Before anyone realized it, a brilliant light pierced through the cloud layers. The pale blue sky pressed down upon the distant horizon, as if points of light had taken physical form, settling upon the shoulders of the prayer.
Lin leaned against a corner of the open tent. The refreshing scent of soil mixed with dew diluted the stale air inside. He reached out his right hand, catching a pale golden beam of light. Tilting his head, he cast an indifferent gaze at the rift hanging high above.
After a long while, a figure carrying a basket walked from the horizon. She traversed the sun-drenched path and arrived before the tent with a look of surprise: "Oh my, this is..."
Lin raised a finger to his lips, making a shushing gesture.
The maid paused, lowering her voice: "What happened?"
"...Nothing." Lin lowered his head. Looking past his own body, he saw soft golden hair wrapped lingeringly around his left hand, and the girl sleeping with her head pillowed on his jacket, her face etched with exhaustion.
She hadn't woken up on time today; after all, she had only just fallen asleep half an hour ago.
Rita tilted her head with a light smile: "Is this alright?"
"I know what I'm doing." Lin shook his head. "I'll wash the clothes today. You don't need to help us with the laundry."
After setting down the ingredients and tea, Rita left once more. Lin silently attempted to call upon the surrounding Honkai energy. His mind was somewhat scattered, like a stone thrown into an ancient well, splashing water onto the surrounding stones.
Nothing happened last night—if only that were truly the case.
Even if he wanted to resist, he couldn't overcome Bianka monstrous strength. Lin could only tell her the truth: his body had no sensation. Even without sensation, he couldn't control his body's natural reactions, so at Lin strong insistence, they hadn't gone through with the final step.
Lin hated giving hope that couldn't be realized, and he hated making promises that couldn't be fulfilled.
After understanding his meaning, Bianka seemed to want to leave a memory... whether for Lin or for herself.
However, while they didn't go all the way, they had essentially done everything else. It was slightly more "advanced" than the online jokes about "just rubbing without going in." Like an ordinary girl, Bianka left everything to Lin lead after her initial forceful display.
He had been a bit lightheaded toward the end and agreed to a mountain of things. After all, the pleasure in that regard lies primarily in the brain's nerves rather than the organs. In his chaotic memories, mixed with the taste of saliva and enchanting blue eyes, they seemed to have done a lot of messy things...
...Perhaps he hadn't been that "composed" after all.
Lin tried his best to push last night's pleasure to the back of his mind. He thought of many people, and the rising sense of guilt made it impossible to concentrate, so he could only stare blankly at the rift in the sky.
He remained there until the girl, her face flushed with shame as she realized she had crossed the line, woke from her deep slumber.
...
"L-Last night... was that a dream?"
"It was a dream."
"Liar! Ugh... there's a scent on my mouth and body, and even my chest... it won't wipe clean... ugh... you total pervert..."
"..."
Lin wished she could feel this shy when she was pinning his hands down with one arm and lowering her mouth last night.
He kept his eyelids low, putting vegetables and fruits into the pot, sincerely hoping that Miss Bianka, currently wiping herself down in the tent, wouldn't fly out in a fit of rage and punch his head off.
Bianka usually valiant voice carried a hint of a tremor: "Scumbag-Mushroom, I won't... get pregnant, will I?"
Lin sighed: "You won't."
Was this the "panic phase"? Why didn't Vill-V or Elysia ever have this kind of reaction back then...
The rustling sounds from the tent and the simmering of the ingredients in the pot formed the echoes of this brief moment of peace.
"Scumbag-Mushroom." Having likely stabilized her emotions, Bianka called out to Lin as she usually did. "Help me wipe my back..."
Lin adjusted the heat, then stood up and walked to the front of the tent. He lifted a corner and looked inside.
No longer bound, her brilliant golden hair fell softly to the ground. The girl's simple clothes lay across her legs. The smooth shoulders visible through her hair and the spine, as silky as milk, were enough to make one's blood race.
She didn't dare turn around, her face flushed a deep red she couldn't hide. In fact, the blood rushing to her earlobes had already exposed her.
"...Is this okay?" Lin said the words, but he still calmly took the towel from her hand. After wetting it, he began wiping her back, which was as exquisite as a work of art.
When his fingers touched her skin, she twitched like a kitten.
"I've already seen everything anyway." Even though she was still shy, Bianka wasn't one for excessive coyness. "I ate my fill of saliva last night; it's not like I'd be afraid to eat with your chopsticks now..."
"..."
Neither of them spoke after that. They shared a moment of silence, as if as long as no one talked, time wouldn't move forward, and everything would be frozen in the sunlit morning and the scent of fresh earth.
But time obeys no one's will. After a long silence, Bianka whispered: "Scumbag-Mushroom, thank you..."
"For what?"
"For responding to me last night."
"..."
Lin didn't speak. He knew what she meant. If he hadn't responded to her at all, it would mean he didn't care about her, the things that happened, or the words she said—that he only wanted to return to his own time.
He gently lifted her long hair to wipe her shoulder, and his hand was caught by a slender one.
It was hard to tell that this was the fist of a warrior who could smash mechs and Honkai beasts into pieces. The knuckles were clearly defined, and her skin, pale to the point of transparency, glowed in the light filtering through.
Soft on the outside, strong on the inside... huh.
She gently placed Lin palm against her cheek, covering the back of his hand with her fingers.
"A person like me..." Lin took a breath and paused before continuing, "A person like me is mostly eccentric and follows his own path."
He would place many things before personal feelings. As Yama had said, he wanted to be a true idealist with no private emotions, simply using himself as a tool.
But as Yama also said, every time he took a step forward, someone would pull him back, unable to bear seeing him walk into the abyss.
A contradictory convergence of others' entrusted ideals and his own philosophy.
"I don't understand you, really..."
"It's strange, you know? When I first met you, I actually didn't like you a bit." Bianka smiled, interrupting his self-deprecation. "But hearing the things you've said, for some reason, I can imagine your experiences and your past, as if I've lived through them myself."
"Maybe your memories from the Abyss Flower were passed to me, or maybe we met a long time ago."
"Fate is held firmly in one's own hands. This moment must be the meeting of the paths we chose."
"So, Lin..."
Bianka held his hand, not wanting to let go. She turned back with a smile that was warmer than the sunlight.
"If you knew the ending beforehand, would you regret it?"