Don't be a dd

"So you've already started training?"

Xia Mo then asked.

"Yeah. If you've been selected, you'll have to start training." Asuka's tone was somewhat matter-of-fact.

"It's not like you debut right after you're selected. You have to train your physique, dance, and vocals first, and only when you're good enough will you debut."

"So, do you train every day now?"

"Yes. Every day," Asuka said. "Today was dance class, I practiced for six hours, my legs don't even feel like my own anymore."

Summer fell silent.

He remembered when Asuka was in school, during PE class, no one teamed up with her, and she would wander around the corridor alone with a basketball.

Despite having little prior experience, she now practices dancing for six hours every day.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

"It's alright." Asuka's voice wasn't loud, but it was steady. "Anyway, I've chosen this path, so I'll keep going no matter how tiring it is."

"Where do you live? Is the training location far away?" Xia Mo asked.

"We live at our own homes." Asuka said it as if it were a very natural thing. "Hana and I are both from Tokyo, and we take the train from home to training every day. Only members from other places stay in dormitories."

"So you commute every day?"

"Yeah. I take the tram there in the morning and back in the evening. I'm used to it."

Xia Mo said "Oh," and then asked, "What about Hua Hua? Is she with you?"

"She's family too. We only meet during training."

"When will you debut?" Xia Mo asked. "I'll definitely come to your handshake event when that happens."

"You?" Asuka's tone carried a hint of nervousness and surprise.

"Yeah. I'll buy a lot of CDs and collect them one by one when we get to Japan."

"Then... who do you want to hold hands with?" Asuka's tone was full of uncertainty.

For a young girl to even ask this question speaks volumes about her stance.

Xia Mo thought for a moment. "Who's in your group? I don't know. I only know you and Hua Hua, so I'll definitely only hold your hand."

Asuka paused for a second. "Wait a minute, I'll send you a group photo. But you can't show it to anyone else, not a single person."

"it is good."

Xia Mo opened her phone and saw a group photo of dozens of girls, each wearing casual clothes and standing in several rows.

He wasn't very good at recognizing people. After staring for a while, his gaze fell on a girl with very delicate features in the front row.

"That girl in the middle of the front row looks so aloof and beautiful, she seems to be on a completely different level from the others!" Xia Mo exclaimed.

"That's Mai Shiraishi. Everyone says she's the prettiest in the group." Asuka's tone was flat, as if she were reading information.

As summer drew to a close, I glanced around again and noticed a girl with a rather unique makeup look—not heavy makeup, but she stood out a bit among a group of simply dressed girls.

"Um... that sexy makeup looks really weird."

Asuka's tone changed abruptly. "That's Nishino Nanase! What's strange about her? It's just a natural aloofness! Don't talk nonsense if you don't understand!"

"Oh..." Xia Mo quickly shifted her gaze, then saw a short-haired girl with a cool and aloof demeanor; even standing there without speaking, she exuded an undeniable presence. "And what about this short-haired one?"

"Hashimoto Nanami," Asuka's voice already carried a hint of impatience, "how many more questions are you going to ask?"

"No, that's all." Xia Mo wisely shut her mouth.

"So who do you want to hold hands with?" Asuka steered the conversation back on track, her tone carrying a urging tone that implied, "If you don't answer me, I'm not going to talk to you anymore."

Xia Mo thought for a moment. He wanted to answer Fei Niao, but then he suddenly thought of Hua Hua.

The days when Hua Hua practiced piano with him.

They bombarded him with messages when he was feeling most down after arriving in Japan.

Together with him, he accompanied the bird from its initial shyness to its eventual friendship.

He should have chosen Hua Hua too, but faced with Fei Niao's question, he could only silently apologize to Hua Hua several times before speaking.

"you."

"What?"

"I'll go shake your hand," Xia Mo said.

There was silence on the other end of the phone.

There was silence for three seconds, five seconds, seven seconds.

Then the sound of birds rang out, their tone flat, as if they were saying, "The weather is nice today."

"That's more like it."

Well, judging from that tone, he's being arrogant again.

"Since... you've put it that way, then I'll reluctantly give you a gift, Lady Asuka!" Asuka said sullenly.

"Um?"

"Did you send me something?" He remembered the letter that Feibiao had written to him before, saying that she would send some gifts to Xiamo.

The voice on the other end of the phone became dry, tinged with a hint of shyness: "Yeah. It should arrive in the next couple of days."

"What?"

Why ask so many questions? You'll find out when the time comes!

Asuka's tone became increasingly strange, and after saying that, she hung up the phone.

After hanging up the phone, Xia Mo lay in bed thinking for a long time, but still couldn't figure out what she had sent.

I didn't receive it the next day.

On the third day, a thin airmail envelope lay in the mailbox by the door. The sender's name was "Saito Asuka," and the handwriting was neat and tidy, with each stroke written carefully.

Xia Mo opened the envelope and glanced inside.

There was no letter, and nothing else.

There is only one button.

It was white, round, and small, lying quietly in his palm, like a seashell forgotten on the beach.

He looked at it over and over for a while, and suddenly felt that the button looked familiar—it was made of plastic and had a shallow raised pattern around the edge.

They are buttons on elementary school uniforms.

He hated school uniforms back then, because every morning he had to waste time buttoning them up.

He stared at the button for a long time. Then he put the button down, took his phone out of his pocket, and opened the chat window with the bird.

He typed a line, deleted it, typed another line, deleted it again, going back and forth several times. Finally, he only sent one sentence: "Received. Is this your button?"

send.

Read.

After a while, Asuka replied with a message: "I don't know, I can't remember."

Xia Mo looked at the message from Fei Niao Hui, then glanced at the small white button in her palm.

He typed another line: "Shouldn't the second button be given at graduation?"

The reply came very quickly this time.

"You're not graduating again, so I'm not waiting anymore."

Xia Mo stared at the words for a long time without replying. He placed his phone on the desk and put the button under the lamplight, its white plastic surface gleaming with a warm yellow light.

The Tamsui River outside the window flowed quietly in the night.

Guanyin Mountain in the distance was pitch black, with a tiny light on its summit, I couldn't tell if it was a streetlamp or a star in the sky.

No planes or trains passed by; only the whistling sound of the wind blowing through the arcades, like the quiet white key on a piano keyboard.

Xia Mo thought for a moment, picked up the button, and left the room.

"Grandma, could you please sew this button onto the second button of my school uniform?"

"It's possible, but why sew it properly?" Grandma was puzzled by Xia Mo's actions.

"This one is prettier."