Raven flew over and landed on his shoulder, also staring at the screen.
“Is something wrong with her?” Raven whispered. “I think she also has something on her mind over at the Avatar’s side.”
“I don’t know.”
“Then ask her.”
Raven nudged Yuan Qing with her head.
Yuan Qing typed a few characters, then deleted them, then typed a few more.
Yuan Qing: “Me? I have nothing to talk about.”
Mizuho: “Then talk about me.”
Yuan Qing: “There’s nothing to talk about with you either.”
It took a while for Mizuho’s message to arrive.
Mizuho: “You really don’t know how to talk.”
Yuan Qing: “That’s true.”
Mizuho: “Anyway, let’s meet at your place this afternoon. No excuses. Woof woof woof woof.”
Mizuho was reminding Yuan Qing not to forget the bet about being a dog.
Raven tapped Yuan Qing’s face with her wing: “Go, go. It’s not like you have anything else to do after training this afternoon.”
“We still need to fight monsters this afternoon.”
“Do it in the morning.”
“We also need sparring.”
“You can’t get a date anyway.”
Yuan Qing turned his head and looked at Raven. Raven looked back at him.
“…Whatever.” Yuan Qing placed his phone face down on the bed.
Raven flew down from his shoulder, landed on the windowsill, and began preening her wing feathers with her beak: “Then I’ll tell Mizuho to teleport directly here at 3:00 PM.”
“Mm.”
“Remember to tidy up your room.”
Yuan Qing looked around his rented apartment.
The blanket was in a heap. The pillow still had the indentation from last night’s sleep. A tracksuit he had changed out of yesterday was draped over the chair. On the folding table was a convenience store onigiri wrapper from last night that he had eaten but not thrown away.
“There’s nothing to tidy up,” Yuan Qing said stubbornly.
“She’s a popular idol, after all.”
“It’s not like she’s never been here before.”
Raven tilted her head and thought for a moment. “…True.”
The room fell silent. Yuan Qing sat on the edge of the bed, looking at the bright city skyline outside the window.
Light slipped through the gap in the curtains, drawing a thin golden line on the floor. He watched the ray of light crawl from the floor to the foot of the bed, then onto his own instep.
Then he stood up, walked to the folding table, and threw the onigiri wrapper into the trash can.
The next day, around 2:30 PM.
Yuan Qing sat on the edge of the bed, leaning against the wall, playing on his phone with nothing to do.
He had already changed clothes, still wearing that set of dull gray suit.
Raven perched on the windowsill, preening the feathers on her chest. “Are you nervous?”
“No.”
“Looking at your phone is proof that you’re nervous.”
“I just have nothing else to do.”
At that moment, a few pitch-black crow feathers suddenly swirled up in the room.
Yuan Qing looked up and watched the crow feathers gather and churn in the center of the room. The next second, Mizuho stumbled out from the center of the vortex.
She was wearing a beige trench coat today, with a white turtleneck underneath. Her hair, not carefully styled as usual, was simply draped over her shoulders. Her makeup was light, so light it was almost unnoticeable.
“The weightlessness of teleportation… it’s not so bad once you get used to it,” she muttered softly, then looked up at Yuan Qing sitting on the edge of the bed.
They made eye contact for a second.
“’Morning,” Mizuho waved.
“It’s afternoon.”
“Then good afternoon,” Mizuho pulled up a chair and sat down. “Being unemployed but having to be dragged by Raven for special training every day must be tough, huh.”
Raven: “Hey.”
Yuan Qing clasped his hands together, his brows slightly lowered. “No, I don’t mind.”
“Really don’t mind?”
“Really.”
“Why?” Mizuho asked.
“There’s nothing else to do,” Yuan Qing replied.
“Hmm, is that so?” Mizuho looked at Yuan Qing meaningfully. “Isn’t there a girl you want to go on a date with? Or you could bring your friend along to meet girls. Oh, I forgot you don’t have friends.”
“…”
Mizuho caught Yuan Qing’s gaze, then smiled. “Don’t you want to go on a date with Sundae?”
“I haven’t thought about it,” Yuan Qing avoided Mizuho’s gaze.
“Really?”
“Really.”
“Why?” Mizuho pressed.
“…To me, she’s just a friendly big dog,” Yuan Qing answered again.
“Hmm?”
Mizuho imagined what Sundae would look like with dog ears and a tail. Fuzzy brown ears poking out from her hair, twitching slightly. Her tail wagging behind her so fast it was just a blur.
Then Sundae would look at her with those watery, sparkling eyes and call out “Miss Yonai!”, wagging her tail even faster.
…It actually suits her.
“Forget it,” Mizuho stood up and started opening the apartment’s various cabinets and corners, as if she were the mistress of the apartment. “Didn’t you buy games? Isn’t that what you took the money from me for?”
“Over there,” Raven tilted her head in a direction.
Mizuho, who was bending over, looked. Yuan Qing had already picked up the game console and handed it to Mizuho.
Mizuho took it. There wasn’t a single scratch. It was so new it looked like it had just been unboxed. This game console must be very precious to him.
“They’re all single-player games,” Yuan Qing reminded.
“Why?”
“Because the games I wanted to play but couldn’t before were all single-player games.”
Mizuho’s hand, which was flipping through the game console, stopped.
“What’s this?” Mizuho’s tone seemed a bit coquettish. She took the console, turning it over and over, but didn’t turn it on. “Are they fun?”
“They were fun at first,” Yuan Qing said, “but after playing for a long time, I just open them up occasionally to take a look.”
“Ehh—” Mizuho drew out the ending sound, then handed the game console back to Yuan Qing. “Here, I don’t want to play yet.”
Yuan Qing took the console. “Where to next? The date you mentioned.”
Raven let out a long yawn.
“Well…” Mizuho thought for a moment. “Is there anywhere you want to go?”
“He’s always at home during his free time,” Raven answered before Yuan Qing could.
She flapped her wings, flew onto Yuan Qing’s head, and stepped a few times to steady herself.
Yuan Qing: “…”
“Then how about an amusement park?” Mizuho smiled. This time she didn’t give Yuan Qing time to reply. “An amusement park is fine. Let’s go.”
Yuan Qing: “…”
Mizuho kicked Yuan Qing’s unresponsive shin with her foot. “Woof woof woof woof!”
This trick still works best.
When they walked out of the apartment building, the sunlight was just right.
In December, Tokyo’s air was crisp, and the sky was a washed-out pale blue. Mizuho walked ahead, the hem of her trench coat swaying gently with her steps. Raven still perched on Yuan Qing’s shoulder, maintaining the illusion of an “Xiao.”
“So, an amusement park,” Yuan Qing said.
“An amusement park,” Mizuho replied without turning around.
“Why an amusement park?”
“Because I want to go.”
Yuan Qing didn’t press further. Mizuho walked into the subway station, and he followed behind. In the afternoon, the train car wasn’t crowded. They sat side by side, with one seat’s distance between them.
Raven jumped from Yuan Qing’s left shoulder to his right shoulder, then back again, her claws stepping back and forth on his shoulder.
They transferred once and rode for about forty minutes before arriving at their stop.
When they came out of the subway exit, the amusement park’s entrance was right across the street. It wasn’t a large-scale theme park, but an older, more traditional amusement park. The iron frame of the Ferris wheel glowed a grayish white in the afternoon sun. In the distance came the roar of a roller coaster and the screams of visitors.
Mizuho stood at the entrance, looking up at the Ferris wheel.
“It’s been a long time,” she put on her sunglasses, a bit emotional. “Ever since I became a child star, I’ve never been here once.”
“Why?”
“Because that’s when my parents started fighting every day over the money I earned.”
Even when saying this, Mizuho was smiling.
Yuan Qing glanced at Mizuho.
“I’ve never been here even once…” he said.