I am Yumi.
A third-year student in a well-known, non-college-affiliated research department.
My graduation thesis focused on the construction and circulation of element models, and my advisor called herself an omniscient witch.
He is now strolling hand in hand with a beautiful young woman on the street.
Please note!
Although on the surface, our interactions seem very intimate and harmonious, and we even share our crepes, cheesecakes, and vanilla ice cream from time to time—almost a model couple in love that could be widely publicized—but! I was actually doing it against my will!
It's all Yao's fault for being such a busybody. She kept saying that all of this was so that I could have a better life of slacking off in the future, and that temporary hard work and suffering were necessary. She talked me into a daze with her sweet talk and empty promises, and I was completely fooled into leaving the house.
They also threw in an idiot along with them.
Ugh! I always lose to her words! That's why I really hate being in the same room with her face to face.
Impulsiveness is the devil!
It's too late to regret it now.
It's strange, really. I'm supposed to be the master of the miniature garden, so why is she taking over the reins?
"Mr. Yumi!" Hikari tugged at me, "Have you decided what you want for dinner tonight?!"
The girl looked around curiously, occasionally tiptoeing and hopping to peek into the shop's interior, which was obscured by the crowd. She was completely unaware that there was a ring of cream on her lips, just like a clueless toddler who had deliberately stolen an old man's fake beard to make an appearance.
"Don't move."
I held her down with one hand, took out a tissue and carefully wiped away the "mustache," watching her blush and lower her head, making "eh hehe" sounds. Only then did I release her with satisfaction: "Is there anything you want to eat?"
"Teppanyaki! Hot pot sliced meat! Honey-glazed grilled meat skewers! Golden fried pork chop! Crispy fish belly!"
Hikari raised her right hand with sparkling eyes, just like one of those "active students" who always crowded around me, hoping to gain the professor's favor.
However, compared to those annoying flies that only make people feel nauseous, the girl in front of you is cute and gentle, which only makes people feel soft-hearted.
But I won't be soft-hearted!
You can only choose one.
I once again adopted my tried-and-true tough stance on idiots, feigning a cold face as I watched Hikari deep in thought with great interest.
To understand why we're here, we need to go back to our earlier conversation with Yao.
"I have been fortunate enough to have the authority of the renowned Omniscient Witch," she said, referring to the vast, ever-renewing library we were in, "that I have finally found some clues from recent eyewitness reports."
"Only fragments?"
Reluctantly agreeing to the request, I looked at the delicious and tempting food on my plate, but felt somewhat unappetized. However, food is innocent, and wasting food is shameful, so I could only eat most of it casually, picking at the bones and thorns I had removed, while listening to Yao recount more specific details in a half-hearted manner.
Yao gazed at him calmly: "Even if it's just fragments, it's better than nothing."
"Since we sisters received this mission, we have visited countless cities over the years, and even ventured into the rumored hidden forbidden zones twice, but we have ultimately failed to gain anything. The clues we obtained, after excluding the ravings of hysterical people, were just fabricated rumors made up to attract attention. They are not even worth as much as what we have recently obtained from consulting the atlas."
"...Is it really that amazing?"
I was somewhat puzzled, but Yao seemed to agree with his own words.
Thinking about it this way, perhaps those flies and insects in the academy often approached my mentor and me with the same purpose. Some sought secrets and strange knowledge, and many more explored profound and hidden mysteries.
Whenever students were forcibly summoned to their tutor's workshop to discuss coursework, they would inevitably encounter a few unfortunate children who had just been kicked out of the gate, their faces filled with frantic longing. If they were to act too forcefully or directly, they would be dragged away and devoured by the hunting dogs kept in the courtyard.
But that won't kill them. At most, the rescue team will drag them to a hospital bed and nurse them back to health for ten days or half a month. Once they're released and allowed to roam freely, they'll follow you around like crazy cats that have been sucking on catnip or hyenas that have smelled meat.
Perhaps it was precisely because I asked nothing of my mentor that she became unusually attached to me? And even went so far as to break her vow never to accept students, taking me under her wing?
I optimistically imagined it in my mind, then quickly shifted my attention to the key point Yao then made.
She lowered her eyes, and with her right hand, she once again picked up the book she had been flipping through when I entered. With her other hand, she lightly pressed the words, slowly sliding them as if observing the scene described within from a superior perspective: "According to this book, *Strange Tales and Anecdotes: The Latest Selection of Three Hundred Chapters - Piss City*, ten days ago, someone vaguely mentioned something related to strange trees and bizarre shapes in conversation. However, because they had taken sufficient precautions beforehand, they could only obtain a few vague words and a vague discussion."
"So, you come to me with a piece of information whose accuracy can't be guaranteed, and you're going to go and investigate the area to verify it?" I immediately leaned back in my chair after hearing that. "I quit! Why do I have to do all this nonsense?!"
“Of course, that’s not all.” Yao turned another page. “At first, I just thought it was some kind of wild gossip and didn’t pay much attention to it. But after reading more of the various rumors circulating near Piss recently, I found that many of them mentioned this matter. Some night owls even claimed that the strange tree that suddenly appeared outside the suburban forest emits a faint glow at night, and there is a huge black cave near its roots that can almost swallow an adult, causing quite a bit of panic.”
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