Green plums cannot become lovers.

A breeze blew by, carrying the coolness of late summer. It wasn't until the train completely disappeared from sight that the two came to their senses.

“Let’s go,” said Salted Lemon, his voice a little hoarse.

"Mmm," Komari Chika replied.

Just then, two voices suddenly came from beside me.

"Wow, when did you two become so close?"

"I'm going to tease you with a smile on my face," said Anna.

"Exactly, anyone who didn't know better would think they were a couple parting ways," Himegami Karen added.

The man with the salted lemon blushed instantly: "No, no..."

“It’s just that Anhe helped us a lot, and we wanted to thank him. Please, please believe that we are innocent.”

Hana chuckled at Anzu: "Just kidding."

"Don't joke like that," said the roasted salt lemon, relieved. "It's scary."

The four of them walked out of the station together.

“By the way,” asked Salted Lemon, “do you know when Anhe will be back?”

Hanami Anna and Himegami Karen exchanged a glance.

"I'll be back during winter break," Himegami Karen replied.

"Huh?"

"I'll be back for the New Year during winter break," Anna repeated.

"So you didn't have to be so sad just now," Himegami Karen said, suppressing a laugh.

The salted lemon stood in the middle of the aisle, stunned for a moment. Then its face turned red again, this time from anger.

He said he wouldn't be back until the year after next—

"I was just kidding." Banai saw Anna laugh out loud. "He told us before he left."

"Wow—" The sound of burning salted lemons echoed in the corridor. "That An and Asuka, how could they be so mean?"

"I...I'm angry." Xiaoju Zhihua clenched her fists and held them to her chest. She had lost one shoe, her feet were covered in dust, and her eyes were red, but she didn't look fierce at all.

As Anna walked over, she patted Roasted Salted Lemon on the shoulder. "Okay, okay, he didn't mean it."

"If he dares not come back during winter break—" Salted Lemon added angrily, "I'll go to Tokyo to find him!"

“He will,” Himegami Karen said with a smile. “If he can’t make it back, we’ll go with you.”

Seeing that Anja looked like she wanted to make a big scene, Bana said, "How about we teach him a lesson together?"

"it is good!"

Komari and Salted Lemon answered in unison.

Volume 1: Chapter 282 I'm Back

An and Asuka returned to Tokyo.

The Shinkansen doors closed behind him, and a mechanical female voice came over the loudspeaker reminding passengers to take their belongings. He picked up his backpack and walked off the platform, blending into the crowd.

The air in Tokyo is much more oppressive than in Aichi. There is no fragrance of rice paddies, no cool night breeze, only the hot air from air conditioner units and the faint hum of vending machines.

As I walked out of the ticket gate, two figures blocked both sides of the exit.

"Junior, you've had a comfortable month, haven't you?"

Kasumigaoka Utaha leaned against a pillar, arms crossed, long black hair cascading over her shoulders, appearing nonchalant. But her purplish-red eyes clearly said, "You'd better give me a reasonable explanation."

"You bastard, you really dared to go to Er Yi San Wu Qi Jiu Liu Lian for so long? Leaving all the work to us!"

Eriri stood on the other side, her golden twin tails swaying so brightly in the sunlight that they made one dizzy.

She puffed out her cheeks and poked An and Asuka's chest with her fingers, one poke after another, not with much force, but with a high frequency, like hitting a disobedient drum.

An and Asuka took a half step back, avoiding her fingertips, and raised their hands in surrender.

"Sorry to keep you waiting."

It has been almost a full month since he left until he returned today.

Game progress, material review, outsourcing communication... almost all the club's affairs fell on the shoulders of these girls.

Kasumigaoka Utaha glanced at him for two seconds, her lips curving slightly, but she quickly suppressed it.

"Never mind, you're already the most overworked one in the club, it's good for you to relax a bit."

"That's right!" Eriri withdrew her hand, put her hands on her hips, her tone still fierce, but the light in her eyes had softened. "But don't let it happen again!"

An and Asuka smiled but didn't reply.

Where are Shizuka and the others?

"Everyone's in the activity room." Kasumigaoka Utaha turned around and started walking. "The game is over, and we're just waiting for you to run the final round of testing."

"it is good."

The three of them walked out of the station and headed towards the school along the familiar street.

Tokyo was still hot at the end of August. The chirping of cicadas poured down from the branches of the roadside trees, in bursts, like a final curtain call. An ice cream advertisement was pasted on the door of a convenience store, water droplets dripping down the cup, looking refreshing. (Ice cream advertisement: "Jiuqiu~ Liusi Liuni Balba".)

The campus of Toyonosaki Academy has become lively.

Two days before the official start of the semester, the activity rooms of various clubs were bustling with people, and the sounds of musical instruments, arguments, and laughter could be heard from some unknown room in the corridor.

When An and Asuka pushed open the door to the activity room, two pairs of eyes shot towards them at the same time.

"Flying bird!"

Kuze Shizuka stood up from her chair, her movement so sudden that her knee hit the edge of the table. She gasped, but the smile on her face didn't fade at all.

She was wearing a light gray jacket over a white crew-neck T-shirt. Her hair was a bit longer than it had been a month ago, draped over her shoulders with slightly curled ends.

"You're finally back."

Marina Micosaka's reaction was more direct.

She dropped her tablet, jogged over, and buried her head in An and Asuka's arms, nuzzling her golden head against his chest like a large dog that had been neglected for too long.

"We thought you'd forgotten about us."

Her voice was muffled, with a hint of coquettishness at the end. An and Asuka raised their hands and touched her head, her soft hair slipping through their fingers, carrying a faint fruity scent of shampoo.

"How could that be? I talk to you guys every night."

“That’s different.” Marina Kirisaka looked up, her eyes a little red, but the corners of her mouth were upturned. “You can’t hug someone on the phone.”

Kuze Shizuka walked over and gently patted Marina on the shoulder.

"Alright, alright, stop clinging to the bird, let him test the game."

"Ok."

Marina Kirasaka reluctantly let go and stepped aside, but her gaze remained fixed on An and Asuka.

An and Asuka walked to the computer and sat down. On the monitor, the Clannad icon lay quietly on the desktop. It was a small, pink, round dumpling that looked inconspicuous, but it contained the hard work of more than half a year.

He clicked the icon and started the test.

From the opening animation to the first choice branch, from daily conversations to the tear-jerking turning point, he went through it bit by bit, like unwrapping a gift he had personally wrapped.

Shizuka Kuze stood behind him, bending over, her gaze following the images on the screen, occasionally pointing out areas that could be fine-tuned. Marina Kirasaka sat beside him, her arm draped over his shoulder, her chin resting on his shoulder, watching quietly.

Kasumigaoka Utaha leaned against the window, flipping through a book whose title she didn't know, but occasionally glancing up at the screen. Eriri lay on the table, her chin resting on her crossed arms, her eyes half-open, as if she were about to fall asleep, or perhaps listening intently.

The test ended faster than expected.

There is no problem.

From program logic to screen transitions, from text display to sound effects playback, every step is as smooth as a pebble washed clean, without a single blemish.

An and Asuka leaned back in their chairs and let out a long breath.

"I'll go see Sister Zhu Yin this afternoon and ask her to find a professional team to help us go through the process again. If there are no major problems, we can put it on the shelves."

This is their third game.

The first two installments have already amassed a large number of loyal fans, as evidenced by the lengthy reviews and ever-increasing sales figures on the distribution platform.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, Clannad will be even more popular than the previous two installments. This isn't blind confidence; it's their confidence in their work.

"Ah."

Several girls responded in unison. Their voices contained excitement, as well as a heavy sense of satisfaction, as if they had accomplished something significant.

"By the way, where's Xiao Ai?"

An and Asuka looked around and suddenly realized that one person was missing.

“Ai is at the company,” Shizuka Kuze replied. “She’s been rehearsing a new dance these past few days, so she rarely comes to the activity room.”

"I see."

An and Asuka didn't ask any more questions. He knew that Hoshino Ai was an idol trainee and that dance rehearsals took more time than game development.

The five of us had lunch together at a family-run restaurant near the school.

After dinner, An and Asuka took Kuze Shizuka and Kirasaka Marina home. Kasumigaoka Utaha and Eriri said they had other things to do, so they parted ways at the school gate.

I pushed open the door, changed my shoes, and walked into the living room. Before I could even put down my backpack, two figures pounced on me from behind.

Something soft pressed against my back, and each of my arms was gripped by a hand.

He was forced down onto the sofa.

"Birds..."

Kuze Shizuka straddled his waist, her hands pressing on his shoulders. Her eyes, usually as calm as a still pool, were now churning with an emotion he dared not look too closely at.

A faint blush spread across her cheeks from her cheekbones to her ears. Her breathing was a little faster than usual, and her chest rose and fell. Through her thin clothes, one could see the skin below her collarbone twitching slightly with the rhythm of her breathing.

Marina Kirasaka pressed down on his arm from the other side, her long golden hair falling down and brushing against his wrist, tickling him.

"You've been away for so long, shouldn't you make it up to us?"

Marina's voice was low, with a slight upward inflection at the end, like a taut string that could snap at any moment. A smile played on her lips, but it lacked her usual innocence; instead, it carried a dangerous, predatory composure.

An and Asuka's Adam's apple bobbed up and down.

"I need to go see Sister Zhu Yin this afternoon, can you please leave me alone?"

His voice was drier than he had expected.

He didn't want to see Akane Akasaka with some suspicious mark on her neck when he met her later. He knew that woman would look at him with that "I know, I know" kind of look and say something sarcastic that made him want to crawl into a hole and disappear.

Kuze Shizuka stared at him for three seconds, then tilted her head, seemingly trying to determine whether he was telling the truth or making an excuse.

"Tsk."

Marina Kirasaka let go of his hand, pouted, rolled off the sofa, sat cross-legged on the carpet, put her hands behind her back, and looked up at him.

"Then I'll give you a little more time, we'll talk about it tonight."

The word "evening" was emphasized, as if a promise that could not be broken was being finalized.

An and Asuka sat up from the sofa, straightened their wrinkled collars, and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Okay." Let's stall for as long as we can.

He took a shower at home and changed into clean clothes.

Shizuka Kuze and Marina Kirasaka were snuggled on the living room sofa watching a variety show, their laughter seeping in intermittently through the crack in the door. He dried his hair, got dressed to make sure everything was alright, and then left the bedroom.

I'm going out.

"Be careful on the road—"

Two voices rang out simultaneously, their tone light as if nothing had happened.

But he knew that when he returned that evening, the scene wouldn't be as peaceful as it was now.

An and Asuka rode their bicycles along the familiar streets toward rouge en rouge.

The Tokyo afternoon sun was still intense, the asphalt road surface softened by the heat, and the wheels made a slight, sticky sound as they rolled over it. There was a flower shop by the roadside, with several buckets of fresh flowers displayed at the entrance. Red, white, and yellow flowers were crowded together, and water droplets slid off the petals, falling into the water stains on the edge of the buckets, creating small ripples.

He parked his bicycle downstairs at the company and took the elevator upstairs.