Chapter 277: Mr. Fu Lin, you truly have a way with words.

"Well, once the shop is empty, I'll be done. If you're bored, you can go home first." Fu Lin rubbed Mei's head.

Mei shook her head. "I want to stay with you."

Fu Lin pointed to a curtain in the distance, which had a red crossed-out "?" symbol on it. He held Mei's shoulders with a serious expression and warned her,

"Mm, don't go behind that curtain—there's a monster that eats children back there, got it? If you're tired, you can rest on the chair."

Following Fu Lin's finger, Mei glanced at the curtain. Her face was still slightly flushed. Embarrassed, she lowered her head, nervously fiddling with her fingers, and whispered softly, "Okay."

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As the last customer left the store hugging their favorite plushie, Fu Lin finally caught his breath, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and walked over to Mei's side.

Fu Lin looked at Mei, who was already asleep in the chair, smiled, and gently shook her shoulder.

Mei frowned slightly, opened her eyes just a slit, saw the shadow in front of her, and gently pushed it away with her small hand before turning over to continue sleeping.

"Mei, wake up, it's time to go home." Fu Lin's eyes softened as he tugged at Mei's ear, his voice gentle and doting.

Her ears reddened, and Mei sat up, rubbing her sleepy eyes. In a soft, sweet voice, she raised her hands, "Carry me～(づ●─●)づ"

"Alright." Fu Lin turned his back, crouched down, stretched out his hands, and beckoned her to climb on.

Mei's eyes lit up. She hadn't expected him to take her seriously, so she clung tightly to his back, her arms wrapped securely around his neck, her flushed cheeks resting on his shoulder.

"Hold on tight." Fu Lin supported Mei's thighs with both hands, took a deep breath, and slowly stood up.

Before leaving, he casually slipped the student ID on the table into Mei's backpack, grabbed the backpack, turned off the lights, locked the doors and windows, and walked toward home.

In the nighttime sky above Nagazora City, the streetlights flickered faintly, and the shadows of monsters lurked in the darkness. Fu Lin glanced up at the moon shrouded by clouds and fog, his steps steady and calm.

The next morning, Mei woke from her sleep, stretched lazily, lifted the blanket, and walked barefoot into the bathroom. She smiled at her reflection in the mirror.

...

The sound of running water echoed...

The sound of running water stopped.

...

Mei walked out of the bathroom, looked at the alarm clock by the bed, saw that it was still early, changed into her school uniform, and went downstairs to the kitchen.

Soon, the aroma of delicious food wafted from the kitchen. Seeing the heart-shaped breakfast on the plate, Mei nodded in satisfaction, left a note, picked up her backpack, and walked out the door.

Not long after Mei left, Fu Lin came downstairs in his pajamas. He smiled as he read the note, took a bite of the heart-shaped egg, chewed and swallowed it, then downed a glass of milk in one go.

After wiping the milk from the corner of his mouth, he stretched lazily, yawned, and sleepily went back upstairs to crawl into the warm bed.

When the bell rang at Chiba Academy, Mei sat down at her seat as usual and quietly took out the textbook for the next class from her bag.

The student ID that Fu Lin had slipped into her bag fell to the floor by her feet.

Mei's eyes flashed with confusion. She bent down to pick it up and murmured as she examined the class information and the photo of the senior on the card,

"Huh? Why would a senior's student ID be in my backpack?"

"I'll return it to her after class." Footsteps echoed in the hallway. Mei turned her gaze toward the teacher entering the classroom, quietly tucked the student ID into her desk, and began the day's lessons.

...

When the bell rang after class, Mei took the student ID and jogged to the senior's class.

When she saw the senior in person, she had a strange feeling, as if she'd seen her somewhere before. After all, they were at the same school—it might have been a passing glance sometime.

Mei didn't think too much about it and handed the student ID back to the senior before turning to leave. But just as she took a few steps, memories of the plushie store from a few days ago suddenly surfaced.

Wasn't the senior she had just seen the same girl who had been with Fu Lin at the plushie store? A shadow of gloom flashed through Mei's eyes as she turned back toward the senior.

The senior asked in confusion, "Raiden-san?"

"Senior, I saw everything that day at the plushie store. In such an important year, you wouldn't want to fail the college entrance exam, right?"

"Promise me—you won't appear in front of Fu Lin again." Without another word, Mei cornered the senior in a deserted part of the hallway, her expression serious as she pressed one hand against the wall. Her tone was as cold as ice.

After issuing her warning, Mei turned and walked away, leaving the senior standing there in a daze, staring at Mei's retreating figure, her mind filled with thoughts.

A few days quickly passed, and the annual Spring Festival had officially arrived.

Fu Lin put down the calligraphy brush in his hand, looked at the freshly written couplet, and nodded to himself in satisfaction, "How does it look? Do my characters have the air of a master?"

Bianca blinked. She didn't know much about calligraphy, but it looked good to her, so she gave a fair answer,

"Emmm, the writing is good, but the couplet itself… uh, it's a bit underwhelming."

If you ignored the overall meaning of the couplet, Fu Lin's handwriting did indeed have the air of a master. But the problem was the content of the couplet was utterly unserious,

"Upper line, Once the new year comes, I know nothing."

"Lower line, Won't get up in the morning, won't sleep at night."

"Horizontal inscription, Ah yes, yes, yes."

Rita walked into the living room with a plate of fruit, glanced at the ink-still-wet couplet on the table, and covered her mouth as she laughed,

"Mr. Fu Lin, you truly have a way with words."