It was as if the answer was already known.

I pointed my binoculars at the southern sky. While recalling the astronomical knowledge I learned in class, I searched for the stars.

"A star that glows red is nearing its lifespan. Among them, the α star in Scorpio is more famous, and in the end it will burn out and sink silent in the cold universe. ”

I adjusted the angle of the telescope and handed it to Tang Ling.

"Will one day all the stars in the night sky turn red?"

Tang Ling said as if sighing. I tried to imagine it, but I couldn't get it to mind.

"What does a star become when it dies?"

"It loses its light and becomes like a corpse. Or it will become a black hole. ”

When a massive star dies, gravity causes it to collapse and form a black hole. No matter what the substance is, not even light can escape, it can only be swallowed by black holes. A black hole absorbs all the stars in the universe and grows into a behemoth.

"Humans, will they also be absorbed by the dead?"

I looked at Tang Ling in astonishment.

"I don't want to be a black hole."

Tang Ling's tone was very sentimental.

No one wants to be a black hole. I thought so, but I didn't say it.

The Scorpio α star is also clearly visible to the naked eye, and it is the heart of Scorpio. It seems that the legend has it that after the scorpion died, it wanted to make someone happy, so that it became a star shining in the night sky.

Actually, I want to die like that, too.

"If all the stars die out or turn into black holes, astronomical observations are no fun."

"I think the Earth will perish before that."

The last days of the earth. It's like science fiction.

"What will the universe end up like?"

"Probably gone."

When I was passing the time in the library, I saw a book that said this. The universe will also disappear, just like people.

"Then, what's the point of being alive in this world?"

"It doesn't make sense. The so-called meaning is just a human delusion. ”

There is no point in living.

Nothing at all. The entropy continues to increase, and the universe ushers in heat death. All life dies, leaving only endless silence and nothing left. History, language will also fade.

The universe was born in a sudden explosion, and in the process of cooling down, the animals that appeared by chance, their minds constantly searching for the meaning of existence—this worthless behavior is really painful for me.

"What's the romance here?"

She pursed her lips a little disgruntled and looked back at the binoculars.

We were silent.

Perhaps this is the first time we have experienced such a long period of silence.

Silence sometimes erases the sense of reality, as it is now. Maybe it's because of the fact that we talked about the star universe. When the scale of the world changes, you feel as small as a microbe.

Tang Ling didn't talk to me, she was fascinated by astronomical observations.

"It's beautiful."

Tang Ling seemed to be completely drawn into the world in the telescope.

Looking at her defenseless back, something suddenly occurred to me. As if a light was shining through the cracks in the curtains, her skin glowed faintly white between her long hair.

"Tang Ling, I like you."

Tang Ling didn't look at me. She froze there as if she hadn't heard.

"It's been five minutes."

Her voice trembled a little.

I couldn't see her expression, and I couldn't figure out what she was thinking.

"I'm not kidding."

I said seriously.

Silence reigns between us. For a few full seconds, we looked at each other speechlessly.

I waited.

"I'm sorry."

For some reason, there was a hint of choking in her voice.

In my high school, I had to perform a drama in my first year at the school anniversary. The show to be performed has been voted on.

It's Romeo and Juliet.

Anyway, that's too cheesy.

So now the roles are being assigned.

"Let's start with Juliet. It is better to come up with a few candidates, and everyone votes by a show of hands. Teacher Fang Jiang, the head teacher, said. Her expression was bright, and she didn't seem to be affected by what happened to her and Wu Jie. Maybe Wu Jie just wanted her to sort out her mood during the summer vacation, and the timing of the special choice may not be clear.

I looked around, and everyone seemed to be shy away from acting. Our high school is a prestigious high school in Kawauchi, and many people go to cram schools for tuition from the beginning of high school, and there are a small number of people who want to participate in this kind of activity. The supporting roles are okay, the starring roles have a lot of lines and a lot of practice, so they are the least popular. Not only our class, but most of the other classes are in the same situation. In the end, it seems that the teacher has to make the decision.

"Nobody......

Teacher Fang Jiang let out a regretful sigh.

I took a deep breath, prepared myself, and jerked up my hand.

"I'll come."

In an instant, the class was boiling, and everyone was almost bursting into laughter. However, I don't raise my hand to make a joke.

"I said, this is Juliet. Long Xiaotian is a boy. ”

"I've always been interested in women's clothing."

With that, the laughter in the classroom became louder.

"No, I can't. Don't there be any girls who want to act? ”

Teacher Fangjiang ruthlessly rejected me and urged the other students, but no one raised their hands. Obviously, everyone doesn't want to act. That's when someone spoke.

"However, if you let a boy play Juliet, it will be well received, right?"

In response, others began to say "indeed", "funny", and "it worked" in agreement. In the end, Mr. Fangjiang also compromised a little.

"Hmm...... Personally, I don't agree with it, but in the end, it has to be decided by everyone as a student. Then, those who are in favor of having Long Xiaotian play Juliet, please raise your hand. ”

A few people raised their hands sporadically, and the number of people raising their hands gradually increased. At a cursory glance, two-thirds of the class seemed to have raised their hands.

"Then it is tentatively scheduled for Long Xiaotian to play Juliet. It's just that if there are other girls who want to play in the future, that girl will play Juliet. No problem, right? ”

Mr. Fangjiang's opinion was successfully approved - although I don't think anyone else would want to play at all.

"Next up is Romeo. So this role is played by girls, right? ”

Teacher Fang Jiang's tone was witty, and he should be joking. However, no one raised their hand. Teacher Fang Jiang looked around the classroom, his expression becoming more and more difficult.

At that time, Wu Jie raised his hand.

"Then I'll do it."

"This, that's it. Then please Wu Jie. ”

Teacher Fang Jiang showed a somewhat surprised expression and wrote Wu Jie's name on the blackboard mountain.

Romeo Wu Jie

Juliet dragon roars

Looking at the words on the blackboard, I thought again, this actor is really badly chosen.

"Wu Jie, why did you raise your hand?"

After the class meeting, I asked Wu Jie.

"I want to be famous." He replied blandly.

"I thought you must have raised your hand because you didn't want to bother Teacher Fangjiang."

"You're thinking too much. Anyway, it's even more unusual for you to play Juliet than me. What are you doing, you're weirder than me. ”

“…… The reasons for this are complicated. ”

Hey, I'm not really the kind of person who actively participates in school activities. Wu Jie's reaction was not surprising.

After the class meeting, the sixth period is physical education.

Usually in physical education class, Wu Jie will sit on the sidelines and observe. That day, too, Wu Jie was in the corner watching basketball lessons. Although I was in the same class as Wu Jie, I was always nervous during PE class. Especially in basketball class, I was the most nervous.

The ball got to me. I hesitated to dribble or shoot. That's when I saw Wu Jie. Then, the opposing student snatched the ball from me.

"It's terrible! Juliet! ”

Wu Jie shouted at me with some anger. There was a sparse laugh all around.

I looked back and saw that the game had continued. The opponent scores with an easy shot. Just when I wondered if it was my fault for not getting back to the game right away, our team made a long pass and passed the ball to me. The voice of the team member came:

"Juliet's dragon roars!"

This name is the same as that of an unknown sketch actor. I sighed and jumped up to shoot.

The basketball arcs in the air and falls into the hoop.

At that time, I looked at Wu Jie in surprise and looked at him.

"What are you doing?"

He said to me in annoyance. I didn't say anything, I just stood still. Why did I look at Wu Jie after shooting just now? I kind of regret what I just did.

***

Wu Jie used to be a member of the basketball team.

Before sometime in the second year of junior high school.

At that time, I was in the same class as Wu Jie, and at that time, I was targeted by a bad student group in the class and bullied by them.

"Fly, Long Xiaotian!"

The bad students in the class shouted. I clung to the railing of the classroom terrace.

"We'll be glad you're going to die soon."

It all started when I was protecting another student who was being bullied. I didn't fight badly myself, but I couldn't help it when I saw the student with a lunch button on his head.

I stood on the terrace and laughed at myself wondering if I had done something stupid, because for some reason, the student who was being bullied joined the bully and bullied me in turn. Not sure what's going on. He probably did it out of fear that he wouldn't know when he would be bullied.

"Die—die—"

Everyone in the classroom seemed to be blind to me being bullied. That's natural, after all, I've proven for myself that if I come and stop it, I'll be the next target to be bullied.

There are many ways to bully people, and there are also more insidious ways such as slander and deliberately asking people for trouble, but I was directly subjected to violence such as being beaten and kicked. At that time, I was just tired of that kind of violence.

Looking down from the terrace, I felt like I was going to be sucked into the ground downstairs, and I felt that it didn't matter if I died. Or I always feel that there are a lot of troubles. If you think about it, there's nothing joyful about being alive.

"I see."

I said it lightly and crossed the railing of the terrace. I grabbed the railing behind me and stood on the window edge half the width of my sneakers and looked down. I looked back through the open window and the people in the classroom were all looking at me with blank expressions. They looked at it, but they didn't react in any way. I think it's great that I'm not like those guys, even though I'm at this point now.

I turned my gaze to the ground again.

There was a wind blowing.

I think of Sister Xiaoyan who died a year ago.

It's too easy to die.

But the legs were shaking.

I couldn't make up my mind.

That's when it was.

"Hey, it's class."

Wu Jie opened the door of the terrace and walked over.

I looked back in surprise.

"I'm sick of it. You get the hell out of here. ”

Wu Jie didn't seem to hear the words of the bad student, and approached me.

Before that, I barely spoke to Wu Jie. All I know about him is that he joined the basketball club.

Even so, I am not without a relationship with him.

Wu Zheng.

Wu is Wu Jie's dead brother and Sister Xiaoyan's lover before her death. Since we were blood relatives in the past, we would care a little bit about each other anyway. So although we didn't talk much about it, we often looked at each other a few more times.

Even so, until then, our relationship was nothing more than that.