Girls' Quarrel

Seeing everyone looking at her with indifference, the courage Akabane Tsubaki had mustered suddenly evaporated, and she shrank her shoulders.

"What’s wrong? Did I say something wrong?"

"No, just a bit unexpected," Xu Xiaoyou said. "It sounds like something you'd say, but thinking about it, it actually makes sense."

"Xiao Li said it very well," Tang Xin said with a smile, clapping her hands.

"Even so, adding so many things will make the taste turn strange, won't it?

Even if it’s a filling, you should know when to stop. Setting goals that are too high to reach is just being overambitious; if the gap between reality and your ideal self is too large, it only makes you lazier."

"After all, the point is to make the sandwich taste good."

"Hehe, you're right, Big Sister Tang." Akabane Tsubaki lowered her head.

"Who says a sandwich has to be eaten? Couldn't it fall on the ground and be thrown into the trash, eventually rotting?" Angelina yawned.

"Strictly speaking, you can even choose the bread for the sandwich—like whole wheat bread or milk bread. Isn't your premise a bit lacking in rigor?" Bai Youyou said thoughtfully.

"Can't you guys just play along for once?" Akabane Tsubaki's mouth twitched slightly.

"Well." Angelina scratched her head, her face looking groggy from sleep. She reached into the bamboo basket and took out Akabane Tsubaki's charred sandwich, which was overflowing with crushed sugar, cream, and dried fruits. She took a large, indifferent bite, unbothered by the jam staining her collar.

"Meijiu, you're the one who made this sandwich, right? You talk as if it's all true, yet in the end, you won't even eat your own creation. How can you have the nerve to say life is like a sandwich?"

"Ah, that... haha, I just didn't see it earlier."

Akabane Tsubaki was sweating profusely, guiltily tapping her index fingers together.

"Don't always try to excuse your behavior." Angelina looked at Akabane Tsubaki and Xu Xiaoyou beside her with a cold expression.

"Doing something wrong is doing something wrong; you have no sense of accountability. You keep saying you're not a kid anymore, yet in many ways, you're still as childish as one."

"Meijiu, what right do you have to say these things?"

Akabane Tsubaki lowered her head in a daze, the girl's sharp words echoing in her ears as a dull, unprovoked pain spread from her heart. She stared at the sandwich in her hand, unable to move for a long time.

Even now, she was still running away from the matter of Yugawa Mao. That girl had met her end, in the final analysis, because of her own self-righteousness.

Beside her, Tang Xin observed the girl's changing expression, offering neither persuasion nor comfort.

Xu Xiaoyou sighed and rubbed her forehead, feeling a bit helpless.

"Your emotional intelligence is really bottoming out, Angelina," Bai Youyou said in her usual tone.

"Me? Bottoming out?" Angelina let out a long 'ha.' "I just can't be bothered to deal with people. We're all going to die anyway. Whether it's you or me, who knows what will happen tomorrow. I just say whatever I want to say."

"Rather than watching people I know disappear, I'd rather cut all ties from the start and never hold any expectations for tomorrow."

"And as for you, do you need me to bring up how you were led around by the nose in Corrupt Hive City, or how you went on a crazy manhunt in Oasis City, causing massive damage to the city in the end?"

"Do you really think the Order Court is anything good?"

"Forget the Order Court; in my eyes, justice and order in this world are a joke themselves."

"The taller a tree grows, appearing to protect more people, the more nutrients it must drain from the soil. In the shadows cast by its branches, the weaker plants either wither or struggle to survive, searching for a bit of sustenance below, if they don't want to be killed by the very tree 'protecting' them."

Bai Youyou set her glass down with a sharp clink. "So you mean everyone who upholds justice and order should be ridiculed?"

"They are the ones who walk firmly forward despite the strange looks from outsiders, bringing justice and trying to illuminate others like a beam of light. They try to give more people hope and rebuild order in a broken world. What part of that is funny to you?"

"Even if it’s insignificant and they might not be able to change many things, people know that such idealists still exist in this world, and they will hold onto hope. Even if hope is weak and obscured by dust, it will one day be awakened. People who share that hope will set aside their differences and join together."

"The courage to live—that is what these idealists bring."

"In the darkness, if even the last light disappears, what will this world become?"

"A primordial forest where the strong eat the weak, where everyone is an animal like you, living only by instinct. Is that what you want to see, Angelina?"

"At least that way, people wouldn't suffer in a cycle of false hope." Angelina drained her beer in one gulp. "If that light is late, or if it never reaches them at all, what's the difference between that and it not existing in the first place?"

"Living like an animal, following one's instincts to find joy... at least it allows people to stop suffering from mental torment and physical pain, doesn't it?"

"Why should they be forced to follow some slogan from an idealist on TV and chase after it recklessly? Isn't that also a form of selfishness?"

"Isn't that just another form of kidnapping by instinct?"

"What is the difference between a fake utopia and a primordial jungle?"

"At least the people in a utopia are moving toward an ideal!"

"Enough, stop fighting!"

Akabane Tsubaki, who had been silent, suddenly erupted. Her shoulders heaved violently, and her messy long hair covered her face.

"It's my fault. I'm immature, and I'm always running away from problems. Just leave it at that, stop fighting."

After saying that, Akabane Tsubaki turned around and ran upstairs without looking back.

"Xiao Li?" Tang Xin moved aside with a worried expression. She glanced at the group before following her upstairs.

Bai Youyou gave up on communicating and simply buried her head in her drink.

Angelina didn't care either, drinking glass after glass of golden beer.

The two girls went from a verbal argument to a silent contest, neither willing to break the stiff atmosphere. They just kept drinking on their own; whenever Bai Youyou had a glass of Red Pomegranate Ocean, Angelina would have two glasses of malt beer, raising her eyebrows provocatively at the black-haired girl.

Time slowly passed. A beam of light reflected back and forth on the prism edges of the glasses, and the nitrogen box hummed a quiet, beautiful tune. By late night, both girls were drunk and unconscious. Bai Youyou slumped over the table, slowly closing her eyes in frustration. Angelina was still sitting tall, her flushed face full of triumph.

"Didn't I... win anyway?"

Xu Xiaoyou looked helplessly at the mess on the dining table, then at Angelina.

"What are you looking at? I'm... not cleaning up." Angelina said before falling straight over.

At that moment, Tang Xin came downstairs. Seeing the chaotic scene, she shook her head helplessly and silently began to clean up, tidying the messy table and putting the rolling glasses back in their places.

"How is she?" Xu Xiaoyou asked.

"Xiao Li isn't mature enough, but neither are they, nor are you. None of you give me any peace." A black line of frustration seemed to swirl over Tang Xin's head.

"At least we achieved something tonight," Xu Xiaoyou said as she helped clean. "Even if it deviated quite a bit from my expectations."

After cleaning everything up, they looked at the two unconscious girls and found themselves in a dilemma again.

"I didn't expect it to end like this."