Chapter 43 · Moonlight in a Tea Cup

Tokyo's autumn nights come early. When Lin Ye pushed open the apartment's glass door, warm light from the entryway spilled out with a sweet aroma—Su Qinghuan was cooking a new sweet soup, with longans, red dates, and half a peeled pomelo floating in the clay pot. The fruit glistened like broken jade in the amber-colored broth.

"Welcome back?" She turned to smile, pumpkin seeds clinging to her apron from when she'd chopped the vegetable. "Little Peach is on the balcony knitting a scarf for Coalball, saying it needs 'winter gear'."

Lin Ye paused while changing his shoes. On the top shelf of the entryway shoe cabinet, there was a new carved sandalwood box—given to him that morning by the old abbot at the shrine, who'd insisted it was "a message from Yuekui in a dream". The box's surface was engraved with a star map, identical to the "Reunion Formation" patterns he'd seen in the Reverse Scale Core the night before.

By the living room's floor-to-ceiling windows, Little Peach stood on tiptoe reaching for the clothesline. Her murder of crows perched on the windowsill, tilting their heads to watch her awkwardly wrap yarn around Coalball's neck. The cat clearly disapproved of this "fashion project", swishing its tail to tangle the newly wound yarn into a mess.

"Meow—" It suddenly leaped to the windowsill, pawing at Little Peach's wrist to pull her inside. She stumbled, and the yarn ball rolled to Lin Ye's feet. As he bent to pick it up, his Reverse Scale Core suddenly warmed—the yarn held a thin golden thread, glowing with a familiar warmth in the dim light.

"What's this…" He followed the thread, realizing it pierced the floor and extended downward.

The basement door stood ajar. Lin Ye pushed it open, met by a mix of mildew and old wood. In the corner, stacked neatly among cardboard boxes, were envelopes each embossed with the same spirit pattern—identical to those on the sandalwood box.

The top envelope was signed "Yuekui", its handwriting as slender as bamboo: "To those three hundred years in the future: When your fingers touch this letter, the pollution has faded, and reunion has come. But there are things I still want to say."

Lin Ye withdrew the letter, moonlight filtering through the air vent to gild the words:

*"Little Ye:

Don't wonder how I know your nickname. On that stormy night three hundred years ago, you carried my injured body through the ruins, murmuring, 'Little Peach, don't be afraid—big brother is here.' You were only sixteen, your spirit pattern core newly awakened, blood staining your school uniform red, yet you kept my head sheltered against your chest.

I often wondered: What is love? Is it General Yuekui's armor? The power of the Reverse Scale Core? Until you knelt before the shrine, pressing fragments of your own core into my palm, saying, 'This time, let me protect you'—then I understood: Love is reaching out knowing it will hurt. It's keeping a light on for someone, even when you're nothing but stardust.

Now you have warm rice balls, the clumsiness of knitting scarves for each other, and spirit pattern cores that see the past… These are more precious than the 'eternity' I sealed with the Reverse Scale Core.

Oh, and that flower-winged crow in Little Peach's murder that steals Coalball's collar? I made it from my last stardust. It always says, 'I'd have starved if Little Peach hadn't fed me'—see? Even a bird tries to turn 'now' into 'then'.

Finally, touch the Reverse Scale Core for me. It must be warm now, holding three hundred years of reunion."*

The letter rustled. Lin Ye looked up to find Little Peach standing in the basement doorway, eyes shining: "Captain, I found this in the attic!" She opened her palm to reveal a half-piece of stardust meteorite, fitting perfectly into the missing corner of Coalball's collar as Yuekui had described.

"Coalball must've been so worried back then." Little Peach pressed the fragment into the collar's notch. "Look, it's a perfect crescent!"

Coalball meowed, leaping to her shoulder to nuzzle her chin. Lin Ye noticed its collar was new—woven from the golden thread in Yuekui's letter, each strand wrapped in a wisp of starlight that flickered in the dark.

Late at night, Lin Ye sat in a wicker chair on the balcony. The Reverse Scale Core hovered over his knees, its starlight softer than ever. He opened the sandalwood box, finding inside not just the letter but a translucent jade plaque engraved with "reunion". On its inner side: "Every stardust waits for a reunion, and you've helped 3,627 shards find home."

Sounds came from below. He leaned over to see Su Qinghuan tucking in Little Peach, Jiu's crows dozing at their feet, and Sakura "watering" Su Li's spatial spirit pattern—though she was actually nourishing newly bloomed evening primroses with spiritual energy.

"Captain!" Little Peach's drowsy voice floated up. "Coalball's scarf is done! It wants to show Yuekui…"

Lin Ye smiled, rising as the Reverse Scale Core's starlight formed a galaxy behind him. He gathered a thin quilt from the sofa, walking to the balcony edge where moonlight spilled over his shoulders, casting a shadow that overlapped with a night three hundred years ago—when he'd carried injured Yuekui through the rain, murmuring "Little Peach, don't be afraid". Now he carried a quilt to tuck in the sleeping Little Peach, humming an off-key lullaby.

Wind rustled the balcony's pothos, lifting an osmanthus petal that spiraled into the sky, melting into the Reverse Scale Core's starlight to become a new star.

Somewhere far away, a healed soul watched, smiling softly. It was Yuekui, and every "Reunion Knot" once wrapped in love.