It wasn’t until the end of class that Luo Zhiye finally realized he still hadn’t received a reply from Xiao Yan.
The bell signaling the end of the last class rang, and the art teacher walked out of the classroom. The already noisy classroom immediately became even more chaotic.
The dinner break at No. 1 High School was very short, followed by evening self-study. The moment class ended, quite a few students rushed out of the classroom.
“Zhiye, going to the cafeteria?” Jing Ximing pulled his meal card out of his pencil case, getting ready to dash to the cafeteria.
“You go ahead.” Luo Zhiye picked up the picture he had casually drawn. “I have something to do. I’ll be there later.”
“What could possibly be more important than eating?” Jing Ximing couldn’t understand.
Class 3 of the second year happened to be right above Luo Zhiye’s classroom. He had been there once before, so this time he found his way there with ease.
Just like their class, the moment the bell rang, all the students had run off. Most of the desks were piled high with various supplementary study materials, the pages worn and curled at the edges, with all kinds of sticky notes tucked between them.
Xiao Yan’s seat was by the window. Luo Zhiye spotted his desk at once. It was completely clean; aside from a water cup, there was nothing on it. He had probably been in such a hurry to get to the cafeteria that he hadn’t even put the lid on his cup. The hot water he had just poured was still steaming.
Not a Cicada: I delivered your mini-fridge right to your door.
Not a Cicada: Seeing it should remind you of what you lost.
Not a Cicada: In memory of my lost pot.
After sending the messages, Luo Zhiye put away his phone and leaned against the railing outside Class 3. He folded the sheet of paper into a paper airplane, took half a step back, estimated the position, raised his hand, and threw it.
“What are you doing?” Xiao Yan’s voice came from beside him. He seemed to have just come from the direction of the teachers’ office, with a thin workbook in his hand.
Luo Zhiye’s hand jerked. The paper airplane wobbled out of his grasp, flew through the window into Class 3, trembled in midair, then dropped nose-first into Xiao Yan’s water cup.
The hot water immediately soaked through the paper and made it fall apart.
The drawing of the mini-fridge had been boiled to pieces.
Luo Zhiye: “……”
Xiao Yan: “……”
“Technical malfunction.” Luo Zhiye turned and ran. “Goodbye.”
“Come back.”
He had only made it halfway through his escape and hadn’t even left the danger zone when Xiao Yan grabbed his right hand and yanked him back.
The workbook in Xiao Yan’s hand had been rolled into a paper tube. He gave the palm of Luo Zhiye’s right hand a light smack with it.
“You cause trouble and then run?”
“Yeah.” Since he had already been caught, Luo Zhiye rubbed his sore palm with his free hand and simply stopped trying to run. “I learned it from you.”
“When did I ever teach you to cause trouble for people during break?” Xiao Yan still hadn’t let go of Luo Zhiye’s hand.
“You don’t understand the concept of drawing inferences?” Luo Zhiye struggled a little.
The scar on Xiao Yan’s wrist was exposed again.
Luo Zhiye ground his teeth, suddenly finding a little of the mentality he’d had when he was three years old.
“What are you trying to do?” Xiao Yan realized something was wrong.
“Why aren’t you two students going to eat?”
Teacher Li, the homeroom teacher of Class 3 of the second year, happened to be walking down the hallway carrying his boxed lunch. He recognized the two students who had recently become the center of attention.
Zero percent. These two were the school’s special concern.
Teacher Li quickly added a warning, “You two aren’t fighting, are you? The director said that if Luo Zhiye and Xiao Yan are caught fighting again, you’ll immediately have credit points deducted, and it’ll affect your eligibility for awards.”
“We’re not fighting.”
The two people arguing turned around and shouted at Teacher Li at the same time.
The boxed lunch in Teacher Li’s hand nearly fell to the ground.
“……If you’re not fighting, then you’re not fighting. Why are you yelling? Feeling guilty?”
Xiao Yan raised the hand that was holding Luo Zhiye’s wrist.
“We’re very friendly, Teacher. Think about it. Would people hold hands if they were fighting?”
“That’s right, we’re very friendly.” Luo Zhiye pointed at the workbook in Xiao Yan’s hand. “Teacher, he’s explaining a problem to me. See? I was just talking about drawing inferences.”
The physical evidence and the statements of the people involved matched perfectly.
Although Teacher Li was suspicious, he still watched the two students walk away hand in hand until they disappeared around the corner of the stairs.
The moment they were out of Teacher Li’s sight, the two students who had just been inseparable immediately changed faces.
“Stay away from me,” Luo Zhiye said disdainfully. “Don’t rub that orange smell all over me again.”
“You’re slandering me.” Xiao Yan walked along as he spoke. “Except for the day we underwent second-gender differentiation, I’ve always kept my pheromones hidden properly. Unless……”
Unless that day, Luo Zhiye had borrowed his school uniform and put it on without washing it first.
Otherwise, Xiao Yan couldn’t think of any other possibility.
“You put my school uniform directly on without washing it?”
Xiao Yan pushed Luo Zhiye against the wall in the stairwell. The rolled-up workbook in his hand lightly patted Luo Zhiye’s cheek.
“Are you a little delinquent?”
Luo Zhiye: “I……”
He suddenly realized that the place where he was standing right now was exactly where he had been when he asked Xiao Yan to lend him a school uniform that day.
The voice of Teacher Xu from that day’s biology class seemed to still be echoing in his ears.
“There are some omega students……”
“I just remembered something.”
Teacher Li, who hadn’t gone far, walked a few steps toward the stairwell.
“Xiao Yan, you and Xiao Luo aren’t even in the same grade. What problem are you explaining to him?”
The stairwell was empty.
No one was there anymore.
“Where are you going?” Luo Zhiye realized that Xiao Yan wasn’t heading toward the cafeteria. “Aren’t you eating dinner?”
“There won’t be any food left in the cafeteria at this hour.” Xiao Yan headed toward the school’s back gate. “I ordered takeout in advance.”
“I remember you said before that you shouldn’t use your own name when ordering takeout.” Luo Zhiye still remembered their conversation from the day before school started. “This isn’t going to screw me over, is it?”
“Use a teacher’s name,” Xiao Yan said. “Any teacher is fine, but don’t use Old Wu. One day last year, the security guard received dozens of takeout orders with Director Wu’s name on them.”
Luo Zhiye: “……”
The cafeteria was already out of food, so Luo Zhiye turned around and went back to the classroom. Evening self-study wasn’t that long anyway. Going without dinner was no big deal. At worst, he could eat something after returning to the dorm.
When Xiao Yan returned to the classroom, Fan Yue and Tang Yuan were leaning over his desk, examining his water cup.
“What did you make in there?” Fan Yue lowered his head and smelled it. “Is it drinkable?”
“The school heartthrob’s exclusive brain-damaging tea.” Tang Yuan gave the cup a name.
“No.”
Xiao Yan picked up the cup and got up to pour the water out.
“Tonight’s evening-study duty is yours and Class Seven’s, right? The Student Union doesn’t have anything for me this week. I need to go out later.”
“I’ll go right now.” Fan Yue rummaged through his drawer for his Student Union duty badge. “I’ll probably only catch a few people wandering around during evening self-study. I’ll be back soon. I’ve got a mountain of homework today.”
“I didn’t bring my duty badge,” Fan Yue said. “I’ll sprint back to the dorm to get it.”
“No need. Use mine.”
Xiao Yan took his own badge from the side pocket of his schoolbag and tossed it to Fan Yue.
“They’re all the same anyway. The points are deducted by the Student Union.”
“Wow, doing duty with the school heartthrob’s ID photo and name. This is way too cool.”
Fan Yue grabbed a Chinese textbook and walked out of the classroom.
In the classroom of Class 3 of the first year, the students were in the middle of evening self-study. There was no teacher at the podium. Most people were bent over their homework, while a small number were secretly communicating.
[Wall Grass]: What’s wrong with you?
[Wall Grass]: Are you feeling sick? You haven’t moved for thirty minutes.
Not a Cicada: I’m so hungry.
Not a Cicada: The classroom is too quiet. What if my stomach growls? Aaaaaah.
[Wall Grass]: ……I didn’t bring any snacks, and we’re not allowed to eat in the classroom either.
[Wall Grass]: Want me to make some noise to cover it up?
Jing Ximing took out all his books and forcefully flipped through them, attracting the attention of the entire classroom.
Not a Cicada: Never mind, never mind.
Not a Cicada: How about I skip class?
[Wall Grass]: No. The teacher is coming in the second half to go over the entrance-exam papers.
Not a Cicada: Then I’ll go outside and get some fresh air.
With his phone in his pocket, Luo Zhiye made his way to the top of the teaching building.
The rooftop door was locked, so he sat on the steps behind the door and listened to music.
[Outstanding Second-Year Student Representative]: Not in class?
Not a Cicada: Sigh. I’m hungry. Even getting some fresh air is impossible.
When Xiao Yan arrived on the rooftop carrying a box of takoyaki, Luo Zhiye was leaning against the wall with his eyes closed, listening to music.
His school uniform was a little too big, making the boy’s figure look somewhat thin. The red earphone cord disappeared beneath the collar of his uniform, while the soft light fell at an angle, casting gentle shadows from his eyelashes beneath his eyes.
Xiao Yan brought the bag in his hand close to Luo Zhiye’s nose.
Luo Zhiye opened his eyes and saw the person standing in front of him.
“Why are you here?” He took off his earphones.
“I ordered too much takeout. Leftovers. Want some?”
Xiao Yan shook the bag in his hand at him.
Luo Zhiye took the bag from Xiao Yan and watched as Xiao Yan pulled a key from his pocket and unlocked the rooftop door.
“Where did you get the key?” Luo Zhiye asked.
“Student Union. Some students have them too. Nobody usually comes up here at this hour.”
Xiao Yan pushed open the door.
“Come over here.”
The temperature difference between day and night was large in early autumn. The night wind felt cool against their cheeks.
Xiao Yan sat down against the wall, and Luo Zhiye copied him, sitting cross-legged before opening the disposable container.
The takoyaki from this place was pretty good. The box was full, arranged neatly, with generous fillings and a layer of pork floss sprinkled over the top.
The food at No. 1 High School’s cafeteria was average. Since Luo Zhiye had arrived here, he hadn’t had any food from outside.
“Thank you.”
Regardless of what their relationship had been like before, he definitely had to thank him for this meal.
His homeroom teacher had been right.
He should remember the kindness others showed him.
“Why did you suddenly become so kind today?” Luo Zhiye asked.
When he looked up at Xiao Yan, the lights of the city center that never slept stretched out behind him. Scattered stars dotted the sky above, while the light of the Milky Way seemed to fall from the heavens and land in his eyes.
Holding the bamboo skewer in his hand, he smiled as he thanked him, completely unaware that there was still a little ketchup at the corner of his lips.
“Who knows?”
Xiao Yan’s gaze was a little evasive as he avoided the question.
“It’s fine.”
Xiao Yan froze for a moment, then raised his hand to wipe the sauce from the corner of Luo Zhiye’s lips.
“If you like it, next time……”
Luo Zhiye unconsciously licked the sauce from the corner of his mouth.
The tip of his tongue accidentally brushed against Xiao Yan’s fingertip.
Both of them froze for a moment.
The beam of a flashlight shattered the tranquility of the rooftop.
Two Student Union duty members followed the smell and charged into the night.
“Holy crap, that smells so good!”
“Who’s secretly eating takeout?”
“Ask what restaurant it’s from first!”
“We caught a big one! Deduct the points like crazy! Hahaha!”
Fan Yue stopped in front of the two of them and proudly displayed the duty badge on his chest.
“Student Union duty. We caught you eating takeout. Two credit points deducted.”
Xiao Yan: “……”
“Huh?”
Fan Yue recognized his own deskmate.
“How……”
Before Fan Yue could finish speaking, Luo Zhiye noticed the name and ID photo of Xiao Yan on the duty badge he was wearing.
He swallowed the takoyaki he hadn’t finished chewing, frowned, and thought for a moment before coming up with what he considered a perfectly reasonable explanation for the situation.
Xiao Yan had suddenly become kind and, completely out of character, brought him a box of takoyaki.
He had been brought to the rooftop by Xiao Yan.
The Student Union duty members had happened to catch him eating takeout.
The Student Union member was wearing Xiao Yan’s duty badge.
He was going to have points deducted.
In conclusion—
“What are you two……”
Luo Zhiye looked at Xiao Yan, his expression filled with profound anguish.
“Is this a honey trap?”