The Gods Are Fighting Over Me - Chapter 25

As expected, Jinpei Matsuda rejected Kenji Hagiwara’s “enthusiastic” invitation.

The night before the date, Jinpei Matsuda lit a cigarette, slowly puffed out a cloud of smoke, then walked back to his dorm without looking back, not even sparing Kenji Hagiwara a glance.

That night, Lin Jianyue’s phone wouldn’t stop vibrating. The name that kept popping up on the screen was “Kenji Hagiwara.”

He first sent a long string of sad emoji stickers, from a Samoyed with droopy ears to a cat curled up in a ball. After complaining about Jinpei Matsuda’s crimes, Kenji Hagiwara sent a long, detailed list of their date plans for the next day.

The list was so detailed that it could be sold online as a guide. It included everything from a window seat at a cafe in the morning to an obscure exhibit at a museum in the afternoon and a quiet path by the river in the evening. Every single route was marked with notes like “avoid crowds” and “very low chance of running into colleagues.”

Lin Jianyue looked at the thorough checklist and could already picture Kenji Hagiwara sitting in front of his computer, checking maps and typing away.

Her finger paused on the screen. She suddenly felt like teasing him. ‘So thorough. You must be very experienced.’

The second she sent the message, a reply from Kenji Hagiwara popped up. ‘Because I have simulated a date with you in my mind thousands of times.’

The straightforward declaration of love was as hot as the afternoon sun in the middle of summer, making her phone screen feel warm. Lin Jianyue rubbed her fingers on the edge of the screen, not knowing what to say.

She glanced at the to-do list pinned to the top of her notes, her eyes darkening. She sent him a disappointing message. ‘Sorry, I have some urgent work I need to rush. I have to finish a draft tomorrow.’

The conversation box went silent instantly. Lin Jianyue stared at the “typing…” at the top of the screen. The small gray words flickered and flickered, and then finally went dark.

Lin Jianyue frowned and put down her phone, beginning to draw.

The tip of her pen made a “shhh” sound as it moved across the screen, but halfway through, it suddenly stopped. Her peripheral vision couldn’t help but glance at her phone. It lay there quietly, like a sleeping cat, and didn’t light up again.

Lin Jianyue lowered her eyes, hiding the emotions in them, and continued to outline her sketch.

Buzz.

Her phone suddenly vibrated. Lin Jianyue picked it up almost on instinct.

She swiped the screen. The first thing she saw was a selfie of Kenji Hagiwara.

He had deliberately puffed out one of his cheeks. A pitiful emotion was visible in his downturned violet eyes. He looked like a large dog that had been drenched in rain, with a pitiful, watery glint in his eyes as he looked at the camera. He had used a drawing app to add a pair of Droopy dog ears to the photo and had even specifically added two sparkling tears to the corners of his eyes.

His drawing skills were just as bad as ever.

But…

Lin Jianyue’s mouth curved into a smile, and she silently hit the save button.

Before she could reply, Kenji Hagiwara called her.

His voice came through the receiver, with a deliberately soft, clingy feeling, like a marshmallow coated in honey, mixed with a man’s unique deep magnetism. It gently tickled Lin Jianyue’s eardrum. “It’s okay. Your work is more important, Jianyue-chan. I’ll just stay in the dorm and be a good boy. Even though I was really looking forward to it…” He paused. The end of his sentence was slightly lowered, with a hint of undetectable disappointment. Then his voice lifted happily. “But I’ll wait for you. We can go on a date next time, okay?”

Lin Jianyue’s heart felt as if it had been lightly nudged by something. She spoke before she could think. “Then just come over. I’ll be drawing, and you can just be here with me.”

And so, this scene came to be.

Lin Jianyue sat at the desk in the living room, working on her draft. Her digital pen flew across the screen. Kenji Hagiwara had moved a chair next to her, holding a white porcelain bowl full of lychees.

He held a lychee peel, twisted it gently, and peeled out the entire fruit. He would hand her one as soon as he was done, his movements so natural as if he had done it thousands of times.

Lin Jianyue suddenly looked up and asked, “Kenji, when did you start appearing in my dreams?”

“When I first entered the police academy,” he said, smiling as he handed her a freshly peeled lychee. “Say ‘ah’—”

“You should have been twenty-two when you entered the police academy, but you’re twenty-nine now. That’s seven years. But I’ve only dreamt of you for four and a half years,” Lin Jianyue said, her voice a little muffled as she bit into the lychee.

“I only dreamt of you for four and a half years, too,” he said, smiling as he popped a lychee into his own mouth. “For the first four years, you came to me almost every day. But after that, you came less and less. From three or four times a week to once a month, and for the last six months, you completely stopped appearing.”

Lin Jianyue’s eyes were filled with surprise. “But for me, you just suddenly disappeared about six months ago. I was sad for a long time because of it. I even tried putting a picture card of you next to my bed to see if I could dream of you again.”

Kenji Hagiwara lowered his eyes. Even though he had a smile on his face, his expression was a little dark. “But you seemed to adapt to life without me very quickly.”

“Life has to go on, you know,” Lin Jianyue said, lowering her eyes. Her long eyelashes cast a shallow shadow underneath them. “I can’t just be stuck in it forever.”

She paused, then whispered, “And back then, you were just a dream to me.” Then she picked up her pen again and started drawing.

Kenji Hagiwara just smiled and didn’t say anything else. He peeled another lychee and fed it to Lin Jianyue, then he stared at her.

He suddenly thought, I wish Lin Jianyue weren’t so adaptable. He would rather she had panicked over his disappearance, cried, looked for him, and been so scared she didn’t know what to do. If that had happened, would she have relied on him more?

When they first met, she would have only had the joy of a broken mirror being mended, instead of the fear of her stable life being shattered.

“So, there’s a time difference between us?” Lin Jianyue belatedly realized, and she suddenly stopped drawing. “Four years have passed for me, but seven years have passed for you?”

“Yes,” Kenji Hagiwara nodded. His voice was a little lower. “I waited for you for a very, very long time. For so long that I almost thought… You didn’t want me anymore.”

Lin Jianyue lowered her gaze. The tip of her pen was suspended over the screen. She didn’t answer.

The air was quiet for a moment. Kenji Hagiwara changed the subject. “What are your plans after you graduate?”

“I want to become an illustrator who can support myself before I graduate,” Lin Jianyue’s eyes sparkling, but what she said made Kenji Hagiwara’s heart sink. “And then go back home.”

The freshly peeled lychee in his hand rolled onto the floor, getting covered in dust. Kenji Hagiwara still held the motion of peeling, but the smile on his face turned stiff, like a frozen lake.

He quickly recovered and even smiled a little, but his voice was a little strained. “Why do you want to go back? You… weren’t doing well over there.”

“But that’s where I grew up,” Lin Jianyue sighed and put down her digital pen. “Maybe it’s because I’m a homebody.”

She propped her chin up, her gaze drifting out the window, with a hint of hope for the future and a touch of loneliness. “The city I chose to study in isn’t a place for a short trip. It’s a place where I want to spend the rest of my life. Whether it’s living habits or the environment, I’d rather go back home.”

“But I can’t pursue what I want under my father’s control,” she said, turning to look at Kenji Hagiwara, her eyes serious. “If I become strong enough in the future and can stand on my own, I should go back home and live alone in a city I like.”

“I didn’t have a choice when I came here. If I did, I would have gone to Shanghai.”

—Then what about me?

This sentence was like a stone stuck in his throat, making Kenji Hagiwara’s chest ache, but he didn’t dare to say it. He bit the tip of his tongue and suddenly became quiet, lowering his head to continue peeling lychees.

One after another, his movements were as mechanical as a programmed robot. He handed all the peeled lychees to Lin Jianyue, not eating a single one himself.

The lychees in the bowl were quickly gone. He put the empty bowl in the kitchen, took care of the lychee that had rolled onto the floor, washed his hands, and then quietly went to the couch with a pillow and sat down.

He sat behind her, his shoulders slightly slumped, as if all his strength had been drained from him in an instant.

The sunlight from outside came in, passing through the thin white curtain, weaving a gentle light around Lin Jianyue. She was focused on her drawing, completely immersed in her own world.

Kenji Hagiwara sat behind her. If he got up and took two more steps, he could wrap his arms around her waist from behind and pull her into his embrace.

But as he looked at her, he felt as if there was a galaxy between them. She was so far away he couldn’t reach her.

“Can you not go back?” Kenji Hagiwara suddenly spoke, with a hint of unrealistic hope.

“I don’t know, but I might want to go back more.” Lin Jianyue’s movements paused, but she didn’t turn around. Her voice came over the scratching sound of her pen, light as the wind.

“I see.”

Kenji Hagiwara lowered his eyelashes, hiding the emotions churning in his eyes. The wind from outside came through the screen, lifting the loose strands of hair on his forehead. It was a little chilly, making his heart feel empty.

Time flew by. Lin Jianyue put down her pen. Three hours had passed.

“Ken–” She stretched and was about to call out to him when she turned her head and saw that Kenji Hagiwara was asleep on the couch in the living room. She quickly cut off the word on her lips.

She tiptoed to the side of the couch, knelt, and propped her chin up, carefully examining him.

It had been raining often these past few days, so it was a rare cool day. The air conditioner wasn’t on in the living room. Only the window was open for ventilation.

Kenji Hagiwara was lying with his head toward the balcony. His soft black hair was gently ruffled by the wind. His eyelashes were long, and his skin was unbelievably flawless. But there was a light bruise under his eyes, like an ink stain smudged by the night.

Lin Jianyue suddenly realized that ever since they met, he always seemed to show up by her side the moment he got off work. Sometimes, he even carried a faint scent of gunpowder or the unique smell of lubricant from mechanical equipment.

Lin Jianyue didn’t know how much work a mobile investigation team leader had, but Tanaka had once bragged to her with great excitement about how busy he was as a team leader and how he didn’t even have time to take a sip of water when he was on a mission.

As Tanaka’s superior, Kenji Hagiwara’s burden would only be heavier and more difficult.

“In seven years, you’ve reached a height I never would have imagined,” she whispered. Her heart suddenly melted into a puddle.

“You’re still alive. This is a scene I have wished for countless times in my dreams.”

Lin Jianyue took off her jacket, folded it, and placed it to the side. Then she carefully climbed onto the couch and lay on top of him like a koala.

Kenji Hagiwara was woken up by the sudden weight. He let out a sleepy groan, his hand subconsciously wrapping around her waist. His voice was hoarse, like it was covered in a layer of mist. “Hmm? Are you drawn?”

Lin Jianyue wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face in the crook of his neck. “Yeah.”

“Want to take a nap?” His voice was still heavy with fatigue.

“Yeah.”

She lay on top of Kenji Hagiwara, listening to his steady heartbeat, and then she suddenly spoke, her voice muffled. “Kenji, can you not have a white moonlight that suddenly falls from the sky?”

Kenji Hagiwara wearily closed his eyes without opening them. He chuckled softly. The vibration from his chest came through her skin. “Silly. I don’t have something like that.”

“But some of the characters who often appear in the police headquarters have that kind of background.”

“I’ll transfer to the police agency tomorrow.”

He was probably really exhausted. His tone was full of undisguised weariness, but the corners of his mouth were curved into a slight arc. The corners of his eyes were filled with an unmelting tenderness.

He hugged Lin Jianyue tighter, his hand gently patting her back. “It’s okay, it’s okay. Don’t be scared.”

The wind came in from the window, lifting a corner of the curtain and carrying the smell of wet soil after the rain. His palm patted her back gently, like he was comforting a pouting child. Each pat landed right on her heart, so soft it made her tremble.

But after seven or eight pats, his breathing gradually became even, and his hand slowly stopped, resting loosely on Lin Jianyue. He was clearly back in dreamland.

The sunlight outside was perfect, filtering through the screen and casting a scattered light. Lin Jianyue lay on Kenji Hagiwara’s chest, listening to his strong heartbeat. Her eyelids slowly grew heavy, and she fell asleep not long after.

When she woke up again, the outside was covered in the golden red of the sunset. Lin Jianyue groggily looked up and met Kenji Hagiwara’s gaze.

His eyes had a hint of fatigue, but they were as gentle as an entire sunset. He had clearly been awake for a while.

“Are you awake? Are you hungry?” He raised his hand and stroked her hair. His fingertips were warm. “Want me to take you to a Chinese restaurant?”

Lin Jianyue stared at him for a few seconds, then she suddenly propped herself up on his chest and crawled forward a little.

Her long hair fell like a curtain, blocking out the light from the window and leaving only a small space where their breaths mingled.

She stared into his eyes. Her reflection was in them, clear and real, filled with a deep, unmelting love.

She lowered her head.

And kissed his lips.

It was a very light kiss, but it was unmistakably serious.

“Do you want to date me?” Her voice was a little shaky, but it was exceptionally clear.

Kenji Hagiwara froze in place, like a movie scene that had been paused. The tenderness in his eyes was instantly replaced by immense shock. He even forgot to breathe.

It was a long time before he finally found his voice, a single syllable squeezed from his throat, with a hint of unbelievable confusion. “Huh?”

“How about you be my kept man?” Lin Jianyue’s cheeks were as red as if they had been painted by the sunset. Her eyes had a hint of a do-or-die courage. “For now, let’s say three years. I’ll only have you, and you can only have me. How about it?”

Kenji Hagiwara stared at her for a full thirty seconds, then he suddenly reached out, grabbed her by the waist, and flipped her over, pinning her to the couch.

He looked down at her. The shock in his eyes slowly turned into a thick, unmelting smile, then he leaned in and kissed her.

The kiss was lingering and hot, with the fresh sweetness of lychees and the warmth of the sunset.

After kissing for a long time, he finally pulled back a little, burying his face in the crook of her neck. His warm breath brushed against her skin, causing a slight tickle. His black hair brushed against her slender neck like a feather, making her shrink back a little.

He let out a low laugh. His voice was full of undisguised joy and gentleness. “Okay.”