The rain finally fell.
It had been building up for a long time, and then it poured straight down.
There was no thunder, but a roar filled the ears. This torrential rain seemed intent on washing away all the filth of the world.
Zhu Ying wore her headphones, listening to the songs Anjing had recorded for her on the tape. she swayed her head gently, appearing to be “exceptionally interested” in the fill-in-the-blank questions in her recollection book.
When she looked up, she realized that Anjing had returned to her seat at some point. Anjing was lightly tapping her own forehead with the corner of her recollection book, looking as if she were hesitating on how to speak.
“Finished writing?” Zhu Ying took off one earbud and gently brushed her bangs to the side, asking with a beaming smile.
“Cough… Yeah, I’m finished…”
“Quick, let me see!”
“Wait, wait! Hold on!” Anjing frantically gripped the book in her hands. “We’ll look together! Are you finished?”
“There were too few options to fill out on yours, so I added a bunch myself. It should be about the same as mine now.”
“We’ll look at it row by row…”
“Why are you covering it with your hand?”
“I just… uh… I can’t let you see it all at once, get it?”
“You weren’t even this shy when you weren’t wearing clothes. Honestly.” Zhu Ying pouted her little lips.
“That… that kind of thing is different, okay!”
“Fine, fine. Let’s start looking then! Look at mine first. See? Name: Zhu Ying. Gender… you don’t need to look at that, right?”
“We can skip that, cough…”
“Then there’s favorite color. You already know anyway, right? Black and purple.” Zhu Ying moved her finger down slightly, revealing the elegant small characters she had written in that row.
“Uh… mine is red and white.”
“Next is favorite taste — I wrote sweet.”
“Mine is sour and sweet…”
“What’s next? On your side?”
“Mine is… favorite food.”
“Mine is favorite book, but it’s basically the same.” Zhu Ying slowly moved her finger away.
“What the heck is ‘A book composed of my own life’?”
“You’re one to talk. You actually wrote ‘Things made by Sister Huihui.’ You obviously don’t even like some of the stuff she makes, right?”
“Those… experimental dishes don’t count!” Anjing waved her hands dismissively.
“Fine — then the one below is mine.”
“What do you mean by writing my name under favorite food!!” Anjing shouted.
“Is that not allowed?” Zhu Ying looked innocent as she placed her index finger against her lips.
“Am I food!”
“Can’t you be?”
“…Next!”
“Favorite movie — The Matrix. Oh, how ordinary.”
Anjing watched the words Zhu Ying had written, her eyelids involuntarily twitching. “Wait, let me see the next few rows.”
“Didn’t we agree to look row by row? Wasn’t that your request?”
“Then I’ll show you all of my next few rows — ” Anjing moved her hand down.
Zhu Ying rested her chin on her hand and read softly: “Favorite movie star is Keanu Reeves. Favorite anime characters are Sora Kasugano, Yui Hirasawa, Rei Ayanami, Konata Izumi… so many!”
“It’s normal to have a lot of favorite characters,” Anjing gave a dry cough.
“Favorite vegetable is cauliflower, favorite fruit is banana… Banana?”
“Because it’s easy to peel… and it won’t get my hands sticky.”
“You’re so lazy, Anjing.” Zhu Ying continued reading. “Favorite animals are cats and lions — is there even a connection between those two?”
“I just like them, okay!”
“Why not tigers?”
“I feel like tigers aren’t as majestic as lions.”
“You just like the mane around a lion’s neck, don’t you!”
“Don’t you think it’s cool? It’s like a full beard.”
“What strange taste. Let me see… Hated people: those who betray feelings; Hated food: bitter things; Hated color: ones that hurt the eyes… These are all very ordinary answers.”
Anjing’s eyelids drooped. “So, it’s time for you to show me yours, Ying.”
“Here!” Zhu Ying generously moved her palm away, allowing Anjing to see all the blanks she had filled in.
No matter what the question was, the answers were perfectly neat and consistent:
[Favorite movie star: Anjing]
[Favorite anime character: Anjing]
[Favorite vegetable: Anjing]
[Favorite fruit: Anjing]
[Favorite animal: Anjing]
[Favorite feeling: Anjing]
[Favorite atmosphere: Anjing]
Both of Anjing’s eyelids began to twitch uncontrollably.
“Did you… write this seriously?”
“Very seriously!” Zhu Ying looked at Anjing with an incredibly earnest expression.
“Hey, it’s all me!”
“That’s right! It’s all Anjing!”
Anjing covered her forehead. “I’m not a vegetable or a fruit, and I’m definitely not an anime character or a movie star!”
“Vegetables and fruits provide vitamins, and you are my vitamin! As for a star, in the world of dreams, you are the most brilliant star. Doesn’t ‘star’ just mean the brightest celestial body in the sky? In those moments, you are the brightest star in my heart — “
Anjing’s expression was a bit contorted. To be honest, she was somewhat moved, but faced with such a forced and far-fetched explanation, she really didn’t know what kind of face to make.
“And the anime character…”
“If we look at it from an idealistic perspective, I can consider myself living in an anime world right now. So, of course you’re an anime character!”
“That’s not how you use idealistic theory!!”
“Yes it is. Otherwise, how would it be idealistic?”
” — It’s so lively this early in the morning?”
A slightly frivolous voice rang out from the doorway. Hearing this familiar yet strange voice, Anjing turned her head and saw a girl with phoenix eyes leaning against the doorframe, looking inside with a half-smile.
It was Zhou Chao — or rather, the female version of Zhou Chao.
“…What did you go and do again?” Anjing couldn’t help but think of some bad possibilities.
“Nothing.” Zhou Zhao spread her hands. “I just went to verify something. It seems it really is like that. Heh — what’s wrong, Anjing? Why are you looking at me like that?”
“…Could you not talk in that tone? Your voice is already… goddamn whatever it is. When you talk like that, it’s really disgusting!”
“Is that so? I’m so heartbroken.”
“Gah — !”
Zhu Ying puffed out her cheeks in annoyance and continued writing in a blank space of the recollection book:
[Most hated person: Zhou Zhao!]
That was right, Zhou Zhao.
This was the name Zhou Chao took after turning into a girl.
Furthermore, it seemed that except for Anjing, everyone else’s perception had been modified accordingly. Even Zhu Ying was no exception.
“It seems your little Zhu Ying isn’t very happy to have me here?”
“Hmph!”
“Uh… Ying, what’s wrong?”
“Hmph!” Zhu Ying suddenly turned her face away, looking like she was throwing a tantrum, leaving Anjing completely bewildered.
Zhou Zhao blinked and gave a bitter smile. “I wanted to discuss some things with you, but it looks like that’s impossible now.”
“What’s wrong, Ying? You have such a big problem with Zhou Chao… uh, Zhou Zhao?”
“Hmph!”
Rustling sounds echoed in the classroom, followed by the sound of footsteps gradually fading into the distance.
By the time Anjing looked back, Zhou Zhao was nowhere to be found.
“What is it… you have such a big grievance against her.”
“You’re the one to talk! Everyone knows we’re boyfriend and girlfriend, yet she’s always so close to you. And — before I even confessed to you, she actually already confessed!”
“Ha — ?!!” Anjing barely caught her jaw before it hit the floor. “When… when did that happen?”
“Right before you told me your secret.”
“…”
“And you actually told her the secret too!”
“Ah, well…”
“Even though I was the first to know and she was the third, it’s still a bit annoying!”
“But Wangwang knows too…”
“Xiaoru is different!” Zhu Ying grabbed Anjing’s palm and took a “hard” bite, leaving a shallow tooth mark on the back of her hand. “I’m so mad! I’ll just bite Anjing to vent!”
“Hey… ow…”
“I don’t care. Anyway, she’s just a fox spirit. You aren’t allowed to get that close to her.”
“Fine, fine…” Anjing’s lips twitched.
“Alright, next is the — Graduation Message. Will you show me yours first, Anjing?”
“Ah, that… look at yours first!”
“I knew you’d say that. Here, look.” Zhu Ying completely let go of the hand covering the recollection book. “Pick it up and read it carefully!”
Anjing took a deep breath before focusing her gaze on the several lines meant for the “Graduation Message.” Somewhat unexpectedly, the style was completely different from the previous content; it was actually… quite serious:
“The day of graduation is coming soon. Although there’s high school graduation after middle school, and university graduation after high school, middle school graduation only happens once. Even if I can still go to school with you in high school, I hope you can cherish the final moments before graduation. Although I’ve never graduated from middle school before, I’ve seen it in many books and heard many bloggers say it — they all say that middle school feelings are pure. After this stage, you’ll never see so many pure people again. Whether they’re good or bad, they’re all very pure. So we have to cherish it and remember this time, because it’s special. Because… after middle school, the differences between people might actually become smaller and smaller…”
“Oh, I don’t really know what I’m trying to express anymore! Anyway, don’t treat it so dismissively! You’ll regret it later — also, treat me the same way and be more attentive! For example, there should be a morning kiss every day and things like that…”
“…I thought it was going to stay serious until the end.”
“What! This is just my style. Where’s yours?”
“Mine… um, here!” Anjing took a deep breath, looking as if she had made a major decision, and held out the recollection book to Zhu Ying.
The latter took it with both hands and read it impatiently: “Ying, after we graduate, we definitely have to go to the same school, preferably in the same class, and then go to the same university. This summer vacation, let’s travel everywhere together, visit all sorts of places. I want to be with you forever. Be together when we go out, be together on the train, eat the same delicious food, sing the same songs at karaoke, stay in the same hotel room, and it would be best if we could even bathe together…”
“…Even bathe together?”
“Cough, cough!”