Chapter 12: It’s time to give out candies!

Time is always like this, it slips away inadvertently, and in the blink of an eye, it is time to go out and play.

　　"Sister, are you going to leave like this?"

　　RIN looked at her sister, then put her hands on her hips, seeming a little dissatisfied.

　　"What...what happened? Is there a problem?"

　　Hearing her sister say this, Sakura subconsciously thought that there might be something wrong with her appearance, and quickly lowered her head to look at herself.

　　She was wearing a beige off-shoulder dress with a pink corset tied into a bow at the back, which held together the slightly loose skirt and highlighted the girl's slender waist. Considering where she was going and her shy feelings, the girl put on a pair of safety pants and changed into sandals. Her sun hat and shoulder bag were placed on the chair next to her, which she would take with her when she left.

　　The only problem was that the brown shoulder bag was bulging as if it was stuffed with things - and RIN remembered that even in this situation, her sister still stuffed a candy box in it.

　　Sakura felt that dressing like this was good enough. After all, although she usually spent some time on her clothes, she was never as picky as she was today.

　　"No, sister, absolutely not~"

　　RIN shook her head and spoke in an educational tone.

　　"You haven't put on any makeup yet. They say women dress up to please themselves. How can you not put on makeup for such an important event as your first date? But you don't usually like to buy makeup, which is too bad. But luckily you have your sister...ah, it hurts..."

　　"If you read those messy books again, I will cut your pocket money!"

　　"I didn't read those messed up books!"

　　RIN protested loudly as she moved Sakura's hands away from her head.

　　I read all of this on the Internet, so of course I haven't read those "messy books"!

　　"Besides, sister, you should buy some cosmetics and make yourself prettier... Okay."

　　rin pouted and spoke with a slight complaint, then took out a small gift box from her bag, opened it, and handed it to her sister.

　　"rin?"

　　"Lip balm, this is it. Sister, you don't like to wear lipstick, so you should at least have a lip balm, right? I bought the cherry blossom flavored one, I think you'll like it."

　　"…Thank you, rin."

　　Sakura was slightly surprised, then happily accepted it and gently touched rin's head.

　　Then he asked a question that made rin freeze.

　　"How much is this lip balm?"

　　"Ah… ahahaha… well…"

　　rin looked away guiltily.

　　"And the style of this [lip balm] seems a little off..."

　　"This…that…"

　　Ling felt that the hand on her head was gradually changing from "stroking" to "grasping", and it was getting stronger and stronger.

　　"rin, this is lipstick, right?"

　　Sakura said softly.

　　"Although I don't buy makeup often, I can still differentiate between lip balm and lipstick."

　　"..."

　　rin stopped talking.

　　"... rin, I don't mean to blame you, I just hope you don't spend too much money on this kind of dress-up stuff."

　　sakura patted rin's head again and spoke softly.

　　"It's not that you are forbidden to buy these, but I hope you can be moderate and at least not overly pursue those expensive things... Even though our family has become much richer, we should still be frugal."

　　"...Um."

　　"Good girl, and...thank you very much, rin."

　　Sakura said with a smile.

　　"I like this gift very much."

　　Buzz——

　　The terminal rang with a notification sound, and it was obvious that the person who came to pick them up had arrived.

　　"He's here, rin."

　　At this time, sakura became a little timid again, her movements became more flustered and timid, completely different from the gentle and generous sister just now.

　　"Sister... so lame."

　　Seeing her sister acting like a fool, rin was speechless... Would she have to rely on her and Wang to take care of her sister? That was not the way to do it...

　　"I...I'm just a little worried..."

　　A slight blush flashed across sakura's face, and she quickly applied the new lipstick on herself, tidied up her and rin's clothes a little, then put on her shoulder bag and sun hat and walked out of the house - Xiwang's car was already outside the house.

　　"Good morning, brother~"

　　"Although it's already afternoon to be exact, but... good afternoon, rin."

　　Xi Wang looked at rin sitting in the back seat through the rearview mirror and responded softly to her lively voice. Then he tilted his head and spoke to sakura who was sitting in the passenger seat.

　　"Good afternoon, Sakura."

　　"Good afternoon, Wang."

　　Sakura nodded, seemingly responding normally.

　　"Oh, this... is for you."

　　Before driving, Xi Wang took out a wrapped gift, which contained two cherry blossom-shaped pendants. They seemed to be just ordinary ornaments on the market, but if you look closely, they seem to be more refined than similar ornaments you usually see.

　　"I think this is very suitable for you, so I give it to you..."

　　Xiwang explained.

　　"It has some extra little functions. You can try them out when you get back... Oh, and this, for rin."

　　As if he had thought of something, Xiwang took out a small sugar bag with some care and put it in rin's hand.

　　"Um...thank you, brother Wang!"

　　rin was stunned for a moment. Although she felt that the bag of candy in her hand felt like a "gift", she still responded happily.

　　"Thanks."

　　While expressing her gratitude, sakura accepted the gifts that Xiwang brought them. At the same time, she took out a candy box filled with light pink cherry blossom candies from her shoulder bag and handed it to Xiwang.

"This is a return gift."

　　Sakura said so.

　　"..."

　　So, sister, this thing you prepared is a gift?

　　rin looked at her sister in shock in the back seat.

　　"Thank you. I like it very much."

　　However, what rin didn't expect was that Xi Wang actually accepted it very happily and seemed to like this gift very much.

　　"..."

　　rin looked at the bag of candy in her hand, then at the candy box in Xiwang's hand, feeling a little confused.

　　In the end, she could only regard it as a unique interest between her sister and Brother Wang.

　　The next thing is naturally the most important activity of the day - going to the amusement park.

　　Well... the process was naturally smooth and joyful. Except for some attractions that rin couldn't play due to her age, they almost played in the entire amusement park.

　　Of course, there were some small incidents along the way... rin met classmates who came here with their families when they were preparing to play the last project, which was the Ferris wheel.

　　I can only say that it is such a coincidence~ 

　　Then rin happily went to play with her classmates, and even slipped out of the team and ran directly to the classmates who were resting at the rest stop to chat with them. No matter how hard they tried to call her back, she couldn't be called back, leaving sakura and Xiwang standing in the middle of the team awkwardly.

　　Although all this felt like an unusual coincidence, although rin's ears seemed to be deaf at this time, although rin's classmates seemed a little confused and bewildered, although rin's parents could have dissuaded them, although they could turn back at this time - even if they were the next one, it was not impossible to leave and take rin with them to wait for the next wave.

　　But...none of these came to pass in the end.

　　rin pretended not to hear. She knew that her classmates would come to play with their families today, so she asked her sister to book the tickets for today. The chance meeting was also because she had used the terminal to ask her classmates about their location in advance.

　　The classmate's parents obviously noticed something, so they allowed rin to chat with their daughter and even bought a drink for rin.

　　'My dear sister, I have done this much, please don't let me down again...'

　　rin thought as she kept an eye on the direction Sakura and Xi were looking at out of the corner of her eye.

　　Perhaps she heard her sister's voice. sakura, who was still hesitating, gritted her teeth, grabbed Xiwang who wanted to go back, and said those words.

　　"It's OK if it's just the two of us. We're already in line here, why don't we sit down?"

　　"but rin..."

　　"rin wants to chat with her classmates. At worst, we can take her for another ride when we get down."

　　Sakura said so.

　　"..."

　　Xi Wang glanced at the sign next to her that read [One round 30 minutes], then looked at the long queue behind her, and wanted her to reconsider.

　　But in the end, sakura forcefully dragged him into the cockpit, seemingly not intending to give Xiwang time to regret... nor to leave any time for herself.

　　So the two of them were "forced" to stay in the same room.

　　But after that, I encountered a new problem...how to start?

　　Sitting on one side of the cabin, sakura lowered her head, fiddling with the handle of her shoulder bag with her hands, and her eyes were full of shyness.

　　Obviously, they had been in the same room before during missions, and even in more cramped places, and had been close to each other before, but why was it so tense today...

　　What's more, taking the initiative to find topics was not her strong point. Although she seemed to have successfully pulled Xi Wang in, she had no way out.

　　It's not impossible to do nothing, but now that things have come to this, wouldn't it be a bit unreasonable if there is really no action at all?

　　'Ah... my lovely sister... As expected, I am not only an idiot but also a waste...'

　　"If you're nervous, you can listen to some music."

　　A calm voice came from the seat opposite. Xi Wang was sitting at the side, supporting his face with his hands, leaning on the guardrail, admiring the scenery outside through the cabin glass.

　　"You have it with you, right? Earphones. If you feel nervous, just listen to some music. I remember you have this habit."

　　He glanced at Sakura who was sitting opposite him, and then moved his gaze to the scenery outside. His eyes occasionally lingered on the gradually dim sunset, and occasionally swept across the roller coaster project on the edge of the park, but his eyes stayed more on the rest area below.

　　"If you're worried about rin, you can see them here too."

　　Sakura turned her head and looked down, and sure enough, she found rin chatting happily with her classmates' parents. Occasionally, she would look up, as if she was looking for their cockpit.

　　"Feel sorry..."

　　"It doesn't matter."

　　Sakura took out the earphones from her bag with a slightly apologetic look. After all, wearing earphones to listen to music in this situation...to be honest, it was a bit rude as if it seemed like she didn't respect the other person.

　　And when she took out the headphones, her bag deflated visibly, as if that was the only thing stuffed in the bag.

　　She took out the terminal, connected it to the headphones, and played her favorite music. Sakura gradually calmed down and was no longer as nervous as before.

　　I looked up at the other person and found that Xi Wang was still looking outside. It seemed that he liked the scenery outside so much that he couldn't take his eyes off it.

　　"Um...Wang, do you want to listen?"

　　Perhaps she had adjusted her mindset, sakura took off her headphones and asked softly.

　　"Hmm? Sure."

　　Xi Wang shifted his gaze back to her, seemed a little surprised, then nodded in understanding, stretched out his hand, and waited for her to hand him the headphones.

　　However, sakura stood up and came over, put the headphones on Xiwang personally, and then sat down next to him.

　　She was nervous - Xiwang realized this very clearly because sakura forgot to change the song.

　　Although I have heard before that Sakura's taste in songs is very "unique", to the point that most people in Poison Pupa are terrified by it, over time, Sakura herself has realized this, so she has gotten into the habit of carrying headphones when she is resting, to prevent herself from excessively affecting others when listening to songs. In the end, every time a newcomer is curious about what song Sakura is listening to, Sakura will change the song before letting the other person listen to it, to avoid any misunderstanding.

　　As for the song to be played...it is naturally Eden's song. After all, Eden is the most famous and popular star now.

　　And now, Sakura obviously didn't realize this, or because she was too nervous, her favorite song was still playing in her headphones.

　　By the time Sakura realized this, a whole song had already passed.

　　"Very unique taste."

　　Hearing the singing of the big star coming from the headphones, Xi Wang took off the headphones at the right time and said.

　　"Please stop talking..."

　　Now sakura just wants to dig a hole in the ground and crawl into it... This world is no longer suitable for living, so she might as well run away with rin!

　　Sakura's eyes looked almost dead.

　　"I'm serious."

　　Putting the headphones back on sakura's neck, Xiwang said sincerely.

　　"...Thanks."

　　At least, there is someone who is willing to agree with her taste... No, even if it's not agreement, but just tolerance, she is already very happy.

　　The last person who could tolerate her playing songs publicly was her sister. Now...

　　"...see."

　　Sakura seemed to have made up her mind.

　　"Um."

　　"Thank you so much for helping me and rin. Whether it's this relatively safe job or the protection I applied for rin, or those high-paying missions... Thank you for your help over the years."

　　"...Um."

　　"so..."

　　Sakura took a deep breath.

　　"Would you like to stay for dinner tonight?"

　　She said so.

　　"I also made some cherry blossom wine. Although it may sound like I'm bragging, I think I'm pretty good at cooking."

　　Although she didn't say it directly, this was the best she could do...ah, if rin saw this, she would probably tell others about it.

　　It was indeed too difficult for her to say those words. Using such a tactful way was already her best effort.

　　"... sakura, do you know that when Poison Pupa recruits people - no matter which method is used when the final members join, detailed information will be placed on the desks of the guys above. For some high-value bounties and some missions targeting nobles, the relevant investigation reports will also be reviewed by them in advance, and will be handed over to the executors of the mission after leaving a backup. The information will even be updated after the mission is completed."

　　He looked at Sakura and spoke softly.

　　"After several expansions, the Poison Pupa has gradually evolved from a [killer organization] to an organizational structure similar to the current [agent organization]. However, the control methods and means used in the previous killer period against the employees have not changed, and have even become worse..."

　　"Do you know what this means?"

　　"..."

　　sakura didn't say anything, but her hands unconsciously clenched together.

　　"In other words, Poison Pupa knows every single one of the current [employees] inside out, not to mention the strongest ones among them. At the same time, because of the special nature of Poison Pupa, it has a very subtle but still very broad [connection], and the clients who issue tasks and post bounties mostly come from these [connections]..."

　　"To put it simply, starting from a certain period of time, the poison pupa knows the background of the [employees] thoroughly, and can also control the tasks they accept through some special means. Then, based on this, it combines the drugs and special means left behind by the previous [killer] period to further guide the [employees] in the direction they expect and become what they expect."

　　"..."

　　Sakura understood what he was trying to say.

　　"That's why after we met, you were quickly exchanged by that gang to Poison Pupa... Although this freed you from the oppression of the Greedy Wolves, it also made you lose more freedom and embark on a path that was arranged for you."

　　What he wanted to say was simply that all this was due to arrangements from above, that all these feelings were formed under intentional guidance, and were the result of their deliberate guidance.

　　Everything is done for the purpose of better controlling his subordinates and for better controlling the sharpest "knife" in the poisonous pupa.

　　And she is the sheath that is used to store the knife so that it can be controlled by people.

　　"So it's... rejection, right?"

　　"...Um."

　　Xiwang's gaze returned to the scenery outside... This was the apex of the Ferris wheel, and the wide view made him feel comfortable.

　　"So... do you have someone you like?"

　　"…Probably not yet."

　　A pink-haired girl flashed through Xiwang's mind, but her figure was very blurry, and even overlapped with sakura beside her, making it difficult to tell whether it was sakura or someone else. In the end, the figure seemed to look more like sakura.

　　But he was also very clear that this feeling of his is probably not love, but an awkward, twisted emotion mixed with all kinds of "impurities", a [knot] that was... difficult to untie.

　　"Really... Then at least we're still friends, right?"

　　"Certainly."

　　"That..."

　　Xiwang felt his arm slightly heavy.

　　"Just... let me lean on you for a moment."

　　She spoke softly, with no discernible emotion, but the volume of the song playing from the headphones hanging around her neck became much louder.

　　"It will be fine in a moment..."

　　"..."

　　Xiwang didn't say anything, but just looked out the window quietly, waiting for the cabin to land.

　　Time is always short, and time filled with happiness is even more so. After reconnecting with rin and taking her on another ride on the Ferris wheel and watching the evening fireworks show at the amusement park on the Ferris wheel, it was time to leave.

　　During this process, Sakura seemed to have adjusted her mentality, or perhaps she didn't want to act too inappropriately in front of her sister rin, so she seemed quite normal.

　　But when she was with Xiwang, there was no longer the subtle feeling of awkwardness she had felt before, and the atmosphere was even much more harmonious, which made rin think that her sister had succeeded.

　　Just wait until you get home.

　　"… rin, please go inside first."

　　Sakura said this while sitting in the passenger seat.

　　"Okay~"

　　rin didn't suspect anything and thought that the two of them just had something to talk about in private, so she got out of the car and went into the house obediently.

　　"..." x2

　　There was silence in the car again.

"If what Wang said is true, isn't this situation even more dangerous?"

　　Sakura suddenly said this.

　　"...Um."

　　Xiwang did not deny it.

　　This outing was already being watched by the people above, after all, it was one of his rare "outings", and he was with Sakura, so the people above naturally wanted to observe whether the [sword] and [sheath] were well-matched, and whether the [sheath], which was selected with great difficulty and polished for a long time, could hold the [sword].

　　If this cannot be done, then it will naturally lead to the worst outcome - the [Knife] will still not be trusted, and will be subjected to more and more obscure control methods to try to control it, and the [Sheath] will continue to be polished and forged, or simply abandoned, and instead look for someone more suitable to be the [Sheath].

　　Of course, defecting directly is also an option, but this requires them to directly get rid of the people above them, otherwise, they will face endless pursuit, but this leads to another problem - how to find those people? They don't have hacking skills, so it's difficult to find the location of those people through technology, but the other side has subordinates in this area and can easily obtain their location.

　　It was too difficult for both of them to look for each other aimlessly while being tracked the entire time.

　　Therefore, Xiwang's action of making things clear was undoubtedly "wrong". It was a bad choice for both of them and rin.

　　On the contrary, if Xi Wang pretended to be ignorant and said nothing, he would get a beautiful girlfriend, the people above him would be able to put their minds at ease temporarily, and his life would be more stable in the future.

　　"Why?"

　　Why didn't they agree? Judging from the results, Xiwang made no loss at all, and even made a huge profit.

　　But he still said everything, giving people the feeling that the feelings she had were unreal, even fake.

　　"It's just to make everything clear."

　　It's not that I'm denying this feeling, I just want to make everything clear.

　　"Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

　　"..."

　　Faced with sakura's legitimate question, Xiwang slightly shifted his gaze and did not respond to her, but asked instead.

　　"The 15th... is next week. Are you free?"

　　"...Um."

　　Sakura nodded as if she had guessed something.

　　Xiwang also took out something he had prepared long ago - a ticket to Eden's concert and handed it to sakura.

　　"..." x2

　　"You're inviting me...right?"

　　"…Just to return the favor."

　　"…Ha~"

　　Sakura smiled, very happily.

　　Because she confirmed that the other person was the same as herself, even more shy and nervous than herself, but before that... he just wanted to make things clear first.

　　That's all.

　　So she gladly accepted his invitation and held tightly in her hand the ticket, which was extremely valuable both in practical and symbolic terms.

　　"I understand. I'll go."

　　She got out of the car and then spoke to him in the car.

　　"But I'll ask you to pick me up again when the time comes."

　　"...besides."

　　Before she closed the door and left, Xi Wang turned around and called her.

　　"Um... I forgot to tell you when we first met, so I'll make it up now... You look very beautiful today, and the color of your lipstick suits you very well."

　　"...Thanks."

　　Her response voice weakened in an instant, and then she slammed the car door shut and walked quickly into the house.

　　"huhu~Welcome home, sister~I thought you would stay out with brother Wang tonight..."

　　"Don't talk nonsense. Go take a shower and get ready for bed. Aren't you tired after playing all day?"

　　sakura tapped rin's head and told her not to think about those messy things.

　　"…Wait, what is this?"

　　sakura looked at her sister's blushing face and just smiled without saying anything, but she soon noticed what her sister was holding in her hand, so she quickly grabbed her hand and looked at what was in her hand.

　　"Tickets for Eden's concert?! A week later? Weren't the tickets for this show sold out months ago?!"

　　rin pupils tremble.

　　"Hehe——"

　　As if she was thinking of something happy, or simply wanted to show off, the corners of Sakura's mouth rose uncontrollably.

　　"Although this is indeed something worth being happy about...but sister, your smile...is a little...disgusting...it hurts!"

　　"Stop talking nonsense and go take a shower!"

　　"Humph... you forgot about your sister when you had a boyfriend..."

　　After saying this, rin quickly covered her head to avoid Sakura's hand which was about to hit her again, and slipped into the bathroom.

　　"Well... Sister, let's make a deal... Let me go with Brother Wang. It's not impossible for me to be Brother Wang's girlfriend..."

　　"Take your bath!"

　　"If you don't want to let me, then don't let me..."

　　rin stuck out her tongue, closed the door, and soon the sound of running water was heard.

　　"..."

　　Sakura took the ticket in her hand and looked at it over and over again, the smile on her face never stopping.

　　Finally, she closed her eyes for a moment, and her mind replayed their past, examining their gradually changing relationship and the emotions that had lingered in her heart until now.

　　Even though I know that this feeling is deliberately guided, I still acknowledge the authenticity of this feeling. At this point...

　　"We are the same..."

　　She murmured softly, stroking the gorgeous patterns on the ticket.