Summer was over, but life went on.

Cha Na was depressed for three or four days before she was forcefully dragged out of the house by her boyfriend who couldn't bear to see her like this. It was true that she didn't really know what had happened based on the email correspondence, but her unique way of judging emotions between girls told her that there must be something wrong with Cha Na's unexplained silence.

"But I didn't expect it to be a relationship problem."

After listening to the narration (the key information was blurred out), Erlang sighed.

Cha Na glanced at her from the corner of her eyes. After a long while, she let out a long sigh and knocked her forehead on the coffee table. When she spoke again, her voice sounded a little muffled, "I'm really useless …"

"You … can't say that."

Compared to Setsuna, who thought too much, Erlang was straightforward and went straight to the point. She twirled the long string on her earring with one hand, tilted her head, and thought for a while, "Speaking of this, it's still a relationship between two people. You can't maintain it alone."

Her words made sense. Setsuna was instantly speechless. She made a decision because she was worried. Even if she racked her brains, it would be a waste of effort if Erlang didn't appreciate it.

"Also, it probably has something to do with a man's self-esteem."

Finally letting go of her ears, Erlang spread her hands, "My girlfriend got in, but I dragged her down or something."

"Wait a minute, I'm not in that kind of relationship with Xin Cao Kun??!!"

After all the fuss, she finally forced Erlang to accept the fact that the man who made her lose her appetite was not her ex-boyfriend. Although Erlang still looked skeptical, she changed the topic smoothly, "Anyway, regardless of whether he's your ex-boyfriend (no, he's really not my ex-boyfriend).

Or was it an ex-friend or something? Compared to this kind of unsolvable puzzle, there were a lot of things that could be done, right?

What are your plans for the rest of the summer vacation? "

Exhausted by the word "ex-boyfriend", Setsuna just wanted to stay away from this dangerous topic, so she said, "It's just a normal job. I don't care about anything recently … Ah, but I might move at the end of the month."

"Eh?

Why?

His parents' job transfer? "Subconsciously, he gave the most likely guess.

"That's not it."

Hearing such a normal response, Cha Na actually felt a little touched. "School is about to start, so I'm planning to move to an apartment that's closer to the school. I live alone for various reasons," she added when she noticed the curious gaze of the young man.

In fact, it wasn't that the family matters couldn't be explained clearly. It was just that years after the incident, when it was brought up again, it would become too lazy to talk about it.

Setsuna wasn't a masochist who liked to stab herself in the heart for no reason. If she didn't have to mention it, she would just gloss over it.

Although some things were earth-shattering to her, it wasn't rare in the world. In the end, it was just a sentence, not enough to tell others.

"Well …" Fortunately, Erlang wasn't really ignorant. He dispelled his curiosity, "But it's troublesome to move alone, right? If you need anything, just call me."

"Mhmm —" Although it wasn't troublesome for her to move through space with the help of a little modern transportation, she still had to accept his kindness. Setsuna nodded with a smile, "Okay, sorry to trouble you, Xiangxiang."

The matter should have ended satisfactorily here. However, one day after this conversation, Setsuna, who happened to meet Midaya in the business street, inadvertently mentioned this matter. Therefore, Midaya, who was happily discussing with her about the upper limit of the cardboard box a second ago, instantly exploded into a firework in the sky.

"Does that mean you want her to come to the house?

But Chisaki's house isn't — "

The second half of the sentence was automatically silenced. Midaya Dehisa was at a loss for what to do for a long time, but he couldn't find a follow-up that could save the sentence.

Setsuna watched for three or four seconds, and finally couldn't bear to see her classmate degenerate into a humanoid ape who only knew how to use body language, "I think it's probably okay … If you're still worried, Midaya Kun, do you want to come with me?" Anyway, one more person to help clean up the room didn't make much of a difference.

Then he really came.

On the day of moving, Setsuna sealed dozens of cardboard boxes with tape early in the morning. She met two friends who came to help at the door of her house. After getting to know each other, they got on the moving company's car together and went to the new house.

Erlang's attitude towards Midaya was much friendlier than he was towards the Ascending Ringing. Even if they didn't talk about their personalities, Midaya didn't almost cause her to drop out of the exam.

Plus, she had a tomboyish personality. Even though Midaya Dehisa wasn't good at dealing with girls, when they got out of the car, they didn't know each other very well.

Even though they didn't know each other well, Midaya Dehisa still remembered what he was there for. As soon as he got out of the car, he grabbed the box containing the memorial tablet and ran upstairs like a wisp of smoke. After that, he personally helped to tidy up the box, trying to keep this seemingly unreasonable girl away from this strange object.

However, there were too many people and too many hands. When he returned, he saw Erlang squatting in front of the opened box in a daze. Setsuna was still washing in the kitchen. She didn't notice the momentary pause in the air.

The sound of running water was endless in the kitchen. In the living room, the two people looked at each other quietly with less than half a meter apart. Midaya Dehisa moved his fingers and suddenly felt that his throat was a little dry.

Then he saw Erlang winking at him and revealing a faint smile.

Hyōka Erlang had an overly refreshing hairstyle and cold three supercilious eyes. Due to the limitations of his appearance, even if he occasionally smiled, he had a fierceness and handsomeness that many boys couldn't compare to. However, at this moment, Midaya clearly felt that there was something else.

He saw Erlang quietly make a shushing gesture and gently reseal the box. Then he walked past him briskly and headed towards the busy figure in the kitchen. His tone was as casual as usual.

"Setsuna — the living room is probably done. Are there any more boxes to unpack?"

His tone was so familiar. Who would have thought that they had only known each other for half a month?

Midaya Dehisa stared at the cardboard box that was placed in the same place as the other boxes for a long time. Suddenly, he felt a little amused and inexplicably moved.

This was completely different from the feeling he had when he watched Ormet's video. There was no surging blood or overwhelming impact, but it was also undeniable and lasting.

Perhaps there is a word called fate in the world, and it's not so common that it can be seen everywhere.

…

…

…

In fact, it was not very difficult to clean the single apartment, not to mention that there were two helpers. The moment they finished cleaning, they looked at the sky and felt that they should go out for a meal. Maybe they could come back and say hello to their neighbors.

She then forcibly dragged the two people who had helped her and planned to treat them to a family restaurant to express her gratitude. However, as soon as she stepped out of the house, she heard a noise from the door next door.

Soon, the door opened and a girl with brown bobbed hair walked out from behind the door. She had a round face and big eyes. She was petite and very cute.

Before Setsuna could say anything, Midaya, who was beside her, was so shocked that he almost fell down the stairs. His dumbfounded expression and the tea-haired girl who was also staring at him with widened eyes reflected each other's beauty. The two of them pointed at each other, and the voices of the young man and the girl pierced the sky at the same time.

"— It's that person from the exam!!"

Silence.

An eerie silence.

"… I'll say …"

Finally, the savior of the atmosphere, Hyōka Erlang, who was more straightforward than a straight man, spoke.

"We're going to find a place to eat. Shall we?"

The matter was settled just like that.

Everyone expressed their agreement, except for Midaya Dehisa. As mentioned before, he was not good at dealing with girls. At this moment, he was surrounded by three girls of different styles and high standards as they walked into the family restaurant. He was instantly buried under the various meaningful looks from the single dogs. God knew that he had never even held a girl's hand in the first fifteen years of his life. He was really wronged.

Of course, the three girls did not have the time to care about whether he was wronged or not. At this moment, they were happily introducing themselves. The tea-haired girl was Sunny Day Misako. She was an inspirational girl who left her hometown to study alone in the Sunyoung. She had a strong personality and was the main hero who stopped Midaya Dehisa in the exam and made him become a cripple instead of bravely challenging the Three-Way Creek.

Erlang did not have any friends in the other exam halls, so it was the first time he heard of Midaya's feat. After exclaiming in amazement, he scanned Midaya's body from head to toe like an X-ray.

Midaya, who was being scanned, was speechless.

He felt as if he was sitting on pins and needles.

Seeing that her classmate was about to burn to ashes due to shame, Setsuna was the first to feel compassion. Among the three of them present, she knew Midaya's usual style the best. He really needed a long time to think before he spoke to a girl. Therefore, she led the conversation to the other exam halls. The second half of the conversation was naturally within the scope of the discussion. Therefore, the one who exclaimed in amazement this time was Sunny Day. Although she looked cute, she was also somewhat hot-blooded. When she heard something exciting, she could not help but wave her fists a few times, wishing that she could experience the day's events herself.

Midaya secretly heaved a sigh of relief. Halfway through, he met Setsuna's smiling gaze across the table. Her gaze was clearly gentle and had a hint of warmth, but it went straight to the bottom of one's heart.

"No matter what happened in the past …"

She said slowly, her voice almost drowned out by the passionate discussion of the two people beside her. Deep in her blue eyes, there was a twinkle of light, like the bright stars in the night sky.

"Right now, I'm still very happy."

Midaya was stunned. He did not know why, but the stone in his heart finally fell to the ground.

He stared at the classmate in front of him, who had always been a little distant. Her eyes, which he usually had a vague impression of, gradually became clearer in his field of vision. It was so familiar that he could remember it even if he closed his eyes.

"… Yes, me too."