To be fair, Texas should rank among the top beautiful girls Li Lin had seen in both his past and present lives—although everyone at Penguin Logistics was like that, their types of beauty were different. And Texas happened to be the type that hit Li Lin's sweet spot .
Long, straight black hair, furry beast ears and tail, and a face that looked calm and tranquil, yet seemed to be pondering something, a cold beauty type. Although smoking deducted some points, now that she started eating Pocky to quit smoking, she looked even more flavorful. Moreover, Texas was the type who exercised regularly; her body curves could be fully seen even wearing the Penguin Logistics white uniform that looked completely unremarkable.
Honestly, if it were the Li Lin before transmigration, he hadn't even seen such a beautiful girl in real life, at most often seen in Photoshop. Or perhaps glimpsed through beauty filters. But upon arriving in this world, the standard for good looks seemed to have been broadened countless times. After such a long time, he hadn't seen many particularly ugly people, while Officer Ch'en, Texas, Exusiai, Croissant, Sora, even the two Blacksteel operators, and Lappland, even the shop proprietress encountered on the road, and even Talulah encountered in Chernobog, seemed to be above standard, even arguably suppressing the photo-editing monsters .
If you were to say Li Lin had any particular dissatisfaction with his current life, feeling oppressed living surrounded by beautiful girls or something, that would be bullshit. After all, after such a long time, they had already become familiar; the several girls were very pleasing to the eye, had good personalities; although he didn't expect romance, just looking at them was comforting.
Moreover, Li Lin was actually cohabiting with three of them; to say there weren't some lucky pervert incidents under conditions others would envy and hate... actually, there really weren't.
Because Texas, who looked most pleasing to the eye initially, always had a very tense relationship with Li Lin.
When your stamina is so depleted that you can't even see people clearly, whether that person is naked or clothed makes no difference anymore.
Especially recently, seeing Texas, Li Lin felt his heart pound, eyes darting around, hands and feet starting to sweat. Don't misunderstand, this wasn't love, this was purely a subconscious reaction from being beaten too much. That seemingly weak and fragile body contained the strength of a wolf, able to overpower Li Lin in strength.
Although after such a long period of special training, in terms of pure strength matchup, Li Lin had at least improved from being knocked down in one blow to being able to clash three times before falling, but regarding his feelings for this long-haired, straight-haired beast-eared girl, Li Lin felt increasingly complicated. On one hand, he felt the other party indeed cared about him a lot; on the other hand, he always felt Texas seemed to be hiding something from him, her attacks filled with some kind of anger and venting.
So recently, he subconsciously wanted to avoid Texas. Apart from necessary work, he really didn't want to meet Texas.
But now, it seemed there was nowhere else to go.
"Is, is there any problem?"
"Sit down."
"Oh."
Looks like I got caught sneaking food outside and am about to be lectured.
Li Lin stiffened, sat upright and uneasy on the sofa, stiffening into a horse stance. And Texas looked at the serious-faced Li Lin, somehow sighed slightly, lowered her gaze, then sat down beside Li Lin, looking at the coffee table in front, sipping her coffee in small mouthfuls.
Feeling the faint warmth radiating from Texas beside him, cold sweat instantly broke out on Li Lin's forehead. Especially seeing the reflection of the two sitting side-by-side in the mirror diagonally opposite the sofa, endless illusions appeared in Li Lin's mind. None were particularly romantic; just Texas sitting beside him made Li Lin feel his heart start to seemingly accelerate its blood supply, his whole body becoming stiff. As if he was about to receive a vicious beating in the next second.
"Can you… close your eyes?"
"Huh?"
"I'm not very used to this kind of thing either, so doing it directly, still feels a bit nervous. So close your eyes."
"…Oh."
She's going to hit me, right?
Although speaking ambiguous lines in an ambiguous context, Li Lin knew the score (lit. heart full of f***ing numbers, slang: knows what's up). Looking at Texas beside him who seemed somewhat embarrassed, Li Lin resignedly closed his eyes. Guessing Texas probably wanted to conduct a blind fighting test using the last bit of stamina at night.
But after waiting for a long while, the attack he felt might come didn't arrive. Instead, some strange rustling sounds appeared beside him, like rummaging for something, followed by the friction sound of objects. Something seemed to have been placed on the coffee table in front of him. But just by listening, he couldn't judge what exactly it was. With a strange sense of tension, Li Lin focused his mind, waiting for Texas's next instruction.
"You can open your eyes now."
Texas said.
And Li Lin slowly opened his eyes, staring at the item placed on the coffee table. Li Lin showed a somewhat surprised expression.
"…A lighter?"
"Mm, just a lighter. The one I used before. Now that I've quit smoking, giving it to you."
Texas flicked the tip of her tail, her ears also folding slightly, turning her head aside, picking up the coffee cup again and saying in a low voice:
"You've been at Penguin Logistics for so long, I haven't given you any newcomer gift. Consider this lighter your newcomer gift. Whether you use it, smoke with it, lose it, or even crush it to vent anger, it's your freedom. In short, it's yours now."
"Oh, oh…"
Li Lin blankly accepted the lighter Texas handed over, subconsciously observing it.
This looked like a lighter that had seen some years; its style seemed relatively old even in today's world. The steel casing had some scratches and marks on the paint and carving, even dents resembling penetration by sharp objects. At the very bottom of the lighter, the inscription 'Texas' was engraved.
Unsure if this was Texas's own custom item, or a symbol using her operator name as a mark. But just looking at the appearance of this lighter, one knew it seemed to be more than just a simple lighter, seemingly containing something else. But judging from Texas's expression, which seemed to have relaxed considerably, the meaning it carried seemed to have already been relinquished by Texas. Now it was just a gift that could be given away.
"The past is already past, we will both grow. Consider this gift yours. See you tomorrow."
"…?????"
You, you went through all that trouble, just to give me a gift?
Watching Texas let out a long sigh of relief, wagging her tail happily as she returned to her room, Li Lin touched his heart, feeling its contents were just a hair's breadth away from stopping beating.
From fright.
Really.