I won't be a loser.

Turning her head to look at Mari Kazeoka, Machida Sonoko wiped the corner of her mouth fiercely, and suddenly revealed an evil smile.

"Want to know?"

"No, not interested."

Picking up the bottle of red wine and drinking it in big gulps, Machida Sonoko narrowed her eyes, puffed up her cheeks and moved towards Fuuokala Mari.

Seeing that the situation was not good, Mari Kazeoka stood up and quickly left the living room. Yoshida Saki, who had already returned to her room to rest, only heard a series of hurried footsteps at the door and a knock...

The next day, they went to school again. Kento went, and Futaba Rio also went.

Compared to Kento, Futaba Rio got up a little later, but still arrived at school on time. After entering the campus, she first went to the classroom and then to the laboratory.

Sitting there doing what she usually did, she felt a little absent-minded. Realizing that continuing would only be a waste of her time, Futaba Rio stopped what she was doing, stood up silently, and went to the third grade classroom.

The girl in the white lab coat attracted the attention of many students, and some recognized her identity, but Futaba Rio didn't care too much. After asking a passing senior about Feng Xiaochun, she came to the door of Feng Xiaochun's classroom and saw the girl sitting at the desk, who didn't look very noticeable.

"Mr. Feng, someone is looking for you."

Feng Xiaochun, who was reading a book, put down the book in his hand and looked towards the classroom door. His eyes met with the girl in the white lab coat, and he immediately understood the situation.

He closed the book, walked to the door of the classroom, and looked at Futaba Rio in front of him.

"At noon, I'm in the astronomy club."

"Ah."

After a brief exchange, the two of them got to know each other immediately, and one returned to the classroom while the other left the third grade floor.

Others didn't know what had happened, but they felt that this matter seemed a bit strange. Some girls who had a good relationship with Feng Xiaochun also came to Feng Xiaochun and asked what had happened between the two parties.

"What happened, Feng-san? Do you need our help?"

"No, nothing happened. It's a friend I know."

"That one just now was a special admissions student at the school. I remember his last name was Futaba, right?"

"Ah."

She simply answered perfunctorily, indicating that nothing was wrong. The girl who came over heard her answer but did not ask any further questions. They chatted for a while about things related to Futaba Rio and then left.

Feng Xiaochun looked at their backs, lowered his head silently and continued to read the book in his hand.

Time passed slowly and it was noon. I had planned to go to the laboratory to see Futaba Rio, but before I left the classroom, I received a text message from Futaba Rio.

"Not in the lab, busy."

"Something happened."

After a moment of silence, he walked towards the cafeteria.

Near noon, Futaba Rio walked towards the Astronomy Club. She didn't meet anyone along the way and arrived at the door of the Astronomy Club smoothly, but the door was locked.

After waiting quietly for a moment, the sound of leather shoes stepping on the ground came from the stairs. Feng Xiaochun, wearing a sweatshirt jacket, came to the door of the Astronomy Club, opened the door with the key, and pushed the door open to enter the club's activity room.

Without thinking too much, Futaba Rio followed him in, but just after entering, Feng Xiaochun entered the room first, came to the window and opened the curtains.

As the light shone into the room, the darkness gradually faded away. The photos on the right wall gave Futaba Rio, who had just entered the astronomy club, goose bumps.

The entire wall was covered with photos of Xianren taken from various angles. Futaba Rio, who had never expected to see such a shocking scene, was stunned on the spot.

Even though I followed the wise man's advice and took down one photo every day, there were so many photos that the number did not seem to have decreased compared to before.

"Is it for the sage's business?"

The girl's hesitant voice brought the dazed Futaba Rio back to her senses. She slowly turned around and looked at Feng Xiaochun who was sitting on the chair.

"He can even accept this?"

- - - -

Thank you everyone for your recommendation votes!

Another year begins to sprout: 337. The senior who insists on marrying me can't be that cute

"Well, with his personality, even if he doesn't like someone, he won't force them to change for him. He has always been like this."

Without waiting for Feng Xiaochun to answer, Futaba Rio came up with the answer herself. She gradually shifted her gaze from the photo wall to Feng Xiaochun, gazing at the cute figure who was much smaller than herself and would attract the pity of many girls when walking on the street.

As her senior, a senior one year older than her, Futaba Rio should have shown her some respect.

"It was precisely because of his personality that you were able to force him to agree to marry you, Senior Sister Feng Xiaochun."

There seemed to be something being suppressed under the flat voice. The sharp and indifferent eyes fell into Feng Xiaochun's eyes, but did not make her feel uneasy or retreat. She looked at the girl in front of her with calm eyes.

"Perhaps it's a bit reluctant, but up to now, the wise man hasn't refused, right?"

"Then one day, when someone else forces him to break up with you, what do you think the wise man will do when he can't refuse?"

"He wouldn't do anything to hurt me, so it's definitely going to be painful."

Feng Xiaochun calmly looked at the girl in front of her, slightly raised the corners of her mouth and revealed a faint smile. Even though Xianren was not often by her side, she knew Xianren's character very well.

"So, you knew he would be in pain, but you still did this?"

"This is Xianren's punishment. He won't learn to let go on his own. You see, Xianren doesn't want to leave me, and I want to be with Xianren."

He took out an exquisite doll from the drawer of the desk. It looked somewhat similar to Xianren. Then he took out another doll that looked somewhat similar to Feng Xiaochun. He used a string to tightly wrap the two dolls that looked like Xianren and Feng Xiaochun. Feng Xiaochun raised his head and glanced at Futaba Rio.

"The wise man and I are inseparable, but..."

He took out a few more puppets and wrapped them around the puppets and the sage. As more puppets appeared, the more ropes were wrapped around the sage, and the tighter they became.

"As they appeared one after another, the once free Sage gradually became unable to move. Everyone wanted to be with Sage, and Sage didn't want to let go easily. As a result, everyone was entangled in the thread and suffered, but Sage was the one who suffered the most."

Standing in the astronomy club, Futaba Rio looked at the doll in Feng Xiaochun's hand, then at the tightly wound and messy silk thread, and couldn't help biting her lips.

"Futaba-san knows that no one will be happy if they continue like this, but she's unwilling to let go easily. In her 'home' at Gokokuji Station, she and Kento play house, completely lost in the experience."

A soft, white, and delicate little hand stretched out from the cuff and fell on the doll that looked somewhat similar to Futaba Rio. It pulled it gently, and the other dolls began to shake.

"So, if we don't want to make the wise man suffer, we have no choice but to use these threads—"

He took out a pair of scissors from the drawer and placed them on the silk threads wrapped around the sage. With a light pinch of his right hand, the scissors cut the threads cleanly and neatly.

"Then, Futaba-san, are you willing to take the initiative to cut this thread in order to prevent Xianren from suffering?"

Sitting alone in the restaurant, looking at the curry chicken in front of him, he hadn't tasted curry for a long time. It had also been a long time since he cooked at home. Almost every day, someone prepared three meals for him.

He picked up the spoon and was about to eat when someone sat down opposite him.

"......"

He glanced at his classmate who sat down opposite him with a word card in his hand, putting rice into his mouth while staring at the word card intently.

After looking around, I found that there were no other empty seats in the entire restaurant. It seemed that there was no problem for the other person to sit opposite me.

He just glanced at the other person and continued to eat his lunch quietly.

The two people sitting opposite each other did not communicate at all until the end of lunch. In terms of dining speed, Xianren was faster, so he picked up the plate first and left the table.

After coming out of the restaurant, I didn't rush back to the classroom. I went to the laboratory and found that Futaba Rio was indeed not there, so I walked towards the astronomy club. There was nothing to do in the classroom, so I just sat there bored and felt meaningless.

So, on his way to the Astronomy Club, he happened to run into Rio Futaba coming out of the door.

"You're not in the lab. I thought you were somewhere else. Did you go to meet her? What's wrong? You look so down. Did something happen?"

Looking at Rio Futaba in front of him, whose expression was different from usual and a little lost and depressed, Xianren walked up to her, but because they were in school, he did not make any too intimate moves. He asked her what happened.

Thinking back to the conversation in the astronomy club, and looking at the wise man in front of her who cared about her, Futaba Rio felt for a moment that she might be a little too selfish.

Silently looking at the wise man in front of her, she instinctively disliked Feng Xiaochun's remarks, as if the problem was all on others. Wasn't she unwilling to let go, and even went a step further...

"It's nothing, go back."

Futaba Rio walked towards the laboratory. Xianren looked at Futaba Rio, whose expression suddenly returned to normal. He didn't know what she had figured out. He turned around and glanced behind him, then silently followed Futaba Rio and walked towards the laboratory.

Leaning against the window sill, the curtains fluttered gently. Feng Xiaochun watched the two figures gradually disappearing in the bright sunshine and closed his eyes.

Futaba Rio did not tell Xianren about Feng Xiaochun's remarks, nor did she talk about the content of their conversation at that time. Xianren, who was a little concerned, saw that Futaba Rio was unwilling to talk about it, so he did not delve into what happened.

After staying in the laboratory for a while, he returned to the classroom. When it was time to go home from school, he picked up his schoolbag and just stepped out of the school gate, he saw Feng Xiaochun standing next to her car, his eyes fixed on him.

She took a step forward, and her eyes followed him forward. She took a step back, and still stared at him.

Without considering other people's eyes, he walked to Feng Xiaochun's side, got into the car with her, closed the door, and drove away amid the discussions of other students who knew them.

When the car slowly stopped in front of the Feng family's gate, Xianren, who was sitting in the car, also came to the door with Feng Xiaochun. When he was greeted by the maid at home, he thought that Feng Xiaochun's father wanted to see him, but he went straight to Feng Xiaochun's bedroom.

"Isn't your father going to see me?"

"Father has work today and will probably be back late at night. Mother is accompanying him on official business, so it's just me and Xianren alone."

He was already prepared to face Feng Xiaochun's father and the torrent of humiliation and scolding, but he didn't expect that Feng Xiaochun's parents were not at home for the time being. Looking at the girl in front of him, he watched Feng Xiaochun sit on the edge of the bed, taking off her white socks bit by bit, and her pink and tender soles facing the wise man.

After taking off her socks, Feng Xiaochun sat quietly on the edge of the bed, gently shaking her legs.

"You often stay over at other girls' houses, but rarely are we together, especially at my house. Can you stay over today?"

"It's not that I don't want to, but I'm worried that your father might see me staying at your house and leave me with the koi in the pond."

"Father is not that unreasonable. As long as Xianren is by my side, he will definitely not do anything excessive to you."

"Of course I wouldn't do anything excessive in front of my beloved daughter..."

After thinking about his relationship with Feng Xiaochun, he realized that it would be difficult to handle the situation even if they didn't get married. Once he really broke up with Feng Xiaochun, he would probably have to consider whether he still had time to catch the last train to reincarnation.

It wouldn't help if his father was the mayor of Hida. But if he became the governor of Gifu one day, maybe Hougoro would consider it.

She had originally wanted to leave, but after hearing Feng Xiaochun's words, she calmed down a little. Even if she stayed, it wouldn't have much of an impact. At least her father would not do anything excessive before Feng Xiaochun hated him.

"Afraid of my father?"

"No, it's not fear. It's just that from his perspective, thinking about the daughter he raised for more than ten years, and how she was defiled by a hateful kid from another place, he didn't shoot me in the back six times. I am very grateful and respectful in my heart."

"For a wise man, which would he prefer, a son or a daughter?"

"As long as my son does as well as I do, and my daughter is well-behaved and obedient, I don't have any special ideas for anything else."

He walked to Feng Xiaochun's desk and sat on her chair. Then he looked at the girl sitting on the edge of the bed. He closed his eyes and thought about the scene of himself starting a family. It was really hard to imagine.

There may be some anticipation in my heart, but more of it is uneasiness.

As for identities like "husband" and "father", he didn't know if he could play such roles well. From the past to now, he has only been himself and played his own role.

Suddenly he needed to think about others and give everything for others. He didn't know if he would lose himself in this way.

"But once I consider marriage, I have to consider becoming a husband. Given my current situation, am I failing in this regard alone?"

"No, Xianren has always been perfect in my eyes."

"Even if you're keeping in touch with other girls, are you with a different girl every day?"

"It's not perfect to be together all the time. Like now, you are not always by my side. I miss you in my heart. Only when we are together can I feel satisfaction and sweetness."

The strange idea made Xianren look at the girl. He was silent for a moment, still finding it difficult to understand such an idea.

"Isn't it better to be together?"

"Perhaps some people think so, but I don't think so. Besides, don't you dislike being with the same person all the time, sage?"

"But that doesn't mean you can accept the person you care about being with someone else, right?"

"For me, it's quite interesting to follow you, Xianren, and watch what you do every day. Moreover, even when you are with those girls, I can still often catch a glimpse of your unhappy expression."

Feng Xiaochun walked barefoot on the carpet, came to the desk, and came to the side of the wise man. He took out an envelope from his drawer and took out a lot of photos from it.

Together with Sekai Saionji, together with Setsuna Kiyoura, together with Rio Futaba, together with Sayu Ogiwara...

Maybe the people accompanying the wise men are different, but the expressions on their faces are so similar.

lonely?

Hollow?

Their expressions, as if nothing was in them, were all so consistent.

It was as if someone had taken off a bloody mask, and the expression on Xianren's face became a little stiff. He lowered his head to look at the photos on the table, looking at the familiar faces but unfamiliar expressions, and realized that he would show such an expression when he was with them.

His hands couldn't help but fall on his face and pinch his cheeks, but his heart felt neither happy nor sad.

"Do I make this expression when I'm with you?"

“It’s now.”

Feng Xiaochun smiled, turned her head slightly, and looked at the wise man beside her with a faint smile on her face.