As night fell, the originally dark city became bright because of the colorful lights everywhere. After walking for a long time, there would only be short darkness in the corners of the second floor walls.

As we five walked in pairs at the front, we often turned back and interacted with the teachers. Yang Jing and Bai Mo followed us at a comfortable distance, allowing for easy communication.

Along the way, Yu Le held Shen Lin's hand tightly...

A biting wind swept through the air, and a few people quickened their pace as they returned to school.

After another turn, you'll see the school through the alley. Without realizing it, everyone started to quicken their pace.

The bend ahead was a rare black-out blind spot. Everyone turned on their phone lights, but Yu Le didn't turn hers on. She held tightly onto Shen Lin and said, "Hold my hand and lead the way."

Shen Lin tightened his grip on his hand, his right hand diligently turning the lamp. Yu Le switched hands to hold onto Shen Lin's left hand with his left, freeing his right hand to wrap around Shen Lin's waist. Shen Lin was startled at first, then softly whispered, "You... are you afraid? It's okay, I'm here!" Shen Lin (OS): "Is he afraid of the dark? How come I didn't know..." A slightly embarrassed but persistently gentle smile lingered on Shen Lin's face.

Yu Le said softly, "Hmm!" She lowered her face to look at Shen Lin's cheek illuminated by the soft light, a hint of shyness in her eyes. oS: "No, I just wanted to hug you because you are so vulnerable! My heart desires this, and I wish this alleyway was a little longer."

Before me, Chiang Ci held a flashlight and beamed excitedly: "I've never seen it so dark here before! When did all the lights disappear? It's so inconvenient to walk at night!"

Although I've never walked this road at night, I clearly remember that there has never been a street lamp here. After all, since this place is behind the residential area and backed by mountains, there was really no need for street lamps. So I provocatively said: "Are you serious? Has there ever been a street lamp here?"

"Ah?! Really? No…? Heh heh…" Jiang Ci let out an awkward smile after hearing this.

At that moment, I noticed Leng Yang suddenly grabbed my hand and nervously asked, "Can you hold my hand a little? The distance seems far when I look ahead." Just as we were about to reach the start of the alleyway, Leng Yang whispered, "Xing Yi, later I might need you because I have night blindness." When I heard this, I immediately said, "I can help you now. Let me hold you up." Leng Yang responded with, "Hold me up?! Forget it! That's too embarrassing…"

"Great!" I readily agreed, then let go and directly linked my arm with his.

I was smiling happily, but inside I was already as excited as a thousand horses galloping. My happiness was bursting out of me.

At the back of us, Yang Jing and Bai Mo were whispering excitedly about their interesting college life...

As they entered the darkness, Bai Mo interrupted the conversation and said, "Watch your step, be careful."

Yang Jing didn't take it seriously and continued to say happily, "It's nothing, we both walked this road for two years..." Before he could finish his words, a cry of "Ouch!" came. Yang Jing slipped on a small step and leaned towards Bai Mo. Fortunately, Bai Mo stabilized him in time with his hands.

Bai Mo said earnestly, "I told you so, will you listen?"

Yang Jing immediately stood up straight and said, "Listen, listen, you must listen..."

As the two were about to move forward, Yang Jing said, "You know, it's so amazing how fate has brought us together! High school, university, even after graduation, we still ended up working at the same school. And..."

This time it was real. Yang Jing, who wasn't paying attention, kept his eyes fixed forward and couldn't see what was under his feet. There was a shallow gap in the middle of the road, but Yang Jing's low steps made him fall right into it. Yang Jing felt something trip him up or like he stepped into a hole. In the chaos before anyone could react, he grabbed onto Bai Mo's pants next to him and knelt down hard. Bai Mo felt his pants become heavier, the belt constricting his ribs. Yang Jing couldn't bear the pain coming from his knee and cried out, "Oh my god!"

We were all drawn in by the sound and chorused, "Teacher Yang, what's wrong?"

Bai Mo immediately knelt down and helped Yang Jing up. The light shone on his knee, lifting his pants leg to reveal that the rough road surface with stones had scraped his skin, causing a few drops of blood.

We turned back and saw Yang Jing sitting on the road with a pained expression. Seeing us, he immediately smiled and said, "It's nothing." But Bai Mo beside him laughed and said, "Haha~ You fell even while walking, I can't stop laughing, haha…… Get up quickly (reaching out to help Yang Jing) Or else, I'll carry you?"

Yang Jing said with an unhappy face, "You're still laughing? You always do this."

Jiang Ci said, "Alright!" Then everyone turned and left.

Leng Yang just wanted to turn around and get closer to me, saying: "Come on! It's okay, leave it to Teacher Bai."

I nodded and followed Leng Yang.

Without speaking, Leng Yang said, “You’ll get used to it.”

"Oh! Why, the head teacher even fell, and Teacher Bai is still laughing so happily. It's great for them. I heard they've known each other for 9 years."

Leng Yang said, "Don't look at Teacher Bai smiling the happiest, he always cares about the head teacher the most."

"Oh! Why?" I asked in confusion.

Leng Yang offered no explanation, simply saying: "Just how I feel."

Indeed, Bai Mo looked at Yang Jing on the ground and immediately felt sorry for him. "Why don't I carry you?" he said, "You're bleeding."

Yang Jing looked at the almost invisible blood and said, "It's fine, no, you just mocked me for being stupid? Now you say this again, I wonder if you're going to mess with me again, that's what you always do..."

"How are you doing?" Bai Mo asked.

"Well, every time I get hurt, you always laugh at me first, and then...and then there's nothing else..." Yang Jing pouted arrogantly.

"Then what?" Bai Mo asked, his eyes full of tenderness.

Yang Jing's face flushed slightly as she said, "Then... he started to really care for me and take good care of me!" She deliberately avoided Bai Mo's intense gaze. "I still don't understand what you were doing," she mumbled with a pout.

Bai Mo smiled indulgently and said directly, "Because I'm worried about you!"

Yang Jing was shocked, looking at this person who had been with him day and night for 9 years, his eyes serious and full of shyness on his face, he said: "What..."

Bai Mo used his strength to lift Yang Jing's limp waist, looking at the ripped pants, and covered them with his own coat saying, "Cover up, it's a bit cold."

Yang Jing struggled with all his might and said, "I can walk, please let me down. Someone will see us if we stay here any longer."

Bai Mo said, "What are you afraid of? You're injured and can't walk. I'll carry you. Who could say anything?"

Yang Jing struggled a little and said, "Mei, but, this action isn't very good. I think the one being princess carried should be the girl. This is too weird for us."

Bai Mo feigned displeasure and said, "Who told you that being princess carried always has to be a girl!"

Yang Jing said: "This... normal ones are like this, who would hug boys like that, and hug me?"

Bai Mo said: "Anyone can be held like this, as long as they are someone who needs protection. And you are the person I need to protect."

In Yang Jing's arms, his face flushed crimson. oS: "What got into this guy today? He feels like he's flirting with me." She struggled against him, and Bai Mo had no choice but to let go of her.

Then he helped him slowly walk back to the teacher's apartment, where they lived together.

When we returned to school with a fake note, there was only the last class left. We quickly got into studying because we had fallen behind our classmates.

After school, we quickly returned to our dormitory. After washing up, everyone lay in bed chatting and waiting for the lights to go out. Everyone felt very tired today, especially Shenlin, who felt his eyes were gritty.

After the lights went out, everyone stopped talking. I gradually felt the breaths of the people beside me calming down. Uncharacteristically, I couldn't fall asleep. I had a strange feeling that I had forgotten something.

I closed my eyes and replayed the events of today. "Today has been really busy!" I mused, remembering the tearful Shin Lin, the emotionally charged Shin Lin and Yu Le. My heart ached a little. Then, as I returned to the joyful scene at the dinner table, my thoughts drifted back to what Leng Yang had said to me. I could pretty much guess that Bai Mo's affection for Yang Jing was evident. "Humans! Do you believe in love at first sight or love that grows over time? Love that grows over time is so sweet! I still like the saying 'The deepest confession is companionship.'"

I glanced at my phone, it was 11:54 PM. I finally felt tired, my eyelids were heavy. I closed my eyes and got ready to sleep.

It went very smoothly, just a few minutes, and I felt myself falling asleep.

23:59, I heard someone calling me.

"Time to get up."

Someone shook me and said, "Xingyi, wake up."

I struggled to open my eyes and saw them all get out of bed and stand before mine, eagerly awaiting my response.

I stared blankly at them. At that moment, Shenlin hurriedly pulled me up. Everyone looked at their watches and waited for a while. When I sat up, I was still groggy and asked weakly, "What are you doing?"

They all remained silent, only Shen Lin gave me a "shush" gesture.

Then they glanced at their phones and all turned to look at me, counting.

"10"

"9"

"8"

"7"

……

“3”

"2"

"1"

"Happy birthday."

I suddenly came to my senses, looking at everyone in front of me who was giving me birthday wishes. I just stared blankly at them.

Jiang brought over a large loaf of bread from the table. There were no candles or fire on top, just the number "20" carved out of a big apple. My eyes filled with emotion.

Shen Lin said, "Make a wish, and blow out the candles."

Yu Leying responded, and Leng Yang also nodded.

I didn't hesitate. I took a deep breath and blew hard. "0" landed on the bread.

I awkwardly looked at everyone, and Shen Lin immediately took out a candle he had been holding in his hand and said, "Why don't we try again?"

I shook my head and said, "Forget it, he doesn't even admit I'm 20."

Everyone stifled a chuckle.

"Okay."

“Have some cake! Although…” Jiang Ci took out a fork and handed one to each person.

Yu Le said, "But Leng Yang doesn't eat sweet things. It's still evening now, it's a pity…"

Cold Yang immediately said, "Who said that? I like this cake."

I said, "It's hard to brush your teeth, wait a minute, I want to take a picture to remember this." I stopped them from destroying the cake and quickly straightened the "0" then took a close-up shot of the cake. They shone their lights on us as we welcomed our first group photo in the dorm room, every one of my faces were big!

After everything was done, I went back to bed and seriously said, "Thank you guys, I completely forgot it was my birthday. Thank you for giving me a fun and memorable birthday. Come to my house this weekend, we need to have a make-up party."

At this time, everyone walked up to me with their hands behind their backs and said, "寿星, it's not over yet."

They shoved the things in their hands into mine and then left. The whole thing was done in one smooth motion, I barely even saw Shen Lin toss all his favorite snacks onto my bed. My bed was covered in gifts. I said, "Alright then, let your blessings accompany me to sleep."

Shen Lin returned to bed and said meaningfully, "Xing Yi, I'm sorry, today my affairs disturbed your mood. You could have been happy..."

"Nonsense, I'm so happy you guys are here!" I quickly explained.

"I didn't expect this to happen. We were all planning to give you a great birthday, but then things got so crazy, we were running around like headless chickens. The cake is still so random, and we haven't had time to buy you a cake or presents." Shen Lin's voice trailed off.

“I’m fine, Shenlin. I’m very satisfied with this kind of birthday. Compared to celebrating my birthday, I hope we are all happy. Really? Don't overthink it, I like it so much! Right? It's very thoughtful and unforgettable.” I excitedly got up from my seat.

Yu Le also got up and reached out to touch Shen Lin's face on the bed beside her, softly saying: "Silly, no one blames you, you did nothing wrong."

Leng Yang and Shen Lin said in unison, "Hmm!"

(Editor in charge:saya no uta visual novel)