They are still close to me today despite their negative feelings

Chapter 111: The Student Council President Who Ran Away

Seeing Senior Wu Yuehua sitting on the bench by the streetlight, I sighed with a wry smile.

"President, I had no idea you were such a delinquent. Or is this the spirit of rock?"

Startled by my voice, the senior student, who had just been covering her face and lowering her head, suddenly looked up.

"Junior, junior?"

"Yes, yes, yes. It's you, my nosy junior, who came over in the middle of the night."

I said to myself with a laugh.

"Why would you..."

"Don't let my appearance fool you, my gossip spirit is burning brightly inside me. I'm the kind of person who'll peek out whenever I hear someone yelling at a kid outside, just to see which brat got scolded." I stopped about a meter away from her.

"I'm known as the 'all-knowing gossip of the underworld.' It really piques my curiosity that my neighbor is out so late."

Unfortunately, I'm not a literature major with long, straight black hair. Otherwise, if I looked at my senior with eyes full of curiosity, I probably wouldn't need to make up so much nonsense. Just saying "I'm curious" would probably be incredibly cute.

"Junior, you really are..."

Wu Yuehua, who initially seemed somewhat sad, relaxed considerably after my persistent nagging.

"He's usually the kind of person who won't even bother to lift his head if you hear cheers or laughter in the hallway."

"Hmm. I'm not only dark but also perverted. If you hear a shrill scream outside, I'll be the first to run over and watch the show."

I casually explained without changing my expression.

"So, to you, junior, it sounds like I'm screaming horribly when I go out in the middle of the night?"

I was speechless.

"Senior, do you really have to interpret it that way?"

"Haha, sorry, sorry—just kidding. Well, about half of it was a joke."

Wu Yuehua looked at me with a somewhat weak gaze, which was different from her usual expression.

"Thank you, junior."

"You're welcome, you're welcome. Does joking around make you feel better?"

"Hmm. I only just realized that you've been standing quite far away from me the whole time."

Senior Wu Yuehua said softly, "Really, would I eat people? Or am I really that unapproachable?"

"I'm just worried that it's so late, and if someone sees us, bad rumors might spread."

"Lying. You're saying it's so late yourself." Senior Wu Yuehua forced a smile and said.

"In your mind, junior, is this the social distance between us? It makes me feel a little lonely."

What the heck? Would Senior Wu Yuehua really say something like that?

After she said that, under the light, I vaguely noticed that Senior Wu Yuehua's cheeks were a little flushed, and her rapid breathing didn't seem to be caused by running over there.

"...Isn't it a bit bad that the student council president is secretly drinking?"

"The school rules don't say you can't drink at home. I just secretly took a few sips while writing the climax of my novel."

So it seems that alcohol might have played a role in the subsequent argument with his mother and his running away.

Wu Yuehua suddenly seemed to remember something and stood up.

"Now that you're here, junior, could you come with me somewhere? Although I'm just a senior who needs to keep a meter's distance from you, this request is absurd and strange."

"Oh my god, my trouble radar is telling me like crazy not to go, but it looks like if I don't go with you, you'll go by yourself, right, senior?"

"Ah."

"The security situation in Lucheng is so bad right now... Never mind. I'll call my sister and tell her. I really don't know how much she'll complain about me later."

"Yes, Ning Ruoxin looks at you like a dragon guarding a princess. I feel like she'll be unhappy for a long time." Wu Yuehua laughed.

"Senior, are you really a great writer? Has rhetoric completely died out?" I said, somewhat disgruntled. The alcohol had somehow allowed me to banter with the usually earnest Senior Wu Yuehua. "And whose fault do you think it was this time?"

"Sorry, but if you encounter any problems with book reviews, I'll help you."

"Compared to this, if I'm late one day, you could make an exception for me, or something like that..."

"Hehe, I'm sorry, but saying that won't work no matter what~"

"Tsk."

"Ah! That was disrespectful to my senior! You're not usually like this."

"You're not usually like this, Senior Wu Yuehua. Please have a little self-awareness!"

—I want to add a special edition to the list of the three most unapproachable groups.

"Any slightly drunk idiot."

……

"Um, when you were on the phone just now, wasn't Ning Ruoxin's voice a little... sweet?"

"Ok?"

"No, it's okay, I must have misheard, haha."

Senior Wu Yuehua fanned her slightly flushed cheeks with her hand. It's almost late autumn, are all drunk people so afraid of the heat?

"Speaking of which, where are we headed now?"

"Ah, I thought you wouldn't ask, junior."

"I didn't want to ask, but I feel like we're going further and further astray. The thought of you playing the drums to vent your emotions really brings up all sorts of ominous images in my mind."

"Ugh!! Sorry to girls who can play drums! That's prejudice! Both drums and street dance are cool!!"

Seeing Wu Yuehua, a senior student who occasionally displays a childlike side in her speech, felt quite refreshing.

It was as if on this night, the alcohol and moonlight finally revealed a glimpse of her true self beneath her perfect exterior.

"Playing the drums requires a lot of physical strength, but it's also very important. It's not just playing the piano and violin that's suitable for girls; I think that's a huge prejudice!"

Perhaps because she was slightly tipsy, Senior Wu Yuehua seemed to be talking much more than usual, chattering away. She didn't seem like a serious and calm president at all, and was even more argumentative than An Yu.

...Oh no, the thought of An Yu makes me think of sophistry. I have no prejudice against drums, but my prejudice against that guy seems really too great.

"Hmm... (stares)... Junior Ning Ruoyu, aren't you listening to me? You're daydreaming, aren't you?"

"How could that be? I listened very carefully to what you said, senior, and I remembered every word."

"Staring—it's suspicious, but she's a senior after all, so I forgive you."

Before I knew it, my senior, probably to better explain the special features of the drum set, was walking side-by-side with me. Forget about maintaining a safe distance of one meter; when she was staring at me just now, I could even smell the faint scent of soap and alcohol on her.

"So, where are we going?"

I tried to subtly create some distance, but she seemed to unconsciously follow suit. This caused me, walking on the right, to get closer and closer to the road. To avoid being squeezed into the lane, I finally had no choice but to let her take my place.

"...is a place that is very important to me."

The emotions hidden in my senior's words made me put away some of my playfulness.

“If you live next door, you probably heard it too. I actually went out because I had a fight with my mother who came to visit me.”

"I didn't eavesdrop intentionally, but the soundproofing in the rented room is really bad." I thought for a moment, "When I heard noises coming from your side, I took the initiative to find out what was going on."

"I'm sorry to have troubled you."

Senior Wu Yuehua seemed a little downcast again. I walked quietly with her. The moon hung high in the night sky, but there weren't many stars to be seen in the city. There weren't many cars on the road, and I could only faintly hear distant noises and the sound of the wind.

It felt as if I had suddenly been isolated from the world.

After a while, I even thought that Senior Wu Yuehua probably wouldn't continue speaking, but she suddenly said something.

"Um, I actually want to go to Yun Shen Temple."

“My father and brother, they… are buried in the hills behind there.”

[Next Chapter Preview: You're too reckless, you idiot Wu Yuehua!! Are you a moron, a fool, the biggest idiot in the world!?]

"What have I been doing? Sigh, maybe we should just go back..."

"...Let's go then. I feel like I really want to chat with someone tonight."

"Junior, don't be so smart."

It was like the deepest trust, and also like the most painful sorrow.

Interlude: The Ones Without Tombstones

As soon as she said those words, Wu Yuehua regretted it.

Perhaps it was because they were so close that they occasionally touched each other's warmth; perhaps it was the sound of cars and wind in the distance that gave her the illusion that she was walking alone with the boy in a world apart; or perhaps it was just because the alcohol was slowly evaporating, making the girl's head a little dizzy and not clear enough.

She actually revealed this secret that she hadn't told anyone, and shouldn't have told anyone. And the person she was talking to was just a junior classmate she hadn't had any contact with six months ago.

That's too reckless, you idiot Wu Yuehua!! Are you a moron, a fool, the biggest idiot in the world?!

Emotions made Wu Yuehua want to say a stronger word, but her upbringing prevented her from thinking of "idiot".

So she could only feel anxious in secret, always feeling that these insults were completely inappropriate.

This is something I shouldn't have said to anyone in the first place. What will they think if I say it now?!

What kind of response do you expect to get by talking about family matters that have nothing to do with others?! And taking someone from their rented apartment to that kind of place in the middle of the night, after hearing about such things, it wouldn't be a problem if the other person awkwardly made an excuse and then turned around and left!

Ahhh! ! !

If Ning Ruoyu hadn't been right next to her, Wu Yuehua would have wanted to bury herself somewhere. Even so, she was so embarrassed that she started hitting her head with her hand.

"Yes, I'm sorry, what am I saying, hahaha, I guess I'm really out of my mind!" Wu Yuehua tried to salvage her composure, but her behavior only made her look more panicked.

"What have I been doing? Sigh, maybe we should just go back..."

"Can I go with you to see them?"

The boy's words startled Wu Yuehua slightly.

Under the moonlight, the boy's face showed no surprise or impatience, but rather a gentle and clear light, like the bright moon itself. He gently blocked Wu Yuehua's hand that was about to tap his head.

"...Is that okay?"

"Shouldn't I have asked you first, senior? Why are you asking me instead?"

The young man said with a smile.

"...What I mean is, don't you find it annoying? Isn't this kind of thing usually considered inexplicable and unlucky?"

"President, you said it yourself, I'm not an ordinary person."

Ning Ruoyu shrugged.

"And if you suddenly think of something like this, we can't just leave you alone now, can we?"

The boy let go and sighed helplessly.

"..."

Wu Yuehua suddenly felt a little sore in her nose.

She had been worried that saying such things rashly would make the person who heard it think she was strange or crazy. But she was wrong. The person she told hadn't thought of that at all—he was simply worried. Just like when he first struck up a conversation with her.

"I just had a few drinks and was acting crazy. You don't need to take such good care of me."

Wu Yuehua said softly.

But at this moment she realized that deep down, that wasn't what she really thought.

She just felt a little awkward, wanting to tell the other person not to look down on her. She had run away after a huge fight with her mother and happened to cry on a bench, but she just didn't want to admit her weakness.

"How could I be taking care of you? I don't have that ability." The boy smiled. "I just happened to be unable to sleep at night and thought I'd take a candlelit stroll with you, President."

"So if you agree, senior, I don't care where I am."

That's what he said. It gave the impression that he was willing to accompany her to the ends of the earth.

—As for the later addition, “Since I’m already out, I can’t let my sister complain for nothing,” Wu Yuehua selectively ignored it.