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

Chapter 118 Symbiosis.

As soon as he approached, Xiangzi instinctively sensed that the atmosphere between the two was a bit off, so he calmly asked:

"What are you talking about? Why are you taking so long?"

"There is nothing. (Immediate answer)"

Xiangzi looked Yanming up and down, who seemed exactly the same as usual, and still rubbed his chin suspiciously: "Hey—that's suspicious, really not? Xiaodeng?"

Deng Xin glanced guiltily at Yan Ming, but when Xiang Zi noticed, he hurriedly looked back at the ceiling: "Um, um..."

"No need for that. I'm just worried that Yanming will bully you, Xiaodeng."

Xiangzi offered a word of comfort, then looked Yanming over again with a scrutinizing gaze, receiving the same answer: "After all, he always bullies me too."

"?"

Yanming himself was unaware of this.

Can raising a child in place of one's father be considered bullying?

My heart and my actions are as clear as a mirror.

Only through hardship can one's sincerity be revealed.

It's a pity that some people can dismiss his good intentions with just a word of bullying; it's truly disheartening...

Damn it!

"Snapped!"

The same kind of effortless skill is achieved when the fingers that play the guitar flick other objects.

"Don't break the little light."

"what the hell!"

Xiangzi, unconvinced, covered his forehead and held the lamp in front of Yanming's eyes. "We met first, Yanming, you're the one who came here first!"

Moreover, not to mention that she met him first, she was the one who formed the band first, she was the one who read Deng's diary first, and she was the one who visited Deng's house first. No matter how you look at it, Yanming seems more like the one who came between them.

So?

"Oh."

Yanming did not deny this, but in reality, he didn't care at all.

Xiangzi was a little confused: "Uh... just one 'oh'?"

Or would you like me to play "Spring Shadow" for you?

Yanming thought for a moment and then warned Deng, "Xiaoxiang seems to be going through a rebellious phase lately. Don't follow her example, Deng."

“…Okay, I understand, Mr. Yanming.”

Xiangzi stared wide-eyed in disbelief at the lamp beside him that was quietly answering Yanming's question.

Xiaodeng, shouldn't you be on my side?

One day with the band, a hundred days of grace, have you forgotten the happy times we had at Crychic?

...Oh right, Crychic is gone now.

But I'm still so annoyed! Xiaodeng always used to go along with me! And it hasn't even been that long...

That's just too weird!

"However you think about it is your own problem, what does it have to do with me?"

Yanming could tell what she was thinking with just one glance.

"Waaah...don't say it out loud."

Yanming said expressionlessly, "I'm going to take a picture of your fake crying and make hundreds of millions of copies to distribute to the world for free."

"Ghoulish! Demonic!"

Xiangzi, who had failed to play the victim, couldn't help but burst out laughing.

Even if he manages to hold it in, he can probably only fool one person, Deng.

Deng stood silently watching the two playfully bickering.

She was pondering the question she had asked earlier.

What exactly is the relationship between Xiaoxiang and Yanming now?

It's not that lamps are ignorant; even penguins find mates in a specific month each year to participate in the reproduction process in nature.

At home, I have quite a few documentaries like those, and the variety of them is also quite diverse.

Although she didn't understand exactly how humans operated in this regard, she could deduce a little bit based on the habits of a large number of animals and the influence of her long-term life in human society.

But... it doesn't match.

The way Xiaoxiang and Mr. Yanming get along doesn't match any animal she knows in this respect. If we rule out the possibility that the difference between humans and animals in this respect is too great, then it can only mean one thing.

The two people were not actually in the kind of relationship that Su Shi believed.

"Well……"

Xiangzi was the first to look over: "Xiaodeng? What's wrong?"

"It's nothing...it's just that there's still something I don't quite understand..."

"Huh? What?"

Xiangzi was completely confused by this nonsensical answer.

However, the little lamp was like this all the time, so she didn't pay much attention to it.

She's probably just lost in her own world again, as usual. It's no wonder she's called Xiaodeng; even in a noisy place like an aquarium, she can be so absorbed in her own world as if no one else is around.

Deng's unfocused pupils wandered around the aquarium, trying to find inspiration within the scene to answer his questions.

Is there an animal that she previously overlooked... that could explain the current relationship between Xiao Xiang and Mr. Yan Ming?

Then, her gaze settled on a huge ecosphere.

Among them, a terrifying fish with a huge body and well-developed muscles was swimming slowly.

Logically, such a ferocious predator would usually be surrounded by small creatures that wouldn't dare approach it, but the reality is quite different.

In front of the shark, several small fish were leisurely swishing their tails, completely unaware of the gaping maw of the abyss right behind them.

"...symbiosis."

The lamp suddenly realized, and the answer to those two words murmured out to her.

"Yanming, look! It's a shark! It looks like it could swallow me whole. Wait... why aren't those little fish running away? Aren't they afraid of being eaten by the shark?"

Xiangzi also noticed the marine predators in the aquarium, and then discovered those few special little fish.

Yanming glanced in the direction of her gaze and replied, "That's a guide fish. I'm not too sure about the specifics. You should ask Xiaodeng."

"...The toothless trevally, also known as the guide fish, is a cleaner for the teeth and skin of sharks. At the same time, sharks have very poor eyesight and need guide fish to help them find schools of fish in some situations... That's why sharks don't eat them and even protect them from other predators."

The lamp replied based on what it had read in the book: "In other words, they have a 'symbiotic' relationship."

"I see, Little Lamp really knew!"

Xiangzi lay on the glass, but she was clearly more interested in the great white shark than the weak guide fish, constantly muttering things like "make it look over here."

"Um……"

Deng looked at Xiangzi and Yanming, who was standing very tall behind her.

In other words... Mr. Yanming is that shark.

Xiao Xiang, on the other hand, prefers the oriole-toothless trevally, which is the object the former depends on; the two have a "symbiotic" relationship.

...That explains everything.

"Ah, it swam away..."

The shark in the water never glanced at Xiangzi once, and in the blink of an eye, it led the guide fish and disappeared into the deep water. "His eyes look simple, but he's so aloof."

"Xiao Xiang, is there any possibility?"

Yanming reached out and tugged at the tentacle on the side of her head. "Sharks aren't interested in blue-ringed octopuses?"

Chapter 119 Can I Go to Your House?↑

"Blue-ringed octopus..."

Xiangzi's gaze fell on her own braid, and only then did she realize that Yanming was talking about her, "Yanming! You're so annoying..."

As she turned her head, her hand, which had been lightly resting on her hair, also partially touched her cheek.

It looked like he was fixing her hair.

Yanming asked, "What?"

"No, it's nothing... Let's hurry up and move on to the next area, I have to go now..."

Xiangzi walked away stiffly, not daring to even turn his head back.

"...Strange things, what's on your mind now? Little Lamp, it's time to go."

As Yanming followed, he called out to the lamp, which seemed to be lost in thought.

"Ah, okay."

The lamp stopped, allowing his thoughts to wander further. He and Yanming chased after Xiangzi in the direction he had fled.

……

The three members of Crychic had been waiting for a long time on the seats at the exit of the aquarium.

Shiina Tatsuki saw Shoko running out from the crowd, along with two other people chasing after her, and waved, "Over here!"

A short while later, the group regrouped.

"So this is what an aquarium is like. It's a very novel experience for me."

Nagasaki Motoyo sighed.

In reality, she barely looked at the aquatic creatures in the tank, and only glanced at the animals in the park. For her, accompanying others was more important than finding her own fun.

Ultimately, a place like a zoo is unlikely to hold any real appeal for her; if it weren't for team building activities, she might never visit such a place in her lifetime.

But she was still in a good mood.

Perhaps they felt that the distance between them had been successfully narrowed a bit during this trip.

People are easily satisfied as long as their ideas are humble and insignificant enough.

But is the satisfaction gained in this way truly the right one?

Ruoye Mu tugged at Su Shi's sleeve: "Soyo... When Tsuki no Mori started school, the students who moved up from the junior high section had to write a self-summary report. Did you write one?"

"……what."

Su Shi paused for a moment.

She spent her summer vacation at home surfing the internet and chatting in groups... It was only when Mu brought it up that she remembered this incident.

"Um... how many words do I need to write?"

"Twenty thousand."

"... seize the young master?"

Hearing their conversation, Li Xi's expression instantly turned gloating: "Nagasaki Motoyo, you didn't spend the whole summer lying in bed harassing Xiangzi, did you? Aren't you afraid of getting blocked again?"

"call--"

Su Shi ignored her, and after hesitating for a while, she finally made up her mind, "I have a lot of things to do during the summer vacation, and I really don't have time to write. Xiao Mu, could you lend me yours for reference?"

Mu shook his head: "I didn't write it either. I originally planned to copy Soyo's..."

Su Shi: "..."

However, she then turned her attention to the last remaining member of the Moon Forest, as if grasping at a last straw.