The next day, Wen Yuncheng woke up early. She tentatively called Lin Jinyu’s communication stone. After all, she didn’t know where Lin Jinyu was and needed to confirm her location.

The communication stone was only answered after a long while. The voice on the other end was unusually soft and hoarse:

—”What is it…”

Wen Yuncheng’s ears burned, and she almost dropped the stone. Her mind went blank for a moment, then she softened her voice and asked gently, “Are you sleeping?”

Lin Jinyu actually sleeps? She wasn’t cultivating? No, more than that, thinking about the notification that the mission was completed last night, Wen Yuncheng felt increasingly guilty. This meant that Lin Jinyu cared a lot about her answer, yet she had rejected her so directly.

“It’s nothing, you can go back to sleep for a while.”

“Mm…” A weary, nasal sound came from the other end of the communication stone, followed by a period of silence. Wen Yuncheng couldn’t bring herself to end the call, but it seemed Lin Jinyu on the other side quickly woke up. She heard some rustling, and then Lin Jinyu’s voice returned to its usual cool tone: “Why the sudden call?”

“I want to have breakfast with you,” Wen Yuncheng replied. Her hand holding the communication stone was a little sweaty. Wen Yuncheng switched hands, casually wiped her right hand on her clothes, and tugged at her shirt as she said hesitantly, “And… I want to see you. I really want to see you right now.”

“…” The other end of the communication stone was filled with the sound of silent breathing, making Wen Yuncheng even more nervous. She twisted the corner of her clothes until it was wrinkled. Just as she was about to lose heart and take back her words, saying it was just a joke, Lin Jinyu spoke:

“Alright. Do you want to come to my dorm room?”

“O-Okay! I’ll be right there. You can wash up first, no need to rush…” Wen Yuncheng agreed. She only reluctantly hung up after hearing Lin Jinyu’s “mm” from the other side. She glanced at the wrinkled corner of her clothes and decided to take a shower and change before going. As long as she was quick, it would be totally fine!

[Spruce yourself up!] 1947 said. [And be a little sweeter with your words later. Even if you have to refuse something Lin Jinyu asks, be more tactful. Hesitate a little longer, don’t reject her so quickly!]

“I know, I know.” Wen Yuncheng took off her clothes and walked into the bathroom. 1947 watched as its cub instantly turned into a mosaic. It sighed. If only it were a dating-sim-type system, at least it could sense things like affection levels. But those kinds of systems have their bugs, too. Their numerical values can’t be taken as absolute judgments, only as rough estimates.

“By the way, 1947, is 100g of strawberries a little too little?” Wen Yuncheng pondered for a moment, feeling that bringing such a small amount of strawberries seemed a bit stingy. She glanced at the price list for strawberries in the points store—30 points a jin.

Cheap!

After placing the order, Wen Yuncheng asked 1947 to chill them for a bit, then quickly changed her clothes and left the dormitory.

Lin Jinyu looked at the communication stone, which had turned blue, and put it away. Then she sat on her bed in a bit of a daze. She rubbed her temples. She had actually… fallen asleep.

Lin Jinyu glanced at the guardian robot by her side and raised her hand to put the small machine into her storage ring. She stood up and went to the bathroom to wash up.

For some reason, as she thought about what Wen Yuncheng had just said, the thought arose: “Is she like this with other people, too?”

Would she also tell others she missed them and wanted to see them? Would she smile so brilliantly at others? Would she ask others to eat with her…?

Such a thought was clearly not right. Lin Jinyu composed herself and splashed cold water on her face, which finally woke her up. Looking at her reflection in the mirror, Lin Jinyu stared straight at herself, at the expressionless person on the other side, and couldn’t help but wonder: What part of her was it that attracted Wen Yuncheng?

She was clearly a failure at everything except cultivation.

The eyes of the person in the mirror dimmed, and Lin Jinyu scooped up another handful of water. She sighed as she finished her morning routine.

Wen Yuncheng… her feelings for Wen Yuncheng… was it that of a close friend? Or, or… something else?

But something else? What other possibility could there be?

I don’t know, I just don’t know… Who knows…

The thoughts receded inch by inch, and Lin Jinyu returned to her calm demeanor. She changed her clothes and walked down from her dorm room.

As soon as she looked up, she saw Wen Yuncheng standing there quietly in a white robe. The early morning sunlight that spilled on her was too dazzling.

“Lin Jinyu!” Wen Yuncheng ran over and grabbed her hand. Wen Yuncheng looked very excited, yet also a little apprehensive. Lin Jinyu’s attention, however, was instantly focused on their clasped hands. Wen Yuncheng’s hands were always so warm… Perhaps because her Star Power was of a cold nature, her body temperature was much lower than a normal person’s. Lin Jinyu silently tightened her grip on Wen Yuncheng’s hand, her mind half-listening to Wen Yuncheng’s suggestion to go to the cafeteria for breakfast.

“I thought about it for a long time last night. I’m so sorry for rejecting you so directly.” While eating breakfast, Wen Yuncheng couldn’t help but start apologizing, “I didn’t… I didn’t mean anything else by it. You really are the most important person to me. If you need me, regardless of whether I’ve graduated, regardless of where I am or what I’m doing, I will definitely come back at the first possible moment. If there’s anything I can do to help the Flowing Cloud Sect, I will certainly do it without hesitation. It’s just that I don’t think I’m suited to staying in one place. I might… I might want to go see the wider continent.”

“I know. I don’t blame you,” Lin Jinyu responded earnestly. “You don’t have to feel bad. My suggestion was too abrupt.”

“No, it wasn’t abrupt, it was me who was ungrateful…” After saying this, Wen Yuncheng was annoyed at her poor choice of words. She opened her mouth to explain, but Lin Jinyu raised her hand and placed a glass of juice, a specialty of the Starry Sky Continent, in front of her.

“Eat your breakfast. I understand what you mean.”

“…Alright.” Wen Yuncheng’s voice trailed off, and she began to eat her breakfast seriously. After she finished eating, she wiped her mouth and took out a box of chilled strawberries from her storage ring, which 1947 had helped prepare. There were 600g in total—not a huge amount, but enough for two people to share. “Try this. It’s sweet and sour.”

Lin Jinyu’s fingers were long and slender, as white as snow. When she gently picked up a strawberry, Wen Yuncheng couldn’t tell if it was the bright red strawberry that made Lin Jinyu’s fingers look so captivating, or if it was those pale, slender fingers that made the strawberry seem all the more sweet and juicy. Wen Yuncheng lowered her gaze, picked up a strawberry, and ate it. The sweet and sour juice burst on the tip of her tongue, stimulating every taste bud. She narrowed her eyes. The system’s products were always top-quality, especially the fruit.

It was just too expensive. When it came to spending points… Wen Yuncheng had always been extremely frugal.

As the two of them left the cafeteria side by side, Wen Yuncheng couldn’t let go of the question in her heart. Perhaps eating with Lin Jinyu had made her heart flutter even more, making her a bit reckless. She held Lin Jinyu’s hand and, without knowing why, suddenly blurted out, “Why do you regret breaking off the engagement?”

Wen Yuncheng clearly felt Lin Jinyu’s body stiffen as she tried to pull her hand back. She instinctively tightened her grip before quickly letting go. Realizing belatedly what she had done, her cheeks flushed in a panic. “N-no, that’s not it. I was just asking. I was… I was just making things up to scare you. I was just curious if you had any regrets, so I said that to trick you… No, no, no, I didn’t mean anything else, and I’m not being shameless, I just…”

“I do have regrets,” Lin Jinyu replied, however. At her words, Wen Yuncheng was rendered speechless. Lin Jinyu looked at Wen Yuncheng, whose moist eyes were fixed on her. She averted her gaze, not meeting Wen Yuncheng’s, and said, “Last night, I was wondering what we would be like now if the engagement had never been broken. You would have become a member of the Flowing Cloud Sect, right?”

“…Ah, maybe? But if I married you while disguised as a man, you would definitely hate and resent me, and we wouldn’t have become… friends, right?” The illusion in Wen Yuncheng’s heart shattered in an instant, but since she had considered this possibility before, she answered hesitantly. “I think Sect Master Lin would have killed me first.”

“…” It seems Wen Yuncheng is really afraid of Father, Lin Jinyu thought. If the engagement hadn’t been broken, would she have hated the person who disguised themselves as a man to marry her, making the Flowing Cloud Sect a laughingstock? If the engagement hadn’t been broken, the Wen Family would have certainly tried to cling to them. She had come to Star Academy to study, but would Wen Yuncheng have come? Or rather, would she herself have helped Wen Yuncheng get into Star Academy?

Thinking about it this way, speculating about a future where a past event had changed was too meaningless. There were too many variables, too many unknowns. I must be going crazy, Lin Jinyu thought.

“I’m sorry,” Lin Jinyu apologized.

“No, you don’t have to apologize. I sometimes wonder what would have happened if we hadn’t broken the engagement, too. But I think things are great now. Being able to meet you, get into S-Class, and be with you every year—whether it’s for birthdays, competitions, or the Beast Tide training, whatever it is—I’m very happy when I’m with you.” Wen Yuncheng rambled on. These words came from her heart. Of course, there were many more words she didn’t say out loud, such as “like,” or “love”—these “taboo” words between friends, Wen Yuncheng avoided them all.

Lin Jinyu was silent for a moment, then suddenly raised her arms. “Hug.”

“…!” Wen Yuncheng was startled. For the Little Ice Mountain to say a coquettish word like “hug” with such an expressionless face and an extremely calm voice, and to make such a gesture, was really a bit… a bit too much for the emotionally vulnerable Wen Yuncheng to handle. Her face grew redder, and she joked to deliberately hide her thoughts, “We’re so old now, why do you still want a hug? Were you moved by what I just said?” Wen Yuncheng felt that even her joking voice was trembling. She moved closer to Lin Jinyu, and before she could raise her arms, she heard Lin Jinyu say in a low voice:

“I want to hug you.”

No reason.

Wen Yuncheng’s mind buzzed, and she raised her arms to hug Lin Jinyu tightly.

It was a simple hug, but perhaps it wasn’t so simple after all. Neither of them spoke; they just silently held each other tight. Lin Jinyu might have been trying to verify something, while Wen Yuncheng was simply feeling Lin Jinyu’s body temperature, her heart pounding so fast it felt like it would leap out of her chest.

Until a sudden “ahem” was heard. Headmaster Tao Jingyun, on her way to the cafeteria for breakfast, cleared her throat with a complicated expression to remind the two little ones.

—Even if you’re about to graduate, you can’t just be hugging each other so openly on campus, can you?!