Zongman: My five senses are connected with the proud daughter of the world

Chapter 8: Love Metronome

"Whoa!"

The startled girl fell forward, and in mid-air an arm reached out from behind, hooked her waist and pulled her back, and then she fell into an embrace filled with a familiar fragrance.

The base note of the cold fragrance is an ice crystal asteroid from the depths of the starry sky. The top note is the juice oozing out of crushed edelweiss mixed with Himalayan rock salt crystals. The middle note reveals the mineral scent of thousand-year-old amber cracked at absolute zero degrees. The base note retains the subtle ionized fragrance unique to sealed ice crystals. This is something that Ying Lili is extremely familiar with. She has smelled it for more than ten years, but she can never get tired of it. She has never been able to find a unique fragrance on the market that has even a slightest similar physical feeling.

Belfast: Robot technology, isn’t it amazing?

Ying Lili struggled to break free from Jiang Lianqiu's arms in a panic and jumped down the last few steps.

"I hate that idiot Qiuqiu the most..."

Eriri turned around angrily and was about to explode when the morning light slanted in from the floor-to-ceiling window, casting a platinum-colored outline on the boy standing at the turning point of the stairs.

The dark-colored trench coat, hand-tailored in Belfast, falls to the calves, and the double-row brass buttons exude the elegance of the Victorian era in the morning light.

The narrow waistline makes the boy's tall figure look like an antique tailor's doll in the window of Burlington Arcade Street, and the dark patterned shirt collar exposed at the neckline just perfectly conceals the shadow of his Adam's apple.

When Ying Lili's eyes swept across the pocket watch on the end of the silver chain, Jiang Lianqiu just raised his hand to adjust his cuffs.

This simple movement causes the hem of the windbreaker to sway slightly, like ripples on the surface of the Thames caused by a cruise ship.

"you……"

Eriri's voice suddenly got stuck in her throat.

This childhood sweetheart, whom she had grown up with, had an enchanting face whose charm she hadn't been able to completely resist in the fifteen years since she'd grown up.

As she grew older, her figure grew taller, and her facial features became more and more three-dimensional, Ying Lili sadly discovered that her resistance to Jiang Lianqiu was showing signs of collapsing like an avalanche.

No wonder those slutty girls in school are always screaming and chasing after him. Even his childhood sweetheart can’t handle it, so who can stop those little devils out there?

"Stupid, stupid!"

Seeing Jiang Lianqiu walking down the stairs, Ying Lili suddenly covered her hot ears, and the ribbons in her golden hair slapped her cheeks as she shook her head violently.

"What the hell did Sister Beifa give you to drink? You're dressed like you're going to have afternoon tea at Buckingham Palace..."

"It was Eriri-san who said last month, 'A long trench coat would definitely look good on Qiuqiu.'"

Belfast, who had left quietly, appeared at the dining table nearby, carrying a tray of black tea.

Her fingers beneath the lace sleeves of her maid outfit lightly touched her lips. She looked at Eriri, whose face instantly blushed from ear to collarbone, and blinked her violet eyes gracefully. "Although I designed this piece myself, the style was based on Eriri-san's line drawing from half a month ago."

In fact, it was not just the design, everything about Jiang Lianqiu was done by Belfast himself.

Hidden beneath the gorgeous appearance are technological elements that combine ship girls and mechanical servants, enough to rapidly advance the current technological level of mankind for hundreds or nearly thousands of years.

"Befa!!"

The girl's humiliating scream startled the sparrows in the cherry tree outside the window.

……Dividing line……

The 1940s to 1980s were the golden age of Japanese electrical appliances, and Akihabara during that period was truly known as an electrical appliance street.

Since the 1990s, with the rise of various digital products, camera and computer stores have appeared here, and comprehensive shopping malls such as Yodobashi Camera have become landmarks.

The invasion of two-dimensional culture began in 2005.

Today, the proportion of anime and game stores here has exceeded 65%, making it the world's largest otaku holy land.

Of course, the digital product elements that once belonged to Akihabara have not been abandoned. So unlike what many people imagine, that the entire Akihabara is full of otakus, a considerable number of people in the bustling crowd here are not otakus.

even so--

"Brother Qiu, you're still too eye-catching!"

After showing her cute little fangs and scaring away countless waves of girls who were about to come and chat her up like a kitten protecting its food, Eriri rolled her eyes tiredly and glared at the boy next to her unhappily.

"Why don't you change your clothes before going out?"

"I don't want Beifa's kindness to go to waste." Jiang Lianqiu raised his chin, "Besides, I'm not afraid of being recognized by someone I know."

The island nation's systematic discrimination against otaku culture has forced most otakus to choose to disguise themselves in a low-key manner when going out to buy otaku items. Although Jiang Lianqiu will appropriately take other people's feelings into consideration, it is absolutely impossible for him to force himself to go out to buy something and worry about being recognized just for this matter.

He would never be able to do the cross-dressing thing that Eriri beside him was doing, wearing a hat to cover her signature blonde hair, and wearing a mask and black-framed glasses.

"Well, anyway, I'm going to the mall next door to buy some things. Brother Qiu, can you wait here for me?"

Ying Lili was also used to Jiang Lianqiu's behavior. When she changed the subject on the spot, her cheeks were slightly flushed even though they were covered by the mask.

Jiang Lianqiu didn't ask any further questions. He just nodded and walked into a nearby bookstore.

Seeing that Jiang Lianqiu didn't ask any questions, Ying Lili, who had been worried, finally breathed a sigh of relief and quickly ran to the shopping mall next door.

"This girl..."

Jiang Lianqiu shook his head as he walked into the bookstore.

Even if she didn't say it, Eriri's thoughts were written all over her face, and today was March 19th, and tomorrow was March 20th.

It was his and Eriri's shared birthday. The little girl called him out today, not only for a date, but also to buy him a birthday present.

Compared to Eriri, asking Befa to help prepare a gift for Eriri seems a bit too perfunctory?

Thinking of this, Jiang Lianqiu ignored the gazes that kept falling on him in the bookstore, and suddenly saw a pile of books in a corner out of the corner of his eye.

The title of the book on the cover caught his attention.

"Love Metronome Volume 1, Kasumi Shiko?"

Jiang Lianqiu frowned for a moment and then relaxed his brows. He suddenly remembered that the private Fengzhiqi College would start school in a few days.

April 4th.

By then, Eriri will be entering the first year of high school, and Kasumigaoka Utaha will naturally be promoted to the second year of high school.

In other words, it just so happens that now is the time when a certain senior girl with black stockings has just made her debut and the first volume of her novel has been released.

Chapter 9: Kasumigaoka Utaha is shocked

Japanese light novels are generally updated every three to four months.

According to the original plot, the autograph session for the second volume of Kasumigaoka Utaha was in July when she was in her second year of high school, so it is reasonable that the release date of the first volume was between March and April.

Looking at the book "Love Metronome" in the corner of the bookstore where almost no one was interested, Jiang Lianqiu walked over and picked up the trial copy with the plastic cover removed from the top of the pile for customers to read and started flipping through it.

The image of an elegant and dignified young man standing still and reading quietly is always attractive - even if he is reading a light romance novel that the mainstream academic community considers not presentable.

Many customers in the bookstore, both men and women, cast their eyes over from time to time, and some girls even hesitated whether to approach and strike up a conversation.

Jiang Lianqiu completely ignored these gazes and read the contents of the book at an extremely fast speed.

Thanks to the gradual self-repair of the starport over the years, many equipment have been reactivated. Belfast has spared no effort to comprehensively strengthen Jiang Lianqiu's body. To this day, his brain development has far exceeded the human average.

This made it look to outsiders like he was not reading the book at all, but just flipping through it randomly.

So, inevitably, a slightly dissatisfied look came over.

Kasumigaoka Utaha bit her lips tightly and looked at the boy standing by the window with mixed feelings.

It has been a while since the novel was released. Although the editor, Sonoko Machida, secured very good newcomer recommendation resources for her, the sales of her debut work are still not good.

This made Kasumigaoka Utaha inevitably depressed. In recent days, she would occasionally go to bookstores where her novels were sold, wanting to see how many people would buy her works.

Naturally, "Love Metronome" is basically ignored in major bookstores.

Just like today—until she was pleasantly surprised to find that a fairy-like beautiful boy actually took the initiative to pick up the trial copy of her work.

Then, Jiang Lianqiu's behavior of "randomly flipping through books" made Kasumigaoka Utaha's heart, which had just been lifted up, fall to the bottom of the valley.

(Is it really that unsightly?)

After shaking her legs in annoyance, Kasumigaoka Utaha was about to turn around and leave when she suddenly heard someone say, "That's quite interesting."

"?"

Turning her head in surprise, Kasumigaoka Utaha looked at Jiang Lianqiu with suspicion with her beautiful wine-red eyes. Jiang Lianqiu had already turned to the last page, slowly closed the book, picked up a copy of the book for sale that had not been opened by plastic wrap, and was about to go to the cashier.

After paying the bill, Jiang Lianqiu looked up and saw Kasumigaoka Utaha staring at him not far away.

He had sensed this gaze a long time ago, but there were so many eyes on him in the store that Jiang Lianqiu didn't pay attention to it at first.

When their eyes met, Jiang Lianqiu's expression paused slightly, and then he recognized his senior.

Long straight black hair with a white headband, beautiful burgundy eyes. Although it is a white dress as a casual wear, the long black silk legs under the skirt are as shiny as Eriri's golden twintails, so iconic that they can almost be patented.

So, he ran into the author himself?

Kasumigaoka Utaha glanced away in panic, but she was really curious about whether Jiang Lianqiu was reading the content seriously while flipping through the book in a seemingly random manner.

After pursing her lips several times, the girl saw Jiang Lianqiu waving the shopping bag in his hand at her, and his eyes pointed at the pile of books not far away.

“This is a well-written book.”

What made Kasumigaoka Utaha laugh and cry was that just this one sentence actually made many girls who had been secretly paying attention to Jiang Lianqiu take the initiative to run and pick up their own "Love Metronome"...

She hopes that her works will be read by more people, but using this method always gives her a sense of frustration that even if she wins, it is no different from failure.

"Can you tell it's well-written just by flipping through it a few times?"

Kasumigaoka Utaha blurted out subconsciously.

"I read it seriously." Jiang Lianqiu walked out of the bookstore slowly with shopping bags, and Kasumigaoka Utaha followed him unknowingly.

"It's clear the author has great ambitions. Although it's a light romance novel, the writing style, wording, and structure all show signs of moving towards traditional literature. Also..."

The suspicious look in Kasumigaoka Utaha's eyes disappeared, replaced by deep surprise and shock.

The young man next to him, who was half a head taller than him, actually made extremely sharp and even spicy comments on the content of the first volume of his novel.

Not only did he easily reveal the foreshadowings he had carefully conceived, but he also accurately pointed out the various shortcomings. In just a few words, Kasumigaoka Utaha had to admit that Jiang Lianqiu had really thoroughly understood the first volume of "Love Metronome".

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have doubted you."

Kasumigaoka Utaha apologized to Jiang Lianqiu with some shame.

"This is Kasumigaoka Utaha, a second-year student at the Private Fengzhiqi Academy."

"That's my senior." Jiang Lianqiu said with a smile, "Jiang Lianqiu, you will be a first-year student in a few days."

(Although I didn't have to go to school at all.)

(But who could blame Befa for insisting that, for my own mental and physical health, I couldn't stay home all the time?)

"My dear little master, although Befa knows you possess a mature soul and mind, science has proven that a person's mental state is definitely affected by their physical development and hormone levels. This was proven earlier when I took you back to Starport for a comprehensive physical examination. Therefore, please continue to do what a child of your age should do normally."

——At that time, Beifa successfully convinced Jiang Lianqiu with a thick pile of scientific data.

Getting back to the point, knowing that the other party would soon become her junior, and considering Jiang Lianqiu's comments on "Love Metronome" just now, Kasumigaoka Utaha felt a little more familiar with the person in front of her.

The strangeness on her face melted away a little, a faint smile appeared on the corner of her mouth, and Kasumigaoka Utaha raised her hand to smooth the wind-blown hair by her ear: "So Qiu-jun is still my junior?"

"By the way, Qiu Jun really hasn't read this book before?"

In any case, flipping through a book randomly doesn't seem like it would allow one to have such a detailed understanding of the book's contents.

"I don't need to—"

“Brother Qiu!!!”

Before Jiang Lianqiu finished speaking, he heard Ying Lili's crisp voice behind him, and then his arms were tightly hugged by the girl who ran over from behind.

Chapter 10: The five senses are activated simultaneously, Yunqi Suchang!

He stepped forward, folded his arms, raised his head, and threatened with his eyes.