Green plums cannot become lovers.

"Pasta it is then." Seeing that Anzu had made the decision for her, Bana waved to the waiter, "Let's order here!"

The waiter came over and took down the four people's orders. Anna ordered her hamburger set meal, An and Asuka ordered curry rice, Kazuhiko Onami ordered a ginger-braised pork set meal, and Chika Komari ordered tomato pasta. Drinks were self-service, and the four of them took turns getting them.

While waiting for their food, Anna Hanami started talking again.

"Warm water, what did the editor say?"

"They said he might die suddenly."

Wen Shuihe was taken aback for a moment, then spoke frankly.

Bana saw Anja pause for a moment, then smiled.

"Wow, you're so unlucky! Did you get the strictest editor?"

"It's okay, you don't make a living from this anyway."

Wen Shuiheyan paused for a moment, then nodded.

"Yeah, that's true."

Hana saw Anza turn to Komari Chika.

"Where's Xiao Ju? How's it going on your end?"

Xiaoju Zhihua held the cup, and water droplets slid down the cup and dripped onto her fingers.

She hesitated for a moment because she wasn't used to talking about her own affairs, especially in front of so many people.

But Bana saw that Anna's gaze was sincere, that Kazuhiko Onami was also looking at her, and that even An and Asuka put down their cups and waited quietly for her to speak.

"I said... I said if we maintain this quality, we might have a chance at the Newcomer Award..." Her voice grew softer and softer, almost drowned out by the hum of the air conditioner.

"Really!" Anna's voice suddenly rose, drawing attention from several other tables. She quickly lowered her voice, but her eyes shone like stars. "That's wonderful, Mariko! I knew you could do it!"

Xiaoju Zhihua felt a little embarrassed by her praise, so she lowered her head and hid her face behind the cup.

An and Asuka didn't say anything, but their lips curved slightly as they picked up their cups and took a sip.

Volume 1: Chapter 272 The Past

The food was served one after another, and the four of them ate quietly. No one spoke; the only sounds were the clinking of cutlery and the soft chewing of food. The air conditioning blew cool air, dissipating the heat from the food, but the aroma remained.

Komari Chika twirled a few strands of pasta with her fork and put them in her mouth. The tomato sauce tasted sweet and sour, and the pasta was cooked just right, not too hard or too soft. As she chewed, she suddenly remembered yesterday at the coffee shop when An and Asuka pushed the omelet rice in front of her and smiled, saying, "Eat up."

The scene before her overlapped with the scene in front of her, making it impossible for her to distinguish the time.

She looked up and glanced at An and Asuka.

He was eating curry rice, his head down, his profile softly illuminated by the sunlight. He ate with good manners, unhurriedly, chewing each bite carefully. Seeing Anja eating a hamburger beside him, her mouth covered in sauce, he handed her a tissue. She took it, wiped her mouth, and continued eating.

Their movements were very natural.

Komari Chika lowered her head and continued eating her pasta.

The noodles were a little cold, but they still tasted good.

The sunlight outside the window shifted a bit, shining in from one corner and landing on the table and the cup beside her, refracting a thin rainbow on the cup's surface.

She stared at the rainbow for a while, and suddenly felt that the scene was also beautiful.

It wasn't the kind of beauty that made your heart race, but the kind that made you feel at ease. The four of them sat together, eating their own food, chatting about this and that, without having to force conversation or worry about awkward silences. The air conditioning was on, the food was warm, and the sun was shining.

Suddenly, she didn't want to think about those complicated things anymore—the arm-in-arm gestures, the smiles, the unspoken understanding. She couldn't understand them anyway, and even if she did, it wouldn't matter, so she might as well not think about them.

She rolled up the last ball of pasta, stuffed it into her mouth, and chewed for a long time before swallowing.

After finishing her hamburger, Hanami leaned back in her chair, patted her stomach, and let out a satisfied sigh.

"I'm so full."

"Didn't you say you were on a diet?" An and Asuka asked again.

"We've already eaten, let's talk about it tomorrow." Banai waved her hand, completely unconcerned, when she saw Anja wave her hand.

Wen Shuihe put down his chopsticks, pushed his plate aside, and took a sip of water. Xiao Juzhihua also finished eating, wiped her mouth with a tissue, folded the used tissue, and placed it next to her plate.

The four of them sat for a while longer. Banai noticed that Anzu was looking at her phone, An and Asuka were looking out the window, Onamizu was staring blankly at her cup, and Komari was watching them.

She watched the stray hairs falling down when Anna looked down at her phone, the sunlight outlining the profiles of An and Asuka, and the gentle caress of Onami's fingers on the cup.

Looking at all this, she suddenly felt a sense of peace. The dull feeling was still there, but it had stopped bothering her, like a tired little animal curled up in a corner, no longer struggling.

She didn't know if it was good or bad. She only knew that the atmosphere here with these three people was not bad.

Not too close, but not too distant either, like four leaves falling on the same water surface, blown by the wind, leaning together, then separating, then leaning together again.

After resting at the restaurant for a while, the group continued to stroll around. Banami saw Anzu walking in front, her steps light as if she were on a spring, occasionally stopping to wait for the people behind her, and then quickly being attracted to the small shops along the roadside.

An and Asuka followed at a comfortable distance, neither too close nor too far, moving slowly like a shifting tree, quietly casting a small patch of shade. Wen Shuihe and Xiao Juzhi walked at the very back, neither speaking much, but their pace was slow, as if they were coordinating with each other.

The blazing sun beat down directly overhead, softening the asphalt and making eyelids heavy. The cicadas' chirping seemed to have been lulled to sleep by the heat, becoming intermittent and unlike their energetic morning calls.

There were few pedestrians on the street. Occasionally, a housewife with an umbrella would pass by, walking hurriedly, as if she didn't want to stay in the sun for even a second longer.

An and Asuka turned around and looked at the two people behind them.

"If you feel tired, you can go back first."

Wen Shuihe opened his mouth, about to agree.

He was indeed tired—not physically, but in a way that was hard to describe, like something was pressing on his chest, making him not want to go on. He wanted to say, "Then I'll go back now," and then he turned and left, returning to his quiet room, a room with only books and manuscripts, where no one else was present.

But before he could speak, Komari Chika spoke first.

"No, it's okay." Her voice wasn't loud, but it was a little faster than usual. "This is fine too."

Wenshui Kazuhiko glanced at her. Komari Chika didn't look at him; her gaze was fixed on the back of Yanami Anna ahead, on the shimmering blue of her short hair in the sunlight. Her expression was calm, revealing nothing of her thoughts, but Wenshui Kazuhiko noticed that her fingers were twisted together again, her knuckles slightly white.

An and Asuka also glanced at Komari Chika. It wasn't a long glance, but it wasn't a casual look either. His gaze lingered on her face for a moment, as if confirming something, before he looked away.

"OK then."

An and Asuka nodded, then he turned to Onami and Hiko on the other side.

"Warm Water, what about you?"

Wen Shuiheyan remained silent for a second.

"Let's continue browsing," Wen Shuihe agreed after a half-second of silence.

He didn't know why he said that. He had just been thinking, "Let's go back," and there was a voice in his head saying, "Don't follow me." But when he saw the expression on Komari's face when she said, "It's okay," and when he saw the look An and Asuka gave her, he suddenly didn't want to leave.

Perhaps it was resentment, or perhaps something else; he couldn't say for sure.

The four people continued walking forward. The sunlight shone down from above, shrinking their shadows into a small ball at their feet, then lengthening and then shortening again.

The town is small, and almost all of them were born and raised here. They have seen these streets, these shops, these mailboxes and streetlights at the corners countless times.

Hanami Anzu knows which dessert shop has the best pudding, Onami Kazuhiko knows which bookstore has the most complete collection of novels, and Komari Chika knows which road is the quietest and least crowded.

These landscapes are part of their daily lives, so familiar that they don't even glance at them twice.

But this was the first time I'd ever walked through this whole area with three other people. The same streets, the same sunshine, the same cicada chirping, but because the people around me were different, the scenery felt different too.

Xiaoju Zhihua looked at the flower shop by the roadside and suddenly noticed the pot of hydrangeas displayed at the entrance, which was a bit bluer than usual. She didn't know if it was because of the different lighting today, or because she had never paid close attention to it before.

“Maybe we’ve met before on the street,” Banai said, turning back suddenly with bright eyes as Anzu walked ahead. “On this street, or at that intersection. We passed each other…”

She paused, her tone becoming somewhat wistful.

"It's just that we didn't pay attention to each other back then."

“Yes, yes,” Komari Chika chimed in softly, “I think so too.”

After she finished speaking, her gaze unconsciously drifted towards An and Asuka.

She imagined the scene: a few years ago, she was a junior high school student, walking down this street with her schoolbag on her back, head down, thinking about what happened at school that day.

An and Asuka might be walking towards them from the opposite direction, carrying bags from a convenience store, or talking to Anna Hanami. They brushed past each other without looking at one another.

At that time, she had no idea that a few years later, she would be sitting in a coffee shop with this person, he would help her with her manuscripts, treat her to cake, and chase after her to the beach when she was at her lowest point.

"So it's a very lucky thing that you were able to meet each other and become friends," An and Asuka's voices came from the side.

Wen Shuihe simply nodded slightly without saying a word.

He didn't know what to say. Because he had indeed known this girl for a long time. He had known her since the first day of high school when they were divided into classes, before she sat in front of him and turned around to ask him, "Excuse me, what's your name?"

The way she smiled back then is exactly the same as how she smiles now.

He didn't know if that counted as "luck." If luck meant meeting someone, then he was lucky. But if luck meant being remembered, then he wasn't sure if he counted.

He didn't say any of that. He just nodded, as usual, slowly and without revealing any emotion.

The four walked for a while longer before turning into a quieter path. Tall trees lined both sides of the path, their canopies forming a green dome overhead, filtering sunlight into dappled patterns that fell on the ground and onto their shoulders. The chirping of cicadas rose and fell from above, like an accompaniment to the shady greenery.

As Xiaoju Zhihua walked along, she suddenly realized that the scenery along the roadside looked somewhat familiar. Those old walls, that vending machine at the corner, that crooked tree—she felt like she had been here before.

Suddenly, Hanami Anana quickened her pace, almost running forward.

"This is it, this is it!" Her voice rang out loudly in the quiet street, filled with barely concealed excitement.

There is a small park in front of us.

The park wasn't large. The slide was blue, and there were two swings, one of which had a rusty chain. The sand in the sandpit was whitish from the sun, and there were willow branches nearby. A bench stood nearby, its green paint on the back peeling off. Several tall camphor trees grew outside the wall, their shade covering half the park.

Hana saw Anzu run into the park, circle around the sandpit, then run to the swings and touch the chains, before standing under the slide and looking up. Her face held a nostalgic expression, as if she were flipping through a long-unread photo album, each page bringing her surprise and joy.

Komari Chika stood at the park entrance, looking at Hanami Anna's excited expression, somewhat puzzled.

What happened here?

After calming down, Hana turned around, her eyes still bright.

"This is where I first met Asuka."

"Huh?" Komari Chika was taken aback.

Seeing that Anzu didn't explain immediately, but instead walked to the bench, sat down, and patted the spot next to her, gesturing for Komari to sit as well. Komari hesitated for a moment, then went over and sat down.

"It was summer then too."

Anna Hanami looked up at the sky above, fragmented by the shadows of the trees, her voice softening as if telling a long-ago story, "Back then, I was playing with some friends when three people came..."

She glanced at An and Asuka, and smiled.

"They are Asuka, Marina, and Shizuka."

Hanami Anzu began reminiscing, "Even though it was our first time meeting, Asuka bought us popsicles, drinks, and chocolate..."

"Later, three more boys came to cause trouble, but Asuka took care of them in no time. She was amazing."

As Hana recalled the memories, a smile unconsciously appeared on her face.

Xiao Juzhihua listened with repeated exclamations of amazement. It was just like a scene from a romance novel—a strange boy, a passionate girl, a first encounter in a small park, and a hero saving the damsel in distress.

If this were a novel, she would definitely think it was too cliché. But it was true, it happened to the person in front of her, it happened many years ago this summer.

Wen Shuihe stood at the park entrance and listened to every word.

His expression remained unchanged, still as slow as ever. But his gaze was fixed on the sandpit, on the sun-bleached sand, and on the rusty swing chain.

He had been to this little park before, many years ago when he was a primary school student. He would come here to play after school. He remembered the swing, the slide, and the crooked pine tree by the sandpit.

He remembered that summer too. Because he was a regular there back then, he naturally experienced that incident as well.

If I had been brave enough to stand up back then, would the outcome have been different?

He doesn't know, and he never will know.

Wen Shuihe lowered his eyes, suppressing those thoughts. They had come many times before, each time with the same weight; he was used to it.

After seeing that Kyoka had finished speaking, Banai stood up and wandered around the small park, as if searching for fragments of past memories. She touched the handrail of the slide, looked at the chain of the swing, squatted down to pick up a fallen leaf, and then put it down. She walked very slowly, each step as if measuring time.

Komari Chika sat on the bench, watching her back. She suddenly felt that this park was very small, so small that it could be seen in one glance. But for Hanami Anna, it was very large, so large that it contained her entire childhood.

After a while, Bana saw that Anna was finally tired. She walked back, sat down next to An and Asuka, leaned on his shoulder, and breathed slightly.

An and Asuka took out a handkerchief from their pockets and wiped the sweat from her forehead. The movement was so natural, as if they had done it countless times. From her forehead to her temples, and from her temples to behind her ears, the touch was just right, neither too light nor too heavy.

"Hehe." Bana saw Anja smiling foolishly, sitting there obediently, letting the boy do whatever he wanted.

Her hands hung at her sides, her fingers lightly resting on his sleeve, without any pressure, just a gentle touch. Sunlight filtered through the leaves, falling on the two of them and gilding their silhouettes with a soft gold.

Komari Chika watched this scene without saying a word.