in certain aspects, but that's about it.

Humans don't need to imitate penguins.

Penguins wouldn't want to become humans either.

The lamp continued, "Could it be a Gentoo penguin? Timid and cowardly, yet adept at escaping..."

"I do not know."

"Um……"

Yanming's answer was within Deng's expectations, because she was just being unreasonable and saying things that were hard to understand.

Just like when I was a child.

All these years have passed, and there has been no progress whatsoever.

"I don't know what kind of penguin it is, so I don't know if it even exists."

Yanming knew that it would be difficult for him to understand the lamp's thoughts using his ordinary mindset.

But instead of understanding, they simply output their own viewpoints.

This is also a viable method.

"But I know people like that, and I can clearly call out that friend's name."

"lamp."

Chapter 116 Yanming, I want to play in a band.

"Ah? Yes, I'm here!"

When his name was suddenly called, Deng appeared somewhat nervous.

Yanming looked down at her and said, "The reason you compared yourself to a penguin is because you couldn't find your way forward after that day?"

Confusion doesn't give people time to prepare; it often takes advantage of any opportunity to slip in and erode one's spirit and will.

Yanming could tell this from the heavy look in Deng's eyes.

The lamp seemed lost again, for some reason.

Furthermore, they chose to stagnate on a certain matter.

This child has never been able to hide her feelings from me, not even when we first met. But now, she trusts me much more than she did then.

Such changes are quite obvious. For example, now the lamp can look at you for five seconds without flinching... Well, at least it's a big improvement, isn't it?

"Um……"

Deng pretended to look away from the penguins, but still acknowledged Yanming's statement.

She did indeed choose to remain stagnant once again, which is why she desperately wanted Yanming's advice. However, since she didn't know how to bring it up, she could only hand over the initiative to him again, just like now.

Yanming's intuition is always very accurate. Even if someone can't see the problem themselves, he can still dig deep into its essence at a glance: "Is it because of the band?"

From practicing with great enthusiasm and preparing for the live performance to feeling lost now, it's hard for two months of summer vacation to bring about any new changes, so it's unlikely to be anything else.

The lamp was uncertain: "...probably?"

"That's it."

Yanming was certain that this was what playing in a band was all about.

After experiencing the rhythm and atmosphere of a band and feeling his own voice resonate on stage, Yanming could no longer tolerate the carefree life he had lived before... But his initial motivation for joining a band was nothing more than vanity and making a lot of money.

The situation of the lamp was even worse than that of himself. No matter what he said, he would never doubt his human identity, but the lamp was different. In the lamp's understanding, "human" was an existence that needed to be "become" through effort.