Chapter 156: Teacher, Teach Me

The cinema.

When they saw the massive poster for Doraemon: Nobita's Picture World Adventure, both of them paused mid-step at the same time. They exchanged a glance and saw the unspoken understanding in each other's eyes.

It was a connection that only they shared, one that spanned across time.

Almost simultaneously, they turned and walked toward the ticket counter with perfect tacit understanding.

Xu Nuo even made a point of running to the snack counter to buy the biggest bucket of potato chips, cradling it in her arms.

It felt like they had truly gone back many years, to that winter in Edo, when heavy snow sealed the city and the air was crisp and cold.

They had sat in a cinema just like this, watching a Doraemon movie, watching Nobita lose Doraemon and stubbornly try over and over again in the snowy fields—clumsy yet brave, trying to stand on his own.

...

Inside the dim theater, in the last row, corner seats.

Xu Nuo sat beside Xu Yunzhou, holding the bucket of chips.

The screen began to glow with moving images, and cheerful opening music started playing.

She turned her head and looked at his profile, outlined by the flickering light from the screen.

She felt that a corner of her heart, empty for eight years, was being gently filled.

How wonderful, she thought silently.

Finally... I can truly hold Teacher's hand and walk into a cinema.

Share the same bucket of chips, our fingers occasionally brushing inside.

In the darkness when the lights dim and the screen lights up, I don't have to rely on imagination—I can really, tightly touch his warm hand.

I can feel the lines on his palm, the warmth of his skin, even the slight pulse of his heartbeat.

Not like before in Edo... when I couldn't touch anything, only watching virtual light and shadows, futilely imagining that sensation in my mind.

She closed her eyes, savoring this reality—late by eight years, yet finally held firmly in her grasp.

Then she leaned close to Xu Yunzhou's ear.

Warm breath brushed his earlobe, and her voice carried a barely perceptible tremor.

"Teacher," she said.

"Like Nobita..."

She paused, her tone filled with the immense relief and satisfaction of something lost and found again:

"...I've found my Doraemon too."

After saying that, she quickly, with a hint of shyness and courage, gently kissed him on the cheek.

Soft, cool lips touched and parted in an instant.

Like a butterfly alighting.

This was the second time she had kissed him.

The first time had also been in such dim light, in that cheap business hotel in Edo, with the courage of someone who had nothing left to lose.

...

Xu Yunzhou turned his head and looked at her quietly in the darkness.

She was watching the screen intently, her eyes unwavering, a faint, relaxed smile at the corners of her mouth.

Occasionally, when Nobita made a fool of himself and Doraemon shook his head helplessly in a classic scene, she would let out a soft, low laugh, her shoulders trembling slightly like a cat that had stolen a little dried fish.

Then, subconsciously, she would squeeze his hand a little tighter.

As if confirming he was still beside her.

As if engraving this long-overdue, finally-realized tactile sensation deep into her memory through her fingertips.

Xu Yunzhou let her hold his hand and squeeze it.

His heart was filled with gentle calm.

...

After the movie ended, the lights came on.

As they walked out of the theater with the crowd, Xu Yunzhou smiled and asked her, his tone teasing and reminiscent:

"What do you want to do next? Want to relive our old schedule?"

He counted on his fingers:

"How about going to the amusement park and listening to you analyze gravitational acceleration and adrenaline secretion curves in real-time on the drop tower again?"

"Or going to the haunted house, watching you walk through it with a straight face while complaining about which NPC's makeup wasn't realistic enough and which trap design violated ergonomics?"

As he talked, he couldn't help laughing.

Those quirky but warm memories, unique to the two of them, felt as vivid as yesterday.

But after laughing, he glanced at the time and naturally brought up his next plan:

"However, I might have to leave after eight in the evening..."

He was, of course, referring to Song Jiaru's concert tonight at the Binzhou Stadium.

He had promised to go.

Xu Nuo blinked.

Teacher really does remember everything.

Those trivial, even somewhat absurd conversations and experiences—years had passed, yet he hadn't forgotten.

She let go of Xu Yunzhou's hand, stopped walking, and turned to face him.

"Teacher," she said softly.

Xu Yunzhou: "Hmm?"

Xu Nuo raised her hand and pointed at a hotel by West Lake.

"Let's go there," she said.

Xu Yunzhou was startled.

"...What?"

Xu Nuo stepped forward, leaning close to his ear.

Warm breath brushed his earlobe, and she said softly:

"I want to..."

She paused, her voice carrying a smile and a hint of assertiveness:

"...play with Teacher."

---

Hotel top floor, lakeview suite.

The heavy curtains weren't fully drawn, leaving a gap.

Outside the window, West Lake sparkled under the afternoon sun like a handful of scattered gold. Tour boats traced long white wakes across the surface, and distant green mountains stood in crisp outline.

Only a floor lamp in the corner was lit in the suite, casting a dim, warm glow.

Xu Nuo stood by the bed, her back to Xu Yunzhou.

Like that time many years ago at the hot spring hotel in Hokkaido, she moved slowly and meticulously, removing her clothes one by one.

Then she carefully folded each piece and placed them on the single sofa beside her.

A moon-white shirt, black trousers, light-colored underwear...

Finally, she turned around.

In the dim light, her body was as white as the finest mutton-fat jade, glowing with a soft luster.

But the most eye-catching thing was the black, antique-looking amulet hanging on her chest.

It was tied with a red string, pressed against her heart.

Against her fair skin, that dark color stood out sharply—almost piercing.

And even more piercing was the clear bullet hole in the center of the amulet, with slightly deformed indentations around its edges.

---

Xu Yunzhou's gaze was instantly caught by that bullet hole.

His pupils contracted sharply.

Of course he recognized the amulet. It was one of the gifts he had asked Xu Xinyi to give her years ago.

But he had never imagined... it would bear such a mark.

"Ah Nuo, this is..."

His voice was dry, and his eyes held an undeniable sense of lingering fear.

He couldn't even bear to imagine the moment that bullet came whistling and struck the amulet.

How terrifying must that have been? What kind of impact? What kind of... brush with death?

---

Seeing his suddenly pale face and the worry in his eyes, Xu Nuo smiled softly.

She raised her hand, her fingertips gently tracing the indented bullet hole on the amulet, her movements as tender as if caressing a precious antique.

"That time, during the rescue operation in North Fei," she said, her voice calm as if telling someone else's story.

"A stray bullet came from a tricky angle, heading straight for my heart."

She paused, her fingertips stopping at the hole.

"But this amulet blocked it."

She looked up at Xu Yunzhou.

"It was close. Really, just that close."

"The bullet's impact was huge—it nearly knocked the wind out of me."

"But the bullet... didn't get through."

She shook her head gently, her tone carrying a belief bordering on devoutness.

"I knew it."

"Teacher has always been... silently protecting me."

"Even when you weren't by my side, even across mountains and rivers, even if..."

She didn't finish, but Xu Yunzhou understood.

Even when someone else was already by your side, you were still protecting me.

---

Xu Yunzhou's throat tightened.

A flood of emotions—lingering fear, heartache, guilt—instantly overwhelmed him.

Almost involuntarily, he stepped forward and bent down.

His lips gently pressed against the amulet with the bullet hole.

As devout as a worshiper kissing a sacred object.

---

But.

The next second.

Xu Nuo reached out and embraced his bowed head.

Her arms circled his neck, applying slight pressure, pulling him tighter against her heart.

Through the amulet, he could clearly hear her suddenly accelerated heartbeat.

"Teacher..."

Her voice came from above his head, carrying a faint, barely perceptible tremor and a deeply hidden longing.

No longer the calm and composed demeanor of "Lord Nuo."

But rather the fragile yet stubborn girl from that attic in Edo.

She murmured softly, her warm breath brushing through his hair.

"Teach me."

"Like before... teach me."

"Tell me... what to do... next."