As night fell, Bell was still asleep on the sofa, and everyone else had returned to their rooms.
Takatsuki quietly pushed open Mei's door.
With Fu Hua currently undergoing treatment, Mei had temporarily returned to living alone.
Seeing Takatsuki push open the door and enter, the girl's cheeks flushed slightly as she softly murmured, "Takatsuki…"
Although it was night, Mei hadn't gone to sleep. Instead, she sat by the bed, waiting for him to arrive.
"Mei."
Both of their voices were very low, because while the house's soundproofing was barely adequate, who knew if there might be ears behind the wall?
"Um, is there something you need?"
After updating their ability values and everyone went to rest, Takatsuki quietly said something to Mei, inviting her to meet that night. Mei didn't say anything, but after tidying up her room and herself, she waited for Takatsuki's arrival with a mix of anticipation and shyness.
"Actually, there's something I want to give you. It's not very convenient in front of everyone."
In the dead of night, a single man and woman in a small room would normally lead to some things that are difficult to describe.
Takatsuki also subconsciously thought of this. Originally, he hadn't thought so much when he invited Mei, but in the current environment, if the kerosene lamp by the bed were replaced with red candles, the atmosphere would be perfectly set.
"What is it?"
As soon as Mei asked, she saw an unfamiliar bouquet of flowers appear in Takatsuki's hand. They looked a bit like lilies, and the wrapping paper was just ordinary, casual paper, indicating that it wasn't a high-quality bouquet bought from a flower shop.
"These are flowers I saw in the Dungeon. It seems like it's been a long time since I gave you flowers, ever since we left Changkong City, so the first moment I saw them, I picked them."
Takatsuki extended the flowers in his hand towards Mei.
Mei looked down at the flowers in front of her, then raised her head to look at Takatsuki.
"?"
Seeing Mei not take the flowers, Takatsuki couldn't help but feel a little flustered, "What's wrong? Don't you like them?"
"Did you forget something else?"
Hearing Mei's words, Takatsuki was a bit confused. Forgot what?
Had he ever promised Mei something?
But no matter how Takatsuki recalled, he couldn't remember what he had forgotten.
"Sorry, Mei, I can't remember what I forgot. Could you remind me?"
Not trying to save face, Takatsuki directly asked.
"Sigh…"
Mei sighed, "When you used to give me flowers, you never just gave me flowers."
Used to give flowers?
Ah! That's it.
Why did Takatsuki always give Mei flowers?
To put it in one sentence, it was just a system task.
Confessing to Raiden Mei, giving Raiden Mei flowers, and interacting with this protagonist would give Takatsuki crystals for gacha draws.
Later, when there were no more tasks, and due to some changes, this routine activity was temporarily forgotten.
Now that Mei brought it up, she must be nostalgic for those memories.
Takatsuki still remembered that after he pestered Mei for a week, she got angry and chased him with a wooden sword.
Fortunately, he had already drawn the Florence Eagle at the time, otherwise, he probably would have been beaten black and blue by Mei.
And after Mei failed to chase him a few times, plus Takatsuki never crossed the line, she tacitly accepted Takatsuki's existence.
And now…
Since Mei wanted to reminisce about the past, Takatsuki saw no reason to refuse.
Kneeling on one knee in front of Mei, who was sitting by the bed, he held up the bouquet in his hand and offered it to Mei, "Please be my girlfriend."
Reaching out to take the bouquet from Takatsuki's hand, Mei also showed a slight smile, "Okay."
Okay…
Ah…
Takatsuki instantly realized what had just happened. Mei, this sixteen-year-old young lady, actually ambushed and ambushed an eighteen-year-old old comrade like him. He was careless and didn't dodge.
However, if Takatsuki said he wasn't a little moved, that would definitely be a lie.
In fact, when he first met Mei, Takatsuki even fantasized about her accepting his confession.
After all, he was just an eighteen-year-old boy.
But after being rejected many times, he just treated it as a task.
When Mei's family fell on hard times, although it was only partly out of pity that he became a part of her emotional support, he also fantasized about saving the disheartened girl, and then the girl falling for him.
But it still didn't happen…
Later, they went through a lot together, and Takatsuki felt that Mei just considered him a normal good friend, a male best friend.
After all, in his own world, he also had many female friends, but not a single girlfriend.
So, in a sense, he was used to it. Plus, wanting to be involved with the main storyline, he and the others stayed together, and he tried every means to remain in the protagonist group.
But at this moment, he felt a sense of accomplishment, but due to the sudden impact, he didn't know what to say.
"What's wrong? Takatsuki, are you unwilling?"
Seeing a hint of crimson appear in the girl's pupils, Takatsuki unhesitatingly embraced the girl in front of him.
"Ah!"
The sudden hug caught the girl off guard, but after a brief moment of panic, the girl put down the bouquet in her hand and hugged him back.
"I'm just too happy."
Holding the girl in his arms, feeling the faint fragrance lingering at his nose, Takatsuki said.
"I'm sorry."
Hearing the girl in his arms, Takatsuki asked with some surprise, "Why are you apologizing?"
"Originally, in Changkong City, I kept rejecting Takatsuki-kun. Takatsuki-kun was always by my side. At that time, I, Takatsuki-kun, and Kiana, our time together was really happy. I didn't want our relationship to be ruined…"
Hearing Mei's words, Takatsuki breathed a sigh of relief. With the atmosphere just now, he thought Mei was going to sing a sinner's elegy, leave without a word, or betray him on the spot.
"But haven't we always been together? Whether in Changkong City, or the journey from Hong Kong to Egypt, or St. Freya Academy, and even now, we are together… Hmm."
As soon as Takatsuki's words fell, he felt a soft touch on his lips, blocking the rest of his words.
Raiden Mei, a typical Far Eastern young lady, was polite in her interactions and a standard Yamato Nadeshiko.
Of course, this was only on the surface.
In private, Mei was very bold, even wearing adult-style thongs for underwear. In one word, she was a closet pervert.
Unlike Takatsuki, who had no romantic experience and was very awkward in male-female relationships, Raiden Mei, though also lacking romantic experience, was very bold, and for a moment, she actually took the initiative.