"March, what were you all... doing just now?"
Inside the room, Lumina and Ruan Mei, having abandoned their plans to leave at March 7th's insistence, had entered the room.
After settling into a seat, Lumina couldn't contain her curiosity any longer and asked the question.
"Just now?" March 7th paused, then planted her hands on her hips and glared at Stelle with a look that could kill a star. "It's all thanks to this Stelle," she snapped. "She had another one of her episodes. If I hadn't been here, who knows what she would have done to Little Swarm."
"I see," Lumina nodded, outwardly satisfied with the explanation, but inwardly a little disappointed.
Too bad the scene in the room wasn't the one I had imagined, she thought.
And what scene had Lumina imagined? Why, the three of them diligently studying, of course!
What else could it be? Lumina wasn't that kind of person—completely uninterested in those kinds of things, utterly indifferent to them.
"Ruan Mei, what brings you here?" Under March 7th's gaze, Stelle first offered an awkward smile, scratched the back of her head, then shifted her attention to Ruan Mei, who was seated beside Little Swarm, and asked the question.
"I came to the Luofu on business and happened to run into Lumina. Learning you were here too, I thought I'd drop by to say hello," Ruan Mei replied, glancing at the slightly restrained and nervous Little Swarm beside her before offering a concise answer to Stelle's question.
Then she turned to Little Swarm and asked, "Do you enjoy this kind of life?"
"Y-yes, I like it," Little Swarm answered, puffing out her chest and lifting her chin, her voice slightly tense, like a student being questioned by their teacher.
"Hmm..." Ruan Mei nodded lightly, looking at Little Swarm's earnest expression, at a loss for words.
Ruan Mei remained remarkably calm, as if she were merely asking a perfunctory question, utterly indifferent to Little Swarm's actual answer.
But that wasn't the truth. Though Ruan Mei's face betrayed nothing, her mind was already consumed by bewilderment.
I don't understand. I simply don't understand.
Why, as fellow Creators, did Little Swarm treat Ruan Mei so differently from how she treated Lumina?
Ruan Mei was deeply puzzled. At first, during their voice and video calls, she had assumed Little Swarm disliked her.
Ruan Mei hadn't cared much about this supposed dislike. After all, she had created Little Swarm and then abandoned her for several months. Being disliked under such circumstances seemed only natural.
As a Creator, Ruan Mei was actually pleased that her creation could experience the emotion of "hating someone."
This was how she saw it from the perspective of a Creator towards her creation.
However, viewing the situation from the perspective of a biological parent, the feeling of being treated differently, though Ruan Mei didn't dwell on it, still left a faint, lingering discomfort.
So, even knowing Little Swarm disliked her, Ruan Mei still made time for voice and video calls, wanting to understand what was happening in the child's life and alleviate her resentment.
But these efforts consistently proved futile.
It wasn't until now that Ruan Mei finally understood. Little Swarm didn't dislike her at all. Instead, she cherished and yearned to be close to her, just as she did with Lumina.
But why, then, was she also so afraid of her?
Ruan Mei didn't understand, and she found it very difficult to grasp.
Asking someone so emotionally detached to comprehend the feelings of a "human" was truly asking a lot of Ruan Mei...
Ruan Mei genuinely didn't know how to interact with Little Swarm.
Even with Lumina present, Ruan Mei could have easily dismissed Little Swarm, treating her as just another ordinary creation.
But Ruan Mei couldn't bring herself to do it. Why she couldn't, even Ruan Mei herself wasn't sure.
Perhaps Lumina played a part in this inexplicable attachment.
"Little Swarm, you don't need to be afraid," Lumina said gently. "Ruan Mei just... um... isn't good at expressing her feelings. She doesn't dislike you at all."
Witnessing the barely-there exchange between Little Swarm and Ruan Mei, Lumina stood up and plopped down on the other side of Little Swarm.
With a warm smile, she reassured Little Swarm not to be scared or nervous, emphasizing that Ruan Mei was just as gentle as she was.
"Mmm... mmm," Little Swarm nodded in response to Lumina's words, but her body remained still, making no real movement.
It seemed she was only superficially complying with Lumina's words.
Seeing this, Lumina's eyes darted around. Without a word, she twisted her body slightly, making contact with Little Swarm. With a gentle nudge, she pushed Little Swarm's body firmly against Ruan Mei's.
Little Swarm stiffened, holding her breath as she felt the delicate plum blossom fragrance radiating from Ruan Mei and the soft touch of their arms brushing.
"Hmm... I'm done here. I'll be going now," Ruan Mei said, her expression as serene as ever. Knowing her presence only made Little Swarm uncomfortable, she rose to leave.
Though Ruan Mei betrayed no outward emotion—her expression remained that unchanging, perpetually composed smile—surely Little Swarm's fearful reaction must have stirred some sadness within her, right?
Was she sad? Actually, no.
Not only was she unaffected, but a faint spark of contentment flickered within her.
Little Swarm's reaction confirmed that she didn't hate Ruan Mei; she was simply afraid.
Not being hated—that was enough.
"Wait... Wait! Don't go!"
But just as Ruan Mei rose to leave, Little Swarm suddenly reached out and grabbed her hand, stopping her.
"Hmm?" Ruan Mei tilted her head slightly, surprised to see Little Swarm gripping her hand.
Considering how stiff and tense she had become when they were pressed close together earlier, this act of grabbing her hand and preventing her departure must have taken immense courage.
A faint smile lifted the corners of Ruan Mei's lips by a few pixels.
Following Little Swarm's unspoken request, she sat back down.
"Alright, I won't leave," Ruan Mei said.
"Umm..." Though it was Little Swarm who had suggested this, when Ruan Mei actually stayed and sat down at her word, she grew even more nervous.
This time, however, while still tense, she had managed to close the distance between them slightly...