"There's no reason, you just don't understand."

Mia Waters absentmindedly thought of Zoe Young. Fourth Lord and Sixth Lord, which one sounds better? She had to ask her about it someday.

"Is it because you're worried that even if you try your best, you'll only get fourth place or even worse, and then you'll lose the sense of superiority and vanity of 'casually getting fourth place'?"

Here we go again, now that's more like Coral. Mia Waters raised an eyebrow, but since she was already mentally prepared, she didn't get worked up.

"Yeah, so what?"

Mia Waters extra story Coral was choked by this attitude, blinking blankly several times.

That look was actually kind of adorably silly.

"It's like a lot of chubby girls, always talking about losing weight, but never actually doing it. Why? Because once they succeed, they lose their only hope—before, they could blame not looking good on being fat, thinking losing weight would make them pretty; but if they really lose the weight, they have to face the harsh truth: actually, it's because they're ugly."

Mia Waters was amused by her own theory, grinning smugly for a while, but then noticed Coral wasn't buying it at all, and lost interest.

"You shouldn't be so careless." Coral kept repeating.

Mia Waters grew impatient: "What does it matter to you whether I take things seriously or not?"

"If you have the ability to do better but don't try, not taking things seriously is disrespectful to others!"

Disrespectful? Mia Waters looked at the red-faced, flustered Coral, both amused and exasperated.

"If you have so much energy and ambition, then go work hard yourself. Besides, you still have room to improve—why not take down Raymond Carter, who's ranked ahead of you, first!"

Coral didn't respond.

"I still hope you'll work hard."

Mia Waters was suddenly struck by an idea.

"Hey... Coral, does Raymond Carter like you or something?"

That would explain everything. Mia Waters couldn't help but feel deeply annoyed at her own previous cluelessness.

"I'm begging you, please don't tell Raymond Carter that I skipped class with you this afternoon, okay? I still have to hang around here for who knows how long, and I don't want to get on the wrong side of anyone..."

Coral whipped her head around so fast that her ponytail smacked Mia Waters silly.

The sun was slowly, bit by bit, sinking into the water before their eyes, tangled at the edge of the sea and sky, ambiguous and resistant.

"Do a lot of people jump into the sea?"

"What?"

"I'm asking you, do a lot of people in K City jump into the sea?"

"Hmm... All I can say is, quite a few people die in the sea. Most are swept off the rocks by waves, or realize after the tide comes in that they can't get back to shore. There are all kinds of causes of death—whether it's suicide, I really don't know."

Whenever Coral talked about something seriously, she would stubbornly stare at the other person, even if Mia Waters was sitting to her side, she would make sure to stay in Mia Waters's peripheral vision.

"So this place we're sitting at now..."

"Don't worry, it's perfectly safe. ...But why are you asking about this? Jumping into the sea?"

"Yeah, I just want to know, with such a tough sea, does it make people more open-minded or more hopeless?"

After Mia Waters finished speaking, the two of them fell into a tacit silence for a while.

"I don't know," Coral's tone softened, "A lot of people envy us, thinking that when they're feeling down, they can just come to the seaside, listen to the waves, watch the sea travel thousands of miles to get here, even shout at the ocean if they want. No matter what emotions you have, the sea will take it all."

"It's more like it doesn't care."

"What?"

"I mean, it's not that it takes all emotions, it's that it doesn't care at all," Mia Waters closed her eyes and listened to the waves, "It just provides a stage. Some people come here for inspiration, some for enlightenment, some to play the hero, some to play the utterly defeated. It's like the sea is telling us something, but actually, it says nothing at all. Our little joys and sorrows are too trivial for it to bother with. It's just people using the sea as an excuse for their own actions."

"You're really great when you're serious."

"I'm obviously being pessimistic, okay?"

"It's not pessimism, it's seriousness. This kind of seriousness is really great."

"You're so weird."

"The sound of the waves is the heartbeat of the sea."

"You're so gross, Coral. Are you going to write poetry now?"

Mia Waters extra story Mia Waters burst out laughing.

"Actually, I really hope they like me, but at the same time, I don't care."

Mia Waters stopped laughing.

"I know they all hate me, talk behind my back, and I know my attitude gets on their nerves. But I just like to be serious, I hate people who lie, I hate people who use carelessness to cover up incompetence. Shouldn't we give life our all? I'm not a smart person, even if I work hard I can't beat Raymond Carter, but I don't feel unhappy about it. On the contrary, when you lose to me so easily, I feel insulted. It's so hard just to stay alive, how can you waste your life?

But they all hate this about me. I want them to like me, but every time I feel so wronged I can't stand it, I run to the seaside to listen to the waves, and the sea always tells me, you don't have to please anyone, it doesn't matter."

A little stubborn, a little childish. Mia Waters felt a gentle yet helpless pity rise in her heart.

He ruffled her hair, pretending not to see Coral's eyes wide open like a cat's.

"Sometimes you're kind of cute. I mean, sometimes."

The moon hung above the willow branches.

Mia Waters whistled as he went upstairs. As soon as he opened the door, he saw his parents waiting for him, his mom looking a little too excited.

"Why are you back?" Mia Waters was stunned.

"Good news, good news," his mom said happily, "I called your homeroom teacher and already got you a week's leave. Tomorrow I'll go home with you. Director Zack from the High School Affiliated to Normal University sent word—Nanyang Technological University in Singapore is recruiting for their program, you need to hurry back and submit your application."

"What?"

"Didn't your aunt mention it before? The five-plus-five program, no need for the college entrance exam, there's a scholarship, one or two years of prep, then you go straight to Nanyang Tech, and after working for five years you get your freedom back. Did you forget?"

Mia Waters suddenly understood. It was the program he used to look forward to.

Because it meant no college entrance exam.

Mia Waters always believed in taking the easiest path—but suddenly he felt a little panicked.

"We're leaving tomorrow? I still have stuff at school."

"Your dad can bring it back for you later. Hurry up and get ready. Depending on how things go, you might have to come back and study for a while."

Mia Waters nodded, a little dazed, licking his canine tooth with the tip of his tongue.

The energy-saving lamp in the living room shone a stark white, leaving no place for the afternoon sun and the beach. Mia Waters seemed to have started to like this city a little.

He didn't know if this liking had come too early or too late.

When Mia Waters returned to K City again, it was already two months later.

The Singapore thing had been settled in a flurry of activity. After several rounds of written and oral exams, Mia Waters, upholding his fine tradition of "never dropping the ball at critical moments," made it through every round and was finally selected.

There were many candidates, but only four made it in the end.

So what if he got fourth place, as long as he got what he wanted in the end. No need to be first, no need to try too hard, just enough.

When Mia Waters returned to No. 4 High School, his classmates already knew he was going to Singapore soon. They all came to his desk to congratulate him, whether sincerely or just for the fun of it, and Mia Waters accepted it all with a grin.

Only Raymond Carter was reserved, only Coral was cold.

His parents' overseas assignment wouldn't last much longer either. Mia Waters knew he would eventually forget all these people, so there was no need to make an effort to remember them.

But what about the ones he'd already remembered?

A few girls came bouncing over to Mia Waters to "catch up," and when Singapore came up in conversation, they were all full of envy.

"So nice, Mia Waters, you don't even have to take the college entrance exam."

"Not really, life isn't complete."

"Oh, come on, who wants to be 'complete' like that? I've been to Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand on vacation—Singapore is so beautiful, the sea is way bluer than ours..."

"Does the sea there even deserve to be called the sea?"

Coral suddenly cut in, successfully making things awkward.

Mia Waters extra story Mia Waters actually felt a sense of relief.

"What do you mean?" the girl retorted, "You've never even been to Singapore, how do you know their sea isn't as blue as ours?"