Honkai, why do you only throw me into high-level battles?

"Are you kidding me?! It's raining every day?!"

Lin Wei stands under the eaves, surrounded by a curtain of water. Looking at the lush green garden in the distance, now blurred by the heavy rain, he takes in a few breaths of the cool, moist air, shakes his head and looks up at the continuous rain clouds, "Why is there so much rain here? It's also a coastal city, so why isn't St. Freya Academy this bad?"

Lin Wei complains inwardly. I've only been living in Singapore for half a month, but I've seen more rain than in three months at St. Freya Academy…

Why is there such a big difference, even if they are both coastal cities?

"It's beautiful. If only our village had this much rain back then, maybe those things wouldn't have happened…"

Yae Sakura, still wearing her shrine maiden outfit, opens her parasol and walks slowly into the rain. The accumulated water on the ground splashes as she steps. She walks toward the lively green garden.

Her back slowly becomes blurry in the rain, and the rain seems to blend all the colors into a single painting — the vitality of green, the passion of red, all merging into one.

Lin Wei watches for a while, then opens his own umbrella and enters the painting—a viewer from outside has now become an interloper, making the mood disappear instantly.

Or rather, there wasn't any "mood" at all.

Lin Wei walks up to Yae Sakura and picks up the parasol that she threw aside, putting it above her head to shield her from the rain.

Yae Sakura raises her face to the sky, her eyes closed slightly, seemingly enjoying the pouring rain on her face. Water stains can be seen everywhere. Even her normally delicate clothes have become soaked.

"So, too much rain can also be annoying... If it were five hundred years ago, there probably wouldn't be such a beautiful garden. Those who lived here at that time probably prayed for clear skies, just like our village prayed for rain." Yae Sakura opens her eyes, her blue eyes seemingly looking through the umbrella and beyond at the heavy rain clouds, murmuring her thoughts, her voice as clear as an orchid in an empty valley.

She speaks with a sarcastic tone, "Really, why can't things be more balanced? Why is this place flooded, while other places are parched?"

"Ah… this world is really unfair, isn't it?"

Lin Wei looks at the fox ears that are still standing straight up, despite Yae Sakura's hair being soaked and messy. He knows the girl doesn't need comforting words. She only needs him to hold an umbrella for her.

After a long time, Lin Wei says helplessly, "Droughts and floods are all disasters, right? In this aspect, the heavens are fair. It won't let you have it easy, regardless of where you are."

Lin Wei chuckles and shakes the hand holding the umbrella, signaling to Yae Sakura. "It's the same everywhere. We're all just trying to survive and struggling. That's just how the world is. It was like this five thousand years ago, five hundred years ago, and now."

"You're very optimistic..." Yae Sakura can't help but glare at Lin Wei. She accepts the parasol she threw away and holds it above her head. Her body emits a faint flame, and in an instant, the water on her body is vaporized, her clothes returning to their original state, though her hair is still messy.

Yae Sakura reaches for her hair, patting it again and again. It still feels messy, so she glares at Lin Wei again, who has no idea what's happening. She then pushes the umbrella back into his hands, fading into nothingness in the rain.

"Ah! A ghost! …Huh? Why did I scream like that?" On the other side of the garden entrance, a random woman who was just passing by is startled. She falls on her butt in the puddle, screaming loudly. Then her voice falters.

"Sis, even though it's daytime, you shouldn't try to scare people like that!" Lin Wei calmly puts away his feathers. He pretends to be startled and looks back at the woman, who's getting up awkwardly. She's a neighbor from the same apartment building.

"Hehe, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I don't know what happened to me…" The woman laughs awkwardly, looking at her dress that's now wet and transparent. She tries to cover herself up, moving back slowly while thinking that it would be better to die because of how embarrassing this is. She attempts to change the subject. "Why are you holding two umbrellas?"

"Sigh, don't even mention it..." Lin Wei says, following her lead. "The weather was nice yesterday afternoon, so I hung the umbrellas on the windowsill to dry. But I forgot to take them in last night. When the rain started this morning, the wind blew them into the yard… So, I came down to get them while getting soaked."

Lin Wei pretends to check the umbrellas before continuing with his lies, "Luckily, they weren't damaged. Otherwise, I would have gotten all this rain for nothing."

"Oh, oh!" The woman takes a few steps back. Seeing Lin Wei's figure getting blurry in the rain, she runs away with her umbrella, stepping in the puddles.

Lin Wei watches her leave, finding this small incident amusing.

"Was it a good view?" Yae Sakura's voice echoes in his mind, her voice clear and confused, as if she's simply asking a question.

Yeah right, as if I would believe that!

Lin Wei's senses become alert. He didn't forget that Yae Sakura has a black-hearted personality.

"Who knows if it was good? It was so rainy, and so far away. I could only barely see there was someone there, a woman, young, and that's all." Lin Wei pretends that he doesn't understand Yae Sakura's question. He calmly puts away Yae Sakura's umbrella, walking away in the opposite direction.

"Going back, going back. Seriously, this rain isn't going to stop."

"...Is that so? It seems that you've regressed too much since you left the Elysian Realm. Even such light rain can block your sight. Wouldn't you be effectively blind on more complicated battlefields?" Yae Sakura's voice is clear and pleasant, her tone gentle and kind, full of affection.

"So you can't be so complacent. Let's go back and add more training."

???

Lin Wei has a confused look on his face. What is this feeling of being cornered?

After thinking for a while, Lin Wei asks, "Sakura..."

"Yes?"

"Is it possible that I went downstairs to warm up with a jog, but the rain was too heavy, so I had to stop?" Lin Wei complains. He has been working out even since he came to Singapore,

"Hmm, it's just a little rain. Martial arts and swordsmanship are hard. Mr. Lin Wei, you shouldn't back down. The weather is good, so why not run a 20K first?" Yae Sakura's voice is still gentle and kind, but Lin Wei feels a dark aura coming off her.

"Mr. Lin Wei, let's start~ Don't be lazy and use your Stigmata powers to cheat, okay? I'll be watching~"

Lin Wei thinks for a long time. He looks up at the sky and then back at where the woman had run away.

It's such a loss. I should have taken a better look…