"Shining Onee-san, Pine-Dr. Lin Yie," Nightingale asks, "What are you doing here?"
Lin Yie turns around and sees Nightingale behind him.
"Liz," Shining says, "Lin Yie came to see you."
"Ah, um," Lin Yie coughs lightly, "I'm thinking about having lunch with you."
"Lunch? In the cafeteria?"
"Um."
Nightingale looks at the clock, "But we still have one more hour before lunch break. Pineapple-Dr. Lin, don't you need to work?"
"Uh..."
Can't you see I don't want to?
"I already finished my tasks for today," Lin Yie lies with a straight face (Wait... does he even have any tasks, to begin with?), "but more importantly, I wanted to check in with you to see how you are doing. Ansel has been telling me how you keep slacking off at work."
"Really? I don't remember saying that."
Lin Yie turns his head slowly.
Ansel in a lab coat walks past Lin Yie with a stack of documents in his hands. He rolls his eyes, "Someone who can't even stay awake at work shouldn't come here to lecture others."
Shining and Nightingale chuckle.
Ansel disappears into a lab without waiting for Lin Yie's rebuttal.
"Liz," Shining asks, "are you done with your work?"
Nightingale nods, "I already finished mixing the ingredients. Now I just need Ansel to approve it."
Shining pats Nightingale's head, "Then, you can go."
"But it's not the time for lunch yet."
"It's fine. You can leave early as long as you have completed your tasks," Shining says, "not to mention, this is not your first time leaving at this hour to have lunch with Lin Yie."
Nightingale blushes. She steals a few glances at Lin Yie, who seems oblivious to what Shining said.
"You can go now, Lin Yie." Shining pats his shoulder, "Take care of Liz, will you?"
Just like that, Lin Yie managed to bring Nightingale to the cafeteria one hour earlier than the allotted lunch break.
Lin Yie and Nightingale chat as they walk. In the beginning, it's just Lin Yie asking the questions and Nightingale answering them mechanically, but as time goes on, Nightingale feels comfortable enough to speak.
Rhodes Island's Psychologist
"Making drugs is so hard." Nightingale looks up at the clear, blue sky. A few birds fly past the clouds. "The other people know much. I'm the only one who doesn't know anything."
"That's because you're dumb."
"What did you say?"
"I said you didn't study enough." Lin Yie changes his words, "After all, the others had much more time to study. Take Ansel for example. He reads every night. Only with this much effort will you catch up with them."
"That sounds so weird."
"What?"
"That reasoning sounds weird."
"Tsk."
"It is weird," Nightingale suddenly says, "Pineapple Bun."
"Um?" Lin Yie pauses, "Why did you call me 'Pineapple Bun' again?"
"That's because no one else is here." Nightingale says, "I want to change it, but I can't. Whenever I see you, you remind me of pineapple buns. Maybe you really look like a pineapple bun."
"That's bull. Why would I look like a yellow bun?"
"Only the bun you made looks like that."
For some reason, a normal conversation turned into bickering. Lin Yie can't help but feel Nightingale's fighting spirit has been restored. He didn't even gain the upper hand!
Anyway, they have had a lot of fun bickering with each other till they arrive at the cafeteria.
However, the Chef tells them that the card reader is broken.
"You can't use your card today." The Chef says, "You need meal vouchers. Did you see the announcement?"
Crap.
If he knew, he would have gotten one before coming here.
When Lin Yie is about to go back and get a voucher from Orchid, Nightingale takes a few blue vouchers out of her pocket and waves them in front Lin Yie with a prideful look, "I got them right here."
"Are they enough for both of us?"
The Chef glances at the vouchers and nods, "Those are enough for three."
Lin Yie gives Nightingale a thumbs up, "You really are a sugar mama."
Nightingale pauses.
"Um?" Lin Yie raises an eyebrow, "What's wrong?"
She shakes her head and gives the vouchers to the Chef, even though all she can think about is the phrase "sugar mama."
Is she a sugar mama?
Nightingale steals a glance at Lin Yie.
{Rhodes Island's Psychologist}
After lunch, Nightingale returned to her post and Lin Yie went back to his office to take a nap.
However, by the time he wakes up, it's almost 5 o'clock.
Well, it's almost time to go.
Lin Yie closes his eyes again.
{Rhodes Island's Psychologist}
When it's time to clock off, Lin Yie yawns as he gets up from his chair.
He looks around and sees the same empty office.
Ptilopsis didn't come to work again.
I'm such a diligent boss, but why is my subordinate like this?
Lin Yie gets up and goes to the training room.
{Rhodes Island's Psychologist}
Half an hour later.
Yato stares at him in surprise, "You're so early today."
"Uh," Lin Yie says, "that's because I finished my work in advance, so I came here early."
"Really? You're really diligent." Yato praises him, "You have to work in the day, but you still come to train at night. Even in Rhodes Island, there aren't that many who work as hard as you."
Lin Yie scratches his head in embarrassment.
"Then, let's begin." Yato unsheathes her sword, "We will practice-."
Remember Shining's words, Lin Yie cuts her off, "Can we have a mock combat tonight?"
"Huh?" Yato raises an eyebrow, "Why?"
Lin Yie actually doesn't know if he should do mock combat. After all, he hasn't learned how to activate wave leaping strike. He only managed to use it once because of the immense pressure from Skadi. As for the way to activate it consciously, Skadi hasn't taught him yet.
Yato shrugs, "Anyway, that's fine with me."
"The last time we fought was the day Liz came to watch you train, right?" She smiles, "But Liz is not here tonight. I must say, I admire your courage, but I won't hold back this time. Therefore, from now on, I'll be treating you as a real swordsman."
Lin Yie gulps.
Even though Yato is not huge in stature or size, she's strong enough to kick his ass whenever she wants.
"I know." Lin Yie takes a deep breath and unsheathes his sword.
Yato nods, "Then, let's begin."
{Rhodes Island's Psychologist}
17 seconds later.
Lin Yie stares at the tip of Yato's sword as it presses against his neck.
What happened? Why couldn't I use wave leaping strike?
"You lost." Yato sheathes her sword, "Nine hits. You managed to block nine hits from me. That's pretty good. Now, we will resume training then."
Lin Yie doesn't move from his spot. He's still thinking about what happened.
Why did Skadi only take one strike to make him use wave leaping strike? And why did Yato's nine strikes fail to do so?
Is it really because of pressure?
To be honest, the nine strikes from Yato didn't even make Lin Yie feel as nervous as Skadi's one strike did.
Perhaps, wave leaping strike is a passive that only activates in the last stand.
Lin Yie gets up from the floor, "Can we fight again? This time, please don't hold back."
Yato frowns, "Are you sure?"
Lin Yie nods, "I could tell you held back on me, but this time, please treat me as an enemy and fight with all you have."
"That was just a mock combat." Yato says, "If I went all out, I would have hurt you."
"It's fine." Lin Yie says, "My roommate is a medic. As long as I'm not dead, he can heal me."
Yato is speechless, but she respects his decision.
"Alright." She unsheathes her sword again, "Even though I'm not sure what you're thinking about, I will try not to hurt you."
"No, I want to be hurt."
Lin Yie retrieves his sword. Then, he breathes out slowly and takes two steps back.
Even when Yato held back, he only managed to block nine hits. If she didn't, that number would drop drastically.
Lin Yie grips his sword tightly, trying to remember how he felt that night.
Yato dashes toward him, much more quickly than before.
Lin Yie is shocked, but he doesn't back down. Instead, he rushes forward.
But the moment their blades clash, Lin Yie realizes that he overestimated himself. He thought he could take five hits, but with this much force, he won't make it to five.
Still, he doesn't give up.
When the blades clash for the second time, Lin Yie clenches his teeth as his hands ache from the shock. If he were to survive the attacks from an Oni, he would have to put everything on the line.
But he's nearing his limit, as the pulsating pain and numbness in his arms remind him that he won't be able to block the third strike.
Time slows down as Lin Yie breathes out slowly.
Here comes the third.
Lin Yie doesn't give up. He slashes with all he has in him.
At this moment, he finally hears the "waves."
"You're crazy," Yato mutters.
She has a very clear idea of Lin Yie's condition right now. No matter what, he won't be able to defend himself from this strike. so she decides to hold back a little.
Of course, Lin Yie doesn't know what's going on in her mind.
All he hears are the "waves," not the ripples in a pond, but tsunamis that would sink boats and ships.
Just like the other night, he's standing firm in the face of danger and absolute destruction. With everything on the line, he swings his sword against fate.
Two black swords clash against each other for the third time.
But this time, there's no struggle for dominance.
One of the swords is knocked out of its owner's hands before landing on the grass ten meters away. The other sword, however, is right in front of its enemy's neck.
Yato freezes.
She has no idea what happened. She looks down and watches her blood drip down from her scraped hands.
*Plop*
*Plop*
*Plop*
Lin Yie is also shocked.
This... is incredible.
He won?!
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Draft by Demosama