Chapter 197 The Place to Go
“Not taking the exam next year?”
Aso Yuanxiang's words were like a depth charge, causing the girls of Fangting City's team to be speechless. At this time, Cuiqiao became the only one who asked questions with an unhappy look on her face: "What do you mean?"
"I don't mean anything, I just suggested it."
Aso Yuanxiang looked calm, as if she didn't think there was anything wrong with what she said. "If you really want me to give you an explanation, then you can regard the following competition as the 'preliminary test' of qualification certification. If you can't pass the 'preliminary test', you will naturally not be qualified to participate in the subsequent exams. Is this normal?"
"Are you the examiner for next year's exam?"
“No.”
"Then I don't think you have the legitimacy to make such a proposal."
Cuiqiao raised her chin slightly, her eyes turning slightly colder: "Or is this the purpose of your coming to Fangting City for 'exchange'? Just to find trouble?"
"I've said before, I don't have any ill intentions. If I was just looking for trouble, there would be no need for me to go out of my way to trip up a group of little girls I don't know, right?" Aso Yuanxiang looked innocent.
But the words she said obviously couldn't convince Delphinium. Delphinium didn't even have the intention to reply. She just continued to stare at her in silence.
After enduring this cold gaze for a few seconds, the smile on Aso Yuanxiang's face finally could not be maintained. After the smile faded, it was replaced by a helpless expression.
"Well, it seems that this really can't convince you."
She sighed softly, "Indeed, maybe we should find a place to talk it out. I can answer some of your questions, and maybe you can tell me something I don't know."
"Find a place?"
"Well, at least not here."
Aso Yuanxiang turned her head and looked at the girls around her, then smiled mysteriously: "Some things are topics for adults, it's too early for children to understand these."
After these words came out, the girls beside them had different expressions, some were indifferent, and some were obviously unconvinced. Lin Xiaolu took a step forward, and just as she was about to refute, she saw Delphinium suddenly nodded before she spoke.
"Can."
She spoke crisply and clearly, her voice resounding: "Where to go? Do you have any good suggestions?"
"You are the host here. You should be more thoughtful than me about where to talk, right?"
Aso Yuanxiang crossed her arms and said, "It's been so many years since I came back. I'm curious about what interesting places there are in Fangting City now. Take me to see them."
"... Just go to the Strategy Bureau in Fangting City."
Ignoring the other party's request in the second half of the sentence, Cuique casually suggested that she obviously had no interest in "where to go". She was more concerned about the content of the conversation: "The meeting room of the Strategy Bureau can ensure the confidentiality of the conversation, and it will not be heard by others."
"The Strategy Bureau? No, that's too boring."
Aso Yuanxiang rejected the proposal without hesitation, with a questioning look in her eyes: "Don't you have any more interesting suggestions?"
"What do you want?" Delphinium looked back at her.
"Now that I'm back in Fangting City, I'm definitely going to visit the Yi Ce Bureau later, so shouldn't I take this opportunity to find a place with a better atmosphere?"
Aso Yuanxiang tapped her arm with her finger: "Look, maybe find a better restaurant? Or a tourist attraction that has been built in recent years? It'll be a little more romantic."
"...If you don't want to go to the Strategy Bureau, we can go to the study in the secret base to talk. There won't be any outsiders there."
"Secret base? Isn't that a place we'll go to often in the future?"
Aso Yuanxiang was dissatisfied: "You have been in Fangting City for more than ten years longer than I have. You really can't think of it? You know, even if I just searched the Internet before I came here, I could see many people's lists of 'check-in spots'."
"I'm really sorry, I'm just such a boring person." Delphinium couldn't help but lower her eyelids and turned her head to look at the corridor on the side.
Perhaps because of the other party's previous instructions, there were only a few staff members passing by in the corridor at this time, and none of them had any intention of moving forward. This area outside the lounge seemed to have some kind of artificially drawn boundary, isolating everyone except the magical girls.
Her eyes swirled around without focus. After pursing her lips and thinking for a while, she looked up as if she remembered something. "Come to think of it, if you really want to find a place where we can talk about things and have enough 'memorable significance', I do have a suggestion."
"Oh? What kind?" Aso Yuanxiang's eyes suddenly lit up, as if she was interested.
"It's a very quiet place. Not many people go there often, but most people in Fontaine City will inevitably have to deal with it."
Delphinium said in a calm voice and expressionless manner, "You know, you should go there and take a look."
"Not many people go there, but I should go there and take a look... Is this a riddle?" Aso Yuanxiang smiled bitterly.
“Is it hard to think of an answer?”
"It's a bit difficult. After all, there are too few clues and conditions. To be honest, there are too many places like this..."
Aso Yuanxiang was halfway through her words when she suddenly stopped talking.
Even the expression on her face froze a little at this moment. She was silent for a long time, then sighed resignedly: "Ah, I see, you are right, it is not difficult to guess."
The two looked at each other inexplicably, and the atmosphere unexpectedly became much more solemn at this moment, leaving the girls beside them completely confused.
"...So where is it? Is there such a place in Fangting City?"
Lin Xiaolu, who was standing by, listened to the conversation from beginning to end. At this moment, she could only ask blankly, "Can you please explain your words more clearly?"
"I'm sorry, Bai Mei, I may not be able to take you back. Can you take the tram or fly back secretly?"
But this time, Cuiqiao did not answer her question directly. Instead, she suddenly turned around and walked to her side, patting her arm and saying, "Take the guests from Bai'an City to the secret base. Remember to entertain them well. Aunt Aso and I will be back later."
"What do you mean by 'Auntie'? Can't you speak more nicely?" Aso Yuanxiang on the side immediately retorted.
"Take them back, yes... but where are you going?"
This strange atmosphere made Lin Xiaolu feel slightly uneasy. She subconsciously pinched the corner of her clothes after being hit by the peacock. “Will it be dangerous?”
"No, there's no danger."
Cuiqiao said it lightly, then moved slightly closer to Lin Xiaolu and spoke a location in a low voice.
Her voice was indeed so soft that no one else around could hear what she said. But Lin Xiaolu got the answer she wanted, and her eyes widened slightly because of this answer.
Then, before she could comment on this, Delphinium and Aso Madoka said goodbye to the other magical girls, walked to the corner of the corridor, and disappeared from everyone's sight.
Lin Xiaolu looked at the bend, pursed her lips, and remained silent for a long time, until Mu Baihe next to her came up to her and asked, unable to suppress her inner doubts, "So where are they going? What did the inspector tell you?"
“…They are going to see someone.”
Lin Xiaolu then spoke again, turned her head with a complicated expression, looked at her and slowly replied: "Cui Que said that they want to go see my mother together."
…
…
An hour after the concert ended, the bustling concert scene finally returned to calm. In the Green Tower Stadium, although there were many fans who were still chatting enthusiastically, the surroundings had become much quieter.
The lively crowd that stayed in place gradually dispersed from the area around the stadium, and an inconspicuous silver-white SUV drove out of the "Green Tower" stadium and slowly ran onto the road. This SUV blended into the sparse traffic that also left the stadium, and it was driving slowly on the road like the most ordinary group of fans.
However, if someone was a little sharper and could see the passenger seat in the car, they would notice an unusual fact - the protagonist of the previous concert, Aso Madoka, was sitting in the passenger seat with a smile on her face.
At this moment, the singer, who should be accustomed to prosperity and luxury, was fiddling with the furnishings in the car like a curious girl: poking the seat cushion, turning the air-conditioning buttons, and then playing with the window next to the passenger seat.
The driver on the side was indifferent to her behavior at first, until the window was halfway down. He finally turned his head, glanced at her helplessly, and said, "Don't open the window randomly. Aren't you worried about being photographed?"
It was Delphinium who was driving.
She had been silent before, not wanting to talk, looking straight ahead, acting like a cold driving machine. If it weren't for Aso Yuanxiang's various little movements that really distracted others, she wouldn't even say this sentence.
As she said this, Aso Yuanxiang, who had been quietly doing little things, turned her head, looked at her, and said with a sly smile: "Is there anything that can't be photographed?"
Delphinium's eyes met hers for a second, then he took the initiative to look away, looked back at the road ahead, and pretended to drive seriously: "You know, where we are going next, I don't want any inexplicable media people to follow us."
"Oh, I see."
Upon hearing this, Aso Yuanxiang was stunned for a moment, then nodded in agreement and closed the window with a smile: "Indeed, that is something that should not be disturbed by outsiders."
There were only two people in the small SUV. After these words were spoken, neither of them spoke again and the car fell into a brief silence.
The main component of this silence is called "awkwardness".
If there was someone else in the car at this time, the two of them would not have fallen into such inexplicable embarrassment, but unfortunately, there was indeed no third person in the car at this time.
It’s not because they have nothing to talk about, but because there are too many questions to ask, so they don’t know where to start.
Fortunately, Aso Yuanxiang did not let this awkward situation last too long. After a brief silence, she leaned back on the backrest of the chair and said slowly, "Come to think of it, aren't you going to ask me why I came back just now?"
"Why do you ask?"
"I usually ask, after all, something like that happened before."
"Two years ago, I thought you would come, but you didn't show up there."
As the car turned a corner, Cuiqiao's eyes moved between the rearview mirror and the front, and then she turned the steering wheel slightly: "Actually, it's not just you, Hong Siyu, Su Shengzi. My biggest worry at the time was actually what should I do when you guys came? What attitude and face should I use to face you all."
"I chose such an ordinary life, thinking I could immerse myself in it forever, but in the end I failed to do so. I failed to protect the people who were important to me. I was really afraid that you would appear in front of me and ask me 'Why didn't I save Anya'."
"I wishfully believed that the biggest threat had been resolved; I wishfully believed that my life could remain peaceful; I wishfully believed that there was nothing wrong with Anya... I never thought that anything like that would happen, so much so that at that time it felt like a nightmare, and everything became unreal."
"To be honest, if you guys really showed up at that time, I might have to find a way to hide, because I don't know what answer I should give you."
She paused, took a deep breath, and whispered, "But fortunately, you didn't come, not even one person. There were only some neighbors she knew on weekdays, employees of the Strategy Bureau who were hiding their identities, and the magical girls of Fangting City at that time. Everyone has their own understanding of 'Anya', and everyone has their own understanding of my identity. They may not know enough about the truth, but at least at that time, no one would come to question me."
"So you think it's a good thing that I didn't come? It's my teammate's funeral. You didn't even come for such a big event. Wouldn't you be worried that I might have died too?" Aso Yuanxiang opened her eyes wide in disbelief.
"You won't. You are more afraid of death than anyone else." Cuiqiao said lightly.
"This kind of evaluation is too harsh for a magical girl. Have you ever considered changing the adjective? My behavior can also be called cherishing my body."
Aso Yuanxiang raised her index finger and argued, "And have you ever thought that even if I pay great attention to my own safety, I might still encounter an enemy that I can't even escape from?"
"You can't even run away?"
Delphinium glanced at her and asked, "Is there such a cruel beast in this world?"
"Who knows? Before Anya got into trouble, we all believed that there was no enemy who could kill her, right?"
Aso Yuanxiang retracted her hand and also looked forward: "To be honest, when I heard this news from the dean, I thought she was playing a bad joke on me again. It was not until this incident was officially included in the archives as a key investigation item of the Investigation Institute that I realized it was actually true."
"So you actually knew it the first time?" Delphinium asked softly.
"Ah, probably the day after it happened."
"so."
"... Having said that, why don't you ask me why I didn't come?"
Seeing that Cuiqiao was so stubborn, Asou Yuanxiang felt even more helpless: "Don't most people want their teammates to come back so that they can discuss revenge together?"
"There's no need for me to drag you into this kind of trouble."
Delphinium responded calmly: "The one who can kill Anya is definitely not a simple existence. To take revenge on such a thing, you must be prepared to pay a heavy price. I can't ask you to participate in such a dangerous thing."
"Sometimes your thoughts are like a pickle stone, smelly and hard."
Aso Yuanxiang narrowed her eyes and said in dissatisfaction, but after a while she smiled helplessly: "Yes, this sounds like what you would think. Then, just treat it as me talking to myself next."
"You don't ask me why I didn't come, so I'll tell you myself. Do you know why I didn't come?"
"...Why?" Delphinium asked in response.
"Because someone stopped me and told me not to go."
Aso Yuanxiang leaned back on the chair and looked ahead with Delphinium: "The dean met with me personally and told me not to interfere with your thoughts and let you think about what to do alone."
I am still fighting against Calvin and I have not lost. And a belated holiday greeting, happy holidays to everyone.
(End of this chapter)
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