"Want to try again?" The sun shone in the middle of the suspension bridge, but Dubian Che still made the suggestion.
Kiyono Lin had put in a lot of effort for filming, and he had no reason not to endure hardship himself. Moreover, once you start something, you naturally want to do it to the best of your ability—that was his own belief.
"Can I hear your opinions?" Kiyono Lin turned to the four girls who accompanied him.
Dubian Che really admired her; if it was him, he would feel too embarrassed to strike up a conversation with someone after saying, "My relationship with you is not as good as with someone else."
The girls huddled together to watch the original footage.
"It’s really good!" Ichiki Aoi gave a thumbs up affirmatively, though it was unclear whether she was talking about the photography skills or Dubian Che.
"I, I also think it’s good," Hanaoka Chaozi said shyly.
"...Hmm," Mayi Asuka nodded slightly.
Only Yuzao Haomei pursed her lips, which she had just coated with lip balm, and remained silent.
"It seems there’s no problem then," Kiyono Lin confirmed once again.
"That’s good," Dubian Che extended his hand toward her.
"Do you want to see it?" Kiyono Lin passed the DSLR to him.
"..." Kiyono Lin took the woven bag off her shoulder, "Next time you ask me for something, please be more specific, Mr. Dubian."
Dubian Che, looking at her cold gaze and gradually reddening cheeks, nodded subconsciously.
This guy is just too cute!
Dubian Che had to admit that he managed to persist in believing that "not lying is not a stupid thing to do" mainly because Kiyono Lin was pretty enough.
After wasting the time it would take Ultraman to defeat five monsters on the bridge—theoretically fifteen minutes—they continued their journey up the mountain.
Following the winding mountain path, it was near five o’clock by the time they reached the summit.
Once at the summit, the girls immediately sat down on the chairs, motionless, and it took a good while before they started sipping water in small mouthfuls.
Dubian Che stood on the observation deck, gazing into the distance, and in an instant, the feeling of looking far and high surged within him.
The weather was very clear, without a cloud in sight, allowing vision to reach its zenith.
Green mountains stretched on, one after another, with cities occasionally spotted in the valleys, and what should be the Tokyo metropolitan area in the distance. At the furthest point, one could even see the snow-capped Mount Fuji.
It’s said that Mount Fuji is only open from July to September each year. Perhaps right now, there’s a climber on its slopes, looking this way through a telescope.
Dubian Che waved toward the telescope, feeling his trip wasn’t in vain.
After scanning the surroundings, he walked back to where the girls were.
"Sorry for dragging you up the mountain in such hot weather," Kiyono Lin apologized to the four of them.
"No worries," Yuzao Haomei weakly waved her hand.
"Yeah, it’s nice to have a trip once in a while, right, senior?" Ichiki Aoi tried to start a conversation with Mayi Asuka even while comforting others.
Unfortunately, the one who answered her was Hanaoka Chaozi: "Right! Sometimes I just don’t want to go to school so I buy a ’Youth 18’ train ticket and travel the country!"
"Ah, I get that, I don’t want to go to school either."
"...Yuzao, I think our reasons might be a bit different."
Dubian Che plopped down on the chair next to them, looking up at the sky through the eaves of the Medicine King Temple.
Blue sky, white clouds, a black eaves, and green maple leaves—the scene was very simple but so clean it was attractive.
"Do you want a drink?"
Dubian Che turned his head, the one who spoke to him was Mayi Asuka.
His gaze fell on her hands; those slender, fair little hands holding a bottle with the cap already twisted open.
The uneven, serrated surface where the cap was, and the transparent liquid in the sunlight, glistening.
While Dubian Che was wondering what the liquid was made of, Mayi Asuka directly handed him the bottle.
"It’s all right, you must be thirsty."
Behind Mayi Asuka were Hanaoka Chaozi’s reddening cheeks, Ichiki Aoi’s gaping mouth, Yuzao Haomei’s look of surprise, and Kiyono Lin’s slightly furrowed brow, whether out of confusion or displeasure was unclear.
"No, I’m not thirsty," responded Dubian Che, who had finished his water on the way.
"..." Mayi Asuka looked at him unmovingly and said nothing.
An atmosphere of ’if you don’t drink, I won’t put it away’ spread around them.
"Mayi senior, even if you’re oblivious to your surroundings, you should be mindful of the opposite sex!" Ichiki Aoi leaned over Hanaoka Chaozi, who was between them, and grabbed Mayi Asuka’s hand.
Mayi Asuka first glanced at Ichiki Aoi with a light look, then slowly showed a puzzled expression: "...Only Mr. Dubian has no water to drink."
"Senior, you’re too naive! You even leaned on him directly last time!"
Nearby, women were all Oscars—that’s what Dubian Che thought at the time.
With the person himself refusing, coupled with the unanimous opposition of the girls and the "popular science," the "naive" Mayi senior gave up the idea of giving her water to Dubian Che to drink.
After a good rest, the girls entered the customary photo session: touching the octopus for good luck, posing like models under the temple stairs, cupping Mount Fuji in their palms, and so on.
As they touched the octopus one by one, Dubian Che placed his hand on the six pure stone spheres, praying sincerely.
Isn’t it that no man can achieve the six purities? Especially at the age of sixteen, no, wrong, even at sixty, achieving the six purities is impossible.
"You certainly need the six purities," Kiyono Lin commented from the side as she snapped a picture of the scene.
"If being lucky is really possible, I don’t think it’d matter if you can’t achieve the six purities," Dubian Che thought about the system that was due for refreshment in a few days.