"What exactly are you trying to do?"
Bang!
Yama fist struck the wall like a bullet, blocking Lin path. Her gaze was hostile to the extreme. She couldn't understand this man at all; "mysterious" wasn't enough to describe him anymore. Even for a perverted stalker, was there really a need to go this far?
Furthermore, how on earth did he become a teacher?
"..." Lin glanced at her indifferently, remaining unperturbed.
He had thought about many things on the rooftop: whether he had the right to make choices for Yama, and whether his future would eventually converge with hers. In the end, he decided to let things take their natural course. He wasn't giving up on leaving the bubble world, but he would look for clues himself; he wouldn't actively try to wake Yama. If this was her wish, then let it continue.
"Just finding a job." Lin bent down and slipped under her arm. Carrying a thermos, he walked to the water dispenser to fill it. After getting a cup of hot water, he leisurely returned to the podium, took a small sip, and let out a relaxed breath of hot air. He exuded a "retired" aura that didn't match his physical age, even squinting his eyes to doze off.
In that moment, even Yama felt he was like a sixty-year-old man who had come to class just to collect a paycheck. But Yama had seen his sharp mechanical skills and his otherworldly temperament; no matter how old his psychological age was, he couldn't be an old man. This was clearly an act.
She guessed correctly. Lin intended to maintain a distance from Yama that was neither too close nor too far, making it convenient for him to observe the various events happening around her. Moreover, he had some suspicions about this bubble world, which had been altered by Yama current wish...
...
"So annoying."
Yama leaned against the wire fence, holding a bottle of hot milk she had bought from a vending machine. At her feet sat an empty lunch box she had just finished. After expressionlessly drinking the milk in one go and licking the milk stain from the corner of her mouth with her tongue, she added: "So annoying."
Kevin, who was squatting nearby and eating heartily, looked up in confusion and asked incoherently, "What's so annoying?"
"That guy." It wasn't visible on Yama face, but her habit of tapping the bottle revealed the irritation in her heart.
"Teacher Yama?"
"Why are you calling him 'Teacher'?"
"But he actually is a teacher now."
Without looking, Yama tossed the bottle over the wire fence behind her. It fell from the rooftop in a perfect parabola, landing in a trash can that looked smaller than an ant from above.
Kevin laughed guilelessly, "Isn't it pretty good? The girls say we have another handsome teacher, and the boys don't hate him either."
"That's because his face is too pleasing," Yama said coldly and mercilessly. "Whether from a female or male aesthetic perspective, his appearance is flawless—like the 'face of a saint'."
In a logical sense, a normal person shouldn't look like that. It was a beauty so profound it felt illusory, as if it existed solely to be worshipped. Yama certainly didn't believe a person could be born like that; the gap between "top-tier" and "perfect" wasn't just a difference in perception. She saw no signs of artificial adjustment on Lin, which likely meant he had been modified while still an embryo.
"Aren't you the same?" Kevin chewed on a croquette—his favorite food since transferring to the Far East. It was crunchy and flavorful. He gestured casually toward Yama face. "I actually think you two look a bit alike."
Kevin words made Yama freeze. She was... the same?
"You're right, you're just an ordinary person... but your thinking ability, information collection ability, physical fitness, and appearance... are just like mine; they shouldn't be naturally occurring anomalies."
The words Lin had spoken were like a thorn stuck in her heart, making it beat faster. No, she was an ordinary person; she had lived an extremely ordinary life since childhood. But then she thought about how she had immediately spotted the issues with Lin appearance—why was she so certain he wasn't a natural product?
Why... was that?
.....
"Ideals, beliefs, life, the future... at the end of the day, humans are just lifeforms composed of these few things."
Lin put down his glass and tapped the rim.
"It's amazing, isn't it? With other animals, we talk about their habits, breeds, characteristics... we use the coldest regulations to determine their nature. But humans define themselves using emotional and vague things."
"This is probably human selfishness. The manifestation of this selfishness is that even if all other creatures go extinct, humans will stand by and watch for the sake of their own existence."
"Yet, individual humans will choose to sacrifice themselves for the collective—which is a form of selflessness. A combination of selfishness and selflessness, so contradictory, fully displayed in the biological entity called 'human'."
"So, humans... are always in contradiction and struggle, within this whirlpool..."
Chise was eating with sweat pouring down her face. She didn't dare look at the man beside her; she just listened to the words that might or might not be directed at her, muttering in her heart.
This man was very similar to Lin, but definitely different. A fear born of instinct made her body tremble deep down. Lin was merely cold and distant in his behavior, but this man was smiling, yet gave her an indescribable sense of terror.
No one else felt this way; only Chise did.
"People get conflicted and suffer. When a person or a thing passes away, it is the peak of pain. And when they find a person or thing similar to it, even if the internal essence is already vastly different, they still fall into it and can't pull themselves out."
"Heh... I've said too much."
Lin laughed at himself, shook his head, and stood up. His gaze didn't fall on Chise beside him, but on the others, or rather, somewhere further away...
"Sometimes I think, how great would it be if I could change those tragedies with my own strength? In novels, comics, and anime, the protagonists turn the tide, rewrite tragedies, and bring back what was beautiful... if it were me..."
"But, as expected, I am not a protagonist. Not ever..."
"So I can't save you, and I can't change anything. I can only hypocritically watch the beauty that doesn't belong to me here, before it dissipates."
Lin left, but Chise felt his attention was still on her. Even though he hadn't turned back, she felt like she was being watched.
Who was he talking to? It shouldn't be... directed at me, right?
Chise gave a dry laugh and picked up her chopsticks to continue eating her fried rice.
Drip.
A crystal-clear droplet fell onto the plate. She stared blankly at the tear that had fallen into the glossy oil stain, belatedly placing her trembling hand on her face.
Drip.
How strange...