Chapter 22: What We Still Don’t Know

In the art class studio, Ji Fan was sketching the sunset outside the window.

Beside him sat a bored Lin An — since the basketball court was occupied…

Without basketball to play, Lin An kept urging Ji Fan to finish up and head home.

That was, until a recording started playing — they both instinctively turned toward the direction of the broadcasting room…

“I think I get it now,” Ji Fan muttered.

“I knew it! Those guys in Class One are so shameless, ganging up to hunt down a defenseless, sweet girl like that… That homeroom teacher is disgusting,” Lin An said angrily.

The two exchanged a glance. Suddenly, they started to feel concerned for Xia Hua.

Because he had gifted her a drawing tablet, Ji Fan had Xia Hua’s contact info.

He was the first to message her, asking where she was.

A long while passed, but there wasn’t even a sound of a reply.

Lin An sent one too: “Where are you?”

Ding dong~

“Right above the broadcast room, on the rooftop of the main building.” Xia Hua replied just in time.

The art studio’s building was southeast of the main building, so when they looked up, they could just barely make out a figure on the rooftop of the main building. That had to be Xia Hua.

Except… emmmmmm.

A few seconds later, someone seemed to realize something.

Because Ji Fan also received a message.

The truth was, Xia Hua had just been too lazy to reply—after all, she wasn’t really close to Ji Fan.

Besides, it was such an embarrassing situation, being bullied and all.

She really hadn’t wanted to respond, and had planned to just ignore it. But then Lin An messaged her.

Out of habit, she replied without thinking.

Then she remembered — Lin An and Ji Fan were usually together.

So she ‘incidentally’ replied to him as well.

In front of the broadcast room, a group of students was still struggling with the iron door.

“Everyone back off. Let me try,” Ye Ling said seriously.

She’d heard the recording seemed to have finished already, and now a Japanese song was playing.

Coincidentally, it was the very one Xia Hua had randomly chosen— “Euterpe.”

The same one Yuzuriha Inori sings in Guilty Crown.

Ye Ling figured the timing was just about right.

She pulled out a nail clipper and used it to extract the broken toothpick from the keyhole.

Cheers erupted outside the broadcasting room.

Roughly ten meters above the room—

Xia Hua was in quite a good mood, despite having sent out such an embarrassing recording.

And now, as luck would have it, her chosen song was playing…

la lala la lala la la~

la lala lala la lalala~

la la lalala lalala la la la la~~

la lala la la la…

Xia Hua didn’t know Japanese, much less how to sing a Japanese song, but that didn’t stop her from humming along to the melody.

The sunlight at that moment was just right— or at least, that’s what Ji Fan thought.

The warm glow of the sunset fell perfectly on Xia Hua, painting the sky behind her in a dreamy, romantic hue.

Her long hair was tousled by the wind, and she looked utterly at peace with the world.

Teacher Ye Ling opened the broadcasting room door. She shut off the broadcasting system— that marked the end of their mission.

la lala lala la lalala~

la la lalala lalala la la la la~~

The girl’s soft humming became much clearer.

Her voice, in terms of musicality, always seemed to have an edge— at least far more so than the deeper or raspier voices of most guys. It had a certain clarity, a touch of ethereality.

It pierced the ears of Lin An and Ji Fan as they opened the rooftop door.

“Beautiful,” Ji Fan praised inwardly.

The song Euterpe had always been filled with sorrow, melancholy, and a yearning plea against fate.

Back when Guilty Crown was airing, Ji Fan had it on repeat more times than he could count.

But it wasn’t until now, hearing Xia Hua hum the melody so gently, that he realized— this song could be this beautiful too.

He wished time could stop here, and just let that girl be.

“Xia Hua, Xia Hua— are you okay!!” Lin An rushed over in a few long strides, checking her up and down like a scanner.

“What are you doing!” Xia Hua stopped humming.

“I just wanted to see if your homeroom teacher did a number on you.”

“I used to get bullied, but not anymore. And it won’t happen again.” Xia Hua clasped her hands behind her back and looked down once more at the open space below the main building, where a group of teachers was escorting students away.

They were trying to find her, trying to keep the fallout to a minimum.

But things had already gone this far.

It’s either Zhou Qing gets fired— or Xia Hua transfers out.

Getting to relive life once more was truly a gift. At least this time, Xia Hua dared to do the things she never had the courage for before.

Most people would worry about the school applying pressure and forcing reconciliation, but not Xia Hua.

In fact, she wanted to ask: shouldn’t I be the one giving the pressure? Shouldn’t you be the ones thinking how to make peace with me?

“So what are you gonna do in class from now on?” Lin An asked, concerned about the practical stuff.

“I’m not switching classes. I’ll stand back up where I fell.” Xia Hua raised a hand to shield her eyes from the blinding rays of sunset. With a smile blooming like a flower, she said, “I want to stay in Class One. Who’s in favor, who’s against, who has a problem?”

She raised a small fist and gave it a shake. “I’ll deal with them one by one.”

At that moment, Ji Fan walked over and interjected, “That song you were humming just now—it was really beautiful.”

Xia Hua smiled lightly and modestly replied, “It was alright. At least I didn’t go off-key.”

“If I’m not mistaken, isn’t there a Chinese cover version of Euterpe?”

“I think there is…” Xia Hua mumbled, not sounding too interested.

“There definitely is— and it’s really good. I used to listen to it all the time,” Lin An said as he pulled out his phone and searched for the song. Xia Hua looked at him like she wanted to smack him.

My dear friend… why were you such a blockhead back then?

If you wanted to hear it, you could’ve said so! Why wait for someone else to bring it up before chiming in?

If you don’t say it, how am I supposed to know?

So… “You want to hear it?” Xia Hua asked quietly.

“Uh-huh.” Lin An seemed a bit stunned too, then carefully asked, “Can I?”

“Fine, fine. But after I finish singing this one, I’m going home.” Xia Hua shot him a glare— and mentally punched herself— because in front of Ji Fan, she knew she was showing a bit of favoritism.

But… but…

But Lin An is her dearest friend.

She was here because of him. What did anyone else matter?

She plugged in her earphones, cutting out all background noise.

Then the Chinese cover of Euterpe began to play. Yes— yes— Xia Hua was the type who became totally useless without a backing track.

With backing track buff: she was a battle goddess.

Without it: about as effective as a foot soldier.

【On the plains, oh blooming flower】

【What is it… that you can see?】

【Why do people… always hurt one another?】

【……】

A beautiful song indeed—on the rooftop, bathed in the golden sunset.

She, like a goddess of war.

Hummed it into something infinitely beautiful.