Reunion
The morning right after Elysia's stalking of Yi Siyun—no, her tailing incident.
Yi Siyun woke to the chime of a text notification on her phone.
"Mmm..."
She roughly raked a hand through her messy hair and reached out to wake Carmen, who should have been sleeping beside her—
"Ah..."
Only then did she remember that last night she had slept alone at her own place, not Carmen's.
Ever since the dream where she kissed Carmen and began to realize her own feelings, she had been spending nearly every night at Carmen's house. The habit had stuck: whoever woke first would gently rouse the other.
Carmen lived alone too, and never complained about the constant sleepovers, but Siyun still felt she was imposing if she stayed every single night. So every now and then she slept separately on purpose.
"Haa..."
Lately she had two particular complaints.
The first: why couldn't she have those dreams more often?
Anyone who paid attention to the way she talked would have noticed—recently Siyun still occasionally dreamed of locking lips with Carmen.
There had even been mornings when she woke from a dream of kissing Carmen while they were actually lying side by side, and for a panicked second she was convinced she had done it for real.
But her grievances about the dreams didn't stop at frequency.
For example, she had exchanged innocent pecks as a child, yet she had never experienced a real kiss with tongue, so the sensation always felt a little off.
The press of lips was vivid enough, but the taste and texture of a tongue felt awkward—more accurately, there was no taste at all, and the feeling was just like wrapping her own tongue around a finger.
And why couldn't the dreams go any further than that?
Lately Siyun had been grumbling that it was her dream, so she ought to be able to do whatever she wanted.
Any guilt about kissing her best friend in a dream had long since evaporated.
The reason she couldn't go further was probably the same as the strange sensation during the kiss: pure lack of experience.
She had never done anything like that in real life, so her unconscious simply couldn't conjure the scene.
Which led to the ridiculous thought that maybe she had no choice but to go all the way with Carmen just so she could dream about it properly—followed by frantic head-shaking.
She wanted to try it in a dream because she couldn't in reality, yet to have the dream she first needed the real experience... a chicken-or-egg dilemma of the highest order.
And her second complaint was about herself for even thinking such things.
Whenever she caught herself fretting over how to dream of kissing Carmen more often, she would look back and feel utterly debauched.
Using my precious friend in a dream just to satisfy my own lust!
Guilt would flood her—only for her to have another kissing dream that very night and immediately start plotting how to make them more frequent again.
She had even tried lucid dreaming, or forced herself to imagine kissing right up until the moment she fell asleep...
In short, Yi Siyun's head had been a complete mess lately.
With sleepy eyes she unlocked her phone and found the culprit that had woken her: a single new text.
She tapped it. The sender was saved as ♥♡Senior Elysia♡♥.
Of course Elysia herself had entered that name.
Back when Siyun was in turmoil she had spotted the girl and poured out everything about Carmen, then exchanged numbers... Every time she saw that contact name she wondered whether seeking advice from her had really been a good idea.
She sighed and read the message.
Whatever she wanted to say was probably about the fireworks festival.
Right after the counseling session Elysia had gotten all excited, promised to help, and declared she would throw a fireworks festival for her.
"I still don't know how she plans to actually hold a festival..."
Maybe gather a few close friends for a chicken party? Set off a couple of fireworks?
When she first heard the idea Siyun had been too frazzled to think straight, but now she wondered—would a handful of people she knew just standing around with a few little fireworks really create any atmosphere?
Senior Elysia had confidently sworn the mood would be great, but...
"...No point thinking about it now."
Sometimes she considered telling her it was fine, they didn't have to do it after all. Yet every time she saw Elysia working so hard for her sake, the words stuck in her throat.
"I'll just think of it as everyone having fun for one day..."
That lighthearted mindset would be enough.
Siyun heaved another long sigh, climbed out of bed, and began putting on her uniform piece by piece.
"She asked me to stop by before morning classes start, so..."
She still had plenty of time.
She had sprinted all the way to the school gate; walking a little more slowly now would be fine.
Elysia was genuinely trying hard to help her, yet Siyun still couldn't quite relax around the girl.
A face so beautiful it felt almost excessive to be near. A playful personality that came on far too strong. And on top of that, all the rumors swirling around the Academy about her.
Siyun wasn't the type to judge someone solely by gossip, but when every single rumor leaned the same way, a certain awkwardness was inevitable.
"Talking to her, she doesn't seem like a bad person..."
She muttered the thought while walking in a daze—then froze in place at the sight of someone ahead.
A familiar face. Someone far too familiar.
The person she had kept searching for, certain she must still be alive somewhere.
Black hair falling past the shoulders. Eyes closed even while walking right down the middle of the path.
She looked very different from fifteen years ago, yet Siyun knew instinctively—this was the one she had been looking for all this time.
The blind girl who, during the Great War fifteen years ago, had saved her from being slaughtered.
She was here. At this Academy.
In the fifteen years that felt both short and long, she had changed a great deal.
The small stature of childhood had stretched tall enough to rival anyone. The once-frail body without a single muscle had been tempered into something solid and strong.
Instead of the bloodstained kitchen knife she had gripped that day of the Great War, a long sword now rested in its scabbard at her side.
Even the childish face had matured—yet one thing remained completely unchanged.
The expression she wore.
Before the Great War, whenever people spoke to her, asked for directions, confessed their feelings, or picked a fight—
She had always, always worn that same gentle, warm smile, eyes softly closed.
In fifteen years she had not changed at all.
Siyun's breath caught. Her mind went pure white.
She had thought about this endlessly ever since that day.
If she ever met her again, what should she say first?
Thank you for saving me back then? Or ask for her name?
After thinking it over dozens, hundreds, thousands of times, she had decided exactly what she wanted to say when they reunited.
Yet now that she was actually face-to-face with her, her mind blanked completely and she forgot every word.
All she could do was stand there, arm outstretched, making useless little sounds—"Ah, ah, ah..."
Her reaching hand felt as if it would touch her any second, yet her feet stayed glued to the ground. She couldn't take a single step closer.
She couldn't reach her.
No matter how hard she tried to lift her feet, some invisible force seemed to pin her in place.
Perhaps the girl sensed her gaze.
Her face turned briefly toward Siyun, who still stood frozen with one hand stretched out.
But of course a girl who could not see would never recognize someone watching from afar.
Even if Siyun spoke, would she even remember?
That Siyun was the child she had saved that day?
Siyun herself had grown and changed over fifteen years.
Her voice, her speech, her mannerisms—all different. She had even gained the strength to fight back against enemies.
Yet nothing remained that would let the girl recognize her.
Or so she had thought—
until the girl walked straight through the crowd and stopped right in front of her.
She looked quietly down at Siyun.
There was no way her eyes could see, yet Siyun felt certain she was being looked at.
Countless people were passing by, yet the moment the girl stood before her every other sound vanished, as if the world had been muted.
Until she smiled playfully and opened her mouth.
"Hi. Do you remember me?"
They hadn't even been close back then, as far as Siyun recalled. How could she greet her so familiarly?
Even as the absurd thought crossed her mind—
hot tears spilled down Yi Siyun's cheeks.