Am I a Kamen Rider or the real young master who was switched at birth?

Ye Yang leaned against the edge of the karaoke machine, arms crossed, tilting his head to look at Lin Xingran with the expression of a detective solving a case.

A brief silence fell over the private room.

The rotating light bulb was still spinning on the ceiling, and colorful spots of light were still slowly sweeping across everyone's faces.

The instrumental track for "Small Town Girl" had already finished playing, and the background music automatically switched to the next unknown piece of light music, but no one turned it off.

Lin Xingran broke the silence first. She gave a dry laugh, which sounded like it was forced out of her throat.

"Haha—haha—haha. I was just joking, Ye Yang. You actually dared to agree. Ye Yang, that joke of yours is hilarious. You're my idol—haha—how could you possibly be my idol?"

"If you're my idol, then when I listen to that song on repeat every night, wouldn't I be hearing my brother's voice? And when I sang 'Sunny Day' off-key in front of you just now, was the original singer sitting right there watching me sing off-key?"

Han Shuang cautiously tugged at Lin Xingran's sleeve and said in a voice she had never used before, "Um—Xingran—look at Ye Yang's expression."

Lin Xingran looked up at Ye Yang. Ye Yang was looking at her like she was an idiot.

He tilted his head, his arms crossed over his chest, the collar of his magenta shirt gleaming faintly in the light of the rotating disco ball.

He stood there next to the karaoke machine, looking at Lin Xingran without saying a word, but his expression conveyed a thousand unspoken words.

Lin Xingran's brain finally completed the integration and processing of all the information.

Her mouth slowly opened into a perfectly standard "O" shape, her eyes widened at a visible speed, and her pupils contracted violently under the reflection of the rotating light ball.

Then she let out a scream that could shatter the glass of the private room, sprang up from the sofa, grabbed Ye Yang's arm, and began to shake him violently:

"Ye Yang—you! You—you! My idol! You're my idol! Why didn't you say so sooner! I sang your songs in front of you—I even told you those love stories made up in the comments section—were you secretly laughing your head off?!"

"You were in the next room when we left you messages online saying we wanted to hear new songs! You saw all those comments!"

Han Shuang let out a scream that was even higher than when she was singing.

She sprang up from the sofa and sprinted towards Ye Yang at top speed, shouting:

"You're actually that online singer! Do you know how much effort I put into uncovering your identity?! I downloaded lossless versions of every single song you ever released. I listened to 'Ten Years' at least a thousand times! I can even recite every single breath you took in the lyrics!"

Lin Xingran reacted even faster than when she was ambushed by her instructor on the training field.

She was still holding onto Ye Yang's arm with one hand, while her other hand had already reached out and pressed down on Han Shuang's face as if by reflex.

His palm covered Han Shuang's lips, which were painted with light pink lip gloss, blocking Ye Yang's rapidly approaching face from within a fist's distance.

"Get lost! Don't you dare kiss my idol! I warned you last time when you said you wanted to date my brother—don't you hear me! And now he's my idol!"

"Double identity! Double protection! If you dare kiss him, I'll use my fire control magic to turn your hair into an afro!!!"

Han Shuang struggled to speak, but her mouth was pressed down firmly by Lin Xingran's palm, and she could only utter a series of indistinct syllables.

Then she reached out and pulled her mouth out from between Lin Xingran's fingers, shouting in an extremely unwilling tone:

"But you can't have him all to yourself! He's the young master of the Lin family, a Kamen Rider, and an online singer all at once. In a novel, that's the perfect protagonist! I'd risk my life to take a picture with him today!"

Then the two of them started rolling around on the sofa.

Zhou Zhi put down her tea and stood up gracefully. Her moon-white cheongsam with subtle patterns gleamed warmly under the soft lighting of the private room, and the silver pestle brooch at her neckline shone slightly in the light of the rotating bulb.

She took a soft breath and then said gently:

"I listen to it occasionally, especially the song 'Blue and White Porcelain'—my grandfather also likes it very much. He said the lyrics are more elaborate than his prescriptions."

"I told him that the singer never shows his face online, and he guessed he was probably a disciple of some reclusive master, saying that someone who could write lyrics like that would have to be at least thirty years old with experience. And then you—"

As she spoke, she suddenly realized that she might have said too much. She coughed lightly, sat back down on the sofa, and picked up her teacup to cover her slightly reddened ears.

Han Shuang finally broke free from Lin Xingran's clutches, then sprang up from the sofa and announced in an extremely solemn tone:

"I've made up my mind—I'm going to tell my dad when I get back that the Han and Lin families must form a marriage alliance! Anyone who tries to stop me will have to fight me! Before, I just thought Ye Yang was kind of cute and wanted to have him as my boyfriend for fun—but now he's my idol!"

"How can you call it 'playing around' when you're idolizing someone? This is a lifelong commitment! I'll have my dad prepare the betrothal gifts and send them to the Lin family tomorrow! You can choose any of the latest energy weapons from the Han family's arsenal!"

Lin Xingran sprang up from the sofa, then put her hands on her hips, standing in front of Ye Yang like a mother hen protecting her chicks.

Her burgundy short hair was completely disheveled from the fight, making her look like a lion that had been provoked.

"No way! I don't agree! Your Han family lives far away from the Lin family—the military supply line from your house to my house passes through several military regions. What's the difference between that and a long-distance relationship!"

"Besides, Han Shuang, you have such a volatile temper. Last time at the autumn ball, you knocked over the waiter's tray. What if you get into a fight with my brother and you hit him?!"

Han Shuang retorted, unconvinced, saying that Ye Yang could transform into a Kamen Rider and kill a Silent Beast with a single punch, and that she couldn't beat him.

Lin Xingran was stunned for a moment, then said that wouldn't work either. Every line you recorded when Ye Yang sang was sung by him. If you were with him, wouldn't you be able to listen to private concerts for free every day? That's too unfair.

Lin Yumin sat on the sofa, turned her phone sideways, and watched the video she had just recorded again.

She didn't participate in the chaos in the sofa area; she was simply checking the integrity of the video.

Excellent, not a single second was missed from beginning to end, with clear sound quality and stable picture.

She saved the video to an encrypted album, then looked up with a faint smile on her lips.

"Ye Yang, have you ever considered holding a concert? Our school is currently preparing for student recruitment and we need to find some celebrities with high public profiles to perform."

"Among the current pool of potential guests, none of them can make Lin Xingran and Han Shuang sit on the ground screaming at the same time. If you go, you'll be the first performance guest in the history of the military academy to make all the female students skip class at the same time."

"Moreover, the appearance fee from the admissions office, combined with the school's promotional channels, will allow more people to hear your great songs that have been buried online for a long time. You just need to stand on stage and sing; the security will be handled by me and the Han family."

Before Ye Yang could answer, Lin Xingran had already jumped up from the sofa and took over the conversation in an extremely excited tone:

"Yes, yes, yes! Our school puts on a big show every year during the admissions season. Last year, we invited a retired awakened person to perform dismantling armor, and the year before, we invited an old writer of war literature to recite."

"Just imagine—Kamen Rider Decade singing on a military academy stage! Isn't that a shock enough?! Just imagining this scene makes me think the recruitment brochures would be snapped up like crazy!"

"And let me tell you, we have a lot of your fans at our school! Our class group chat was already discussing it when you sang 'Sunny Day'!"

Ye Yang leaned against the karaoke machine, watching the chaos in the sofa area caused by his words.

Han Shuang was still talking about the marriage alliance, and Lin Xingran was still saying "No means no." Zhou Zhi held a teacup with a smile on her lips, but her eyes kept glancing in his direction.

He suddenly realized that revealing the truth tonight might be a mistake.

This group of scions of prominent families, who usually appear respectable in public and are praised by their instructors as "calm and reliable" at military academy, have now turned into a completely out-of-control fan meeting.

Throughout the chaos, Lin Ying remained quietly seated on the sofa.

She placed the hot cocoa cup on her lap, holding the cup with both hands, her knuckles slightly white.

Her silvery-white eyelashes fluttered gently under the colorful light spots of the rotating light ball, but her light gray eyes no longer held their usual quiet gentleness.

When Han Shuang mentioned the marriage alliance, her fingers tightened very slightly on the side of the cup.

When Lin Yumin suggested that Ye Yang hold a concert at the military academy, Lin Ying had already begun to imagine the scene in her mind.

Imagine a giant stage where the person she secretly listens to every night from under the covers stands, and thousands of eyes below the stage are watching him, just like she is watching him now.

She suddenly stood up from the sofa. She walked through the people still arguing in the sofa area and stood in front of Ye Yang.

Then her foot tripped very, very slightly at the edge of the stage, and she fell towards Ye Yang.

Ye Yang instinctively reached out and supported her shoulder.

Lin Ying leaned into Ye Yang's arms, her long, silvery-white hair cascading over his arm, her breath gently brushing against his collarbone.

Her eyelashes drooped, her lips parted slightly, and she spoke in an extremely soft voice:

"Ye Yang—I feel a little dizzy. It might be because I drank too much hot cocoa—it's a bit stuffy in the private room. Can you take me home?"

"I want to rest early tonight—I don't need them to take me; just you take me. On the way back, I want to sit in the bamboo grove for a while longer—the place where you picked leaves for me to play leaf whistles last time. The moon should be just as round tonight as it was that day."

Ye Yang looked down at Lin Ying and could see the whorl of hair on the top of her head and the light blue hair ribbon.

He placed the back of his hand on her forehead to check her temperature. It was indeed a bit hot, probably because she had drunk too much hot cocoa and had been in the private room for too long.

Without thinking much, he nodded and helped Lin Ying walk towards the door of the private room.

Lin Ying turned her head slightly, her gaze sweeping over Ye Yang's shoulder as she looked at the group of people still arguing in the sofa area.

She gently rested her head on Ye Yang's shoulder, a faint smile appearing on her lips, and then gently closed her eyes.