"Caro… Caroline, just say it. What is it?"
On the school rooftop in the afternoon, Tendo looked at Caroline, who had her back to him, with a guilty expression. His voice was timid and completely lacked confidence.
There was nothing he could do. Although Tendo didn't know what he had done wrong at this moment, Caroline's current silence clearly meant she was brewing something big for him. So, regardless of whether he knew his mistake or not, the important thing was to quickly admit it! Because if he waited until he understood his mistake to admit it, then everything… would be too late!
Clearly, when it came to appeasing Caroline's "anger," Tendo possessed very rich and scientifically proven mature experience!
But before Tendo could even deploy his 'hundred small tricks to soothe Caroline,' Caroline, still with her back to him, forcefully shoved a small gift box into his arms and whispered, "Here, happy early birthday."
"Huh?"
After doing all this, Caroline immediately lowered her head, her cheeks flushed. At the same time, a flood of data glitches streamed through Caroline's eyes, and a pair of green electronic cat ears on her head trembled slightly. It was clear she was flustered and her brain's CPU was overloaded.
Tendo was utterly unprepared for this situation.
He looked at Caroline, who still had her back to him, then lowered his gaze to the uniquely crafted small gift box in his hands.
He suddenly started to laugh.
Unlike the exquisite gift boxes bought from boutique stores that his classmates had given him earlier, Caroline's small gift box, with its crooked bow on the lid and the still-wet glue at the edges of the wrapping paper, revealed that it was a quickly handmade item, crafted by Caroline in a rush. Otherwise, with Caroline's meticulous and serious personality, even if it was her first time making a handmade gift box, it would never be so crudely made.
'So, she must have heard others were giving me gifts and immediately rushed to make a gift box and come over, right?'
Thinking this, the smile on Tendo's face grew even wider.
Under the clear, cloudless blue sky, the warm afternoon sun pierced through the sparkling waters of the nearby sea, swept past the swimming fish, and cast the shadows of the young boy and girl onto the white rooftop.
As a slightly warm breeze swept by, Tendo's silver bangs lifted.
He gazed intently at the gift box in his hand, and after a moment of thought, carefully opened it.
Soon, a blue necklace with a cute little dolphin pendant appeared before Tendo's eyes.
With intense curiosity, Tendo picked up the necklace and held it up. In the sunlight, the deep blue dolphin necklace, crafted from a special material, shimmered with ripples like those on seawater.
Before Tendo could examine it closely, Caroline, noticing his movement from the corner of her eye, immediately explained in a voice as soft as a whisper, "I… I know your birthday is coming soon, but I have to go to the base's 'Quantum Center' for at least a month of quantum calculations as soon as I get back."
"If I can finish the calculations early, then I can certainly make it for your birthday, but if I can't, then I definitely won't make it in time."
"So, after much thought, I decided it would be better to give you your birthday gift before I go to the Quantum Center."
"Because this way… even if I don't come out of the Quantum Center in time, at least I won't have missed your birthday."
"I just don't know if you like this gift."
Caroline's tone was very nervous, and her explanation was a bit hesitant. She was completely unlike her usual rational and calm self. But it had to be admitted that this version of her made Tendo feel even cuter and more human.
So, Tendo, while carefully examining the small dolphin necklace in his hand, said with a smile in his eyes, "Satisfied? How could I not be satisfied? After all, it's from you."
As soon as Tendo said this, Caroline's cheeks became even redder, and even her head emitted the same white smoke as the top-ranked girl in Tendo's class earlier.
At the same time, the dimensional audience on Station 13 in the real world instantly became excited!
'Come out! All you guys who slandered Lao Tian for not knowing how to flirt, come out! Isn't he very good at it?!'
'Wuwuwu, delicious, love to eat, eat more!'
'Science proves that eating too much sugar leads to cavities, but it's okay, I inherently don't believe in science! In fact… I can even live without teeth! Just eat, just eat!'
'Bro, if you have more to say, say it, I still have a lot of space in my notebook! (Studying diligently, analyzing frame by frame)'
'The bro upstairs, stop taking notes. Do you still think Lao Tian flirts by technique? He relies on cheat-like basic stats!'
'"After all, it's from you"Damn it, Tendo and Caroline are really scoring big now. Can they still play without being nerfed?'
'"Starfield Production Team: User feedback received, version debugging in progress"'
'Stop it, the previous one, this is the most suitable version, no debugging needed!'
Amidst the dimensional audience's teasing, Tendo put down the small dolphin necklace and carefully put it around his neck. At the same time, he suddenly noticed the same dolphin necklace around Caroline's fair neck. The difference was that his little dolphin was blue. And Caroline's little dolphin was pink. It perfectly matched the half-meter tall pink dolphin plushie he had given Caroline for her birthday some time ago.
However, Tendo was smart enough not to mention this, pretending not to know as he asked about the necklace's function. After all, his Star Eclipse Eyes could clearly see the starlight trajectories flowing within this small dolphin necklace.
"Caroline, this necklace you gave me... it shouldn't be simple, right?"
"Mhm."
Caroline nodded. After hiding the necklace on her neck, she turned to Tendo and began to explain the necklace in a serious manner.
"It's called Deep Blue Sound. I asked Isabelle to have Sky Blue Group specifically craft it using a special performance ore, Deep Blue Tear."
As she spoke, Caroline instinctively stepped forward and took hold of the 'Deep Blue Sound' that Tendo was wearing around his neck. Their proximity at that moment was so close that Tendo could even clearly see Caroline's eyelashes.
However, Caroline, engrossed in her explanation, didn't notice this. Holding the 'Deep Blue Sound,' she immediately began to describe the specific functions of the star energy spell engraved within it.
"As a specialty of Deep Blue Metropolis, Deep Blue Tear naturally has excellent conductivity for water-attributed star energy."
"Therefore, one of the star energy spells it contains is temperature regulation, allowing you to maintain a perceived temperature equivalent to the twenties Celsius even in environments up to 40 degrees Celsius. It's like a portable air conditioner in necklace form."
"At the same time, its other function is—"
Mid-sentence, Caroline seemed to realize something and suddenly stopped talking.
But her enigmatic behavior clearly couldn't satisfy Tendo.
"Caroline, what's the other function of this necklace? Why did you suddenly stop talking?"
Hearing Tendo's words, Caroline bit her lower lip after a moment of hesitation and took out the pink little dolphin necklace she had just hidden.
"Its other function is that when one party wants to find the other, she only needs to activate her Deep Blue Sound."
"At that time, as long as both parties are within a certain range, these two Deep Blue Sounds of the same origin will emit an 'Oceanic Sound' that only the wearers of the necklaces can hear, guiding her to find the other party, just like now…"
As her words fell, Caroline immediately infused her star energy into the pink little dolphin necklace around her neck. And with this star energy as support, a sound that only Tendo and Caroline could hear suddenly appeared in their ears.
Listening carefully, the sound… was very much like a dolphin's call.
Although the sound came and went quickly, it was real and highly distinguishable.
Knowing this, Tendo clearly guessed something and immediately smiled as he held up the blue little dolphin necklace around his neck.
"So you mean, as long as we're not too far apart, we can quickly find each other using this sound that only we two can hear?"
"Mhm…"
Caroline lowered her head, not daring to look at Tendo at that moment. After all, her gift did carry a bit of her own hidden intentions; her motives weren't entirely pure.
However, although Tendo had already guessed Caroline's purpose, he smartly didn't voice it. Instead, he changed the subject, saying, "Caroline, let's take a picture!"
"Huh?"
Faced with Tendo's sudden change of thought, Caroline clearly hadn't kept up. But Tendo didn't care whether she was willing or not; he simply took her hand and led her to the edge of the rooftop.
From this position, they could just see the iconic building symbolizing Deep Blue Metropolis: a jellyfish-like tower called the Deep Blue Pearl. The photo Tendo and Caroline had taken when they first came here was also with their backs to this jellyfish tower.
Without giving Caroline a chance to refuse, Tendo immediately took out his phone and aimed the camera at himself and Caroline. But unlike the first time they took a photo, when Caroline had a flustered, amusing expression, this time Tendo not only waited for Caroline to get ready before taking the picture, but also specifically chose an angle he felt suited her best.
However, to Caroline's surprise, just a second before Tendo pressed the shutter, he suddenly made a slightly comical goofy face. His appearance created a stark contrast with Caroline in the photo, who, bathed in the warm afternoon sun, subconsciously pushed back her hair with her right hand.
One was a beautiful, quiet literary girl.
As for the other... he was clearly an unreliable, rebellious youth.
Their contrast was striking.
"Tendo, why did you suddenly pull me over to take a picture?"
After the photo was taken, Caroline immediately asked, puzzled. To this, Tendo gave her an unexpected answer.
"Nothing, when we first came here, didn't you say I was deliberately messing with you and took the picture before you were ready?"
"Well, this time let's switch it around. I'll take one where you're ready and I'm not."
"This way, everyone's fair!"
"..."
Hearing this, Caroline froze for a moment, then said helplessly, "Just because of that?"
"Yeah, just because of that."
Under the clear sky, Caroline gazed at Tendo's azure eyes, which seemed to dim even the stars and moon, for a moment, then suddenly started to laugh as well. Afterward, she showed a helpless yet somewhat doting expression and said, "Forget it, you're always so impulsive and unpredictable, it's really a headache."
"But somehow, you're just strangely likable."
"Come on, send me the photo."
Seeing Caroline reach for his phone, Tendo suddenly held it up high and refused, "No, no, I can't send you this photo. I need to keep it for myself."
"???"
Looking at the bewildered Caroline, Tendo explained with a smile, "Just like the necklace you gave me, we can only hear each other when we're close enough."
"The photo on your phone and the photo on my phone each capture our best sides, don't they?"
"Since that's the case, let's just keep them separate."
"Because that way, whenever we see the photos on our respective phones, what comes to mind will be each other's best selves."
"Besides, this unexpected memory, I plan to keep it well myself. There's no way I'm sending it to you."
With that, Tendo immediately stuffed his phone into his pocket, adopting a defensive stance, looking entirely like a childish kid who wouldn't give it to Caroline even if it killed him.
Caroline helplessly shook her head at this and didn't press the matter further. After all, it was just a photo. If she wanted, she could always take more photos with Tendo later; it wasn't important at all.
But what Caroline didn't notice was that Tendo, who had put his sunglasses back on, had a very complex expression in his eyes, hidden behind the shades.
Because, as he had just said, today's memory was an unexpected one for him.
He hadn't expected Caroline to remember his birthday so clearly.
Nor had he expected her to suddenly give him such a special birthday gift on a day when everyone was about to return home.
This truly proved the old saying: in the script of life, even if you plan everything perfectly for yourself, accidents will still arrive unexpectedly.
Tendo thought he had designed the script for him and Caroline.
But he hadn't expected Caroline to suddenly add a scene to this well-planned script.
Yet, Tendo had no complaints about it.
Meanwhile, in the shadows of the rooftop, unnoticed by both Tendo and Caroline, a red-eyed girl looked at the two on the rooftop, then at the gift in her hand.
After a moment of thought, she simply turned and left.
Because she knew very well that at this moment, there was no place for her on that rooftop.