JFWCM Chapter 15

Rainbow Curtain Award Ceremony

Rainbow Curtain Award Ceremony

As the opening ceremony fireworks exploded, the rubber track suddenly quantized. Jiang Wan’yuan’s cleats sank into the space-time folds, and the shoelaces turned into streamers, wrapping around her ankles. Yi Shang’s grip on the back of her collar was like a mechanical claw, and the refrigerant nozzle left frost marks on her neck: “37th warning, gravity anomalies are prohibited.”

The broadcasting station suddenly played a recording of the Space Agency’s communications from 1970. Amidst the static noise, the metal sphere in the shot put area began to heat up on its own. Jiang Wan’yuan touched the engravings on the surface of the sphere—it was her grandfather’s last equation, and the solution set coordinates pointed to the delivery room where she was born.

As the opening ceremony balloons ascended, 437 human faces suddenly appeared on the rubber surface. Jiang Wan’yuan looked up and saw her seven-year-old clone hitting the cabin walls on the balloons. The bronze liquid flowing in the IV tube flickered at the same frequency as the fluorescent light in her blood vessels at that moment.

“Now entering is the Class 3 of Senior Year Two formation!”

The broadcast got stuck in electromagnetic noise, and the students in the formation suddenly quantum-shifted. Jichuan’s liquid body solidified from the water stains, and as the cobalt blue skirt swept across, an escape star map was etched onto the plastic track. Jiang Wan’yuan’s cleats stepped on a damp symbol, and the shoelaces instantly melted into light cables, wrapping around her ankles—it was the anti-gravity device Yi Shang had implanted last night.

“Don’t touch the water stains.” Yi Shang grabbed her wrist, and refrigerant condensed frost patterns on her skin, “That’s the calibration trajectory from 1970.”

The loudspeakers of the broadcasting station suddenly quantized, and sound waves wrapped in bronze rust exploded on the playground. When the announcer read out “Class 3 of Senior Year Two,” the audio suddenly denoised into the electromagnetic pulse of 1970, and Jiang Wan’yuan’s Star Key imprint suddenly blazed—it was not a cheer at all, but a calibration instruction for the Star Orbit Project.

“Go! Go!” The cheers of the crowd distorted in the sound field, and each syllable turned into data bullets, accurately shattering the false constellations floating in the air. Yi Shang’s mechanical spine suddenly became exposed, and the sound of gears meshing resonated with the broadcast frequency, grinding the tail sound of “striving to be first” into a binary warning: “Orion’s third star orbit deviates by 0.3 arcseconds.”

The moment the metal sphere left her hand, the air was stained with bronze rust. Jiang Wan’yuan’s Star Key imprint blazed, and the shot put split into seven space-time projections—the remains of a satellite from 1970, the scene of a fire three years ago, the core of a collapsed planetarium in the future, each landing point accurately hitting the calibration coordinates. The sandbox suddenly quantum-collapsed, revealing 437 crystal coffins below, and the heart rate monitors on the coffin lids beat wildly at the same frequency as her pulse at that moment.

“Error rate 0.3%, correction complete.” Arcs burst from Yi Shang’s mechanical spine, and alloy fingertips drew gravitational wave parameters in the air. When she reached for Jiang Wan’yuan’s bleeding wrist bones, the afterimage of the shot put suddenly condensed into a seven-year-old clone, hitting the glass cabin wall across the space-time folds.

The seven-year-old clone’s palm left a bloody mark on the glass cabin wall, flickering at the same frequency as the bleeding Star Key imprint on Jiang Wan’yuan’s wrist. The afterimage of the shot put suddenly burst out gravitational waves, dragging Yi Shang’s mechanical spine into the space-time folds. Bronze bolts dissolved and reorganized in hyperspace, revealing a hidden interface—it was exactly the style of the cryogenic chamber combination lock in Jiang Wan’yuan’s grandfather’s laboratory.

“This is your calibration method?” Jiang Wan’yuan tore off the bleeding bandage, and stardust blue light spelled out her grandfather’s last formula in the air, “Using the afterimage of my childhood as a weight?”

Yi Shang’s mechanical eye wheels spun wildly, and the moment the lenses shattered, all 437 crystal coffins opened simultaneously. Bronze conduits stretched out from the coffins, entangling Jiang Wan’yuan’s Star Key imprint like spiderwebs.

When the metal sphere left her hand for the third time, the air was as thick as bronze sol. Jiang Wan’yuan’s Star Key imprint evaporated sweat into stardust, and the space-time projections split from the shot put collided above the sandbox—the remains of the 1970 satellite crashed into the ashes of the fire three years ago, and in the exploding sparks, a childhood scene of Yi Shang being implanted with a mechanical spine flashed by.

“Angle correction complete.” Sparks burst from Yi Shang’s vocal cords, and mechanical knuckles crushed floating memory fragments. The hem of her white coat was lifted by the quantum wind, revealing the exposed gear set at her lumbar spine, which was converting Jiang Wan’yuan’s throwing trajectory into a gravitational wave equation.

The sound of crystal coffin lids trembling came from deep within the sandbox, but Jiang Wan’yuan’s toes had already reached the edge of the throwing circle. The fifth shot put, wrapped in stardust blue flames, pierced through the air and re-encapsulated all 437 coffins into a quantum state the moment it touched the ground.

When Jiang Wan’yuan crossed the finish line, the heat waves rising from the plastic track were distorting the twilight. The moment she staggered and turned around, the sunset remaining in her retina shattered into a kaleidoscope, and the world suddenly lost its weight—like a star chart instrument with its axis removed, all the light spots were spinning in disorder.

Yi Shang’s arms were colder than expected.

The last drop of sweat fell from Jiang Wan’yuan’s chin, smearing a dark nebula on the bandage at Yi Shang’s collarbone. The cheers erupting from the stands were like being separated by a curtain of water, and she vaguely saw the other’s tense jawline. The physical education teacher’s waving timer flashed into a strobe light in her peripheral vision.

“Glucose…” Jiang Wan’yuan tried to hook the bandage knot behind Yi Shang’s neck, but her fingertips only grasped emptiness. The last image before her consciousness faded was Yi Shang’s sweat-soaked eyelashes, and in her pupils, the swaying self was constantly losing focus.

When the smell of disinfectant in the infirmary pierced through the darkness, Jiang Wan’yuan found a blood-stained bandage wrapped around her ring finger. The backlit silhouette by the window turned around at the sound. Yi Shang was arranging glucose solution bottles into an Orion array. The tip of the medical scissors was still stuck with runway debris taken from her palm.

“You predicted my fainting,” Jiang Wan’yuan shook the IV tube, and the monitor on her wrist flashed with her heartbeat, “From which lap did you start counting?”

Yi Shang’s bandage brushed against her burning earlobe, and the icy touch felt like a meteorite streaking through the atmosphere: “Your third shoelace tying method was abnormal at the start of the race.” Her fingertip hovered above the medical record, and the shadow just shrouded Jiang Wan’yuan’s wildly beating pulse, “Do you need to retrieve the sports bracelet data to corroborate it?”

The twilight suddenly became viscous. The dull sound of a shot put falling into a frame came from the corridor, mixed with the sound of art students washing paint. Jiang Wan’yuan used the hand without the IV to hook the loose end of the bandage, winding out a star orbit ring on her knuckles: “I accept this apology.”

Yi Shang’s breathing paused for half a beat. Those pure white gauzes that had been used to seal wounds were now swirling into spiral arm nebulae on the girl’s fingertips. Someone outside the window released a glow-in-the-dark kite from the astronomy club, and the three stars of Orion’s Belt streaked across the window lattice, nailing the shadows of the two on the glass of the medicine cabinet, like captured binary stars.

When the footsteps of the nurse on rounds shattered the silence, Yi Shang had already regained her indifferent expression. Only the bronze bookmark by Jiang Wan’yuan’s pillow knew that at a certain moment, her pulse had vibrated at the same frequency as the monitor—more frantic than the day the shot put broke the school record, more alarming than when the armillary sphere was about to collapse.

The blinds of the infirmary cut the twilight into parallel golden lines, and the bandage ring on Jiang Wan’yuan’s fingertip floated in the light and shadow. Yi Shang turned her back to the window to organize the medicine cabinet, and the number code of the training uniform was vaguely visible under the white coat—it was the “437” that made opponents tremble on the shot put field.

“The mineral gel of the bronze bookmark,” Jiang Wan’yuan suddenly raised her left hand, allowing the sunset to penetrate the semi-solidified colloid, “will it interfere with the electrocardiogram monitoring?” The electrode patch on her wrist curled slightly with the sound of her voice, like a butterfly about to fly.

Yi Shang knocked over a can of alcohol wipes when she turned around. Amidst the crisp sound of glass rolling, she held Jiang Wan’yuan’s wrist and reattached the electrode, and the medical tape left faint red lines of latitude and longitude on her skin: “This is a third-class contact warning.”

The sound of wheels rubbing came from the corridor, and art students pushed through with unfinished star paintings. When the smell of turpentine permeated the room, Jiang Wan’yuan suddenly pulled back her hand, and the bandage ring got stuck on Yi Shang’s second button. With the vibration of the easel wheels rolling over the threshold, the button thread broke in response.

“I’ll pay you back.” Jiang Wan’yuan tore off the star and moon hairpin from her hair, and the silver hook pierced through the school uniform’s placket, “Astronomy Club limited edition peripheral.” The Prussian blue remaining on her fingertips spread on the fabric, just like the infrared imaging of the Orion Nebula.

Yi Shang’s breath swept across the other’s sweat-soaked forehead. At this moment, what they shared was not only the tilted line of dawn and dusk, but also the completely synchronized 64 heartbeats on the monitor. A dazzling light from burning magnesium strips floated in from outside the window—the chemistry club was debugging fireworks for the sports meeting closing ceremony.

“Close your eyes.” Yi Shang suddenly reached out and covered Jiang Wan’yuan’s eyes. The moment the last ray of light was blocked, cheers erupted in the corridor, and the sound of the glow-in-the-dark kite hitting the classroom light tube roared like cosmic background radiation.

When Jiang Wan’yuan counted to the seventh electronic pulse sound, the temperature on her palm suddenly withdrew. She opened her eyes and saw Yi Shang standing in front of the window illuminated by fireworks, the broken buttonhole pinned with a star and moon hairpin, and medical scissors were cutting the blood-stained bandage into standard lengths.

“9:37 PM,” Yi Shang put the new bandage roll back into the first aid kit, and the metal buckle made a soft sound like a spacecraft docking, “There are still two sets of stretching exercises before the track and field lights go out.”

Jiang Wan’yuan pulled out the needle and jumped off the bed, and the shadow of the IV stand swayed on the wall, drawing a pattern like a solar prominence eruption. She stuffed the bronze bookmark into Yi Shang’s chest pocket, and ultramarine fingerprints covered the last digit of “437”: “What are we betting on this time?”

As the track lights lit up one by one, the sandbox in the shot put area was swallowing the 44th meteorite. Orion in the night sky quietly shifted by 0.3 degrees. No one noticed that at the highest point of the stands, a tender green sprout emerged from the copper rust crack in the armillary sphere.

On the other side, as the fourth runner of the men’s 4×100 meter relay crossed the finish line, physics representative Lin Shen was lieon the shot put area calculating ballistic trajectories. Jiang Wan’yuan’s special fluorescent powder was Dipon his lenses. Each time he deduced a formula, he would sprinkle stardust on the draft paper—it was a mixture of the copper rust Yi Shang shook off during training and the glitter from the art room.

“Pay attention to the seventh curve!” Literary committee member Su Xia suddenly raised a watercolor board. The motion trajectory diagrams she drew for each athlete were Pan-Rainbow in the morning light. The third runner who was Hot body was Stunned,Discover that his shadow was Being C, and his Shoe studs。

The high jump area’s sponge。Chen Rang passing the Pole, and in the crack of the Back number cloth”37″, the Nebula stickers that Jiang Wan were Exposed. In the fog of Magnesium powder sparked by the横Pole falling, Easy to use Accurately entangled his ankle, and the bandage end was Tag with inclination in Russian。

“class0.3!” Squad Leader was Hold through the boiling of the Stand, and the along the edge Condensation. The Promotion, and the Being usurped mixed with the electromagnetic noise echoed:”please200Rice selection, Time and space-”

Jiang Wan, and Easy to usewas Being ok by her. When the Shot put out 21.37rice for the third time, the Iris on the metal surface exactly met the Morning light reflected by the glass window, and threw a A moment on the Stand top.

“Lying on your back!” Health Commissioner suddenly raised a dropper,”3Number pad PH Value exception!” Everyone Turn your head, and the Force function he just Deduction was still Written in.

At the moment when the woman800Mi Jue, Su Xia was Being angry. The Not done the at last, and Prussian Blue and Sweat on the sports. When Jiang Wan’yuan Rush in, Yi Shang’s Ball put.

When Twilight is coming, the Long jump pit had become a Star map sand table.Chen Rang’s The last leap’s footprint were Deep embeddedin the Ansu, and the Magnesium powder belt from the Solesin the Sunset. The Scoreboardwas slightly tilt in the Late wind, and Easy to use was Fitting against the base, and Jiang Wanyuan’s Pigment brush along the Crack drawing out the Galaxy Cantilever.

When the searchlight of the Award Ceremony surprised the perched bird, everyone discovered that the Bronze position on the Total score listwas exactly.Lin Shen, and Writedown a new formula on the backside of the Prize- that was Use fluorescence, the mystery of vine and Star Track.

When the headmaster, the Bronze base suddenly refraction. Jiang Wanyuan laughed lightly in the etiquette- she last night, and Use repair.Yi Shang’s bandagewas slightly Bright at the cuff, and the Red mark left by the Medical tape were Infiltration out the Star pattern.

“Please…” The broadcast suddenly Stuck and stopped, and the Hunterleaked out from the Spare speaker.Lin Shen was Push, and the Fluorescence from the Suit pleats, forming a micro star cloud in the In the spotlight.Su Xia, twisting the Prize cup projection into the shape of armillary sphere.

When Yi Shang as the Ball put, the Metal suddenly Heat up. Jiang Wan’yuan mixed in the crowd and Blow, the Sound wave vibration was Give the prize- that was last week’s invisible Engraving marks was Smash out.The headmaster, was being attracted by the Tender green vine buds drilling out from the Receive the award.

The rainstorm poured down No signs. The Awardsin the Rain curtain, and Jiang Wan’yuan’s Mineral gel reacted with rainwater, turning the entire rostrum into a Prism. When the Search the Rain curtain, all the Medal suddenly Suspension, and projection in the In the rain.

Easy to use grabbed the Coming soon, and the Star mark under the bandage and Jiang Wanyuan’s red print on the Ring finger were Resonance。 They both heard the Buzzfrom the bronze, and the vine in the Crack tangled the Trophy stand at a speed that the naked eye could see, and Open.

Lin Shen suddenly Lift up your cell phone:”Light spot!” The Fluorescent powder on his lenses were flowing with the rainwater, and drew the Standardon the Red carpet.Su Xia’s Paintboard was Float in the In the rain, and the Not done was dyeing the raindrops the color of the cluster.

When the lightning, everyone saw Jiang Wan’yuan standing on the The highest stand, and the Pigment brush in her hand was pointed at Yi Shang’s Foot Put Area. The Metalin was Rotating in the Water accumulation, and the Relief on the surface was wake in the Current, cutting the Rain curtain.

When the Heavy rain breaks, the vine had completely wrapped the entire Podium. Yi Shang Break the Entangled, and the juice was Blue seepageed her bandage at the The breaking point. Jiang Wan’yuan Taken off from the Vine leaves, and Sleeping with the second Button which was lost in the Medical。

twilight, the crack of the armillary sphere was completely Coverage by the newborn. The broadcast suddenly recover, and the Hunter changed back to the School Song at the moment, and everyone found a New- that was was use Jiang Wanyuan’s Iridescent pigments and Easy to use’s Star mark, a prophecy about the next rainy season.