【Yo Deng】Badger and Snake

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Across the Mirage (1)

When Qihai Dengzi woke up in bed, she felt as if she had had a long, long dream.

That didn't seem like a good dream.She tried to remember as she dressed, but couldn't remember anything else.

Carefully dusting off the dust on the blue-and-white tie, she tied the Ravenclaw tie around her neck. It should have been a very familiar process, but her fingertips rested on the tie and she was slightly dazed.

——It seems that something is wrong.

Something is not where it should be.

Facing herself in the full-length mirror, she was in a daze for a moment, and then attributed this strange feeling to the dream she had just had.

—It seemed like a very real dream.I probably haven't fully woken up yet.

After washing, she stepped out the door.Feeling that something was wrong dissipated, she took a deep breath, walked briskly down the spiral staircase, and came to the Ravenclaw common room.

"Lantern! You can count it down." Doris Selwyn got up from the armchair, "I've been waiting for you for a long time, let's go to have breakfast together?"

"Sorry, sorry, I'm late." Qihai smiled and went up to her, and Doris also smiled and teased her: "Master Female Student Chairman, you can't do this."

"Doris, the campaign is not over yet." Nanami said angrily.

"You are the Ravenclaw prefect with the highest approval rate in history. How can you not be elected?" Doris patted her on the shoulder. "Relax, it will be fine."

"Then I entrust you with a good word," Qihai led the two of them out of the lounge, "If I succeed in the election, you will have to fill the vacancy of the female prefect."

"Don't worry, I will do my best to assist you." Doris shook her fist.

"Speaking of which, have you finished your Defense Against the Dark Arts thesis?" Qihai changed the subject.

"That—don't mention it, I really want to throw ten mud worms into the nostrils of that big-nosed professor..."

Chatting casually, the two caught up with a group of Slytherins.The leader was a boy with combed back hair and gold-rimmed glasses. He glanced at them sharply and quickened his pace without saying a word.

After passing by, Doris taunted: "Look at them, those Slytherins, their jaws are almost up to the ceiling, they can't see the road."

"Wrestling is the best." Qihai continued, and the two looked at each other and smiled.

The sunlight outside the house is divided into squares by the castle windows, which are neatly arranged on the ground.Qihai walked through it, feeling warm all over her body and extremely happy physically and mentally, as if she could dance to the singing of birds in the next second.

--so good.

She wants this life to last forever.

Never come to an end.

※※※

When Koito Yu woke up, the first thing he saw was an oval mirror.The mirror was only the size of a palm, and stood upright on the bedside table without any external force, as if it was fixed in place by some kind of fixed spell.

It took her a moment to recall that it was one of her two-way mirrors.

——But why is it fixed in such a strange position?

She lifted the fixing spell, but she couldn't remember when, where, and why she did it.

—something is very wrong.

She didn't like this feeling, as if the planet was out of orbit, the hourglass was left in a gravity-free space, and the creeper lost its support and fell limply to the ground.

Shaking her head, she opened the drawer, trying to put the mirror back in place, but stopped in surprise.

— not here.Another mirror is missing.

She immediately began to search every corner of the desk, but found no trace of another mirror in any drawer.She pounced on the drawers and wardrobe under the bed, followed by the storage boxes and the bathroom, and even checked the top of the cabinet - no, nowhere.

Just when Koito Yu fell into infinite confusion, there was a knock on the door.She opened the door to find Shuri Hinata standing outside in her Quidditch uniform.

"Yo, Yu!" Zhu Li poked his head in, "Hey, why is your room so messy?"

"I was looking for my two-way mirror," Yu replied, "the other side is missing—do you see it?"

Hinata Shuri shrugged: "You'd better hurry up, we have morning training today, do you remember?"

"Morning training?" Yuu patted his head, feeling something coming back to his head, "Oh, of course—"

"—Wait!" She suddenly turned around as if she had seen a ghost, stared at the sun and said to Zhu Li, "How did you get in?"

"Ah?" Zhu Li was confused, "You opened the door to let me in?"

"No, no, I mean - how did you get into the Hufflepuff basement?"

Now it was Hinata Shuri's turn to look at her like he had seen a ghost.

"You don't have a fever, do you," she said, putting her hand on Tieyo's forehead, "Are we in Gryffindor Tower?"

Koito Yu opened his mouth wide in a daze.Turning her head, she saw herself wearing a scarlet bow tie in the full-length mirror.

"It's impossible," she blurted out, "I'm obviously..."

"What is it?" Zhu Li frowned at her.

"...Huh?" Yu turned his head in a daze, "What is it?"

"I think you're sleepy," Zhu Li patted the girl's forehead, "Hurry up and change your team uniform, we're going to be late."

"Oh, good..." Yu replied slowly, and began to put on the scarlet Quidditch uniform, but the feeling of something wrong became stronger and stronger.

——Where is it?What's wrong?

She stared at the single double-sided mirror, and finally put it in her pocket.

※※※

Today is a sunny day, but the ceiling of the Hogwarts Castle Auditorium is a rain scene.Qihai Dengzi looked at the raindrops constantly washing over his head while chewing sausages, and wondered: "Doris, it seems that this is the first time I see the ceiling of the auditorium is different from the weather outside."

Doris is drinking soup.Hearing this, she also looked up: "Really, it's so strange."

"It's sunny outside today, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Doris wiped her mouth, "I'm going to see the Ravenclaw Quidditch team's morning practice."

"You just want to visit Andrew," Nanami said with a smile, "'No see you in a day, like three autumns' oh."

Doris blushed: "Don't be like this...do you want to come with me?"

"Okay," Qi Hai hurriedly finished the last few mouthfuls of food on the plate, "in case you are embarrassed to go there alone."

The road to the Quidditch stadium is not long, it takes only six or seven minutes.Qihai Dengzi looked up at the figure flying above the field, and wondered, "Why is the Gryffindor team here?"

"Ravenclaw has been practicing with them all the time," Doris replied. "Anyway, the two teams have half the field and don't disturb each other."

"Well, this is the first time I've come here." Qihai said as she put her hand in her pocket, and then pulled it out with an "ouch": "What——"

Hesitating, she reached back and pulled a mirror from the outer pocket of her robe.

The mirror is oval in shape, simple in texture, and only the size of a palm as a whole, and you can feel the obvious heat when you hold it in the palm of your hand—this is the reason why Qihai was startled just now.She frowned and said, "When did this thing get into my pocket?"

"Isn't this yours?" Doris was a little surprised. "It's like a double-sided mirror. It's quite precious."

"No, I've never seen it before." Qihai turned the mirror over, and the patterns on the back were not complicated, but very charming.

"Isn't it just throw it away, probably one of your admirers secretly stuffed it for you." Doris took the opportunity to tease her position in the auditorium and returned, but Qihai didn't have time to respond to her - she rubbed the mirror repeatedly , Subconsciously felt something was wrong.

——How could anyone stuff such a big thing into a pocket without her noticing?Could it have been left behind by the house-elf who did the laundry?But house elves come and go freely at Hogwarts, do you need something like this?

She went to the trash can on the sidelines, and wanted to throw away the mirror as promised, but her fingers were tightly clenched, and she couldn't let go—the feeling of something wrong became stronger and stronger.

—I shouldn't have thrown it away.Knowing it was strange, Qihai still thought so.This seems like a big deal.

She looked at the mirror again, trying to see if there were any clues on the mirror body.But before she could see why, Doris shouted behind her: "Dengzi, go back, I just remembered that I left something in the dormitory, and I have to get it before class."

"Oh, okay." Qihai put the mirror back into her pocket again, turned around and caught up with Doris Selwyn.

Less than half a minute after the two left, Koito landed on the sidelines with a broom, and was surprised to find that the double-sided mirror wrapped in his clothes had become hot—this meant that the other mirror was within a radius of 500 meters at this moment The place.

"Zhu Li, I want to leave early," she shook the mirror in her hand, "Another mirror seems to be nearby."

"Have you found the mirror to be enchanted?" Zhu Li poked the handle of the broom into the ground. "The golden snitch has not been caught yet. If you leave early, who will catch it?"

After all, she pouted.As if in response to this, a golden flow arc was drawn in the empty field.

"...Okay." You had no choice but to rewrap the mirror, secretly thinking that it would not be too late to find it after the early practice - she felt that she must have left the double-sided mirror in the locker room or something during training up.

— but not.

After the training, Koito Yu stared at the completely cold mirror in a daze.

The mirror is no longer hot, which means that the other mirror has left within a radius of 500 meters—that is, the mirror is on someone's body.

——How is this possible, someone sneaked into her dormitory and only stole a mirror?

"Hey, Juli," she grabbed the brown-haired girl's arm, "No one from Gryffindor came to the stadium just now, right?"

"No, what's the matter?" Zhu Li was a little puzzled.

——That's someone from Ravenclaw coming over.Yoo quickly came to a conclusion.

"Aaron!" She knocked on the Ravenclaw locker room panting, "Did anyone of you come to visit just now?"

Aaron Shaker, the goalkeeper of the Ravenclaw team, changed half of his clothes and covered his body in embarrassment: "Someone has been here, what's wrong?"

"Who is it?" Yu asked eagerly.

Aaron thought for a while: "Doris Selwin and Nanami Lantern."

"Thank you!" Yu whirlwind ran out of the locker room.

——Doris Selwin and Nanami Lantern, it is likely that these two people are carrying another mirror.Qihai Dengzi, Qihai... Qi, Hai, Deng, Zi.Koito Yu chewed on the latter name repeatedly, feeling inexplicably familiar.

This is a Japanese name. There are so few Japanese descendants in Hogwarts, so she should have an impression, why can't she remember her appearance?

——Qihai Dengzi, Qihai Dengzi.

I couldn't explain why, but Koito Yu just felt that the mirror was on her body.

——Qihai Dengzi, who are you?

She was running up the spiral staircase of the castle, and the heat of the mirror became more and more obvious—she was approaching her destination.You climbed up the stairs on the fourth floor in three steps at a time, passed through the armor lined up on both sides of the corridor, and ran through one classroom after another, feeling the mirror starting to heat up.

After passing the Charms classroom, there was a wave of people in front of her. It seemed that they had just finished class and were walking back.Yu shuttled through the crowd, accidentally stepped on a boy's foot, bumped into a girl's book, and passed by a black-haired girl——

She stopped involuntarily.

A strange feeling gripped her heart, forcing her to turn around slowly.

The flow of people was exhausted, she stood in the empty corridor, taking in the beautiful face of the black-haired girl——

——She stopped like her, and stared at each other like her.

※※※

"Histine, you did something stupid this time." The old man blew on the hot tea in his cup, his voice was old and powerful.

"Father, what do you say?" Histin stared into the eyes of Patriarch Rutherford, "Don't you think they can really pass the test?"

Kim Rutherford put down the teacup, his sharp eyes pierced through the lens, and he saw the conceit and pride in his daughter's eyes thoroughly.He sighed slightly, and said: "The so-called 'trial', after all, was designed for people to pass. Who can say for sure?"

"Impossible, you're overthinking it," Heistine smiled resolutely, "The 'Trials of Ravenclaw' was constructed with the help of the thought fragments left by Rowena Ravenclaw in the Sorting Hat, A Sorting Hat Sorted into Slytherin and a Hufflepuff have absolutely no chance of getting through."

The old man was noncommittal: "Do you know what the content of the 'trial' is?"

"How would I know?" Histin asked back, "It has been 300 years since no one has challenged the direct heir, and there is no written record of the previous challenges."

Rutherford touched the ring on his hand: "Let me tell you. 'Trial' is an illusion that varies from person to person. If the heart is not strong enough, it is impossible to even realize that you are in the illusion. Nanami Dengzi is full of demons, which can be seen from her eyes, but don't underestimate the girl beside her—I have a hunch that that girl will become Qihai's key."

Histin was a little disdainful, but he didn't dare to show it obviously, he just took a sip of tea: "Since you said so, let's see—whether these two people will get out of the 'Between Trials' come out."

"Yes," the old man smiled tolerantly, "Let's just watch."

Across the Mirage (2)

The wind is still blowing, the sun is still beating warmly on the body, but the air seems to be solidified into thousands of invisible silk threads, tightly wrapped around the heart.One end of the thread is here and the other end is there - in the girl's hand.Qihai Dengzi opened her mouth subconsciously, and a very familiar syllable rolled in her throat. After the syllable brushed her lips and teeth, it finally turned into a simple word——

"Yo...?"

The moment she exited this syllable, she was in a trance, so tranced that the walls of the illusion castle began to shake.And the girl also showed an extremely unreal expression, and she responded blankly: "Senior...?"

The thread tightens, tightens, then snaps—

Everything is back to normal and time flows again.

Yuko Koito took a big step forward: "You are Nanami Dengzi...senior?"

"Yes, I am," Qihai took a step back subconsciously, "Who are you?" She asked, but there was a word reflected in her heart like a mirror, the word she blurted out just now——

"Yo," Koito Yu continued to shorten the distance between the two, "My name is Koito Yu."

Before Qihai could answer, she asked further: "Senior, do you know me? I seem to have heard you calling my name just now?"

"I—" Panic and confusion appeared on Qihai's face, "I don't know, I don't know you, I just—"

She stopped suddenly.There was a voice in her heart warning her: stop here.If we continue to dig deeper, something will be completely shattered——what is it?

She didn't know it, but she chose to listen to the voice.

"What are you holding?" Qihai changed the subject, "Is it a double-sided mirror?"

She pointed to the mirror held in the girl's hand.It was only then that Yuu Koito felt that the mirror was very hot, and he could not help but "hiss", shook his hand, and used his fingertips to hold the mirror frame instead: "Senior, have you ever seen a mirror like it?"

Qihai hesitated for a moment: "Uh...a side of mine appeared inexplicably this morning, it seems to be very similar..." She put her hand in the pocket of her robe, and cried out within a second: "It's so hot! "

She wrapped her hands with her sleeves and took out the mirror.Yoo touched his own mirror to the one in her hand, and the heat disappeared immediately.

"Pairs of double-sided mirrors will be like this after being separated for a long time, just touch it." She explained, "Senior, where did you pick up this mirror?"

"I didn't pick it up, I found this mirror in my pocket suddenly this morning," Qi Hai suddenly became suspicious, "Is this your mirror?"

"It should be...Senior, hold it well," Yu cleared his throat, "Qihai Lantern."

Facing Shang Qihai's surprised eyes, she quickly explained: "I'm verifying whether they are the same pair - if they are, calling the name of another holder will connect - Huh?"

The surface of the double-sided mirror changed, but instead of Qihai Dengzi's face, what appeared was a dim space, and what could be barely discerned was a basin filled with liquid, sitting on what seemed to be a stone table.

"What is this?" Qihai narrowed her eyes, and the mirror in her hand showed the same picture.

"I don't know...how did this happen?" Yu was confused, "It's clearly connected..." She put the two mirrors together and looked over and over again, "Senior, have you learned the positioning spell? Can you locate the location of this basin ?"

Qihai's mouth moved, and she really wanted to refuse; but her curiosity overwhelmed the uneasiness in her heart, prompting her to nod: "I'll try."

She drew out her wand and chanted a rather long incantation, the tip of the wand glowing purple.Qihai raised her wand to her eyes: "Looking at the brightness, it is estimated that it is not far away, and it should be in the castle."

"I want to find it, senior, are you free?" Yuu looked at her pleadingly.

The impulse to refuse once again surged in Qihai's heart, but the girl in front of her looked so endearingly looking at her——she felt a soft place in her heart was touched, and she couldn't help nodding again: "I also want to understand this mirror. What's going on, let's go."

The search process was not long, and the two narrowed down the area to the entrance of the Ravenclaw common room without much effort.After 10 minutes of wandering back and forth by the bronze gate of the eagle head to no avail, the two finally set their sights on the top of the statue beside it - there is a groove there, which cannot be seen clearly from the bottom.Seeing no one around, Qihai tried to use a hovering spell, and she saw the stone basin floating.

"What is this?" Yu caught the stone basin floating down, and looked at the silver liquid in the basin.

"The Pensieve," Nanami replied briefly, "a thing used to preserve memories and thoughts."

She stirred the liquid in the basin with a magic wand, and the silver substance was spinning, gradually forming a brightly lit space, and many figures could be vaguely seen moving.She stared at the room, feeling very familiar, but couldn't see more details.

"Let's go," Qihai made a decision, "Let's go to the prefect's lounge, there is no one there."

Yu trotted to keep up with her: "What are you doing there?"

"Let's take a look at this memory." Qihai replied.

※※※

Qihai Dengzi regretted the moment she fell into the Pensieve, she shouldn't have come - she didn't know why, but this feeling of regret spread rapidly in her blood like poison.

How had she not recognized the room?Glittering and magnificent, with thousands of candles flickering above the four long tables - this is the Great Hall of Hogwarts Castle, and the group of students who are clustered together and lined up in a single row is undoubtedly A first-year freshman—her eyes roamed among them, and she caught her figure from the front of the few people.

——That's right, the 11-year-old Nanami Dengzi was standing in the front row of the group of students, tugging at her robe nervously.

Qihai clenched her hands unconsciously, but the girl beside her didn't notice anything, she was still looking around: "This is... the sorting ceremony?"

"Probably so," Nanami Hai replied while picking an empty seat at the long table and sat down, "It seems to be a memory of someone from my same class."

"How do you know?" Yu also imitated her and sat down.

Qihai didn't answer, and just signaled her to look ahead with her eyes: Minerva McGonagall, the headmaster of Hogwarts, cleared her throat, and called out a name they were very familiar with each other——

"—Seven sea lanterns."

Under the watchful eyes of Nanami Dengko and Koito Yu, the short-haired little girl stepped forward eagerly and held her head high, took the hat with trembling hands, and put it on her head.

Qihai calmly waited for the sound of "Ravenclaw", but the hat was unexpectedly silent.Raising her eyebrows in amazement, Qihai broke out in cold sweat as the minutes passed - the clock on the teacher's seat showed that more than 5 minutes had passed, but the hat never spoke, and there were discussions one after another around: "Yes! 'Hat embarrassment'?" "'Hat embarrassment', it's so strange, it's the first time I've seen it."

"What is 'hat embarrassment'?" Yuu, who heard the discussion, asked her in a low voice, and Nanami felt her nails dug into her palm: "It means that the Sorting Hat cannot make a decision for a long time, which is a rare thing."

——But, this is wrong.She muttered to herself, I haven't encountered "hat embarrassment", I should have been assigned to Ravenclaw immediately——

Tens of seconds passed.When she could barely sit still, the crack in the hat finally opened:

"—Slytherin!"

Qihai Dengzi stood up abruptly.She stared at her 11-year-old self with a pale face, and watched Minerva McGonagall take off her hat and signal her to the Slytherin table; At the Ravenclaw table - there was a hiss, not quite as loud as the Gryffindor table, but it still hurt her heart.

"This is impossible..." she muttered to herself, "This is impossible..." She turned her head abruptly, and shouted at Koito Yu: "This memory has been tampered with! The fact is not like this!"

But Yu suddenly hugged his head in pain: "No, that's not right——"

"Koito-san?" Nanami was taken aback, "What's wrong with you?"

The girl didn't answer, but snorted twice, and grabbed her sleeve feebly: "Senior..."

"I'm here, what's the matter with you? Have a headache?" Qi Hai caught her, and a fresh peach smell came to her nostrils, so good that she was in a trance.

——I seem to have smelled this smell somewhere, somewhere.

Before she could remember, the surrounding scenes began to float like water waves.She closed her eyes subconsciously, and when she opened them again, she was already in a dark room.Qihai recognized the surrounding furnishings without any effort—this was her dormitory, and her 11-year-old self was crying on the edge of the bed.

With her eyes wide open, she took a step back holding Koito, while looking around in panic—there was no one around, no one anywhere.

Then, then—

"—This is... my memory?"

Qihai Dengzi stood there blankly, her eyes full of disbelief.

--How can this be?Who took her memory and falsified it to this point?How did you do it?what purpose?

Questions popped up in her mind one after another, attracting her full attention until the man in her arms raised his head and broke away from her——

"Senior Qihai..." she whispered.

"Huh?" Qihai responded inwardly without knowing it, but found that the girl was not facing her, but was staring blankly at the sobbing figure on the bed.

——Familiar, really familiar.The small figure that I reached out but couldn't hug, the black-haired woman crying on her chest, the kiss with the bitter taste of tears in the shade and warm sun——

A torrent of memories exploded in her mind like fireworks, completely submerging her.

She was dazed for a while, her knees softened, and she almost fell to her knees—Qihai Dengzi grabbed her quickly, a little at a loss: "Xiaoito-student?!"

"Senior..." Yu grabbed her arm with a dazed face, "I remember..."

"You remember? What?" Qi Hai was puzzled.

"I remembered everything, we are in the trial," Yu's eyes turned clear, "We went to Rutherford's house, visited the head of the family and the three elders, and then entered the 'trial' under their witness Between'—we're challenging the 'Trials of Ravenclaw', it's all an illusion, and we must find a way out!"

"What?" Qi Hai was in a cloud of mist, "Wait a minute, what are you talking about? How do you know about the 'trial' of the Rutherford family?"

"I know, because you told me," Yuu looked directly at her with pleading eyes, "Senior, do you really not remember at all? You are not Ravenclaw, and I am not Gryffindor , in real life I'm in Hufflepuff and you're in Slytherin—"

She stopped suddenly, because Qihai's chest began to heave violently.

"……senior?"

"Do you think you are humorous?" Qihai's eyes became cold, "This joke is not funny."

"I'm not joking," Yu tried to defend, "what I said is true! Senior, don't you feel that something is wrong? Don't you feel that there is something strange in your life? You haven't thought about that double face Where did the mask come from? These are clues—"

"That's enough!" Qi Hai stopped her, "I think you are under the Confusion Curse, and you need to register with Madam Pomfrey. Let's go, I will accompany you."

She grabbed the girl's arm, jumped up, floated into the air, and got out of the Pensieve.Yu didn't keep up with her pace, stumbled and fell to the ground of the prefect's lounge.She grunted in pain, while Qihai Dengzi looked at her indifferently with her hands behind her back.

"Senior!" Yu staggered up, "You can't just indulge in the illusion like this - I know it's beautiful, but it's all fake! We must break through this 'trial'!"

She said so, but her heart was gradually covered by despair—Qihai Dengzi would not believe her, and the current Qihai Dengzi couldn't listen to what she said.

Sure enough, Qihai sneered and said: "Your logic is quite clear. I don't think you may have been under the confusion spell. I'm afraid you were sent here to make trouble for me. If you want to continue your tricks, that's fine. I'm sorry. , I will find out who is behind you, and then we will deal with you together."

"Senior!" Yuo yelled weakly, but the woman who was called just held on to the door frame and said the last sentence expressionlessly: "You said 'I was assigned to Slytherin' is reality? Let Let me tell you: instead of facing this 'reality', let me sleep forever in a dream."

She left without looking back.

Koito Yuu curled up and squatted down.The head that was hit when he fell to the ground was still aching, but it couldn't keep up with the dull pain in his heart.Touching her cheek, she found herself in tears, not sure what kind of pain it was—maybe both.

Covering her heart, she let the tears flow.

The senior in her memory was always gentle, easy to blush, and liked to act like a baby. He was gentle when he kissed her, but calm and powerful when he hugged her.

She has never been treated like this, and she has never seen Qihai Dengzi like this.Even though she knew that this was all a "trial" relationship, her heart still hurt so badly that she couldn't breathe.

It's too much.Yu thought.

What's more, she couldn't blame her at all.

——Because she is so pretty even when she is angry.

"senior……"

She curled her lips mockingly.

At this moment, I still think about such a thing, don't you...

"...is this 'love'...?"

Across the Mirage (3)

"Xiao Lian, how did you find out that you like Hong Jun?"

It was an evening after the Quidditch World Cup.While wiping the plate in his hand, Yu asked this question amidst the sound of splashing water.

Koito stopped twisting the rag, she tilted her hair and asked, "Why are you asking this all of a sudden?"

"Uh..." Yu rubbed his face on his shoulder, "I'm just a little curious."

She didn't turn around to look at Lian, but she could imagine how the other party's probing eyes should be cruising on her back.Fortunately, Koito Rei didn't pursue it, but let out a long "hmm": "Let me think about it."

After pausing for a while, she twisted up the rag again: "Hey, it's really embarrassing to talk about this topic. When Hongjun and I first got together, although I was the first to confess, but in fact it was just a good impression, not too much. I like it. At that time, he was recognized as a school girl with good grades, and many girls wanted to try dating him, and I had that mentality.

"After getting along with him slowly, many things became different. He had a higher academic year than me, and I was still in my sophomore year when I was about to graduate. I didn't understand how much pressure he had. I only knew that he didn't have so much time to accompany me. me.

"He originally wanted to take the postgraduate entrance examination, but his family disagreed, so he looked for a job; the job search was not smooth, there were very few interview opportunities, and he failed one after another, and then he had to spend time with me...One day he collapsed Now, she lost her temper at me and said a lot in frustration, which is really too much."

Having said that, Lian raised a nostalgic smile.

"But, even in the face of him like that, I still think he is very cute and handsome. At that moment, I thought, maybe I really like him——When a person is glamorous, my heart is moved It's normal, but if you can be moved by his embarrassing appearance, it means that you really like it."

"Is that so..."

Koito Rei's words are easy to understand, but she only really understands it now.Qihai Dengzi was a cunning deserter, who disappeared without a trace the next day after the confession that disturbed her mind, leaving her alone to think hard about the meaning of "like" in a month of separation.

During that month, they only had a handful of contacts, all of which were simple chats and greetings, and no one ever mentioned anything else.This made her sometimes feel in a trance that nothing happened, she didn't confess, and she didn't need to respond; but this is not true after all, the relationship between them has changed, and Qihai Dengzi handed over the trigger to control this change in her hands.

She could have let go of the trigger, refused bluntly, and returned it to Qihai Dengzi's hands, but she was not reconciled—she liked Qihai's care and dependence on her, liked Qihai's special treatment of her, and liked the smile that Qihai only showed to her. , but these are all because Qihai Dengzi likes her-if she draws an end to this relationship, will those still be there?If you tell Qihai not to stop, it is tantamount to giving the other party expectations and killing the other party's affection. She really cannot accept such a selfish approach.

In the end, the only way in front of her was to pull the trigger.She was sure that she liked Nanami Dengzi in a way, because Nanami Dengzi was so special to her, so special that she even started to wish she had the same feelings.She just didn't know whether she was greedy for the feeling of being liked, or really liked Qi Hai.

And now, she has the answer.

Even though Qihai Dengzi has forgotten the past and no longer has the slightest affection for her, she still feels that every move of the other party is touching and lovable.

"...is this 'love'...?"

——Yes, this is "love".

Realizing this, she had mixed feelings in her heart.Sentiment and joy intertwined and rose to the top of the head. You crouched down red-faced and buried your head in your arms.

※※※

The bottom of the walnut door slid over the purple carpet and stopped just a few centimeters away from the first row of desks.Qihai Dengzi crossed the threshold and looked at the empty classroom with his head tilted. In the center of the messy desks, a brown-haired man sat on the table with his legs crossed, holding a magic wand-like licorice candy in his mouth.

Seeing her coming in, the man tore off the scarlet bow tie and pulled out a golden pocket watch from the collar of his robe: "You're late, Nanami."

"Sorry," Qihai closed the door lightly, "something happened a little bit."

"Really?" The man crushed the licorice wand with a click, and the candy stick protruding from his mouth fell to the ground.He scratched his curly hair, and spread his hands leisurely: "Then let's get started—what makes you insist on talking to me?"

"It's about the election of the chairman, Aldrich," Nanami leaned on the podium, "I have Goldstein's material."

The male prefect of Gryffindor raised his eyebrows: "Oh? What is it?"

Seven