"…That Texas is just brave."
Eating noodles, Li Lin looked at the curious Lupo girl before him, thought about his past impression of Texas, and said bluntly:
"She's just simply too brave, and always manages to pull off all sorts of things at various times. And she keeps a straight face; although I know she means well for us, many times it's really unbearable."
"Oh, how brave? Tell me about it?"
"Other people speed when driving, she flies too low when driving. The traffic police see it's Texas driving the Penguin Logistics car and don't even bother stopping her, you know? Officer Ch'en talked to me several times, wanting me to give her evidence to revoke Texas's driver's license in one go. I want to too, getting carsick and vomiting every time I ride in the car, who can stand it? The worst time, even Croissant got out to vomit, eh? But every time it's under emergency clauses, only overtaking because of being attacked, can't even find an excuse."
"Sounds like you guys live quite excitingly?"
"Exciting? It's more than exciting. Back at the very beginning, we had to deal with bombings and attacks every day. Even that recent operation, there was actually an Originium bomb on the road, a human one at that. Do you know how terrifying that is? If Texas hadn't seen it, everyone in our car would have contracted Oripathy."
"So in that sense, Texas is really very brave?"
"Texas is brave, very brave, but I think sometimes she really meddles too much (管得太寬 - guǎn de tài kuān)."
Li Lin took a can of beer, opened it, offered it to Lappland, and after seeing she wouldn't drink, started drinking it himself.
"Doesn't let me do this, doesn't let me do that. Makes me do this, makes me do that. How should I put it, many times I know she indeed means well, and I do have some flaws in many areas, but no matter how I think about it, Texas really meddles too much, right? She's not my mother?"
"She's always trying to supervise you? How strange, never seen her care so much about anyone before…???"
Lappland nodded in agreement, then looked towards the entrance. Her ears instantly perked up, and her expression gradually stiffened.
Li Lin didn't notice Lappland's change, but continued nodding to himself.
"Right? It's strange, right? To tell you the truth, I initially thought my peach blossom period (桃花期 - táohuā qī - period of romantic luck) had arrived, but after these few days, it's completely not like that. I'm also a normal person with self-esteem; supervising me like this, isn't it meddling a bit too much?"
"…O-Operator Prophet? Maybe you should stop talking first?"
"Stop talking? Why stop talking? Texas has done many more wicked things ."
The Lungmen Teahouse fell silent; even the sound of cars outside stopped. The chef kneading dough also looked at the entrance with a surprised expression, then slowly pulled down the shutter and hid behind the counter. But Li Lin didn't feel anything unexpected; instead, he raised his beer, finished it in one gulp, then said loudly with a flushed face:
"I even suspect maybe she's pent up like this because she doesn't have a boyfriend. Every night she makes me do some kind of training. Calls it training, but actually it's just purely beating me up. Tell me, is this excessive or not? It's one thing for me, a man, to get beaten up, but she even calls others to beat me up together, nicely calling it growth in combat. Isn't this just fooling me because I don't understand? Since when does training require pushing to the limit? Limits accumulate muscle soreness; without rest, problems will arise. But I dare to be angry but not speak out. Can only find time to rest. I can't even write my novel anymore, tell me, isn't it pitiful?"
"…"
"Huh? What's wrong with you? Lappland? Making faces is quite good-looking. What I said is basically my perception, not fooling you."
"Be-, behind…"
"Behind? What's behind?"
Looking at Lappland, who was constantly making faces at him, Li Lin raised his eyebrows somewhat curiously and looked back.
Seeing the iconic uniform and grayish-red fur, then looking at the exquisite face expressionlessly chewing chocolate, finally looking up and down at the legs wrapped in black stockings and the huge tail behind, Li Lin, the Prophet, gasped (嗝 - gé), took a sharp breath of cold air, and slid off the stool onto his butt.
"Speak? Why did you stop talking? I quite wanted to keep listening."
"…"
I knew intuition couldn't be relied upon!
Looking at Texas, chewing a chocolate stick and looking at him expressionlessly, a layer of cold sweat instantly broke out on Li Lin's head.
Like a frog stared at by a viper, or like an insect held by a bird, looking at the expressionless Texas, Li Lin only felt like running away directly. But compared to Li Lin, who was badmouthing her behind her back, there was clearly someone more worthy of attention appearing before Texas's eyes.
Facing Lappland, who was sitting in front of Li Lin with her head lowered as if reflecting on some mistake, Texas slowly walked up to Lappland. Looking at this well-built Lupo carrying two common swords, Texas didn't say much. Instead, Lappland looked at the slowly approaching Texas, trembled for a long while, then slowly raised her head, looked at Texas, and gave a slightly distorted smile filled with regret.
"Although I heard from this operator, I didn't expect you really became so… relaxed, Texas."
"Perhaps, I feel life has gotten busier though. Rather, what are you doing here? Lappland?"
Looking at Lappland, whose face showed regret, Texas raised an eyebrow.
"Wait wait wait, what exactly is the relationship between you two? I still haven't figured it out?"
Facing the two who were somewhat confrontational, Li Lin, having temporarily escaped disaster, scratched his scalp, feeling completely unable to grasp the complicated relationship between these two.
"I am not an enemy."
"But not a friend either."
"Just a past (future) that must be faced."
As if singing in duet, Lappland sitting on the chair and Texas standing before her answered one sentence each.
The Ursus owner had long felt something was wrong, turned off the radio, and shrunk back into the kitchen, playing dead. Inside the entire tea restaurant, only Li Lin looked somewhat strangely at the two who were clearly confronting each other but lacked any killing intent.
"How strange, clearly colleagues, yet you haven't even mentioned your own past?"
Lappland looked at the bewildered Li Lin, shook her head somewhat helplessly, then looked towards Texas.
"You hide it really well… No, or rather, you've really thrown those past matters to the back of your mind, haven't you? Texas?"
"I am very satisfied with my current life, and I don't think everything needs to be told to others."
Texas shook her head, looking towards the white-haired Lupo girl.
"Rather, you, what are you doing here?"