However, Yukino Yukinoshita did not continue to delve into the matter. After all, it was unwise to force an investigation without any clues, especially with an unknown force pushing things along.
"After all these years, can I finally see you with my own eyes?"
Coming back to her senses, Yukino Yukinoshita looked at the diary in her hand and fell deep into thought.
This diary had accompanied her for longer than she had spent with her parents.
Moreover, the few thoughts Qianshu Lian had revealed in the diary had been with her ever since he started writing it.
It made them seem like long-lost friends reuniting, yet they had never actually met.
"But—if I don't consider that the other party might possess some strange memories, then they wouldn't know me at all!"
Yukino Yukinoshita closed the notebook. If she approached the other party with this sense of familiarity, she might inadvertently reveal some mistakes, right?
If that happened and Qianshu Lian wrote it into his diary, then certainly some others who had also obtained diaries, like her, would notice something was amiss.
Would she be the first to be exposed to others? Even if she didn't make obvious changes and hid her emotions, she could still communicate kindly with Qianshu Lian!
Night gradually deepened, light vanished into the twilight, and all things became quiet, awaiting the rising sun of tomorrow.
The next day.
After getting up, Qianshu Lian tidied his clothes before heading to the kitchen to prepare breakfast for himself.
As for his parents in this life, perhaps due to their genuinely busy schedules, they were always in a state of gathering little and separating much.
However, this didn't affect him. If he had just transmigrated, the impact might have been greater, but after all, he was a reincarnation type.
So, having grown up together, his parents were still around to take care of him when he was little.
But ever since they discovered he was quite intelligent and behaved very sensibly from a young age, they began to let loose and travel for business trips.
Shaking his head lightly, Qianshu Lian cleared his mind and entered the kitchen. What he called 'preparing breakfast' was actually just food he had already prepared the night before.
Because breakfast didn't need to be particularly elaborate, there was no need for complicated steps. Qianshu Lian simply made himself some millet porridge with a few steamed buns.
The millet porridge was made fresh, and the steamed buns just needed to be heated. Fortunately, Qianshu Lian had gained many good things from the diary over the years.
So he directly opened a steamed bun shop nearby using some special powers he had obtained. Whether the business was good or not didn't matter; the key was that he could eat something simple in the morning.
Before leaving, he tidied his hairstyle in the mirror by the shoe cabinet. Only then did Qianshu Lian unhurriedly open the door and walk out.
Out of habit, Qianshu Lian naturally wouldn't be late. On the way, he naturally ran into Hachiman Hikigaya, who was also leaving his house.
"Good morning, Hachiman. I hope you can make more friends at the new school!"
Qianshu Lian greeted him naturally, moving closer to Hachiman Hikigaya's side.
"Oh, it's Lian. Well, there's basically no one else who would greet me. It's better not to have too many extravagant hopes about making friends at the new school!"
Hachiman Hikigaya was initially a bit bewildered, but upon seeing Qianshu Lian, he instantly reacted.
Besides this one friend who had come up from the same junior high as him, who else would call out his name the moment they entered the new school?
"Don't be so disheartened. Even though we're not in the same class this time, it's a good opportunity for you to broaden your friendships!"
Qianshu Lian smiled and patted Hachiman Hikigaya's shoulder, then continued, "Anyway, no one at the new school knows about your junior high days, so take this chance to step out of the shadows!"
"If no one knows, then what do you count as?" Hachiman Hikigaya retorted impolitely.
Their relationship allowed Hachiman Hikigaya not to be as polite as he would be with ordinary classmates. The only obstacle in their interactions was the slightly too close relationship between the other party and his younger sister.
Well, actually, it was just that the other party was closer to his sister than he was. Although he could easily tell that neither the other party nor his sister had any other intentions.
But Hachiman Hikigaya still sensed that the other party was probably trying to steal his sister. This Qianshu Lian guy indeed had a hidden sister complex.
And precisely such a person didn't have a real sister. Although most sisters don't make their brothers feel affectionate.
But who made his sister an exception? Komachi was just too cute, wasn't she?
Subtly sensing Hachiman Hikigaya's rejection towards him, Qianshu Lian unhappily punched Hachiman Hikigaya's chest.
It wasn't very hard, but Hachiman Hikigaya felt as if his chest had been heavily struck.
"Cough cough! Cough cough! You, I feel like your punch has more power than last time?"
"What nonsense are you talking about? It's perfectly normal for my strength to increase as I'm in puberty and still growing, isn't it?"
Qianshu Lian said indifferently, then returned to his previous expression and continued to ask.
"Alright, no more teasing! What I said before was serious. Do you think I would tell your business?"
"Of course, I know you wouldn't tell about what happened to me back then, but I don't have that intention now!"
Hachiman Hikigaya quickly returned to his normal state, refusing with a serious and righteous expression.
Qianshu Lian unceremoniously exposed Hachiman Hikigaya's little thoughts.
"You think I believe you? You're just all talk and no action! What's a single failure? Think about those guys in anime who fail dozens or hundreds of times and still keep confessing!"
Because of his friend Qianshu Lian, Hachiman Hikigaya's personality was not entirely like it was at this time in the original work.
"You yourself said that's anime. In reality, people who do that are truly rare animals!" Hachiman Hikigaya responded.
"Wait a moment!" Qianshu Lian said, turning his head to look at Hachiman Hikigaya.
"My thoughts are all messed up by you. I was clearly telling you to make friends, but it feels like I'm telling you to get a girlfriend?"
"What's the difference?" Hachiman Hikigaya shook his head. "Not everyone's youth goes to—ugh ah ah ah! Let go, let go, let go!"