Part 42: ...And They Will Change Your Fate

[BGM: Whispered Feeling]


Three Years After School

Three years had gone by since I graduated from high school.

College wasn't what I had expected it to be.
In my imagination, college was supposed to be a place where ambitious and hopeful young people could better themselves before they entered the real world.
In reality, it was more like an amusement park.

Most people never thought about their future.
The professors barely cared whether anyone was even listening to their lectures.
Rather than teaching the students, they usually cared more about how much funding they could get for their own private projects.
Even the library didn't have many good books.
Instead, it was more of a hot spot for young couples to go make out.



I no longer even went to campus anymore.
I might as well not even study at home.

My friends were all super cool.
Every few days, they would host a party at my place.
We did karaoke, cooked hot pot, and called for fried chicken deliveries.
My room was always full of the smell of cigarettes and beer.

A life like this had made me lose the concept of time. It also helped with alleviating my feelings of loneliness.



I lay down on my couch and slowly fell asleep.
These days, I had been sleeping on my couch more often than in my bed.

Mr. Wen walked up to the couch and gently took my hand.
I opened my eyes.

I didn't go to campus today either.

After graduating from high school, I never saw Mr. Wen again.
I would often imagine that he would suddenly appear by my side, just like the day of the art exhibition.
He would even show up in my dreams sometimes.
But he never did show up for real.

Every time I asked Ms. Yang about him, she would always stop herself before saying a word.
I stopped asking after a while.



I knew I would probably never know where Mr. Wen was, but I hoped that he was doing great...

...because the early summer that we had spent together would always be the best season of my life.

Li Wen



Well, it sounds like Li Wen's not doing too great in college, so let's see if we can improve things somewhat. There's not really very many possible outcomes here, so this puzzle shouldn't take too long- but let's start by getting her other Bad ending.





I climbed off of the couch and turned on the TV.
I handed Mr. Wen a can of beer, and got myself one.

The evening news was on.
It was about the wedding ceremony of a tennis player that was incredibly popular for a while now.

A few days ago, he had just announced that he was retiring from tennis.
He also announced that he was getting married to his longtime female assistant, who used to be a tennis player too.

I was quite shocked when I saw the name of his fiancee on the TV screen.

Qin Suyue.

That couldn't just be a coincidence.
Ever since I was old enough to remember, I had never seen my mother. Father had only mentioned her once.
But I had never, ever forgotten her name.



I had always thought that tennis was just a hobby from when Father was younger.
He watched the games all the time, and he also had a yellow racket in storage.
Under his influence, I started practicing tennis too, and the yellow racket was the first one I had ever used.

Now that I thought about it... the only matches Father had ever watched all had the same person in them.
He wasn't watching the game. He was only watching Mother.
And that racket must have belonged to her, too.



I chugged the beer, and looked to Mr. Wen, who was supposed to be sitting at the table.
Except... there was no one but me at the table.

The beer can I had handed over was just sitting there.
The hot pot in front of me was filled with overcooked vegetables and meatballs.
The trash can nearby was stuffed with “my” yellow tennis racket, and several bags of fried chicken that I had not even taken a bite of.

I hunched over the table and burst out crying.



Well... now we know why Li Wen's mom never came up before, at least. Let's get to the non-Bad endings.





I rubbed my eyes.
It was Ms. Yang, not him...
I must not have been totally awake.

I climbed off of the couch, went into the kitchen, and helped Ms. Yang with dinner.

I was a repeating senior student this year.
Because of a stomachache, I'd had to miss one of the exams during Gaokao.
I was going to give up on going to college altogether, but Ms. Yang spent a long time convincing me to give it another try.

Concerned about me being alone again, Ms. Yang had moved in next door to help take care of me.
She was living in the apartment that Mr. Wen used to live in.



After Gaokao, Mr. Wen had vanished from my life entirely.
I would often imagine that if I started to give up on myself, maybe he would come back into my life to stop me from ruining my life.
I would be willing to wait for one year, two years, three years, even longer... as long as he would come back.
I had been thinking about this so much that I even dreamt about it, all the time.

In the end, he was probably just a passer-by in my life.



“Look, there's a tennis match.”

Ms. Yang put the remote down.
It was the 4D Gate Open. One of the finalists was a Chinese player.
Father used to like him a lot. He would always watch his matches.

Not only was he a tennis genius, he was also incredibly popular on the Internet.
He was young and handsome, came from a rich family, and had a professional team handling his business off the court.
Besides the astronomical prize money from his matches, his sponsorships were even more lucrative.
Every time he went on a talk show with his beautiful female assistant, he would receive more than tens of thousands in payment.
Lots of people were always posting about him online. They adored him like he was a pop idol.

Ms. Yang kept staring at the TV while pouring some soy sauce on her noodles.
“Since you like tennis so much, have you ever thought about going into a career that has something to do with it?”

My chopsticks stopped for a moment.

“Maybe...”



Well, that's interesting, we ended up changing when the letter was sent- the following school year, rather than three years post-graduation. Didn't seem to help things much, though... but there's one more order we can try. Maybe that'll be better.





I had another dream.
I climbed off of my couch.
I changed into my exercise clothes, picked up my racket, and headed out.

I was a repeating senior student this year.
Because of a stomachache, I'd had to miss one of the exams during Gaokao.
I was going to give up on going to college altogether, but Ms. Yang spent a long time convincing me to give it another try.

After Gaokao, Mr. Wen had vanished from my life entirely.
I would often imagine that if I started to give up on myself, maybe he would come back into my life to stop me from ruining my life.
I would be willing to wait for one year, two years, three years, even longer... as long as he would come back.
I had been thinking about this so much that I even dreamt about it, all the time.

In the end, he was probably just a passer-by in my life.



The light over the tennis court was maintained by some of the residents themselves. The dim lightbulb kept making a buzzing noise.

One, two, three...
I had just hit all 30 of the balls that I had, so I picked up the now empty basket.
I walked to the other side of the court and collected the balls before hitting them all again.
No one else was on the tennis court. All I could hear was the sound of the balls hitting my racket and then bouncing off the ground.



Wait, Rank C? That can't be right. Let's check the History to confirm- maybe we missed an outcome.



...or there is no S outcome for this puzzle? Maybe we should go back to the Letter menu for now...

…

[BGM: Getting Serious]


God... why do you keep toying with me...



Why can't you just let me go...



No... No...



!!!

Nightmare... Another nightmare...

What... is going on with me...

Sigh... I'll go downstairs and get some air...

…



Willy must still be asleep...

Hmm? His door isn't locked. Come to think of it, I have never seen his room.

Well... I'm going in...

*k'chak!*



He's not here.

This room looks quite different from mine... It's pretty cool... This red thing... is called a guitar, I think?

Does he know how to play the guitar?



I sat down in front of the desk.
A picture inside a metal frame caught my attention.

Hmm? This photo...



There are two people and a dog in it. The person on the right looks a lot like myself.
And the dog... it looks just like Willy!
Although it is a little smaller...
I can't see the face of the person on the left very clearly, for some reason.
Nevertheless... it looks like it's a boy.

I feel like I have seen him before...

!!

[BGM: Silence]


As I was scouring my memories for the face of this boy, I felt like an electric shock had suddenly pierced my brain.
Then, everything turned white in front of my eyes...

…

[BGM: Whispered Feeling]


Look! Fluffy knows how to count! The die showed four, and he barked four times!



Woof, woof, woof, woof!



Pfft... it's just counting. What's so special about that?

Fluffy, go get my slippers.

Woof, woof!

Look how smart my Fluffy is!

You're so lazy that you won't even get your own slippers.

Fluffy, go get my snacks.

Woowoo...



Are you telling the dog to get your snacks? Do you have a hole in your head? Fine... I'll go get them for you.

…

Here. Here they are.

Hmm? Did you eat some?

Who would want to eat your osmanthus cake?! I hate that stuff.



Then why are there only four pieces, when there were five earlier?

It must have been Fluffy. See, there's some incriminating dog hair, right there!

Don't you frame Fluffy. Fluffy wouldn't do it. And you know what I just noticed? I saw you touch your head just now.

You always do that when you're lying. I'm onto you!

What? Do you trust Fluffy more than me?

So? I like Fluffy! As long as I have Fluffy, I don't care about you at all!



Idiot. Fluffy can't be with you forever. A dog's life is much shorter than ours. I, on the other hand, might actually be by your side until the end.

You're lying to me again! Fluffy, you're going to stay with me forever, right?

Woof, woof!

…

[BGM: Silence]


Wake up! Wake up! Why did you fall asleep in my room?

Hmm?

Did I... fall asleep?

What happened to you? Are you not feeling well?

I.. Waaaaaaaaah!



I don't know why, but I suddenly want to bawl my heart out.
I don't want to read those letters anymore.
When I realized the humans have all been doomed to their horrible fates because of me...
I just couldn't...



Fine. I understand.

Eh?

Even though I couldn't say anything, Willy seems to know exactly what is bothering me.

It's okay. Don't cry. You have done a great job. I mean it.

I'm the one who has been acting horribly...



But don't worry... You won't remember any of this soon.

?





*bzzt!*

[BGM: Broken Dream 1]


…

Ugh... my head hurts... Where... am I? What... happened?

You finally woke up! I've been waiting for so long. I was beginning to worry that you might never wake up.

(It's a talking dog!)

Er... are you... my pet?



(Good. It looks like she has forgotten everything.)

...How dare you call me a pet? Do I look like a pet?!

Well... yes?

Have you... lost your memories?

Lost... my memories?

Wait... did I... fall down the stairs? And then hit my head?

?



For some reason I seem to remember losing my memories before... does that even make sense?

…

Cough, cough.

Well.. maybe you are a little confused after hitting your head. People sometimes think that they remember some weird stuff after memory loss.

Let me tell you my name first.

My name is Will; sometimes I go by Willy.



Willy...?

Yes, Willy.

Willy... Wonka?

…

Never mind. You don't need to know my name anyway. You may just refer to me as your 'Master'.

Master?

(Why is a dog my master?)



I'm not a dog! We are gods.

How did you know what I was thinking just now?!

Eh? Wait, did you just say that... we are gods?

As gods, it is our job to change the fate of the humans who ask us for help.

Humans encounter all kinds of nonsense in their lives; sometimes they pray to us, desperately hoping for some kind of “miracle”, as they call it.

I could help them, or I could just toy with them for fun. Whatever I do is up to me.

Wait, wait, wait... Stop babbling so fast. I don't understand what you're saying at all!



I'm not babbling... You're just too slow!

Never mind. You don't need to know too much about this either. All you need to be concerned about is preparing snacks for me every day.

The room downstairs next to the staircase is mine. Remember to put the snacks on the desk every time you bring them in.



If I'm asleep, unless there's something extremely important, do not wake me up.

What do you mean by 'extremely important'?

If I forget to make the snacks, should I wake you?

Well, don't bother me for something like that, obviously... Then again, why would you want to wake me up if there were no snacks?

Well... Let me think.



For instance, if it stops snowing, then you should wake me up.

(That might never happen though...)

Okay, got it.

Well, you just woke up after having passed out, so you should get more rest. Just stay in bed today. I need to get to work now.

*k'chak*



Wait! I still don't know what my own name is...

Why did he leave in such a hurry...

Hmm...

I really can't remember much else.

How did I lose my memories?