Chapter 917 Evening Stroll
"What's impossible?" Lin Wuming asked, hearing the girl beside him mumble.
"Eh? I was just talking to myself." Shirai Kuroko came back to her senses, realizing that she had been so focused on thinking about those things that her steps had unconsciously halted.
Lin Wuming waited patiently beside her.
— — Oh no, that was rude!
Shirai Kuroko quickly said, "Right, we need to hurry back to the Hospital."
As mentioned earlier, Lin Wuming was a patient, and he couldn't leave the Hospital for extended periods during his treatment.
"Don't panic, my injury isn't much," Lin Wuming said, looking around. The streets, shrouded in night, were empty and silent.
Seventh District primarily consisted of elementary and middle schools, and dormitory access control was already strict, so far fewer people were out and about after dark compared to districts with universities.
Moreover, this area was near the "No Window Building," so even if people came out to play, they wouldn't come to a place like this.
However, Lin Wuming quite liked the current quiet, deserted environment.
"It's rare to have such a peaceful time," Lin Wuming said. "Just right, let's slow down for once. How about we stroll back?"
"Eh?" Shirai Kuroko looked up in surprise, meeting Lin Wuming's downward gaze.
"Cough!" For a moment, she was flustered, and the girl quickly averted her gaze. "But Wuming-senpai, your injury..."
"Don't worry, my injury really isn't serious; I just need a few days of rest," Lin Wuming said nonchalantly. "In fact, as long as I don't encounter an over-spec enemy like Front again, even if we were to start fighting right now, it wouldn't worsen my injuries."
"Is... is that so?" Shirai Kuroko nodded in agreement, but she wasn't entirely convinced by Lin Wuming's explanation.
After all, boys are very good at acting tough; even if their injuries were truly severe, they wouldn't easily show it.
"But a stroll..." Shirai Kuroko was somewhat tempted. A stroll wouldn't put too much strain on his body, would it?
— — And, this seemed to be Our first time truly alone with Wuming-senpai.
Thinking this, Shirai Kuroko responded with action.
Matching Lin Wuming's pace, Shirai Kuroko followed him step by step, strolling through the streets...
Of course, from beginning to end, her hands, holding Lin Wuming's left arm, never let go—after all, she needed to support the injured person and be ready to activate "Space Movement" at any time.
For the rest of the time, neither Shirai Kuroko nor Lin Wuming spoke. They walked in silence, arm in arm, looking very intimate.
Lin Wuming found this experience novel. Due to their height difference, when he looked beside him, he could only see the girl's hair whorl on top of her head and her twin tails swaying rhythmically with her steps.
— — The girl accompanying him right now was actually that Shirai Kuroko?
Even now, Lin Wuming still couldn't imagine what Shirai Kuroko, who liked boys, would be like.
— — Which part went wrong... No, not wrong, but rather, where did the deviation occur that led Kuroko to take a different path from the original plot?
Lin Wuming was undecided whether to take the opportunity to ask Shirai Kuroko.
Shirai Kuroko kept her head down, her gaze fixed straight on the road ahead. It wasn't a hallucination; she could feel Lin Wuming's gaze constantly on her.
She didn't dislike it, but it also made her feel troubled.
— — I'm not confident enough to meet Wuming-senpai's gaze right now. If he keeps staring at me like this, I won't be able to look up and clearly see his face and expression.
How Wuming-senpai saw her—Shirai Kuroko was very concerned about this.
Because she was a "newcomer," her time spent with Lin Wuming was the shortest, and her understanding of him was far less than the other three older students, so she inevitably felt uneasy.
In fact, Shirai Kuroko's initial feelings for Lin Wuming were merely admiration and worship, which then gradually evolved and sublimated into love during their interactions and her trust in him.
If Shokuhou Misaki hadn't exposed her, Shirai Kuroko hadn't intended to reveal her true feelings.
It would have been fine to just maintain this one-sided admiration and love; at least she could avoid being drawn into this chaotic battle!
It's just a pity that there are no "ifs" in the real world. Since it had already become a foregone conclusion, she could only face it actively!
— — I also have my own persistence and stance; since I'm participating, I don't intend to lose, even if the opponent is Onee-sama!
— — So, I will never let go!
Thinking this, Shirai Kuroko tightened her grip with both hands, hugging Lin Wuming's arm tightly, almost to the point of affecting their normal walking.
"Ah! Sorry!" Shirai Kuroko, snapping back to reality, quickly relaxed her grip a bit—she had almost hung her entire body on Lin Wuming's arm.
— — Indeed, I still need to grow taller.
Shirai Kuroko felt her heart race, inexplicably flustered, her brain almost unable to think normally, and finally, only a nonsensical thought of "wanting to grow taller" popped out.
From Lin Wuming's elevated perspective, he could clearly see the girl's earlobes rapidly turning red, and he couldn't help but laugh.
He hadn't expected this girl, Shirai Kuroko, to have such a pure side; one should know that in the original work, her aggressive advances towards Misaka Mikoto were even described as "perverted."
No wonder there's such a thing as "gap moe."
"By... by the way, are we just going to walk back to the Hospital like this?" Shirai Kuroko casually found a topic. "It feels very inefficient."
"It's precisely because both you and I are used to high efficiency in daily life that I suggested we walk back slowly," Lin Wuming said.
Lin Wuming's "Bullet Time" and Shirai Kuroko's "Space Movement" meant that both pursued ultimate efficiency in time and space dimensions, leading to a significant difference in their spacetime perception compared to ordinary people.
Lin Wuming also spoke from experience, which was why he spontaneously decided to slow down and, for once, be an ordinary person again.
After all... Lin Wuming vaguely sensed—it would probably become increasingly difficult to encounter such leisurely times in the future.
"Eh? So... so that's it!" After hearing Lin Wuming's explanation, Shirai Kuroko suddenly understood, followed by a strange feeling in her heart.
— — So, am I a "kindred spirit" with Wuming-senpai in this regard? Both living in a high-efficiency world...
Shirai Kuroko suddenly understood the feelings of Hu Feng Toumi and Kazakiri Hyouka—it seemed they also found a sense of recognition in Wuming-senpai.
— — It was through this method that their bonds were formed. No wonder Wuming-senpai always attracts some very troublesome girls in various aspects...
