Chapter 364: Date, Monologue, Fireworks (Two-in-one monthly ticket request)

On August 18, at 19:30, this was the time with the least number of visitors to the Lijing Oceanarium throughout the day.

Xia Ping Zhou and Ayase Origami walked side by side in a dark underwater tunnel. The dark blue main color light was shining overhead, covering their expressionless faces.

The silence was so quiet and the tunnels were deserted that it felt like being in the real deep sea. At this hour, everyone was looking for food, so who would be wandering around the aquarium?

Tomorrow, they will take a plane to Haifan City, and after that it will be a busy time of preparation for battle.

The relationship between Hu Lie and the Nian Beast Lord is becoming increasingly intense, and a war may break out at any time. Both Haifan Mountain and Haifan City will be in turmoil, and there will be no leisure time to travel around.

So before they set off, Ayase Origami suggested going to the aquarium in Lijing, saying that she had been to the amusement park, but she had never been to an aquarium since she was a child.

Xia Pingzhou was looking down at his phone at the time. He wanted to refuse, but without even looking up, he said, "Forget it."

After all, it is summer vacation, and all the places available for tourism in Lijing are basically crowded with people. It is so congested that it is difficult to even take a breath.

But when he saw that Ayase Origami had changed into a sea-blue kimono and was silently looking at him with her dark eyes, he understood what she meant.

Xia Pingzhou had no choice but to use his mobile phone to check the nearest aquarium and asked the hacker to book two tickets.

So the two of them set off in the afternoon and first went to the cinema to watch "Swallowtail Butterfly" directed by Shunji Iwai, which was a re-screening after more than 20 years.

Xia Pingzhu was so sleepy that he leaned his head on Ayase Origami's shoulder.

The girl in kimono stared at the screen motionlessly. This was her first time to watch a movie in a cinema. It was pitch black all around, with only the light from the movie screen illuminating her dark eyes.

She looked at it intently for a long time.

When the song "Sunday Park" sounded in the movie, boys and girls abandoned by the world were running in the garbage dump in the brightly colored picture.

Xia Ping Zhou woke up, and this time it was Ayase Origami who fell asleep. In the end, the two of them simply leaned their heads against each other. The little boy next to them looked at them speechlessly, his eyes seemed to say: "Are you here to poop?"

After the movie ended, both of them were sleeping soundly. The girl in kimono opened her eyes, turned her head slightly, and looked down at Xia Pingzhou who was sleeping on her shoulder.

At this moment, a paper swallowtail butterfly flew out from her sleeve, fluttered gently on his cheek, and flapped its wings over his ears.

After a while, Xia Pingzhou's eyelids trembled slightly, and he finally woke up. He raised his head and met the gaze of the girl in kimono.

The two were so close to each other that they stared at each other in silence for a long time, until Xia Pingzhou yawned and looked away.

"Is the movie over?" Xia Pingzhou asked at the time.

"Don't be serious, kitten," said the girl in the kimono.

Xia Pingzhou rubbed his forehead and wanted to say, "Aren't you sleeping too?" but in the end he sighed and was too lazy to argue with her. He said that he had already seen the movie and that the male protagonist died at the end of the movie. It was a sad story and it was better not to watch it.

Ayase Origami was silent for a moment, then nodded, "See something Kitty hasn't seen before."

"Why?"

She didn't explain, but just took Xia Pingzhou's hand and walked out of the screening room on her own.

They walked aimlessly in the dim screening aisle. They did not buy new movie tickets. They just found a theater that was showing a movie and walked in, sitting down in an inconspicuous corner.

Xia Pingzhou was too lazy to buy a new ticket. Anyway, the tickets for their previous movie were booked by the electronic pet, and there was no way this electronic pet would actually pay for it.

This time they watched "Robot Dreams", a movie that tells the story of a lonely owner who bought a robot from a shopping mall one day. They lived together for a long time, but were finally forced to separate and go their separate ways.

In the middle of the movie, the little robot fell on the beach and closed its eyes. It had lost its arms and legs, and no one found it.

Seeing the little robot dreaming many dreams and imagining that its master came to find him, Xia Pingzhou's eyes suddenly turned slightly red, but his face remained expressionless.

In fact, he had watched this movie many times when he was alone and bored in the prison cell.

At this moment, Ayase Origami was slightly stunned.

She slowly turned her head, and her empty yet gorgeous eyes stared motionlessly at Xia Pingzhou's profile.

This was the first time she saw a boy crying in front of her. She couldn't help but stay where she was. She looked at him silently for a long time without taking her eyes off his face.

"Are you here to watch a movie or to see me?" Xia Pingzhou asked expressionlessly.

Ayase Origami was silent for a moment, then looked away, "Look at the cat."

“You can watch it at home.”

“It’s different outside.”

After that, the two left the cinema. Many people looked at them sideways along the way, and some even raised their mobile phones to take pictures. Everyone thought that the girl was playing Cosplay, otherwise who would go shopping in a kimono in broad daylight.

However, in fact, whether it is Xia Ping Zhou or Ayase Origami, their appearance itself is already outstanding and eye-catching enough, especially the latter, who is clear, indifferent, and pure white.

But her eyes were a little empty. From a distance, she looked like a flawless doll. In the summer sunshine, her white face had a hint of warm peach color.

Xia Pingzhou accompanied her to stroll around the snack street in Lijing. The streets were crowded during the summer vacation. The sun was shining brightly and the cicadas in the trees were chirping desperately.

On the way, he asked her if the movie was good. Ayase Origami just shook her head gently and wrote on the paper, saying that your breathing was very loud and it prevented me from concentrating on the movie.

"So, you fell asleep too?" Xia Pingzhou handed her a string of candied haws and ate the box of donuts himself.

"Yes, that's why I fell asleep." Ayase Origami took the candied haws and said lightly, "It's all the kitten's fault."

After strolling through the food street, there was still some time before the night show at the Lijing Oceanarium that they had booked opened, so they squeezed into the newly rebuilt Lijing Starlight Amusement Park, bought tickets from the staff, and rode the Ferris wheel again.

It is worth mentioning that this Ferris wheel was tragically destroyed half a month ago due to the battle between the alien Ghost Bell and an unknown member of the Rainbow Wing. Almost the entire Ferris wheel collapsed and was buried deep in the ground.

However, the Alien Association paid a huge sum of money and sent an alien who was good at repairing buildings to participate in the repair work of the amusement facilities.

So, just over ten days after it was destroyed by the evil ghost bell, the Ferris wheel had been rebuilt with an efficiency so astonishing that some reporters suspected that the enthusiastic alien who participated in the restoration work was a "silver swallower".

So when Tunyin was carrying out his mission, the reporter took the opportunity to ask him about it, but Tunyin flatly denied it. He said coldly: "How can I have the time to care about such trivial matters?"

Afterwards, when a child asked Tunyin for his autograph and asked if he had built the amusement park, Tunyin admitted it, patted her head, and said, "Protecting children's happiness and dreams is also my job."

After the Ferris wheel was completed, the director of the amusement park took advantage of the situation and named it "Ghost Bell's Tomb". He claimed on Weibo that this was the place where the big man of Hongyi had a decisive battle with Ghost Bell, and that the legendary criminal Ghost Bell fell here!

The next day, this information went viral on the Internet.

Suddenly, the Ferris wheel became a must-see attraction for local tourists, with a constant flow of visitors. The park's performance soared, and the director's brilliant marketing strategy completely revitalized the park, which had been on the verge of collapse.

At this moment, it was already dark, and in the evening, one of the cars of the Starlight Ferris Wheel was swaying up into the sky, shining brightly in the afterglow of the setting sun.

"Do you like Ferris wheels so much?" Xia Pingzhou put his phone into his pocket, looked at the girl in kimono sitting opposite him, and followed her gaze to look out the window.

The setting sun slowly drooped below the horizon, taking away the light that was scattered on the city. The whole city was dim, and then the lights came on, reflecting a starry sea-like scene in the pupils of the young boys and girls.

Ayase Origami only then turned around, lowered her eyes and thought for a moment, "I don't really like it."

"Then why do we have to sit here again?" Xia Pingzhou tilted his head.

"Because I like riding the Ferris wheel with kittens." Ayase Origami said softly.

Xia Pingzhou was stunned. "Okay, I can ride the Ferris wheel with you every day from now on. But you'll get tired of the Ferris wheel scenery in the same place too many times. We can go to other cities more often, just like we did in London last time."

Ayase Origami nodded quietly.

After that, they got off the Ferris wheel, had an early dinner at the mall, and then hurried to the aquarium during lunch break. At this time, the night show at the Lijing Aquarium had just begun, and they were the first guests.

The two of them played aimlessly outside for a whole day just to be able to arrive at the aquarium at the best time.

If you don't come at night, it will be difficult to experience the atmosphere that the aquarium should have.

The novelty of the experience was completely wiped out by the noisy voices and the sweaty smell of the crowded crowds. This was summer vacation. For those who like to be bustling, it is undoubtedly a good thing, but that was clearly not the case for Xia Ping and Ayase Origami.

The two were born with aloof personalities and disliked interacting with others. When they walked together with blank expressions, chatting in a flat tone, those around them would probably sigh inwardly, "Has the Omnic Crisis arrived early?"

At this moment, the dark and gloomy tunnel was like the deep sea. Ghostly schools of fish swam through the tank, scattering faint fluorescent lights, illuminating the faces of the two people.

"There is a jellyfish theme exhibition area, a giant whale shark exhibition tank, and a dolphin theater in the back. Which one do you want to go first?" Xia Pingzhou looked down at the map handed out by the staff.

"Wherever you go, I will go." Ayase Origami said casually as she walked slowly forward.

"If it's true that you go wherever I go, then we should be staying home and sleeping right now, not in the aquarium." Xia Pingzhou looked at the map and muttered, "Sure enough, what women say can't be trusted at all?"

The kimono girl was silent for a moment, then said calmly, "Kitten, panting."

Xia Pingzhou stopped looking at the map of the aquarium, raised his head, and turned to look towards the right side of the tunnel.

At this time, the skylight on the top of the underwater tunnel suddenly opened, and the moonlight poured down, penetrating the water surface, forming a shimmering light spot. The figure of the girl in a sea-blue kimono overlapped with the beam of faint light from the bottom of the sea.

She lowered her eyes, looking dazed and bright, like a bouquet of flowers blooming yesterday.

Xia Pingzhou stared at her. They had been together for so long, and he could tell when Ayase Origami was daydreaming about something.

At this time, the girl in kimono in front of him seemed to be thinking about something. She quietly slowed down her pace. Xia Pingzhou looked away and waited quietly for her to speak.

After a moment's silence, Ayase Origami suddenly spoke, "You asked me... what I would think if I left the brigade."

Xia Pingzhou raised his eyebrows. He still remembered that Ayase Origami said that the White Crow Brigade gave her freedom, so she would not leave.

So he naturally understood that when he killed the Ripper, Ayase Origami would not go with him. Unexpectedly, many days later, she brought up the matter again.

Maybe there's still room for reconciliation? I can persuade her to leave me, he thought.

"What's wrong?" After a moment of silence, Xia Pingzhou asked.

"Takikage and the captain took me away, so I left the clan," the kimono girl said. "At that time, I didn't understand anything. I just thought that something different would happen."

Xia Pingzhou remained silent.

After a while, he suddenly reached into his coat pocket. It was empty. This was because he had handed both his and Ayase Origami's cell phones to the staff, who had stored them in a locker for him.

But the staff member's tone was strange. It was the first time he saw someone put away their phone while visiting an aquarium. Shouldn't a normal person keep it to take pictures inside the aquarium?

Xia Pingzhou told the staff that this would allow them to concentrate more on sightseeing, but in reality he just didn't want the hacker to eavesdrop on their conversation.

"I understand. So that's how it is." After a while, Xia Pingzhou suddenly said.

The girl in kimono slowed down her pace slightly, shifted her gaze from the white whale in the tank, and turned to look at him.

"What?" she asked.

"You've always been led by others and have no ideas of your own." Xia Pingzhou said expressionlessly, "Father asked you not to smile in front of him, so you didn't smile; the housekeeper asked you to leave the underworld family with him, so you left... So, if I ask you to leave with me, you will leave too, like a puppet at the mercy of others, right?"

Ayase Origami was stunned for a moment.

Xia Pingzhou was silent for a moment. "It's up to you what you think. It's not 'where you go, I go', but where you want to go and where you're willing to stay."

The girl in kimono lowered her head.

She thought quietly for a while, then slowly raised her eyes and looked at Xia Pingzhou's profile with her clear eyes.

"I did."

"say what?"

"I've already said that."

"when?"

"I've said it many times." Her lips moved, almost pausing after each word.

"But I don't understand."

"I want to stay with you," she whispered, "but I won't leave the Brigade."

"Why?"

"Because this is the place Takikage brought me." The kimono girl said, "He died, so I left the group. What's the difference between that and forgetting him?"

Xia Pingzhou whispered, "The housekeeper is a good man. He is indeed more like a father than your gangster dad. But have you ever thought that he let you join the brigade just because..."

"Why?"

"Because at that time, only the White Crow Brigade could take you away from your family. No one else could do that, so he had no choice but to rely on the White Crow Brigade."

Xia Pingzhou paused. "But staying in the brigade may not be the right thing for you. Perhaps before he died, the butler hoped that you could find a chance to leave the brigade and stop living this life of burning, killing, and looting. But he couldn't bring himself to say it."

"You said we were bad guys, right from the start," the kimono-clad girl whispered. "What's wrong with living like this?"

"Yes, we did kill a lot of innocent people. There's no way to save ourselves. But it doesn't have to be like this in the future," Xia Pingzhou asked. "Do you really like the life we ​​have now? We could die at any time, just like Lan Duoduo and the housekeeper. The only reason we're still alive is because we're lucky, but there's no such thing as luck in this world, let alone going to war with the Lake Hunters."

"I don't want you to die. If I lose you, I will have nothing."

"Then why don't you leave?"

“I don’t understand what kind of life I’m supposed to live,” she whispered. “No one has ever told me.”

"Maybe you could open a bookstore in a remote northern city. You love reading, and you could sit behind the counter and read every day. In winter, you could watch the snow. In the north, there are aurora borealis, and the night sky would be bright, with a cyan light stretching across the entire sky."

Xia Pingzhou spoke softly, never glancing at her from the corner of his eye.

The girl in kimono was silent, her eyes lowered, her dark pupils reflecting the moonlight shining into the seabed.

"Will you join me?" she asked after a long pause, looking up. "Let's read books together, watch the snow, and more..."

"Um."

"real?"

"Yes, it's true," Xia Pingzhou said. "I'll go with you." At this point, he lowered his voice and asked again tentatively, "This is the last time I ask you. If I leave the brigade... will you go with me?"

He knew in his heart that he had no time left and this was most likely his last chance. Otherwise, at the moment of rebellion, he and Ayase Origami would draw their swords against each other.

But his words seemed to be swallowed up by the silence in the underwater tunnel, and there was no response for a long time.

Xia Pingzhou was silent.

Ayase Origami also remained silent.

At this time, a school of fluorescent fish swam past their heads, like a flowing starry sky. The skylight of the underwater tunnel closed again, and the moonlight disappeared from the eyes of the two. At this moment, it was pitch dark around them.

The girl in kimono suddenly raised her head and stared at him motionlessly in the darkness, like a plain white kite.

There was no expression on Xia Pingzhou's face. He did not meet her gaze, but moved first.

After stopping for a moment, Ayase Origami followed and walked forward.

The aquarium was quiet.

Xia Pingzhou walked in front, and the girl in kimono followed silently behind him. She looked down at her sandals and slowly moved forward step by step. The two of them walked one in front and one behind, shuttling through the dark tunnel. At this moment, the swimming fish submerged their figures.

A moment later, Xia Pingzhou passed through the underwater tunnel and arrived at the jellyfish theme exhibition area of ​​the aquarium.

In the dark blue tank, jellyfish swim in the mottled light and shadow, like a water ballet, their tentacles swaying slowly, reflecting psychedelic light.

The lights in the nightclub flickered, and the jellyfish tank flickered, changing color with the lights.

Xia Pingzhou just stopped and watched for a while, and without waiting for Ayase Origami to catch up, he moved out of the exhibition area and walked quietly for a while. Ayase Origami also followed him quietly, and the distance between them became farther and farther.

Finally he came to the Dolphin Theater next door.

This is a semi-arc-shaped stage illuminated by moonlight. The first round of performances of the night show has begun soon. At the trainer's whistle, the dolphins leaped into the water, splashing water, and looked like a light elf under the moonlight.

Xia Ping Hiru and Ayase Origami stopped in front of the fence, some distance away.

They watched in silence for a long time. Ayase Origami put her hands on the railing and watched intently, the dolphins tumbling back and forth reflected in her dark eyes.

After the performance, Ayase Origami walked over slowly, took out a banknote from the sleeve of her kimono, and handed it to the dolphin trainer, wanting to pay to take a photo with the dolphin.

After paying the bill, when she turned her head and looked for Xia Pingzhou in the audience seats of the Dolphin Theater, he had already left and even his back could not be seen.

The trainer was delighted to see that she had received business. She patted the dolphin's head and greeted her enthusiastically, "Miss, would you like to take a photo by yourself?"

Ayase Origami slowly turned around and nodded to him quietly.

Amid the sound of rushing water, the dolphin jumped out of the water at this moment, splashing bright water. With a "click", the photo froze, but at this time the girl in kimono did not look towards the camera. She tilted her head, as if looking for someone.

The dolphin trainer came over and handed her the photo.

In the photo, Ayase Origami stood alone, with her head lowered and empty eyes.

After leaving the aquarium, Ayase Origami asked the staff for the locker key.

After she opened the locker, she looked up and found that Xia Pingzhou's cell phone was gone. Only a cat-shaped cell phone pendant was left in the locker.

The plastic kitten sat alone in the cupboard, its chain dangling into the shadows.

This was bought by Ayase Origami in a store in London half a month ago. Xia Pingzhu had fainted at that time, and she didn't know what to do. She spent a long time shopping in the store before finally buying this pendant.

Ayase Origami stared at the cat pendant in the cabinet for a long time. Then she picked up her phone, typed slowly, and sent him a message.

【KamiNeko: Where have you been? 】

At this moment, a "ding" sound suddenly came from the shadow of the cabinet. She turned her head and saw Xia Pingzhou's mobile phone lying there quietly. The screen lit up, and on it was the message she sent.

Only then did she realize that his cell phone had been hiding in the shadows the whole time, but she hadn't noticed it.

But Ayase Origami suddenly felt an unprecedented panic in her heart. She thought, if Xia Pingzhou just disappeared like that, how would she find him?

The girl in kimono lowered her eyes and leaned against the locker, thinking for a long time. It was already dark, and tourists took things out of the lockers one after another, passed in front of the fence, and walked out of the aquarium shoulder to shoulder.

The staff member turned his head and looked at her in confusion. After a moment, Ayase Origami picked up the other phone from the cabinet and the lonely plastic kitten. She put the chain in her sleeve and slowly walked out of the aquarium.

Under the cover of night, the park was completely silent, with only the lakeside, where rows of lanterns were hung, brightly lit. She walked towards the lake and sat down on a public wooden bench.

It was pitch dark all around, and the only sounds were the croaking of frogs and the chirping of cicadas. The girl in the kimono picked up her phone, opened Line, and once again opened the person who had been marked "kitten" and sent a message.

【KamiNeko: I'll go with you. 】

In her sleeve, Xia Pingzhou's cell phone was out of battery. There was not even a trace of echo in the darkness, as if no one in the world responded to her anymore.

But after a while, the kimono girl looked up and suddenly saw a figure standing on the pavilion in the middle of the lake. It was a red and blue demon. It was dressed like a clown in an amusement park, wearing a pointy hat and holding a colorful box in its hands.

She was stunned for a moment, and suddenly remembered that when she was in Tokyo, she accompanied Xia Pingzhou to defeat such a demon.

But she couldn't remember what the demon was called.

Ayase Origami no longer had the heart to think about these things. She lowered her head and stared blankly at the cat pendant on her sleeve. The demon was still dancing alone on the top of the pavilion. It suddenly yelled loudly and threw the box in its hand into the sky.

Suddenly, countless flames burst out from the box and rose straight into the sky.

"Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang—"

Amidst the deafening sounds, the girl in kimono stared blankly at the fireworks blooming all over the sky. The night sky reflected in her pupils turned into a dazzling sea of ​​stars. Flying colors danced in the air and merged into a rain that fell down. At this moment, the tourists on the long street in the distance raised their heads and looked at the grand fireworks.

The world at that moment was as beautiful as a kaleidoscope. Ayase Origami's lips moved slightly and she whispered softly, "So beautiful..."

But she didn't understand why a demon would try to please her like this. She watched the clown dance on the pavilion until it disappeared in a flash of light. After a while, Ayase Origami suddenly turned around and found a figure sitting next to her.

Xia Pingzhou sat on a public wooden chair, looking down at the chess piece in his hand that was about to disappear.

He whispered, "We found it in Japan. It's called the Fireworks Demon. Ever since I got this chess piece, I've been wanting to show it to you... I have a friend who also likes fireworks, and I was wondering if you would like them too. Actually, I don't know what's good in this world. I'm naive and stupid, and I don't understand much... But these are all I have, and I want to share them with you."

Amid the deafening roar of fireworks, his whisper went unanswered. The kimono-clad girl simply stared at him silently. After a long pause, she reached out and handed him the cat pendant from her sleeve.

"Don't leave alone," she whispered.

Xia Pingzhou took the pendant, and Ayase Origami gently took his hand.

The two of them sat on wooden chairs, silently looking up at the night sky reflected on the lake. Beautiful fireworks bloomed one after another, dyeing the lake into a rainbow of colors.

The faces of the young boy and girl were shrouded in a hazy halo, and the ripples of the lake spread out, blurring their reflections, as if they were going away into the distance.

(End of this chapter)