Uneasy daily life

Were you talking to me before?

The black cat was somewhat surprised.

The Ugly Duckling stood there, stunned, and after a long while, stretched its neck and shouted, "I was practicing how to tell a story!"

The black cat didn't hear it, because it had already left.

The farm dogs would bark fiercely at him and chase him away; the maids would laugh loudly, mocking him; the cats would perch on the fence and cast disdainful glances at him; even the other ducks would quack and gossip about him, but the mother ducks ignored them.

His plans to make friends all failed. No one had any expectations of him, and no one cared what he thought. He was an oddity here.

Is it because I'm too ugly that I'm an oddball, or is it because I'm an oddball that I'm called the Ugly Duckling?

The Ugly Duckling couldn't understand it, so it silently distanced itself from other people and animals, indignantly comforting itself.

"It's not that they don't want to be friends with me, it's that I don't want to be friends with a bunch of idiots! That's right!"

Thinking about it this way, the Ugly Duckling didn't feel any better. She just stopped crying and became silent.

Sometimes, sadness can be annoying to others, unlike simply suppressing one's feelings through silence.

The Ugly Duckling, far from the flock, swam alone on the water, dispelling his inner turmoil. Suddenly, he saw a pure white, exceptionally beautiful figure in the water. Its slender body parted the water, its white feathers appearing even more pristine in the water, every detail radiating beauty, leaving him momentarily mesmerized.

"Hello."

The other party took the initiative to greet you.

The Ugly Duckling instinctively looked around, searching for the person the other person was addressing, but there was nothing on the water: "...You mean me?"

"Yes, hello," the beautiful figure said kindly. "My name is Swan—can we be friends?"

An immense happiness welled up in the Ugly Duckling's heart.

He made his first friend, a beautiful and gentle woman who would not laugh at him, ignore him, or take him for granted as an outsider.

Happiness was too wonderful for the Ugly Duckling to resist. He had become accustomed to enduring those unfortunate treatments and thought himself exceptionally strong, but suddenly found himself utterly defeated in the face of good fortune, without the slightest strength to resist—of course, what kind of fool would resist good things?

The swan gets along very well with other animals. She walks with dogs, sunbathes with cats, and is often praised by the maid for her beauty.

The Ugly Duckling was engrossed in his observation. Suddenly, he became puzzled. No one else wanted to be friends with an ugly duckling like himself, except for the swan. Could this mean...?

Does she like me?

Extreme insecurity breeds inexplicable confidence.

One sunny afternoon, the Ugly Duckling was playing in the water with the swan. He suppressed his hesitation and fear and confessed his love: "I love you!"

The white swan was stunned for a moment before replying, "Can't we just be friends?"

He suddenly understood. She was indeed a gentle and beautiful person, but for a lonely man, her gentleness was like a bottle of poison—so beautiful it was irresistible to drink it all, leading to his death. Unfortunate people should understand that accepting good fortune only makes the next misfortune more unbearable; the ugly duckling should understand that embracing the sunshine only makes it appear even uglier.

Those who cannot refuse good things will have their fate predetermined to pay the price.

"If some sarcasm lingers around you, don't fight it, to avoid several fruitless sorrows. If some wings don't belong to heaven, don't look up at them, to avoid a vain delusion. Hate can't be crazy, love can't be expected, entanglement only leaves you wandering - I wander in the vast life, lonely because of my eccentricity, and eccentric because of my loneliness."

The Ugly Duckling, carrying memories he could never relive, left his hometown. He wanted to leave this sorrowful place and find his own path in life.

Not long after, he met the swan again by the water, and she was as beautiful as he remembered.

The Ugly Duckling and the Swan looked at each other in silence.

The Ugly Duckling wanted to turn and leave, but the other person grabbed her body with concern.

"Don't be gentle at a time like this!"

The Ugly Duckling fiercely shook off the Swan's hand, and said bitterly, "I am questioning your sincerity, not demanding your sympathy! I am conveying my love, not arousing your pity! Enough, enough! I don't need your indulgence, nor do I need your tenderness!"

"This isn't gentleness! This is mockery!"

The swan reached out and grabbed the ugly duckling that was trying to leave, its voice high-pitched.

"Mocking my foolishness! Mocking your earnestness! Mocking our similar fates, which have divided our paths!"

"I love you!"

"I do not believe!"

"I just love you!"

"I just don't believe it!"

I love you so much!

"I sincerely don't believe it!"

The Ugly Duckling flapped its wings and cried out, "Leave! Please leave! All things experience joy and sorrow, life and death, and no one can be truly happy forever! Let me suffer, let me be resentful, let me be confused, let me be jealous—don't do this for my own good at this time, I just want to experience it all myself!"

The white swan, fluttering its pristine white wings, turned back with the same sorrow: "Then why did you love me in the first place?"

“Because of your gentleness and beauty, I misunderstood you and underestimated my own inadequacy, so I have learned to reject luck,” the Ugly Duckling said. “I don’t hate you, nor can I say I love you anymore. It’s just that memories are haunting me, making me not want to meet you again—you did nothing wrong and don’t need to make amends to me.”

The white swan suddenly asked, "Don't you want to leave anymore?"

“Of course not,” the Ugly Duckling said firmly. “I just don’t want to repeat the same mistakes and be sad because of those fake and casual relationships. I’m still looking for something truly beautiful.”

"Are you lonely because you are pursuing true beauty, or because you have become accustomed to loneliness and are unwilling to move forward?" the swan asked sadly. Seeing the ugly duckling's wavering expression, she slowly said, "I was once an ugly duckling too. I wandered around because I didn't fit in, and eventually took loneliness as my destination. I am just like you."

"You've tried and longed for things like walking with your dog, telling stories to your cat, laughing with your maid, and receiving praise and recognition from your peers. You're just like me."

Was the other person once an ugly duckling too?

The Ugly Duckling was so shocked that she couldn't speak for a moment. After a long while, she asked, "Then why do you say you love me now? Why did you reject me before?"

"Once upon a time, there were two ugly ducklings. Fate separated them from the flock, forcing them to wander aimlessly. One ugly duckling gazed up at the golden starry sky, while the other looked down at the dark earth." The swan sang melodiously, "Of course I will love you, love that lonely version of myself. Of course you will love me, love that radiant version of yourself. But we can never be together."

"Why?!"

The seemingly affirmative yet ultimately negative words caused the Ugly Duckling to ask a question that made her lose her composure.

"Because you are looking down at the water, and in the ripples of the water, there is an elegant and beautiful white swan."

Sakurajima Mai looked up to meet the gaze cast by the white figure, her waist draped in a tightly embracing arm. She said with a mixture of melancholy and joy, "You are already a pure white swan, yet you think of yourself as an ugly duck."

"No! I am an ugly duck!"

The white figure pulled up Sakurajima Mai, and the two of them moved in perfect unison, twirling and spinning like mirrors, chanting passionately: "A good heart will not consider itself a noble white swan. You are the most radiant starry sky I gaze upon! Answer me, if you love me, then answer my love! Please use your life to correct my life!"

A mournful cry, seemingly cut short, seemed to echo from among the teachers and students watching.

"We can love each other, but we are destined never to embrace each other."

Mai Sakurajima stopped sadly, bent down, and seemed to sink into the distance: "I am just your reflection, not your lover."

"Do not--!"

Amidst the sorrowful cries, the white figure sank into the water with a splash.

He reached out and pulled Mai Sakurajima into his arms, proclaiming, "What I love is the beautiful self I am, and I can embrace myself and drown in this clear, pristine lake! Because of the same reason, I love you deeply; because of the same reason, I would rather destroy myself than not embrace you!"

Amidst the gurgling and splashing of the water, two figures huddled together, gradually falling silent.

"What the hell?"

Miura Yumiko initially thought the white shadow was making fun of her, but after reading it, she realized it had nothing to do with her: "A narcissistic swan drowned herself in the lake?"

"Hmm... In terms of storytelling, we also need to refer to the classic story of the Ugly Duckling." Chitanda Eru, drawing on her humanities background, said thoughtfully, "The story of the Ugly Duckling isn't entirely about theories like 'gold always shines.' It's more about the exclusion of the individual by the group, the discrimination and suppression of the self in reality, and so on. The reason the Ugly Duckling is an Ugly Duckling is because it lives in an environment composed of ducks, chickens, cats, maids, and so on. Because the Ugly Duckling has its own nature, but these natures are not recognized, it becomes the object of discrimination and ridicule. In the end, rather than saying that the Ugly Duckling turned into a swan, it's more accurate to say that the Ugly Duckling came into a flock of swans and thus became a swan."

"It is said that this fairy tale is Hans Christian Andersen's autobiography, while Uncle Bai's adaptation attempts to interpret the inner world of the Ugly Duckling. One is the Ugly Duckling who is always wandering and lonely, and the other is the noble and beautiful swan who wants to become. Does it express that the Ugly Duckling does not love the swan, but another version of himself? It is also somewhat like the Greek myth of the daffodil, which ends with the daffodil drowning itself."

Chitanda Eru analyzed the author's intention and suddenly realized, "If we take it all together, it should be expressing the idea that people who are stubbornly fond of themselves will always be defeated by real-world factors when faced with the negativity of the group and the atmosphere."

Yumiko Miura was completely bewildered: "Huh?"

“Hmm—simply put, if someone likes another person because they resemble them, they will also dislike them because that person doesn't resemble them in some ways,” Chitanda Eru said, racking her brains. “It’s impossible for anyone to be exactly like another person’s ideal self, so tragedy is inevitable. Because of similarities, there is deep love, and because of similarities, there is destruction—from this perspective, it can further explain why narcissism destroys oneself, because the self that one likes is often detached from reality…”

"Cough, cough, cough!"

Houtarou Oreki coughed from the side.

Chitanda Eru quickly stopped reading and turned to ask, "You have a cold?"

Houtarou Oreki shook his head and said, "It's nothing, I just choked a little—shouldn't we go and start preparing for the study session?"

"Oh, that's true..."

Chitanda Eru shifted her focus to work.

Yui Yuigahama's thoughts led her to murder.

Her face flushed, then paled, then turned ashamed, then trembled with fear. If there hadn't been so many people around, she would have rushed in, grabbed the white-clad figure by the collar, and demanded—what are you implying? What brain cells instructed you to do this? Is there anything else you haven't explained?!

I haven't even recovered from the joy and panic of yesterday's successful confession, and today a strange and intense sense of crisis has already surged into my heart!

Just charging in is fine, but with everyone watching, you're likely to get solo killed by a newbie...

Go find Xiaoxue and seek justice! Go now!

……

"Wait! Why am I tied to a tree?!"

The white figure shook violently, but the rope binding him remained motionless.

A group of people were watching in front of him.

Normally, he wouldn't be bound; he's a man as free as the wind...

"9527! You traitor!"

The white figure screamed and protested at the top of its lungs.

The wind cannot escape the constraints of gravity!

Angelina, holding some handmade cookies prepared by Yukino Yukinoshita, looked around in surprise: "Who? Who is 9527? I don't see her."

"Hmph!" The white figure exhaled two breaths from its nose. "You think that will make me call you by your real name because it's too long? Dream on!"

"Say 'Tai' properly... oops! It's not 'Tai' that's too long to pronounce!"

Angelina angrily crunched a small cookie.

"Stop joking around, Shiraki-kun," Yukino Yukinoshita said irritably. "Tell me, why did you put on that show!"

Bai Ying glared wide-eyed: "Even the 'Hero Plus' character acted! Why did they tie me to a tree?!"

"I had no idea that someone's impromptu script had any real-life elements, nor did I know that the script referenced Yui and Hikigaya, who had just become a couple." Sakurajima Mai crossed her arms and asked calmly, "Don't try to shift the topic to me. I was just trying to cooperate with your performance, why do I have to be dragged into this?"

"Hmph!" Bai Ying snorted coldly. "All creations in this world are made by people! Since they are made by people, they are bound to have realistic elements. Even fantasy needs to be based on reality to be considered fantasy! What do you mean by not knowing that the script has realistic elements? That's clearly your excuse for yourself!"

"Believe me! I even advised you two to break up!"

Yui Yuigahama's fist hardened, and she couldn't help but shout, "Shiro—!!"

Hachiman Hikigaya twitched his eye. Was this exactly what he expected?

"Ha..." Yukino Yukinoshita sighed softly.

Bai Ying said solemnly, "Your Honor! I believe that you, who pursue the truth and never lie, will understand my good intentions and stand on the side of justice..."

“Angelina,” Yukino Yukinoshita turned and asked, “Can you use your superpowers to continuously deprive White Fungus of his mobility? Keep him tied up here for the rest of the days.”

Angelina froze: "Uh... I don't know if my superpowers will be unleashed if I fall asleep—should I give it a try?"

"Lennanialism! Leninialism is unacceptable!"

The white figure struggled violently: "The defendant hasn't spoken yet, the lawyer hasn't said anything, and the plaintiff hasn't explained what happened, yet you're already sentencing him?! Brave One, you've changed, you've become utterly corrupt!"

“Hmm…” Sakurajima Mai said with a strange expression, “Black Fan, you’re not saying that you wrote the script and acted it to test Yui and Hikigaya, are you? After all, they broke up because of some problem, and then got back together because the problem was solved. They kept breaking up and getting back together throughout the process, and finally got together at the end… That’s a classic plot in romance novels.”

Bai Ying clicked her tongue: "The Brave Plus really knows a lot."

Yuigahama Yui: “?”

Yukino Yukinoshita: "Angelina, tie this rope to the white fungus's leg again. Fungi should take root in big trees to grow."

Bai Ying revealed a disdainful smile: "Unfortunately, you only understand a little bit."

Why is it that in romance novels, the story ends when the male and female protagonists get together? Why is it that in fairy tales, the prince and princess's marriage is all that remains—a happy ending? Because they've lost the ability to change things; everything has settled down, and there's nothing more to describe. Those seemingly beautiful endings always have a sense of emptiness!

Bai Ying said profoundly, "True love should be dynamic and constantly changing, yet in this continuous change and dynamism, it ultimately achieves eternity! That's right! Eternal love is love that is always in motion; only by following endless changes can we find eternal truth!"

Yukino Yukinoshita pursed her lips and began to think seriously. Changing, dynamic, yet eternal... Is Haku-kun talking about the changing feelings in our relationship?

"Master Chef, let me ask you this—have you wavered or become nervous about my claim of 'narcissism'?"

Yui Yuigahama retorted angrily, "No way!"

"You do!" the white figure retorted sharply. "Otherwise, why would you have brought in a hero to try and deal with me, the one who raised the question?!"