I'm a weird expert in Japan

His name is "Dianthus", but you can't attribute all the weirdness associated with bamboo to yourself just because of this.

"Kasumigaoka discovered this not long ago. When we left to investigate the relevant information, she was taking care of the sleeping Sawamura in the room and saw it by chance."

The thin green leaves on the golden hair that was as delicate as a work of art were extremely eye-catching. At first glance, Shiyu thought it was mistaken for the decorations on the bed.

"Shizhu, you... should know more about bamboo. Of course, I'm not teasing you about the allusion in your name. You're a better student than me, and you have more knowledge than me in astronomy, geography, literature, history, and music. You should know more about the plants that are taught in biology class than I do, right?"

"What happened to the bamboo? Why is Eriri involved in the weirdness of the bamboo?"

"Because bamboo...will die after it blooms." Lian uttered these words in a low voice.

Everyone in Eriri's family is in the villa. Shiyu is still with Eriri. Sayuri doesn't know what's strange and just thinks it's a high fever, so she stays in another room for the time being.

But there was no guarantee that someone would pass by here, so Lian also lowered his voice.

If a passing servant heard it and then told Sayuri about it, it would be a real trouble.

"I know that..."

Flowering plants are classified as angiosperms in botany. Different plants have different flowering forms, and can be divided into two types based on whether they will bear fruit.

But among the many plants, there are very few that do not bloom easily, and once they bloom, they have different signs.

For example, the iron tree often takes fifteen to twenty years to bloom. In the eyes of fortune tellers, the flowering itself is a symbol of good luck.

Bamboo, on the other hand, will die soon after it blooms. In some places, the flowering of bamboo is often regarded as an extremely ominous sign.

Among all the weird things, bamboo’s weirdness is extremely rare.

On the one hand, it is because the person possessed often dies, taking the monster with him; on the other hand, it is because they are discovered and eliminated early.

Even Lian had never heard of this before. It was all thanks to the knowledgeable teacher Hanekawa Tsubasa who was able to infer a relatively complete appearance based on the fragmentary information.

"So Sawamura's situation is not optimistic now. The weirdness of bamboo is not just that people grow bamboo leaves and look funny. The weirdness is a reflection of people's desires and aspirations. Sawamura must have prayed for something in his heart to breed this weirdness." Lian maintained a calm tone, "Based on the current situation, I'm afraid it's not something that happened in the past two days."

"So... what does the strange flowering of bamboo mean?"

"It means the fulfillment of a wish, at the cost of life." Lian's tone even sounded a little cold to Shizhu.

But in fact, there is not much difference from his usual tone.

"What is Eriri's wish?"

Shizhu's tone sounded like he was asking himself questions and answering them himself.

"I really don't want to say this, but I suddenly understand why Sister Shan said that." Lian muttered to herself, and then raised her voice, "'I don't know anything, you are the one who knows.'"

So, Dianthus lowered its head deeply.

Apparently, this sentence was more effective than expected and hit Shizhu's spirit directly.

I hope no serious damage was done, Lian muttered to herself.

"I think the origin of the matter can be traced back to the beginning of the month when I went to the art club to find you." Lian supported his chin with one hand, "At that time, you destroyed the work you had carefully created and were going to use for the competition with Sawamura for no reason."

"Yeah." Shizhu responded sullenly.

"Although I didn't know why you lied to Sawamura at the time, as a friend, I still helped you fool it reflexively." Lian recalled what happened before, "Sawamura didn't notice and believed what you and I said. This is how it should be."

Especially with that embarrassing situation, with Eriri's slightly thick nerves, she would forget the source of the incident in an instant.

Chapter 127 Chapter 2 "Flowers Blooming on Bamboo" ()

It was not the first time that Lian and Shizhu had quarreled over the so-called XP and then pretended to fight.

This has affected other people more than once or twice.

With these previous experiences, it would be easier for Ying Lili to gain her trust.

It should be so.

However, based on what Shiyu found in the box and what happened at the beginning, Mr. Hanekawa thinks there should be reason to believe that Eriri discovered the reason for this incident later.

and so--

"Let me ask you, Shizhu, do you remember when you disposed of that painting?"

"Hmm? Ah..." Shizhu was speechless, "It was inconvenient at the time. I went to the Art Department the next day and disposed of it along with other garbage."

"Have you ever checked the trash can when you took out the garbage?"

"Yes, the crumpled drawing is also in there."

"you sure?"

"How to say?"

"For example, pick up the drawing, open it and check again to make sure it was indeed you who threw it in, and not another ball of paper?" Lian asked again.

This time, Shizhu was completely stumped by the question.

Shinomiya Shizhu has always been considered to be a thoughtful person, and this is indeed the evaluation he received among Fengzhizaki's teachers and students.

But any thoughtful person would not think of checking the ball of drawing paper in the trash can to see if it was the one they threw in the trash the day before.

That's no longer being delicate, that's being suspicious.

What's more, it was in the Second Art Preparation Room which only he and Eriri could use unconditionally.

If there was any place in the world where Shizhu could let down his guard, the preparation room would rank among the top three.

"I don't know..." Shizhu responded softly.

"So you didn't check it at all. But that's right. If it were me, I might forget to take out the trash the next day, even if the trash can was empty." Lian shrugged. He took out a ball of paper from his back and threw it to Shizhu. "Although it has faded a little, you can still recognize it. Did you draw it?"

"..."

Carefully spreading out the paper ball, Shigong Shizhu's eyes widened.

The drawing that should have disappeared into the school's waste incinerator is now here, maintaining the remaining appearance of what he destroyed that day.

"This was found in Sawamura's waste paper box. You probably haven't looked through it, have you?" Lian scratched her head a little embarrassedly. "Kasumigaoka also took a look and found a lot of things, including this. If you think it's inappropriate, I apologize to you and Sawamura on her behalf."

"Um……"

Shizhu knew what he could and could not do. Since Yinglili told him not to touch anything, he would definitely not care about the contents of the box.

So when the drawings were found in the box, Shizhu was stunned.

"In addition, there are many discarded drawings in the box. They are all the drawings for her competition this time. She must have drawn them many times."

"I know this. If I'm not satisfied... I sometimes draw several copies over and over again."

"And yours."

"Eh?"

"To be precise, she should have copied you." Lian continued.

Of course, this is just Kasumigaoka's speculation, and she made a bold guess. Based on the subtle differences in the brushstrokes and the temperament of the works, she judged that they were all drawn by Eriri alone.

"Hey...why did Yinglili do this..." Shizhu was at a loss.

Lian adjusted her sitting posture slightly, placing her hands on her legs. "The following is a conclusion mixed with speculation. You can judge for yourself whether it is right or not."

Shizhu, who was still holding the scrap manuscript, did not speak. Lian took a deep breath and began to imitate the tone of Hanekawa Tsubasa.

Because these are all Hanekawa Tsubasa's speculations:

"To put it simply, Sawamura-san cares about Shinomiya-kun more than expected. In her eyes, they are close friends who trust each other and don't need any lies or concealments. However, in such a relationship, Shinomiya-kun lied."

"Of course, it wasn't an unforgivable lie, it was simply a lie to cover up his own ability. His painting skills had clearly caught up with mine, but he didn't tell me. Instead, he deliberately destroyed his work and repainted something inferior to his original ability."

"This behavior is difficult for most people to understand. Perhaps Shinomiya-kun has his own considerations. At least for Sawamura-san, this action is particularly incomprehensible to her, but she cannot ask directly."

"Because Shinomiya-kun has destroyed the original work, but Sawamura-san knows about it. This means that she has found out Shinomiya-kun's secret, which may cause a conflict between the two."

"Then for Sawamura-san, she can only think about the reasons for all this by herself. The easiest conclusion is that as a disciple, Shinomiya-kun is already comparable to her in painting skills. Shinomiya-kun, who has always been thoughtful, must have taken into account that this result would stimulate Sawamura-san's self-esteem as a master, so he chose to hide his true strength."

"After discovering these facts, Sawamura-kun must be thinking about how to make Shinomiya-kun stop suppressing his true self. The solution is to improve your own strength so that Shinomiya-kun can show his strength with peace of mind."

"The relationship between the pursuer and the pursued can continue legitimately."

"But that's only part of it. Just competitors chasing each other isn't enough to cause weird phenomena."

"There are deeper reasons why that is enough."

"For Sawamura-san, the closest friend around him is only Shinomiya-kun. If such a friend starts to hide things from you, it will generally be misunderstood as a sign that the two of you are beginning to drift apart."

"Once she loses Shinomiya-kun, she will be alone. Unable to accept this fact, and unable to fully explain Shinomiya-kun's behavior, Sawamura-san chose the most clumsy way."

"She is strict with her painting skills and hones her talents. This way, Shinomiya-kun will feel that it is necessary for him to stay with her."

"The bamboo weirdness is one of the many weirdnesses that appear in response to the host's wishes. Compared to other weirdnesses, it makes the process of realizing the wish look more like the host's own behavior."

"For Sawamura-san, his talent will blossom and bear fruit."

"In other words, if Sawamura-san's talent really blossoms and bears fruit, his wish will come true."

"She's going to die."

"It's not that she wants to die, but the weirdness will really kill her."

"So please tell this to Shinomiya-kun as soon as possible. Only he can save Sawamura-san who has gone astray."

"But there are several specific methods, and the choice depends on his personal will. The above is just speculation, and I don't know how accurate it is."

Lian told the story word for word in the tone of an observer.

Chapter 128: The Only Smart Thing (1)

When Shizhu returned to Eriri's room, the blonde girl was still fast asleep.

Gently closing the door, he walked to Yinglili's bed, sat down gently, and stretched out his hand to place it on the forehead of the girl lying on her side.

It was still extremely hot, like a piece of hot coal.

Even if it wasn't a strange possession, this persistent high fever would be enough to take half the life out of Eriri's already weak body.

He took his hand away and stroked his smooth golden hair. The bamboo-leaf-like changes were extremely eye-catching and seemed even more obvious than the condition mentioned a moment ago.

I'm afraid that by tomorrow, it will cover the girl's entire body like ivy.

Her self-righteous behavior actually made her suffer so much. Shizhu let out an inaudible sigh.

The conversation I had with Lian in the courtyard kept echoing in my mind.

"If Eriri dies when it blooms, then if we stop it from blooming, Eriri won't die."

"That's the truth. If you want to solve the weirdness of Sawamura, there are at least three ways—"

"Three? So many? I thought one would be good at most."

"Don't be happy too soon... every method is a method, but each one is not perfect, and each one has its own shortcomings and inadequacies."

"Let's talk about each of them one by one..."

"The first is to use the demon sword Heart Crossing. Although you have never seen it, I have shown it to you several times before. That demon sword is specially used to deal with monsters. Because it is specialized for dealing with monsters, the blade is so sharp that it can cut through iron like mud, but it can't actually hurt people. Considering that it was not forged to fight with people, it's not a big deal. Just use the replica I have and gently swing it at Sawamura to kill the monster in her body."

"Isn't this good? There's nothing imperfect about it, right? It won't hurt Eriri, and it can also eliminate the monsters."

"You forgot so quickly? Why did this strange thing happen?"

"…It's because… of Eriri's wish…"

"Born from the host's body, the monster appeared to fulfill the host's wish, and it is almost integrated with Sawamura. If the monster is removed with the demon sword, it means that her wish will be removed as well."

"desire……"

"Not only that, I can't say for sure what Sawamura will lose when the monster is eliminated... In the worst case, she might never want to pick up a paintbrush again."

"How could it be...does it have to be like this?"

"This is the worst possible outcome, but losing your wish is the only certainty."

"I can't destroy Eriri's wish... and I don't want anyone else to do it... Can you tell me about the second one?"

"The second one is similar to the first one, let the vampire eat the weirdness on Eriri's body. Before, we said that it couldn't be eaten because we didn't know what it was. But since this weirdness is integrated with the host, it is easier to eat. Of course, I don't want to suck human blood, so I will ask Hara Kissshotte Yaselaurion Bladeheart to do this, anyway, the effect is the same."

"But you said it's similar to the first one?"