"Hello, I'm Yan Jingxing."
The girl in front of him widened her dark eyes and looked at him unblinkingly. Yan Jingxing thought she didn't know who he was, so he introduced himself again.
I know, she thought, I just heard you introduce it in class.
"I am...Jichun Zao. The spring of spring, the algae of seaweed..."
"Well, I heard it from my classmates."
The breeze in early summer blew through the roof, gently blowing the hair and clothes of the boys and girls.
After introducing themselves to each other, the two people fell silent at the same time, and the atmosphere became awkward for a while.
Yan Jingxing scratched the back of his head and pointed at the magazine in the girl's hand.
""UFO Discovery", I have a stack of them at home. I loved watching this one when I was in primary school."
"..."
"This magazine used to be circulated by the boys in my class, but I didn't expect that girls also like to read it. Can I sit down?"
"...Okay." Ji Chunzao nodded. Judging from the girl's slightly stiff facial expression, she was clearly feeling nervous now.
Yan Jingxing sat down next to Ji Chunzao.
The two of them sat side by side in the middle of the small "secret base", and she subconsciously curled up her shoulders.
"Can you lend it to me?"
Ji Chunzao silently handed him the magazine.
Yan Jingxing just lowered his head and read through it seriously, as if he was really just here to read.
Seeing that he was so absorbed in watching that he didn't speak for a while, Ji Chunzao's tense mood gradually relaxed.
She didn't expect that the boy she met by chance when she sneaked out of the house to go swimming alone at the beach two days ago would suddenly become her classmate today.
Is this a...coincidence? No matter what, since we are new acquaintances, there will be no prejudice against me. Now he even takes the initiative to borrow magazines from me...
Maybe, he will listen to me.
Ji Chunzao's heart skipped a beat, and she couldn't help but move her knees, slightly closing the distance between her and the boy, and asked cautiously:
"You, you like watching this because you believe in aliens?"
"Um?"
Yan Jingxing answered without raising his head.
"I liked reading them for a while, but that was all in the past. It was probably in the fourth grade of elementary school, right? Later, these books were confiscated by the teacher, and they were no longer popular in the class. After a while, I also No more interest."
"……oh."
Ji Chunzao was a little disappointed and shrank back again.
"Perhaps, tomorrow we will be one step closer to the answers to these questions..."
After a while, Yan Jingxing finished reading the first article "Do flying saucers really exist? Flying saucers in the eyes of ancient people" and read out the last paragraph of the article.
"Are there any aliens? Let's continue exploring."
He put the magazine down and couldn't help but laugh.
"The words are so familiar. I suddenly feel that the things written in this magazine, whether they are aliens or flying saucers, are always said over and over again and have never changed."
"yes."
Ji Chunzao nodded in agreement,
"Indeed it is."
Sure enough, you still understand, right? Hearing her answer, Yan Jingxing realized that this girl was actually just like him, she just liked weird things and was not "abnormal" like the people in the class said.
This kind of prejudice is really excessive. He recalled his experience in elementary school, when he was despised as a "sissy" by some boys just because he liked to stay in the classroom, read, and say a few words to the female classmates. He couldn't help but feel a sense of sympathy. Feel.
"The content in this book seems to be largely fictional."
The other party nodded seriously again.
"I know it's fake."
Yan Jingxing smiled. Yes, after all, we are all junior high school students, not children...
"——Because I have seen real aliens and know that they are not like what is written in magazines."
The smile on Yan Jingxing's face froze.
"However, even if they are fake, they still have reference significance. I will not be the only one in this world who sees them. One day..."
"Wait a minute, you said you saw it with your own eyes?"
"Um!"
"..."
She looked very matter-of-fact, not like she was joking, and she didn't seem to think she was lying.
Yan Jingxing was still stunned when he heard her speak again.
"By the way, have we met before? I thought you were a tourist at that time."
He came to his senses and quickly took out the shells and pebbles from his pocket. It was something she stuffed into herself before leaving, and it stayed with her ever since.
Ji Chunzao saw his movements and tentatively said:
"Aren't you angry?"
"Why should I be angry?" Yan Jingxing held the shiny "baby" in his hand, a little strange, "You are giving me something."
"I went to the beach that day to look for shells and pebbles. I accidentally picked up a lot, but it was too heavy to carry them all with me. I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to come back during the swim. Then, I happened to see you. So..."
The girl pursed her lips in embarrassment.
"I'll just give you the ones you don't want."
Hearing these words, Yan Jingxing felt mixed emotions.
How should I put it, the day he met the other person, the sun was just right and the blue sea was turbulent. Looking at her wet and glowing under the blue sky and white clouds, at that moment, he felt that he was the human male chosen by the mermaid in the legend.
The age when he liked dreams and fairy tales has passed, but he will inevitably still have thoughts and fantasies about the outside world.
As a result, such subtle thoughts and ideas were shattered by the client himself within a few days.
The strange feeling of excitement and joy that drove him to run wildly on the beach after getting off the car that day, and the impulse that drove him to look for the girl everywhere on campus after class, faded away unconsciously.
It turns out that everything was just a coincidence.
"I have other books here. Do you want to read them?"
Yan Jingxing's eyes fell on the stacked books and magazines, and he knew the content just by looking at the title on the cover.
Things that I thought were interesting and very exciting a few years ago now seem childish and boring.
He is still some distance away from becoming a real adult, but he has been told by the people around him and the social reality: there are no aliens in this world, just like there are no mermaids.
"Thank you, but forget it."
Neither of them spoke again.
After all this chatting, it seemed like there was nothing else to say.
Yan Jingxing stood up and prepared to say goodbye to her.
…
Ji Chunzao secretly looked at the profile of the boy next to him, knowing that he was just like everyone else he had met.
No one would believe that she had actually seen aliens.
When she was young, such words could still be regarded as "childish talk"; but as she grew older, her insistence on her own opinions became more and more strange and unsociable.
If one day you become an adult and are still unwilling to hide yourself, you will become a madman and a fool in the eyes of others.
The girl lowered her eyes and her thick eyelashes trembled slightly.
"I'm going back to the classroom first."
"See you."
Ji Chunzao watched his back disappear around the corner and picked up the magazine at hand again.
Sad thoughts flowed in her heart for a while, and soon disappeared. The girl's mind was once again devoted to the magazine she was interested in, immersed in her own world.
After all, she had just met him twice, so there was no reason for her to care too much. As for not being believed by others and being alienated by peers, I have long been used to it.
until--
"By the way, classmate..."
"Wow!"
Another sudden sound came from behind, startling her again.
Ji Chunzao turned his head tremblingly, and what came into view was his face again.
At this moment, she began to feel a little emotional and stared at the other party dissatisfied.
"W-what's the matter with you?"
"Sorry, I seemed to scare you."
Yan Jingxing scratched his hair and smiled a little sheepishly. He hesitated and said:
"You said you saw aliens. Where did you see them? What do they look like?"
Ji Chunzao turned his head away angrily, not wanting to look at his face again.
"You don't believe it, why should I tell you this?"
"I don't believe it..."
"Isn't that great?"
"——But, can't you find a way to make me believe it?"
The girl still didn't turn around, but her ears quietly perked up when she heard the boy behind her continue.
"If I could see the evidence, maybe I would believe it."
The evidence...
Ji Chunzao blinked.
It's not that she hasn't thought of ways to collect information, and her efforts over the past few years have not been in vain. But if you can't see it with your own eyes like yourself, you will always be dubious.
"Also, I heard from other classmates that you used to catch people and talk about aliens every day, which annoyed them, and as a result, they were alienated by others."
Ji Chunzao's face turned slightly rosy when he heard the embarrassing things he had done before from others.
"But I don't seem to be treated like this. Is it just because I'm from the city?"
"...That was all when I was in junior high school."
The little girl muttered with a sullen face.
Since no one wants to recognize me, I might as well give up from the beginning. So as not to make others look at you differently and embarrass yourself.
Yan Jingxing nodded.
It turns out that was the case, so she avoided me after class. It turned out that she had given up on persuading others.
"But if what you say is true, but you are regarded as a liar, wouldn't you feel unwilling to do so?"
Of course I’m not willing to give in—! She screamed in her heart.
Ji Chunzao finally turned his head and looked at him seriously.
"If you see the evidence, will you really believe it?"
"The premise is that there is evidence that can convince me."
"Okay, then it's settled."
She stood up, put her hands on her hips, and looked very proud.
"That's a deal"?
Yan Jingxing was a little confused.
"What's settled? I asked you to show me the evidence..."
"——You follow me, let's go find aliens together!"
