Chapter 123: The Chocolate from the Year I was Seventeen

Xu Yunzhou's heart felt warm, but he immediately realized a problem:

"But I don't have a physical body right now, I can't eat it."

Kirigaya Nuo paused, her gaze looking at her blurry reflection on the car window. Her voice was calm, yet threw out a heavyweight piece of information that instantly made a chill run down Xu Yunzhou's spine:

"No, you do."

She paused, speaking word by word:

"He is also named Xu Yunzhou, the same age as me. In his senior year of high school at Jiangnan Binzhou No. 5 Middle School..."

She took a light breath:

"Sorry Teacher, through the sporadic information you revealed intentionally or unintentionally—such as the Binzhou-accented vocabulary you occasionally mentioned, your understanding of details of certain cities in Great Xia, and even certain idioms and allusions you subconsciously used...

Synthesizing all this, I hacked into the backends of several domestic education systems, conducted cross-comparisons and feature filtering..."

Her voice was very light, yet every word was like a heavy hammer:

"And found his information."

"Although I still have many things I cannot understand, such as the form of your existence, and the nature of this connection between you and me... but I am certain, he is you. Right?"

Xu Yunzhou:

"!!!"

Holy fucking shit!

I probably only leaked my name, and maybe mentioned Binzhou a few extra times? These clues that couldn't be simpler, and she precisely mined it out?

The future "Ki," her intelligence gathering ability is indeed extraordinary.

Kirigaya Nuo seemed to feel his shock and panic, and laughed lightly in her consciousness. That laughter carried a trace of successful, childish slyness:

"Teacher, you forgot..."

"I was personally taught by you."

"Your best student."

"You admitted it yourself."

In the reflection of the car window, the corners of the young girl's mouth, extremely slightly, curved upwards into a cold and satisfied arc.

Like a little beast...

That had finally caught its prey.

Returning to the urban area, the evening lights were just coming on.

Passing by an exquisitely decorated chocolate specialty shop with warm light flowing, Kirigaya Nuo's footsteps paused.

The shop window was filled with various, dazzling arrays of Valentine's Day chocolates:

Heart-shaped velvet gift boxes holding truffle nama chocolate, liquor-filled chocolates wrapped in gold foil piled into a tower, handcrafted animal-shaped chocolates looking cute and alluring, and also rose bouquet chocolate sets tied with ribbons and inserted with confession cards...

The commercial atmosphere of Nihon's Valentine's Day was so strong it almost overflowed the window.

Kirigaya Nuo's gaze swept over these symbols of sweetness, asking softly in her consciousness:

"Teacher, which one do you like?"

Xu Yunzhou fell silent.

He suddenly remembered that year in his senior year of high school, when he suddenly received an anonymous Nihon package of chocolate.

The package wasn't large, but the packaging was extremely meticulous. Opening it, it was a box of high-grade chocolate of a brand he had never seen before.

Attached inside was a card, the sender's name was only a brief single letter:

"N".

He frowned in confusion at the time, thought for a long time, but couldn't remember knowing any foreign friend whose name started with N.

"Someone must have sent it to the wrong person..."

He muttered at the time, but the chocolate looked very high-end, so he opened it and tasted one piece.

The bittersweet, rich, and silky smooth taste melted on the tip of his tongue, carrying a strange, gentle comforting sensation.

Inexplicably, his mood improved.

He put the box away into his desk drawer and didn't think much more about it.

Later, after graduating from high school, it was exactly because of this box of chocolate that he specifically went on a trip to Nihon.

Unfortunately, he gained nothing, and encountered some unpleasant things, making him hate that country even more.

Until later when he met Su Qianran, saw her social account nickname was "N," and heard her smile and say this was the last letter of her name (Ran / R-a-n), representing "the truest self"...

At that moment, it made him mistakenly associate that mysterious box of chocolate with the girl before his eyes.

Plus her appearance wearing a mask was remarkably similar to the Song Jiaru he caught a startling glimpse of back then... Various coincidences made him hopelessly fall in.

Now, the truth is completely revealed.

That "N" was not Su Qianran.

It's Nuo.

It's Xu Nuo.

The memory fragments pieced together completely, and an indescribable complex emotion surged in Xu Yunzhou's heart.

He remembered that what he received back then was a gift box of black truffle nama chocolate.

At this moment, looking at the several styles of chocolate in the window, he suddenly wanted to challenge the underlying rules of this world.

Carrying a bit of a mischievous thought, he said:

"Let's go with that matcha strawberry center-filled chocolate."

"Okay."

Kirigaya Nuo responded crisply, but immediately complained softly,

"...It's just that Teacher, matcha strawberry, sounds a bit sissy... um, I mean cute."

Without hesitation, she walked into the shop, pointed straight at that chocolate gift box with fresh packaging and decorated with dried strawberries and matcha powder, paid, and took it.

At night, returning to the cold apartment.

Kirigaya Nuo took out the chocolate gift box and unwrapped the packaging.

Then, she froze.

Lying quietly in the gift box was actually a box of black truffles.

"The salesperson packaged it wrong?"

Kirigaya Nuo was somewhat puzzled. She picked up the chocolate and looked carefully, then looked at the outer packaging box—it was indeed the matcha strawberry box.

She raised her eyes, looking toward Xu Yunzhou's direction in the void, her eyes carrying clear doubt:

"Teacher?"

Xu Yunzhou's heart jolted, subsequently a wave of inexplicable chill surging up.

As expected... my choice at this moment, the salesperson's mistake, are themselves part of "history."

He sighed, his tone carrying helplessness and a trace of indulgence:

"Actually, this one is not bad either, let's just go with this."

He couldn't very well make Xu Nuo go out again late at night to exchange it.

Besides... perhaps, it couldn't be exchanged at all.

The next day, Kirigaya Nuo specifically brought that exquisitely packaged box of black truffle chocolate to the Go Institute.

She didn't deliberately flaunt it, yet didn't hide it either, just naturally placing it beside her coat.

When a few familiar Go players came in to discuss game records, her gaze "inadvertently" swept over that conspicuous box of chocolate.

"Wow! Kirigaya-san, this chocolate is so pretty! Is it a Valentine's Day gift you received?"

As expected, Su Shengfu was the first to lean over with eyes shining.

Kirigaya Nuo shook her head:

"No, I bought it last night. I'm going to the post office later to send it to a friend."

She didn't say who the friend was.

But on this sensitive day just after Valentine's Day, the meaning within was self-evident.

"Oh~~~~"

Su Shengfu and the several young Go players beside her exchanged a look of "understood," their faces revealing well-meaning and knowing smiles, without pressing for details.

An atmosphere of silent "official announcement" quietly diffused.

In the evening, Kirigaya Nuo walked into a post office on the street corner.

She bought an international express envelope and cushioning materials, and carefully, almost piously wrapped the chocolate box well.

In the sender column, she hesitated for a moment.

Ultimately, wrote:

"From: N."

No address, no phone number.

Only a single, isolated letter.

The post office clerk at the counter was a middle-aged lady with a gentle smile.

She looked at the package, then looked at this young girl before her with outstanding appearance yet somewhat cold and detached temperament, and asked smilingly:

"Is it being sent to someone important?"

Kirigaya Nuo blanked for a moment, gently nodding:

"Mhm."

"Then you have to write your blessings properly oh."

The clerk reminded kindly, handing over a blank card.

Kirigaya Nuo took the card, picked up the pen, and very slowly, very seriously wrote a line of Chinese characters:

"Happy New Year, may you be safe and joyous, eat a lot without getting fat."

The handwriting was delicate and pretty. Every stroke and line penetrated the back of the paper, as if wanting to pour all unspeakable loneliness and wishes into these short two lines of words.

She handed the package into the window and paid the postage.

When she walked out of the post office, the night of Edo had already fallen.

The shop windows along the street were filled with roses and heart-shaped decorations.

Couples walked by leaning against each other, their laughter sweet, the air permeated with the sweet aroma of love and chocolate.

Kirigaya Nuo stood under the streetlamp, watching the white air she exhaled melt into the cold night.

"Teacher,"

She said softly, her voice somewhat scattered by the night wind,

"The chocolate... has been sent out."

Xu Yunzhou's voice sounded in her consciousness, carrying a warm and complex smile:

"Mhm. If he receives it, he will definitely be very happy."

The corners of Kirigaya Nuo's mouth curved extremely lightly.

That was a very faint, yet real smile.

She raised her head, looking toward the southwest—that was the direction where Great Xia's Jiangnan Province was located.

Her gaze distant, as if able to penetrate the vast night and ocean, seeing that seventeen-year-old teenager sitting in the senior year classroom, completely ignorant of the future.