The shocked look on Tang San's face – eyes wide, jaw slightly slack, the utter disbelief etched onto features usually so composed – told Mei everything she needed to know.
Her casual assumption had been catastrophically wrong. The ground beneath her feet, metaphorically, felt a little less solid.
"So..." Mei began, her voice softer now, the earlier casualness replaced by hesitant understanding. She searched Tang San's still-stunned expression.
"I get that you... didn't meet a god?" It was less a question and more a statement colored by dawning comprehension. The implications began to unfurl like cold petals in her stomach.
Tang San finally managed to close his mouth, swallowing hard. He ran a hand through his hair, a gesture utterly foreign to his usual disciplined demeanor, betraying the lingering shock.
"Meet a...?" He trailed off, the concept clearly still alien and overwhelming. "No. One moment I was falling, the next... I was a newborn baby crying in this world. No goddess. No guide. Just... my memories."
His voice was low, rough with the rawness of the admission and the stark contrast her revelation presented.
The quiet of the lakeside morning pressed in, suddenly heavy. The cheerful birdsong felt jarringly out of place. Mei stared at him, the full weight of his words sinking in.
He hadn't been sent with no system, no Goddess chirping advice, or anything else. Just his memories.
'Told you it wasn't standard procedure.'
Ai piped up in Mei's mind, her voice uncharacteristically subdued, lacking its usual snark.
'His ride was economy class. Yours was first-class, divine express. With complimentary Ai service.'
Even Ai seemed momentarily sobered by the stark difference in their arrivals.
Mei felt a confusing mix of emotions.
Relief that she wasn't alone in her core secret warred with a strange sense of... guilt? Privilege? Ahh, she remembered in her past life, there was that girl who won her previous debut spot with her connection.
She felt that what Ai did seemed a bit unfair.
'Well, if you want to make things fair. I can ask around in the god realm if they want to sponsor Tang San.'
She'll keep that in mind. "Oh," she breathed, the single syllable carrying a universe of understanding.
To say Tang San wasn't jealous would be a lie. But he felt that it was to bad and he had differnt priority right now.
"This 'Ai'... this Goddess...did she say anything else when you met her? Maybe about this world," The questions tumbled out, driven by a need to grasp the structure of this world.
"Umm, she didn't say much. But she did say if you want to, she will ask around in the god realm if there's a god that be willing to help you." Mei recounted what Ai told her just now.
Tang San was shocked again
Tang San stared at Mei, the implications of her words hitting him like a physical blow. A goddess… asking around for him? The sheer scale of the concept was dizzying. His world, meticulously built on self-reliance and the stolen secrets of the Tang Sect manuals, suddenly felt dwarfed by celestial bureaucracy.
"She… she would do that?" he managed, voice thick with disbelief. "For… me?"
"Apparently," Mei shrugged, a flicker of amusement touching her lips at his continued shock. "Ai seems to think it's only fair. Said it might 'balance the scales' or something." She added a reason to make it seem more genuine.
"Mei," he said, his voice regaining its usual calm firmness, "please tell her… thank you. That's… incredibly generous. But… It's unnecessary for now."
He met her gaze squarely. "I want to work hard at least to gain the gods' help. " There was a quiet pride in his words.
'Oho? Is that so?' Ai's voice chimed in Mei's mind, laced with both amusement and respect.
'Fine, fine. But just because he declines the offer doesn't mean I can't put his name in the cosmic suggestion box! But first, I need to make the cosmic suggestion box.'
A faint, almost imperceptible chime echoed in Mei's perception, like a celestial notification.
Mei relayed the gist, softening Ai's tone. "She says she understands, but she's… 'filing it anyway'. Just in case."
She offered a sympathetic smile. "She means well."
Tang San sighed, a rare show of exasperation mixed with bewildered gratitude. "I… see." The idea of his name floating in some divine filing system was profoundly unsettling, yet oddly comforting in its absurdity.
He changed the subject, the weight of their shared origin still hanging between them. "Your past life… You were an idol?"
Mei's eyes lit up, the tension easing. "No, I was just a Trainee. A Trainee is someone who is still training to become an Idol." Her voice held a nostalgic warmth, tinged with the old ache of unfinished dreams.
"I started training when I was ten. Ten years of nothing but practice – vocals, dance, media training, diet control. Every day, pushing to be perfect." She sighed, a wisp of old exhaustion in the sound.
"I finally got the call. My debut, but it was given to someone else. Then I got another chance, but it fell through, and at twenty I got my final chance." Her smile turned bittersweet.
"I was walking back home… and met a very determined truck. Poof. Ten years of sweat and tears… gone in an instant."
Tang San listened intently, his dark eyes reflecting a mixture of fascination and profound unfamiliarity.
The sheer scale and structure of her former world – "cameras," "media training," the concept felt incredibly foreign.
"This 'idol' path..." he mused slowly, searching for context in his own memories. "It sounds… vastly different from the performers or esteemed artists I knew. Almost like a martial path, but focused solely on captivating hearts through song and presence? A dedicated… industry?"
The word felt strange on his tongue, but it was the closest concept he could grasp. The disciplined grind she described resonated, but the societal role of an "idol" remained elusive, a uniquely modern construct he couldn't quite map onto his frame of reference.
"Yeah, it must be foreign for you. After all, it's something that was invented in the future." Mei said in understanding. Believing that Tang San was from an older generation who was obsessed with ancient martial arts.
"Hmm, I see. So when were you born?" Tang San also understood, believing that Mei must be from about a few centuries in the future.
"I was born in 2005 and died in 2025," Mei said happily
At this, Tang San's expression was quite something, ┌╏ º □ º ╏┐.