A short bonus story about one ending in the Nest series
-- A bonus story from the open ending route of I Will Grow Wild. It can be read as a parallel world or on its own.
Slight fantasy / unrequited love / unusual worldbuilding
It was an ordinary Saturday, a rare day off after the half-month celebration of the Fourth Era.
Even Haicheng had taken on a festive air, which was unusual. After all, it was a fairly remote district.
Wang Lan decided to end his life as quickly as possible on his seventeenth birthday.
Otherwise, the deluxe cremation package he'd specially booked would run over time. It even included a full fireworks extravaganza. He couldn't watch it himself, but at least everyone else could enjoy the show (?).
It was late, the place was deserted, and the timing was perfect.
Wang Lan plunged into the water.
-- Then someone grabbed him by the collar and lifted him up like a little chick.
Wang Lan: ...???
He whipped around and saw a pair of pale, mint-green eyes.
"Hello," a warm, amused voice drifted from behind him.
"-- No diving here."
Humans can hear sound frequencies from 20 to 20,000 Hz,
while whales hear frequencies from 10 to 40 Hz.
The arrival of the Third Era brought a special kind of being known as "Whale Children." They were thought to have a genetic disease caused by mutations in X-288 cells.
They were almost indistinguishable from ordinary people, but had striking looks, fleeting lives, and vocal cords like whales, capable of producing only extremely low or high frequencies.
This unusual trait once made them targets of the criminal underworld.
Whale Children also suffered numerous painful side effects caused by their genetic disease. Throughout the history of the eras, not a single Whale Child had lived to eighteen.
This tragedy came to an abrupt end with the arrival of the Fourth Era, and was once hailed as one of the "Ten Greatest Achievements of the New Era."
-- Of course, that good fortune did not fall equally on Wang Lan.
Wang Lan knew he was only one branch among the countless flowering trees she had touched. Those mint-colored eyes would never linger on him.
He could only be grateful that, during their brief intersection, he had left a faint mark in that person's life, like a ripple in the sand.
In short, it's the story of a mature, gentle, sharp-tongued older sister who happens by and saves a poor little puppy (?).
Content notes and caveats:
1. The story is told from the male lead's point of view, and the heroine is presented through his perspective. She has her own storyline in the main novel, which won't be detailed in this bonus story. The two characters have different amounts of screen time.
All characters and settings serve the story.
2. The male lead has a one-sided crush on the heroine, who has a lover (now deceased; the two are each other's shared unattainable loves/?). The feelings are not mutual.
(The following caveat contains some spoilers.)
They will not end up together. Whether the heroine ever had a one-sided crush on him is uncertain, but in the end she turns him down. Interpret it however you like (if I say any more, I'll really spoil it, ahem).
3. The setting belongs to the original world of the Nest series. This is a bonus story from the open ending route of I Will Grow Wild. It can be read as a parallel world or on its own.
The related worldbuilding, such as the Whale Children, is only sketched out. Don't scrutinize it too closely; just enjoy it.
4. Please make sure you've read the caveats before starting. If there's anything I haven't mentioned, let me know and I'll add it (bows).
Theme: May the world find peace
