Buyuan bought some drinks and snacks at 141, along with a small assortment of ingredients.
Back home, he saw Ellen and Makoto already awake.
Ellen was leaning her head back against the couch, playing on her phone.
“You’re back?
Where’d you go?” Ellen’s face still carried a faint flush.
Falling asleep at someone else’s place was still a bit embarrassing, after all.
“Awake?
Went to buy some snacks and groceries.” Buyuan handed the vegetables to Makoto, who had scurried to his feet.
“Baal, sorry for the trouble.
Please make a little extra tonight.” “En-nah-na.” “Stay for dinner tonight.
You did promise to help me film a video, after all.” Buyuan gave Ellen no option to refuse.
“By the time we’re done filming, Baal will already have the food ready.
Just eat before heading back.” Buyuan set the bag of snacks on the coffee table.
“Then let’s start.” Ellen stretched, pushed the blanket aside, and prepared to get up.
“No rush.
Since you’ve already agreed to stay for dinner, let’s just film after we eat.” Buyuan spouted his nonsense as if it were the most reasonable thing in the world.
“No can do.
Victoria has a commission tomorrow.
I need to get back early tonight to hear the detailed briefing from Rina.” Ellen was actually quite satisfied with Buyuan’s arrangement, but she genuinely had something tonight.
“Fine.
Let’s start, then.” Buyuan handed his phone to Ellen and went to get his guitar.
Before he’d fallen asleep earlier, he’d already been thinking about which song to sing.
If it was just guitar and vocals, he knew plenty.
But if he wanted richer accompaniment, he’d need sheet music.
After all, guitar was all he could play.
His idea was simple: Blue and White Porcelain.
Nothing could be more fitting.
“What do you want to sing?
Original Me?
Shining?
Or Wonderland Reverie?
Singing anything else probably won’t get much traction.
At least, I wouldn’t watch it.” Ellen stated her thoughts very directly.
“No worries.
You’ll already have watched it while filming.
Whether you watch it or not after that doesn’t matter.” Buyuan shrugged nonchalantly.
“You really are planning to sing something else.” Ellen was still a little disappointed.
She was an Astra Yao fan, after all, and would have preferred one of those three songs.
“Yeah.
An original, I guess you could say.” Buyuan was a bit hesitant saying this.
It was plagiarism, after all.
It was just that no one could send him a cease-and-desist letter.
“Hm?” Ellen’s jewel-like eyes flashed with surprise.
“You can do that too?” “Don’t worry about it.
Just help me figure out what pose looks good.
After that, all you have to do is listen.” Buyuan went to the bedroom, leaned slightly by the window, struck a bit of a pose, and looked at Ellen.
“How is it?
Does this work?
Don’t make the face too clear.
Just that silhouette kind of feel.” “Works.
I’m starting now.” Ellen aimed the camera at Buyuan.
“Three, two, one!
Start.” Ellen finished the countdown and began recording.
As Buyuan’s fingertips gently plucked the strings, the melodious sound drifted into their ears along with the breeze from the window.
“Blue and white take shape upon the porcelain, Every brushstroke fading soft from dark to light.
Peonies bloom across the waiting vessel, Like the beauty of your very first makeup.
Sandalwood drifts gently through the window, I can read the secrets hidden in your heart.
My brush comes to rest upon the paper, Leaving half the story still unwritten~” Buyuan’s voice wasn’t lazily drawling the way it usually did.
The clean voice befitting a young man carried alongside the not-too-noisy white noise of the street outside.
“Glazed in color, a court lady comes to life, Her timeless grace kept hidden deep inside.
And your gentle smile is like a flower bud, Waiting for the day it blooms at last.
A trace of all your beauty drifts away, To a place I’ll never reach.” “The sky-blue glaze awaits the misty rain, Just as I am waiting here for you.
Cooking smoke ascends beyond the river, Stretching countless miles into the blue.
Clerical script upon the vase’s base Echoes ages long since passed away, As though every stroke had always been The foreshadowing of meeting you~” …
“Ellen?
You can stop recording now.
This pose is actually kinda tiring.” Buyuan looked at the visibly stunned Ellen and prompted her.
“Oh!
Oh, right.” Ellen ended the recording and handed the phone to Buyuan.
“So?
How was it?” Buyuan glanced at the file, casually copied it, and converted the copy into an audio file.
“It’s good.
Really nice to listen to.” Ellen had just barely recovered.
She felt she needed to reassess this fox from scratch.
“You almost shook Astra Yao’s place in my heart.” Ellen’s expression was somewhat serious.
“No need for that.
It’s not your idol’s spot in your heart that I’m trying to compete for.” Buyuan’s words carried a hidden meaning.
But Ellen was still replaying the song in her mind and didn’t take particular notice.
“Baal’s not done yet.
Sit for a bit, have some snacks.” Buyuan leaned against the couch and trimmed the final segment off both the video and audio files.
“Send me a copy!” Ellen brought her phone over.
“Sure.
I’ll send you the audio.
For the video, you can just download it from the video site later.” Buyuan sent the audio file to Ellen.
The two spent a while discussing which video platform to upload to.
“En-nah-nah.” (Dinner’s ready.) Makoto, wearing a little apron, came bouncing and hopping between the two of them.
“Alright, alright.
Come on, try out my dear Baal’s cooking.” Both Buyuan and Ellen were quite quiet at the dining table.
For Buyuan, it was subconscious.
He didn’t know why he became unusually silent the moment he sat at a dining table.
Perhaps it was an old habit.
A nine-tailed fox clan like that…
you could tell at a glance it was probably pretty rigid and old-fashioned.
Ellen simply respected food.
Bowing her head and chowing down with full force — that was true respect for the meal.
“Your Bangboo’s cooking is even better than Boss Lycaon’s!” Ellen wiped her mouth and gave Makoto’s culinary skills her endorsement.
“If it’s good, come eat more often.
Drop by whenever you’re free.” Buyuan helped Makoto put the bowls away in the kitchen, then came back out, ready to see Ellen off.
“Yeah.
If I’ve got time, I’ll come by.” Ellen didn’t refuse.
“Want me to drive you?” Buyuan checked the time.
It was just past five, still quite early.
“No need.
I’ll take the metro and go find Ruby and the others.
You shooed them off at noon.
I’ll go hang out with them for a bit now.” Ellen waved her phone screen at Buyuan.
“Cough.
What do you mean, shooed them off?
They had things to do!” Buyuan offered an awkward explanation.
“Right.
Things to do.” Ellen rolled her eyes speechlessly at Buyuan.
“Later.
See you the day after tomorrow.” Ellen waved and headed downstairs.
“Bye~ If tomorrow’s a solo Hollow mission and you’re not feeling confident, you can bring me along.
No charge.” Buyuan waved back.
“Tch.” Ellen expressed her disdain.
Watching Ellen’s figure gradually disappear, Buyuan returned to his room.
Perhaps because the main storyline hadn’t started yet, Buyuan’s days were quite leisurely.
When he had stuff to do, he commissioned Phaethon and went into Hollows.
When he didn’t, he slept in class with Ellen.
Ellen, for her part, was a bit uneasy at first.
After all, Buyuan still had the Victoria Housekeeping experience voucher she’d given him.
She kept wondering when this guy would use it.
Buyuan’s plan was to wait until the plot kicked off.
When he inserted himself into things, he’d use the voucher to bring Ellen along.
That way, he wouldn’t have to laboriously explain his identity twice.
“Lately, I keep dreaming about my past memories at night.
My butt’s so itchy.
Probably gonna grow a tail.” Buyuan lay on the bed, bored, scratching his rear.
Bzzz— Buyuan calmly picked up his phone.
He was used to it by now.
Every day, it was either Belle asking him out to eat or Ellen grumbling about troublesome clients.
There were hidden gems too, of course — like Qingyi’s secret intel.
Thanks to him, Kamen Rider was now the talk of New Eridu.
Chaotic Fried Rice has sent you a friend request.
“Astra Yao?
Ohh, probably because of that Blue and White Porcelain from last time.” That was the only possibility Buyuan could think of.
He accepted, and the other party soon sent a message.
Chaotic Fried Rice: Is this Fate Not Arrived themselves?
Fate Not Arrived was Buyuan’s username on his social media account.
Fate Not Arrived: What’s up?
Your answer here will determine if I’m the real deal.
Chaotic Fried Rice: I just wanted to ask, when’s the new song coming out?
I’ve been waiting a whole month already!
Expectant.jpg Buyuan now understood.
Astra Yao had no intention of revealing her identity.
This kind of situation was actually perfect for building goodwill.
His social media following was quite substantial now.
Because the video had been backlit, his face was still pretty blurry, so no one had figured out it was him.
Buyuan gave a couple of perfunctory replies.
Being too enthusiastic would’ve seemed off.
After promising the other party there’d be a new work soon, he didn’t continue chatting with Astra Yao.
“Perfect timing.
Ellen’s been complaining I’ve got a three-minute attention span — sang one song and then no sign of a follow-up.
Two birds, one stone.” Buyuan rolled over comfortably.
It was the weekend, no classes.
Maybe because the main storyline was also about to start, Ellen had been very busy lately.
Some weeks she only came to class twice.
“The city council elections are coming up fast.
The main plot kicks off within the week, for sure.” “So far, I’ve got close ties with Phaethon, a connection with Victoria Housekeeping.
Being with Phaethon means I’ll inevitably run into the Cunning Hares.
I’ve also made considerable contact with PubSec and perfunctory one with Section 6.
And now Stars of Lyra’s making contact too.” Buyuan tallied up the network of connections he’d gathered over the past month and a half.
“Still, Belobog Heavy Industries and the Sons of Calydon from the Outer Ring — no way to reach those yet.” “Not bad, though.
Riding on Kamen Rider’s name, I’m not worried about making contact eventually.” Because he basically went stirring up trouble every few days, his notoriety was now not far behind Starlight Knight.
“Gotta pick up the pace, though.
I’m still a bit too green to trip up TOPS.” Just thinking about the antagonist faction gave Buyuan a headache.
Sarah’s camp was absurd — he couldn’t dig up any leads at all.
Hollow Zero’s Puppetmaster could be an artificial corrupted entity too.
And goddamn, why did the military have so much going on as well?
And he’d more or less already been marked by various factions.
“Aaaaaaah, so annoying!” Buyuan felt his tail fur practically exploding.
“Forget it.
Got nothing to do anyway.
Let’s try Tingyun’s maintenance method and see if there are any substitute materials.” Just as Buyuan was about to get up, he heard movement from downstairs.
Comment it and let me know.