Chapter 505, 'Reunion'

"One hundred percent wool, do you want to take a look~~"

"Please take a look..."

"Maid cafe, do you want to come and see~~"

"Welcome, meow~"

"Ladies, do you want to come in and relax for a while?"

Akihabara at night gives you the feeling of "Ah, I'm really in Akihabara". Beautiful girls of all colors wear pure white over-the-knee socks and walk on the streets, wearing animal headbands or cute headdresses. There are so many kinds of fluffy princess dresses that you can't see them all.

It's really amazing that they can show such a full of energy image. They can always present a cheerful smile no matter what kind of customers they are facing. But everyone comes here to work, so it's really amazing.

Serious girls really shine.

Oh, sexy big sister, you don’t need to look at me like that, for I still have a female companion by my side~ How bold.

... "Zhuo, do you want to go shopping on the way later?"

This is a day when I meet Uncle Okagi whom I haven't seen for many years.

Faced with the store closing like yesterday, Zhuo waited at the door cheerfully and said "Go back", while Ling simply nodded in agreement and continued to make the same suggestion.

Ling brought up this topic while they were walking together in Akihabara, so Zhuo thought that she must really need someone to go shopping with her.

Normally, she is not very assertive and rarely expresses her wishes about what she wants to buy, what she wants to do, or where she wants to go. Even if she does, she will often add an opening line like "if you don't mind" before getting to the point.

This time she invited Zhuo so directly, which showed that she had a clear purpose and wanted to go with Zhuo.

"Of course you can. Anyway, today's work is done."

When the two of them pushed their bicycles out of the store, Zhuo readily agreed. Ling's expression immediately became visibly happy, and the one who agreed to her almost laughed out loud.

Seeing her looking around, Zhuo thought: "Is she really that happy?" His mood improved after a busy day.

"Is there anything you want to buy?"

"Yes. Probably..."

"I understand. Don't worry about the price, just think of it as a reward for our hard work together!"

For Ling, going out with Zhuo might be a very happy thing, but since she needed something to ask Zhuo for his opinion, she probably needed a product whose price she couldn't decide on.

"Home Mio" has indeed spent a lot of savings recently, but even if it is a bit expensive, it is more than enough to buy Zero. He looked at Zero with such determination, but found that her expression suddenly became a little helpless.

"Why do you think like this... I want to go shopping with you. The key is "with you", do you understand?"

Zhuo originally had a half-joking attitude of "don't put pressure on Ling", but Ling reminded him helplessly not to misunderstand.

This momentum also frightened Zhuo, so he could only say "Oh, oh, so that's it... Okay, I understand." and nodded in agreement obediently.

"I want you to go with me because I have something I want to pick out together. The point is not that I am bothered by the price. Do I understand?"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I don't really understand women's hearts. I was wrong."

"……Um."

When Ling felt embarrassed or felt that he had endured too much shame, he would choose to avoid Zhuo's sight or use his fingers to initiate physical contact with Zhuo's body that was not considered an attack. Since they officially became a couple, Ling's actions of this kind have become more frequent - Zhuo realized this again and secretly sighed and proud in his heart.

That being said, Zhuo couldn't always recognize the reason why Ling became like this. For example, now - Zhuo, who really didn't understand women's hearts, just told the truth, but he didn't expect that Ling would look at him thoughtfully and then avoid his sight.

After looking around for a while, Ling seemed to have calmed down. Zhuo saw the opportunity when her eyes were focused on the road again, turned to face her and watched her return to her previous "three-no beauty" appearance.

"You'll bump into other people if you walk like this."

"It's okay, it's okay, you'll stop me in time - what do you want to buy?"

Zero heard the most important question, but for some reason he closed his lips.

"zero?"

She showed a strong desire to buy things, but when Zhuo asked her for details, she fell silent.

What exactly does she want to buy?

Zhuo could only feel confused by the huge difference in her emotions, and then Ling looked up at his face.

"...Zhuo, you actually know that both Yamamoto Yurina and Uesugi Eri have a crush on you, right?"

Eh?
Why did you suddenly bring this up?

While Zhuo was in a daze, Ling did not stop and finished his words.

"I think you should know that I basically never get angry. So tell me the truth."

"You won't hate it, will you?"

"That probably won't happen. It would make me really uncomfortable if you didn't tell me."

Ling is a common-sense person and has a conscience... Although it is impolite to say this, but thinking of Ling's style of behavior in the outside world, even if they are a couple, Zhuo can't say that she has a conscience... However, Zhuo doesn't think that Ling would do something like setting a trap to make him angry.

Besides, this is something that should be made clear, so there should be no problem even if I tell her the truth.

But judging from her hesitation in asking, she might also feel it's a bit embarrassing to ask such a question.

Even if she wasn't looking for something strange, she would still feel reluctant if she asked Zhuo to verify it openly - Zhuo tried to think about it in this direction, but still couldn't fully understand the mood of Ling when he asked this question.

Ling feels that any answer doesn't matter, but he would feel disgusted or angry if Zhuo concealed the truth.

After Zhuo thought about this for a while, he felt that it would be better to tell the truth.

"... No, no, this... It's hard for the person concerned to tell whether they like you or not, right?"

As if to resolve Zhuo's hesitation, Ling spoke in a calm tone.

"Aren't we already a couple?"

"Ah."

"That is to say, if it is just a casual conversation between a couple, it can be regarded as a family conversation."

"I always feel that you use this word in a very subtle way...Um, that means I can speak only by relying on my own senses, right?" "Yes."

What she meant was that she wanted to hear Zhuo's own feelings, and because the person involved was Zhuo, she wanted to hear Zhuo's own opinion in terms of sensory perception - that should be it.

This wish was so incompatible with Ling that Zhuo just wanted to sigh how lucky he was to be so favored by Ling.

He didn't let his thoughts show on his face, and answered without hesitation. Zero was waiting attentively, but she widened her eyes slightly when she asked the question.

"...You are really straightforward."

"Because Uesugi Eri is really not good at hiding things, and Yurina has known her for too long, and after so many twists and turns, she should have some guesses."

At this stage, Yurina had already quietly conveyed some of her intentions to Zhuo. For example, the kiss mark that happened to be there at the dance, and the way she jokingly tested whether he wanted to do it together, etc. She showed Zhuo all the minimal caution that she had hidden.

Zhuo didn't think these emotions were hidden, and Yurina was very exclusive in character. This was his judgment based on their years of getting along. Zhuo used to think that Yurina was polite to Ren because "friendship is open, but love is cautious", but when he saw Yurina's eyes carefully observing him to see if he wanted to do it, he was surprised by this guy's emotions.

As for the little mute's matter.

Ugh……

Even if Zhuo didn't want to admit it, the girl would always turn around and look at him eagerly when she saw something new. She couldn't hide the look in her eyes as if she wanted to share something.

If before, if you knew that someone had a good impression of you but pretended not to know, it would be indeed an immoral behavior.

But if the person in question is a married man, it would be better for him to pretend to be unaware of his friend's expression of affection.

Zhuo saw Ling's surprise, or rather, dumbfounded look followed by sudden realization, and thought that Ling probably understood his thoughts. He smoothed her hair as if to help her feel at ease, and asked her to put her worries aside.

Then Zero looked at him hesitantly.

"what happened?"

"...Zhuo, can I buy you a birthday present?"

"birthday present?"

Rei seemed to be aware of Zhuo's question, "Why do you want to buy another birthday present?", so he lowered his eyes in silence and spoke in a slightly lower voice.

"For example, regarding Yamamoto Yurina, aren't you and I married now? So you're not going to take care of her affairs?"

"Yes."

Zhuo only considered the minimum spiritual support. After all, he was no longer alone, and he didn't think they would be separated, so he should just watch over him.

He was planning to reply to Yurina's father, Okagi, with this statement. Although it was a bit heartless, he felt that this should be the most appropriate choice.

After Ling moved into his house, she brought all her belongings with her to use together. Although Su Enxi still maintained a dispensable connection, it was also a fact that she had tried her best to cut off that connection.

"I don't think Zhuo needs to do the same thing as me."

"It's okay... It won't be good for them if things continue like this. There's still enough time to turn around, and no one is injured."

"It's different. Potato Chips and I usually keep in touch via text messages. Even if we lose contact, they are enough... I also want to be selfish, and I think your approach is good. But this is different. Zhuo, do you still remember the day I confessed to you?"

"Didn't I confess?"

Zhuo couldn't possibly regret the day when the two of them expressed their feelings to each other.

"You should know this better than me - in fact, I saw it that day."

“See…?”

Ling did understand the situation that day better. She must have known that it was not so much Zhuo's initiative to confess, but rather that Zhuo took action after Ling expressed his feelings first.

Before that...I did meet Yurina, and she helped me find Zero.

Zhuo looked down and saw Ling's stubborn and defiant look at the moment, and realized that this was not a small matter that could be ignored, so he also straightened his attitude.

"I hesitate to speak up because I'm not sure I can make decisions for others based on my own thinking, and I don't know how to take responsibility for this."

"Eh? Sorry, I didn't quite understand."

"The yellow flower she pinned on your chest means 'reunion'."

"Eh?"

"I'm sorry, I'm such a selfish person. I think it will take time for this matter to really shake you, and it's in my best interest to speak out like this rather than wait until that day comes."

"...That's too much... I, I never thought of leaving you~ Or rather, I can't leave you..."

Zhuo forced a smile in response to Ling's serious expression, but she had no intention of just getting away with it. She stared closely at Zhuo's expression, as if she was prepared for Zhuo's anger to vent on her.

Just as Ling said, the reason for her hesitation was because this was someone else's unilateral decision. She couldn't interfere with other people's decisions, nor should she interfere, and she couldn't take the responsibility behind this decision.

Yurina made a unilateral decision after understanding the situation, placed her "hope" on Zhuo's chest, and then pointed him in the right direction to find "happiness".

The former was initiated by Yurina, so there was no problem; as for the latter, Zhuo found that there was no chance of a "reunion" even though he had prepared the determination.

He was easily satisfied, and Zero was a woman whose flaws were hard to find, or the two of them were simply hard to separate, so he didn't need a 'reunion'.

Because of this, Yurina still pinned her hopes for a "reunion" on others, even though she knew that if she continued like this, there would be no hope of seeing the light of day.

Obviously she could have remedied the situation before it became a reality, but she allowed Zhuo to pursue the path to happiness alone and even guaranteed his direction. No matter how Zhuo thought about it, he felt touched.

Although Zhuo did not plan to go back to look for Yurina, even if he did, Zhuo would probably just blame her for her "fairy tale" wish, and might even say something like "What are you thinking about? Have you watched too many TV dramas?" and then return the flower to her.

"...So she plans to be a virgin for the rest of her life, and then wait for an opportunity to move me so hard that I cry. Am I right in understanding this?"

"……Um."

"I am very grateful and touched. Yurina is indeed a very good person who gives benefits to her brothers. It is worth it for me to treat her as a friend for so many years, even though she is not reliable..."

"……Um."

"I'm not going to regret it~ Ling is really the best woman."

Neither of the couple had any involvement with other opposite sexes, and the clean one seemed to be more polite, so Zhuo hugged Ling tightly and stroked her back as if to reassure her. Ling leaned against him obediently, nodding slightly with some anxiety.

(End of this chapter)