Endless Silver Machine

During lunch time, several people from Shimozuki Academy had already decided to return to the neutral area tomorrow.

After leaving Shimozuki Academy for such a long time, I will definitely face all kinds of curiosities when I return. Aika has a headache just thinking about it.

In fact, he had received many text messages about similar issues, but Aika chose to ignore them all.

In the afternoon, Aika returned to her room to take a nap. The two most important things were finally solved, and my body lost strength as soon as I relaxed.

Bathed in the afternoon sunlight shining through the window on the table, Aika lay lazily on the desk and took a nap.

Intermittent knocking on the door urged him to wake up from his light sleep.

"Aika, are you there?"

Ling's voice came from outside the door, and Aika stood up and opened the door for her.

"doing what?"

Over Aika's shoulder, she looked into the house.

"sleep."

“No wonder I’ve been knocking on the door for so long and there’s no response.”

"Have you been waiting for a long time?"

"It's been about ten minutes or so."

"Sorry, I was just too tired, so I just closed my eyes for a while." Aika stepped away from the door and opened it, "Aren't you coming in?"

If Ling hadn't come to him because of something unspeakable, Ling wouldn't have hesitated to walk into the room, so Aika guessed that she might have something to say to herself that she couldn't talk about.

She had already thanked everyone when she was downstairs. There was no reason for her to thank her, because boys would have all kinds of inconveniences when taking care of her, so Luoluo and Wei Xi had to worry about it. However, Aika accepted her thanks.

"Uh-huh."

After being reminded by Aika, Ling noticed that it was very unnatural for him to be standing at the door.

Aika didn't have the habit of locking the door, not in the caretaker's cabin but here as well.

"You just woke up, haven't you gotten used to it yet?"

Seeing Ling looking around as if he had come to this room for the first time, Aika made a joke.

"No, I've been here once before..." She turned around briskly, looked at Aika, and put her hands behind her back, "Well... I have something to ask you."

"Well, as long as it's not some weird questions."

Ling likes to get into trouble with what Aika said, so sometimes Aika doesn't know how to answer her questions.

"Strange question?"

"It's nothing, just go on."

If you encounter this kind of problem, just stay silent. After spending so much time with Ling, he has learned how to avoid dangerous topics.

"Um..." Ling's fingers intertwined behind her back. Of course, from Aika's point of view, she didn't know, "When I was injured, you seemed to have very dangerous thoughts, didn't you?"

"Huh? You mean..."

"Ah, this is just a random guess on my part!" Seeing Aika's confused eyes, Ling hurriedly waved her hands back and forth in front of her chest, "I heard from Xiaoyin that your expression was very scary at that time. Could it be that you wanted to avenge me? ...something like that..."

Ling secretly looked at Aika from the corner of her eye. She probably didn't want to ask Aika such a thing face to face, but she just wouldn't know if she didn't ask, and she just wanted to know.

It's not that Aika has forgotten the emotions he felt at that time, it's just that he couldn't confess them in front of him.

"I was just a little angry. I thought about things like revenge... but after calming down, I just thought that you wouldn't want me to do such a thing for you."

Because she was the one who asked Ling to give up revenge, Aika didn't want Ling to know that she was not qualified to preach to her.

"Of course I wouldn't want that kind of thing. But, have you really ever had such an idea..."

Ling's face turned red, but she immediately shook her head and looked at Aika again.

"Aika, I don't want to keep beating around the bush, so I'll talk to you here."

"Isn't it a strange thing?"

Being looked at by Ling with such serious eyes, Aika had a very bad feeling in her heart.

"No, she...I will ask you this question sooner or later, so it doesn't matter a little earlier."

"... Just tell me."

I don't know if the "her" that Ling just mentioned was a slip of the tongue. Aika didn't think about it for the time being. It probably refers to someone around her.

In other words, Ling was not the only one in front of him who wanted to answer this question. Aika couldn't think of what was so important.

This statement is not entirely accurate. In fact, he had already noticed it, but he hoped that such questions would not arise for the time being, because he simply could not answer them.

Especially when the two of them are alone.

"Date with me."

Ling folded her slender fingers on her chest, clearly expressing her deepest hope.

"Eh?"

Aika's entire brain stopped thinking. So is this what “don’t want to beat around the bush” means? Such direct words are more difficult to deal with than the questions waiting to be answered.

He had no idea that Ling would make such a request of him, thinking that Ling was just here to ask whether his mood had changed or something like that.

Aika couldn't tell for a while whether Ling was joking or because...

"I was serious."

Her eyes didn't waver at all.

This small space became silent. Aika could even hear the sound of her heart beating rapidly, and Ling must have been the same.

"Ling, you are..."

"Don't change the subject. Answer me now."

Ling interrupted Aika's words to stall for time, took a step forward, and forced Aika to the door.

Aika has no way to escape, Ling is right in front of him, and the only answers he can give are "good" and "bad".

Ling stared into Aika's eyes without flinching. Her cheeks had turned red and her legs were trembling, but Aika could not escape from her.

One second seems like a long day.

I don't know how much time passed, but the two of them stayed in this posture and looked at each other.

Finally, Ling withdrew her leaning body and smiled, but that smile was undoubtedly tainted with shadows.

"...If I say this, how are you going to reply to me? If I don't give you time to think, will you reply to me now?"

This was the result she expected. Aika would not give a reply. This indecisive boy could not give a reply on the spot.

"I went a little too far. I'm probably not qualified as a 'family member.'"

"No...that..."

Aika desperately searched for words. He knew that his attitude just now not only embarrassed himself, but also embarrassed Ling who asked for a relationship.

But there was no way to answer the question, and his attitude was clearly rejecting Ling.

"Do you like Luo Luo?"

"……I have no idea."

Is my feeling for Luo Luo similar to that of Ling, who wants to be someone I can date and have a relationship with? Aika was really confused at this moment.

He wants to be with Luo Luo all the time, he wants to be with Ling all the time, he wants to be with Wei Xi all the time, he wants to be with everyone all the time. He wants to fix the current time and stay at the moment when everyone is together forever.

Putting this idea together in front of him, then his feelings for everyone are the same "like".

"Really...I'm sorry, my question is indeed a bit excessive." Ling knew Aika's attitude towards this kind of question from his expression, "But I still want to say it for her, 'You are such a scumbag.'"

Aika couldn't refute that maybe he was indeed a scumbag for having such extravagant desires.

Ling must have told this fact on behalf of Luoluo. Because Luoluo would not say such words to herself, Ling said it on her behalf, and this was also Ling's own voice.

"I'm a little disappointed, but the 'dating' was originally proposed as a joke, so it didn't have a big impact. Although the result can't be said to be good, it can't be said to be bad either."

She was lying to herself. Aika didn't think that the serious look in her eyes could be faked with a joking attitude.

But in fact, he was the one who let her down, so he was unable to expose Ling's lies, and on this basis, he was punished even more.

"Forget about this problem now. For me, it's a little too impatient..."

Ling walked past Aika with brisk steps and put her hand on the doorknob.

"Before dinner, I have to forget all about my coming here, remember?"

She didn't wait for Aika's answer, turned around and closed the door, leaving him alone.

…………

At dinner time, the atmosphere at the table has changed a lot compared to the previous few days. The scene of everyone gathering here must feel like it happened a long time ago.

Sure enough, Ling didn't mention what happened in Aika's room in the afternoon at all, and treated him as usual. Aika also rethought the unanswered questions while staying alone in the room.

As for the conclusion, he still couldn't think of a suitable answer in the end, so he simply "forgot" the matter according to Ling's request.

If you answer, someone else will get hurt. There is no best-of-both-worlds approach, that’s just the reality.

On the last night of staying at Liuyin's mansion, Liuyin tried to take the ownership of Weixi from Cocona's hands, which eventually led to the three of them sleeping together.

Ling couldn't stand Luoluo's stubbornness and agreed to spend the night in her room.

Shun Ben wanted to take advantage of the atmosphere to discuss something with Aika, but before that, Aika locked the door of his room.

Except for some emotional problems, all other problems have been solved, and Aika leaned back on the chair with relief.

After returning to Shimozuki Academy, life can get back on track. Aika hopes to maintain the status quo without incident until she graduates.

It would be nice if I could have a dream like this tonight...

…………