Work Text:
𝖨𝗇 𝖼𝖺𝗌𝗌𝖾𝗅 𝖼𝗈𝗅𝖾𝗀𝖾 𝖽𝗈𝗋𝗆𝗌, a girl called Zero is silently doing her assignment in the quiet of night. Her hands move steadily, writing word to word. Well, at least that’s how it looks from the outside—𝗂𝗇𝗐𝖺𝗋𝖽𝗅𝗒, the girl is recounting her reunion again and again, like a broken record that never grows tired.
𝖨𝗇 𝖳𝖺𝗆𝖺𝗄𝖺𝗁𝖺𝗀𝖺𝗋𝖺, Finger said, “𝘐𝘧 𝘐 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶, 𝘩𝘦'𝘭𝘭 𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪'𝘭𝘭 𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘶𝘱 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘯𝘰 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵."
At the time, the girl answered, “𝘐'𝘮 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦'𝘴 𝘨𝘪𝘳𝘭." Knowing that the one Finger referred to is not 𝗵𝗶𝗺. After all, Finger doesn’t know 𝗵𝗶𝗺.
The misunderstanding that she likes Lu Mingfei is everywhere. She herself feels half annoyed and half indifferent. For starters, it’s an assignment from 𝗵𝗶𝗺, so of course she treats Lu Mingfei kindly, just as expected of her.
She knows that it is natural to be nice to Lu Mingfei, but to be misunderstood as liking him is a bit unpleasant. After all, she does have someone she likes, you know—and to be rumored liking someone who isn’t 𝗵𝗶𝗺 is bound to be annoying for he𝗋. But she keeps her mouth shut, because she doesn’t like troublesome things, and Lu Mingfei himself actually knows that she doesn’t really like him… at least not romantically.
Aside from this, what Finger does stirs quite a déjà vu for her.
“𝘞𝘰𝘰𝘧, 𝘸𝘰𝘰𝘧, 𝘸𝘰𝘰𝘧!" 𝘍𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘭𝘺.
"𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘏𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘴𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘢 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘱 𝘣𝘭𝘢𝘥𝘦. 𝘞𝘦'𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳--𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘮𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘳 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩?"
Although she knows that Finger intends to neigh, the fact that he is actually barking still stirs such a strong déjà vu for her.
About a boy who used to do that for her.
“𝘞𝘰𝘰𝘧! 𝘸𝘰𝘰𝘧!”—the bark that Zero once imitated just to cheer her up.
Recalling this memory, she couldn’t help but feel that she is still that Renata—a helpless girl with her very first friend (?), the one who changed her whole life.
Especially after their brief reunion in Japan, she can’t help but wish—
𝘐𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘰𝘵 𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘡𝘦𝘳𝘰 𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘴 𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘬𝘺.
“𝘎𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘯𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘦,” 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘺 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥, 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘮𝘦𝘵, 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘢𝘪𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘬𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘦𝘬.
“𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭. 𝘠𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝖾 𝘮𝘺 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘨𝘪𝘳𝘭 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘭𝘭.” 𝘏𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘨𝘰, 𝘵𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘏𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘬𝘺. 𝘔𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳, 𝘢 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘶𝘵𝘦 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩 𝘩𝘪𝘮. 𝘏𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘶𝘵𝘦.
𝖥𝗈𝗋 𝖧𝖾𝗋, 𝗍𝗁𝗂𝗌 𝗌𝗁𝗈𝗋𝗍 𝗋𝖾𝗎𝗇𝗂𝗈𝗇 𝗂𝗌 𝗌𝗈 𝗆𝖾𝖺𝗇𝗂𝗇𝗀𝖿𝗎𝗅𝗅. 𝖠𝖿𝗍𝖾𝗋𝖺𝗅𝗅 𝗌𝗁𝖾 𝗅𝗈𝗇𝗀𝖾𝖽 𝗍𝗈 𝗆𝖾𝖾𝗍 𝗁𝗂𝗆 𝖺𝗀𝖺𝗂𝗇, 𝗍𝗁𝖾𝗂𝗋 𝗋𝖾𝗎𝗇𝗂𝗈𝗇 𝗂𝗌 𝗍𝗈 𝖻𝗋𝗂𝖾𝖿 𝖻𝗎𝗍 𝖾𝗏𝖾𝗇 𝗌𝗈 𝗂𝗍 𝗌𝗍𝗂𝗅𝗅 𝗆𝖺𝗇𝖺𝗀𝖾 𝗍𝗈 𝗌𝗍𝗂𝗋 𝗁𝖾𝗋 𝗎𝗉 𝗅𝗂𝗄𝖾 𝖺 𝗌𝗍𝗈𝗋𝗆
𝖲𝗁𝖾 𝗐𝗂𝗌𝗁 that the boy would meet her again.
.
.
.
The pen in her hand finally stops.
Silence fills the room once more.
She stares at the paper, yet sees nothing of it.
.
.
.
“…you always come when I wish for you.”
No answer
.
.
“…so why not now?”
.
.
.
The night remains quiet.
Unmoving.
Unchanged.
Then—
a faint breeze slips through the slightly open window.
The corner of her paper trembles.
Just a little.
Renata doesn’t move. Doesn’t turn.
But her fingers tighten slightly around the pen.
.
.
A pause.
.
.
“…or are you already here?”
.
.
.
Silence.
And yet—
for some reason—
it doesn’t feel empty anymore.