Rhodes Island's Psychologist

Ch 128: Bringing You To Eat Pineapple Buns

"So, so hungry."

"What happened?"

Nightingale tilts her head in confusion.

"Did you trip?" Lin Yie squats down in concern and sees her right knee has been scraped, "How did you fall?"

"When I tried climbing over the window."

This gives Lin Yie a headache, "So, why did you do that? Wait, did you sneak out?"

Nightingale turns her head away without answering the questions.

This side of her feels strange, yet familiar. Lin Yie sighs helplessly, as he helps her stand up. He asks, "Can't you heal yourself?"

"I forgot my staff."

Lin Yie rolls his eyes before bringing Nightingale into his room. Then, he takes a bottle of alcohol and some cotton balls from Ansel's drawer.

He squats down in front of Liz, "This might hurt a little."

Nightingale says, "I'm not afraid of pain."

And she's really not. When Lin Yie dabs her wound, she doesn't complain or even winces. She just stares at him.

When Lin Yie is finished, Nightingale asks, "Pineapple Bun, why didn't you talk to me?"

Lin Yie pauses.

She seems sad, "Do you not like Liz anymore?"

It's not that he didn't try to talk to her. He did, and he tried every day, but he rarely got a reply from her. At this point, it almost feels like he was just talking to himself.

"Pineapple Bun," Nightingale says in a soft voice, "I'm starving."

Lin Yie takes a box of crackers out of his drawer and gives it to Nightingale, "This is all I have right now. Do you want it?"

Nightingale nods and takes the crackers.

Lin Yie sits on Ansel's bed and watches her eat. He asks, "If you wanted to see me, why didn't you just come here?"
"Hibiscus said she wants to sleep well tonight," Nightingale mumbles, "So I couldn't use the door."

"She said that?"

"Um," Nightingale nods, "Nearl Onee-san said tomorrow is my last treatment. After that, I will no longer be sick. They said Pineapple Bun will cure me. They also said if I miss Pineapple Bun, I could wait until next morning, but Pineapple Bun didn't talk to me, so I came."

Lin Yie asks, "Do you think I can do it?"

"If it's Pineapple Bun, then yes," Nightingale says without hesitation, "Pineapple Bun is the greatest."

Lin Yie feels really conflicted right now. It's very lucky for him to have someone who would believe in him, even though he's very ordinary. Putting it frankly, he's probably the most embarrassing protagonist in an isekai novel. After all these years, he only managed to become a psychologist, and a fake one at that.

Nightingale returns to Lin Yie the now empty box, "I'm still hungry."

"What do you want to eat then?"

"Pineapple buns."

As expected.

"They don't sell pineapple buns at this hour," Lin Yie points at the clock and says, "The cafeteria sells snacks right now, and snacks don't include pineapple buns. You should know that."

"But I really, really want to eat pineapple buns."

Lin Yie shakes his head helplessly and says, "We will take a look then. Maybe they made an exception today."

Seeing how Nightingale perks up, Lin Yie can't help but chuckle. Even though one of her shoes is missing, her knee scraped, and her face dirty, all she cares about is pineapple bun this and pineapple bun that.

"I need to call Shining first," Lin Yie says, "It wasn't good to run away like that."

Nightingale shakes her head stubbornly, "I'm not going back."

...

It doesn't take long for Shining to answer Lin Yie's call and judging from her tone, it seems she already knows Nightingale ran away. Still, Lin Yie tells her what happened with Nightingale.

Shining falls into silence. Then, she asks, "The girl who came for you is her, right?"

Lin Yie understands what she means and replies in the affirmative.

"As expected," Shining says softly, "In that kid's mind, you are more important than everyone else."

"..."

"So be it then. Let her follow you and do whatever she wants."

"Alright."

Before Lin Yie hangs up, Shining asks, "Do you still have doubts about what we are doing?"

Lin Yie looks up and meets Nightingale's curious gaze. He whispers, "Growing up is a bad thing if we are letting her grow up."

He ends the call without waiting for Shining's response.

"Phew. Let's go," Lin Yie pretends to be relaxed and holds Nightingale's hand, "Let's get us some buns."

...

It's kind of ironic how he promised her so many times in the past that he would bring her to eat pineapple buns in the morning, but because of various incidents, he had never been able to fulfill his promise. It only happens tonight because Nightingale came to him first.

But there are no pineapple buns.

Nightingale has read the menu over and over again. She even checked all the available options. Lin Yie asked the chef if there were any pineapple buns left, but the chef said they were already sold out.

Nightingale purses her lips in disappointment.

Lin Yie asks her, "What else do you want to eat?"

Nightingale shakes her head.

"What about tiramisu?"

"No."

"Durian cake?"

"It tastes weird."

"That's not what you said," Lin Yie sighs, "We can't just ask the chef---"

Lin Yie stares past the counter, into the kitchen and whispers, "We can do it ourselves."

Nightingale tilts her head in confusion.

...

Twenty minutes later, the cafeteria is closed. The chef locks the door before going back to his dorm.

After waiting for about two minutes, Lin Yie walks up to the door.

"What the heck?!" Lin Yie stares incredulously at the padlock on the door, "It's not electronic?!"

Nightingale asks, "Are you going to steal things inside?"

Lin Yie begins to regret his bravado. He could have just asked the chef to make the buns for Nightingale, but now he can't even go inside. He glares at his keycard helplessly.

His eyes are then drawn to his sword. After some hesitation, he pulls the blade out, "Orchid is not going to like what I'm going to do, but---"

He chops the lock into two halves with ease.

Nightingale stares at Lin Yie in surprise.

"Let's get ourselves some pineapple buns."

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Draft by Demosama

Proofread by PanzerComrade56