I, who advocate giving up, feel like a disqualified person

"Acting is like a mask, it can deceive others but also deceive yourself."

After a pause, he looked at me with sympathy, "Besides, it's hard to take off a mask after wearing it for a long time."

【True Title】

True love ends in a mask

How the incident was resolved

"What acting skills?" I asked him guiltily.

Could it be that he has seen through my acting mentality during the speech?

"Just now, when you were directing an actor, your expressions and lines were very accurate. It's hard to imagine that this is something that someone who just got the script can do."

So you were just praising my acting skills...

Just as I was thinking this, he adjusted his black framed glasses and slowly said another sentence.

"If you often demonstrate your acting skills, it won't be surprising if you can achieve this."

"Eh? What do you mean?"

Hearing this, I couldn't help but look carefully at the strange boy in front of me.

He's a boy, but on second thought, calling him "senpai" seems more accurate. Judging by his uniform, he's a third-year student, making him Sun's senior. Like Sun, his uniform is neatly dressed, seemingly carefully ironed, which makes him look even more well-proportioned and taller.

His hair is combed neatly, and the bangs that are not above his eyebrows are neatly tilted to the left, giving a refreshing feeling. His handsome facial features look even more sunny with this hairstyle.

"I don't act often. I just liked to imitate some of my favorite characters when I was in junior high school. Now that I think about it, it was probably a kind of middle school second year behavior...haha." I said self-deprecatingly and scratched my head.

"Well, is that so?"

Although his tone was doubtful, his facial expression did not change and he still looked serious.

"I thought you were an actor or something in the past. So you're just a chuunibyou?" He stroked his chin, as if thinking about something. After a moment, he said to me, "But being a chuunibyou is also a part of growth. It's remarkable that you haven't been bound by the rules of a specific role."

The words of praise coupled with a gentle voice, coupled with a hint of tenderness in the eyes and smile, made me, as a man, feel my heart beat faster and my face felt hot.

Hold on! We like women!

"Oh, ahem, so... being bound by the rules means you can't take off the so-called mask, right?"

I asked this to hide the inexplicable panic in my heart.

"That's right." He glanced at the watch on his left wrist. "It's getting late. If you don't mind, how about we talk while we walk?"

"Uh, ah, okay."

Speaking of which, it's time to go find Yehui. She should still be waiting for me at the gate.

"Oh, right," he said, as if remembering something, and stretched out his right hand. "I'm Su Xun from Class 2, Grade 3. Nice to meet you. This isn't just a compliment, because I've heard Sun Hao talk about you all the time."

"Ah, I see." I was a little surprised by this situation...

"Although I've already introduced myself... well, I'm Yi Shaji, from Class 3, Grade 1... Hello, Senior Su."

Ah, incoherent...

Holding Senior Su's hand, I always feel inexplicably nervous... Is this what they call personal charm?

"Well, let's go." He turned around and patted my shoulder, motioning for me to follow.

So I walked side by side with Senior Su, who was a head taller than me.

"Actually, this mask refers to acting. However, compared to the [Smiling Face] mask that allows you to laugh and get along harmoniously with those around you, the [Faceless] mask, which has no expression at all, requires even more advanced acting skills. In other words, to achieve the state of [Faceless], you need to hide many of your emotions."

When I heard this, the image of Rinsen River immediately came to my mind.

and many more.

What you just said was [you need to hide a lot of your emotions], right? In other words, some emotions cannot be hidden, some strong emotions will burst out uncontrollably, and these revealed emotions must come from the heart... It seems that Rinquanchuan was really angry at that time.

"Whether it's a [smiling face] or a [no face], you can always remove this mask," he said, looking at me with a hint of sadness in his eyes. "If the mask you wear is a [changing face] mask, then it's very difficult to remove it. In reality, whether it's sadness or laughter, happiness or anger, there will be a corresponding mask. Over time, even you can't tell whether the expression you show is true or a hypocritical [mask]."

cold sweat.

Looking at Senior Su in front of me, I recalled the words that just rang in my ears...

"Senior, regarding the [Face Changing] mask, are you talking about me?"

Although I really wanted to ask this, what came out of my mouth was: "That's really scary."

The tone was so calm that even I found it unbelievable... I was clearly very panicked inside, why...

"Yeah." Senior Su nodded and looked to the side. "That's your friend over there, right? Let's stop here for today. See you tomorrow."

As he said this, he quickened his pace and walked away from me.

"Sheji, was that your new friend just now?" Yehui asked me as he walked up to me.

"Well..." I didn't know how to respond, so after a brief pause I replied, "Not really."

Chapter 12: How to resolve the incident

"You seem to be worried again. What happened?" Ye Hui came up to me and asked.

Speaking of which, Ye Hui can always sense that I’m worried about something. I’m curious how she does it.

"Well...actually it's because..."

I wanted to mention the Rinsen River, but hesitated and didn't say it out loud. Instead, I used a tactful way of saying it:

"I made an appointment with a friend, but because of a request from a senior, I didn't fulfill the agreement and accepted the senior's request. As a result, my friend and I had a conflict. I guess it will be difficult to reconcile..."

After saying that, I looked at Ye Hui, and she looked at me too, her eyes still as beautiful as ever.

"What about the agreement?" she asked me.

"Huh?" I didn't react for a moment when I heard this.

"I mean, aren't you going to fulfill the agreement with that friend?" He stopped talking.

"Fulfilling the agreement...our relationship has become sour, and now..."

"You are still friends, aren't you? Since you still care about that friend and don't want to lose him, then go and fulfill the promise. That way there will be a chance for reconciliation. Otherwise, you will really lose a friend." Ye Hui paused, then continued, "Sheji still remembers the promise you made to me, right?"

"The promise to watch the stars together?"

Isn't it already done...

"Yes," she nodded happily and said, "Actually, at the beginning, I was still worried that you would forget the promise. But when the promise was fulfilled, I thought, 'Sheji is a trustworthy person, and at the same time, someone who can be trusted.' So now I am very happy to see you. And now, although your friend is a little angry about your behavior, I believe your friend is still waiting for you to fulfill the promise."

“...Is...is that so?” I couldn’t believe that Rinquanchuan still trusted me.

"That's right. No one wants someone they trust to let them down. So, Sheji, you must fulfill your promise to your friend this time and don't make her wait anxiously."

As she spoke, she stretched out her slender fingers, clenched her fist, and hit me lightly on the chest.

"Come on."

Looking at Ye Hui's energetic eyes, a smile appeared on my lips.

"Well, I'll do my best."

...................................

He opened the refrigerator and easily found two cans of carbonated drinks. He immediately opened one and drank it while going upstairs.

I spread out the script and began to study it. By the time both jars were empty, I found that I had annotated four pages, about ten minutes of plot.

Rubbing my sore fingers, I couldn't help but think of what Senior Su said today about the "mask".

Is the mask the acting?

In fact, everyone in life will show their acting skills to some extent, but the difference is whether they are bad or good.

Putting aside the general acting skills, the three masks mentioned by the seniors today that are difficult to remove...in other words, the acting skills that are difficult to get rid of can be roughly divided into three types.

One type is the guy who always keeps smiling in the crowd. It is easy to think of a clown or a comedian, someone who hides his sadness but smiles to bring joy to others.

The other type is someone like Rinsenkawa, someone who's reluctant to reveal their inner feelings. Their expression barely changes throughout the day, and they have this aura of "no talk." Besides me and Ayano, there aren't many people they can communicate with. These are the people who hide their feelings and don't want to get involved with anyone.

As for the last one, I inexplicably thought of myself...it's bizarre. I don't know when it started, but I can no longer distinguish my true feelings. The words I want to say always turn into something else that makes sense but doesn't come from the heart the moment they come out of my mouth. The expressions and actions I make also make me feel a sense of discomfort deep down... In short, I feel like I can't truly express my emotions now.

However, if this continues, Rinquanchuan will definitely lose his trust in me, and may even become more closed off because of me... and I will never forgive myself for being so dishonest.

This was my first time attending the cultural fair, and everyone deserves to have precious memories, though I'm a different story. However, I decided I couldn't let Rinquanchuan have a bad memory because of me, so I'd do my best to make up for my mistake.

Therefore, the first thing to do is to consider the projects that the tea ceremony club will display at the cultural exhibition.

But the conditions were too harsh. Besides the fact that the Tea Ceremony Club had no advantages in the project, if they wanted to let the majority of the school know that the Tea Ceremony Club was organizing a certain event, they had to consider other methods...

I'm so tired, I might as well just give up... Ah, how can I even think like that? Am I just going to give up my lazy after-school tea ceremony club life? But... I still have no idea...

Wait, I just thought of something...

If we give up... and focus on this... maybe we can even meet the condition proposed by Rin Hanekawa of "stealing the limelight."

"So..." I muttered to myself, picking up a pen and writing down the first step of the plan to make the Tea Ceremony Club a popular cultural exhibition in my notebook.

"Come on, Yisheji."

I encouraged myself in my heart.

【True Title】

So, looking for the initial answer

Turn of events

Hiss....

"Um..."

swish swish...

"Um..."

...hiss

...

"Ah...what trouble."

I threw aside the pen I had been holding for a long time and looked at the notebook that I had torn several times.

It seems like a fleeting thought alone isn't enough to turn into a concrete plan... Please, some random god, please read me a speech. If that doesn't work, whispering is fine too. You guys have a lot of free time anyway, don't you?

Ah, I almost forgot I'm an atheist. It seems faith is so easily shaken.

His eyes turned to the empty can.

"Go get a few more bottles..."

Thinking this, he struggled to leave the table.

Ah, my legs are numb.

Chapter 13: Turn of Events

I left home an hour early today.

The reason was to wait for Ye Hui, because I had something to ask her, and I didn't know when she would go out, so for the sake of safety, I had to sacrifice my rest time.

The temperature was still very low at five in the morning in November, and there were gusts of cold wind just now. I didn't have gloves or a scarf and didn't like wearing them, so I had to put my hands in my pockets and shrink my neck to resist the cold wind... although it was of no use.

"Ah... It's so cold..."

He managed to utter these words with a trembling voice.

"Ha..." I yawned out of boredom, and my vision immediately became blurred.

This scene is very symbolic.

Well, but now I still have to wipe away the tears hanging from the corners of my eyes and concentrate on waiting for Yehui to appear.

And if I don’t wipe away the tears, my eyes will be hurt by the wind... Haha, maybe this is the main reason.

However, due to the boredom of the long wait and lack of sleep, I yawned constantly, and even though I quickly wiped away my tears, the wind still hurt.