[The ambiguous lies coming out of the girl's mouth became more and more outrageous. You pinched her cheeks to stop her from making up stories and taught her a lesson with a little pain.]
[Your actions were exactly what the girl wanted. She was happy to be close to you, and you, who had previously intentionally avoided touching her cheek, broke the rule you had set for yourself.]
[You look at her smiling face and think, maybe from the first time you met again, what the girl longed for was to restore the previous relationship and return to the closeness of the past.]
[She imitated the lewd words in the TV series, without any eroticism or deception. She was like a child who said she wanted to climb up to the sky along the rain curtain, and her words were pure and innocent.]
[The rain is getting heavier and there is no sign of it stopping anytime soon. Moyou asks you if you want to run home hand in hand.]
[You rejected her suggestion and went to the host's house where you were sheltering from the rain and borrowed two umbrellas.]
[In front of the house, there are no trees or walls to block the uphill road. The wind blowing from the sea makes the stones on the roadside creak. You warn Mayu to hold on to the umbrella tightly and not be blown away by the wind.]
[Your reminder wiped out the possibility that she would pretend that her umbrella was blown away by the wind and go under your umbrella. The girl glanced at you with dissatisfaction and walked to the front.]
[The umbrella in her hand was very steady, but you were inexperienced and almost had the wind snatch the umbrella away.]
[After arriving home, you took out the easel from the bedroom and set it up under the eaves. The girl sat behind you, holding her delicate, still childish face, and watched you paint. You painted a courtyard in the rain.]
[She suddenly had an idea and ran under the rain curtain, asking you to draw her in the painting. The rain was damp, but her smiling face was bright. You grabbed her mouth and pulled her back under the eaves.]
[Your clothes were all wet, so you took a shower and changed into dry clothes.]
[You feel that the girl is a little excited today. You think that this may be because of you. You don’t know whether this is good or bad. Although you already understand that the girl’s feelings for you are not straightforward love, only in academia and in illusory theories are there clear words for emotions. Emotions in reality are often vague and cannot be accurately defined. Longings and memories can also give rise to the idea of staying together forever.]
[The rain continued into the night. After dinner, the rain became lighter, but the thunder became louder.]
[You lie on the bed in your bedroom, quietly listening to the rain and thunder outside the window, recalling the girl's actions, words and gestures in your mind, and thinking about how to draw the girl's painting that suddenly came to you a few days ago.]
[The door of your bedroom was pushed open, and Mayu stood by the door holding a pillow, saying that she was afraid of thunder and wanted to sleep next to you.]
[You rejected her. When you were little, you asked Mayu during a thunderstorm, and she replied that there was nothing to be afraid of.]
[Unconsciously, you have been on Song Island for a month. Your mother sent you a message to ask about your recent situation. Only then did you realize that you have passed the recuperation period.]
[You planned to use time to correct the girl's feelings towards you and to remove the sugar coating of her memories, but you failed. The girl's closeness to you not only did not decrease, but increased day by day.]
[The tour guide you booked earlier asks you when to continue the next trip. ]
[You hesitated for a long time, and replied to him that you would go back to Misaki in a week and prepare to leave. ]
[You have finished the painting of the sea, and the painting of the rain in the yard will be finished in a few days. You plan to give one of these two paintings to your colleagues at Sakura Hill and one to Mayu as a parting gift.]
[You decided to tell Mayu the news when the painting of Yuyuan was finished. This was your procrastination.]
[You feel sad because of the separation, so you put more energy into painting, using colors to cover up your slight sadness. ]
[Your escape actually reduced the time you spent escaping, and you finished the painting in just one day.]
[At the dinner table the next day, you were about to tell Mayu the date of her departure.]
[Before you say anything, the girl tells you something. She says that there is a small test this Friday and she needs to concentrate and prepare for the test.]
[You are reluctant to say it, because you don’t want your own affairs to affect the girl’s exam. It’s Friday in two days, and you want to wait until Saturday to talk about it.]
[After Friday, Mayu said that there was a painting competition at Sakura Hill, and the registration deadline was next week. She had not yet finished a painting that she was satisfied with, so she had to finish one within this week.]
[She takes out her old paintings and asks for your advice.]
[Although you already know from her words that she studied art when she was young, you are still surprised that she insisted on the path of painting. In your memory, the girl's strongest point is in the field of knowledge, not in the field of art.]
[You looked through her paintings, and admired her brushstrokes and use of colors. You were so surprised that you temporarily forgot about leaving. When you recalled it, you had already agreed to her request and wanted to teach her how to paint a satisfactory painting.]
You had to adjust your departure date, apologized to your tour guide, and postponed your trip.
[When Moyou was little, you told her family that you would teach her to draw. In fact, you only taught her the basics. The girl had very little time to draw. She spent all her time doing housework, farming, and chatting and playing games with you.]
[In the more than one month since arriving at Uta Island, Mayu has only watched you paint, and has never painted on her own.]
[A strange feeling arises in your heart. You and the girl are close, but your paintings and the girl's paintings seem to be a parallel line.]
[The girl asked for leave from school to concentrate on painting, and finally submitted her painting the day before the registration deadline.]
[What she drew was your room.]
[The blue quilt lay quietly on the bed, covered by the sunlight coming in from the window. The shadow of the bed fell on the floor, covering most of the slippers, leaving only two small toes poking into the golden light. A water cup, a tablet and a laptop were placed randomly on the desk, and a T-shirt was hung on the back of the chair... ]
[There is no trace of you in the room, but the slightly messy quilt, the untidy placement of slippers, the water in the cup, the lit screens of the tablet and laptop, and the clothes on the back of the chair all reveal your presence.]
[The girl gave this painting a very straightforward name—Yuuki’s Room.]
[The day after the painting was completed, you stayed in bed. Previously, you had gotten up early to teach the girl.]
[You thought that the painting instruction was over and you would leave the island. ]
[This is your wishful thinking. The girl breaks into your room, snatches your quilt, pulls your hand, and drags you out of bed.]
[You follow her dazedly to the living room, where a new canvas has been placed on the drawing board.]
[She said that the painting of Yuki's room was not perfect enough, and she wanted to paint a more beautiful one. ]
[She didn't ask you to stay in Uta Island, and you didn't say you wanted to leave, but her demeanor, her words, and her eyes were trying to keep you.]
[You postponed your departure again. You thought that teaching the girl painting for another month would make up for the relationship between you and her when you were young.]
[While teaching the girl, you discovered one thing. Moyou has no talent for painting. In her paintings, there is no trace of her own style. She is imitating you.]
[You breathed a sigh of relief. If the girl was an all-around decathlon winner, you would be scared.]
[Even if she doesn't have that kind of talent, as long as she continues on the path of painting, she can become a master. Most painters never reach the stage of competing for talent in their entire lives. So you didn't persuade her.]
[Another month has passed, and you, who are about to leave, have encountered a new round of events, and the judging of the painting competition is about to be completed. ]
[Wait a few more days and you will get the selection results.]
[The girl's painting won the gold medal, and the award ceremony was held in the auditorium of the downtown art gallery.]
[You look at the excellent works displayed online for this competition and feel confused. ]
[You don't understand why Moyu won the gold medal instead of the silver medal winner. You think, maybe it's because of the judges' preferences. Art is a subjective field, and personal feelings play a huge role. Moyu's painting is just a little bit worse than the silver medal winner's painting, and there is no big gap. It's normal for her to be ranked higher if she meets a judge who likes her style.]
[Is that true? ]
[You carefully look at the display of excellent works again. Except for the gold and silver award paintings, the rankings of other works are very fair.]
[You glance at the names of the two winning works and come up with an answer in your mind, an answer that leaves you speechless.]
[Silver Award: Koike Sakura's "Puddles Under the Cherry Trees"; Gold Award: Asagiri Mayu's "Yuuki's Room." ]
[You stare at the word Yuki for a while and pinch your nose. ]
[Sure enough, a few minutes later, the painter who gave you the key to the pier studio called you and asked if you would go to the award ceremony and asked the winning middle school students if they would be honored to receive the trophy you personally presented.]
[You agreed, and asked the other party to modify the ranking of the awards, moving the silver award winner up to the gold award, and the bronze award winner up to the silver award, and so on.]
[At the awards ceremony, your appearance surprised the people in the art circle, especially the four people who received the gold, silver and bronze medals.]
[The whole auditorium was noisy because of your appearance, and it was quiet after a while. ]
[You awarded medals and trophies to the four people. The medals will be kept in the art room of their school, and the trophies belong to them.]
[The girl who was almost dethroned by Mayu for the gold medal is now a senior in high school. Her father was one of the people who entertained you when you came to Sakura Hill.]
[Because of the hidden guilt in your heart, you talked to her a few more times, praising and giving advice on her paintings.]
[After returning home, Mayu was very angry.]
Memory scenes emerge.
After the award ceremony, Mayu handed the medal to the accompanying teacher, took the trophy and returned to Uta Island with Minami Yuki. Along the way, the girl didn't say a word, turning her head from time to time, glancing at Minami Yuki, and then turning back.
Nan Youxi ignored her little awkwardness. He was thinking about how to bring up the matter of leaving, which he had been procrastinating for a long time.
After returning home, he sat at the low table in the living room and wanted to recall his two months of life on Ge Island. During this review, he found something wrong.
Let’s not talk about what happened before, and just talk about this painting incident. The girl deliberately concealed the information that she was learning painting.
In the first month of coming to Uta Island, he did not see the girl painting once. The girl went home after school every day. It was impossible for her to paint at school. If she did not paint at home, how could she have painting experience and how could she paint a work that won a gold medal? She deliberately stopped practicing painting.
He looked at Mayu in the yard. The girl was holding her clothes, with the back of her head facing him, and she walked away quickly.
Why did the girl hide the painting
This question is easy because the answer is already given.
If Nan Youxi had known that the girl was learning painting, he would have started to teach her earlier, and the girl would have painted works that could enter the competition earlier. In this case, he would not have stayed because of the painting competition.
He thought about the girl's claim that he was her fiancé, the key to the studio by the pier, and the cunning she had shown during the days they were together.
He thought that the girl would give a new reason tonight.
The dim sun sank into the ripples of the sea, the sky became completely dark, and the stars were dotted on the black cloth.
Moyu walked out of the kitchen with only a plate in her hand. She placed the porcelain plate in front of Minami Youxi.
"Dinner, eat quickly." She pretended to be indifferent.
Nan Youxi lowered her head. There was only a palm-sized cucumber on the plate. "It's not bean sprouts. Should I be touched?"
Only the two of them knew about bean sprouts, a joke that came from their childhood experiences. Moyu smiled lightly, then frowned again.
"Because Yuxi talked to that woman for three minutes and only talked to me for thirteen seconds, Yuxi will be punished by eating only cucumbers." She was as serious as a judge reading out a verdict.
"For what Mayu and I said, the total should be measured in days, right?"
"It's different. I want it to be in the auditorium!"
The girl changed the subject: "But if Yuuki hugs me, I will forgive Yuuki and make Yuuki's favorite hamburger meat."
"Then I'd rather eat cucumber." Nan Youxi picked up the cucumber from the plate and took a bite. It had a crisp taste.
"Hmm!" Moyu took a breath, puffed up her cheeks and glared at the man in front of her.
Nan Youxi turned around and didn't look at her.
The girl walked in front of him and sat down, leaning her back into his arms, trying to force herself into his arms. Nan Youxi moved her butt to the side, and the girl couldn't control her body and fell backwards on the floor.
"Cucumbers are not bad either, little puffer fish." Nan Youxi poked the girl's puffy face on the ground with the other end of the cucumber.
"It's not a pufferfish!" the girl exhaled.
She gave up on the hug, stood up, stomped into the kitchen, and brought out the actual dinner.
Nan Youxi picked up a piece of her favorite hamburger meat and placed it on the rice.
While eating, both of them were silent. Minami Youxi was observing Moyu, and Moyu noticed what Minami Youxi wanted to say and realized that Minami Youxi knew her intention.
After quickly finishing a bowl of rice, Nan Youxi put down her bowl and chopsticks and prepared to say goodbye.
"I… "
"Wait!" Moyu hurriedly put down the bowl and interrupted Nan Youxi's words.
Nan Youxi didn't pause, he continued: "I'm ready to leave."
"No!" The girl stood up, her feet hit the low table, her rice bowl shook, and her chopsticks rolled onto the table and then onto the floor.
She grasped the hem of her clothes tightly with both hands and said, "My birthday will be here soon, brother must stay here and celebrate my birthday with me!"
"I will come over on Mayu's birthday," Nan Youxi continued.
"I don't want it!" The girl rushed to Nan Youxi's side and wrapped her arms tightly around his waist.
(End of this chapter)