"Mm-hmm..."
After finishing the Zongzi, Lin went back for a nap. He had lost too much energy over the past three months; it would probably take him half a year to recover.
He had to consider what to do next. He couldn't really just sponge off Sakura forever, could he?
"Brother Lin..."
"Hmm?"
A timid voice made the just-fallen-asleep Lin prop his head up again, looking curiously at the sliding door. He saw a pair of shy eyes peeking at him through the crack.
"What is it, Rin?"
Lin relationship with Rin was quite good. Thanks to Lin natural affinity for children, Rin held a great deal of respect for this bold brother, though her personality kept her from communicating too openly.
"Um... Brother Lin... can you stay a bit longer?"
Lin thought she was just looking for some excitement. Was it a child's love for a lively atmosphere?
He waved his hand dismissively: "I was planning to stay for a long time anyway."
"No, that's not it... I mean, can you spend more time with my sister? My sister has actually been waiting for you to visit her for a long time..."
"..."
Why did that sound so resentful, with such a strange flavor?
Lin thought his relationship with Sakura should look quite normal in Rin's eyes. So he nodded somewhat confusedly: "Oh... alright."
Was it because he looked exceptionally reliable? Hehe, that certainly was... wait, he couldn't think like that. He wasn't reliable at all; he was just a frivolous idiot.
Lin prayed that no more females would define him with an overly perfect gaze. He had had enough of a life serving simultaneously as an artwork and a toy.
"Um, that..."
"Is there something else?"
"Brother Lin, can you... no, no... it's nothing..."
In the end, Rin didn't say it. She fled quickly under Lin suspicious gaze. He thought about it for a while but couldn't figure it out, so he shrugged. How could he know a child's thoughts? He had lost those innocent ideas a long time ago.
So, he fell asleep.
This sleep lasted until ten o'clock at night.
...
"Ugh..."
Lin was awakened by scattered light. Rubbing his eyes, he walked to the sliding door and pulled it open. What he saw made him stop all movement.
The girl, having discarded her Miko robes for a cherry-blossom-patterned kimono, sat before the shrine gate. Looking at the Torii, she lit a firework in her hand, drawing a graceful trail in the air.
Sakura...?
Lin wasn't sure. The gentle girl with her long hair pinned up looked so much like Sakura, yet she was livelier, more youthful.
Was it because she had changed out of the Miko robes?
He didn't know. Perhaps it was the smile on her face, which was more natural than her usual polite one.
"Lin? You're awake?" Sakura noticed the figure beside her. She turned her head. A scarlet sakura petal, drifting in the light of the fireworks, brushed past her face. The gentle sound of the wind whistled past the unextinguished fireworks.
"...Tried to sleep, couldn't."
"Did I disturb you?"
"You disturbed my eyes."
Sakura couldn't help but laugh as she handed him a firework. Lin took it nonchalantly, using the firework in her hand to light his own.
Whoosh—
Two bright blossoms bloomed under the stars.
Lin leaned against the Torii, quietly overlooking the city night view outside the dense forest. Perhaps the only geographical advantage of this shrine on the mountainside was being able to view the mortal world from a different perspective?
Soon, the fireworks burned out. He watched a wisp of white smoke rise from the charred tip and dissipate into the night.
"Five years have passed before I knew it." Sakura looked up at the sky, her white neck extending from the kimono. "I realized that the old me was indeed very fragile. Now... heh, it's about the same."
"...I think you're already better than most people."
Lin made a disgusted face: "Some of the men I know are so self-centered. They think the world should revolve around them, that every girl should like them, and if a girl near them talks to someone else, they've been cheated on. Two girls standing together must be yuri, two guys together must be yaoi. And then they have to publish their 'high opinions,' driving away anything that doesn't suit them. It's really..."
"...But I heard you said in school that all girls should like you."
"That just proves I'm brain-dead."
Lin put his hands on his hips righteously: "I am the epitome of self-centeredness. I have all the characteristics of the brain-dead, so doesn't that make me the brain-dead person himself?"
Sakura was stunned, then burst into laughter: "Is that so... actually, you're not self-centered at all. Because a person who is truly self-centered to the extreme wouldn't reach that conclusion."
"And I think... indeed, there should be many people who like you..."
"What did you say?"
Lin didn't hear her last, faint sentence.
"Nothing. Lin, can you help me wrap some Zongzi? We're having them for breakfast tomorrow."
"Huh? Oh..."
But won't the Dragon Boat Festival be over by tomorrow morning?
Though a bit confused, Lin didn't say anything. He followed Sakura into the kitchen. Then Sakura brought over the glutinous rice, mugwort, bamboo leaves, string...
The two chatted while wrapping Zongzi. Lin had learned a bit about it, so it was no problem for him.
"I'm out of string. I'll go get some more," Sakura said after placing another Zongzi in the basket.
"Yeah, okay," Lin replied without looking up.
"..."
"..."
Ten minutes.
Twenty minutes.
Lin frowned and stood up. Why hadn't Sakura come back after going inside?
He didn't have time to think much and walked in—
"..."
Lin and Sakura eyes met. His shock was a sharp contrast to Sakura shyness.
Sakura...
"I... I wasn't careful..."
Sakura was tied up tightly from head to toe. A perfect "Zongzi-style" binding had fixed her in place. Those red strings passed through certain suggestive areas, accentuating her figure in an exceptionally alluring way.
Just how "uncareful" would someone have to be to end up like this?
Her face was red, and she shook her head vigorously. But the more she struggled, the more delicious her skin, pressed by the strings, looked.
At this moment, a thought suddenly occurred to Lin.
Sakura is a good girl, right?
Logically, many people should like a girl like Sakura and want to... make her their own, right?
Now, he had a good opportunity.
Sakura should have quite a lot of affection for him, and he indeed felt that Sakura was better than the girls around him.
Since others could do that kind of thing to him, could he do it too?
The demon in his heart whispered quietly.
Vent all the humiliation of the past three months. If it's Sakura... if it's...
All he had to do was reach out and stroke her smooth cheek, just as Prometheus and Mobius had taught him how to touch a girl...
Someone had already done it, so it would be perfectly reasonable for him to do the same, right???—
No!
Lin pupils suddenly contracted.
He couldn't do that. Otherwise, how would he be any different from Prometheus and Mobius?
He wasn't that kind of person.
"Wait a moment."
Lin immediately turned back to get scissors and helped Sakura cut the strings. Sweating profusely, he smiled at Sakura.
Great, this way...
"Why?"
"Eh?"
Sakura voice turned low.
"Why is it that only I won't do?"
She raised her eyes. Though the shy expression remained, there was something more complex and incomprehensible to Lin on top of it.
"Sakura? What are you saying?"
"It would have been very easy to start just now, wouldn't it? So why did you..."
"Because..." Lin looked at her with difficulty. "Because we're friends... I can't do that kind of thing to you like they did..."
"But I want to."
"..."
Incomprehensible.
Beyond Lin range of understanding.
When he heard those words, his brain crashed.
When he regained consciousness, Lin subconsciously started walking out of the kitchen, but a small figure blocked his path and then gave him a push.
He fell back into the kitchen.
Rin...?
"You clearly told me to remember you as the person who cares most about me. So why... after being hurt by others, are you unwilling to... embrace me?"
Sakura reached out, using the string to wind around his body.
"But I... don't want to hurt you... I don't want... to make things so strange between us again..."
He seemed to be crying, yet the tears would not fall.
"I just wanted to love you all normally..."
A Zongzi was born.
He lay lifelessly on the ground, just as he had when he first arrived.
"...Whatever you want to do, just do it quickly."
He looked at the girl standing before him.
It was as if nothing had changed.