(1)
The sun was about to set, and the last sliver of light seemed so distant.
Gaia Ultraman’s twenty-ninth episode was playing on TV.
Yu Minghui had been asleep for quite a while.
Her head rested on An Jing’s lap, and clear drool trickled from the corner of her mouth.
She seemed to be mumbling something indistinctly, and judging by her slightly upturned lips, she was probably having a sweet dream.
Just as the ending theme song began, there was a sudden knock on the door.
「What you believe in is absolutely right.」
“Knock, knock.”
「We’ve always been searching for the same thing.」
“Knock, knock, knock.”
“Is this the right house?”
“Damn it, hope we didn’t knock on the wrong door?”
“No, this is it.”
“Yeah, I remember this one too.”
“Did they move?”
“Damn it, no way, right?”
「In this sky and on this land brimming with life…」
An Jing carefully placed a sofa cushion under her elder sister’s head and stood up with a touch of surprise.
She could tell it was the voices of her best friends outside.
But why had they suddenly come?
And without even giving a heads-up…
She had just pulled the door open when a large bouquet of fresh flowers met her eyes.
A pungent scent immediately assailed her, followed by the fragrance of other flowers.
「…I want to share with you—」
“An Jing’s…”
“Huh—?”
“Haha, it’s An Jing himself!”
The three friends, varying in height, build, and weight, shouted at her with excited smiles and laughter.
“How’s your health?”
Fang Qiang cleared his throat, asking in his recently much steadier voice.
“I see, there’s nothing wrong at all!”
Sun Wei’s voice was a bit high-pitched at the moment.
He leaped onto Fang Qiang’s back like a monkey, laughing mischievously.
“You look good, An Jing, haha, but your clothes—why are they so pink?”
Zhou Chao vigorously patted her shoulder, just as he used to when she was still a boy.
“Huh? Eh!?”
An Jing nervously tried to cover her clothes, but how could her small hands cover her entire pajamas?
She suddenly became flustered and stammered, “Th-th-that… it’s because… Sister Fei forced, forced me to wear, wear this!”
“Hahaha—I knew you’d be bullied by your cousins at home.”
Zhou Chao, looking like an experienced veteran, patted her shoulder again.
“I get it, I get it. I was like that in elementary school too; my older cousin loved to play with me like a doll when she visited.”
“But it suits An Jing quite well, hehe…”
“Cough… It is pretty cute.”
“You bastards, shut up!”
An Jing flared up in embarrassment.
“Alright, alright, come in, why did you buy such a big bouquet of flowers?”
“Visiting a patient, you always need flowers, right?”
Sun Wei was the first to dart in, but An Jing elbowed him back.
“Damn it, take off your shoes!”
“Holy crap, we have to take off our shoes?”
“Duh!”
An Jing unhappily took out several pairs of disposable slippers from the shoe cabinet and threw them in front of them.
Fang Qiang, meanwhile, directly handed the large bouquet of flowers into her arms.
“Wow… it’s really big…”
“We didn’t buy them; they’re wild flowers we picked from the mountain.”
“Holy crap, wild flowers look that beautiful?”
“Zhou Chao did it.”
Fang Qiang laughed.
“How’s my craftsmanship? Good enough?”
“You’re amazing…”
An Jing teased, unable to stop smiling.
The three noisy friends immediately quieted down the moment they stepped inside, because they saw Yu Minghui sleeping soundly on the sofa.
“Is this An Jing’s cousin?”
“Yes, you can call her Sister Huihui.”
An Jing, holding the large bouquet of flowers, spun around the living room like she was lost.
“Uh, you guys sit down first, I’ll find a good place for the flowers…”
“Hey…”
Fang Qiang lowered his voice, “You’re watching Gaia, you rascal?”
“Yeah, nothing to do at home. My sister even fell asleep watching it.”
“This TV is quite big.”
“It’s thirty-two inches, I think.”
“Mine’s only fourteen inches…”
Fang Qiang looked envious.
“Sister Fei bought it. She loves sitting on the sofa to watch TV. I think it cost her a whole month’s salary back then.”
“How extravagant…”
“Mmm…”
Although everyone tried to keep their voices down as much as possible, they inevitably made some noise, waking Yu Minghui from her sleep.
She stretched lazily and opened her eyes sleepily, leaning weakly on the sofa.
“Hmm… Hmm…?”
“Sister Huihui, you’re awake.”
“Hmm…? These are…?”
“They’re my friends, Zhou Chao and Fang Qiang, and Sun Wei.”
“Oh, oh…”
She patted her head, tilting it sleepily.
“What time is it?”
“Past six.”
“Has Fei Fei not come back yet?”
She yawned again, stood up from the sofa, looking much more awake.
“Hmm, your friends are all eating at home, right?”
“Uh, what do you guys say?”
An Jing turned around and asked.
“We’re here to mooch a meal!”
Sun Wei chuckled shamelessly.
“If it’s no problem…”
Fang Qiang coughed.
“Then we definitely have to stay and eat something delicious.”
Zhou Chao looked at Yu Minghui.
“Sister Hui, do you have a vase at home? We can’t let An Jing keep holding it, can we?”
“Oh~ What a big bouquet! Let me see, hmm… Rosemary, orchids, camellias, and leaf flowers, they look so fresh.”
“We picked them fresh from the mountain, of course they’re fresh!”
Sun Wei said proudly, as if he had done the most work.
***
(2)
“You guys are really amazing, thank you for coming to see Xiao Jing.”
Yu Minghui glanced at An Jing, then at her friends, and after confirming that nothing seemed amiss with An Jing, her pursed lips curved into a smile.
“I remember there’s a big vase at home, I’ll go look… Oh, right, is the one in Xiao Jing’s room big enough?”
“Enough? Doesn’t feel quite enough…?”
“You can unwrap it and put it in the vase.”
“Ah…”
An Jing looked hesitantly at Zhou Chao.
“It’s fine, unwrap it. The flowers are what’s important; the kraft paper and stuff are just decorations.”
Zhou Chao waved his hand, looking completely unbothered.
“Then let’s do that! If you want to watch TV, you can stay in the living room for a bit. You can also go to Xiao Jing’s room and play together. Do you want something to eat? We don’t seem to have much fruit at home…”
“We bought fruit!”
Sun Wei lifted the bag he was carrying.
“You bought so much stuff!”
“After all, we’re visiting a patient, right?”
Sun Wei winked at An Jing.
“Then why don’t we go to my room to play first?”
An Jing cleared her throat.
“Come on, come on, everyone, just might be a bit crowded…”
“Hehehe—let’s tour the beautiful girl’s boudoir~”
“A Wei, your laugh is really perverted.” A
n Jing glared at him.
“That’s how guys who’ve never seen a woman are, pathetic, treating even their brothers like women to flirt with.”
Zhou Chao cursed playfully.
Sun Wei still smiled shamelessly, but Fang Qiang, feeling a bit guilty, cleared his throat loudly.
An Jing kicked open the door with her foot, took out the wrapped flowers one by one, and placed them in the clean glass vase—the water had just been changed today.
Yu Minghui had originally planned to buy flowers in the afternoon, but now it seemed they wouldn’t need to.
An Jing’s room was small; a bed and two large tables already occupied most of the space.
“It really is a bit crowded.”
Sun Wei, the shortest of the three boys, nimbly squeezed in.
“But it’s quite comfortable to sleep alone.”
“So small.”
The bulky Fang Qiang was clearly uncomfortable.
“Sit, sit, feel free to sit on the bed.”
An Jing patted the bedsheet, opened a cabinet, and took out a soft cushion sewn by Yu Minghui herself.
“Oh—so you usually play on the computer here?”
Zhou Chao sat directly in front of An Jing’s computer.
“Hmm—this spot is comfortable, and you can lean against the wall.”
“Right? When there’s sun, the sunlight also comes in—uh, too bad it’s completely dark now.”
“Holy crap, a big butt monitor, so ancient.”
Sun Wei smacked his lips.
“My house uses LCD now.”
“It’s not too ancient… bought it three years ago.”
An Jing kicked her slippers aside, her small feet in white socks immediately stepping onto the bed.
Standing here, she could reach the cabinets hanging below the ceiling, where some of her collections were stored.
Fang Qiang lowered his head and looked at the small feet that seemed even smaller than his palm, then nervously shifted his gaze elsewhere.
“This is truly a otaku’s room.”
Sun Wei admired the posters on the wall.
“What animes are these from?”
“Huh? Which one? Anyway, most of them are Kyō-chan. I put these posters up this year… right, just in January this year. I bought them with my New Year’s money at the anime store, five yuan a sheet!”
“Holy crap, you really splurged.”
“Don’t underestimate an otaku’s love!”
When she said this, An Jing’s tone was clearly proud.
“Look in my cabinet.”
“Hahaha, An Jing, why do you have so many Ultraman toys?”
“I bought them when I was little, and some in junior high. The quality isn’t great, but they’re my treasured collection.”
“Whoa, An Jing, you actually bought this?”
Fang Qiang saw the transformation device on the table.
“I remember it’s called the Evolution Trustee, right?”
Although he wasn’t as deep an otaku as An Jing, many of their hobbies were the same.
He had watched Ultraman and such; he wasn’t just a big guy who only liked basketball.
“Yeah, even though it’s a pirated one, it still cost fifty yuan!”
“It looks pretty good.”
“You two are like elementary schoolers.”
Sun Wei teased.
“How old are you already, still with Ultraman?”
“Tch, guys without dreams.”
An Jing rolled her eyes.
“Better than you, you perverted-minded guy.”
Fang Qiang retorted.
“Exactly.”
“Damn it, are you three ganging up on me?!”
“Who told you you’re the most perverted?”
“Exactly.”
“Damn it, Zhou Chao, you just know how to say ‘exactly,’ don’t you?”
“Exactly!”
“Damn it!”
The friends burst into laughter in the crowded space.
“An Jing, is your computer on?”
“It is, ah—!”
Before she could stop him, Zhou Chao quickly pressed the monitor’s power button.
The black monitor immediately lit up, and Zhu Ying’s photo, dressed in pajamas, instantly came into the view of the three…
Bye bye social life