What a twist! The loser heroine!

Both of them seemed to be waiting for the other to speak.

The standoff lasted for about five seconds? Or half a minute?

The tense atmosphere made Wen Shui even forget the passage of time.

Ayano seemed to snap out of her daze and took a deep breath.

He shifted his gaze elsewhere, gave an awkward laugh, and broke the silence first: "Haha... What a coincidence."

Asahi Chihaya's lips trembled slightly, then she forced a smile, which she often wore, and said softly:

"Hmm...that is quite a coincidence."

After she finished speaking, she immediately lowered her head, turned around, and let her bangs cover her profile.

Ayano couldn't see her expression, but Wenshui and Banami could see it clearly.

Asahi Chihaya's brows were furrowed, and her bitter and melancholy expression made Wen Shui and Banami secretly feel distressed.

"I... I won't bother you any longer, goodbye..."

Her clenched fists and suppressed voice echoed in the empty second-floor corridor.

Then, maintaining her sideways position facing Ayano, with her palms facing Ayano, she slowly backed away.

Wen Shui and Banai immediately tensed up, preparing to make way for Chao Yun, but Ayano suddenly said:

"Please wait a moment."

Asahi Chihaya immediately stopped in her tracks.

Mitsuki Ayano composed herself and then said, "Um... actually, there are some things I originally planned to say after the midterm exams."

"But since things have come to this point, I'll just say it here."

Upon hearing this, Chao Yun's petite body trembled, and her face turned deathly pale.

Ayano, seemingly oblivious to these details, continued, "...Did Asahi-san actually come along to watch the movie with me and Yashio before?"

Wen Shui's eyes widened immediately.

Why does Ayano-san know all this?

Before he could think it through, Ayano continued, "People might say I'm slow-witted, but actually, some things are just too obvious..."

He rummaged in his pocket, then pulled out his keychain, pointed to a USB drive hanging from it, and said softly, "I was very grateful that you gave me this USB drive when we were in tutoring class. But..."

He seemed unsure how to begin, pausing for a long time before finally saying, "...But does the USB drive really need to be charged?"

Chao Yun remained silent for a long time without answering.

Ayano pursed her lips and continued, "To be honest, about two weeks after I got this thing, I realized something was strange. Asahi-kun seems to run into me quite often."

"……Feel sorry."

She lowered her head.

"It's okay, I don't really mind, it's just..." Ayano took a deep breath, removed the USB drive from her keychain, and held it in her hand.

"I'm so glad, thank you for liking me, Chaoyun."

After saying this, Ayano seemed to breathe a sigh of relief and relaxed. The combination of her words was ambiguous, as if she were responding to Asahi's confession.

But Chihaya Asahi's shaky appearance made Nukumizu and Hanami realize that things would definitely not end happily.

Ayano approached Asahi, grasped the wrist of the puppet-like Asahi Chihaya, and tried to put the USB drive into her hand.

And he is about to use his final, turning statement to shatter the girl's last remaining hope.

But things always seem to spiral out of control and head ever onward—

"Guangxi...?"

The noise of the beverage bottle hitting the ground immediately drew everyone's attention.

At the corner of the corridor, Yashio was staring motionlessly at Ayano and Asahi, who were standing very close to each other.

Ayano was startled when he put the USB drive into Asahi's hand and turned around.

"lemon?!"

Meanwhile, Wen Shui and Banami, who had been watching the whole thing, let out a deliberately lowered gasp.

Since Shio-san showed up at this time, she must have heard what I just said...

Wen Shui glanced at Ayano, who was holding Chao Yun's wrist, and her expression instantly became extremely interesting.

What a classic misunderstanding!

Shao Yan stared intently at his beloved with a strange expression on his face.

After a moment, she smiled with relief.

"They've only been gone a few minutes." Shao Shio said in a low voice, as if to lighten the mood, "You've got some skills, Mitsuki."

After saying that, she took a step and rushed straight towards the stairs where Wen Shui and Banami were.

"Wait a minute! Lemon! This is...!"

Ayano tried to grab Shio's hand, but missed. He stared blankly as Shio's figure disappeared down the stairs.

The event happened in an instant, and the sense of reality didn't come to mind for a long time.

Wenshui and Banami watched helplessly as Shaoshio ran past them, weaving through the gaps in the crowd and disappearing in an instant.

"lemon……"

Ayano murmured to herself, and time began to flow again.

Go after her, Ayano!

The thought of lukewarm water had barely crossed his mind when he wanted to speak up and offer advice, but someone beat him to it.

Asahi Chihaya stretched out her hands.

She gently nudged Ayano, who had her back to her.

"Chaoyun—"

"Go find her... otherwise... it will be too late."

The girl choked back tears as she whispered her fragmented words.

She lowered her head and slowly leaned against the wall.

Ayano looked at Asahi, her eyes lowered.

"Feel sorry."

Simple words contain so much.

The next second, Ayano ran down the stairs.

Asahi watched Ayano's departing figure, as if all her strength had been drained, and collapsed to the ground.

She hugged her knees, curling up her body.

She knew in her heart that the accident involving Wen Shui and Banami was just a catalyst, merely bringing forward the outcome after the midterm exams to today.

Asahi Chihaya couldn't blame anyone.

Even though I knew it wouldn't lead to anything.

He knew perfectly well that he couldn't win.

But she still couldn't let go, she was still unwilling to give up, and she still held onto that sliver of hope in her heart.

Until I heard his trial in person.

She began to sob, but no tears fell.

Perhaps it was during that heart-to-heart talk with Wen Shui that her tears had already dried up.

Chaoyun closed her eyes, quietly processing the feelings that she had anticipated but were still incredibly bitter.

I do not know how long it has been.

The surroundings were completely silent; not even the footsteps of passersby could be heard.

Asahi opened her blurry eyes.

The bright lights outside the exhibition hall made it difficult for her to look directly at them, and the halos of light spread out in her field of vision, creating beautiful and dazzling lines.

Wenshui and Banami must have gone back already...

As she was thinking this, she turned around and saw Wen Shui standing silently not far away, waiting for her.

Noticing her gaze, Wen Shui gave her a smile that was both concerned and apologetic.

So, the next second.

Tears streamed down her cheeks.

~Seventy-second defeat~ lingering warmth

Wen Shuihe looked up at the gray sky.

He inserted coins into the vending machine by the door, pressed the button twice, and after a strange noise, the old, dilapidated machine wobbled and spat out a bottle of mineral water.

"What bad luck today..."

Wen Shui sighed. He wasn't some Level 5 superhuman with the ability to use electricity, so he couldn't just kick the old, dilapidated machine back into normal operation.

He bent down, took out the surviving bottle of mineral water, and then turned to look at the bench not far away.

Banami was sitting next to Asahi, holding a simple ice pack she got from the convenience store next door, and gently applying it to Asahi's eyes.

She had a good cry, and her eyes were a little red and swollen. If she didn't take care of it, her classmates would probably notice something was wrong tomorrow.

He walked to the bench and handed the bottle of water to Chaoyun.

"Use this to soothe your throat."

Chao Yun forced a smile, took the drink but didn't open it; instead, she held it with both hands.

"……Thanks."

Wen Shui shook her head, chose a seat far enough away from the two girls, and then said apologetically:

"You don't need to say thank you; on the contrary, the two of us should apologize to you."

Hearing this, Banami nodded in agreement, and said softly, "I'm sorry, Asahi-san, I never expected it to turn out like that—"

She pursed her lips and continued, "In the end, it was wrong of me to follow you."

"Of course, I was an accomplice as well."

As Wen Shui spoke, she raised her right hand. Although her original intention was to prevent Chao Yun from doing anything irrational, her final shout had actually played a significant role in pushing things to this point.

My dad always taught me to stay calm, but...

He began to regret his outburst.

To everyone's surprise, Chao Yun smiled and shook her head, saying, "It's alright, really alright... After all, I'm a stalker too, hehe."

She seemed to have calmed down and said in a low voice, "Even if you hadn't come today, after this midterm exam, Ayano... Ayano-san would have brought this up with me."

Even at this point, he's still worried about my grades being affected—that's so typical of him.

Hearing this, Banami pursed her lips with a pang of heartache. As a girl, she seemed to understand Asahi's feelings even better, and her movements to help with the ice pack became even gentler.

After pausing for a moment, Asahi Chihaya sighed.

"But it's better this way. Rather than living in constant fear of how he'll reject me, it's better to do it sooner rather than later." She said with a wry smile, "It's just...I wonder about what Shao Shio-kun will do..."

Her expression turned pained whenever the topic of burning salt came up.

"If my actions today cause a rift in their relationship... then—"

Wen Shui silently clenched her fists.

He spoke before Chaoyun could fall into a vortex of self-blame:

"I will contact Ayano to check on Yashio's situation. If there are any problems, I will take care of them."

He gazed at Chaoyun's surprised face and solemnly made a promise.