Smoke

In the kitchen.

Lin Mu pulled out a pack of Seven Stars from under her skirt.

Neon pop, pineapple flavor. She pinched one out and held it between her fingers.

Her index and middle fingers trembled slightly.

Her delicate little hand shook faintly.

There was no way she could sleep now.

She fished out a lighter from another pocket in her skirt.

Click.

The flame ignited, and she took a deep drag.

The cigarette tip swirled with smoke,

drifting up toward the kitchen ceiling.

After calming down a bit,

she put away the high-end lighter and pulled out her phone again.

She stared at the message that had come through the "Cloud Music" notification center a few minutes ago.

"Lin-chan, you're doing great!"

Lin Mu pondered repeatedly—

Had her lack of sleep caused some kind of mental disorder?

Was this condition somehow connected to her long-standing fantasy of "becoming a teammate of the gods"?

"Should I go see a doctor?"

"Tomorrow, a top-tier hospital, psychiatric department."

Leaning against the wall, cigarette dangling from her lips, she reached out and turned on the expensive range hood.

Hummm—

Amid the faint whirring of the fan,

she sank into serious contemplation.

"No. Hospitals open in the morning, and I’d have to get up early. I can’t do that."

"Booking an appointment in the afternoon is pointless too. Even if I get a slot, I’d have to wait in line, and who knows how long that would take."

She blew out a smoke ring,

then tilted her head back, pressing it against the tiled wall.

She took another drag.

Quietly, she thought, "Unless I don’t sleep at all."

Sigh.

"Forget it, I’ll go see a doctor in a few days," she evaded.

...

Lin Mu knew she had a problem.

A bit of a psychological issue, at the very least.

She was fully aware of it.

After all, it wasn’t normal for someone to tirelessly post fresh videos to an account that never responded,

like updating a novel, punctual and unwavering, rain or shine.

Nor would anyone treat someone else’s account like a personal diary, writing over 200 essays, the sheer volume of words alone was terrifying to recall.

She just hadn’t expected her condition to progress so rapidly.

So rapidly that she was now seeing messages from "Yin Ci P."

Even the delivery time was crystal clear.

"Damn. I need to sleep earlier tomorrow," Lin Mu thought to herself.

"Staying up late is bad for my health, so I can’t sleep at 6 a.m. anymore. I need to be healthier."

"Let’s aim for 4 a.m.," she decided.

With that, she absentmindedly put her phone away, finished the remaining half of her cigarette,

rinsed her mouth, washed her hands, and poured herself a glass of Sunny 100 orange juice.

After drinking it,

Lin Mu climbed into bed, her thoughts lingering on Yin Ci P,

and quietly drifted off to sleep.

...

...

8 a.m.

Lu Qing sat up like a corpse reanimated.

"Hmm..."

He had spent the entire night listening to the songs Lin-chan had sent him.

Watched hundreds of the videos she had recorded.

Read every single one of her "little diaries" addressed to him.

Even though some of the content made him cringe...

He had read every word.

"This kid..."

Emm...

"She’s really not well," was Lu Qing’s first impression of Lin-chan after two years of silence.

A few of her messages, even after staying up all night to read them, still left him baffled.

For example—

Lin: ["Qing-san, are you there? Today, I talked to the Saintess, and she agreed to sleep with me in bed for one night.

You once told me that this would help deepen the spiritual connection between a person and their instrument. I think you’re right.

If I hold her while I sleep, my guitar skills should improve, right?"]

"That makes some sense, but..."

Lin: ["I bought the same Martin acoustic guitar as yours, 'Little Martin.' Today, I realized just how delicate a guitar is compared to a bass. It’s so hard to handle! I can’t imagine how anyone could master it to a godlike level...

So, Qing-san, you must have been an incredibly sensitive and emotional person back then, right?"]

"...You’re really loaded."

Lin: ["In the days without you, I’ve completely let go. I’ve gotten used to practicing alone, solving all the musical challenges by myself. I’ve even tried learning composition and bought all the 'sound libraries' you mentioned in your posts. Wow, they’re so expensive! Why does a string ensemble cost thousands? It’s not like they’re real violins..."]

"......You really didn’t have to."

Lin: ["Qing-san, I’ve practiced all the songs you love. I know you’re still here, you haven’t disappeared from this world.

Because you still 'add new favorite songs to your playlist.' You’re still using Cloud Music, right?"]

"......Ugh."

Lin: ["Even if you’ve changed your name, even if you never read DMs, even if you turned to ashes, I could still find traces of you. Qing-san, I don’t want to cause you any trouble. Just think of this as a lonely little girl talking to herself in the middle of the night."]

"...Oh man..."

Lin: ["Today, I practiced the song 'Weakness of Heaven,' which you once failed to master. On bass, it’s not too hard, but when I picked up the electric guitar, I couldn’t even play the intro perfectly. Qing-san, were you already tackling songs like this in high school?"]

"...No, I wasn’t."

Lin: ["I’m not happy. Yesterday, I went to hang out with my sister, and outside her shop, I ran into someone really annoying. I know it’s not nice to say, but this person looked kind of decent, and their build was similar to yours. I immediately imagined it was you... Sigh, I guess I was just overthinking it."]

"?"

When Lu Qing read this,

he couldn’t help but feel curious.

His first thought was, what kind of shop does Lin-chan’s sister run?

A milk tea shop?

A coffee shop?

He hadn’t been to any other shops recently, and judging by the timing of Lin-chan’s message, it was just a few days ago.

"I went to do homework with Bai Xing and got messed with by a brat."

Lu Qing remembered it vividly.

"Lin-chan said she saw someone with a similar build to mine, but there are plenty of people like that. It probably wasn’t me. After all, she’s never seen what I look like. All my videos are faceless."

He pondered, deep in thought.

He was certain that Lin-chan’s videos were also faceless.

Lin-chan was imitating him, so her videos were edited simply, without much embellishment, focusing only on the audio.

Since she was well-off, she used a DSLR camera to record, which made the visuals much clearer than his phone recordings.

But something still felt off.

"Hmm... There’s definitely something wrong here."

"Normally, I wouldn’t feel this uneasy."

Lu Qing frowned.

He reopened one of her videos,

listening to the music she played,

while scrutinizing the details.

From the way Lin-chan swayed while playing, there didn’t seem to be anything unusual.

Lin-chan was probably on the shorter side, and though her face wasn’t shown, she likely had a "cool-cute" vibe.

What’s "cool-cute"?

It’s a mix of aloofness and cuteness.

The kind of girl who’s both cool and adorable.

Such girls often have a bit of a tsundere personality.

Lu Qing’s analysis was thorough.

Lin-chan’s fashion sense had completely mirrored his own.

When practicing, she wore "practice uniforms," or "battle robes,"

which were various kinds of haori.

Her equipment,

too, felt familiar.

Especially when she used the white Fender bass or the Martin guitar, the same model as his, for practice. She even had a PRS electric guitar, which he had recommended,

and she had actually bought and used it.

"Huh?"

"Wait, what?"

"No way..."

Suddenly,

Lu Qing narrowed his eyes, bringing the phone screen closer to his face.

His gaze skipped over Lin-chan’s swaying figure, focusing instead on the background behind her—

A stage.

A light blue PRS electric guitar.

A DSLR camera angle.

A familiar A-shaped guitar stand.

A familiar Mosse electric piano.

A familiar Fender cream-colored bass.

Familiar lighting, speakers, monitors, and mixing consoles.

And on the curtain behind her, in bold, oversized font,

【Twilight Café】.

"No way."

...

...