“Are you saying that after I finish eating, I have to go back to Tsukiyuki Rio?” Gao Sijin lowered his head.
When he first woke up at his aunt’s house, he had thought it was all a nightmare—that in reality, he was still free, that even if life wasn’t necessarily happy, he at least had the right to choose his own path.
But in the end, the hometown he was in now was the real dream. The stark contrast made Gao Sijin sigh involuntarily.
“I’m sorry.”
Very tiny words appeared on the fan. If they had been spoken aloud, they would have been soft as a mosquito’s buzz.
Her exquisitely refined features hardly changed, but Qin Xin expressed her emotions mostly through her eyes. Those mournful eyes held a deep, profound melancholy.
“How could I ever blame you?” Gao Sijin said gently. “I’m already so grateful that you let me come back to visit home after all this time. It’s just a pity you won’t tell me your name. That’s a little regretful.”
“For now, just call me Qin Xin. A name is only a label anyway, it doesn’t matter what you call me. What’s important is that our hearts understand each other.”
Gazing at the breathtakingly beautiful silver-haired girl in front of him, Gao Sijin was reminded of the heroine from his own story. The two were just too similar.
It was a bit of a shame that Gao Sijin couldn’t hear Qin Xin’s voice.
If she could speak, her voice would surely be as ethereal and pure as an oriole’s song.
“Qin Xin, you said that after I finish breakfast, I have to return to Tsukiyuki Rio. What if I don’t finish breakfast? Would I be able to avoid going back?” Gao Sijin looked at Qin Xin, who was wearing black knee-high socks and gently swinging her slender legs.
“If Jin’er doesn’t want to go back, he could stay. But I don’t really recommend it.” The folding fan opened again, elegant Chinese characters appearing in ink. “Staying too long in the spirit realm will make you merge with it, and you’ll never be able to return to reality.”
The world inside the mirror could only serve as a temporary refuge, not as Doraemon’s Anywhere Door.
More words appeared:
“You could say this place is something like the middle ground between the living and the departed spirits.”
“I was thinking too wishfully…” Gao Sijin hung his head.
Staying forever in the mirrored world, never able to return to reality.
That would mean never seeing his family again, and even all traces of him being alive would be completely erased.
“Try the cream stew.” Qin Xin wore a serene, faint smile.
She was slow, deliberate, and elegantly poised. Her Lolita dress, covered in black lace ribbons, gave her a dreamlike, unreal air. When she ate, she never showed her teeth, chewing carefully with her cherry lips. Her soft, straight silver hair shimmered like starlight and a cold moon, like a young lady from an impressionist painting of nobility.
Taking a spoonful of the cream stew’s broth, Gao Sijin found its appearance wasn’t particularly appealing, but the flavor was rich and deep. At least whoever had made it was not some culinary idiot from an anime who mixed up sugar and salt.
“How does it taste?”
A somewhat anxious cursive script appeared on the fan.
“It’s delicious.”
Qin Xin visibly relaxed. Her fine, beautiful eyebrows slowly eased, and the corners of her moist lips curled up.
“Eat a little more, Jin’er.”
Gao Sijin offered her a gentle smile.
Judging by the way she addressed him, she must have shared a deep bond with him in the past. According to Yu Qingxue, his first love had been during middle school, when he had fallen in love with a girl named Gu Xiarui.
Last time at the old school building, the scene that transported him into the mirrored world was exactly the middle school he had attended back then. In fact, Gao Sijin was ninety percent certain that Qin Xin was Gu Xiarui. But to actually call her Gu Xiarui, he would have to wait until his memories fully returned.
For now, Gao Sijin preferred to interact with her as if they were meeting for the first time.
“Once I’m full, maybe I can finally escape from Rio’s clutches. Even if it’s just for survival, I have to eat well.”
Qin Xin nodded in agreement.
She ate very little, giving the impression that she didn’t even need food at all.
There were many things Gao Sijin wanted to ask her: why she was in the mirrored world, whether she was human or a spirit, and just how he could meet her again.
But the words reached his lips, and he swallowed them back down.
It was better not to disturb this long-lost tranquility. Besides, sometimes ignorance was a kind of bliss.
Looking around this cozy house, his former home was filled with far too many things he couldn’t bear to part with.
“Even if you have to force yourself, try to be happy.”
After finishing her meal, Qin Xin stood up and opened her fan.
“I will be happy. Don’t worry.”
Somehow, Gao Sijin felt deeply cared for by her.
Soon enough, Gao Sijin finished eating as well. He wanted to stack the dishes and carry them to the sink, but Qin Xin shook her head.
“Let me do it. Jin’er’s time is up.”
She gently tapped Gao Sijin’s forehead with her closed fan. Immediately, the light around them began to fade. She waved at him, her mouth opening to say something.
It was Chinese.
Only, because she had no tongue, she could not make a sound. He could only read her lips.
—Bye-bye!
The light disappeared.
In its place was the quiet darkness of night.
No, it wasn’t night.
His head was wrapped in Tsukiyuki Rio’s black kimono. The soft mounds against his chest gave off an alluring fragrance, and it was these that had blinded Gao Sijin’s eyes.
The familiar, practiced sound of chopping vegetables echoed beside his ears. Chop, chop.
Gao Sijin twisted his body, pulling himself free from Tsukiyuki Rio’s embrace despite the red hemp rope and handcuffs binding him.
It was already morning.
The morning dew was slightly cool, and the sun had not yet fully risen.
“Good morning, Gao-kun.”
Tsukiyuki Rio opened her dark crimson eyes. Her smile was like a flower, but also like a twisted monster.
If her black kimono was the petal of a man-eating flower, then Tsukiyuki Rio’s snow-white skin was its pistil, mercilessly sucking away Gao Sijin’s nutrients.
Even though he resisted, it was useless.
Tsukiyuki Rio suddenly pushed Gao Sijin beneath her and forcefully kissed his lips, her gaze dark and oppressive, as if trying to claim him as her own.
“Rio, it’s morning now. Just what is this game you mentioned?”
“The Hunting Game, of course.” Tsukiyuki Rio said it as though it were nothing at all. “First, I’ll stand here, close my eyes, and give Gao-kun ten minutes to run away. Once the time is up, I’ll start chasing Gao-kun until I catch him again. If Gao-kun can escape from me, then he can have a life of freedom.”
“Can I really get away?”
“If Gao-kun tries hard, maybe there’s a chance.” Tsukiyuki Rio gently wrapped her arms around Gao Sijin’s head. “But I know very well that deep down inside, Gao-kun actually prefers to be caught by me. So no matter how hard Gao-kun tries, in the end, he will always fall into my palm.”
Gao Sijin knew he couldn’t escape, because he knew perfectly well that Tsukiyuki Rio would never take any risk that might let him go.
He let out a dejected sigh.
His heart felt utterly suppressed.
