My name is Xiyan: Xi as in sunset, and Yan as in countenance.
My older brother said my name meant “the face of the setting sun”: not as dazzling as the morning sun or as blazing as the midday sun, but quietly casting a gentle afterglow of its own as the day draws to a close.
I loved that explanation. Then I entered the high school division of Seigaku and met the boy known as a “genius,” Fuji Shusuke.
His smiling eyes curved like crescent moons as he said, “Xiyan? What a lovely name. To me, sunset is the gentlest time of day. It embraces all the clamor and settles into a peaceful beauty.”
From then on, the little “bunny” who always wanted to hide in a corner was carefully scooped up by a sly yet gentle “little bear.”
This is a heartwarming story about two gentle “little animals,” set on a youthful campus where tennis balls soar. I want to tell you that the most moving light is often hidden in the gentlest afterglow.
