Part 28: The Taste of the Early Summer

_{content warning: inappropriate relationship implications}

[BGM: Broken Dream 1]


The Taste of the Early Summer

Sunday afternoon. The sun was warm and the smell of the flowers was dancing in the early summer wind.
I was standing in front of the exhibition center, waiting nervously.

A few days ago Mr. Wen had fainted in his apartment due to exhaustion. Fortunately I had found him in time, otherwise the consequences would have been inconceivable.
He had given me a ticket to the art exhibition today as a thank you.

I had been so excited when I got the ticket that I had forgotten to ask if it was the only ticket he had...
Or... would he be coming too?



It also happened to be my birthday.
I had not celebrated my birthday in years.
But I specifically put on my favorite dress before I left my apartment.

As a matter of fact, I had never heard of the exhibition's artist.
To be better prepared I had visited dozens of book stores just to find a book of his collection.
Even as late as last night I had been looking up his work online, and I hadn't gone to bed until it was almost daytime.
I had set seven alarms just to make sure that I wouldn't oversleep.



At 1pm the show had officially started. The line was getting shorter, but I still hadn't seen Mr. Wen.
I took out my phone and hesitated, wondering whether or not to text him. Eventually I decided not to.



Another hour had passed. I couldn't stop myself anymore and I sent him a text.
[The art show today is really cool! Thank you so much for the ticket, Mr. Wen! I'm in the gift shop near the north entrance right now. They have a lot of cute little things here. Are you coming today too, Mr. Wen?]

Another hour had passed. It started to drizzle. I sent him a text.
[It's raining. Remember to bring an umbrella with you if you are heading out, Mr. Wen.]



I wandered near the entrance, but I didn't want to walk too far away. Another hour had passed.
[There is a book signing at the west entrance right now! I just bought an art collection book! I think it's going to be sold out soon. Mr. Wen, would you like me to buy you a copy?]

Another hour had passed.
[Mr. Wen, I'm about to head back. Thank you again.]

I waited until five o'clock and he never showed up.



Perhaps... he only had one ticket in the first place.
It was my fault for assuming too much.

The rain had turned from a drizzle to a downpour. I walked home alone without an umbrella.
I couldn't tell if it was because of the rain, but... I cried.

Li Wen



Hmm... I don't think there are any obvious leads by reading this letter...

In this story, how does the difference between the west entrance and the north entrance have an impact on the result?

Judging from this letter alone you are right, we are unable to tell how they will impact the ending yet.

But I would still encourage you to give it a try by switching their positions. Maybe then you'll see the effects in the new ending.

Sometimes, you won't know for sure without trying.

So you mean that the clues might not just be in the original letters, but they might also be hidden inside the other endings that we unlock?

That's exactly right.



So yeah, the puzzle for this letter is just re-arranging the order that Li Wen does things- and like they said, it's not really apparent what the order of things will influence as it stands.



That said, the default solution is the only Bad ending, so let's just start from the next worst and slowly work our way up to the S- and see what changes when we move things around...



I waited until five o'clock, and he never showed up.

I took off the Ser Spotty mascot costume and gave it back to the staff member at the west entrance.
The staff member who had to take off earlier for an upset stomach kept thanking me.
He said that if he hadn't found a stand-in before 4pm he would have lost his year-end bonus.

The rain had turned from a drizzle to a downpour. I walked home alone, without an umbrella.



And with that, we have our first clue! At the west entrance, there is a staff member who needs someone to wear the mascot, and needs it before 4pm. In the default ending, Li Wen doesn't go to the west entrance until after 4pm (as each block is an hour period of time), so she never encountered that. Something to keep into consideration as we move forward.



Let's try something else and keep the mascot out of the picture for now until we can figure out how it slots into things (so it's at the 4pm slot for this next solution).



It was just past five o'clock. A garbage truck had a sudden flat tire on the road outside the north entrance. There was garbage everywhere.
The staff of the exhibition center all put on their raincoats and ran down the stairs to pick up the trash.
I decided to go and help out since I wasn't doing anything anyway.

Soon, I happened to run into someone I knew in the crowd.
It was Jimmy, who had just recently transferred to my school. What a coincidence.

We started chatting while picking up garbage.
Jimmy said he was a huge gamer, and he told me the plot from one of his favorite games.
In the game the player could play as a God and help solve the humans' troubles.
The funny thing was, those humans' troubles were all incredibly dumb.
I could barely understand him, but judging from the excited look on his face it must be a pretty interesting game.



It was already seven o'clock when we were finally done, and the exhibition had been over for a while by then.
Jimmy asked if I wanted to go and grab something to eat.

I looked down at my phone and realized that the battery had run out.
I felt a little choked up in my throat...



I'm gonna debunk what probably had at least some of you thinking this was a huge revelation and say this is not meant to be taken seriously, it's not plot relevant that Jimmy is supposedly playing a game that is the game itself. This won't come up again.

That said, now we know that a garbage truck has an accident by the north entrance at 5pm, so we can assume if we have Li Wen visit there at that time then she'll always get involved to help clean up. Another clue to keep in mind.



What will happen if we switch the order she goes to entrances? Keep it so she doesn't encounter the staff member, but also won't be there when the garbage truck has its accident?



6 o'clock. The rain had turned from a drizzle to a downpour. I was still standing at the entrance, waiting.

The exhibition was over.
My phone's battery had run out.
People were coming out of the exhibition center and raising their umbrellas.

There were more and more umbrellas around me. Everyone's face was hidden behind one.
I was slowly swallowed in an ocean of umbrellas, and I couldn't even see the road outside any more.

I crouched down.
The rain kept falling.

I couldn't tell if it was because of the rain, but... I cried.



Nothing notable happened to her this time, but it's becoming more and more apparent that there is one big event that's vital to the solution- what time it starts to drizzle (which dictates what time it starts to rain).



Therefore, we should move it to the very end of the puzzle, so that Li Wen is out of there before it starts pouring down rain!



It was just past five o'clock. A garbage truck had a sudden flat tire on the road outside the north entrance. There was garbage everywhere.
The staff of the exhibition center all put on their raincoats and ran down the stairs to pick up the trash.
I decided to go and help out since I wasn't doing anything anyway.

Lots of people walked by and took pictures of me with their phones. I struck a pose cooperatively with a victory gesture.
Haha, look at me! I'm the Guardian of the Environment ---- Ser Spotty!

It was already seven o'clock when we were finally done, and the exhibition had been over for a while by then.
My phone's battery had run out.
In the end, I didn't see him.

I took off the Ser Spotty mascot costume and gave it back to the staff member at the west entrance.
The staff member who had to take off earlier for an upset stomach kept thanking me.
He said that if he hadn't found a stand-in before 4pm he would have lost his year-end bonus.



Well, she still ended up helping out with the garbage truck incident, this time in mascot from the staff member; she had a good time at least, which is why it's the A ending, but its still not the best. Maybe there's something small that will fix this...



...like switching the order she goes to the entrances! It's a pretty straightforward logic trick- even if the garbage truck has its accident, if the letter says she's at a different entrance the following hour then that means she won't have stopped to help them, which means she won't be caught up and stay as late- BUT, she'll still have the mascot costume, which means she was able to help the staff member!



Six o'clock. The rain had turned from a drizzle to a downpour.
I was still in the Ser Spotty mascot costume, standing at the entrance.
My phone's battery had run out.

The exhibition was over.
People were coming out of the exhibition center.

“Thank you so much for today! You can get out of the costume now. Again, you saved my life today.”
The staff member who had to take off earlier for an upset stomach kept thanking me. He said if he hadn't found a stand-in he would have lost his year-end bonus.

I was just about to pull the mascot head off when someone bumped into me.
I couldn't see anything with the head on. I only knew that I was falling down the stairs.



Ouch ouch ouch...
I finally stopped at the bottom of the stairs. I suspected that every bone in my body had been broken.
I was sure that I must have looked pathetic, with the mud plastered all over myself...



“Are... are you okay?”
The voice sounded familiar.
But I couldn't be sure because of the sound from the heavy rainfall.
A powerful hand grabbed my arm and pulled me up.

I took the mascot head off in a hurry.

[BGM: Green Fog]


I saw in front of me that same casual outfit.
He raised an umbrella over my head...
But his shoulders were getting wet.

We ordered two cups of hot cocoa from the cafe on the first floor of the exhibition center, and sat at a table next to the window.
The rain had become so heavy that we couldn't leave, but I was feeling like the luckiest girl on earth.

He told me that the exhibition was organized for a friend of his. He didn't know I was still here until he had seen the texts just a little while ago.
There had been too many people at the entrance when he arrived, and he wouldn't have been able to find me if I had not been so “eye-catching”.

So, it was his friend's exhibition... he hadn't planned to come with me...



Lightning suddenly flashed outside the window and all of the lights went out in the cafe.
A waiter came over to apologize. He lit up a candle and placed it on our table.

The outside view became clearer now that it was darker inside.
He turned and looked outside the window towards the blurry greenish mountain far away.
He suddenly changed the subject.

“That mountain is called Shuanglong Mountain. In weather like this, you can see the most beautiful rainbow in the mountains when the rain stops.”

“Have you ever painted it?”

I remembered the paintings in his apartment.
The rainbow in his painting must be even more beautiful than the real one.

But he shook his head.
“The most beautiful views can only live on in memories.”



I could see the candlelight flickering in his eyes.
It was supposed to be the color of warmth, but I couldn't sense any temperature.
A voice suddenly surfaced from deep within my heart, and it was overcoming my own self-control.
I couldn't stop myself from blurting out the question.

“Mr. Wen, may...”

“Do you want to go home now? Sorry, I forgot. It is pretty late.”
Mr. Wen took his eyes away from the mountain, gave me an apologizing look, and reached for the umbrella next to our seats.

No!
Not that!
You...
Could you...

“Could I get a picture with you?”



Eh? What the hell was I talking about?

I pulled out my phone in a hurry, but then I realized that the battery had run out quite a while ago...
Ah! How embarrassing! I wanted to crawl into a hole!

Mr. Wen took out his own phone instead, and handed it to a waiter passing by.

I held onto the cup of cocoa nervously and smiled like an idiot.
“1, 2, 3, Cheese ---- Ah. Let's take another one. Young lady, get a little closer to your boyfriend please.”

W-What?! B-b-boyfriend?!
You don't understand! I mean, really!

Before I could explain, the waiter had taken another picture.
I turned my head towards him... and he was so close...



The first thing I did when I finally got home was plug in my phone.
As soon as I turned it back on I received a text from Mr. Wen. It was a photo.
Later, I bought a brand new photo album. I printed the photo out and put it in the first page.

It was the best birthday gift I had ever gotten.



Let's just move on.

…

[BGM: My World]






NEW MESSAGE: A Gray World



***

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