Chapter 44: I Like You, I Love You

"Are the two of you ready?"

Yu Jin asked, holding a microphone. Seeing Qin Lu and Chu Liunian nod, he continued with a passionate and stirring tone, "Very well! Next, please read the lines in your hands to each other with genuine emotion—young man, you go first!"

The inevitable moment had finally arrived... Qin Lu took a deep breath, shifted his gaze away from the first slip of paper, and looking straight at Chu Liunian, he said softly, "The true sky is vast, and no matter where we go, it remains tightly connected. Moreover, even if we are far apart from each other, we are always under the same sky..."

"Wow, what a beautiful line."

"This girl is amazing, the line she wrote is of such high quality."

"I wonder what kind of line the guy wrote for her."

"..."

As soon as Qin Lu finished speaking, the surrounding onlookers couldn't help but let out sighs of admiration.

Because earlier, when they watched the gaming event here, many people had written lines like "It's not me who is wrong, it's this world" or "Would you like to dance, too?" While those lines were quite recognizable, their chuunibyou level was simply too high.

Of course, this event was meant to be for fun, so those lines weren't necessarily bad; it was just that, by comparison, the line written by Chu Liunian possessed much more depth, instantly giving anyone who heard it a wonderfully aesthetic impression.

Yu Jin felt the same way and couldn't help praising, "That really is a wonderful line! Now, young lady, please respond with the line the young man wrote for you!"

Upon receiving the instruction, Chu Liunian's fingers clutching the slip of paper involuntarily tightened, causing the paper in her hand to warp slightly.

She seemed somewhat nervous, as if she were too shy to speak the words aloud, but in the end, she looked at Qin Lu and said, "I... I like you..."

"Ohhhhhhh!"

"My ship is sailing!"

"Wow, although this response is ordinary, putting these two lines together is truly breathtaking!"

"..."

The onlookers grew excited once again, praising the pairing and feeling that the compatibility of their lines was simply spot on.

Qin Lu felt a tiny bit awkward. Looking at Chu Liunian before him, seeing her darting eyes and flushed face, he didn't need to guess to know that she was feeling nervous and shy inside.

Even so, he didn't let his imagination run wild, quietly reaching out to take the second slip of paper handed over by Yu Jin.

After glancing at it, and once Yu Jin announced the start of the second round of dialogue, he looked at Chu Liunian again and said gently, "No matter where or when, the same distant sky stretches above our heads, like an unbreakable bond that can never be severed..."

The onlookers cheered at the appropriate moment, and Yu Jin sighed in admiration, "As expected of our school's anime goddess; her research into anime lines is truly admirable. Just listening to this, I can automatically picture a pair of lovers gazing deeply into each other's eyes."

He paused, then handed over another slip of paper with a smile, "Just like the two of you... All right, the female participant may now deliver her line."

This time, Chu Liunian still couldn't say her line right away, because compared to the previous one, the line in front of her carried a much heavier impact.

The flush on her face spread at a visible rate, her gaze drifted uncertainly, and she didn't dare meet Qin Lu's eyes. The second slip of paper clenched in her hand was quickly crumpled beyond recognition.

Finally, she took a deep breath and said in a slightly trembling voice, "I... I love you..."

"Ahhhhhhh!"

"I can't take this! I'm going to get a nosebleed!"

"I'm begging you two to debut as a real couple right now, I'll follow you instantly, this is just too sweet!"

"Calm down, bro, shipping everything will only hurt you."

"Bullshit! Shipping everything only ensures a balanced nutritional intake! You guys better ship them too! Ship them hard!"

"..."

Words resembling a confession, matched with a response that bared one's innermost feelings.

Combining these two lines together instantly sent the surrounding otaku into a state of absolute ecstasy.

Yu Jin was even more excited, his chubby face flushing redder than Chu Liunian's as he grabbed the microphone and urged, "Quick, quick! Time for the third line!"

Qin Lu had no idea what they were all getting so excited about; he was treating this whole event strictly as a game.

Having gotten past the initial awkwardness, hearing Chu Liunian say "I love you" didn't cause any major emotional fluctuations within him anymore.

However, Chu Liunian was clearly far from calm. The killing intent of this second line was far greater than the first; as soon as she finished reciting it, she dropped her head and didn't dare look at Qin Lu for a long time.

Qin Lu didn't mind. Taking the third slip of paper, he read aloud, "If one could do whatever they wanted simply because of feelings, then I'd want to do a lot of things to you."

The first two lines Chu Liunian had written for him expressed inner emotions and affection with a deeply aesthetic atmosphere, but this third line carried a hint of aggression.

If this line came from an overbearing CEO novel, it would go something like this—*Woman, you cannot escape the palm of my hand.*

Qin Lu amusedly roasted the situation in his mind, quietly waiting for Chu Liunian to recite her third line, while feeling somewhat helpless. Compared to their first two exchanges, this third one was bound to feel a bit discordant.

Under Qin Lu's gaze, Chu Liunian remained silent for a long time. Her bright, watery eyes were fixed on the slip of paper in her hand, her expression suddenly turning somewhat subtle, and her slender eyebrows furrowed tightly.

She seemed to be brewing with anger, her fingers exerting so much force that her knuckles protruded, and faint blue veins appeared on the back of her fair hand.

Accompanied by a rustling sound, she crumpled the entire piece of paper into a ball. Raising her head, she cast a gaze full of anger at Qin Lu, and then abruptly threw the paper ball directly at his chest.

Qin Lu was somewhat surprised. He knew that the third line he had written for Chu Liunian clearly didn't match the one she had given him, so it was normal for her to feel a little resentful.

Yet he hadn't expected Chu Liunian's reaction to be this intense. Her visibly angry demeanor truly caught him off guard.

Instinctively catching the paper ball that bounced off his chest, he was just about to say something when Chu Liunian turned around and ran off without looking back.

"What's going on here?"

"Wait, why did the little sister run off all of a sudden?"

"She looks like she's really mad. Could it be that the guy's line didn't match hers at all?"

"Even so, there's no need to just turn around and leave. Did the guy write something super inappropriate or offensive, which is why she got mad?"

"What kind of offensive line has that much power? Could it be, *'Actually, the person I like is your sister'*?"

"That's not entirely impossible... By the way, which anime is that line from? No offense, just purely curious..."

"..."

The surrounding crowd looked on in utter bewilderment, exchanging glances and whispering among themselves, having no clue what had just happened.

The only one who knew the reason was Yu Jin, but he said nothing, merely casting a teasing look at Qin Lu.

Qin Lu was just about to give chase to Chu Liunian when he suddenly noticed Yu Jin's subtle glance and turned to ask him, "Do you know why she's mad?"

Yu Jin let out a mischievous chuckle and said, "Duh! You took a line that Yu-kun said to another female character and made the little sister say it instead—of course she's gonna be mad!"

That phrasing was a bit convoluted, and it took Qin Lu two seconds to figure out what it meant.

He froze instantly, astonished, "That line wasn't part of the dialogue between Yu-kun and his sister? Wasn't that something you said earlier?"

Yu Jin laughed merrily, "Nope, that was what Nagisa Ichiyo said to Yu-kun. Besides, when I said that line earlier, I never specified whether it belonged to Yu-kun or his sister."

With that, he gave Qin Lu a sly, mocking wink.

Qin Lu couldn't remember who Nagisa Ichiyo was, but he knew for a fact that his line had thoroughly stepped on Chu Liunian's emotional landmine.

Chu Liunian had a rather peculiar personality to begin with. The moment she put on a cosplay outfit, she would immerse herself entirely in the corresponding character.

Though she maintained a clear awareness of who she truly was, she would wholeheartedly strive to portray the person matching her costume.

Just like today—because she had dressed up as the younger sister, she was playing the role of the sister, and her personality had accordingly become shy, proud, introverted, and socially anxious.

In that state, she had practically begun to view herself as the sister, and now Qin Lu had written a line meant for another woman to say to Yu-kun, forcing the sister to speak it. Naturally, she would be furious.

*Damn, it's one thing for her to play the sister, but she wouldn't actually think of me as Yu-kun, would she...*

Qin Lu couldn't help clicking his tongue. Recalling Chu Liunian's recent behavior, and how she had instinctively hidden behind him out of fear and anxiety, it really did seem like she viewed him as her emotional pillar.

Yet, as a person with a normal, sane mind, it was genuinely difficult for Qin Lu to immerse himself in Chu Liunian's psychological world, which always left a sense of disconnect in their interactions.

Now, seeing Chu Liunian so angry that she turned tail and ran, he finally realized just how dead serious this young girl was about "role-playing."

It was a degree of seriousness bordering on the pathological—the kind that made anyone looking at it call it abnormal.

Thoughts racing through his mind, Qin Lu hesitated no longer. He stepped off the stage and sprinted in the direction Chu Liunian had fled.

Seeing him leave, the onlookers instinctively followed him with their gazes, only to turn back a few seconds later to look at Yu Jin.

"Why is that girl mad?"

"What on earth was the third line the guy wrote for her?"

"Old Yu, what did you tell that guy just now? Did the third line he wrote make her angry?"

"..."

Faced with the onlookers' inquiries, Yu Jin didn't beat around the bush and stated plainly, "Yep, he stepped on a landmine. One that I planted."

A guy blinked, baffled, and asked him, "Why?"

"Because... I've had a crush on Chu Liunian since my freshman year! Even though she rejected me right after I confessed, I still love her!"

Yu Jin suddenly raised his volume, his expression turning emotional. Then, holding the microphone, he yelled tearfully toward the direction where Qin Lu and Chu Liunian had vanished, "You lucky bastard! You better make Chu Liunian happy! Wuwuwu..."