Chapter 3: The Promise

[Sixth Simulation Starting… World Correction in Progress…]

“You completely forgot, didn’t you?”

“Last week you said you would—”

Jiang Yueming took a half-step back, putting some distance between them before the girl could finish speaking.

The stares and whispers around them had become impossible to ignore. 

Some people stopped to watch, heads together as they murmured. 

Others pretended to walk by but moved slower than turtles.

“Xia classmate, you’re a little too close.”

Jiang Yueming looked at Xia He helplessly.

According to what she had said, the two of them had only exchanged a few words during last week’s duty shift. 

They weren’t even friends.

Did she really need to stand this close just to return a book? 

Didn’t she know how much trouble her charm could cause him?

Xia He smiled slyly. 

“Are you shy?”

“A little,” Jiang Yueming said, rolling his shoulders. 

His face didn’t even flush. “I’m a pretty shy person.”

“Liar.”

Xia He smiled even brighter.

From the moment she had appeared, she had acted as if they were already very close. 

That familiarity made it seem like they had known each other for a long time. 

Jiang Yueming was starting to wonder if there was something wrong with his memory—maybe they really did know each other well.

“Alright, I’m not teasing you anymore. You said last week that you’d take me out this weekend.”

“Really?”

Would Jiang Yueming be the kind of person to invite someone out?

Wait, no.

He had invited Dong Ziyang to the internet café plenty of times, but that was it.

Aside from the routes to a few internet cafés, Jiang Yueming was practically a stranger to the rest of the city—a total shut-in.

“Of course it’s true. Are you trying to back out?”

“It’s not that…” Jiang Yueming tilted his head and frowned. “I just really don’t remember saying anything like that.”

The girl let out a dissatisfied “Hey!”

“Isn’t that exactly what backing out sounds like?” She waved a finger in front of him. “Let me tell you—no way. This weekend, you’re coming out with me.”

“Anyway, your parents are out traveling, right? Won’t you be bored staying home alone?”

Jiang Yueming froze again.

“How do you know my parents are away?”

“You told me.”

Xia He answered as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, blinking at him without hesitation.

Now Jiang Yueming really suspected his memory was faulty. 

Everything Xia He said matched perfectly—his parents really had gone on a trip.

“So, no arguments left, right?” Xia He leaned in a little closer. “Then it’s settled. This weekend, you’re taking me out.”

“I—”

“No take-backs.”

She cut him off, waving her finger in front of him again. 

The red string on her wrist swayed gently, and the tiny silver bead flashed once.

Jiang Yueming stared at that red string and suddenly felt a strange sense of déjà vu. 

He thought he had seen it somewhere before—not today, but earlier. 

Yet he couldn’t remember when.

“Fine.” He sighed. “Where do you want to go?”

Xia He’s eyes lit up instantly, like two stars being switched on.

“You really agreed?”

“Do I have a choice?”

“Nope.” Xia He smiled so widely her eyes curved into crescents. “Then it’s decided. Saturday at nine in the morning, meet at the school gate.”

She took a step back.

“Don’t be late, okay?”

Then she turned and walked lightly toward the stairwell. 

After two steps she looked back and waved at him.

Sunlight fell across her face, and her smile was sweet.

Jiang Yueming stood there watching her back disappear into the crowd. 

He scratched the back of his head.

What just happened?

How had he ended up agreeing to go out this weekend with someone he barely knew?

“Hey!”

A voice exploded behind him, making him jump.

Dong Ziyang had appeared out of nowhere. 

His chubby face pressed close to Jiang Yueming’s ear, eyes wide.

“You—you—you—what’s going on with you and Xia He?!”

Jiang Yueming flinched and stepped aside.

“Nothing. She was just returning a book.”

“Returning a book?” Dong Ziyang gave him a look that said ‘You think I’m stupid?’ “Does returning a book require standing that close? Does it require making weekend plans? Does it require—”

“You heard all that?”

“Obviously! I was standing right at the door!” Dong Ziyang’s face flushed with excitement. “Xia He! The young miss of the Xia family! Asking you out for the weekend! What kind of dog-shit luck did you step in?!”

Jiang Yueming rubbed his ear.

“I have no idea what’s going on either.”

“You don’t know?” Dong Ziyang stared at him. “You’re telling me you don’t know?”

“I really don’t.” Jiang Yueming frowned. “She said I promised her during last week’s duty shift, but I don’t remember it at all.”

Dong Ziyang paused.

“Duty shift? You did duty with Xia He?”

“She said she was from Class One.”

“Class One?” Dong Ziyang scratched his head. “That can’t be right. Last week’s duty was our class and Class Three.”

Jiang Yueming froze.

“What did you say?”

“I said there was no Class One on duty last week,” Dong Ziyang told him. “Did you remember wrong?”

Jiang Yueming lowered his head and tried to recall, feeling doubtful.

Faces flashed through his mind—one tall, thin boy, one girl who always kept her head down with braided pigtails. 

The three of them carried a trash can toward the back of the campus.

Then…

Then…

What happened after that? Strange, why can’t I remember?

The faces in his memory gradually blurred, as if someone had laid a thin mosaic over them. 

Features melted into color blocks, outlines dissolving into the background.

He could no longer see them clearly.

Then suddenly one face appeared crystal clear, as if editing software had pasted it directly into his memory. 

Everything around it was fuzzy static, but that face was perfectly sharp.

It was Xia He.

She walked with him across an empty sports field, long hair fluttering. 

Amid countless strands of hair she turned to him and said: Take me out next week, okay?

He answered: Sure.

“Huh… it really does seem like…”

Jiang Yueming looked up.

In that instant, something seemed to flash across Dong Ziyang’s pupils.

It lasted less than half a millisecond—too fast to catch.

But in the afterimage left on his retina, Dong Ziyang’s pupils had turned into something else for that split second.

A black background filled with green 0s and 1s. 

Dense streams of data poured down like a waterfall.

“Really seems like what?”

Jiang Yueming stared at his best friend for a few seconds, looking left and right, but saw nothing unusual anymore.

“…It really was duty with Class Three.”

Dong Ziyang’s tone had changed again.

“What Class Three? You did duty with Class One last week.”

“Huh? Didn’t you just say…”

“Ai ya!” Dong Ziyang waved his hand. “Never mind all that. First tell me how you even met Xia He.”

Jiang Yueming was about to explain when the bell for class suddenly rang.

Students started heading back into the classroom one after another. 

He could only drop it for now and wait until the next break.

Before going back inside, something made him glance toward the far end of the corridor.

He thought he saw the faint image of a girl with a high ponytail running toward him, clutching a Chinese textbook in her hands. 

She was shouting something silently, trying to pass him a message.

Jiang Yueming blinked, and the phantom vanished.