Sora read those lines, only feeling the number of question marks above her head increasing.
Ever since she'd started chatting with this online friend—username "Cello Enthusiast"—this was the first time she'd felt this lost.
She could understand every single character.
But once they were put together, she just… couldn't make sense of it at all.
Or rather, her brain was instinctively refusing to process it.
So strange.
Sora couldn't help reading it again.
And once more, she arrived at the exact same conclusion as before.
How was she supposed to answer this?
Soon, as she came to her senses, Sora's face turned thoughtful, and she began agonizing over the problem.
After a moment, she hesitantly started drafting a reply to her pen pal:
[Uh… this question is kind of hard—I'm not really sure how to answer…]
But the instant she typed that line, Sora immediately hit backspace and deleted everything.
No, no!
How could she answer like that?
He'd given her advice so many times. Now, for once, he was asking her for help—and she was just going to respond with "I don't know" and call it a day?
At the very least, she needed to give something that counted as a half-decent reply!
So once again, Sora tried to construct an answer in her head.
In the end, though, she still couldn't help opening her browser and searching the question directly.
"What should you do if you discover your friend is gay?"
Instantly, a dizzying sea of answers filled her screen. Sora squinted and clicked the first one.
[Top Answer #1: The editor doesn't know either!]
That is obviously not right!
[Top Answer #2: See if you can accept it. If you can, then just go with it.]
That sounded vaguely plausible, but… if her pen pal was asking, then surely he wasn't looking for that kind of answer, right?
He seemed seriously conflicted.
So Sora kept scrolling, until she reached the third answer.
[Top Answer #3: First of all, how are you sure he's gay? Do you have evidence?]
[If it's just a guess, then you should verify it more.]
Oh. Right.
You'd have to gather proof first.
If you noticed signs like that in a friend—for example, if it were Exusiai—your first reaction definitely wouldn't be to believe it. You'd check first.
After thinking it over, Sora made up her mind and quickly replied to Lin Yuan.
But at the same time, after sending it, an uninvited thought drifted through her mind:
If her pen pal really did "get infected" by homosexuality… that would be kind of a waste.
…
[Maybe verify it first?]
[But asking directly doesn't seem appropriate, so… maybe probe indirectly?]
[For example, sleep in the same bed and see if he reacts?]
[Sorry, I don't have relevant experience—this is all I can suggest.]
Lin Yuan read MSR's reply in silence, then leaned back helplessly.
First of all—yes, he was afraid of women, but he wasn't a complete idiot about sex.
He admitted the method was theoretically effective.
But after "verifying" it, he'd probably be finished too.
Still, the logic of "verify first" was probably correct.
The question was—how?
And wouldn't it make Exusiai resent him?
Lin Yuan sighed softly. After sitting there a while, he turned off the living room light, lay down on the sofa, and pulled the blanket from the end of the couch over himself.
He didn't have many friends.
He treasured Exusiai.
So whatever he did, he needed to be careful.
Later. Find an opportunity later.
He closed his eyes—but tossed and turned on the couch.
In the end, he barely slept at all. Only deep into the night did he finally drift off, still tangled in indecision.
The next morning, Lin Yuan overslept—rare for him. By the time he got up, it was already 7:30.
He scrambled up, intending to make breakfast, only to realize Exusiai was nowhere to be seen.
On the table was a note.
Exusiai had left it—saying she'd gone to work first and didn't want to disturb his sleep.
She even drew a goofy little face at the bottom, as if nothing had happened last night.
Lin Yuan set the note down, fell silent for a moment, then sighed.
"Well… at least I've still got most of the day to figure out how to face him."
"…But you could've at least written what you wanted for dinner."
…
Penguin Logistics, 7:40 a.m.
The moment Texas stepped into the bar-styled lounge that served as Penguin Logistics' living room, she saw Exusiai leaning on the railing with both hands, staring into the sky—looking effortlessly cool.
If you ignored the absurdly heavy dark circles under her eyes.
Even Texas was startled.
"What's with you? You look like you're about to drop dead."
Exusiai stiffly turned around at Texas' voice—then, like she'd just seen a savior, lunged forward.
"Texas! Save me!"
Twenty minutes later, after Texas finally managed to pin Exusiai down, she understood what was going on.
"So this is why you couldn't sleep all night?"
"Because he might figure out you're a woman?"
Texas rubbed her temples, headache forming, while Exusiai nodded repeatedly.
"Yeah! And I noticed he overslept this morning too! He usually gets up at six sharp, no matter what—but today he slept in!"
"You can tell right away he was bothered by this until late at night. He didn't self-soothe at all—his misunderstanding is just getting worse!"
"'Misunderstanding' is not how that word works," Texas corrected, exasperated. "But I'll give you this—you're weirdly observant about him."
"So—do you have a method?" Exusiai blinked at her hopefully.
Texas fell silent.
"Headache," she suddenly said.
"Huh? What?" Exusiai asked.
"A headache because of your situation," Texas said with a tired look. "Honestly, I don't really like that guy."
The gray wolf's tail flicked irritably.
"But I get this weird feeling… the more I dislike him, the more clearly I understand him."
"Isn't the cause-and-effect backwards?" Exusiai muttered.
"My instincts say it's not. The moment I smelled him, I had that feeling," Texas shook her head. "So I don't really want to admit it, but… I might actually have a way."
"I met him once. The impression he gave me was—unease. The kind that's carved into someone's bones. Even if the environment is peaceful, he still instinctively fears the possibility of danger."
"Probably another guy with some mysterious past, huh?"
The more Texas spoke, the more that deep, instinctive irritation rose from within.
Seriously—one "mysterious past" archetype is enough.
Someone whose vibes overlapped with hers was naturally going to be unpleasant.
It was like the instinct of a wolf baring its fangs when it scents another of its kind…
Annoying.
But after a long silence, Texas still let out a sigh.
"He's important to you?"
Exusiai nodded.
"How important? Even if my method is kind of extreme—and kind of humiliating—would you still do it?"
Texas asked again. Exusiai nodded once more, expression turning serious.
"He's a relationship I want to protect… no matter what."
Silence.
Texas rolled a pocky stick between her fingers for a long time—then finally waved Exusiai over.
"Fine. You're my best friend, so… come here. Listen."
"But I'm warning you—this plan might sound a little… sadistic."
-------
My : pat*eon*com/RuneA
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