I will swear to protect the beauty with my life

Yuta came to Rikka's house. Rikka asked him to help pack up her former treasures. He walked into Rikka's room. Although it was not the first time he came in, he still felt it was spectacular looking at the room full of strange things.

Liuhua was holding a small doll, a little hesitant.

"Yuta... classmate, we don't have much time now. I promised my mother that I would clean up all these things before she comes back today."

"All of them?"

"Well...if I leave it out in the open, she'll definitely get worried again...I don't want to make her feel uneasy."

"Really..." Yuta was somewhat relieved that Rikka knew how to think about others. Although he felt a little distressed, he still decided to help Rikka and follow her wishes, just like he had done before, to seal up all the dark histories of the past. "What do you want me to clean up?"

"Anyway... let's clean up these on the floor first."

The two of them brought a large number of cardboard boxes and silently threw things in one by one. During the cleaning process, Yuta found a lot of things that interested him, but unfortunately all of these had to be buried with Rikka's past.

In silence, Yuta put the chuunibyou things into the box one by one, but Rikka threw the normal-looking dolls on the bed into the box one by one... In her eyes, these were not normal...

She held up a small statue she had loved in the past and examined it carefully, with a look of reluctance in her eyes... She really liked this thing, but... this thing was not normal... that one was not normal either, and that one... that one...

Nothing is normal.

Rikka's cardboard boxes were getting fuller and fuller, but her heart was getting emptier and emptier... There was an urge to cry lingering in her chest, but she couldn't cry... A normal person wouldn't cry when packing up these abnormal things.

Yuta looked at Rikka's back, he didn't know what to say. It was a good thing that Rikka was no longer a chuunibana and was gradually returning to normal, but he still felt so distressed, but he couldn't say anything more.

It was not until Rikka tore off the black gauze hanging on the bed that Yuta spoke up to stop her...It's okay to leave this thing hanging, right?

But Rikka was confused, this thing...is it normal?

She could no longer tell what should be cleaned and what should not be cleaned. She could no longer tell what was normal...

Rika was holding a bizarre wooden sculpture in her hand. She had been in a middle school state for too long and suddenly came back to reality. However, she didn't have time to bring herself out completely, and half of herself was left in that beautiful fantasy bubble.

That half of her had a golden light flashing in her right eye, and a smile on her lips that never stopped. She had no friends around her... This half of her looked extremely normal. Although there was no smile on her face anymore, she was still accompanied by her relatives and friends.

The only thing they have in common is that they are both equally lonely.

Yuta decided to follow Rikka's advice and help her collect all the things she thought were abnormal, piled them into cardboard boxes and threw them outside on the balcony. However, there were too many things, and after making a choice, Rikka piled some things she "unwanted" into cardboard boxes and threw them outside. These will be thrown away in a few days.

The originally cluttered room was no longer crowded and the space became very large. There was only a bed with a black quilt and some large dolls left by Yuta... If it weren't for Yuta leaving them, I'm afraid these things would have been thrown out as "abnormal", even though these dolls were very cute.

Yuta sat on the floor holding a big turtle doll, looking at Rikka sitting at the desk, holding a small potted plant in her hand in a daze... Rikka never liked potted plants, but... this is "normal"...

Tired of looking at the potted plants, Liuhua said she was hungry and wanted to eat. Facing Yuta's invitation to eat at his house, Liuhua suggested that she wanted to eat outside...

Yuta agreed, but when he passed by the living room, he looked at the cardboard boxes piled there. Perhaps there were not only strange props inside, but also Rikka's happiness and fantasy.

................................................

"Is this really enough for you?"

The familiar convenience store, the familiar rice balls, but the two of them were not sitting on the familiar chairs like they did before. At Rikka's request, they came to a more familiar bridge.

That’s right, this was the place where the two confessed their love to each other. In her memory, this place was beautiful and full of neon colors, but now it was dim and lifeless, just like “normal”.

Having Yuta help hold the bottom of the rice ball, Rikka pulled the wrapping paper of the rice ball apart and said the same thing as last time,

“It feels so cool!”

"How handsome is that?"

Seeing Rika finally showing a smile on her face, Yuta also responded to her with a smile like last time. The lines remained unchanged, but the person changed.

Quietly watching Rikka pick up the rice balls and take small bites, Yuta noticed the light in the distance that he had seen when they confessed their love...

At the end of the river, cars passed by one after another, and countless tall buildings lit up, just as dazzling and beautiful as before, the same light, the same scenery, the same sparkling river surface, but the difference was that these lights were no longer neon-colored like last time, and Rikka could no longer feel the fatherly warmth from them, she could only feel cold...

So cold.

"That's just the light from the car's headlights, right, Yuta... the invisible boundary doesn't exist, right......"

"That's true..."

Yuta couldn't agree with what Rikka said because...it was correct.

"Yuta..."

"Ok?"

"Mom...she wants me to go with her to visit the graves."

Tomb sweeping? Which tomb should we sweep?

Yuta made a stupid mistake, and his mind was not able to process for a moment. He was still thinking about how to make Rikka happy, but he was not sure about her previous second-year fantasy...

"Go... visit dad's grave."

Yuta understood.

"How about it? Should I go?"

"You asked me... again..."

Rikka turned her head and looked at Yuta, and Yuta could see a little expectation in her eyes... He didn't know what she was expecting, but he couldn't tell her not to go. Rikka's willingness to visit the grave, did it also mean that she accepted her father's death?

Yuta lowered his head and didn't dare to look at Rikka's eyes. He looked at the untouched rice ball. The only sound between the two was the rumbling sound of the passing train and the deathly silence.

The silence between the two remained unbroken until the train completely left. Seeing Yuta lowering his head, Rikka was disappointed. She stopped looking at Yuta and also lowered her head to look at the rice ball in her hand...

Yuta knows that silence cannot solve the problem. He hopes that Rikka will go so that she can accept the reality, but he can't say it.

"You, what do you think?"

"......If I go, my mother will be very happy."

Yuta felt relieved to hear this answer.

"Isn't that great? ...Since you want to do this, Rikka, I will also..."

Rikka's eyes were completely numb. She silently put down the rice ball and stretched out her little finger towards Yuta.

"Yuta...hands."

Rikka seemed to accept it.

Yuta stretched out his hand with peace of mind, and the two of them touched their little fingers.

"Yuta...thank you."

Unlike before, now when Rikka touches Yuta's fingers, she no longer looks at him shyly, and she is even unwilling to raise her head. Yuta can only see numbness on Rikka's face.

"I'm going back."

"Eh? Rikka?"

Looking at Rikka running away, Yuta did not chase after her.

Liuhua ran home. The night was so beautiful, but she only felt cold. She was afraid to be outside. She was also afraid to be alone. She just wanted to go home as soon as possible, even if there was no warmth at home...

Until a car slowly pulled up to the side of the road and stopped next to her.

"Oh~ Rokka-chan~"

"Fennel...senpai..."

"...Rikka? What's wrong with you?"

Senior Anise keenly noticed that something was wrong with Rikka.

Finally, Liuhua got into the car of the Anise family and slowly drove towards the park not far away...