The rain kept falling.
The endless white noise filled Jian Shuye’s ears.
She always felt that the weather a beautiful girl was least suited for was a rainy day.
It had been this way for as long as she could remember.
The heavy moisture in the air condensed into clumps, pressing down on her heart.
Jian Shuye felt a little dazed.
Gazing at the curtain of rain outside the corridor, she couldn’t help but recall that morning ten years ago.
The weather in Kyoto had been just like this, though it was the Qingming season.
Everything in sight had its saturation turned down.
The white plaster walls were wet from the rain, stained with a gray sheen.
The roof tiles were arranged in orderly rows, raindrops falling on them without a sharp pitter-patter, instead flowing along the gaps into lines.
Around the koi pond, a wooden corridor stretched, paved with flat,质朴 wooden planks.
A young girl knelt on it, staring at the easel before her and that blank canvas.
Not far from the pond, a deer scare stood silently.
When the bamboo tube filled with rainwater, it would tip the water into the stone trough below, making a soft sound that broke the courtyard’s stillness, over and over.
She heard footsteps behind her.
Without turning around, she knew who it was.
“You have no talent for painting.”
The girl didn’t respond.
Her tender white hands only gripped the paintbrush tightly.
“Painting is all about artistic conception. But you prefer surface appearances. You think you understand the world faster than others, but don’t you know that painting is a stage, a window? The thoughts and feelings behind creation, the heart—that’s what matters.”
“You need to learn to distinguish emotions, to distinguish feelings!”
“If you keep going, you’ll only end up as a human camera.”
Seeing that the girl still didn’t speak, the old man shook his head and left the corridor.
Only she remained, sitting alone, listening to the rain beat on the tiles.
The stone lantern by the pond was stained moss-green.
A few colorful koi swam slowly in the water, swishing their tails, leaving shallow ripples.
That memory ended there.
After that, everything was just gray and white.
She took the opportunity to return to the country, entered middle school, then high school.
Jian Shuye was still trying hard, but those words lingered in her heart, never dispersing.
Art—what was it for, in the end?
If it only stayed on the surface, then what inner essence could she observe?
That shouldn’t be something a person could detect.
Feelings or not, she didn’t have X-ray vision.
How could she see what others were thinking?
A flower was just a flower, a tree just a tree.
If the forest was deep, you might see deer.
If the meaning was deep, what could you see?
The problem didn’t resolve as she grew older; instead, it became more like a quagmire.
Her painting skills advanced rapidly over the years, but she never gained her grandfather’s recognition.
Gradually, she even forgot why she had started learning to paint in the first place.
Even in other fields, she displayed unparalleled talent.
Oh, one more thing: in Go, she was always getting crushed by a peer.
But what did that prove?
In the end, that opponent just became ordinary like everyone else.
She had thought that someone who could beat her so many times must have obtained the so-called “true thing,” manifesting something beyond ordinary reach.
But in the end, it was all for nothing.
She couldn’t paint what she wanted, or rather… she didn’t want to paint anything at all.
Even the meaning of life, the future—she had never thought about them.
She was just moving forward step by step according to her parents’ expectations.
These honors were earned, and that was that.
Besides her mother’s praise and her father’s nod, they meant nothing else.
She couldn’t actually become a painter and abandon the family’s foundation.
There was nothing she liked, because everything she wanted could be bought with money.
There was no one she liked, because no member of the opposite sex was as good as her.
There were no views she liked, because she had already seen the world.
A perfect girl, a smooth life, a flower on a high peak, one in ten thousand.
After all, she was born from the concentrated effort of the entire clan, infused with countless years of educational dedication, raised to be the Jian Shuye of today.
It was only natural that she should shine like this, capable of everything.
Thus, she lost the ability to perceive others’ feelings.
She couldn’t empathize with others.
Other people’s joys and sorrows had nothing to do with her, like parallel lines that never intersected.
Since there was no interference, why should she pay attention?
She had always lived this way and never corrected it.
It was only right, wasn’t it?
Jian Shuye closed the door to the Myriad Phenomena Club.
She couldn’t do anything.
It was as if she had never escaped this shackle.
A sudden rainstorm was enough to expose her true self.
She had wanted to stir up trouble because life was too peaceful, but the trouble just kept multiplying.
It wasn’t that she lacked means to solve it.
One phone call, and the current situation would be no different from playing house.
She could easily turn the tide.
But then, it wouldn’t count as her solving it.
She would also have to admit that she was being disturbed by a useless thing like empathy, which she had always considered worthless.
Footsteps approached.
Jian Shuye turned around and looked at the stairwell.
…
“Whew… climbing five floors is no joke.”
She was tired of this girl in front of her—a girl who surpassed her in appearance.
When she first saw her, she thought she might be another chess player who could stand across from her and play Go.
But after getting to know her, she found she was just a slightly more valuable piece.
Hopeless at sports, not smart, mediocre in figure, and timid—like the guinea pig she had raised on a whim as a child.
She had planned to spend a little money, like treating the potted plants in the Gardening Club, and just keep her around for decoration.
As for what she wanted to express, whether she was happy or tired—that had nothing to do with her.
But now, why did she feel a kind of irritation, weariness, and yet… a tiny bit of…
“Hey, running that fast wore me out.”
Lin Yi supported herself on her knees, panting heavily.
Jian Shuye turned her gaze away, because she could see Lin Yi’s shirt uniform becoming translucent.
“Your underwear is showing.”
Lin Yi froze, looked down, then scratched her head.
“Oh, it’s fine. We’re both girls, what’s there to be afraid of?”
“When I asked you to be my model back then, you absolutely refused.”
“That was different.”
Lin Yi grinned foolishly.
“That was naked. At least I’m wearing two layers now. No big deal.”
Now, what was there to say?
“What are you here for?”
Jian Shuye turned around, her eyes firm.
Even though her own clothes were soaked through, Lin Yi looked even worse.
If she came to mock my failure, go ahead.
If she came to take advantage of my vulnerability to comfort me, then no need.
‘I, Jian Shuye, am not weak inside. I don’t need criticism or sympathy.’
Lin Yi straightened up and walked toward Jian Shuye.
Until she was two steps away, she pulled a crumpled piece of paper from her skirt pocket.
“Aaah, it got wet in the rain. Wait, wait, let me fix it first.”
“What is this…”
Lin Yi frantically smoothed out the paper, then looked sorrowful.
“I wanted to unfold it in front of you and look cool, but now it’s ruined. The words are all blurred.”
Jian Shuye looked at the paper in Lin Yi’s hand.
The words “Club Application Form” slowly came into view.
It wasn’t sympathy, and it wasn’t mockery.
Jian Shuye had miscalculated.
Without her noticing, the rain had stopped.
The dark clouds dispersed, and a sliver of golden light spilled onto the corridor of the Club Building.
Lin Yi revealed a brilliant smile, holding the application form up with both hands, shining in the sunlight.
“Jian Shuye, President of the Myriad Phenomena Club! I, Lin Yi from Class 1-1, formally apply to join your club on this Club Recruitment Fair day! Please approve!”
No more words were needed.
No more rhetoric.
Just Lin Yi standing before her was already enough to speak a thousand words.
Watching Lin Yi bow her head and present the application, Jian Shuye covered her mouth, then covered her stomach.
‘So that’s how it is… So that’s how it is.’
‘I think I understand now, even if just a little.’
Her thoughts shifted.
“…Ha.”
?
“Haha…”
Lin Yi looked up curiously and saw Jian Shuye laughing uncontrollably, leaning against the tiled wall.
She had never seen Jian Shuye laugh so… unrestrainedly.
“Hey, what are you laughing at? Be serious. Treat this as a real matter.”
“No… haha, I, I wasn’t laughing…”
“You said you weren’t laughing!”
Lin Yi indignantly grabbed the application, ran to Jian Shuye’s side, and stretched out a claw.
“If you laugh again, I’ll tickle your armpits!”
Unexpectedly, Jian Shuye immediately stopped laughing and grabbed Lin Yi’s slender wrist.
For a moment, the faint scent of lavender made Lin Yi a little dazed.
She had never observed Jian Shuye’s face this closely.
Those delicate features easily brought to mind an ethereal snow woman.
Jian Shuye held Lin Yi’s hand and slowly guided it into the inner pocket of her own blazer uniform.
Watching Lin Yi’s pretty face gradually turn red, Jian Shuye looked like she had successfully pulled off a scheme, making Lin Yi’s fingertips come together and pull out a piece of paper from the smooth fabric of the lining.
It was a complete application form, preserved carefully.
The name on it was clearly Lin Yi.
So Jian Shuye had already written the application for Lin Yi a long time ago.
Ah…
Lin Yi seemed to remember.
Jian Shuye had said before that she was a school special, bound by no restrictions.
It wasn’t that the Student Council set rules for her, but that she set the rules for the Student Council.
As for club applications, she had already arranged everything for Lin Yi the moment she founded the club.
A moment could also be eternity.
At least Lin Yi felt that way when looking at the All-Universe Number One Beautiful Girl before her.
Gathering all the brilliance of the world, her confidence was just one of countless trivial merits, yet it was enough to make Lin Yi, reflected in her pupils, fall.
“I told you, it’s not shameful to be fascinated by me, Lin Yi.”
She and Lin Yi spoke in unison.
“Because you are Jian Shuye. That’s enough.”
“Because I am Jian Shuye. That’s enough.”