She had just come from her father’s place… no, from in front of her mother’s photo.
Her father’s line, “You like Xiao Bailai, right?” was like a stone thrown into still water, still not sinking to the bottom.
The faint redness left by her father’s thumb rubbing against her eyes still lingered on her eyelids…
Because her father said, “I won’t stop you,” because he said it was a promise her mother had made.
She almost ran back to her room, but her heart was beating even faster than when she had been running all the way.
She wanted to see Rinna…
Wanted to tell Rinna many things…
Her father had agreed, and her mother had paved the way for them long ago.
She no longer had to feel a heavy stone pressing on her chest every time she looked at Rinna.
But she couldn’t say these words directly.
She could talk about her mother, she could talk about the promise, but that line from her father, “You like Xiao Bailai,” she couldn’t relay that to Rinna…
At least not now.
She hadn’t figured out how to place such heavy words in Rinna’s hands without hurting her. Not because she didn’t dare, but because she hadn’t thought it through yet.
Then, she pushed open the door.
Hisaki’s fingers rested on the wooden frame of the sliding door, her knuckles tightening slightly. She stood rigidly at the entrance, staring blankly at Rinna, who was spacing out in the room.
“Rinna!”
All the words she wanted to say were stuck in her throat…
‘Father knows I like Rinna. He doesn’t stop me. He said it was a promise Mother made while holding his hand before she died.’
At this moment, all these words were blocked by Rinna’s dazed face.
She forgot that Rinna didn’t know what she had just been through, forgot that without any context, shouting out and then not knowing what to say next was completely inappropriate.
Rinna was leaning against the headboard.
Her phone was already on the nightstand…
Her chat with Kikyo had just ended a few minutes ago…
But she wasn’t processing that sentence itself.
Kikyo had said that liking girls wasn’t wrong, and she had already confirmed that fact for herself long ago.
What she was thinking about now was another question, one more concrete and urgent than “the legitimacy of sexual orientation,” a question that made her think about her male soul standing up and doing something.
If someone had to take the first step between her and Xiao, it should be her.
Rinna wasn’t narcissistic; she just felt that when it came to feelings, someone had to speak first.
The sticky, lingering gazes and silences between her and Hisaki, the body heat and tears soaked in at the hot spring and shopping mall, had long ceased to be one-sided speculation.
They probably already had feelings for each other, but neither had said that word in front of the other.
But as someone who had at least been a boy in her past life, Rinna felt it was only natural to take the initiative and express her feelings to the girl she liked.
A guy should be a little more proactive…
Even though she was now a girl through and through, the sense of responsibility and habits of action deep in her soul hadn’t been completely replaced by this body.
She couldn’t just wait for Xiao to speak up; that wouldn’t be fair to Xiao.
But before that, there was one prerequisite she needed to confirm.
Did the Kurose family have any restrictions on whether Xiao’s future partner had to be male or female?
If the Kurose family had a rule that she must find a male spouse, then her rash confession would only make the situation awkward…
She had to understand this issue clearly before confessing; otherwise, once she said it, she might push Xiao into the most painful crevice between “defying the family” and “accepting the confession.”
Thinking of this, Rinna let out a soft sigh and looked up to gaze at the ceiling…
Then, she noticed Hisaki standing still at the door, rigid like a big dog startled by a sudden door opening.
Her black hair was slightly disheveled…
Her dark brown eyes were staring straight at her, lips slightly parted, with an expression that clearly showed nervousness and excitement, and an even clearer embarrassment of not knowing what to say.
Rinna was amused by her strange expression and wanted to laugh, but she held it in.
‘Had Xiao been chasing after someone just now?’
‘Or had she argued with Uncle Hei Lai?’
‘Or was it something else that made her run back so urgently?’
“Xiao, what’s wrong?”
Rinna’s voice was soft, the gentle and calm tone she usually used.
When Hisaki heard that voice, all the anxiety she had accumulated just now seemed to be put on pause by an invisible hand.
She looked at the person before her…
‘She was spacing out just now, probably thinking about something messy again.’
Hisaki remembered the conversation she just had with her father about the “cafe provocation.”
Her judgment system for Rinna had, from the very beginning, adopted a standalone mode that operated independently, not connecting to external standards.
Hisaki didn’t think Rinna had done anything wrong.
She knew too well what kind of person Rinna was.
A Rinna like that speaking those words to a complete stranger at the cafe must have had her own reasons.
She didn’t need to know the reason; she only needed to know that it was something Rinna did.
But the video her father had seen did make her uncomfortable.
Because in the video, Rinna was deliberately and actively attracting a stranger’s attention in front of many people.
Who that uncle was didn’t matter at all…
What mattered was that Rinna had projected her gaze, expressions, and tone precisely outside of Hisaki’s territory, looking at a completely unrelated stranger.
She only wanted Rinna to look at her.
That uncle, who had been scolded speechless by Rinna, had taken up attention resources that he shouldn’t have.
Even if it was only a few minutes.
Even if Rinna had scolded him solely to stand up for that girl on the train, even if Rinna didn’t even remember what he looked like, in Hisaki’s eyes, those few minutes of attention were hers by right.
So she was agitated.
She wished Rinna would always only look at her.
‘I want Rinna to quietly stay in my room too, not going anywhere, not looking at anyone, accompanying me in a space that’s just you and me. Watching her space out every day, holding her to sleep every night. Until the very end, forever and ever…’
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