Sakura poked her head out of the headache-inducing simulation pod, taking a deep breath of the cold, icy night air. Her dazed mind cleared slightly.
Her unfocused pupils solidified, making the blurred world sharp. A hand was extended toward her.
"...Thank you." Sakura grasped the hand and thanked him softly, unsure if Lin heard her.
The lights in the simulation room were still on, but it was empty. Someone must have seen that people were still using the simulation room and left it alone. If Lin hadn't corrected the error in time, they might have been trapped for a while.
Sakura consciousness was still hazy. The rejection reaction was still affecting her. After standing up, she leaned against the pod door, watching Lin, who was examining the simulation data, and showed a complex expression.
Although her data had been reconstructed into the corpse of Lin wife from the Pre-Civilization, she could still feel what had happened at the time.
This person was sometimes so cold he seemed like a machine, yet other times, he was exceptionally emotional. After the reorganization of the Chrysalis Squad, she thought Lin had become more emotional, but in the world simulated this time, she didn't know how to describe this person anymore.
Did he do those things for the Pre-Civilization data, or to save her, or even for the fake... Lin?
Although only for an instant, Sakura saw Lin without his helmet when leaving the simulation.
After recovering from her initial shock at his appearance, she thought of the placid look on his face.
Although he showed no expression, he still conveyed a sense of inexplicable sadness.
"Um, Lin..." Seeing Lin, who had gained no useful information from the simulation pod, walk toward the door, she unconsciously called out to him, though she didn't even know why she called him.
"..." When Lin turned his head and looked at her with a serious gaze, she felt a little nervous.
Then came a desperate silence.
After another quarter of an hour passed on the simulation room's clock, just when Sakura regretted speaking, Lin, who had been staring at her, spoke in an indifferent tone: "Do you want to get something to eat?"
"Eh? Eh."
Sakura followed Lin, who walked away without looking back, in a daze.
...
He said "get something to eat," but it was actually instant noodles...
Sakura sat in Lin living room, awkwardly watching his back as he leisurely waited for the water to boil in the kitchen.
The room structures in the Fire Moth were mostly similar. The only differences in private rooms were the direction of the kitchen and bathroom. When Sakura walked into Lin room, she almost thought Lin had brought her to her own room.
Their two rooms were highly similar.
The reason wasn't similar furnishings, but the fact that neither of them had furnished their rooms; they both looked like they had been restored to factory settings.
However, the two of them did have one thing in common: they both had a few photos placed on their desks.
Sakura had a photo of her and Rin. She was curious about whose photos Lin would keep but didn't want to blatantly snoop into his privacy.
After careful consideration, she stood up and walked toward the kitchen, saying as she walked, "Lin, why don't I make it..."
"No need." Lin took the noodle block out of the packaging. Sakura glanced at it, her facial muscles twitching slightly. He had actually bought the two-block extra-large instant noodles. Was he that frugal?
"I can cook, but someone recently treated me to boiled instant noodles." Lin used chopsticks to loosen the noodle block, calmly watching the white foam rise. "I think... some things I haven't tried before might not be bad."
This sentence revealed Sakura thoughts—she did think Lin might not know how to cook, which was why he was eating instant noodles. Realizing Lin just wanted to eat instant noodles, she returned to the living room, feeling a bit embarrassed.
On her way back, Sakura caught a glimpse of the images in the two picture frames on the desk.
One was a four-person group photo, and the other was a three-person group photo. Besides Lin, only a gray-haired girl who avoided the camera was present in both photos.
Lin with bandages, and Lin standing up...
In that brief moment, Sakura noticed that the identity of Lin in the two photos seemed different. In the first photo, Lin stood in the center, but the red-haired woman seemed to be the leader. In the second photo, Lin was clearly the leader of the two people.
Sakura had heard the various rumors that had persisted since Lin joined the Fire Moth.
The Fifth Squad and the Seventh Squad...
Boiling instant noodles didn't take much time or skill. Even a five-year-old could do the whole process standing on a stool. Soon, Lin came out with the steaming instant noodles and sat down at the table.
It really was just instant noodles...
Sakura had expected Lin to add some simple vegetables, but he truly only ate instant noodles. The spicy broth only showed the pitifully few, inconspicuous vegetables from the seasoning packet.
Lin offered her the chopsticks. Without any ceremony, he lifted a clump of noodles and raised his helmet to eat.
"Itadakimasu." Sakura politely clasped her hands and murmured a phrase, but as she picked up her chopsticks to eat, she saw Lin noodles stop right before his mouth. He stared intently at her.
She immediately felt nervous: "W-what is it?"
"Nothing..." Lin slowly put down his chopsticks. "It's just that I rarely see people from the Far East say that phrase so formally before starting to eat."
The last time he saw it was when he ate at Sakura house, and the sisters said the same words.
"Um... is that so?"
Sakura didn't quite understand why Lin would say that. It was basically a personal habit, so why be surprised if other Far Eastern people didn't say it?
"I grew up in the Far East, but no one taught me to do that. Even Kevin, who I'm close with, was a transfer student from Northern Europe."
"You grew up in the Far East..." Sakura hadn't realized Lin grew up there. His behavior and his name had a strong Shenzhou flair. She had assumed he was a pure Shenzhou native. "But you don't have to follow this etiquette. You can do it your own way."
"No... I just want to try."
Lin clasped his hands together and closed his eyes solemnly: "Itadakimasu."
Only then did he pick up his chopsticks and start eating the noodles. Sakura, completely bewildered, also began eating her noodles.
"Do you want to take a photo?"
Just as she took her first bite of noodles, Lin abrupt question almost made her spit out the noodles.
"Cough, cough, cough..." The spice shot straight up her throat. Lin calmly pushed a cup of water toward her. After she drank it, she felt the uncomfortable spiciness subside slightly.
Lin explained: "I saw you looking at my previous squad's group photo."
So that was it. Even such an inconspicuous movement was noticed?
"I'm sorry, I was just curious..."
"Mhm. So, do you want to take a photo?"
"..."
Sakura still didn't understand Lin, but in his straightforward conversation, she gradually felt at ease.
...
After Sakura left, Lin took the Polaroid photo out, framed it, and placed it on the desk.
Then, he went to the storage room in the corner of his room and casually turned on the light.
"..."
"..."
"Are you awake?"
The faint light from his visor shone on the "thing" that crawled out of the bag and writhed on the floor.