"Carol?"
Leilin leaned back against the sofa, feeling the familiar rumble of the engine, his mind一片模糊.
"A seemingly very famous singer, an idol to boys and girls across the Golden Flower Alliance… seems to have some connection to me, but… I can't remember…"
Memories of the other party flooded into Leilin's mind in an instant. "But why does something always feel off? This shouldn't be my life… my life…"
Leilin raised his right hand, and a letter suddenly surfaced in his mind: "Fire!"
It was a pronunciation in the Ancient Byron Language, but after more than ten seconds, nothing happened.
"Leilin, what's wrong? Reviewing new vocabulary? I've never heard that before — is it German or Spanish?"
Sivi kept glancing out the window at the scenery, asking casually.
"Neither! I probably got the pronunciation wrong…" Leilin's face flushed slightly, but inside his mind was racing: "What just happened? Why did I have this premonition that something interesting would happen once I pronounced that syllable… No! Why do I even remember that syllable?"
Whirr! With the sound of brakes, the taxi pulled up in front of a beautiful academy.
Below the banner, someone had written a small line in black marker and spray paint — Welcome to the beautiful Miss Carol! We'll always support you! A smiley face was drawn at the end, making Leilin want to laugh.
"Young man, are you a student at Sacred Purity High School? Work hard, you hear?"
The taxi driver waved his hand and disappeared down the road. Leilin silently rolled his eyes at the hand sticking out of the window.
After walking through the school gates, the grounds inside were teeming with crowds.
Countless boys in shirts and girls in dresses wandered among the many brightly colored temporary tents, with the sounds of laughter and playful shouting drifting through the air from time to time.
Colorful ribbons fluttered gently in the breeze. Pleasant music played in symphonic waves.
"Brother! Why aren't you here yet? Our performance is missing you!" A young girl came over and grabbed Leilin's hand, the warm touch transmitting directly through his skin.
"Guo'er, I'm already here, aren't I?"
Leilin felt a momentary daze as large swaths of memories surfaced. This girl was his younger sister — Guo'er, currently a first-year student.
Yet looking at her face, so achingly familiar yet carrying a faint note of strangeness, still left Leilin feeling disoriented.
"Come on! Let's go!" Sivi and Guo'er flanked him front and back, steering Leilin to the side of a massive open-air stage with lights and sound.
"Hurry up and get to work, our chief technician!"
Sivi shoved Leilin in front of a console covered in levers and buttons, then whipped out a huge bouquet of heart-shaped roses from behind his back like a magician, showering attention on a tall girl from the dance troupe. The whole spectacle made Leilin roll his eyes again.
"What's wrong? Is there a problem? Oh no! Oh no! Miss Carol is about to arrive!"
Guo'er watched Leilin standing blankly before the console and assumed the equipment had malfunctioned. She began stamping her feet, a sheen of moisture rising in her eyes.
"Oh! It's nothing, I was just thinking about something and got distracted…" Seeing Guo'er like this, Leilin sighed inwardly and stepped up to the console.
The moment his palms covered the surface, his hands began moving of their own accord.
Click! Click! A flood of lights blazed to life, and the curtains on stage slowly parted.
"Mm, the controls and sliders are all functioning normally. Just follow the previous program and there shouldn't be any issues…"
Leilin rubbed his forehead, feeling things were becoming even more unexpected. The knowledge of operating the machinery seemed to have been stuffed into his head out of nowhere, making him feel intimately familiar with it — yet also deeply unsettled.
"Yay! Brother is the best, the most amazing!"
Guo'er bounced up and down. Seeing her like this, combined with the memories of his eldest sister's warmth and kindness, Leilin suddenly felt that this kind of life… perhaps wasn't so bad after all?
The thought had barely surfaced for an instant when it stirred something in his heart, as if he had discovered something extraordinary.
Scattered fragments of memory began floating through his mind like slides in a projector.
It seemed to be an ignorant and backward world, yet one suffused with a mysterious power called witchcraft, and he was exploring within it.
"Hmm?! Could this be from a dream I had last night? Maybe I could use it as material for a novel?"
Leilin stroked his chin but couldn't shake the feeling that things wouldn't be so simple.
Just as Leilin was deep in thought, a massive roar of sound erupted, deafening in volume. A tide of people surged forward, converging on the stage like a wave, thoroughly shattering Leilin's train of thought.
"Big sister Carol is here! Look!" Guo'er was also shouting excitedly, standing on tiptoe to push forward.
"She's just a celebrity. Wait here — I'll go get you a few signed photos and postcards later!" Leilin snorted.
"You can naturally get as many of her photos as you want, but isn't the situation different right now? I'm so excited…"
Guo'er pressed further ahead, while Leilin was left somewhat bewildered. "Wait, what do you mean I can get as many as I want? Am I close with her or something?"
But Guo'er had already disappeared into the crowd, leaving Leilin without anyone to ask.
And on stage, amid the hysterical screaming of the crowd, Carol slowly walked to the center.
The numerous spotlights dazzled even in broad daylight, and clouds of colorful smoke billowed outward, swirling around Carol.
"Carol!" "Carol!" "Carol!" "We love you!"
Countless boys and girls shouted at the top of their lungs, so loudly that Leilin couldn't help covering his ears, feeling his eardrums being assaulted.
At the same time, Leilin's gaze was drawn to the girl at center stage.
Carol wore a resplendent but not gaudy gown, two braids draped smoothly down her shoulders, her face as delicate as a porcelain doll.
"Thank you! I love you too!"
Carol looked down at her fans and smiled sweetly, drawing another round of rapturous adoration from the crowd.
Her voice was remarkably ethereal, and combined with her own temperament, it formed a unique aura — even just a few short words carried an extraordinary pull.
"Next, please welcome our Miss Carol with her signature song — 'Flight'!"
The two hosts had been so overshadowed by Carol's presence that they were nearly forgotten. Seizing their chance at last, they announced the track.
"Good! Now for the backing music!"
Leilin put on his headset microphone, but Carol on stage made a stopping gesture.
"Wait! I have one more piece of news for everyone today!" Carol said with a smile, a rare note of excitement creeping into her voice.
"The reason I've come to Sacred Purity Academy is because I received an invitation from my boyfriend! That's right — I'm in love!"
"What? No way! Carol, you're our goddess, how can you…"
Dead silence! The venue plunged into a stunned hush. Carol, the beloved songstress who had taken the entire Golden Flower Alliance by storm and had always been the quintessential sweetheart idol, was in a relationship — and her boyfriend was a high school student?
The storm of this revelation left the surrounding audience petrified. Then a collective howl erupted, igniting the atmosphere into chaos.
"Oh! No! How is that possible?" Countless boys clutched their chests and collapsed in agony. Leilin could almost hear the sound of glass hearts shattering.
And even more audience members waved flowers and glow sticks overhead: "Carol, we support you!"
"Thank you!" Carol bowed to the audience below, her eyes reddened. "I'd like to invite my boyfriend up here to sing 'Flight' with me — to commemorate this special day…"
At these words, the students all looked around at one another, trying to identify Carol's boyfriend.
"Ahaha… Carol's boyfriend is about to be in serious trouble!"
Leilin thought with no small amount of schadenfreude.
"Well then, aren't you going to go up?" At some point, Guo'er and Sivi had reappeared at Leilin's sides, ushering him onto the stage.
"Brother! Big sister Carol has shown this much courage — what are you waiting for?"
Guo'er tugged at Leilin's sleeve, grinning like a little fox that had successfully stolen a chicken.
"Huh? What? Me?" Leilin pointed at his own nose. "Carol's boyfriend is me?"
Suddenly, another wave of memories surged up.
"Leilin, remember our promise!" Carol wore a beautiful butterfly ribbon in her hair, holding Leilin's hand.
Only then did Leilin recall that it seemed… perhaps… probably… Carol's family had actually been his neighbors for three years, and it was during that time that the two of them had become a couple.
Once he was pulled onto the stage, with Carol holding his hand, bathed in the glare of spotlights below and the burning stares of countless otaku, Leilin's face remained somewhat stiff.
"Is this for real? This script doesn't make sense…"
Leilin felt quite dazed.
And then, the gentle backing music began to play, and an ethereal melody drifted over from beside him.
Leilin's expression turned somewhat dreamy as he gazed at the girl beside him, beautiful as an elf. Her voice was impossibly clear, like a crystal spring, seeming to wash the very soul and leave it feeling refreshed beyond measure.
Especially the way her eyes brimmed with tender feeling as she sang — it made Leilin feel something impossible to let go of.
"A prosperous life, the admiration of a celebrity — all of this is so wonderful. What am I still waiting for?"
Leilin couldn't help asking himself.
Yet at the same time, a faint unease at the bottom of his heart grew ever stronger, as if making the wrong decision would bring a lifetime of regret.
"That's right! My ideals, my goals, my original pursuit — what were they, in the end?" Leilin asked himself again and again.