"Whoosh!"
As the scene before his eyes brightened, the first thing Yan Huan felt was the blinding, fierce wind of plumting from a great height.
He narrowed his eyes, taking a quick look at the scene below.
Below him was a pink, seemingly endless field of flowers.
Aside from the flower field, it was incredibly quiet. There was absolutely nothing else.
But from this height...
Was he just going to crash straight down?
This wasn't Yan Huan's first ti experiencing free fall. Back at the Skytree, he and An Le had plumted just like this.
"Myau-chan!"
Feeling his speed constantly increasing, Yan Huan gritted his teeth and hurriedly called out to Myau-chan.
"I don't have any fragnts! I can't transform to help you, ow!!"
On his shoulder, Myau-chan looked at him with an equally anxious expression as it said this.
"..."
Yan Huan gritted his teeth, his face involuntarily paling for a mont.
"Mmm..."
At this mont, amidst the frantic howling of the wind, Yan Huan suddenly heard Sakuramiya's voice beside him.
He turned his head and saw Sakuramiya in a red dress, completely unconscious, plumting toward the ground right alongside him.
"Sakuramiya!!"
Yan Huan shouted her na, but her eyes remained shut without the slightest response.
"..."
Seeing this, Yan Huan turned his head back toward the rapidly approaching flower field.
The next second, he reached out toward Sakuramiya Hitomi beside him, attempting to pull her petite fra tightly into his arms.
"Whoosh!"
The boundless, roaring wind whipped Yan Huan's hair and clothes into a chaotic ss, preventing him from adjusting his posture.
"Ugh!"
But at the very last mont, gritting his teeth, Yan Huan still managed to lightly grab Perfect Sakuramiya's hand and pull her into his embrace.
Just as he completed this motion, he slamd heavily into the ground.
"Boom!!"
With a muffled crash, the impact sent a cloud of dust exploding from the soft soil.
Bizarrely, the pink petals floated up like dandelions, only to slowly drift back down onto the flowers a second later.
On the ground, the still-unconscious Perfect Sakuramiya rolled away several ters, completely unscathed.
"Yan Huan, are you okay?!"
Yan Huan, however, lay prone on the ground, clutching his chest and coughing incessantly.
"Cough!"
In response to Myau-chan's inquiry, Yan Huan coughed and shook his head.
But the next second, he spat out a mouthful of blood-tinged saliva.
He didn't know where he was bleeding from, but in short, his entire body was in agonizing pain.
"ow~"
Myau-chan paced back and forth in the flower field, examining his body.
But Yan Huan rely glanced at Perfect Sakuramiya lying in the flower field before raising his eyes to survey the surroundings.
He noticed that, unusually, this Barrier was not indoors.
On the ground spread an endless, empty, and incredibly silent pink field of flowers.
It was very bright and peaceful here, with the perfect temperature of a pleasant afternoon, giving off a thoroughly relaxing vibe.
But...
Where was Hitomi?
Yan Huan wiped the trace of blood from the corner of his mouth, clutched his chest, and shakily stood up.
His suit was a ss, covered in dirt, and his pink shirt could faintly be seen where the jacket had been torn by the flower stems.
"..."
He loosened his tie, but just as he was about to call out for Hitomi, Myau-chan suddenly warned him.
"Yan Huan, look, ow!"
"?"
Yan Huan looked down at the cat, only to see it staring up at the sky.
Turning his own gaze skyward, Yan Huan witnessed a spectacular sight he would rarely see in his lifeti.
Above them, there was no blue sky or white clouds...
Instead, there were countless closed doors densely packed and stacked together.
These doors varied in color, size, and type, yet they all lay on the sa horizontal plane, arranged irregularly as they stretched out to occupy the entire sky without leaving a single gap for Yan Huan to see through.
Despite the sky being completely filled by this canopy of doors, the world below wasn't dark in the slightest; bizarrely, it was bright.
It was as if sunlight had defied the laws of physics, piercing through that sky of doors to bathe the earth.
Contrasting this with the endless, silent flower field below, Yan Huan was sohow convinced:
Hitomi was behind one of the doors up there.
"..."
Realizing this, Yan Huan pursed his lips, clutched his injured arm, and slowly shuffled forward, searching for a path that could lead him to the top.
"Rustle..."
Just at that mont, a gentle breeze swept past.
Behind him, Perfect Sakuramiya, who had fallen to the ground, was awakened.
She groggily opened her eyes from the void of Hypnosis, staring blankly at the flower field before her for a second.
But the next mont, she realized where she was. Her pupils shrank sharply as she bolted upright.
With a wave of her delicate hand, she hastily opened an interface.
Displayed within it was the striking scene of the High Table Dinner, plunged into complete darkness.
The ti flow between the inside and outside of the Barrier had been adjusted to have a massive disparity by Perfect Sakuramiya.
Right now, the scene inside looked as though ti was paused.
Yet in this fleeting instant, through the darkness, she still caught sight of the shock and panic on the students' faces as they witnessed this massive power outage accident.
"No... No!!"
Her eyes widened, instantly turning red.
Perfect Sakuramiya clutched her chest, lowering her head as if feeling a needle-like sting of heartache.
The High Table Dinner...
It was still ruined...
"Why... Why, President...?"
Looking up, she saw Yan Huan's back view as he walked away, off to search for sothing.
Biting her lip, she finally spoke up to ask.
Hearing her, Yan Huan stopped in his tracks but didn't turn around.
He took a deep breath and said softly,
"It's already over, Perfect Sakuramiya."
"Why... Why do you insist on bringing Hitomi back?! This place is so huge, how long do you think it will take you to find her?!"
"...Even if I can't find her, I will keep looking."
Saying that, Yan Huan still didn't look back; he simply continued walking slowly forward.
Watching Yan Huan's retreating back view, the countless tears welling in Perfect Sakuramiya's eyes finally spilled over.
"Drip..."
"Why... President... Sob... Sob..."
She lowered her head, her delicate hands uncontrollably gripping the soil beneath the flowers as she broke down crying,
"I was clearly so close! Just one step away! Just a little bit more... and I could have made it perfect..."
"Everyone else had already accepted , so why did the President..."
"Why... Why is it always just a little bit short?! Why... Why can't I ever succeed..."
Drop after drop of tears rolled down her cheeks.
At this mont, her words actually held no bla toward Yan Huan for ruining her High Table Dinner.
Instead, she believed that it was her own fault for falling one step short.
She had already made the vast majority of people accept this better version of herself, accept this more perfect self.
Except for the President...
If she could have just reached that final step and achieved true perfection, the President definitely wouldn't have rejected or stopped her.
Then everything that happened today wouldn't have occurred.
But...
No matter how hard she tried, she was always just one step away.
If not the President, it would have been soone else...
"Why... Sob..."
Her tears dripped onto the ground. Accompanied by her gasps and whimpers, they felt like iron chains slowly tangling around Yan Huan's legs.
"I clearly... I just... wanted to do everything in my power to give back the perfection that the President gave ..."
"Just like... that ti we went to see the fireworks..."
"But why..."
Perfect Sakuramiya lowered her head, looking as if she had lost all her strength.
Because just as Yan Huan had said:
Everything was already over.
Hitomi's main body was indeed hiding here.
And once she started adjusting the flow of ti and let others notice their disappearance, the cracks in the High Table Dinner would only grow larger. So, no matter what, she couldn't adjust it.
She couldn't chase Yan Huan away, and Yan Huan would undoubtedly stay here and keep searching for Hitomi.
Therefore, the mont Yan Huan entered her Barrier, she had already lost.
She didn't even know how the President had managed to cause a power outage in a venue covered by her Barrier, nor did she know how Ye Shiyu had broken through the Barrier's power to use Hypnosis on her.
But...
It was all over.
That was why she was crying so helplessly.
"Sob... President, do you... do you really hate
that much? Sob... Sob..."
Perfect Sakuramiya's appearance was the most identical to Hitomi's main body.
Naturally, her voice was the sa as well.
Hearing his beloved cry, the heavily bruised Yan Huan, who was just about to leave, couldn't help but pause.
He lowered his eyes, looking at the pink flower field below that outlined the shape of the wind, and hesitated for a mont.
"Rustle..."
"Sob..."
Perfect Sakuramiya sat in the flower field, covering her face in despair.
But the next second, as the gentle breeze blew past, an unfamiliar floral scent suddenly drifted into her nose.
"..."
She opened her tear-blurred eyes and looked forward, only to see Yan Huan standing in front of her, holding a pink flower.
The next second, Yan Huan gently squatted down, took her hand, and placed the flower into her palm.
Then, he spoke,
"Thinking about it carefully, during the Flower Presentation Dance Invitation at the High Table Dinner, you were the one who gave
a flower. As your dance partner, I haven't yet presented a flower to you to ask for a dance."
"..."
The aning of presenting flowers at the High Table Dinner ball was self-evident.
Thus, gripping the flower in her hand, Perfect Sakuramiya bit her lip as her tears flowed even more profusely,
"Why, President..."
Yan Huan remained squatted in front of her without standing up, rely lowering his eyes as he said,
"How could I hate you, Perfect Sakuramiya?
"Thinking back, honestly, you were the Sakuramiya I first fell in love with.
"From the very beginning when we t, everything you showed
was truly the best, the most graceful, and perfectly matched my beautiful imagination of a woman...
"At that ti, I secretly swore to myself that I definitely had to be with you in the future."
Hearing this, Perfect Sakuramiya's eyes shrank slightly.
Her tears hadn't stopped, and Yan Huan's words weren't finished either. "Although I was startled by your voyeurism back then, looking back now, I should actually be grateful for that ti...
"If it weren't for that, I probably would never have discovered that the real you has so many other sides beyond what I knew.
"You aren't always as elegant as you portray yourself; you also have adorable muttering habits like a little girl...
"You aren't as saintly as you project; you also have normal human desires, experiencing love, hate, joy, and dislike...
"Though I couldn't get used to it at first, I soon felt that this version of you was equally lovely, and much more genuine...
"So what I want to say is, you've misunderstood , Perfect Sakuramiya.
"The reason I stopped you from achieving your goal isn't because I hate you, but precisely because of the emotions I share with every Sakuramiya I've t..."
Saying this, Yan Huan finally looked at Perfect Sakuramiya and softly declared,
"Because I like every Sakuramiya, including you."
"..."
Across the sea of flowers, the wind seed to pick up slightly, blowing so fast it skewed the two lines of clear tears falling down Perfect Sakuramiya's cheeks.
Looking at the stunned Perfect Sakuramiya before him, Yan Huan couldn't help but laugh self-deprecatingly,
"Speaking of which, whenever I think about 'every Sakuramiya liking ,' I truly feel quite ashad...
"Truthfully, before I t Sakuramiya Hitomi, I had never properly liked any girl.
"In the past, I was too cowardly to interact with real won. I could only guess at what they were like through fragnts of text on the internet or stimulating clips in adult videos...
"Therefore, I used to think that girls were either flawless angels or evil, unrestrained demons.
"That is why I cowered so much in front of a flawless you."
Yan Huan counted on his fingers, recounting all his inadequacies and sha,
"If only my family background was a bit better, maybe then I could match your social standing...
"If only I had been a bit braver, then on Liang's birthday that night, I would have been the one to take the initiative, and maybe you wouldn't be like this now...
"If only..."
But before he could finish, Perfect Sakuramiya shook her head,
"That's not true, President, you..."
"You see..."
"Eh?"
Looking at Sakuramiya, who was eagerly trying to make excuses for him, Yan Huan couldn't help but take a deep breath and lower his head,
"Just like you said earlier, you hosted such a grand, perfect High Table Dinner simply because you wanted to pay
back for taking you to see the fireworks that ti...
"But... But that ti, I clearly couldn't even afford the thousands of yuan for the front-row viewing tickets. So, I could only take you to the lake in the nearby park to catch a free glimpse of the fireworks in the sky...
"In my eyes, there were so many things I didn't do right. Yet, in your eyes, that very mont was absolutely perfect..."
Yan Huan slowly tightened his grip on Perfect Sakuramiya's hand, his voice trembling as he spoke,
"Thus, I finally realized... realized the reason for it all:
"It isn't that I'm truly so perfect as to be worthy of every Sakuramiya's love. It isn't that I've handled every situation perfectly, inspiring you to do all this without complaint...
"It's simply because your love for ... added points to my score."
Yan Huan squeezed Perfect Sakuramiya's hand even tighter. As the breeze blew past, it carried away a clear tear from between the two bruised and battered individuals.
"So, Perfect Sakuramiya...
"I want to beg you... please, give the real Hitomi back to ...
"Even though you and I both know she isn't perfect..."
So, following that drop of sincere tear, Yan Huan raised his eyes to look at Perfect Sakuramiya and enunciated every word,
"Let
use my love to walk the rest of the path for you."
"..."
Perfect Sakuramiya, her face stained with tears, gazed at the resolute Yan Huan. In this mont, she was in a daze, seeing her own reflection through Yan Huan's similarly teary eyes.
That version of herself was teary-eyed, clutching the flower helplessly and weakly...
Yet, the President still firmly chose her, as if she were absolutely perfect.
Just like how, in her own eyes right now, the bruised and battered young man was equally beloved, equally perfect.
"...Sob... Sob..."
And so, she seed to finally lower her head in relief.
Perhaps, the mont Perfect Sakuramiya placed that unrejectable Barrier upon her tongue, her true desires had already beco crystal clear...
"Okay, President..."
Imdiately after, she revealed a smile and lowered her head, sobbing quietly.
"Whoosh..."
Then, right in front of Yan Huan, she slowly dissolved into fine dust.
From her hand, the flower that Yan Huan had given her also tumbled to the ground.
"..."
Yan Huan stared in shock as Perfect Sakuramiya turned into drifting ash before his eyes. Just as he was about to make a move...
Suddenly, the scent of flowers overflowed the surroundings.
"Hum..."
Yan Huan blankly turned his head, only to see every single flower in the surrounding sea of flowers defying gravity and floating upward.
Soon after, their shapes slowly twisted in mid-air, ultimately transforming into individual masks.
These flowers... were actually all of Hitomi's deceased Persona Masks?!
Yan Huan widened his eyes, watching the masks fly toward the sky.
At the edge of his field of vision, the sky ford by countless doors began to open, door by door, welcoming the return of each mask.
Only after each mask entered a door did the door slowly close shut.
"Bang..."
"Click..."
For a mont, the sounds of doors opening and closing echoed constantly throughout the entire Barrier.
As the pink blossoms across the endless sea of flowers dwindled, eventually, the very flower Yan Huan had just gifted Perfect Sakuramiya also floated upward...
Imdiately following, it slowly morphed in mid-air into an exceptionally beautiful Fox Mask.
"Hum!"
The Fox Mask hovered in front of Yan Huan for a second, as if gazing nostalgically at his face.
But right after, it didn't linger for long, shooting straight into the sky and entering the very last open door.
With that, all the doors sealed tightly shut, and every mask returned to its heavenly gateway.
"Rumble!!"
The instant the final door closed, the entire Barrier imdiately began to violently shake and quake.
"Ugh!!"
Yan Huan instantly lost his balance, falling hard onto the dirt.
Then, the direction of gravity suddenly shifted, changing from beneath the ground to the direction Yan Huan was facing.
Yan Huan widened his eyes, trying to claw at the dirt beneath him.
But gravity could not be defied, so he watched helplessly as he slid forward.
However, his gaze remained locked on the sky above, filled with variously colored doors.
He didn't know if it was an illusion, but that sky...
Appeared to be getting smaller and smaller in his eyes?!
Or rather...
Was he getting bigger?!
Yan Huan had no idea. He only watched as the sky seed to draw further away, yet simultaneously closer.
It wasn't until dozens of seconds later that the full panorama of the sky clearly presented itself before Yan Huan.
"This is..."
He stared wide-eyed, finally realizing that as the boundless sky shrank, it actually turned into a wardrobe's sliding door!!
And every differently colored door that made up the sky he had seen earlier was actually just a single pixel of this sliding door?!
Together, they ford this door that kept Hitomi locked away...
Just like how all the Persona Masks together made up the young girl trapped inside.
"..."
At this mont, Yan Huan slowly landed, his feet lightly touching down on the wooden floor in front of the sliding door.
He stood within a silent, empty, and antique Sakura Country room.
And this place looked exactly like the one he had dread of.
Yan Huan blankly stared at the tightly shut sliding door of the wardrobe before shifting his gaze down, only then noticing...
The bottom of the sliding doors was jamd diagonally by a wooden sword, placed by an unknown person.
Because of this, it was impossible to open the wardrobe from the inside, no matter what.
"..."
Looking at the sealed wardrobe, for so reason, an intense pang of sadness suddenly gripped Yan Huan.
Unable to hold back any longer, he stepped forward, grabbed the wooden sword wedged in the sliding doors, pulled it out, and tossed it onto the ground nearby.
"Clack..."
With a soft clack, the tightly shut wardrobe door was finally slid open by Yan Huan.
The air inside was stiflingly hot, and the space was cramped.
Inside, a girl with long hair that faded from black to cherry blossom pink was curled up on the second shelf of the wardrobe.
Feeling the door open, the girl inside trembled slightly. As if terrified the incor would hit her, she hurriedly covered her head,
"Wu..."
Seeing this, Yan Huan gritted his teeth.
Imdiately, he inched closer to the wardrobe.
Without touching the girl, he rely said softly,
"Hitomi... It's , Yan Huan."
"!!"
Hearing this, the girl froze slightly, then quickly raised her head to look at Yan Huan.
She seed to have had a very long dream.
In her eyes rested the mories of every Sakuramiya from this period of ti.
The Sakuramiya who hunted down others, the Sakuramiyas who were killed...
They were all her.
Just as Mama Sakuramiya had said:
Every Sakuramiya was Hitomi.
"Sob..."
The mont she saw Yan Huan, she bit her lip as tears instantly stread down her face.
She hastily lunged forward, tightly hugging the Yan Huan in front of her,
"I'm sorry... I'm so sorry, President..."
"..."
Yan Huan hugged her delicate, petite fra tightly, gently patting her back as if trying to bury her completely into his embrace,
"It's okay, Hitomi... It's okay. Everything is over."
But she was still highly emotional, her face covered in tears,
"I didn't know... that touching that mask would turn out like this... Sob... Making you, President, constantly fall into danger and trouble... Even the High Table Dinner was... was completely ruined because you tried to save ..."
"It's okay now... It's okay..."
"I'm sorry... I'm so sorry, President..."
Yan Huan hugged her tightly. Then, he lowered his head and reached out a finger to wipe the teardrops from her small face.
Looking at her wronged and fragile appearance, Yan Huan couldn't help but laugh involuntarily,
"Who said the High Table Dinner was ruined?"
"Eh?"
Afterward, he gently reached a hand into his jacket.
The next second, he pulled out a real hydrangea flower.
It seed this flower had been hidden inside his suit jacket from the very beginning.
"...Sorry, it's a bit wrinkled."
He slowly reached out and tidied up the slightly crushed and wrinkled petals of the hydrangea.
Then, he handed the flower to the tearful Sakuramiya.
"..."
Gazing at the flower held so close to her, Sakuramiya Hitomi hurriedly shifted her eyes to look at Yan Huan.
With a faint smile, he offered a soft invitation,
"Let's leave this place, Hitomi."
"But... But..."
Looking at Sakuramiya Hitomi, who had turned into a little crybaby, Yan Huan picked up her petite form, turned around, and stepped away from the cramped wardrobe.
The stifling air inside the wardrobe faded into the past; outside, there was only the gentle breeze, sunlight, and Yan Huan's smile.
Holding the petite young girl, he spun her around once inside the Barrier that was slowly making crackling sounds...
Following that, Yan Huan gently set her down on the ground.
"Having slept for so long, can you still stand up right now?"
Yan Huan watched closely as her bare feet slowly pressed against the wooden floorboards, asking this.
"...Mhm."
Although Sakuramiya Hitomi was confused, she still looked up at him.
"Use the Barrier to change into a ball gown, okay? Mhm... it would be best if you changed
into a new outfit too..."
Yan Huan smiled faintly, looking down at his own torn and tattered high-end suit.
Imdiately, he looked back at Sakuramiya Hitomi in his arms and said softly,
"Because... we still have a dance to finish, Hitomi~"
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