"Me?"
"Yes. Me."
Sora sat neatly on the sofa with her knees together, casually pointing at herself as she smiled.
"Look— I need the information you have, Senior. And you happen to need a piano teacher. But time is limited. I can't always stay with everyone, and it's even harder to find time for one-on-one intel sharing. So I thought it through: this is the highest-value solution. Any objections?"
"None, I guess."
"Then let's talk while we walk. How do you see everyone? And how do you see Texas?"
"Right now? I can't talk for very long."
"It's fine… oh, right—Senior, stand here and smile."
"Here?"
Li Lin, confused, stepped over and stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Sora as she gave him a sweet, expectant smile.
He didn't lean in on purpose, didn't try to get close. Even as an idol, Sora's behavior was clearly more structured—planned. Li Lin had always respected girls like her, the kind who put their whole heart on Texas.
He also considered them excellent future "relationship support assets."
But what was this "smile" about?
Click.
At the flash and shutter sound, Li Lin instinctively narrowed his eyes toward the source.
"What was—"
"An Originium camera," Sora said. "Limited edition. The type you see a lot in my circles."
"Ah…"
Only then did Li Lin notice it—a tiny camera sitting in the corner of the sofa. It blended into the room so naturally, merging perfectly with Exusiai's scattered clothes and the random bottles and clutter.
But why would Sora bring a camera?
"I was planning to use it to capture some 'daily life' footage," Sora said brightly, holding it up. "For reference when I pivot. Pretty good, right?"
"Sure," Li Lin said. "But why use it on me?"
"That was actually Plan B." Sora smiled. "But you turned out even better than my best-case expectation, so I decided not to use it."
"Plan B?" Li Lin frowned. "What Plan B?"
Sora put the camera away with practiced ease, like this was the most normal conversation in the world, then looked at Li Lin with a radiant grin.
"Plan B was: exposing your true nature."
Li Lin stared blankly.
Sora lifted her phone slightly as she continued, calm and logical.
"If you weren't a good person, or if you had ulterior motives… you had plenty of opportunities just now to do something bad to me. I was going to use that as a way to help Texas and everyone else. Don't let appearances fool you—I do have my own judgment."
"…Huh?"
"But this place—yours and Exusiai's room—looks like this," Sora said, glancing around. "So I figured I didn't need any of that. I'm really sorry. Your behavior was honestly… almost too textbook. In my industry, a lot of people get deceived by exactly that kind of 'perfect' performance. I didn't want to believe it applied to you, but I still prepared countermeasures. I'm truly sorry."
Li Lin waved a hand naturally as Sora bowed in apology.
"It's fine. Someone in your position should be cautious."
On the inside, though, cold sweat was pouring down his spine.
Right.
Being "repressed" was right.
Not a joke—absolutely not a joke.
Wasn't the emotional weight of people in this world a bit insane?
If he hadn't kept himself in check—if he'd shown even the slightest hint of the wrong reaction—would he have crossed some invisible execution line on the spot?
This wasn't funny.
A top-tier Lungmen idol was prepared to gamble her name and history, all because of someone she cared about, just to confirm whether the people around her were trustworthy?
Wasn't that completely unhinged?
And sure, if you thought about it, Sora had always been that kind of person—decisive, terrifyingly direct.
But when that intensity pointed at him, Li Lin could only feel sweat breaking out down his back.
If he'd been even a little less restrained… he'd probably be staring at a reset ending right now.
Restraint was right. It was absolutely right.
"Senior, shall we go?" Sora asked.
"Huh? To the LGD?"
"What are you talking about?" Sora said, perfectly composed. "To the practice room. I'm going to be your teacher."
She said it as if nothing had happened, then turned to Li Lin again, all casual sincerity.
"Ah—on the way, can you tell me about Texas and Exusiai? I really want to know why they've gotten so close. I was here first."
"…Yeah. That's fine."
So yes. On Terra, you absolutely do not touch feelings lightly. That was correct.
Li Lin closed the apartment door, then walked with Sora, chatting idly. He barely registered what he was saying. Before he knew it, they'd arrived at a piano studio that looked luxurious and sealed off from the outside world.
A grand piano sat in the center, and the plush bench looked stylish enough to be part of a showroom.
Sora gestured for Li Lin to sit. Then, with startling seriousness, she put on a pair of plain glasses, picked up a small pointer, cleared her throat, and adopted a teacher's posture.
"We'll start with the simplest things. Memorizing notation and scales isn't very useful by itself. You need hands-on playing."
"But I can't play."
"That's why teachers exist," Sora said lightly. "Senior, don't move. Feel my fingers and the pressure. Follow my guidance exactly."
Li Lin sat at the piano and immediately felt warmth at his back—body heat, fabric shifting, the subtle compression of someone leaning close.
Two pale hands slid in from beneath his shoulders and overlapped his larger hands, pressing lightly against his skin and muscle with a steady, insistent force.
Then a gentle voice—soft enough to make his ears itch—rose beside his ear, her breath brushing his earlobe.
"Let's play our first piece together."
Sora wrapped her arms around him from behind, guiding his fingertips, and whispered:
"This is the fastest method. Usually, after we play twenty-four pieces like this, you'll be familiar with how the piano works. Now feel the direction of my pressure—this is the first note."
"…"
Endure.
Li Lin exhaled quietly and forced all of his attention into his fingertips.
His finger lowered—like a conductor's cue—and a clear note rang out from the piano.
A few seconds later, behind the piano's broad black body, clumsy, hesitant notes began to join in—stumbling at first, then gradually finding a rough melody.
....
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