Endless Silver Machine

"Ling" left a farewell letter in Luoluo's room and ran away from home. This happened only a few hours ago.

In the quiet morning, Aika could clearly hear the whispers outside the door, just like in a dream.

I originally thought that after experiencing such a big commotion last night, I was the only one who got up so early now.

But he was wrong. They had the same mood as each other, and they couldn't sleep peacefully.

Aika intuitively pointed out that "Ling"'s true identity was her magic costume, the Light Flame Sword. This was just a baseless guess.

Magical equipment is a special magic machine, and magic machines have independent consciousness. This ridiculous speculation turned out to be true.

Furthermore, it was the magic that Luo Luo used at that time. A seemingly simple sentence really stabilized the berserk magic outfit.

Aika put on her clothes as she considered the problems that had piled up hours ago.

There was a polite knock on the door, and Aika had already put on her clothes.

"Come in, I'm awake."

He turned his back to the door and buttoned his coat.

The windows were left open all night, and the air in the room did not feel turbid.

When he turned around, Luo Luo and Wei Xi had already opened the door and walked in. They didn't look sleepy.

"Has anyone else woken up too?"

"Sister Ling should have woken up, but she has been hiding in the room and refused to come out."

Luoluo smiled bitterly and explained the situation just now.

When I sent Ling, who had fainted, back to her room last night, I didn't lock her door.

But after Luoluo woke up this morning, he wanted to see Ling's condition, but the door was already locked.

"No answer when you knock on the door?"

"If there was no response, I wouldn't be as calm as I am now," Luoluo's face relaxed a little, "Sister Ling has woken up, she just said she wanted to be alone for a while."

——I'm sorry, don't worry about me now, I'm fine...I'll come out on my own later.

"Have you ever asked her if she will continue to run away?"

"Well... I didn't ask. There should be no need to ask like this..."

Aika only knew that cutting off Ling's consciousness would separate her from the Light Flame Sword, but she still didn't know whether it was her own consciousness or that of the Light Flame Sword that was in her body.

"If it's the Light Flame Sword, I always feel like she might be able to do something like this."

Aika didn't know whether her current smile was out of helplessness or relief.

"...There should be no problem, haha..."

"By the way, Luo Luo, you..."

"Eh?"

"...Forget it, let's talk about it later."

Aika suppressed his curiosity to know what the power Lolo used last night, and stopped mid-sentence.

"If it's my matter, it probably has something to do with Orchid Heart."

Luoluo held up the sapphire necklace she wore around her neck. Now it looked like just an ordinary necklace that could be bought anywhere in the commercial street.

"Is Orchid Heart the same as the Light Flame Sword?"

"I don't know...but at that time, I heard the voice of Orchid Heart."

"Um...brother Aika, Luoluo..." Wei Xi intervened between the two of them, "Sister Ling came out of the room..."

"When we went after Sister Ling, Xiao Xi deployed the same barrier in her room that was used to protect the mansion. It should be considered a smaller version."

Luoluo wondered whether this statement was accurate.

"Thank you, Wei Xi..." Aika walked up to Wei Xi and squatted down in front of her, "Thank you for always believing that we can bring her back."

"I just do what I can do first... and I also believe in 'family'..."

With Aika caressing her little head, Wei Xi twisted her body to hide her shyness.

"I'm going to check on Ling."

Aika stood up and was about to walk out of the house when the person he was looking for appeared in the corridor.

"ah……"

Ling, who was hesitating whether to enter the house, happened to meet Aika, and she turned around and prepared to go back along the original road.

"Ling!" Aika's voice reached Ling's side faster than her body, and she stopped, "This time, I didn't admit the wrong person, right?"

"……What do you think?"

Ling held her arms and turned her back to Aika, asking him this question.

Her clothes, hair accessories, appearance, and voice were all the same as yesterday, but Aika had no reason to believe that the person standing in front of her now was Ling herself.

However, Aika didn't know how to explain this feeling to Ling in words. Unknowingly, the people who asked and answered were switched.

"Why……"

Ling didn't get Aika's answer for a long time, so she could only sigh loudly, as if she wanted Aika to hear it on purpose.

——How could I fall in love with such a person...

But the whisper that followed would not reach Aika's ears.

Ling's long hair drew a golden arc in mid-air, and she finally turned to face Aika.

"If you believe me, then I am Ling."

"Well, I believe you."

"...Why are Luoluo and Wei Xi standing so far away?"

Aika turned around and realized that the two people had not followed, but were just watching from a distance at the door of the room.

"Maybe you don't want to disturb us. By the way, your name for Wei Xi has changed back."

"Ah, that's..." Ling tilted her head in embarrassment, "That's what the Light Flame Sword made on its own..."

"When the Light Flame Sword came out, do you also know what happened?"

"...My consciousness only became clear at the end. I don't know what happened before. But after I woke up, all the memories of the Light Flame Sword flooded into my mind. This feeling..."

Aika did remember that before the magic power went wild, the Light Flame Sword said that Ling had woken up, which turned out to mean that her consciousness had awakened.

The reason why Ling's consciousness awakened was probably because of that sentence.

——I didn’t make up those words, they were all the child’s thoughts. I just said them on her behalf. If you make her suffer so much, then it may be easier for her to go to August than to stay with you.

Then Guangyanjian said that Ling denied her...

"No!" Ling shouted, interrupting Aika's thinking. Her cheeks were flushed, but she still tried her best to deny it, "What the Light Flame Sword said at that time was not me... No, I wanted to say... …I want to say…”

Ling became more and more anxious because she couldn't express what she wanted to tell Aika, or she couldn't express it to Aika.

"It's easier to go to Augustby and stay at home. I never thought about it once..."

Ling lost her momentum. She was originally preparing to explain this matter to Aika, but the scene she simulated in her mind was not as unspeakable as it is now.

But when he said this in front of Aika, Ling suddenly felt that this statement seemed to mean that he could no longer leave his side.

Of course, Aika didn't think so when he heard this sentence. He would simply understand that she and the Light Flame Sword had different ideas from the literal meaning.

Ling didn't realize that she had already admitted this fact in her heart when she had a deeper understanding of her words.

"You...no, it should be said to be the Light Flame Sword. Do you also know what she did before this?"

Aika tentatively confirmed it. He wanted to know whether the request for dating made by Guangyanjian "in place of" Ling at that time was also Guangyanjian's own initiative.

Originally he was going to pose this question straight to the point, but when he was about to ask the question, he anticipated the embarrassing scene later, so the question took a detour in the literal sense.

Ling still lowered his head and had no obvious reaction when he heard Aika's question.

Then I probably don’t know, Aika thought.

According to Aika's understanding of Ling, the first thing she needs to deny is that sentence. On this issue, she will clearly draw a clear line with herself.

I can't say that I'm not disappointed at all, but I really don't want to think about this issue now. Thinking about it this way, Aika felt that her attitude really helped her feel more relaxed.

"It doesn't matter if you don't remember, it's just some trivial things..."

"no……"

Ling suddenly raised his head, but when he caught Aika's sight, he just uttered two words with unclear meaning and there was no follow-up.

Professor Liuyin and Cocona happened to walk out of the room at this time. They still slept together last night. Although Wei Xi carefully opened and closed the door when leaving the room, they were completely sleepless at that time.

"So you are all here." Liuyin looked around and saw Luo Luo and Wei Xi watching from a distance, and then looked at Aika and Ling who were talking a short distance away. She cleared her throat. "That...is it disturbing you?"

"It doesn't matter, Ling and I have finished talking."

Aika quickly dismissed Liuyin and Professor Cocona's concerns, without noticing Ling who obviously had something else to say.

"Then everyone is here. Let's talk about what happened last night at the dinner table later."

"Where's Brother Shun?"

"After we came back last night, he was called away by the Imperial City Defense Bureau. Before leaving, he said that he would help us fool him. After all, tire tracks and other things would be clues, and we couldn't care about that much at the time."

To put it this way, Shun didn't sleep all night last night and is still working now. This was all to help everyone tide over the difficulties, and Aika felt that no amount of words of thanks would be enough to compensate him.

"No electronic records are left. This can at least reduce his workload."

With the help of Professor Cocona, it was a blessing that no surveillance video that could become key evidence was left behind.

Aika thought of the foreign aid that Professor Cocona had called. He now wanted to know where the mysterious voice came from, but it was inappropriate for everyone to stand in the corridor, so he kept the question in his mind for the time being.

"Xiao Xi and I are going to prepare breakfast."

Luo Luo and Wei Xi, who were standing far in front of the door, saw that the topic had come to an end, so they came over and went downstairs with Professor Liu Yin and Cocona.

"Aren't you going now?"

Aika turned to look at Ling who did not leave with everyone, and she shook her head.

"You go down first, I have something to do and need to go back to the room..."

After she finished speaking, she walked into her room with a slightly tired pace, and the door was gently closed.

Aika didn't think too much, or deliberately didn't think about it, and turned around and left the second floor.

…………

Ling returned to the room and sat on the edge of the bed doing nothing. She had nothing to do and needed to come back here.

"It's not a trivial matter at all..."

She hugged her knees and sat on the bed. She didn't want others to see her like this. Showing it here was the maximum tolerance Ling had for herself.

After leaving the room, she will return to her original "coolness".

The "Ling" who still only stayed by his side as a family member without confessing or even asking for a relationship.

…………