Green plums cannot become lovers.

She tilted her head, pretending to be thinking.

"Oh, right. The Fengzhiqi school festival is in a few days, right? Eriri seemed to have mentioned to me a few days ago that your class's activity was a stage play?"

Eriri bit her lip and remained silent.

Sayuri Sawamura continued her recollection: "Hmm... it's Romeo and Juliet? Eriri is the female lead, right? So who's the male lead? Since they're acting opposite each other, it must be a guy..."

"Mom!" Eriri cried out anxiously, "What exactly are you trying to say?!"

"It's nothing," Sawamura Sayuri blinked innocently. "I'm just curious, which boy could be making Eriri so uneasy these past few days?"

She paused, then smiled like a cat that had stolen a fish.

"Eri, what's the name of the boy you acted opposite?"

"It has nothing to do with you, right?" Eriri turned her face away, trying to hide her panic by eating.

“How can it be unrelated?” Sawamura Sayaka said matter-of-factly, “That’s the person Eriri likes. As her mother, of course I have to carefully consider whether he’s good enough for my precious daughter.”

"Mom!" Eriri slammed down her chopsticks in exasperation. "I already told you I don't like him!"

Sawamura Sayuri didn't say anything, she just looked at her with a smile.

That expression clearly said: Keep being stubborn.

Eriri felt uncomfortable under her gaze, but she was powerless against her mother who had always had her under her thumb since childhood.

“If you don’t tell Mom,” Sawamura Sayuri said slowly, “then Mom will just have to guess.”

Don't make wild guesses!

"Let me think..." Sayuri Sawamura rested her chin on her hand, pretending to think seriously. "Eri's classmate, the boy who acts opposite you, and who has made you so uneasy these past few days... Ah, could it be that guy?"

She paused deliberately.

"That one you often mention? I think her name is... Anhe?"

Eriri's chopsticks fell onto the table with a "thud".

A knowing glint flashed in Sayuri Sawamura's eyes.

"Looks like I guessed right," she said with a smile. "It's An and Asuka, isn't it?"

Eriri remained silent for a few seconds, then finally slumped her shoulders like a deflated balloon.

“...It’s him.” She muttered softly, her voice filled with a resigned helplessness.

"Just as I expected."

Anwa Asuka—she was certainly familiar with that name.

A year ago, this name appeared in her daughter's conversations almost every day. Back then, Eriri's eyes would light up when she talked about him, and her tone would be filled with a sweet, girlish joy.

"Asuka-kun wrote a new song today, it sounds great."

"Asuka-kun looked at my artwork and his suggestions were super helpful!"

"I played games with Asuka-kun today, he's really good..."

Sawamura Sayuri saw it all and knew perfectly well that her daughter was experiencing the first stirrings of love.

But later, at some point, Eriri's tone changed when she mentioned that boy.

Although I still talk about him, that sweet joy has disappeared, replaced by an... indescribable emotion. A little melancholy, a little loss, like looking at something very close yet very far away.

Sayuri Sawamura didn't delve into it. Things between teenagers always have their own rhythm, and she trusted her daughter to handle it well.

Later, Eriri returned to her usual self. She would still talk about An and Asuka, but her tone had become normal, as if she were talking about any ordinary classmate.

Sayuri Sawamura thought that the girl's unrequited love was a thing of the past.

But now it seems

She looked at the girl in front of her, who was clearly denying it but whose cheeks were red all the way to her ears, and sighed softly in her heart.

So you haven't let go after all.

-

“That boy…” Sawamura Sayuri hesitated before speaking, “I remember he was quite outstanding?”

"Mmm," Eriri replied softly.

"She's good-looking too?"

"...It's alright."

"What about personality?"

"good."

Sawamura Sayuri laughed: "Isn't that perfect?"

Eriri raised her head, opened her mouth as if to say something, but in the end she just turned her face away.

“There’s nothing between us,” she said sullenly. “It’s just acting.”

"is it?"

"Ah."

Sayuri Sawamura looked at her but didn't press the matter further.

As a mother, she could certainly continue to press her daughter, digging out her secrets bit by bit. But she knew that sometimes children need space, not to be forced to lay bare all their emotions.

only--

"Eri-ri." (The rest of the text appears to be gibberish and unrelated.)

"Ok?"

"If you have anything to say, Mom is always here for you."

Eriri paused for a moment, then lowered her head and softly hummed in agreement.

-

After dinner, Eriri went upstairs to her room.

As Sayuri Sawamura cleared the dishes, her mind was still replaying the conversation from earlier.

Peace and birds.

She had seen the boy a few times from afar when he picked up Eriri at the school gate, and she had occasionally seen him on television programs and online. He gave the impression of being quiet, composed, and polite, but at the same time, he had a maturity that did not belong to a high school student.

Judging from Eriri's description a year ago, he must have been quite nice to her.

But why did it turn out that way later?

Sayuri Sawamura thought for a moment, took out her phone, opened the search bar, and typed in "Anwa Asuka".

The search results appeared.

Artist information, music works, game development, fan accounts.

She flipped through the pages casually, then her fingertips suddenly stopped.

That was a photograph.

In a group photo from an event, An and Asuka stood in the middle, surrounded by several girls. They were standing very close to him, their expressions natural, clearly indicating a good relationship.

Sawamura Sayuri narrowed her eyes.

She recognized some of the faces; they were the girls who often appeared with Eriri in the game development department. Eriri had shown her their group photo before.

In the comments section below the photo, some people are discussing:

The girls around Asuka are all so pretty!

I heard they live together? And they're super close.

[They seem more than just friends, judging by their close interactions.]

[That's wonderful, I want that kind of life too]

Sayuri Sawamura put down her phone, lost in thought.

It turned out to be the case.

She roughly understood where her daughter's disappointment during that period came from.

—It's not that An and Asuka are unkind to Eriri, but that they are kind to everyone.

He was so good to Eriri that she couldn't tell whether she was special to him or not.

For a young girl who has fallen in love, nothing is more agonizing than this.

-

The next morning, when Eriri went downstairs for breakfast, she noticed her mother looking at her with a strange expression.

"W-What's wrong?"

"It's nothing." Sawamura Sayuri smiled. "Eriri has rehearsals today too, right?"

"Ah."

"When will that stage play officially begin?"

"The second day of the school festival, 2 PM."

“I see…” Sayuri Sawamura nodded thoughtfully. “Then Mom will go and take a look.”

Eriri was stunned.

"You've come to see?"

"Is that not allowed?" Sayuri Sawamura blinked innocently. "It's my daughter's first time playing the lead role, of course a mother should support her."

Eriri opened her mouth as if to say something, but in the end she only mumbled softly:

"......what ever."

Sawamura Sayuri smiled and said nothing more.

But she had already made up her mind—she had to go and see the school festival on that day.

Let's see what kind of person that boy is who makes my daughter so infatuated.

-

Meanwhile, An and Asuka are on their way to school.

He had no idea that he had been placed under "close observation" by a mother.

My phone suddenly vibrated; it was a message from Eriri.

Eriri: Just perform normally in today's rehearsal.

Anhe: ? I've been acting normally the whole time.

Eriri: I know, my only thought is... don't use too much force.

Anhe: What do you mean?

Eriri: It's nothing! Just pretend I didn't say anything!

An and Asuka looked at this inexplicable conversation and helplessly put their phones away.

He didn't really want it to be like this.

Time flew by, and soon it was the day before the school festival.

The campus has been filled with a unique atmosphere of busy activity these past few days. Students in each class are working hard to set up classrooms and rehearse for their performances; props can be seen everywhere in the corridors, and the bulletin boards are plastered with colorful promotional posters.

The entire Toyosaki Academy was like a giant machine running at full speed, with everyone making final preparations for the next two days.

An and Asuka's plan was proceeding smoothly.

The rehearsals for the stage play have entered the final polishing stage. After several days of intensive practice, Eriri is finally able to deliver all her lines completely. Although she still blushes and her heart races during the "balcony scene," and occasionally pauses for a beat when making eye contact with An and Asuka, she no longer completely forgets her lines as before.

The director was very satisfied with it.

"That's enough, that's enough!" she clapped her hands and said, "Those little stumbles actually make it seem more real. After all, she's a girl in love, it's normal to be a little nervous!"

Eriri blushed even more upon hearing this, but this time she did not refute it.

As for the band's practice—