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lilac-melody · 2 years ago

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Misao Novel Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I’m not a professional translator, keep my translations in mind with a grain of salt

Masterlist here

After Aki left the library, she made the decision to head to the staff room first.

“Why are you acting all high and mighty?” Yoshino complained.

“Do I really seem like I am?”

“Well, you already decided on where you wanna go, right?”

"Before we found Shirai-kun, we had originally talked about going to the staff room. Besides, even if we were to look for Misao-chan, we have very few clues. First of all, we need information, and if we go to the staff room, there might be documents related to Misao-chan.”

Yoshino snorted in dissatisfaction. She didn’t seem to like her suggestion, or the staff room anyway.

“Besides, I already agreed to look for Misao-chan. If you don’t have any other good ideas, then don’t complain.”

Yoshino followed Aki after that, clicking her tongue in annoyance.

They walked very slowly, being cautious of the area. Onigawara had said that evil spirits were lurking, even if you couldn’t see them.

Saotome anxiously clung to Tohma.

“There’s a lot of suspicious things going on, but if someone tries to come out, I’ll protect you, Otome.” Tohma tapped the metal bat he’d found in a locker against his hand.

“Yaaaah, Tohma protect me if an evil spirit pops out!”

“Of course.” Tohma wrapped an arm around her.

“Hey, Aki?” Ayaka had been weary earlier, but after being in the library, she seemed strangely okay. “What did you think of Onigawara-san?”

“Hm...I think he was really mysterious, but I feel like we can trust him, even though this isn’t a normal situation.” She recalled Onigawara’s story.

“That’s not what I meant!”

“...?”

“Sure, he was bald...but don’t you think he was pretty handsome? And I loved his mysterious atmosphere~! ♡“

...Oh. That.

So that’s why Ayaka was doing better.

"I thought Ayaka liked Kurata-sensei?”

“Eh, I do love Kurata-sensei. But that aside, Onigawara-san is really nice too!”

“Ha...”

“I wonder where Kurata-sensei is now?” Kudoh looked worried.

“If what Onigawara-san said is correct, I think they are having a normal class.”

The actual time was not known because neither the wall clock nor the cell phone clock was moving. The most important thing to remember is that the time is not the same as it used to be after the earthquake. Aki wondered if this is also a result of the world, and what time it was.

“Oh, that crack is big...”

Aki stopped at the first floor in front of the staff room. Tohma had noticed a crack in the corridor, which was wider than the others. It seemed to be about 5cm wide.

“I hope the building doesn’t collapse...” Kudoh said in a slightly ominous tone.

“Cracks and crevices like this make me want to throw the trash away," Tohma said with a laugh.

“Huh?” Kudoh frowned.

“Don’t you like to squeeze garbage between cracks?”

“Ah, I do it.” Yoshino said.

“...I don’t do that.”

“I’m gonna do something~” Tohma picked up some concrete and glass fragments that were lying around into the cracks.

“Tohma, you shouldn’t be doing such things.” Aki said.

“There’s nothing wrong with it.”

At that moment, Saotome screamed. “Kyaaaah!”

“O-oi, Otome! Don’t startle me!”

“L-look..! O-over there..!” Saotome trembled while pointing at the crack that Tohma had tossed the garbage in.

“Hm?” Tohma looked suspicious.

“It’s looking at you!” Saotome screamed.

Tohma looked at the cracks again. He seemed to notice it then, and let out a scream, dropping the baseball bat.

From the dark depths of the cracks, the eyes turned and looked at Aki.

The cracks were only about 5cm but there seemed to definitely be someone there.

“Wh-what is that thing?!”

That was when the evil spirit came out of the cracks. When it came out, both of the shoulders popped free, and the evil spirit bent its arms and put its hands on the corridor. It was also barefoot. They could all hear the sound of the cracks being split apart. The other foot then began to appear as well before the evil spirit slowly stood up. She was wearing a long dress and was tall and blue. Her skin was pale, with a dreary face and long black hair and a slightly toned body.

She was skinny, but she was definitely the size of a regular person. Aki couldn’t imagine she could fit through such a narrow crack.

The spirit slowly approached Tohma, with there being only a faint pitter patter of footsteps.

“Kaaah! Don’t come any closer!!” Tohma fell on his butt and scooted backwards until his back was against the wall of the hallway.

The spirit continued onward, closing the distance between the two.

“Why are you here?! Did I do something to you?! Go away!”

At this point, Aki wasn’t even sure if the spirit was intelligent enough to listen.

“W-wait, Misao! Misao, did you order this monster after me?! Y-you liked me, right?! Then stop! Stop it!”

Again, there was no reaction from the spirit. When it got close to Tohma’s face, it raised a hand and swung it down towards Tohma.

“Aaaaaah!!” Tohma flinched out of the way of the evil spirit’s arm, just as the spirit’s hand slammed into the wall where Tohma had been. There was a loud sound.

It had looked like the spirit had casually swung it’s arm down, but it’s fist got stuck in the wall, and cracks radiated from where the fist had landed. The impact had smashed the evil spirit’s hand into pieces, and body fluids splattered everywhere.

“W-waaaah!!”

“Tohma!” Saotome shouted. But she, like everyone else, were all on their knees and couldn’t just jump in to help. They had no idea what to do with such a monster who could do so much damage.

Aki recalled what Onigawara had said earlier.

“It’s a human, isn’t it?”

“Eh..?” Aki didn’t look at Ayaka.

“It’s an evil spiit but it looks like a human...but it’s not, right?”

“Right...then there’s no problem with this. And if it’s a mistake, then it’s not my fault, it’d be Onigawara-san’s,” Aki muttered to herself to justify her next actions. She picked up the bat that Tohma had dropped. It was probably the first time in her life that she’d ever held a metal bat. It was heavier than she thought.

Despite that, she felt she could get used to it.

The evil spirit raised its crushed hand to swing down on Tohma again, blood staining its white dress.

Bat in hand, Aki stood behind the evil spirit.

“Everyone, get back!” Aki warned, and after a few seconds, she hit the evil spirit over the head with the bat. There was a dull echo of a slap.

It was noisy and disgusting. She could feel the soft feeling of crushing flesh and the hard feeling of crushing bones, the two mixing unpleasantly.

The evil spirit staggered and fell to the ground, spurting body fluids all around. However, it continued to try to move towards Tohma.

“I have to do it again?” Aki gasped to herself. There was no helping it. She obviously couldn’t knock it out with one hit, so she had to do it again. And if that didn’t work...

Well...

She hit it again, and again, as many times as she had to, until it stopped moving. Her limbs were sore after the fifth hit, but she kept hitting it anyway. Right on the evil spirit’s head. It was writhing as if it were a caught fish.

Halfway through, she forgot what she was even doing. It didn’t matter if the evil spirit was trying to get up or not, she just kept bringing the bat down on its head as if she’d been propelled to do so, over and over again.

Before long, she finally managed to stop. She turned to where Tohma had been to ask him if he was alright, but he wasn’t there anymore. She looked to her left, then to her right, finding that he was about ten meters away.

“You’re in a place like that...” Aki walked over to him and finally asked him, “are you alright?”

Tohma stared up at her, looking absolutely terrified for some reason. He blinked, and then spoke up. “Yeah. Thanks.”

“You shouldn’t be so careless,” Aki said, glancing over at the crack where the spirit had come from.

“One wouldn’t think that they can come out from a crack like that...” Kudoh said thoughtfully.

“Should we try to seal it up or something?” Aki looked back over at Tohma, who was slowly standing up now, staring down.

“Even though I told Saotome earlier that I’ll protect her...”

Aki couldn’t catch the last of whatever Tohma had muttered to himself.

#narukami aki #kazuki yoshino #mamoru kudoh #yuuki tohma #haruna saotome #kisaragi ayaka #misao (game)#misao (novel)#lisians translations

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dogs-over-people · 3 years ago

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Takahashi is one to have pretty regular heights* for her characters whom are mostly Asian, so when sessrinners who claim to be accepting and calling all antis white sjws while proving again and again that they know basically nothing about Japan (when for example saying that everyone there likes lolicon when it's the reason why anime otaku there are looked down upon) or Asians.

They kind of remind me of the writer(s?) of Tall Girl, where they pretend this white 180cm girl has gigantism (I have two cousins and a friend who are about that tall, my brother being just as tall and my father just 5cm taller (I'm 170cm, and my mother 165cm). She's tall for a girl yes, but gigantism for women starts at 190cm. 148cm or less in general across the world is a child or someone with dwarfism, but then she would've had hips and a proper chest.

Sessrinners are a negative stereotype of anime fans world over, but as many of them are women they believe it to be pure or some shit. Doing something bad is bad regardless of gender.

(*for example Ranma is apparently of normal height as a guy, Japanese normal height for a guy is about 165cm right? His female form is about half a head shorter, a regular female head is apparently about 19.8cm tall, so we take half of that away, so female Ranma is about 155cm which after what I understand is around average Asian woman height. The French character introduced later, Picolet Chardin II, blond and blue eyed aside, is a little over a head taller than female Ranma, so about 175cm. According to Wikipedia is average French adult man height about 175.6 cm. You can say a lot about Takahashi, but she knows her heights!)

I’m an incompetent American who uses inches to measure height, so I’ll take your word for it 😂 As for all antis being white, well, that’s just offensive. I’m Chinese American, not white. Most antis I know aren’t white, but why should race even matter when we’re concerned about problematic content in a kid’s show?

#nons #anti sessrin #anti Yashahime

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dolldepository · 3 years ago

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Dollmakers around the world: NuniDolls

As this is a doll resource blog, I think it's a good idea to compile doll artisans and dollmakers by country. It allows easy access and helps smaller professional artists in the community. If you want to be featured, please send an ask with some contact info and a link to your work.

That said, I want to make my first post about NuniDolls.

Nuria, owner of NuniDolls is an art doll maker from Mallorca (Spain) that moved onto creating resin dolls of her own design after having a try at doll customizing with Monster High dolls. She created them with the idea of a posable doll that was meant to be customized and displayed like a little work of art, that didn't require removal of industrial face paint nor rooted hair.

(ATTENTION DOLL NUDlTY AHEAD)

NuniDolls uses eco-friendly resin and fabrics with Majorcan patterns and straw-soled shoes that are traditional there. Her dolls are 35cm tall, double-jointed, with 5cm*2cm feet (equivalent to 1/6) and a 1/4 head (work with 18-19 cm wigs) and come in several skin tones and two main body types: "regular" and "pregnant", which is a design I haven't seen a lot among BJDs. The face is wide, with a lot of space for the eyes and can be modified by the means of sanding or adding volume (think epoxy resin).

All the bodies are strung with elastic cord and the head is closed. They can wear wigs and you can change the face features by painting (that's what the artist made them for: to be customized). And if art isn't your forte, the artist can customize them as well from faceup to clothes.

Here you can see the unboxing of two of them in English.

And a collab with a Spanish youtuber who received a Card Captor Sakura and a blue ready-to-dress custom dolls.

Price range: Low (compared to other bjd companies that make dolls of similar size and materials)

Her blank doll with normal body and white, beige, chocolate and sky blue skin costs 50€, fully customised costs about 130€

A blank, pregnant doll in any of the skintones mentioned is 60€ and fully customised it fetches a price of about 150€

Other special dolls she puts up for sale fully customized, such as her mermaid doll or her Sally doll, have a different range of price.

Dolls are made-to-order and take a few days to be made and delivered, so be mindful of that when purchasing!

For purchasing her dolls you can go to her ETSY shop and you can see more of her designs on INSTAGRAM. Her webpage is still a WIP but you can access it HERE.

#bjd #bjd artist #bjd spain #nunidolls #dollmaker #bjd españa #dollmakers around the world #doll resources #doll artisan #art dolls #bjd diy #bjd community

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alecatmew · 3 years ago

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Build Log: Splatoon RGB Lights - Part 1

It’s been a while since I’ve done a build blog so please indulge the wordiness here.

This is part 1 – covering the creative decisions (both planned and spontaneous) made when assembling this Splatoon-inspired lamp.

Originally tweeted by Alethea Lim (@alecatmew) on November 29, 2021.

Concept

I’ve had this idea bouncing in the back of my head for yeeeears – ever since I saw this line in the depths of Ikalog:

# IkaOutput_Hue: "Cameleon" Phillips Hue Lights.

Phillips Hue? Huh? Like… the smart lights? Does this code push colour updates to smart lights?

def light_team_color(self, context): ... team1 = context['game']['team_color_bgr'][0] team2 = context['game']['team_color_bgr'][1] c1 = self.rgb2xy(team1[2], team1[1], team1[0]) c2 = self.rgb2xy(team2[2], team2[1], team2[0]) self.hue_bridge.lights(1, 'state', xy=c1, bri=255, sat=255) self.hue_bridge.lights(2, 'state', xy=c2, bri=255, sat=255)

Oh yes, yes it does.

At the time, I was running Splatoon LAN events and I thought to myself…

What if… I made squid-shaped lights to match the player icons that appear at the top of the screen during gameplay?

What if… I also combined it with the uptime tracking code in Ikalog to dynamically change the status of each light based on whether a player was active or splatted?

Then at a LAN, we could have a light stationed in front of each player to emphasise what was happening to them throughout the game!

Then I did nothing with the idea. Every few months I’d longingly watch DIY RGB panel videos on YouTube before getting stuck on deciding how ambitious to make the build and then moving onto something else.

Motivation

When Splatoon 2 came out it set the idea back a bit. Ikalog didn’t receive any updates beyond the Splatoon 2 testfire. In particular, the code to track player uptime in Splatoon 2 needed some creative problem solving; the icons change size based on the game state, making it harder to get a lock on them to determine their correct state. In September last year I did get a version of the tracking working. (I might write a separate blog post about some of this?)

Gamestate graphs generated from Ikalog code, modified for Splatoon 2. Originally tweeted by @alecatmew on June 30, 2021.

Somewhere in my brain, the Splatoon RGB Light project itched, but it wasn’t strong enough to pull me away from the other projects I was tinkering with at the time. I wasn’t going to be at any LANs for the foreseeable future, so was there any point?

Then, a year later, my dad was working on some lamps of his own – beautiful, intricate wood-carved pieces. I took the opportunity to throw together a nightlight to use with his LEDs.

Originally tweeted by @alecatmew on August 24, 2021.

I literally did the designs for the nightlight on the bus, and had it cut and assembled within an hour of getting home.

It was so simple and effective that I got thinking again about the Splatoon light panels. Even if I didn’t get the gameplay integration working, they were going to look cool on their own!

Lamp Design

Before making 8 (or 16, to include Octolings) light panels, I thought I’d start by making a single freestanding lamp, to test the light transmission and generally get a feel for the components involved.

What is a light box made up of? It’s simply a light source with a diffuser. A little distance between the light source and the diffusing material allows the light to have an even glow.

My original mockups for the lamp was a double-shelled container. The RGB light strip would run around the inner perimeter and then pass into another light-blocked area for the eyes, and the space between the two shells would provide room for electronics to be hidden. I ordered a 1m length of WS2812 lights as the light source.

While I have a laser cutter that allows me to cut pieces to accurate size, this design required curved shapes. I contacted 3D Prototypes And Models and Dan quoted >$100 for the printing. The large perimeters being printed up to 5cm tall resulted in an estimated 14 hour print job.

“Ok,” I thought, “I’ll drop the walls to 4cm. I’m willing to pay for one print, maybe I’ll just make the one lamp and end the project there.”

But then I started mocking up how the lamp would look and it felt… too small. I scaled up the design as far as I could to use the full meter of the LED strip. Well now it’s gonna cost even more to 3D print the shell and might be too large for the 3D printers available (not really, but I was starting to look for an excuse to not spend the money on 3D printing when the end goal was to make a number of these things).

Plus, Dan advised that the honeycomb structure of the 3D print would likely show through any illumination from inside the lamp. It was time to tackle things differently…

Acrylic Bending

I have been wanting to experiment with acrylic bending for a while, but the right opportunity hadn’t presented itself. I hadn’t seriously considered it for this project because it seemed too cumbersome to try to accurately bend the pieces. But then I found this video, where the side walls of acrylic lettering was hand-shaped using a heat gun, and I realised this was pretty similar to what I would be trying to achieve.

youtube

I asked to borrow my mum’s heat gun, but while waiting for her to dig it up I also had thoughts about making a DIY acrylic bender, or maybe heating up the acrylic in an oven.

Side Story: Toaster Oven

I had a toaster oven that I’d bought second hand to bake polymer clays in (I bought the oven from an older lady named Alethia who did a double take when I responded to her Gumtree post). But after just a few projects the oven had gone unused. So after many years, when I decided I wanted to use it to bend acrylic, I plugged it in and… it tripped the safety breakers in our house.

Tried again, tripped again.

Ok so the toaster oven is bust. Or is it?

I Googled and… there was the suggestion that maybe moisture had built up in the ceramic heating elements, and this was leading to ground leakage. Suggestions to dry them out? Use a hot air gun (still didn’t have mum’s on hand yet) or run it without RCD protection so that it would self-heat and dry.

I looked at the “No RCD” switch under my stove and decided – yeah nah, I better have someone with a little more expertise take a look. After all, did I really want to trust Dr Google with this diagnosis?

So I ended up at the Adelaide Repair Cafe, hosted by Makerspace Adelaide. The lovely folks there helped me to disassemble the toaster oven, to validate that ground leakage was indeed the problem, and to check for any internal corrosion or damage.

One of them did suggest the moisture issue with the elements – based on his own experience of working in physics labs where the equipment would regularly have these issues after going unused for periods of time. So we ran the toaster oven without ground protection and after about 15 minutes it was good to go.

Repair Cafes are great. A fantastic free service to breathe new life into things to save them from landfill – I was so delighted I volunteered to help at their future monthly events.

With that little Sunday afternoon adventure done, it was time to create the full squid assembly!

Structure

By now I’d been able to experiment with the RGB strip and the front and back plates of the lamp.

The plates are made from frosted and black acrylic. The black outline has been modified slightly from the original Squid design to allow for the lamp to rest on the tentacles without tipping to the side.

When cutting the frosted acrylic, I kiss-cut the outlines of where the black would be glued, so that I could find the right positions to place them. By weeding out only the areas where the black will be glued, it also reduces the risk of the frosted acrylic being damaged or marked during gluing and other construction steps.

By cutting the eye shape out of the middle of the frosted sheet it leaves a gap that can snugly hold a piece of cardboard. This cardboard serves a few different roles. Firstly, it is the mount point for the white LEDs that will illuminate the eye area. It also blocks the light that white light from blending into the rest of the lamp, and vice versa – keeping the coloured lights from bleeding into the eye area.

Because the cardboard is a tight fit, the two two faceplates can be held together by the cardboard only – and without any of the outer frame being added. Even in the final version of the lamp, I leave one faceplate unglued for easy future opening of the lamp.

This first mock-up of the barrier around the eyes is a bit messy, but for the final version I bent the cardboard along the grain so the curves came out nicer. The edges are also covered in tape to help with fitting into the gap in the frosted acrylic.

Originally tweeted by @alecatmew on November 27, 2021.

After recording the above video, I decided that I could also put the coloured lights on outside surface of the cardboard wall. This meant that I no longer needed the shell to hold the light strip, and with the light being directed outwards… why not allow it to also shine through the outer walls?

So my plan of bending 2mm black acrylic – which would be both easier to bend because of its thickness and (maybe) also because its colour would more easily absorb the heat – became a plan to bend 2mm white acrylic. But that didn’t transmit the light to my satisfaction.

The 3mm frosted (same as the front and back panels) became the goal. I decided to bend the acrylic in 4 segments, to avoid sharp corners. One for the ^ of the squid head, one for each of the sides, and a single curved piece on the base of the lamp, avoiding the pointedness of the individual tentacles.

Forming the Plastic

I made jigs to help form the heated acrylic. My first attempts to bend the acrylic over a jig didn’t work out well because the my gloved hands had trouble guiding the acrylic into the right position. So I added walls to the jig to hold the acrylic. I also added a guide to align the top piece into the bottom piece when pressing the halves together.

For the smaller pieces, I placed the bottom piece in the oven together with the acrylic piece to heat together. Annoyingly, this would affect the fit of my MDF pieces – the MDF would change shape in the heat and the joins would go loose. But other than this, the jigs were pretty effective – provided the acrylic was able to get soft enough. (“Soft enough” seemed to roughly correspond with “when the assembly appears to be smoking” but I need to find a better metric because fire and noxious fumes = bad).

The large piece over the squid head was a pain because it was too large to fit in the oven. I heated it from the ends with the oven door open and slowly it was able to bend enough for me to fit the whole thing in. A light etch in the middle of the piece allowed me to align it correctly with the jig.

The pieces aren’t bent perfectly, but they’re good enough. I glued them to one of the faceplates and the basic lamp is done!

Circuitry & Software

My LED controller software is wled – run on a Wemos D1 Mini, an ESP8266 board.

wled’s built-in colour palettes and effects are perfect for this use case, and it has a JSON API that I can use push updates from IkaLog if I ever get that integration going.

I chose a 5V LED light strip so that I could run the D1 on the same power source. The lights use 18W per meter and the plan was to use 1m per squid so I sourced a 5V 4A power supply. I didn’t use any logic shifter or resistor in my circuit… probably should, though.

I forgot the data line on the LED strip is directional when I did my first cut-up-and-resolder – which I could have gotten away with without realising if I’d happened to get it right.

The socket fitting was mounted low and centrally, so that the wires coming off it would not be visible through the frosted acrylic. The hole for the socket was cut after the acrylic was bent, and I cut a clear “washer” to affix it to. The end result is a socket that sits nice and flush with the wall!

Unfortunately, in the process of doing the final wiring and soldering… this happened.

Can you tell what the problem is? When trying to buy a bit more space to move the parts around, I unfastened this nut. Then once everything was reassembled I forgot to screw it back, and with the power plugged in the nut created a short circuit.

I fried most of my LEDs from this mishap. I salvaged a few unused ones and hey the lamp still looks… ok with partial lighting, but that’s the reason why the photos at the top of this post have a dark patch across one side.

In The Next Episode…

Thoughts for future builds:

Maybe I don’t need that extra loop of LEDs for extra brightness, it actually looks passable with only 12 LEDs (apart from the missing corner). Plus the original idea behind using three loops was so that I could provide data from either end – but that’s moot when the data line is directional.

I need to find a way to make the wire connections without needing to permanently solder things down. Manoeuvring in limited space when everything is stuck together is a pain. Even when we took apart the toaster oven, those connectors had slide on terminals… maybe I need to do the same. So spade connectors, LED strip coupling and header pins on the D1…?

To do the full 4v4 team light panel build, I think I’ll move to a 12V LED strip so that I can chain multiple panels off the same power supply. Using 12V LED strips will require extra components to step down the 12V that will power the LEDs to 5V for the the D1, as well as a logic shifter to convert the 3.3V data line to 5V (I’m getting away without a logic shifter for the 5V LED strip but it sounds like one will be needed for a 12V strip.)

Oh gosh if I do want to get that game integration working I should probably work on that code now before any Splatoon 3 footage appears and affects my motivation again…

"Build Log: Splatoon RGB Lights – Part 1" was originally published on Proairesis

#lamp #leds #splatoon

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tiramisiyu · 4 years ago

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【未定事件簿】 Tears of Themis: 【完美营救】 Xia Yan’s Perfect Rescue Date Translation

Translation Masterlist | Xia Yan Masterlist

Video

The highlight of this date is that we get to see a sliver of Xia Yan’s mysterious military training~ It’s also fairly early in the plot (before Chapter 5).

PART 1

Military Simulation Game Base Entrance

On the weekend, Xia Yan and I rushed early over to the newly-opened military simulation game base in Stellis City, but there was already a long line at the doorway.

MC: It’s just a typical weekend, yet there’s so many people…

Xia Yan: Of course a newly-opened business would be so popular. Plus, they claim that their guns and bullets all use the newest technology, and it feels even more realistic. Just based on this, Stellis City’s military simulation hobbyists would definitely rush over to participate.

Xia Yan: Plus, they’ve also designed lots of new game setups. Right, have you decided which setup to play?

MC: About this…

I held the flyer, flipping back and forth to consider the instructions for the various kinds of setups.

MC: I feel like we should go for “Treasure Map”.

Xia Yan: “Treasure Map”?

Xia Yan sidled up to me, reading the activity rules from the flyer in my hand.

Xia Yan: “Two to four people per team. Maximum number of teams per competition is ten. Each team carries a piece of the treasure map. Collect the ten pieces to learn of the exact location of the treasure. The team that arrives at the location of the treasure within the established time wins.”

Xia Yan: “P.S. The map pieces are installed with signal trackers. Each team gets one positioning device. Fifteen minutes after the competition starts, the coordinates of the map pieces will show on the positioning device.”

Xia Yan: Mm… so it also means that whoever has the map pieces will become a living target… A setup that requires some very sophisticated tactics. So it turns out that you like this kind of stuff.

MC: It’s not that I like it – it was just process of elimination.

Xia Yan: Ah?

MC: You said it too – this attracted a lot of military simulation hobbyists. We’re only two people. If we participated in the other game setups, we’d have to group up with others.

MC: It’s the first time I’m playing this. I’ll definitely hold back those veteran player teams… But, if I team up with you…

MC: You. Definitely. Won’t. Cold. Shoulder. Me. Right?

Xia Yan: Of course I won’t! I was afraid of not being able to team up with you!

As we spoke, the line had already reached Xia Yan and me. We split up, heading to different changerooms to put on our combat equipment.

Military Simulation Game Base

After we changed into the camouflage clothes, I arrived at the competition ground’s start point. Xia Yan was already waiting there, having just finished testing the guns and was adjusting the magazine.

He stood there, his body backlit. Maybe it was because his body was covered in the camouflage clothes that I kept feeling like he drew a contrast, looking abnormally serious, making me feel somewhat unfamiliar with him.

But Xia Yan quickly turned around, following my footsteps. His face instantly lit up again with the usual smile, filled with warmth. However, his eyes swept over my body once, his eyebrows pressing together again.

MC: What’s the matter?

Xia Yan: Your bulletproof vest is too loose.

MC: It shouldn’t be a big deal – it’s not a real battle.

Xia Yan: That won’t do. I just looked – the simulation level of the guns is quite high. Though the bullets are paint bullets, it’ll hurt a lot if you’re hit.

MC: … I understand, but this bulletproof vest’s side waistbelt is really hard to fasten.

Xia Yan: I’ll help you.

Xia Yan walked up beside me, helping me arrange my waistbelt again. I stood straight, following Xia Yan’s instructions, slowed my breathing. With this, he adjusted it to the measurements most suitable for me.

Xia Yan lowered his head slightly. The sun shone on his face, his coral pupils shining even more clearly. A warm breath blew right on my neck, making it tickle a little. I suddenly remembered when we were in high school – he would also often help me get out my hair when it was stuck in the backpack zipper, like this.

Back then, when I stood beside him, our difference in height wasn’t this large…

I turned my head, wanting to look at how Xia Yan was fastening the waistbelt, not realizing that the bangs in front of my forehead would brush past his lips. Xia Yan abruptly lurched backwards.

Xia Yan: W-what’s the matter? Did I strap it too tight?

MC: No no, I just wanted to learn how to do it from you.

Xia Yan: O-oh… okay.

Xia Yan came up close again. I didn’t know if it had to do with me startling him just now, but I felt like his breath on my face seemed to be somewhat chaotic.

Xia Yan: Aside from adjusting the positioning above and under, where the sides link up, you have to ensure that they overlap by at least 5cm. Only then will it create effective protection.

MC: Got it! I’ll try the other side myself!

I finished up the other side very quickly.

MC: Hehe, now I won’t have to bother you every time!

Xia Yan: Not at all, it’s not a bother… It’s no problem if I help you every time…

MC: What did you say? Raise your voice a little.

Xia Yan: N-nothing.

Right then, the members of the other teams arrived successively at the starting point. The competition had started.

PART 2

Military Simulation Game Base

After the competition started, the ten teams left the starting point in different directions. And I followed Xia Yan, doing our utmost to quickly put a large distance between the starting point, as well as the other teams.

Xia Yan: Stop. This distance is just about good. Let’s end off here for now.

MC: Here? Won’t it be safer to run a bit farther?

Xia Yan: Right now, we still don’t have an understanding on how the other teams are positioned. Running far won’t necessarily be an advantage.

MC: You’re right. Rather than running around blindly, we might as well use the remaining time to make preparations to face attacks.

I took out the positioning device allocated to Xia Yan and me.

According to the rules, it would show the exact locations of the ten map pieces fifteen minutes from the start of the competition, or five minutes from now.

MC: Say, should we hide the map piece first? And then ambush them from the other side? Like you said, we don’t have an understanding of the other team’s positions. If the opponents just happen to be nearby, wouldn’t that be very dangerous?

Xia Yan: Mm, as expected of my Watson. That’s also what I was thinking!

Xia Yan and I rapidly hid the map piece in a tree hollow, then retreated, hiding behind the nearby bushes. Five minutes later, a quiet notification alarm sounded successively from within the positioning device’s earphones. The coordinates of the map pieces appeared on the positioning device.

Xia Yan: The numbers on here represent the numbers of the map pieces. The location of the “6” is the location where we hid the map piece. Most of the teams are fairly far from us – if they want to rush over, it’ll be quite a while.

MC: As of now, the ones closest to us are Team 1 and Team 2. But compared to us, Teams 3 and 4 are closer to them.

Xia Yan: Mm, and there aren’t any terrain obstacles between them and Teams 3 and 4. It would be very easy for them to launch a sneak attack.

MC: So it looks like we should be safe for now. At least, we’ll be able to smoothly avoid the first wave of fights!

Xia Yan: If we simply judge based on geographical position, that would be the case.

I heard Xia Yan’s unspoken words in what he said.

MC: You mean, if we connect it to other factors, we’re not safe? Could it be that… we’re on the verge of becoming the first targets of some teams?

Xia Yan: You should say that we’re the first targets of two teams.

MC: Why—

I hadn’t finished speaking when I immediately reacted in realization, remembering the gun-testing time at the starting point.

[Flashback]

After Xia Yan helped me wear my bulletproof vest properly, the other teams’ competitors successively arrived. I didn’t know if it was my misperception, but after those people wore their combat gear, their figures seemed to become even taller and stronger.

They successively lifted their guns, starting to test their guns by using different trees as targets.

MC: This is a good chance! Quick, check out their strength!

After a barrage of gunshot sounds, most of the tree trunks didn’t have the slightest injury to them. Instead, the ground was dyed in multiple colours by the paint bullets.

MC: Eh? The difference in ability isn’t as large as I expected.

Xia Yan shook his head. His gaze swept over the people before us successively.

Xia Yan: Their gun-holding postures are very experienced. It’s just that the guns and bullets here are new products, and they haven’t adjusted yet. But they can be counted as veterans, since they’re able to adjust the shooting angle based on the deviations of the bullets. The leftmost group’s adjustment speed is pretty fast – they should be the most skilled within this group.

[Flashback end]

At the time, I was only able to focus on the opponents’ shooting skill, so I even ignored the most basic point – number of people.

Xia Yan: Those six teams all have four people participating. We’re heavily outnumbered, and they must feel that we’re the easiest to face off against.

MC: It’s not just that…

I thought back on the competitors’ shooting skills and their tall, strong figures.

MC: I’m afraid that, from their point of view… my fighting power is only within the decimals. If we round from the decimal, we’re a one-man team. With such a good opportunity, of course they’ll head towards us for a fight first.

Xia Yan: What decimals – we’re not a one-man team!

MC: Alright, I know you’re taking my pride into account when you didn’t lay this fact bare. I’ve mentally prepared – though I do indeed want to shout “Don’t underestimate me” right now… as a lawyer, I’m well aware of whether something is just slander or objective truth…

Life isn’t an anime. Shouting catchphrases won’t increase my fighting strength – I had to stay reasonable.

MC: …

MC: But this is too outrageous!

>I’m not gonna be rid of so easily! >Even if we lose, I’ll still give it my all!

MC: Either way! I’m not gonna be rid of so easily! Even if I can’t hold them back, I’ll still be a stumbling stone. I’ll ruthlessly make them fall!

Xia Yan: I just knew that you wouldn’t easily admit defeat.

>I’m not gonna be rid of so easily! >Even if we lose, I’ll still give it my all!

MC: Hmph, even if we lose in the end, I’ll still give it my all! Don’t even think about defeating us so easily!

Xia Yan: Regardless of how the results are, one should always give it their all. You really haven’t changed at all in these years.

Xia Yan: Don’t worry! This is our first military simulation game, after all – not only do we have to win, we also have to win in a way that’s super memorable!

Xia Yan looked relaxed, his tone bringing a kind of confidence that sounded like he had it all under absolute control.

MC: Have you thought of some good plan?

Xia Yan: No need for it to be that complicated. It’s enough to just counter every move.

MC: Really? There are two teams coming, though.

Xia Yan: They’re just typical players. If I were to set up an ambush that carefully, that would be way too much overkill.

It took me a while to understand his meaning.

MC: I don’t even know how to roast you right now… Didn’t realize that, after splitting up for eight years, the way you praise yourself has gotten weirder and weirder.

PART 3

Military Simulation Game Base

On the positioning device, the numbers “1” and “2” quickly moved towards us.

MC: The numbers keep moving – they’ve brought the map pieces with them.

Xia Yan: They’re basically living targets if they’re bringing along the map pieces – they definitely aren’t all sticking together. But to protect the map, they probably won’t stay too far away – they need to ensure that they can provide backup in time.

The numbers 1 and 2 stopped at a position that was still some distance away from us, then moved at a slower speed.

MC: They stopped?

Xia Yan: The people carrying the map pieces probably are planning to lie low. Seeing that opponents are thinking the same thing as themselves, they definitely won’t choose to let go of the map. Otherwise, in the case that the opponent poses a larger danger behind them as they focus on what’s in front, then their gains wouldn’t make up for the losses.

MC: So the people holding map pieces are planning to lie in wait, to prevent getting raided. And the people left over… are starting to prepare to surround us.

Xia Yan lifted his gun, observing the faraway trees. My heart beat faster and faster in agitation, not knowing where the opponents would get close to us. The wind brushed over the treetops, and I couldn’t help regarding everything I saw as an enemy.

I followed Xia Yan’s line of sight, holding up the gun and observing the movements in front as well, but I couldn’t find the slightest trace of anything suspicious.

MC: (Speaking of which, enemies will typically launch an ambush at this time from the back in TV dramas…)

I immediately looked behind us – and didn’t see anything at all.

MC: (TV dramas are full of lies…)

I, who had found out nothing at all, could only turn my head around and look towards Xia Yan, attempting to look for the enemies’ movements from the changes in his mood.

The sunlight filtered through the dense branches and leaves and shone down, casting a layer of warm, soft light on Xia Yan’s body. But his face was graver than I had ever seen.

>Select: Face

MC: (I’ve never seen this kind of expression on Xia Yan… he’s always been full of smiles…)

>Select: Arms

MC: (Speaking of which, mom and dad sent Xia Yan to learn mixed martial arts when we were little. But I remember… his muscles weren’t this strong.)

>Select: Arms (2)

MC: (The muscles look like they’d be very hard if I felt them…)

MC: (After we get rid of the enemies, I’m going to pinch them and see!)

>Select: Uniform

MC: (I keep feeling like… this outfit really suits Xia Yan… If he wore a real uniform, he would definitely look very handsome, right?)

MC: (Curiosity! I-I’m just curious!)

>Select: Uniform (2)

MC: (Speaking of which, when we were putting on the combat gear, Xia Yan was also the first to finish putting it on. Could he have played this kind of game often when he went to the capital?)

>Select: Uniform (3)

MC: (His posture makes him look pretty handsome…)

MC: (What am I letting my imagination run wild over!)

>Select: Ellipses

Xia Yan: What’s the matter? I feel like you were watching me the whole time?

MC: It’s nothing… I just wanted to learn from you to find our opponents… though I failed.

Xia Yan: It’s your first time playing – it’s very normal for you to not find them. Look towards your three-o’clock direction – you’ll notice them immediately.

I followed Xia Yan’s words and looked carefully over to my three-o’clock direction. Suddenly, I heard a “swish”—

Bang bang bang bang!

Xia Yan threw out a water bottle – when fully on-guard opponents that were searching for us heard the movements, they lifted their guns up and fired! The locations of the bullets completely exposed where they were hiding.

Only then did I realize what Xia Yan meant just now by “you’ll notice them immediately.”

Xia Yan fired three times.

Bang bang bang—

Immediately, the gun sounds across from us stopped.

MC: You hit the mark?

Xia Yan: Mhmm, the three people flanking us are already out. As for the one holding the map piece, it’ll be their turn after we deal with Team 2.

Executing this resolution didn’t even exceed 10 minutes.

Xia Yan used the same – no, I should say an even faster speed to deal with Team 2 as they came to flank us. All of a sudden, we had three map pieces.

Xia Yan: How’s that?

MC: Amazing… I kind of get what you mean when you said you didn’t want to “overkill” it before…

MC: But, wait! I couldn’t ask you under the fierce battle situation, but how is your gun skill this good?

Xia Yan: About this - I went to the closed experiment in university, right. The management there was semi-militarized.

Xia Yan: So outside of experiments, I’d often practice my shooting. Now, I’m extremely proficient at all sorts of firearms! Aside from that, I’ve also learned self-defence. Taking on three to five typical people is no big deal.

MC: Eh, I didn’t think that participating in a closed experiment would also have these kinds of results. Mom and dad also went to closed experiments – could they also be under militarized management?

Xia Yan: Uh, this…

MC: Dad also likes firearms – it’s probably a guy’s natural instinct. Say, if they’re also under militarized management there, would he also learn shooting?

Xia Yan: That, let’s think about it after… we should focus our minds on the competition!

MC: That’s true! I already see the goddess of victory waving at us!

We hadn’t walked for long when Xia Yan dealt with an ambush against us first. Then, when we encountered two fiercely-fighting teams, Xia Yan “intervened” and “sent away” those two teams. In the blink of an eye, we were holding six map pieces.

Victory was indeed getting closer and closer, but… I felt like it had nothing to do with me. From the start of the competition to now, I hadn’t fired the gun once.

MC: …

Xia Yan: Alright, over halfway to victory! If we continue to persist, we’ll win very soon!

I looked at Xia Yan’s smiling face and couldn’t help sighing.

MC: Xia Yan, wait a bit first.

I walked in front of Xia Yan, spread out both his arms, and spun him in a circle. Xia Yan looked dubiously at me and scratched his head.

Xia Yan: Is the combat equipment too heavy, and it feels uncomfortable?

Xia Yan: I know the bulletproof vest is very heavy, but it won’t be safe if you take it off. What if there are stray bullets…

Xia Yan: Right, give your gun and ammunition cartridge to me. You’ll be able to relax this way! After this, I’ll speed up the fight, and we’ll be able to get out very soon.

MC: …

I really was moved by Xia Yan’s stream of earnest, considerate words, but I also felt somewhat helpless.

MC: No, Xia Yan, what I mean is… I’m a person of standard height and weight. Though I neglect to exercise after work, I’m still a normal person with typical athletic ability.

MC: You don’t have to worry about me so much, going up front and fending everything off for me. I really want to experience the game well. I don’t want to rely only on your prowess and win the competition lying down.

Xia Yan: Sorry, I… just wanted to win with you.

MC: I know – I also really want to win. Don’t worry, I know my own strength. I won’t make you bring me to charge into enemy lines. But at least, let me help you a little.

I recommended the plan that I had been holding in and considering the whole way here.

MC: I won’t rush into enemy lines – I’ll just defend your back from behind. How about that? The gunfights in movies are all like this – comrades provide firepower support from behind to lessen the pressure on the person rushing in.

Xia Yan: But this requires skill. If you want to learn, I can slowly teach you in the future, but it’s very hard to explain it in half a moment.

MC: Then how about I lure the enemy? You must be very tired from staying on high alert continuously. I’ll hold the map pieces, and you lie in wait from one side, and then take the opportunity when the opponents are attacking me—

Xia Yan: No way, it’s too dangerous. You don’t know how to scout in a forest, and you won’t be able to avoid them in time. Plus, if we maintain a distance between us, I won’t be able to save you in time, each time.

MC: Then… it should be fine if I help you carry the bag, right? It must be tiring for you to carry it back and forth this whole time. I’ll help you carry the bag and lessen your load, so you can save some strength.

Xia Yan: But these ammunitions are very heavy. The combat gear you have on is already not that light. Plus, going through the forest expends a lot of stamina, and you’ll be too tired if you help me carry the stuff.

Xia Yan: Alright, I appreciate your good intentions.

Xia Yan: But I’m not tired at all, so don’t worry, and hand it all to me.

As he spoke, Xia Yan took back the backpack I had just tried to carry away.

MC: …

MC: I know my skills aren’t good and my bodily strength is just average. If we really were in a fight, I definitely would listen to you about everything, but this is just a game. If you’re not letting me do anything, then win or lose, there essentially isn’t any difference to me!

MC: …

MC: Sorry… I just want to try it myself.

Xia Yan: I…

Bam – we heard a quiet sound from within the forest.

Xia Yan: !

On reflex, Xia Yan held me, flashing to the nearby stone wall. A stream of bullets immediately struck the place where we were just standing.

The unforeseen event was too sudden, and in my panic, I clutched tightly at Xia Yan. Thinking about how I had just thrown a fit at him, I embarrassedly retracted my hand and let him go.

MC: You were right… sure enough, it’s better if I don’t do anything.

Xia Yan: I…

MC: You can go ahead. Don’t worry, I’m aware of the severity of the situation – I won’t make random movements.

Xia Yan: …

Xia Yan hesitated for a few seconds, finally running out without saying anything.

PART 4

Military Simulation Game Base

This time, Xia Yan did not return as quickly as before. Plus, the gunshots this time were denser than the unfortunate encounters before.

MC: Could it be that it isn’t just one team this time?

On the other side of the rock wall, the gunshot sounds interlaced. Xia Yan skidded to evade the barrage of bullets aimed at him, hiding behind the trees.

Xia Yan: Eight firing directions, simultaneously fired. Plus, they didn’t appear to be messy. They all shot towards me. Looks like two teams joined up – smart.

Xia Yan: Too bad the one you ran into was me.

Xia Yan kicked off from the tree, jumping up into the air. Immediately after, he twisted in the air, and bullets immediately fired at different places.

Bang bang bang bang –

The gunshots surrounding us suddenly quieted by half.

Hiding behind the rock wall, I was shocked into silence as much as the gunshot sounds had been.

MC: So fast – he got rid of half with this…

I looked at the helmet I was carrying and silently hid myself again.

MC: Originally, I even thought about whether I should toss out the helmet and help distract the enemies’ attention… Good thing I didn’t toss it… I didn’t even discuss with Xia Yan, so what if I ended up distracting Xia Yan’s attention instead…

MC: Sure enough, it’s better if I just obediently stay and do nothing.

Right then, the earphones transmitted two very quiet electronic sounds – it was the notification that the map pieces had changed owners. Only then did I realize that Xia Yan and I hadn’t looked at the positioning device for a long time. In a fluster, I immediately turned on the positioning device and looked at it.

“7” had the map piece “10” and had already moved nearby, where the map piece “4” had just been collected.

MC: The distance between Team 7 and here… they’ll be here in less than two minutes.

I looked anxiously towards Xia Yan, not knowing how to tell this new situation to him.

Xia Yan: The sound just now was the notification of the map piece change in ownership. Half of their attacks suddenly became chaotic… it should be their map piece that was seized. Which means, there’s a newly-arrived team of opponents!

Xia Yan: I need to confirm if she’s hiding safely—

Xia Yan divided his attention, searching for the opponents’ locations.

In the chaos, a burst of bullets sped past Xia Yan’s bulletproof vest. Though they just sped past him, according to the rules, it still counted as damage to the bulletproof vest. If he were hit again, it would count as fallen in action.

Xia Yan: …!

MC: Xia Yan!

What should I do! What can I do!

>Tell Xia Yan about Team 7’s arrival direction >Find Team 7’s hiding location

MC: I should tell Xia Yan about Team 7’s arrival direction and decrease his observation range.

Fearing that if I yelled, I would attract unnecessary attention, I decided to use the method of throwing my helmet to tell Xia Yan. I looked for the right opportunity and threw the helmet towards the direction that Team 7 was rushing towards, just like when Xia Yan threw the water bottle to draw their fire.

>Tell Xia Yan about Team 7’s arrival direction >Find Team 7’s hiding location

Bang bang bang bang! A barrage of bullets rushed by near me.

MC: This won’t do! If I can’t find the opponents, I’m going to “fall in action” first! I should tell Xia Yan about Team 7’s arrival direction first and decrease his observation range.

I forcefully threw the helmet towards the direction that Team 7 was rushing towards, just like when Xia Yan threw the water bottle to draw their fire.

With the sudden appearance of a moving target, everyone reflexively raised their hands and shot. My helmet was directly struck by bullets of several colours. After noticing it was a helmet, the gunshots paused slightly for a moment.

Xia Yan: Well done!

Taking the gap of time when the others were frozen, Xia Yan shot down the remaining people. But I still underestimated the opponents – very soon, they shot a stream of bullets towards my spot.

PART 5

Military Simulation Game Base

Basically at the same time the bullets were fired at me, Xia Yan fired two rounds of bullets in the opposite direction. The opponents hesitated a bit and retreated, probably from seeing Xia Yan sprint rapidly to my side.

Xia Yan: MC, are you alright!

MC: Sorry, a bullet hit my leg…

Actually, when I threw the helmet, I did make a disguise. I took off my jacket, using tree branches to prop it up into a fake person, and hid it on the other side.

Xia Yan: Your method was effective. The paths of two of the bullet rounds were aimed at the jacket. It’s just that… the opponents’ luck was too good, and the ricocheting bits hit you.

MC: …

It did indeed sound like a joke, but I wasn’t able to laugh.

Based on the competition rules, though a shot at any of the four limbs would have very little effect on one’s life, it was still equivalent to a wound. If your leg was hit, you had to be carried on the back of a comrade to move. Though I never acted on my own… the fact that he had to carry me on his back would undoubtedly be a shackle on Xia Yan.

Xia Yan: You just got hit on your leg – it’s no big deal. After we deal with the opponents, I’ll carry you to the finish point.

Xia Yan pulled up my hand, consoling me with a relaxed tone. The light shone down from the treetops, filling his eyes with dazzling light.

Xia Yan: Come on, let’s first see how to deal with the opponents.

I took out the positioning device. Xia Yan encircled his arms around me from his back, analyzing the opponents’ situation with me.

MC: The remaining map pieces have all been taken by them.

Xia Yan: That’s a good thing for us – saves us from having to run all around to collect them.

MC: The terrain where they’re hiding… is a deliberately selected place.

Xia Yan: Correct, this rock formation is very suited for use as a bunker. There is a geological fault behind it – if one wants to go around on top to attack, it would be too time-consuming and isn’t too plausible – thus, you’d have to face off head-on.

MC: But isn’t it very disadvantageous to face them head-on…

I looked at the paint bullet marks on Xia Yan’s bulletproof vest. If he got shot again, he would be counted as “fallen in action”.

Thinking back of the conflict between Xia Yan and I earlier, I hesitantly tried asking him.

MC: That, do you think… it’s alright if I lure the enemies? I’ll be very careful. Plus, look, I still have my bulletproof vest. Even if I do get shot, it won’t be a problem! Plus… if you get shot again, I can’t deal with those people myself, so we really will lose.

Xia Yan: That’s true. Plus, your enemy-luring tactics earlier really were pretty good!

MC: Stop praising me. I didn’t do anything – I just threw a helmet.

Xia Yan: You chose the right timing! Back then, Team 7 had taken away Team 4’s map piece, and Team 4’s shooting became chaotic.

Xia Yan: To be honest, if they were shooting seriously, I would’ve easily handled a comeback, but for such an utter mess of those shooting methods… Their bullets only brushed past me on accident – it’s not because my strength isn’t sufficient.

MC: Got it, got it.

Xia Yan pressed his helmet on my head.

Xia Yan: Afterwards… I’ll have to request that you cover me. Naturally, the more the better when it comes to equipment, so wear the helmet first.

>Select: Visor

Xia Yan: Right, you should also put on my visors in a moment.

>Select: Visor (2)

Xia Yan: I’m fine! Didn’t you see my strength earlier – with my veteran skills, it’s no big deal whether I have the visors!

>Select: Gear

Xia Yan: Your method earlier, taking off your jacket and bulletproof vest to make a fake person and trick the enemy, was pretty interesting. Did you find it online? Why not ask me directly?

>Select: Gear (2)

Xia Yan: Right, your bulletproof vest! Here, I’ll help you put it back on.

>Select: Helmet

MC: Xia Yan, you should wear the helmet.

Xia Yan: No way. You’ll be covering me in a moment – you have to protect yourself.

>Select: Ellipses

Xia Yan: Should be almost time.

The way Xia Yan was acting, as if he wished he could arm me all the way to my teeth, made me kind of want to laugh – but my heart felt warmed.

Xia Yan: Though we’re calling it covering me, we still have to reduce your risk. I’ll look to see where it’s better to feint.

Xia Yan held up the binoculars, carefully looking all around.

Xia Yan: They’re there!

Xia Yan carried me soundlessly under a large tree, a short distance away from the rock formation. With a few movements, he climbed up the tree, connected the tactical belt to the tree branches, then slid down.

Xia Yan: This is a blind spot in their vision. Launching a surprise attack from here is relatively safe, and the odds of winning are higher. In a moment, I’ll carry you to swing from here, and you’ll take the opportunity to shoot at the rock formation.

I listened to Xia Yan’s plan, ripples pooling at the bottom of my heart. He was clearly a big detective, yet every time his skill in lying to me was so shoddy. This plan caught me off-guard – even without me, Xia Yan would also be safe. He would probably be even more relaxed if he finished this on his own.

But this was already the plan that he thought of the quickest – one that would let me participate in those actions. I lowered my head, forcefully blinking my warming eyes, then made a “just watch me” expression at him.

MC: Okay, leave it to me! I’ll watch them carefully, and I’ll definitely do my best and hit the mark!

Xia Yan: You don’t need to pressure yourself too much – I’ll tell you the timing to act.

Xia Yan: Also, though that rock formation looks like a very good bunker from the front, there isn’t much shelter when you look from this position, and it’s very easy to generate ricocheting.

Xia Yan: So, you can relax and shoot without hesitation – you won’t hit wrong.

Xia Yan: Alright, hold me tight – we’re about to start.

Xia Yan held onto my waist, looked for the right timing, and forcefully swung me in the air.

Wind swept past in front of me. I opened my eyes wide, watching forward carefully.

Xia Yan: Start shooting!

Bang bang bang—

In one breath, I shot all my bullets in a torrent towards the entrenchment!

In an instant, everyone in the entrenchment was covered in bright colours.

PART 6

Military Simulation Game Base

We finally collected all the map pieces. We quickly put the treasure map together, and the positioning device immediately updated with the treasure’s location — it was outside of five kilometres, but there were only 20 minutes left until the end of the competition.

MC: …

Xia Yan: …

I just joined hands and did my best with Xia Yan, but is this all we can do…

Seeing Xia Yan’s eyebrows also sink, I did my best to boost my spirits.

MC: Xia Yan, don’t worry about me. Go over there on your own quick!

Xia Yan: But—

MC: No buts. Even if you’re the only person to make it, we still win! Hurry off!

I hastened Xia Yan along, but he suddenly carried me on his back.

MC: Xia Yan?!

Xia Yan: We said we’d win together. Hold on tight!

Xia Yan carried me on his back, sprinting towards the end point.

The forest’s terrain was full of ups and downs. The arms that I wrapped around Xia Yan’s shoulders felt the wetness of sweat very quickly.

Hearing his rapid panting, I felt a burst of regret. It was all because I was too stubborn about my thoughts on winning or losing that I gave Xia Yan too much pressure. If I had listened entirely to Xia Yan earlier, we probably wouldn’t be like this…

MC: … Xia Yan, please put me down quick. This is just a game – you don’t have to force yourself this much. Plus, I’ve already had a lot of fun, and it’s fine if I don’t make it to the end point.

Xia Yan did his best to even his breathing, responding lightly and quickly.

Xia Yan: But I haven’t gotten the joy I want from the game. I know that you’ve already done your very best… but, I still haven’t used all my strength.

Xia Yan: So, I request you – just see it as letting me enjoy the pleasures of the game as well! I just want to win with you!

Xia Yan’s brown hair was dyed by the light in the colour of sweet, mellow honey. My heart softened as well.

MC: …

MC: I understand!

MC: But, put my down first! Don’t worry, I’m doing this so we run faster!

After coming down from Xia Yan’s back, I rapidly tossed off my jacket, bulletproof vest, ammunition cartridge, and gun.

MC: Alright, this way, I can help you lessen your burden!

Xia Yan: I originally was planning to do this from the start, but I was afraid that as soon as I put you down… you’d run off.

As he spoke, Xia Yan also took off his bulletproof vest and jacket, leaving just a half-sleeved camouflage T-shirt. Just like he did before, he pulled up his T-shirt out of habit to wipe the sweat on his face. His tight, strong abdominals curved distinctly, moist with beads of sweat, glittering faintly.

Xia Yan: What’s the matter? Is there something dirty on my face?

MC: There isn’t! I j-just wanted to ask if you were thirsty.

In a fluster, I handed the water bottle to Xia Yan.

Xia Yan: Thanks, I was a little thirsty!

Xia Yan twisted the bottle cap open, then drank straight from the bottle opening.

MC: I keep feeling like you’re very different from how you were in the past. Though you were always very reliable before, but today…

MC: You were super handsome when you fired the gun, and when you wear battlefield clothes, it’s particularly—

Xia Yan: Ahem ahem – ahem ahem ahem!

MC: Aiya, what’s the matter with you! You praised yourself so smoothly, yet you couldn’t handle it after hearing me say two lines!

I rushed to help Xia Yan by smacking his back. His face had reddened all the way to the tips of his ears.

Xia Yan: I-I’m fine! Hurry and get on – we’re going to be late!

Xia Yan quickly turned his back to me. The T-shirt that was already moist with sweat clung to his body, outlining his firm, strong contours.

I climbed on his back. Through the thin fabric, the heat from physical activity exuded from his skin.

In the sixteen years that Xia Yan and I grew up together, he had carried me on his back like this innumerable times. Compared to before, the crooks of his arms were much firmer, and his shoulders much broader, than before. But that feeling of safety was always the same as it was before.

I did my best to maintain a posture that would let Xia Yan have an easier time carrying me, sincerely cheering him on.

MC: We’re nearly there, Xia Yan! I’ll invite you to a big feast today!

Xia Yan: Mm!

MC: Right, I’ll also help you do back-beating massages for three days!

Xia Yan: Okay!

MC: Also also, I can also help you wash your clothes! Uh… I’ll help you put them in the washing machine to wash them…

Xia Yan: As you wish!

Xia Yan could only give simple, short answers to me as he sprinted, but I knew he was earnestly listening to my every word.

Finally, the last minute.

Xia Yan and I pulled out the end point’s banner.

-END-

#tears of themis #tears of themis translations #weiding shijian bu #未定事件簿 #xia yan #夏彦 #tot translation #formatting this post drove me certifiably inSANE #seems like theres some tumblr glitch that won't save edits under certain unknown conditions??#oh well #no thoughts other than xia yan being an absolute military trained badass #and mc thinking about his muscles #like same girl #also i just love how much they trust each other #and have like no barriers between them

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