nycdaug Chapter 288 Tonight, as Always
Chapter 288 Tonight, as Always
Fei Yelan is a freshman in college this year.
Having grown up in an orphanage, Fei Yelan, who once thought she had no talent for studying, still managed to get into an ordinary university after receiving help and encouragement from countless people.
And just as Su Tianqing knew when she was reincarnated as a golden-haired fox girl, the life trajectories of the vast majority of beastmen in this world are very similar:
When children are isolated by other children, they often find themselves unable to find playmates when they excitedly take their new toys out, and gradually lose that joy.
As they grew a little older, they would be looked at differently by their classmates at school. Although the school required everyone to treat orc students equally, it could not stop bullying from happening.
Fortunately, the vast majority of orcs are physically stronger than their peers and are much better than ordinary students when it comes to fighting bullying.
But precisely because of this, the beastmen are often labeled as "violent maniacs" by their bullies, creating a vicious cycle.
This led many orc children to develop terrible personalities.
Fei Yelan's past life was not much different from Su Tianqing's impression, except that her family was replaced by an orphanage and her parents were replaced by staff members of the orphanage.
Did you have fun today? Remember to meet at our usual spot tomorrow!
The golden fox girl, arm in arm with the cat girl beside her, waved goodbye cheerfully in this direction.
Fei Yelan waved blankly, watching the two disappear into the ripples of the teleportation magic.
"...So what should we say, the two of us? Shall we find somewhere to continue drinking?"
With her cheeks slightly flushed, Xia Taotao moved closer to Fei Yelan, nudged the gray wolf girl's shoulder with her elbow, and showed her the bottle of champagne she hadn't finished drinking.
This bottle of champagne was opened by Rabbit Girl after the robbery ended, and she's still drinking it now.
The gray wolf glanced calmly at the rabbit beside him, who was drinking to bolster her courage despite her social anxiety, sighed, and took a cup made of magic from her hand.
……
The rabbit and the wolf sat on the beach, sipping their low-alcohol champagne, which was almost completely bubbly, while gazing blankly at the waves crashing against the shore in the night.
Fei Yelan recalled the series of background analyses that Xia Taotao had just given her:
"You used to live in Hong Kong, with your parents or guardians, in the infamous lawless Kowloon Walled City."
"After the strange attack, you were sent to grow up in the mountain town, and then it's what you know."
"Although your memories of your childhood are very faint, this can be confirmed by the strange dream you often have."
"In order to allow you to return to Port City after you grow up, Inari specifically instructed the Hero Association's higher-ups to cancel the Infrastructure Department's demolition plan for the resettlement housing."
However, Fei Yelan had absolutely no recollection of the strange attack.
She has no memory of anything that happened before she could remember, and only has the most basic impression of the magical girl Inari, with no memory of ever meeting her.
This made everything Rabbit said seem somewhat vague and unreal.
However, Su Tianqing's words jolted Fei Yelan awake from her reverie:
"Sometimes memory is unreliable, dog."
"Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can cause your dog to have a very strong impression of a vague memory, but subconsciously avoid that memory."
"That's why you think it's a strange dream. In fact, according to the records in the files, you actually experienced the Kowloon Walled City strange man attack firsthand."
Strange dream...
Thinking of that strange dream where she kept running until she was exhausted, and connecting it with the strange attack incident, Fei Yelan seemed to understand something.
"...Bunny."
The gray wolf murmured.
"If I experienced a strange attack, do you think my parents and guardians died in that attack?"
"...Do you want to hear the truth?"
Xia Taotao put down her wine glass, turned to look at the gray wolf girl, her eyes serious.
After a brief silence, Fei Yelan nodded.
"Um."
"There's a high chance they died in that attack over a decade ago, perhaps even trying to protect you..."
Xia Taotao didn't continue, but both of them knew the truth.
Fei Yelan tilted her head back and took a sip of the low-alcohol champagne.
It's less like champagne and more like slightly fermented white grape juice, with a 50/50 balance of sweetness and alcohol, and the grape sweetness is even more pronounced.
But the smell of alcohol still made her cough a few times, and her eyes became a little moist.
"Cough!...cough cough cough..."
"...This wine is awful, it's choking me."
Xia Taotao saw this but didn't say anything. She silently took out a pack of tissues from her bag and handed it to Fei Yelan.
Do you need some tissues?
"Thanks."
"Don't thank me, aren't we comrades?"
The rabbit girl grinned, her slightly flushed face full of genuine joy.
Fei Yelan felt a little emotional, as if she had been accepted by Xin Yuehu and the other two.
"They are truly great."
After a long silence, the gray wolf girl spoke softly.
"I used to think I was a piece of trash."
"I'm good at nothing, my grades are terrible, I'm clumsy at odd jobs, I often cause trouble when I'm with you guys, and I even lack magic power..."
"Oh, isn't that the one from when we first met?"
Xia Taotao paused for a moment, then scratched her rabbit ears with a wry smile, her cheeks flushed.
"At the time, I just wanted to subdue you in your berserk state as quickly as possible, so I used a little too much force..."
"I don't really care."
"But you're not entirely useless, you know. You have quite a talent for magical girls."
"..."
Fei Yelan really wanted to blurt out "I'm a wolf!!" but it would ruin the atmosphere, so she just bared her teeth in protest.
"Did you hear what Fox was saying just now? You're a very important part of Inari's plan."
"Huh? Me?"
Fei Yelan mimicked the gesture from the meme, widening her eyes and looking completely bewildered.
"Yes, do you remember when you first transformed? What was it like?"
"Um... When I finished my part-time job, I bought a late-night snack and found a Guardian Star on the roadside. I played with it for a bit and somehow I transformed."
"Look, other people can't transform even if they want to, but you were able to transform after playing with the unclaimed Guardian Star for a while. Doesn't that prove your talent?"
Xia Taotao grinned and gave a thumbs up.
The two watched the rising tide, observing the swaying white foam and the moonlight illuminating the sea, and each took a sip of champagne from their glasses.
"...The bubbles in this wine have all gone out, it's so boring."
"Yeah, let's go buy some Coke."
"Iced Coke? I want a Coca-Cola!"
"Isn't Pepsi good?"
"What's the difference between that and swill?!"
A rabbit and a wolf walked happily toward the 24-hour convenience store not far away.
The moonlight fell on the sky above the sleeping port city, as if illuminating every corner of the city.
Tonight is just like any other night.