AS team Yunyue was having a blast, celebrating their win, a gloomy atmosphere surrounded the castle walls of team Sanguis. It's a huge contrast to the festive banquet in the Great Hall.
The other members prepared the banquet, completely believing that their team would win the match. But what happened was the complete opposite of what they expected. Their team lost, and didn't really know what to do.
The only one currently present in the Grand Hall was Tang Xun. He was gorging himself with food while also sobbing like a five-year-old kid.
"I shweear, I'll kish that White Marsh's ash one day (I swear, I'll kick that White Marsh's ass one day)."
The other members didn't know what to do. The vice-captain, who usually handled things like this, was nowhere to be seen. Even the captain was a no-show. The other two main members of the team were also absent.
At the end, they could only watch helplessly as Tang Xun cried and eat at the same time.
So, where were the other four, exactly?
Qin Rushi was currently climbing the clock tower. She just saw Zhang Ya and Yin Jian logging off the game. The former said that she was too tired because of her fight with a crazy gnome and just wanted to rest at home. While the latter only had a dark expression and didn't say much, obviously very upset over his loss to YUN.
From what little she had seen from some of the posts on the game forum, the fight between the two seemed to be very one-sided. She also lost to Su Yuqi, so he could understand Yin Jian's frustration.
But unlike the other, she didn't have time to wallow in that. As the vice-captain, she had to make sure first that their captain was alright first.
Since Xu Ru didn't log out, he must be somewhere in the castle. And there's only one place Qin Rushi could guess where. The clock tower. That was Xu Ru's favorite spot in the castle. The place he often went to when he wanted to think, or when he wanted to be alone.
She was just kind of glad that the other didn't log out. Because it meant that his mood was not yet that low that he had to sort to his usual 'activity' to cheer himself up. And yes, it involved some R18 stuff that's definitely not for children.
The fact that he stayed here showed that their team's loss didn't hit him as hard as she imagined. But since he went to the clock tower, it meant that it still affected him in some way.
Soon, Qin Rushi arrived at the top of the clock tower. The first thing she saw was Xu Ru's back. The other was obviously observing the view below. She walked forward and stood beside Xu Ru.
She glanced at the other's side face. There was no prominent expression on his face. He was just calmly looking down below. "You alright?"
"I don't know," Xu Ru said honestly. "I'm honestly not sure what to feel."
And that was the truth. At first, he was angry about losing the match in that manner. He didn't know who he was angrier with, Noctis for setting him up like that, or him for falling for it. Then, after the anger, was the frustration. Who wouldn't be frustrated after losing like that? Of course, feeling annoyed would naturally follow. This mixture of emotions was so hard to describe that he didn't know how to answer Qin Rushi's question properly.
Qin Rushi raised his brow at that vague answer. Well, at least this guy was not sulking or moping as she thought he would. "Well, if you're alright, then I'll just go."
As she was about to leave, Xu Ru suddenly turned towards her.
"Princess, won't you even try to comfort me? Everyone on the game forum and Weibo is mocking me, you know?" The other suddenly acted sad, holding his chest as if hurt. "I really need some comforting right now."
Qin Rushi only gave Xu Ru a dry look. "Since you're already acting like that, I don't think you need any comforting."
After that, she didn't wait for him to say anything more. She simply walked away. As she did, she heard a loud laugh from behind, and a comment calling her a 'heartless princess'.
She smiled unknowingly at that, feeling completely relieved now that she knew that Xu Ru was fine.
Luo Yan chuckled as he watched Eclipse and Rowan bicker for the nth time. It's like the two were trying to replace Bai Ze and Su Yuqi as the 'bickering tandem' on the team. It's even much funnier because Dusk would be pulled in the middle. The other already had a fed up expression at this point.
He looked around. Shen Ji Yun and Bai Ze were discussing something, probably related to the two original members of team Yunyue. He only then noticed that Luo Jin and Su Yuqi had gone off somewhere.
He wasn't really that much surprised by that. The two had been going off somewhere, doing things, even before Luo Jin realized his feelings for Su Yuqi. Now that he thought about it, he wondered if Luo Jin did something for Su Yuqi during Valentine's Day. He was so busy preparing for Shen Ji Yun's birthday that he didn't really think much of how the others' Valentine's went.
Speaking of Valentine's Day... He glanced at Yu Jiao sitting beside him. She seemed to be also enjoying Eclipse and Rowan's 'little show'.
"Jiao Jiao," he called to the other.
Yu Jiao turned to him with a curious expression on her face, probably wondering what he's going to say. "Hmm?"
"Did you do anything special on Valentine's Day?" he asked in a voice that only the two of them could hear.
As soon as he asked that, Yu Jiao seemed lost for a moment, as if she was reminiscing something. Then her entire face turned red like a ripe tomato.