In the chaotic flicker of light and shadow, the scene was the kind that made your heart race.
A shirt torn open. Ragged breathing. A girl's breath tangled in the air with his.
Sweat steamed off overheated skin, and the weak, underpowered lamp cast a dim yellow haze across the room—turning everything into something that looked, frankly, like a crime scene.
Sora blinked, staring at what she was seeing as if she couldn't believe it, as if she needed to carve the moment into memory.
Something had gone wrong. Something that shouldn't have happened had happened.
Li Lin tugged at the ripped fabric and let out a long sigh.
Ah—this wasn't Sora's.
It was his.
Looking at Sora frozen in place, Li Lin felt a deep, burning humiliation settle into his chest.
Because Sora had suddenly gone off the rails for no apparent reason, Li Lin had been forced to step in personally to stop her Originium Arts. And once they got into a scramble, once it became a real grapple—Sora, a professionally trained idol, crushed the homebody Li Lin in the most straightforward way possible: stamina.
Do you know how physically demanding it is to be an idol? They sing and dance on stage for hours. Their bodies—their muscle tone, their endurance—are trained to the point of obsession.
Which meant the end result was this: Li Lin panting like he'd run a marathon, while Sora stood there blinking, at a complete loss over whether she should cover anything, stop anything, or do nothing at all.
After watching him wheeze for a while, she finally muttered, almost to herself:
"Senior… you're surprisingly… weak…"
"Mind your business."
"Do you want my clothes?"
"Those are my clothes!"
Wiping cold sweat off his forehead, Li Lin forced down another breath and spoke through the exhaustion.
"So what are you actually trying to do? Did you just snap all of a sudden? What is going on?"
"Well… I thought you were keeping your distance from everyone because of that test I did," Sora said awkwardly, cheeks faintly tight with embarrassment. "But I never meant it like that. I just… wanted to express what I was thinking."
"…Why would you think that?"
Because it was dead-on.
But he couldn't say that.
So this is what they mean by "women's intuition," huh? If her intuition is this good, can I borrow some?
Li Lin stared at Sora's apologetic face and, inside his head, declared she was basically cheating.
And yet—even if she'd guessed correctly—Li Lin also knew he had to stay vigilant. Yes, this time was an accident. Yes, Sora didn't mean harm. But that didn't change the fact that it could happen.
Just like Officer Ch'en had warned him back then: harassment, malicious reports, baseless complaints—those existed even on Terra.
So he needed to keep himself on a boundary line. Alert. Controlled.
"You're thinking way too much," Li Lin said.
He tried to stand up and maintain a flawless image, but he was too exhausted for that. Instead, he leaned awkwardly against the wall, caught his breath, and looked at the little idol.
"I just made a bit of money and wanted some space. You know, living with Exusiai gets awkward in all kinds of ways. The halo on her head won't turn off. And sometimes I need to take notes. It's distracting. I need my own space, don't I?"
"No."
"…I can't even go live somewhere else by myself?"
"Texas and Exusiai both think it's good there. I think it's good too. Croissant thinks so as well."
"And I don't??"
"Then I'll find you a place, Senior," Sora said. "Consider it making up for my mistake."
"I feel like I should have some right to personal privacy?"
"..."
"Wait—what are you doing? Hey!"
Sora didn't argue. She just puffed out her cheeks, and before Li Lin could do anything—still drained from struggling earlier—she hoisted him up onto her shoulder.
Then she carried him out of the old gang hideout and down the side paths toward the rental apartment.
Her small body had absurd strength. And when she got stubborn like this—when she forcibly dragged him in close—Li Lin felt, very clearly, just how wide the gap was between his physique and a Terra native's.
And honestly… he didn't hate it.
Because Sora was petite, and carrying him like that pressed them uncomfortably close in every direction—warmth and soft contact he didn't quite know how to process.
After struggling twice, Li Lin gave up resisting.
The rain had stopped. The alleys were quiet; the active gang members had already been cleared out. Under the moonlight, only the two of them moved in step toward the apartment.
After a while, he heard a small voice by his ear.
"Senior… I'm sorry."
"I told you it's fine."
"It's because I only thought about what I wanted," Sora said softly. "I didn't consider how you felt, and that's why I did that."
Her arms were practically wrapped around him, like she was carrying a huge life-sized plush, as she continued in a low voice:
"I don't have much experience interacting with men. It's mostly fans and people in the industry—managers, staff—so I keep thinking maybe I'm just clumsy at this. I always assume my judgment must be right. I'm sorry."
"So I told you—"
"Senior, can you teach me how to talk to boys?"
"Huh?"
Li Lin stared at the idol carrying him, her face earnest, and felt his brain short-circuit all over again.
"Why would you ask that?"
"Because you're a really good person, and you're impressive," Sora said. "I respect you, and I'm looking forward to working with you. Actually… Senior, I might have come here even earlier than you did. I've known Texas for a long time."
Still carrying him, she wore a nostalgic expression, speaking quietly about her own story.
It was cliché—the classic tale of a caged bird longing for freedom.
But Li Lin didn't interrupt.
Because knowing something and hearing it from the person's own mouth weren't the same.
Her unwillingness to accept the cage, her hunger for freedom, why she felt attached to Texas—and why she wanted to build a good relationship with Li Lin.
"You seem calm," Sora continued. "Your plans are good, and you don't seem like you get angry easily. And most importantly… there's one more reason."
She adjusted her grip and carried him to the building beneath the apartment.
The windows were still lit in the dark.
Sora finally set him down, then took two steps back, stopping under the streetlamp. She looked at Li Lin—still a little dazed—and smiled brightly.
"Because you're a man who isn't interested in me."
"That's why I want to be with you."
....
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