Green plums cannot become lovers.

Once the sound of the woman's high heels had completely disappeared at the end of the corridor, the girl with the bun hairstyle let out a long breath and leaned against the wall as if her bones had been removed.

"Senior...you're amazing..." The girl with the ponytail looked at Anwa Asuka, her admiration growing even stronger.

"Nothing of the sort." An and Asuka shrugged. "You guys keep practicing, I'm leaving now."

He turned to leave.

"and many more!"

Hoshino Ai tugged at his sleeve.

Her purple eyes darted around, as if she were plotting something. Then she curled her lips into a sly smile.

"Flying Bird, come in and have a look."

"what?"

Before he could react, Hoshino Ai grabbed his hand and pulled him into the dance studio.

The girl with the bun hairstyle understood immediately, turned around and closed the door. The girl with the ponytail ran over and pulled the curtains down halfway, leaving only a small section letting in light.

An and Feiniao were made to sit down in a folding chair. The chair was made of plastic, white, with slightly worn and grayish edges, and it creaked when they sat on it.

The dance studio was much simpler than he had imagined.

The room was surrounded by mirrors, their surfaces stained with fingerprints and watermarks. Several water glasses and towels were piled in the corner, and a dusty folding ladder leaned against the wall. The air conditioner hummed, its air carrying a musty, stale smell, as if the filter hadn't been cleaned in a long time.

The air was filled with the smells of sweat, perfume, and a faint fruity fragrance emanating from orange peels that someone had left on the table.

The various smells mixed together weren't exactly pleasant, but they weren't unpleasant either—it was the kind of smell that indicated "someone has put in effort here."

Several girls stood in front of the mirror again, and music started playing.

An and Asuka sat in chairs, watching them dance.

To be honest, it wasn't as heart-pounding as I had imagined.

The girls were dressed very conservatively—loose T-shirts, knee-length sweatpants, and ankle-length socks—not a single movement was meant to "show off" anything. They were simply practicing, refining the details over and over again: the height of their raised hands, the angle of their head turns, the precision of their footsteps.

Ai Hoshino stood in the very center. She danced with more seriousness than anyone else, performing each movement to its fullest potential, her fingertips taut and her neck forming a beautiful line.

Sweat trickled down her temples, but she didn't wipe it away, letting the drop slide down her chin and drip onto the collar above her collarbone, leaving a small, dark, damp stain.

An hour has passed.

The music stopped.

Several girls collapsed to the ground, some gulping down water, some covering their faces with towels, and some lying on the floor staring blankly at the ceiling. Hoshino Ai walked over, bent over, propped herself up on her knees, caught her breath, then straightened up and reached out her hand to An and Asuka.

"Let's go."

An and Asuka stood up and walked out of the dance studio together.

Behind me came the reluctant voices of several girls, drifting over intermittently like dandelion seeds scattered by the wind.

Goodbye, senior!

Come again next time!

The door closed behind me, shutting out the sounds on the other side. The corridor fell silent again, with only the low hum of the air conditioner unit remaining.

Instead of leading him towards the elevator, Ai Hoshino turned into a narrower passage. The walls on both sides were painted with off-white latex paint, and there was a door every few meters, each labeled with a number and its purpose.

She stopped in front of a door.

The sign on the door reads: "Idol Department Changing Room B".

An and Asuka stopped in their tracks immediately.

"You want me to just say it straight."

Ai Hoshino turned her head and grinned. There was not a trace of apology in that smile; instead, it carried a smug "I knew you would do this" attitude.

"hey-hey."

She pushed open the door, slipped inside, leaving him with a swaying ponytail and a casual "Wait for me."

The door closed.

An and Asuka leaned against the corridor wall, their backs pressed against the cool surface, hands in their pockets, looking up at the ceiling. The fluorescent tubes hummed overhead, the light so white it was almost blinding, and a thin layer of dust could be seen around the edges of the tubes.

People occasionally passed by in the corridor. An intern carrying a dance costume glanced at him, recognized him, her eyes widened, but she didn't dare to say anything and quickly walked away with her head down.

I waited for about half an hour.

The locker room door finally opened.

Hoshino Ai changed her clothes and restyled her hair, making her ponytail a little higher and tying it with a light purple hair tie, the knot of which was adorned with a small plastic star.

She was carrying an opaque eco-friendly bag, tied tightly at the top, containing her changed training clothes.

An and Asuka naturally took the bag and carried it in their hands.

"gone back."

"it is good!"

Hoshino Ai nodded vigorously, her ponytail bobbing twice behind her head.

The two walked out of the company gate.

The sky outside was beginning to turn towards dusk, and the sunlight changed from white to pale gold, slanting through the gaps between the buildings and cutting thin strips of light and shadow on the asphalt road.

An and Asuka walked to her left, their right hands free, their left hands carrying bags. He turned to the side and reached out his right hand to take hers.

Hoshino Ai's hand recoiled like a startled fish.

He paused for a moment, then turned to look at her.

The girl puffed out her cheeks slightly, raised her chin a little, glanced sideways at us, pursed her lips, and then uttered a few words.

"Good friends shouldn't hold hands."

She spoke very seriously, so seriously that the barely concealed smile in the corner of her eye became even more obvious.

An and Asuka looked at her for two seconds and sighed.

"Xiao Ai".

"what?"

"I was wrong."

"What's wrong?"

"I shouldn't have called them 'friends' in front of them."

"anything else?"

"Nothing."

"Humph."

Hoshino Ai turned her face away, leaving him with a haughty profile, but she didn't quicken her pace or distance herself, still walking beside him, with the distance between their shoulders always remaining the same.

An and Asuka thought for a moment, then spoke again.

"You danced better today than before."

"Really?" Her tone softened a little.

"Really, and you changed clothes so quickly, you were out in half an hour, while most girls take forty minutes."

Are you praising me or insulting me?

"I'm praising you."

Hoshino Ai finally couldn't hold back, and the corners of her mouth curved into a smile. She reached out her hand, hooked her fingers around his, and then inserted them one by one between his fingers, her palm against the back of his hand, and clenched her fist.

"Let's go."

Her tone had softened completely, like ice cream that has been left at room temperature for a while.

The two of them held hands and walked back along the street.

The ginkgo trees by the roadside are still green, but their edges have begun to turn yellow. A few early-ripening leaves drift down from the branches and land on the sidewalk, making a soft cracking sound when stepped on.

A tabby cat was squatting on the steps in front of the convenience store, squinting and licking its paws, completely ignoring their passing.

When I got home, the wall clock pointed to 5:10.

The aroma of food wafted from the entryway.

"You're back!"

Marina Mimasaka's voice came from the direction of the kitchen, the last syllable of which was drawn out like a stretched rubber band.

"Perfect timing, the last dish has just come out of the pot."

Shizuka Kuze's voice followed closely: "Hurry up and get ready for dinner."

An and Feiniao changed their shoes and walked into the living room, where three dishes and a soup were already laid out on the dining table.

"Thanks for your hard work."

An and Asuka placed Hoshino Ai's bag next to the sofa and went into the bathroom.

When he came out again, the three girls were already waiting for him at the dining table.

It had been a month since he had tasted the girls' cooking, and he wondered if it was just his imagination, but it seemed even tastier.

The group ate and chatted as they ate, with golden sunlight streaming into the living room through the windows.

"By the way, Asuka, how is my mother?"

Marina asked with concern, explaining that she hadn't been back for over a year and missed her mother terribly.

"Auntie is doing great, she's in excellent health and even got a promotion and a raise."

"That's great! Just... [unclear - possibly a name or title]"

Upon hearing this, the girl cheered happily.

Then came some other questions, about Anna Hanami and Karen Himegami, about their alma mater, and what happened to the boy.

Aside from not returning to their alma mater, An and Asuka told the girls everything that had happened.

Upon hearing this, the girls exclaimed in surprise and laughed loudly.

Volume 1: Chapter 284 Akane Akasaka

The next day, An and Asuka got out of bed, supporting their backs.

Sunlight streamed in through the gaps in the curtains, drawing a thin golden line on the floor, landing right at his toes. He sat on the edge of the bed, spent three seconds recalling what had happened last night, and then decided to stop thinking about it.

Remembering some things too clearly is bad for your heart.

The three girls were still asleep.

Shizuka occupied the pillow to his left, curled up under the covers, only half her face and a strand of loose black hair showing, her breathing as even as a hibernating animal. Marina lay on his right, one arm sticking out from under the covers, her fingers slightly curled, her golden hair covering half the pillow like a flattened sunflower. Ai slept on the far side, turned to her side, facing the wall, her hair already loose, long hair draped over her shoulders, her shoulders rising and falling gently with her breath.

He carefully slipped out from between the three people, his movements as light as if he were defusing a bomb. Every inch he moved, he would stop and listen to see if anyone had woken up.

No one woke up.

An and Asuka breathed a sigh of relief, stepped barefoot onto the floor, bent down to pick up the slippers that someone had kicked to the door last night, silently put them on, and walked out of the bedroom.

While washing up, he looked at himself in the mirror. His complexion was okay, and his dark circles weren't too bad, but his lower back was definitely a little sore. He twisted his waist, heard a few faint cracking sounds from his spine, and sighed.

After finishing his tidying up, he left without eating breakfast.

The mornings in early September were already a bit chilly; the wind no longer felt warm on the skin, but carried a refreshing coolness. The sky was high, with few clouds; a few thin clouds hung on the horizon, tinged with a pale orange-pink by the morning light, as if lightly coated with transparent paint.

He turned into a Chinese breakfast shop on the street.

The shop is small, with a large pot set up at the entrance. Steam rises from the edge of the pot lid, carrying the unique aroma of wheat noodles.

Four steamed buns and a bowl of pumpkin porridge. He carried the plastic bag and continued walking towards the company. The warmth from the bag seeped through the plastic, making his fingers feel cozy.

When he arrived at Rouge en Rouge, the building was still quiet. The young woman at the front desk was touching up her lipstick. When she saw him come in, she hurriedly stuffed the lip gloss into the drawer, forced a professional smile, and said, "Good morning."

An and Asuka nodded to her and swiped their cards to enter the elevator.

The lights in the corridor weren't all on yet, only a few were lit at intervals, creating a dim, elongated effect, like a subway car. His footsteps were mostly absorbed by the carpet, leaving only the occasional soft thud of his shoes hitting the seams of the floorboards.

The door to the president's office was ajar, letting in a thin beam of white light.

He knocked twice and pushed the door open to go inside.