"Just... just like that? He's back?"
Mobius clearly didn't believe the person standing before her had returned to his original self, even though he had put on his signature helmet and the flippant aura had vanished. But... just like that? He went out for a stroll and came back?
"Are you Lin?" Mobius suspicious little expression fully displayed the doubt in her heart.
Lin nodded. "I am."
"I don't believe you."
"..."
Here lay the problem. What the person who had occupied Lin body said seemed to be true... even if he said he was Lin, they had no way to verify it. The tricky part was that the person claimed to have all of Lin memories and could mimic his personality perfectly. If he hadn't acted so exceptionally lewd and nonsensical, perhaps no one would have noticed.
Lin himself was actually a bit confused; he was currently digesting some new information in his mind. All the memories from his loss of consciousness to his return gave him a general idea of the situation, but there were also "gifts" left behind by the consciousness that had occupied his body.
That's right—that cynical person had left special instructions directly in his memory for Lin, calling them gifts to celebrate his passing the exam and to welcome him home.
Who... was that person? By all accounts, that person had imprisoned him and Yama in the bubble world, but was his only goal to take Lin body for a joyride? However, judging from what he left behind...
"Captain Lin? You're back?" Dystopia walked over at that moment. Seeing Lin wearing his helmet, she knew he was back. "Can we hand out the gifts now?"
Lin train of thought was broken. He nodded silently. According to his memory, that person's instruction to Dystopia was to distribute the gifts once Lin returned. Strangely, Lin had no memory of the contents of each person's gift.
He was quite curious himself, so he followed Dystopia to collect the gifts and distribute them one by one.
...
"A gift... for me?"
When Lin handed the gift box to Sakura, she wore an expression of total disbelief. Lin merely nodded silently, having lost his previous playful manner, which caused Sakura stress levels to spike. She didn't know if Lin possessed those specific memories...
"Won't you open it?"
"May I?"
"..."
Lin didn't know how to describe this scene. Does anyone ever ask the giver if they can open the gift they were given? Was there such a thing as a giver who only allowed the recipient to look at the wrapping paper? Fortunately, Sakura quickly realized the flaw in her words. she hurriedly lowered her head to unwrap the gift, looking like a little girl who had her secret discovered.
A little girl...
Lin instinctively looked at Sakura delicate, thin lips, and thought of the "criminal declaration" Yama had made to him: "Someone told me that just lips touching lips doesn't count as a first kiss."
...Bizarre. Why would he think of that?
Sakura, unaware of Lin internal strangeness, opened the box. Rin, standing beside her, stood on her tiptoes to peer inside, discovering three identical pairs of over-ear headphones. Considering Sakura and Rin were such close sisters they used identical things for everything, giving two sets would be normal, but...
"Why are there three pairs of headphones? Who is the extra pair for?"
The question Rin asked gave Sakura goosebumps. She stood there, lost. The third pair... was of course for Sakura too. Because Sakura had two pairs of ears.
But how could she tell Rin that? Was she supposed to tell her sister that she was actually a monster with an extra pair of animal ears?
"It's for Saku—" Lin was about to answer when Sakura slapped him back.
Smack!
The slap landed on the helmet. It didn't stop Lin from speaking, but it shut him up. Glancing at Sakura pleading eyes, he thought for a moment and said, "It's... for myself."
"You two..." Rin's suspicious gaze shifted between the two guilty-looking individuals. Then, she seemed to remember something and clapped her hands in realization. "Okay, I get it!"
Lin didn't know what Rin "got," and Sakura didn't know either, but anyway, she seemed to have realized something. Thus, Lin continued to distribute gifts with "his" new headphones hanging around his neck.
...
"What kind of look is that?"
"What kind of look is that?"
Kevin and Lin questioned each other at the same time. Lin was still wearing the formal evening suit Prometheus had put on him, but he was wearing a sci-fi style helmet and headphones—a look full of total disconnect.
Kevin was even more striking. He sat with a serious expression on a white plastic chair—the kind you find anywhere at a street stall—eating noodles right in the center of the banquet. When Lin found him, he had just finished the last bite and sucked the noodles into his mouth.
Slurp.
The moment he finished the noodles and looked up to lock eyes with Lin, the air seemed to freeze.
"..."
Although Kevin tried his best to maintain his cool and aloof image, Lin could see he was a bit embarrassed. Furthermore, even before Lin arrived, people had been peeking at the first MANTIS sitting in the most prominent spot, eating noodles with gusto.
"...Stuck," Kevin said with a cold face.
"...What?"
"My back and my butt... are completely stuck..."
"..."
Of course, if it were just his clothes being stuck, Kevin could have carried the plastic chair and hidden in a corner or backstage to take them off. The problem was the chair legs were also glued down. According to Vil-V identification, it was a structural adhesive she had made in her spare time. It couldn't be removed like normal glue, and its strength was enough for 100ml of the substance to hold a one-ton weight for decades.
Simply put—unless he stripped naked in front of everyone, Kevin wasn't leaving that chair.
Lin shook his head and handed over a gift box. "A gift for you. Where's Mei?"
"I'm here." Mei happened to walk over. Her attire today wasn't like her usual frumpy scientist look; she wore a stylish bodycon skirt with black stockings and high heels. She asked with a smile, "You're back?"
"Yeah."
Mei didn't ask further. No one could read the thoughts in her eyes, but she quickly tucked those considerations away and turned to look at the gift with Kevin. No words were needed—perhaps it was a long-established understanding—there were no unnecessary formalities between Kevin and Lin. Kevin tore off the wrapping, opened the box, and pulled out... a pair of diamond rings.
One large and one small, perfectly sized for Kevin and Mei's fingers. Furthermore, their names were engraved on the silver bands. They weren't there when Lin bought them; it seemed that person had engraved them himself after buying them.
"Rings?"
While couples might wear matching rings to show their relationship, there was no "that kind" of tradition "at this time."
"When a man gives a ring and the other party accepts it and wears it on their left ring finger, it is considered a proposal," Lin explained using the memories left behind. "The left ring finger has a vein that leads directly to the heart, so it signifies 'love at the closest distance to the heart.'"
After a brief moment of surprise, Mei gave a gentle smile. She said nothing, silently picking up the larger ring. Lin didn't need to see what happened next. They completed the exchange of vows in the most prominent spot; perhaps that person had planned this all along.
However... Lin instinctively touched the ring someone had given him on his left ring finger.