Uneasy daily life

If in the end I am alone, I will always be thinking of one person.

Once the splendor fades, there's no need to admire flowers or gaze at the moon; one can simply focus on what truly matters.

Without hesitation, Yukino turned and ran out of the school.

"Hello—are you Xiao Yun?"

The white figure seemed to awaken from a dream.

Is love a bondage? Is love freedom? Is love eternal? Is love the past, the present, or the future?

How to love and how to be loved seem to be unclear to both Xiao Yun and Bai Ying.

Xiao Yun seemed to have never loved, nor had he ever been loved, while Bai Ying seemed to have been loved, and seemed to have loved.

Is love companionship? Is love a story? Is love freedom? Is love restraint? Is love constraint? Is love distance? Is love time? Is love tenderness? Is love excitement? Is love bittersweetness? Is love money? Is love marriage? Is love mutual affection? Is love sweet talk? Is love a proven sincerity?

Hey, Xiao Yun, do you still love that person whose name you can't even remember?

Of course, because she is the one I love.

She? That's not even a person, it's your youth, your fleeting infatuation, your one-sided memory, the sculpting you've done over the decades, the silence you've held dear for a lifetime but never uttered.

Yes, she adorns my memories, she accompanied me through hardship, she is a constant in my chaotic and contradictory heart, she has walked with me through the years of birth, aging, sickness and death, she is a flower I can still gently remember in my eternal sleep, I am very lucky.

You were really lucky. Goodbye, young man.

Loving someone for a lifetime is a simple thing, isn't it? Goodbye.

Yes, love is her, it's so simple.

Bai Ying could sense that her stand had undergone some kind of change; its paleness had perhaps turned into a snow-white hue, and the intertwined collar of fate had disappeared.

A Stand? LinkFate? Linking each other's destinies?

It's no longer needed.

Love is something more stubborn than fate.

The white figure strode quickly toward Yukino Yukinoshita, who stood still as if waiting for her answer.

The girl's gaze was exceptionally persistent; she was still that stubborn, unyielding girl.

It's true... all the hard work, the constant self-justification, the attempts to find the cause, are nothing compared to her shouting like that.

"Brave warrior, I am your Bai Jun."

Bai Ying's response was ordinary, and she even seemed too cute to look at for too long.

Her taut face bloomed like a fleeting flower, and her determined gaze melted like ice and snow.

Yukino Yukinoshita couldn't contain herself any longer. Suddenly, she opened her arms, wanting to throw herself into the other's arms. She wanted to so badly...

The white figure reached out and cupped Yukino Yukinoshita's cheeks. He wanted to kiss those lips that said they liked him so badly...

One person acts like a roc spreading its wings, while the other acts like someone holding snow and drinking ice.

The two looked at each other, unsure whether to hug first or kiss first.

"Kiss me first!" The white figure lowered its head.

Hug me first! Yukino Yukinoshita clasped her hands together.

Never mind! Let's do it together!

Lips touch, tongue and teeth intertwine, yet speaking feels like a waste of time and a squandering of youth.

A large group of people were staring at them from the school gate. As they watched, Yukino Yukinoshita and Shirokage seemed to have no idea what was happening.

Soon, the white figure reacted and immediately picked up Yukino Yukinoshita and spun her around.

"Hero! I love you!"

"Me too—"

"Hero!! I love you so much!!"

"Me too—!"

"Hero!!! I love you so much!!!"

"Me too...ah—!!"

“Ouch——!!!”

Screams, commotion, struggles, all to no avail. She buried her head in her grave like an ostrich, and in the process, she used the same force she would have used to strangle her boyfriend, pinching his cheek hard.

"What are they doing all of a sudden?" Fengbin and Hana wondered. "Even if they're in a hurry, they're still outside? And yet they're criticizing me under the light snow."

"I don't understand." Angelina was lost in thought, enjoying the director's good fortune. "Filming techniques? Storyboarding? Precise shooting? Zooming in and out? Oh—Master Nian, Master Chongtian, I don't get it..."

"Alas, this is a disgrace to the family, what kind of behavior is this?"

Yukino Yukinoshita shook her head with a tsk tsk: "To write an 'I love you' into a million-word book, and then to write a million-word book into an 'I love you' again, to do this back and forth, and still enjoy it, over and over again, Yukino-chan and that jerk are really so sour."

"Awkward to artsy types?" Mai Sakurajima thought for a moment, resting her chin on her hand. "It does make people feel a bit envious, but if it were me, it wouldn't be that kind of love. It would actually make people quite envious, and I would regret being too mature."

"Hmph~ I'll definitely sue Yukino-chan later. She thinks she can use her parents to control Yo-chan? I think the tables will turn soon."

Yukino called out, "Director! Kazuha-chan, pink, blue, and yellow! Come on! Let's take advantage of the good weather and record the ending theme!"

"It's the End Band! Not Pink, Blue, and Yellow! Yang Nai-nee!"

"Haha~ Let's get ready!"

Yukino gently strummed her guitar, gazing at the campus scenery. In her mind, she recalled the real and the unreal, the coming and going, the seemingly illusory yet real, the unfinished and unfinished time.

Toyohama and Sakurajima Mai started singing together.

A clear and cheerful voice, without any other thoughts.

A voice, magnetic and weathered, seemed to be telling a heartfelt story.

The songs and melodious tunes drifted through the movie theater, evoking memories of the past and things people preferred to keep silent about.

The curtain call slowly rose, as if time were flowing backward.

……

When the spring breeze meets youth, it removes away old sorrows.

Laughter and song fill the ancient road at the pavilion, where fragrant grasses sway gently in the setting sun.

Don't go out in the midst of a fierce storm; only by looking back can you realize that the people you met are still the same.

Only the moon shares my boat.

So many stories, past and present, are now just memories of parting and sorrow flowing away in the river.

Eat frequently, don't overindulge, and forget your anger and worries.

There should be no resentment, for the sound of the zither filled the tower back then.

Missing words only lead to adding wine, broken rhymes delight in planting willows.

A young man's journey in his dreams.

Awakening to the affairs of the past and present, I particularly cherish the autumn of human life.

Chapter Twenty-Six: Red Beans First Bloom, Enjoying the Summer Coolness

The movie ended, and the audience left.

"It's definitely got that feel to it. Shirokage and Okita Masashi are really good at making these kinds of low-budget art films..."

"To be honest, it's a bit too short."

"Indeed, the fact that they would leave an open ending makes one wonder if the screenwriter was possessed."

Some viewers were discussing it, and they all seemed to be longtime fans of Bai Ying and Okita Masashi.

"It's all just pointless whining, inexplicable, pretentious, and laughable. There's nothing remarkable about it, from the characters to the plot. The only good thing is the ending theme song."

Yukinoshita's father highly praised the film.

"That blurry girl is Yukino."

"That's what my mother said," Yukinoshita said.

"As expected of Yukino, her acting is superb, and her emotions are moving," Yukinoshita's father commented sharply. "It's so much better than that person's self-pitying monologue!"

Adhering to the unwavering principle that everything about his daughter is right and everything about her boyfriend is wrong, Yukinoshita's father's ability to change his attitude at a speed that is beyond compare.

Yukinoshita's mother was used to it. Whenever Shiro came to the house, it was always very lively. Yukinoshita's behavior could be generally summarized as repeated defeats and repeated attempts.

“You…” she thought for a moment and then shook her head, “You’re really keen on things that you can’t win at all.”

The father, Yukinoshita, had a solemn expression and strong features: "Can't win at all? I don't understand."

“...You’ve changed a lot since you went from being a rascal to a father.”

The mother sighed with rare emotion under the snow.

"Nothing's changed, nothing's changed, nothing's changed." Yukinoshita's father immediately shook his head in refusal. "How has it changed? It's always been the same! I am mortal enemies with my greatest threat!"

“I mean…” Yukinoshita’s mother opened her mouth, but found that from her childhood to middle age, she no longer needed to think or speculate to sketch out his appearance out of thin air. “Yes—it has always been like this.”

"That is!"

Yukino's father's eyes were so resolute, as if he were about to save the world: "My heart is as hard as iron, unbreakable! Come on, later we'll give Yukino's acting a good compliment and give that traitorous script a good scolding..."

"Shirokage told me that he was going to take Yukino to see the cat that does backflips in a few days."

Yukinoshita's mother's voice was calm, with a hint of amusement: "It's pretty much the same strange excuses you used to come up with."

"?"

Yukinoshita's father was stunned for a few seconds before he realized what had happened, and his Dao Heart shattered.

No--!!!

……

The movie was great; it was both fun and suspenseful.

In the movie theater, Yukino Yukinoshita was watching the movie, but she was a little distracted... no, she was completely distracted.

She glanced down, her right hand clasped nervously with the person next to her.

"Tsk tsk, no wonder he's a director of bad movies." Bai Ying muttered casually, "The movie was only finished a few days ago, and it's already showing in theaters all over the country. That's fast."

Did you secretly urge them?

Yukino Yukinoshita hummed in response, not daring to speak.

Well... how should I put it? Well, it was the day we accidentally created a ghost scene after filming. After the class reunion, Bai Jun suddenly blurted out a crime warning—"Wait until I finish the movie, and we'll go see it together on the day it's released, and then we'll do it!"

The atmosphere is so nice right now, why do we have to wait until the movie is over? But, for various reasons and feelings, it's true that I need to focus on finishing what I'm doing now so I can focus on other things... I, I didn't mean for you to focus on... uh, um... you pervert.

After that, Bai Jun still needs to do voice acting, plus there are censorship issues and theater scheduling, so the movie will probably take at least a month to finish, right? I can use this time to prepare, review my physiology class... I need to report to my mother and father... No, no, no, Yukino, are you out of your mind? How can you report something like this! You're not the shameless Bai Jun!

What?! The movie is showing today?!

Yukino Yukinoshita underestimated the financial power of a bad movie director.

I'm so nervous, I'm about to do *that*...

No, no, don't think about this. I need to find a topic to talk about! That damn Bai Jun, he's suddenly become so quiet today. He must be doing this on purpose to make me look flustered and ridiculous!

"Bai-kun," Yukino Yukinoshita lowered her voice, "I've been thinking about it these past few days, and I don't recall Xiao Yun ever going back to school in his life."

"Don't you remember?" Bai Ying replied softly, "He cared about a girl when he was in high school."

Yukino Yukinoshita asked in confusion, "Hasn't it never been mentioned again since then?"

“He never mentioned it, but he always remembered it,” Bai Ying said slowly. “He remembered liking a girl, and with that feeling, he went through the long and tedious years that followed, from ignorance to realization, from realization to regret, from regret to sigh, and from sigh to blessing…”

"so……"

Yukino Yukinoshita frowned slightly: "He never said a word, never took any action, never went back to school, never looked for that girl, and just...did nothing?"

"Yes, he did nothing. Perhaps he didn't want to, perhaps he couldn't, perhaps he didn't know how. He himself might not even understand why it was just an ordinary memory, a memory of a young person, that he could remember so vividly."

Bai Ying said softly, "Following those memories, I fabricated a journey back to my alma mater, only to find that he could no longer remember those youthful days. He strolled around the campus without lingering, yet he sat outside the school gate for a long time, reluctant to leave, as if waiting would bring back the girl from his memories..."

Yukino couldn't help but forcefully clench her hands together.

“Perhaps from a social and psychological perspective, when he should have tried to love, everything was stopping him. When nothing was stopping him from loving, he had already fallen into the contemplation and confusion of human nature, and did not love with heartfelt passion, or rather…” Bai Ying smiled and squeezed Yukino Yukinoshita’s small hand back, trying to describe it, “Perhaps he can distinguish between what is driven by desire, what is the thirst for loneliness, and what is the pursuit of the past. And he has never had the thought of confiding in anyone or being able to confide in anyone.”