Rina,
Lin Ai.
Using the pronunciation of his surname and her own name as a game nickname.
For a Japanese woman, what it means to change to a male's surname is something Lin Ye certainly knew: it indicates the girl marrying the male, becoming the male's wife, and forming a family.
Although this was just a nickname in the Strange Game, the meaning and intention faintly revealed by this action were already completely embedded within it.
Lin Ye could imagine the purple-haired young girl's nervous, throbbing, yet expectant cute reaction the moment she filled in this nickname.
He could also imagine the moment the girl, after choosing this nickname, had been looking forward to him discovering the secret represented by this tiny detail.
But it was a pity,
He didn't think much of it,
'Rina' is a very common girl's name in Japan. He didn't think deeply about it at all, simply feeling that the girl had found a name she liked to use as a nickname.
As it turned out, there was this layer of profound meaning.
Beep beep!
Lin Ye took the initiative to make a call, but it didn't connect, so he sent a message instead.
"Sigh,"
"I made Ai unhappy."
"Next time, I'll give Ai a massage!"
Lin Ye thought of the girl's black stockings and white stockings; he felt that rather than compensating the girl, he was taking advantage of her.
"I'll prepare another small gift for Ai!"
No girl disliked gifts.
The important thing was to let Ai Hoshino feel that sentiment belonging to her.
Lin Ye made a decision.
He took off his clothes, went to the bathroom for a simple shower, then changed into casual clothes for going out and took a taxi to the Cantonese restaurant agreed upon with Yukino Yukinoshita.
A few minutes later,
Lin Ye received a reply from Yukino Yukinoshita.
"Driver, please go to this location."
"Okay."
After looking at the address, the taxi driver confirmed the new destination.
The black taxi drove smoothly. Lin Ye sat there, mentally exhausted and somewhat sleepy. He closed his eyes and napped for a while.
"Sir, sir..."
Calls coming from beside his ear woke Lin Ye up.
Lin Ye opened his eyes. "Apologies."
He rubbed them and took out money to pay the fare.
"Sir, no matter how much work there is, you must pay attention to rest," the driver reminded him in a friendly initiative.
"Thank you."
Lin Ye got out of the car and walked toward the Chiba Mall.
Yukino Yukinoshita was shopping in Chiba Mall.
"Second floor,"
He looked at the shop name in the photo and took the escalator to the second floor.
Although he had napped for a while, Lin Ye still felt somewhat weary.
"I want to take leave tomorrow."
He planned to have a good sleep, sleep in late, to let his body and mind get the best relaxation.
Tap tap tap...
Shoes stepped on the smooth, clean floor tiles, the sound of footsteps ringing out.
Lin Ye searched while walking. Finally, he saw the shop identical to the one in the photo, but at this time, there was no sign of the young girl in this clothing store featuring trendy styles for young women.
He edited a message and sent it over.
"Over here."
On the left side, a cold voice came over.
It was Yukino Yukinoshita. She was carrying two paper bags, her navy blue eyes looking calmly at Lin Ye.
"I'm back."
Lin Ye gazed at this girl who had already changed into new clothes.
A white T-shirt and a light blue outer coat draped over it, paired with Sobu High's black pleated skirt. Youthful and energetic, but because of the girl's natural temperament, there was an added touch of coldness.
"Mn."
Lin Ye walked in front of the girl, reaching out to take the paper bags from her hands. She subconsciously shrank back a bit.
In her view, there was simply no need for Lin Ye to help carry bags.
"It's not heavy, I can do it alone."
"Better give it to me!"
Under Lin Ye's slightly resigned voice, Yukino Yukinoshita thought for two seconds before handing the bags into Lin Ye's hands.
"Do you still want to continue buying?"
These two bags of clothes were not much.
"Let's go eat first!"
Yukino Yukinoshita hadn't eaten anything up to now.
This hour was already past her normal mealtime.
But because she had to wait for Lin Ye, she had been enduring it.
The two walked shoulder to shoulder in the corridor, went down the stairs, and left Chiba Mall.
Since it wasn't particularly far from the Cantonese restaurant, the two chose to walk there.
In Chiba at nightfall, the evening breeze blew, brushing past beautiful hair.
Yukino Yukinoshita walked quietly, but her peripheral vision was constantly on Lin Ye's face. She very much wanted to know what Lin Ye had gone to do during this hour or so he was away.
But she didn't know how to broach the subject.
"Looking at me like that, I'm quite embarrassed."
Lin Ye feigned shyness.
A flash of embarrassment passed over Yukino Yukinoshita. Her exquisite cheeks maintained their calm, but soon she noticed the teasing in Lin Ye's eyes, and a trace of impulse spontaneously arose in her heart.
"Student Lin can also feel embarrassed?"
"Of course."
"I wonder who was peeping at girls today."
Lin Ye: "..."
"Peeping? There was such a thing?"
Yukino Yukinoshita rolled her eyes in annoyance, gaining a further understanding of Lin Ye's thick skin.
"You want to know what I went to do for over an hour just now, right!"
The young girl pursed her lips for a moment. She neither denied nor confirmed it. She seemed not to want to fall into Lin Ye's rhythm, always having the feeling that if she spoke up, she would lose.
"Actually, it's simple if you say it's simple. It just depends on whether you, Yukinoshita, want to know."
"If you don't want to say it, you don't have to. If you want to say it, please say it."
"I want to know your thoughts."
"I respect your thoughts."
This girl really refused to admit defeat; she just didn't want to concede.
"I saved a few people. Among them was a girl who was extremely grateful for my grace of saving her life and wanted to give herself to me."
Yukino Yukinoshita: ???
This guy was getting more and more outrageous as he spoke.
If that were really the case, would you still be coming here?
"If you don't want to say it, don't say it."
"Sigh, why does no one believe the truth! If it weren't for having an appointment with you, I might really have gone directly to find that girl."
"..."
But if Lin Ye really rejected it for her sake, this calm heart of Yukino Yukinoshita's also rippled with slight waves.
The two continued walking shoulder to shoulder.
A while later,
Lin Ye and Yukino Yukinoshita arrived at the Cantonese restaurant.
After queuing for about ten minutes,
Under the waiter's lead, the two finally arrived at a four-person seat in a corner.
Yukino Yukinoshita ordered.
Shrimp dumplings, rice noodle rolls, claypot rice, and lettuce with oyster sauce.
Lin Ye ordered another glutinous rice chicken.
He was sleepy, but also hungry.
Tonight he wanted to eat until ninety percent full, then have a good sleep to recover his body and spirit.
Buzz buzz...
Lin Ye's phone vibrated.
A message from Ai Hoshino.
The content was very simple,
Just an emoticon expressing that she was unhappy.
"Sigh!"
Lin Ye heaved a long sigh.
This made Yukinoshita, who had just taken out her bowl and chopsticks, involuntarily lift her eyes to glance at Lin Ye.
"Sigh!"
Lin Ye sighed again. "Yukinoshita Encyclopedia, I need your help."
"Please do not casually give girls nicknames."
But regarding the nickname 'Encyclopedia', she actually didn't dislike it that much.
"I'll take it that you agreed to my request."
Seeing the girl didn't object, Lin Ye continued, "It's just that I provoked a girl and made her angry and unhappy."
The look in Yukino Yukinoshita's eyes as she looked at Lin Ye changed.
This guy was asking her, a prospective fiancée, to provide methods to help him comfort other sad girls.
What did Lin Ye take her for?
"What is your relationship?"
"Currently friends."
"A more specific description, a description expressing the depth of her feelings for you."
Lin Ye nodded. "A relationship where she wants to change to my surname in the future."
Yukino Yukinoshita's eyes went still, her expression solidifying. All the displeasure in her heart vanished completely.
This guy,
Coming around in a circle to express apologies, hoping she would cheer up and forgive him.
In this moment,
A touch of faint crimson flush appeared on the black-haired young girl's fair cheeks.
"Um... is there no method?"
"I say it's inappropriate."
She glanced away.
"What's inappropriate about this?"
Lin Ye stared at the girl. "Please, Yukinoshita, I believe you can do it."
"I don't know how to comfort girls, but honestly speaking, using sincerity is the best method. Don't think about muddling through."
By now,
Yukino Yukinoshita, having calmed down slightly to think, realized another possible hidden reason for Lin Ye's request—he changed his mind and didn't want to explain the special abilities, hoping to find other ways to make it up to her.
"Muddle?"
What was there to muddle through?
"Could it be that you want to not fulfill the agreement and not tell me about your abilities?"
Yukinoshita asked in return, "Provoking me to anger, wanting to comfort me, but you... asked me to provide the method. You are truly... clever."
In this instant,
Lin Ye suddenly understood and realized.
Yukinoshita had taken the girl he spoke of to be herself.
An angry girl who would change her surname in the future,
The black-haired girl sitting in front of him right now fit perfectly!
Lin Ye hadn't even thought of that.
"Um... I was actually not talking about you..."
In an instant,
The black-haired young girl's face went cold, her aura becoming as severe as a December winter blizzard.
Lin Ye only felt the surrounding temperature drop by four or five degrees.
"I don't know what to say. If you want to ask anything, ask directly. I will tell you within what is permitted."
With this sentence from Lin Ye, Yukino Yukinoshita's mood improved slightly. If this guy had breached the contract, she was afraid she would really be tortured into sleeplessness tonight.
At this time,
The waiter brought the serving trays to the table.
The shrimp dumplings, rice noodle rolls, and lettuce with oyster sauce had arrived.
Faint steam permeated the air, tempting fragrances overflowing.
"Eat first!"
Yukino Yukinoshita was also hungry. She picked up her chopsticks and clamped a shrimp dumpling. The crystal-clear skin wrapped the shrimp filling; the fresh and delicious taste gradually spread on the tip of the tongue, impacting the taste buds and transmitting to the brain along the nerves.
The taste was really good.
She ate the rice noodle rolls and lettuce with oyster sauce again.
The tastes were all quite good.
Sizzle sizzle sizzle...
The piping hot claypot rice was served on the table.
Lin Ye's appetite opened wide. He used a spoon to serve himself a small portion of claypot rice.
The rice had absorbed the deliciousness of the soup sauce, preserved sausage, and fungi, permeating a pleasant scent. Lin Ye blew on it and ate it in one bite; everything was satisfying.
The final glutinous rice chicken was also served.
The black-haired young girl drank a mouthful of water, moistening her throat, and then spoke up, "Where did this ability of yours come from?"
She wanted to know the origin of these magical abilities of Lin Ye.
Lin Ye shook his head.
"Cannot say?"
"It's that I don't know."
Yukino Yukinoshita didn't particularly believe it.
"What other abilities are there?"
"Basically you know them all: Invisibility, Stealing, Perspective."
Time Stop—Lin Ye would not mention it.
Yukino Yukinoshita frowned slightly. She also heard Lin Ye's underlying meaning: there were other abilities, but he didn't want to tell her.
"The week before last, why was I able to use perspective on you?"
She had already concluded that Lin Ye knew the reason.
"Flaw. Every superpower possesses a flaw, and I didn't know what this flaw was at the beginning. I needed to search for and determine this flaw."
Lin Ye explained, "Looking for you at noon was actually also because I wanted to know what the flaw of the Invisibility superpower was. I suspected it might be related to you."
So that was it,
This explanation,
Yukino Yukinoshita could accept.
"Is this flaw always there?"
"About one week's time."
Lin Ye knew that even if he didn't say it, Yukino Yukinoshita could analyze and judge it.
From the start to the end of the mutual perspective, it was about seven days. If this intelligent girl couldn't analyze and judge even this point, then her achievement of testing first in the whole grade was probably obtained by cheating.
"Will there be other strange abilities in the future?"
"Yes."
The probability that the flaw object of future new superpowers would be Yukino Yukinoshita was very high.
Since the girl already knew to this extent, there was really no necessity for him to hide this point.
Telling the girl now meant Yukino wouldn't be so shocked if she encountered it in the future, and might even provide certain assistance!
Lin Ye thought so.
"Have you heard of the 'Strange Game'?"
"Eat a shrimp dumpling!"
Lin Ye clamped a shrimp dumpling for the girl.
An answer emerged in Yukino Yukinoshita's heart.
Sure enough, Lin Ye had a connection with this 'Strange Game'. These abilities were likely obtained from the 'Strange Game'!
"I want to know."
"This claypot rice tastes good, you can taste it."
Lin Ye served a small bowl of claypot rice for the young girl.
This was already an explicit indication: Lin Ye would not tell her anything related to the Strange Game.
"I can ask my sister."
By now,
Combining her parents' special treatment of Lin Ye, Yukino Yukinoshita had already linked many things together and obtained a reasonable explanation.
She wanted to laugh, but it was bitter.
How could her parents be hoping she would grasp her own happiness by giving Lin Ye a chance?
Tracing this to the bottom, it was still the inescapable family interests.
Sigh!
Yukino Yukinoshita felt inexplicably uncomfortable, but as a member of the Yukinoshita family, this was something she definitely couldn't avoid. Her blind avoidance was only deceiving herself and others, nothing more.
And Lin Ye had also guessed this point, which was why Lin Ye said those words when she issued the invitation to him.
Regarding this matter,
The young girl actually hoped even more that her parents could tell her directly. As a daughter of the Yukinoshita family, she was also willing to dedicate herself for the family's interests.
But the behavior of her parents, seemingly hoping she would pursue her own love but substantially being for family interests, placed her in a contradictory and troubled state of mind.
She didn't know with what attitude she should face Lin Ye.
A tool purely bundled with family interests?
A purely innocent girl simply pursuing love?
She didn't know anymore.
So much so that during the subsequent dinner, her heart was heavy and she didn't ask Lin Ye many more questions.
Sigh.
A single sigh expressed her complex state of mind at this time.
Twenty minutes later,
Lin Ye paid the bill and met up with the black-haired young girl at the shop entrance.
"I'll walk you back."
"Mn."
Yukinoshita gave a light hum.
This time, the two didn't squeeze onto a bus but took a taxi to the apartment belonging to the Yukinoshita family's industrial company.
Lin Ye stopped in front of the apartment building without entering. "Rest early."
The young girl turned to gaze at the youth under the night curtain.
"Have a cup of tea!"
She issued an invitation.
"If you have things to do, you can go back first."
"No problem, sleeping here tonight is fine too."
"..."
Yukino Yukinoshita recalled her invitation at noon; fear of the invisible man's existence led her to issue an overnight invitation to Lin Ye.
"Don't think too much, just drinking tea."
Following the girl into the apartment building, Lin Ye and Yukinoshita took the elevator to the 16th floor.
Click...
The apartment door opened.
Lin Ye entered the girl's apartment for the first time.
The apartment area was very large. Because there wasn't much furniture or decorations, it appeared empty and simple, just as cold as her own temperament.
"Sit anywhere."
Lin Ye sat on the sofa.
Yukino Yukinoshita went to the kitchen, filling water to boil it.
She took out the high-grade black tea brought from home and began the preparation work.
"Yukinoshita, simple is fine, no need to use those professional tea sets."
"Mn."
She agreed.
Whistle...
The boiling water bubbled.
Yukino Yukinoshita poured water to brew. A few minutes later, having gone through several steps, she carried the kettle to the living room and poured black tea into professional teacups.
Slightly red tea water, a faint fragrance.
"Very delicious."
Lin Ye took a light sip.
Compared to the tea brewed by the Service Club? The taste of the black tea this time was unknown how much higher.
The price of these black tea leaves must be very 'beautiful'.
But to the Yukinoshita family, what did this bit of 'black tea leaves' count for!
"How was going to Tokyo over the weekend? Did you have fun?"
The not-long silence made Yukinoshita take the initiative to find a topic to break this calm.
The former her wouldn't do this; she was the kind of girl accustomed to being passive.
"It was okay. Ai-chan's concert was wonderful, the songs and dances were great. The newcomer Sayaka Maizono was quite good, pure and cute."
Upon hearing this, a tiny bit of unhappy flavor always emerged in the young girl's heart.
"What else! Were there no other activities?"
"Of course there were, it's not like you don't know."
Lin Ye smiled. "I went to Tokyo this time to visit Mai. The real person Mai is really nice, cute and sexy."
If she wore a bunny girl outfit,
That visual impact would definitely be explosive.
But Lin Ye felt that the day he saw Mai Sakurajima wear a bunny girl outfit himself would probably be unknown how much time later.
Sigh,
He sighed.
He ultimately didn't study at Minegahara High School and had no intersection with Mai Sakurajima.
Yukino Yukinoshita stared at Lin Ye. "Your newly found woman?"
"Uh..."
Lin Ye was stunned. Yukinoshita's phrasing was a bit weird.
"What newly found woman? Don't you know?"
Yukino Yukinoshita's navy blue eyes appeared slightly puzzled.
"Mai... who is that?"
Once this sentence fell,
Lin Ye was astonished.
What situation had occurred?
____
____________________________
This could be our last week of translations! We're sitting at 10/40 members right now. To help us reach the finish line (or get as close as possible), I'm running a 50% off promo all week.
Use code: LEANZIN50
P@treon: Leanzin