Kaleidoscope of Death

Extra: Shameless Couple (1)

On the first anniversary of the day Ruan Nanzhu left the door and came back to Lin Qiushi, Ruan Nanzhu cooked up a feast, bought two bottles of good wine, and narrated a matter to Lin Qiushi as if it were a story—all to commemorate the occasion.

After listening to the story Lin Qiushi was quiet for some time. And then, facing Ruan Nanzhu's expression of deep concern, he finally asked the question he'd been internally wrestling with all this time.

"The main character in your story likes putting on women's clothing?"

Ruan Nanzhu froze for a moment, before humming a calm, mh.

"So where did learn that from?" Lin Qiushi asked. "Is it from the object of his affections?"

The truth was, he'd already faintly guessed at the answers to some questions a year ago. He just hadn't thought it out in so much detail.

Ruan Nanzhu, "is that question important?"

Lin Qiushi, "is it not important?"

Ruan Nanzhu, "but is it important?"

Lin Qiushi did not respond again, but his expression was telling Ruan Nanzhu, this was important, very important—he was well and truly caught up on this question.

So Ruan Nanzhu lifted his wine glass and took a sip, before saying, "the object of his affections had once been forced into drag by a senior in the organization."

Lin Qiushi continued to listen in silence.

Ruan Nanzhu, "it looked really good..."

Lin Qiushi, "..." And that did it for you??

"So he wanted to see it again," Ruan Nanzhu said. "And as he wore it more and more he discovered it was pretty fun."

How could a Drama Sprite stand unmoved before a stage? And once he'd put on drag the amount of acting he could do got way bigger...

Lin Qiushi buried his face in his hands, not knowing what to say. Should he blame someone else for starting Ruan Nanzhu down a crooked path? But if he thought about it, didn't it kind of feel like he himself had been the one to mess Ruan Nanzhu up—

No wonder there was such a big disparity between Ruan Nanzhu's personality inside and outside the doors. Lin Qiushi initially thought that under the tempering of the doors, Ruan Nanzhu had ended up with split personalities, but thinking on it now, perhaps these splits had existed since the beginning—the guy honestly just loved to act.

Lin Qiushi took another sip of wine, sinking into silence.

Ever since Ruan Nanzhu came out and the twelfth door was sealed away, the fading effect that came with the twelfth door had also begun to slowly go away.

Ye Niao was enthusiastically asking him to hang out again, and the lot at Obsidian seemed to remember Lin Qiushi's existence once more.

Lin Qiushi was curious why that was, and Ruan Nanzhu, gaming beside him with a controller in hand, kept his eyes fixed on the TV as he calmly said, "the twelfth door doesn't exist anymore, so it doesn't matter whether or not we fade."

Lin Qiushi arched a brow. "Then does the twelfth door disappearing affect the doors in any way?"

Ruan Nanzhu, "maybe?"

Lin Qiushi, "maybe?"

Ruan Nanzhu blinked.

"Maybe it's easier for people to pass the doors now."

Lin Qiushi lost himself laughing, thinking that probably was a good thing.

Even though, after coming out of Obsidian, everybody once again "remembered" Ruan Nanzhu, the truth was that their memories existed alongside a strange relationship. It was as if they could remember this person's existence, but their emotions just weren't quite making the same connections. Bai Ming's behavior was a prime example—even though he seemed to know that Ruan Nanzhu was the person he ought to be good friends with, every time he came to visit, he was actually coming for Lin Qiushi.