(1)
“An… An Yin.”
Zhu Ying covered her mouth, her eyes curving into a smile.
“Where’s your brother? Isn’t he with you?”
“He… he… oh right, he’s sick!”
An Jing’s thoughts gradually became clearer, and she began to explain herself logically, “He’s still in the hospital now. I was a bit bored staying there, so I came to the supermarket to browse…”
“Is that so? If you don’t mind, shall we browse together?”
Zhu Ying playfully blinked.
“Do you need a shopping cart?”
“If… if we’re just Browse casually, I guess… no need?”
An Jing wanted to raise her hand to scratch her head, but worried these habits would expose her identity, so she cleared her throat forcefully and calmly composed herself.
So, as a sister, how should her personality be expressed at this moment?
At the very least, she should be more restrained, not too boyish, right?
So, should her steps be smaller?
But she had just been like that, would suddenly becoming reserved be too deliberate?
“What’s wrong?”
“Ah! Ahem! Speaking of which… it’s so early to have Christmas decorations up already, it’s only November… month.”
An Jing tried hard to imagine how those seemingly girlish netizens spoke online, having to find references from anime she had watched due to the limited samples.
“But from now until the end of the year, there don’t seem to be many holidays. The most famous one is probably Christmas, right?”
Zhu Ying turned around and walked beside her.
“Is Christmas in City H lively?”
“Very lively, yeah… Everywhere there are Christmas trees and stuff… right, and merchants also use it as an excuse to sell discounted goods, or Christmas gifts…”
“Is it lively everywhere?”
“Y-yes!”
“That’s nice. Small cities don’t have many lively places.”
“But I think it’s good to have both lively and quiet places. And everyone is concentrated in these one or two streets, so it’s very convenient to do anything, right?”
Zhu Ying slightly turned her face and chuckled softly, her warm breath tickling An Jing’s neck, “Small cities have their good points too.”
“Of course.”
“Do you want to buy some Christmas gifts to take back?”
“Isn’t it too early to buy now…?”
An Jing saw that Zhu Ying didn’t seem to notice any abnormalities, and her hanging heart also settled.
Her speech wasn’t as stammering, seeming to return to her normal state—except for the occasional brain freeze when trying to speak like a girl.
“Is that so?”
Zhu Ying, who was pinching her chin as if genuinely considering buying a Christmas hat, giggled, “It is a bit too early.”
“Yeah, and if you buy it too early, it makes you feel like Christmas has already passed. Then when the actual Christmas comes, you won’t feel anything anymore.”
An Jing cleared her throat, “Hmm… even though every time I come, I just feel the atmosphere…”
Zhu Ying didn’t answer.
Instead, she was attracted by the snow globe toy on a nearby shelf:
It was contained in a round glass bottle, with a white plastic snow mountain inside, and a small house with a chimney in the snow.
When the switch was pressed, the red lights in the house would light up, as if the fireplace had been lit, and the plastic particles imitating snowflakes would also fly up, as if it were really snowing.
Of course, that particularly classic Christmas song would also play along.
The sound quality wasn’t good, but it ironically gave a feeling of being carried through wind and snow.
“Speaking of Christmas, you always think of snow,” Zhu Ying murmured softly, cupping her cheeks.
“Yeah… too bad it doesn’t snow much in small cities—even though winter is quite cold.”
“Maybe it will snow this year.”
“Why?”
“Because—everyone says this year is exceptionally cold?”
Zhu Ying’s innocent large eyes blinked at An Jing, then she suddenly asked, “An Yin, how many times a year do you see your brother?”
“Me and him? Maybe just… see each other during Chinese New Year.”
At the mention of siblings, An Jing couldn’t help but think of the three characters from Yosuga no Sora.
A GALGAME.
Which is what’s known as a dating simulation game.
In her opinion, if a shut-in hasn’t played it, then they don’t deserve to be called a ‘shut-in’ at all.
She had also felt alone and sad at night because of the story in this game.
Even after a year, she still remembered the settings and plot deeply.
“Do you miss your brother?”
“I… guess so.”
An Jing’s expression became serious.
She, who had difficulty imitating a girl’s speech just now, suddenly entered a state of acting—she was now playing the role of Sora.
“Actually, it’s much better now. In elementary school, I always lay alone in the hospital bed…”
“Where was your brother?”
“He was studying in the small city, so he could only come to accompany me during summer vacation. But… he always ran off to play with his friends. Occasionally, on an evening bathed in the setting sun, he would appear in my hospital room and bring me some ‘trophies,’ like marbles, or… bugs and such.”
Zhu Ying listened carefully, not interrupting, seemingly gesturing for her to continue.
“Every time my brother came to see me, I was very happy, because I was sickly since childhood, so I didn’t have many friends. But my brother would often bring his friends, making the hospital room lively…”
“Your brother is very good.”
“Mm… I like big brother the most…”
An Jing lowered her head softly, two blushes appearing on her cheeks.
It wasn’t shyness; it was embarrassment at herself.
She seemed to have gotten too deeply into the role just now, and couldn’t help but blurt out words that only Sora would say.
Actually, her current feelings were quite genuine, after all, it was a story she had immersed herself in and experienced.
“What kind of liking?”
Zhu Ying’s expression was also serious, as if she had discovered a small crush in her classmate’s sister’s heart.
“I just really like being by his side, hoping to always be with him, not hoping… anyone takes him away.”
An Jing looked up, gazing at Zhu Ying with her reddened eyes, and took a deep breath.
“I… shouldn’t be saying this.”
“It’s okay, I won’t tell anyone.”
The girl walking slightly ahead of her suddenly stopped and took An Jing’s hand.
“But… this is a forbidden love, you know.”
“So, so it’s just kept in my heart. I hope big brother can have a wife who is willing to let me always be by his side.”
“A world for three? Hmm… perhaps it will happen.”
“Am I… very strange like this?”
“Not strange at all. Liking someone is inherently illogical!”
Zhu Ying gave her an encouraging look, and holding her small hand, suddenly quickened her pace.
“It smells good, I smell bread, let’s go see what they have?”
An Jing hurriedly followed, completely relaxing.
She felt like Zhu Ying truly believed her.
Was her… or rather, the meteorite’s, superpower of cognitive modification too powerful?
Also—
An Jing felt Zhu Ying’s slightly warm breath and looked at her delicate face, the hair gently brushing her nose, it was almost as if she were already holding her in her arms…
Were they standing a little too close!?
They had just met…
Even though she was a classmate’s sister, this friendship seemed to be developing a bit too quickly.
But An Jing had no desire to think too deeply about it, nor to resist.
Being so close to a beautiful girl felt incredibly blissful, like a warm bed in winter, making one want to sink into that gentle comfort forever and never get up.
Of course, without Little An Jing, she wouldn’t be able to get up even if she wanted to.
“Wow—that bread is covered in so much pork floss, it’s all meat…”
Zhu Ying pulled too hard, and An Jing didn’t have time to steady herself.
So, when Zhu Ying turned around, their foreheads collided solidly.
“Bang!”
Both of them clutched their foreheads in pain, but seeing each other’s teary eyes, the pain seemed to ease considerably.
They looked at each other and inexplicably burst out laughing together.
“Your forehead is red…”
An Jing coughed hard, taking the opportunity to subtly create some distance, leaving that blissful comfort.
“You too, does it hurt?”
“I… I don’t hurt.”
Zhu Ying’s face flushed as she released her hand, then quickly covered it again, “Will it look ugly if I don’t cover it? I just got my bangs trimmed, it seems like it’s not enough…”
“No, it’s just a little red…”
An Jing licked her slightly dry lips.
“Actually… actually it’s pretty… pretty…”
“Pretty what?”
Zhu Ying stepped a bit closer, looking at her curiously with wide, blinking eyes.
“Ah… that… that…”
After trembling for a long time, An Jing just couldn’t get the word ‘cute’ out of her mouth.
After a long pause, she simply changed the subject, “That pork floss looks really delicious…”
Zhu Ying wasn’t curious about her unfinished sentence; she just covered her mouth with her hand, tucked in her sleeve, and chuckled secretly, “Mm, two for five yuan. And there seems to be a lot of pork floss.”
“How about… we buy five yuan worth, and then we each have one?”
“Okay!”
Zhu Ying’s smile widened.
“Or we could buy the super-sized one, ten yuan, but it feels like it’s worth three of them.”
“That one needs to be torn…”
“One bite each, why not?”
“Ah, ah!? Eh?”
“Huh, don’t girls in big cities do that? Girls here share like that.”
“R-really?”
An Jing didn’t quite believe it, but then she thought Zhu Ying probably had no reason to lie to her…
“Yes, do you want to experience the local customs of the small city?”
“N-no, I’d rather not!”
An Jing desperately restrained the impulse in her heart.
She didn’t want to take advantage of others using the convenience of being a girl.
However, speaking of which, do relationships between girls really become close that easily?
If that’s truly the case, being a girl doesn’t seem so bad…
Just as An Jing was about to fall into the abyss, she suddenly snapped back to reality.
Although it was easy to get close, she still couldn’t get any meat!
For a teenager, this was absolutely intolerable.
An Jing roared in her heart.
At this moment, she wished so much that she was a boy, being this close to Zhu Ying…