Endless Silver Machine

The next morning, Luoluo got up early and made breakfast.

Aika was up before she knocked on the door. With a simple "Good morning," he hurried into the bathroom.

At the dinner table, Aika told Luoluo that he would be back later today.

"When can you come back? I can wait for you in the classroom."

"I don't know, I might not be able to make it in time for dinner."

"But... didn't you just wait for a while yesterday?"

"This is Professor Cocona's request, and I don't have the confidence in my heart."

"Well……"

"Just prepare your own portion for dinner. I'll take care of it in Professor Cocona's laboratory."

"Then I'll give it to you after I'm done..."

"It doesn't have to be so troublesome. There is also a cooking room in the research room. I can simply make some by myself."

…………

After arriving in the classroom, Aika sat down in an empty seat.

His and Luo Luo's seats did not change, but Ling and Wei Xi moved to other empty seats.

If four people still sit together as before, they will come into contact no matter how cautious they are.

Lunch was still a bento made by Luo Luo himself. Aika's eyes casually glanced around the classroom. Ling and Wei Xi had already left the classroom.

Probably he went to the rooftop with other girls. Luoluo also had lunch there with the girls in the class.

"Aika, are you looking for someone?"

"No...it just feels like the classroom is a lot quieter."

Aika quickly changed the topic. He thought that action was not obvious, but Luo Luo still noticed it.

Looking back, Luo Luo was staring at him closely.

"Because everyone is out."

Luoluo helped Aika open the lid of the lunch box, which was different from yesterday.

She never prepares the same style of lunch every day, which has nothing to do with whether she has amnesia.

"You won't come after this afternoon's class ends..."

"……Feel sorry……"

"Then I will go home directly..."

"I'll be back in the evening."

"Well, I'll wait for you at home."

There was a hint of loneliness in Luoluo's voice, and Aika could only pretend not to notice, and put the browned fried potatoes into her mouth.

It should be a familiar delicacy, but the strange bitterness fills every taste bud and slowly penetrates deep into the heart.

…………

Professor Cocona looked up at the time, then at Aika, who was still drawing lines at the table, and finally couldn't help but ask.

"Aika, it's already very late, don't you need to go back..."

Professor Cocona wasn't urging him to leave, but she just didn't understand why he was acting out of character like this.

"I asked Luoluo to go home first. I want to work a little harder today."

"I'm very happy when you say that...but don't you need to go home for dinner?"

"Let's have dinner here. Please let me borrow the cooking room."

Aika stood up from the table and walked towards the stairs leading to the first floor with a casual tone.

After all, I have stayed here for a few days, so it doesn't feel too strange.

"oh oh……"

Professor Cocona watched Aika leave the studio with a blank look on her face. She still couldn't understand why it was like this.

But she had no idea of ​​urging Aika to leave quickly. After knowing that Aika would continue to stay here for a while, I felt a little excited.

"But what's going on..."

It is said that Luoluo's memory has not been restored yet. Can Aika, who is overprotective of his sister, let go to such an extent?

"Professor Cocona!"

Aika's voice came from downstairs. Is there something you can't find?

Professor Cocona gave up thinking about questions that could not be answered without asking directly, put the tools in her hands on the workbench, and walked quickly downstairs.

It was different from what she thought. It wasn't that Aika couldn't find anything, but there was an unexpected visitor standing at the entrance.

"Cocona, I'm here to see you. I want to ask you to go to the Imperial Capital."

Liuyin visited Professor Cocona's research institute at this time.

After seeing Professor Cocona coming down from the second floor, she immediately explained her purpose straight to the point.

"Xiaoyin? How could it be at this time..."

Professor Cocona never dreamed that he would see her at this time.

"You haven't read the text message I sent you, have you?"

"PDA? I keep it in my room."

"Let it have some effect!"

"Okay, okay, Xiaoyin, come in first!"

As the owner of this laboratory, Professor Cocona took Liuyin's little hand.

"No, I have to go back right away. I just passed by here."

"Don't say that, Aika is just about to prepare dinner..."

"Ah?" Liuyin's eyes immediately moved to Aika who was standing aside, his eyes sharper than before, "You leave your amnesia sister alone and live here?"

"No, there are some special reasons today..."

Aika hurriedly defended herself, and Liuyin snorted coldly.

"Xiao Xi also moved out because of you, right? How long are you going to make her suffer?"

"that is……"

"ah!"

Professor Cocona, who sneaked around behind Liuyin, suddenly picked her up.

"Hehe, successfully captured a Xiaoyin!"

There was obviously not much difference in stature between the two, but Professor Cocona didn't seem to have any trouble at all.

Maybe it's because he usually wields that heavy-looking wrench... Aika guessed.

"Aika, take off her shoes!"

"Put me down! Cocona!"

"Professor Cocona, are you too reluctant..."

Aika smiled bitterly and looked at Liuyin who was struggling in Professor Cocona's arms. He glared at Aika with tearful eyes, with an expression of "I'll kill you if you dare to touch me."

"Are you going to choose to be an enemy of your mentor for her?"

Professor Cocona also gave Aika an ultimatum in a stern tone.

In Aika's eyes, this was just two children playing around, so he chose to cooperate obediently.

"Sorry, Liuyin, you can be angry with me any way you want..."

After Aika apologized to Liuyin with her hands clasped together, she cautiously approached her.

Although her body was hugged tightly by Professor Cocona and she would not suddenly release terrible elemental magic at home, her legs were still free.

"Hey, don't touch me!"

Her slender legs wrapped in black knee-high socks kicked wildly.

Liuyin was really panicked now, especially when she saw Aika approaching.

This weak resistance would not cause harm to Aika. After being deliberately kicked by Liuyin, he controlled her legs.

Aika could clearly feel the smooth feel of the black knee-high socks and the soft touch on her calves.

After being caught by Aika, Liuyin finally stopped resisting as if giving up, and his tense legs lost their strength.

"Aika...I will never forgive you..."

"Sorry, these are all Professor Cocona's orders."

"Yes, Aika is my student, and my words are orders!"

Liuyin's ankles were so small that they could be completely held in Aika's hand.

Her calves were trembling slightly as she took off her black round-toed leather shoes.

"Okay, your mission is completed, let's go cook!"

Cocona excitedly carried Liuyin, whose consciousness had become numb, into the hall on the first floor.

Aika finally breathed a sigh of relief, put Liuyin's leather shoes away, and then walked into the cooking room.

It felt like the room was getting colder and colder. Liuyin probably didn't use dangerous magic. She still had this common sense.

As soon as Aika stepped into the cooking room, Professor Cocona's screams came from the hall, but after bringing out the dinner, she was still alive and well.

"Professor Cocona, is the back of your hand..."

"It's just a little bit of frostbite. This is proof that Xiaoyin and I are connected!"

"What the hell proof!"

Liuyin, who was sitting on the sofa with his legs pressed, gave Professor Cocona a fierce look.

…………

During the dinner together, Liuyin, who was still not calm, explained the purpose of coming here in full.

To briefly summarize, at Shun's request, she entrusted Professor Cocona with work in the name of the Imperial City Defense Bureau.

"That big thing under the Imperial City Defense Bureau was not designed by me."

"I know you didn't design it. Its original designer is long gone. Now the only person in the Bis Empire who can repair it is you."

"Is it okay to let me go there? Although I usually stay at Shuoyue Academy, I still belong to the Holy See in name."

"I don't know about this either. Since they have asked you to go over, they should have already communicated with them."

There was no room for Aika to interrupt here, and he couldn't understand what the two were communicating.

What he understood was that something important in the Imperial City Defense Bureau was broken, and Professor Cocona needed to repair it personally. That was it.

"...Okay, since it's Xiaoyin who has come to ask me personally, I can only agree."

"I'm sorry, I feel like I'm taking advantage of you..."

Liuyin lowered his head in embarrassment.

"I don't accept this apology."

"Eh?"

"Are you going back to the Holy See later?"

"Well, I made an appointment with dad..."

"If there's nothing urgent, I'll tell Sethis now and you can go back tomorrow."

It turns out that Professor Cocona calls the Pope by his first name, and Liuyin and Weixi also call him ‘Daddy’. Is the atmosphere in the Holy See so relaxed?

Aika, who had nothing to think about, could only think about some of these things.

"Wait a minute! Why do I have to spend the night here!"

"Where's the apology?"

"That's...this and that are completely different things!"

"It's not two different things. What does it have to do with sleeping with me occasionally!"

"Do I want to sleep with you again? This is too much!"

"You also forced Xiao Xi like this!"

"That is...you know you are forcing me!"

The dinner table became noisy because of the two girls, but Aika didn't find it annoying. This atmosphere made him relax.

Lolo…

He suddenly thought of his sister who was still waiting for him at home, and his heart seemed to be pulled hard by an invisible hand.

Liuyin seemed to be unable to escape. After Aika helped Professor Cocona wash the dishes, she said goodbye to the two of them here.

It was completely dark. When Aika left, Professor Cocona and Liuyin started to make noise behind them again.

He knew that both Professor Cocona and Liuyin were just pretending to be mature. They were actually girls younger than Aika.

After walking out of the research room, the surroundings instantly became quiet, and an unprovoked feeling of loneliness began to sprout in my heart.

As long as you get home, you can see Luoluo.

It was for this reason that he was unable to take a step forward.

Only he knows the real reason.

Aika exhaled, and this season could no longer condense into a white mist in the air.

As if to hint to Aika, it is impossible to turn back time to that white season.

——If you don’t move forward, you will never see hope.

——If you don’t say it, you will never understand it.

The former is Aika’s correct argument.

The latter is Luoluo's insistence.

But now, neither is possible.

There is no hope on the way forward, and the words spoken can only accelerate the collapse.

For Aika now, the words that she once believed in have become so illusory.

He passed one streetlight and then the next.

Then he could no longer move toward the third streetlight.

The figure on the bench between the two street lamps made him stop.

"Lolo..."

Aika could never imagine that the girl who was constantly eroding his rationality was now so close.

Luoluo stood up from the bench while holding down her skirt. The wind at night began to get stronger.

"You... didn't go home?"

Luoluo shook his head gently.

It was already seven o'clock in the evening when I left Professor Cocona's laboratory, and two hours had passed since the afternoon class ended.

She waited here for two full hours.

If Liuyin hadn't come unexpectedly, she would have continued to wait.

Waiting for Aika who doesn't know when she will have the courage to go home.

"Luoluo, why..."

"Aika, have I done something that irritates you..."

"It's not..."

"Then why...you don't want to see me?"

"It's not what you think!"

"You've been avoiding me today, haven't you?"

Luo Luo seemed to be shouting with all his strength, but he couldn't exceed Aika's volume.

Despite this, she still used this method to vent all the grievances that slowly accumulated in the darkness of her heart.

After Luoluo woke up, he once said that the feeling of liking Aika must have been born a long time ago.

So this grievance must have started to accumulate a long time ago.

Tears slipped from her cheeks and fell quietly on the stone paved path.

Any emotion shown by Luoluo affected Aika's struggling heart one by one, and his emotions became uncontrollable.

"That's because you are the most important person to me!" If she had remained calm, Aika would never say such a thing in front of her, "Just because of this... continue to stay by your side, I'm sure It will hurt you."

After all, they cannot become truly ordinary lovers. How long can such a fragile relationship last?

"Can you hug me now?" Luoluo did not question Aika's fragmented pale defense, but opened his arms to him, "We have hugged like this before, right?"

Those were the remaining fragments of the "Moonflower Festival" in her memory. Only that image was tightly grasped in her hands.

Aika felt a hint of rust at the corner of her clenched mouth. Warning himself with the smell of blood, he responded to Luo Luo's hug.

Feeling her body temperature with his hands, Aika's vision suddenly became blurry.

I really want to cry in her arms without any scruples like that time...

If Luoluo was not his sister, he would not be able to live with her at the same time, and he would not be able to become strong.

"Really..." Luoluo gently pushed Aika's shoulder away, stretched out his hand to wipe away the disappointed tears of the boy in front of him, "So you have always been in this mood..."

She smoothed out Aika's weak heart that could not be concealed at this moment, maintained his humble self-esteem, and showed her gentle smile as usual.

"Let's go back..."

Luoluo's smile is as strong as Aika can never match.

He couldn't remember how he ended up back home.

…………