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"Seriously… I've got nothing."
Anna Yanami bit into her pillow and thought hard for a while. Her mind stayed completely blank. A moment later, she gave up, hugged the pillow, and rolled back and forth across her bed.
For a sixteen-year-old girl who'd just started high school, she only had one life goal: someday, she wanted to taste every delicious thing in the world.
As for ambition… yeah, she'd never really thought about that.
"Oh, right. The diary."
Her eyes suddenly landed on the black notebook by her bedside, and they lit up.
"Even if future me is kind of embarrassing, she's definitely rich if she can keep stuffing herself with good food, right?"
Clap!
Anna pressed her hands together in prayer, face solemn.
"Please, Future Diary! Give me a hint!"
"..."
—
Elsewhere.
Since dinner had run late, Blake didn't bother going for discounted bentos tonight and just walked straight home.
As he was nearing his front door, a flash of color drifting in the wind caught his eye.
He stopped and looked toward the small park at the corner.
It was already past nine. The park was quiet, stripped of the noise and bustle it had during the day.
Under the dim yellow streetlight—
An angel with flaxen hair sat alone on a swing, her slender figure looking like it might be carried away by the breeze at any moment.
"…Shiina, how are you feeling?"
Blake stepped into the park and walked over to her.
"I feel okay." Mahiru Shiina looked up at him. Maybe she'd gotten used to him by now—her delicate face didn't show that signature angelic smile, just a soft, calm reply. "This time, it seems like I've lost my sense of touch."
"Touch, huh?"
Blake nodded lightly, not surprised.
Back at the intersection, she'd been chatting with him and Yanami just fine, so her sight and hearing were clearly unaffected.
"Do you want me to help?"
"No." Mahiru shook her head gently, her voice cool and composed. "If it's just touch, it doesn't really affect daily life."
"If you need anything, message me."
Blake didn't push it. Then he added with a hint of teasing, "Didn't someone say yesterday she'd never use her time-stop ability again? And yet here we are."
Mahiru puffed her cheeks slightly, shooting him a mild glare.
"In that situation, how could I just stand by and do nothing?"
"Yeah, yeah."
Even though she always wore that angelic mask to hide her true feelings, there was no doubt—Mahiru really did have the kindness of an angel.
"If you don't need help, you should head home soon," Blake said. "It's past nine. Being out alone this late isn't exactly safe."
Mahiru lowered her gaze. Her flaxen hair swayed softly in the night breeze.
"You go ahead, Blake. I'll sit a little longer."
"Alright. I'll head back then."
He nodded and didn't linger.
She clearly had something on her mind, but just as clearly didn't want to talk about it. They weren't close enough for him to pry.
After a few steps, Blake glanced at the shadows on the ground, and a line of text surfaced in his mind:
"The courtyard lay like still water, clear and bright; algae and duckweed intertwined within—it was the shadows of bamboo and cypress."
In that moment, words and scenery overlapped perfectly.
"Huh?" Mahiru lifted her head, a little surprised. "You've read A Night Visit to Chengtian Temple too?"
Blake nodded. "I've had the chance. It stuck with me."
Su Dongpo was actually quite popular here—The Red Cliff Ode was even included in school textbooks. But A Night Visit to Chengtian Temple wasn't nearly as well known.
"You could even say the full title off the top of your head…" Blake looked curious. "Do you really like that piece?"
"I do. Very much."
For once, Mahiru didn't hide her feelings. Her face seemed to glow, and her caramel-colored eyes shimmered in the night.
"When I was little, my dad once took me for a walk in the courtyard… and he recited that piece to me."
Halfway through, something seemed to cross her mind. The light in her eyes dimmed.
"…Hah."
She exhaled softly and looked down at the shifting light and shadows on the ground, her voice growing quieter.
"Thinking about it now… waking someone up in the middle of the night just to talk would only trouble them. If you're lonely… it's better to endure it alone."
At that moment, Blake spoke.
"That's not quite right."
"Hm?"
Mahiru looked up at him, puzzled.
"To really understand a piece, you have to consider the author's life and the historical context," Blake explained calmly. "At the time, Zhang Huaimin had just been demoted. He wasn't even living in his own home—he was staying in a temple assigned by officials. Far from home, all alone. You can imagine how heavy that must've felt."
"Su Dongpo, on the other hand, had already gone through the same thing years earlier. A veteran of exile, you could say. He understood that kind of suffering."
"So it wasn't that he went to disturb someone's sleep. He saw that Huaimin's lamp was still on, knew he was troubled and couldn't rest, and went to invite him for a walk—to ease his mind."
All those online jokes like "Get up and party at Chengtian Temple" or "At your age, how can you even sleep?" couldn't be further from the truth.
Not only was Huaimin not annoyed, the two became close friends afterward. A month later, Huaimin moved out to live on his own and even invited Su Dongpo to help compose lyrics—leading to the famous line: "With a vast, upright spirit, the wind sweeps freely for a thousand miles."
So no, it really wasn't about disturbing anyone's sleep.
Mahiru's eyes widened slightly.
"So that's the real story?"
"Exactly." Blake's tone stayed calm. "If you're interested, you can look it up later."
"…So I've been misunderstanding Master Su all this time…"
Mahiru's expression turned complicated.
Buzz. Buzz.
Blake's phone suddenly vibrated.
He pulled it out—it was a message from Yanami:
"Did you make it home yet, Blake?"
"…Almost there."
He typed back, then said, "Mahiru, I'm heading off."
Mahiru stood up when she heard that. "It's late. Let's walk back together."
The two of them left the small park at the corner and headed home side by side.
Moonlight flowed like water, stretching across the land.
The world had quietly settled into silence, with only the faint chirping of insects in the background.
Watching their shadows walk together along the ground, Mahiru felt an unexpected sense of calm settle in her chest.
(That's strange…)
(If it were any other guy beside me, I'd definitely be on guard right now, wouldn't I?)
"....."