Chapter 64 You Are the Same
9 years ago, in a small village near Tokyo, Japan.
Ballads echoed in the empty and quiet fields. The rice fields stretching for kilometers were particularly peaceful at sunset, just like a golden tide, swaying gently in the wind.
The setting sun, about to set into the horizon, stretches the shadows of the rice fields and casts them onto the distant train tracks.
The girl was wearing a straw hat and a light white dress. She put her hands behind her back and walked lightly on the rusty track.
A man was sitting nearby, flipping through a book, and he looked up.
With gentle eyes, a girl as delicate as a doll walks on the rusty tracks, her hair dyed light golden by the afterglow fluttering in the wind.
He smiled slightly and said something.
The girl turned around and met the man's gaze, "Really?!"
"Really." The man smiled at her.
"That's great, Dad!"
"Let's go, Asuka." He slowly stood up and picked up the heavy suitcase. "It's still a long way to get to Tokyo."
"Yeah!" Asuka nodded vigorously.
"Remember what I said, never show your dragon side to others." The man stroked Asuka's hair and said gently, "Asuka, this is a secret between us."
"I will, Dad."
The dream suddenly shattered, everything was drawn to the end of the track, and all the fragments were reassembled and released outwards.
The scene this time is a middle school classroom.
A classmate with a bandage on his face looked at Uesugi Asuka in shock as she walked into the classroom, and shouted hoarsely:
"Monster, Asuka is a monster, stay away from her!!!"
"Matsumoto, weren't your wounds caused by the Maruyama family's dog? What are you talking about?"
“Maruyama, Iwata, believe me!” The classmate with bandages shouted, “It’s Asuka, it’s Asuka, I saw it with my own eyes, it can’t be an illusion, she turned into a dragon!”
"She's a monster!!!"
"Why don't you believe me?!"
"She's not even human!!!"
The gazes of everyone in the classroom, like a swarm of insects, climbed up the girl's body one after another, devouring every corner of her body.
Her whole body became weak.
Asuka Uesugi clenched her fists and bit her lip.
"I……"
She seemed to want to say something, but couldn't.
"It's his fault. He was too close to me. He should stay away from me." She whispered.
I didn’t mean to…
I obviously don't want to hurt him...
Brown hair obscured her eyes, but one could see that her pupils were as scarlet and fragile as a vampire's.
"Why don't you just stay away from me?" She grinned and said disdainfully.
I don't……
I am not...
That’s not what I thought at all…
"See, she admitted it. I didn't lie!" The bandaged boy said in a trembling voice, "I didn't. Why don't you believe me? She's a monster. Why are you all listening to a monster?"
"yes!!"
Asuka raised her head suddenly, her tearful eyes filled with blood red.
The corners of her mouth were raised high, but tears kept flowing down, her voice was crisp and full of resentment.
"I am a monster!"
"I hate you, I hate all of you!!!"
"Everyone should stay away from me, everyone should stay away from me!!!"
December 25, late at night, in a room in the first class cabin of the Titanic.
Asuka Uesugi woke up from her dream.
She was breathing heavily, her eyes gradually turning scarlet reflecting the unfamiliar ceiling, her pupils contracted like a wild animal, then gradually dilated and returned to their original state.
Violent emotions dominate the heart, as if there is a wild beast growing in the heart, feeding on hatred, fear, and indifference. It grows like thorns, spreading to the entire heart and wrapping it tightly.
Asuka Uesugi's eyes were dim.
She lowered her head and looked at the extended nails, with the dragon's claws faintly visible.
"boring……"
She murmured softly, her long brown hair obscuring the side of her face.
"boring……"
She tore at the bear pillow with her sharp nails, making a cut.
"boring……"
Cotton kept leaking out from the hole in the little bear's pillow. Once a hole was torn, the cotton could no longer be stopped.
"Are you okay?"
Anson Deer's voice came from outside the first-class cabin, and Asuka remembered that there was someone standing guard outside.
She was silent for a moment, put down the pillow, and whispered:
"fine."
"Oh, I thought I heard you talking in your sleep."
"Ha..." Asuka Uesugi frowned slightly, "What did I say?"
"You said..." Anson Lu paused, "Dad, I'm sorry, I missed you so much."
Asuka Uesugi's pupils shrank slightly.
In the dead silent and dim room, the crimson glow from her eyes was as bright as blood, but it soon dimmed, like an extinguished fire.
"Eavesdropping is not a good habit," she said coldly.
"You shouted too loudly. No normal person would have a nightmare like this." Anson Lu dismissed.
Asuka's face turned red, she bit her lips lightly and threw the pillow away.
"Shut up!"
"Bang."
It is the sound effect of a minesweeper failing.
Anson Deer put away his phone and yawned.
"Okay, I'm sorry, Lord Long, I was wrong. Go to sleep peacefully. You will have to take over my shift later."
A long silence fell between the two of them.
Anson Lu didn't say much, just played another game of Minesweeper.
"To be honest, you're so hypocritical that it makes me sick..." Asuka said.
"What?"
Asuka Uesugi hugged the 'revealed' bear pillow and curled up in the room. She whispered:
"Is lying and playing dumb really fun?"
Anson Deer was silent for half a second and said teasingly:
"Haha, I just said goodbye to 'Crow No. 1', and here comes 'Crow No. 2'. I'm really tired."
"Crow One, who is that?" Asuka Uesugi felt puzzled.
"Don't worry about it..." Anson Lu scratched his hair, "So, how long have we known each other? Why do you think you know me so well?"
"Huh, I understand."
"Okay, I'm sorry, I'm hypocritical, I'm disgusting, and I'm ashamed of humanity."
"That's not the case."
"So what?" Anson Lu said, "By the way, you should reflect on yourself as a young lady. You are arrogant, aggressive, and self-righteous. I think you are disgusting."
“Wow——”
The sound of the tide.
Then, there was silence for two seconds.
Anson Deer paused as he played Minesweeper. He was a little worried that he might have said too much.
"Yeah, that's who I am."
Asuka surprisingly didn't object.
Anson Lu sighed softly. He felt an inexplicable sense of guilt. "Actually, you're okay. Not that annoying."
"What you said before, I really don't understand you." Asuka said softly:
"Everyone went crazy about your video. I thought you were a silly idiot who suddenly became powerful and inflated. But after getting to know you, I found that you are completely different."
"Oh, what's the difference?"
"You are ten times stronger than I thought. You are also very calm and not afraid of anything..." Uesugi Asuka buried her cheek in her knees and said slowly:
"The way you look in the video is just an act, right?"
"So what if I'm pretending?"
"Aren't you tired?"
"If I don't cater to others, my situation will only get more troublesome." Anson Lu turned off his phone and leaned against the door. "So, what do you want to say?"
"I feel very tired." The girl said softly, "Being so careful and not revealing any flaws, this... is really exhausting."
"What do you have to pretend to be? You can afford to go to high school in New York, so you must be a rich lady, right?"
"Half of it, I guess."
"Is that so?" Anson Lu raised his head and said calmly:
"It's good to have a rich family. I'm not like that. My pocket money is not enough to buy steamed buns. I don't dare to take the bowl when others don't use their chopsticks at home. I don't have any friends at school. Everyone laughs at me for being an orphan whose parents died and who can only live in other people's homes as a parasite. When they show off their toys during class breaks, I hide in the toilet like a fool."
Uesugi Asuka was stunned for a long time, and said in disbelief:
"So you are so miserable."
Anson Deer touched his nose and said, "It's okay."
silence.
It was silence again, as if everything was swallowed up by the darkness.
"If I say..." She hesitated.
"What?" Anson asked.
"I'm telling you..." Asuka Uesugi tilted her head, "I've been a dragon since I was born. This is not a player's skill at all. In fact, I was like that from the beginning. Do you believe it?"
"Believe it." Anson Deer said, "This world is so magical, what is impossible?"
"Well, so I can't have friends, or rather, I can't have close friends. I might hurt them, and they might hurt me. If I'm discovered, I'll have to transfer to another school. My dad will take care of everything." She said:
"Every time this happened, he would look at me with disappointment and say, 'Asuka, I told you, no, you can't expose yourself to others.'"
"That's pretty miserable..."
"So, every time I see that look in my dad's eyes, I feel guilty. I feel guilty every time. I feel guilty about why I didn't hide better, why I didn't make friends, why I didn't get close to others."
"It's not your fault either."
"I wish I had never been born."
"Look at it from a bright perspective. In fact, your ability can bring you some benefits."
"Like what?"
"For example, you can open a winter swimming club, and then throw these idiots who sign up into the Atlantic Ocean one by one like Xiong Haodong did." Anson Lu yawned, his voice a little confused.
"Ha, hahaha..." Asuka Uesugi was amused.
She held her belly and chuckled for a long time, then said unhappily:
"I... really admire you."
Anson Deer yawned, with tears of fatigue in his eyes, and he said calmly:
"You're fine like this, what I hate most is people who pretend to be deep. I hope that no matter how painful it is, I can still live happily, even if it's just pretend."
"Okay, then I will learn from you, great old chess player comrade." Asuka said respectfully.
"Comrade Scarlet Dragon Wing, could you please stop being so awkward all of a sudden?" Anson Lu said helplessly.
Asuka Uesugi hugged the broken teddy bear and curled up in the bed, her voice filled with a hint of joy, "I won't, comrade, the old chess player, the revolution has not yet succeeded, you continue to stand guard, I will go to sleep first."
"Let's go to sleep. We don't want to end up with dark circles under our eyes and get crushed by some pirate ghost ship." Anson Lu sighed.
Please read it tomorrow.
Everyone must remember to give me a follow-up reading within 24 hours on Monday. It is really important. I want to go to Sanjiang!!
(End of this chapter)
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