Li Yang leaned on the windowsill, his face full of excitement.
“Hey! I just found out today—there’s a new arcade center that opened in the central district. They also sell digital products. Let’s go play together!”
An Ling looked at his excited expression. Her tail swished unconsciously, but she still said, “I’m not going.”
“Hey! Don’t refuse so fast! There are perks.”
“What perks?” An Ling asked curiously.
“Hey, don’t rush…” Under An Ling’s gaze, Li Yang reached behind him and pulled out a card.
“Look! A coupon! I happened to be there during the arcade’s groundbreaking event. After going through all kinds of trouble, I got this seventy-percent-off coupon. It’s only valid for the first week after opening, but I forgot where I put it for so long. I thought about it the whole way home and still couldn’t remember.”
“I wanted to take you out to play, so I searched for half the afternoon when I got back. It was so frustrating—I finally remembered it was in my school bag. This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance. Let’s go tomorrow!”
By the end, Li Yang’s face looked a little bitter, but when he turned to invite An Ling, he smiled again.
“So that’s what you were thinking about the whole way home? And then you spent the entire afternoon looking for the coupon?”
An Ling’s expression was full of doubt.
“What else? Seventy percent off on the games! And if you want to buy any electronics, it’s twenty percent off too.”
“It’s super fun. There’s a dance machine, racing games, claw machines…”
“Anyway, you don’t have any plans tomorrow, right? I’ve already planned everything out.”
Li Yang introduced his plan with a happy face.
This guy… how can he be this happy every single day?
He can turn a single coupon into a whole afternoon of searching.
An Ling looked at him.
She wanted to refuse, but the words wouldn’t come out anymore.
“Alright, let’s talk about it tomorrow when we go. I won’t remember anything you say today.”
“Deal. It’s settled then.” Li Yang slapped the windowsill.
“I’ll come wake you tomorrow morning. We’ll head out right after breakfast.”
“Then… what about the homework we haven’t finished?” An Ling asked.
“Isn’t there still Sunday? There’s plenty of time. I always start my homework on Sunday anyway.”
“Alright, alright. Go to sleep already. Weren’t you just about to sleep?”
Li Yang yawned. “I’ll go to bed early too so we can have fun tomorrow morning.”
“That’s it then?” An Ling asked.
“Mm. See you tomorrow.”
An Ling slowly closed the window and drew the curtains.
“Stubborn idiot,” she muttered softly once the curtains were shut, then climbed back into her little bed.
Lying there, An Ling stared at the ceiling in a daze.
She was going out with Li Yang again tomorrow.
But… it didn’t seem that hard to accept anymore?
An Ling rolled over and buried her face in her tail.
Whatever.
Since she couldn’t refuse anyway, she might as well treat it as… treat it as… she didn’t even know what.
She wondered—if she ran into these situations and it was Li Yang instead, would someone like him be able to create a surprising, completely different path?
She sighed and closed her eyes.
In the darkness, An Ling arrived at that familiar place again.
Today, none of the nearby memory fragments lit up.
After experiencing it a few times, she no longer struggled.
She would see them in a few days.
With that thought, An Ling’s consciousness gradually sank into deeper sleep.
***
The next morning, An Ling was woken by sunlight.
Since it was the weekend, she hadn’t set an alarm and had slept until she naturally woke up.
The curtains weren’t drawn completely tight.
A golden beam of light squeezed through the gap and landed right on her face.
An Ling squinted, rolled over, and reached for the phone on her nightstand.
Nine o’clock.
She froze for a second, then sat up abruptly.
Nine o’clock?!
An Ling quickly looked toward the window. Bright sunlight filled the outside world, and birds were chirping nonstop.
That guy said he would wake me up. Looks like he slept in too.
An Ling rubbed her eyes, smoothed down her messy hair, and got out of bed to wash up.
After washing up and changing clothes, An Ling sat on the edge of the bed in a daze.
They were going to the arcade today.
She had never been to a place like that before. She wondered what it would be like.
Would it be similar to a bar?
Not that she had ever been to a bar either.
“Whatever…”
An Ling muttered softly and started packing the things she needed to bring.
A small backpack would be good for carrying stuff.
She found the little canvas backpack she had used when she was younger.
It was tiny, but it could hold more than a clothing bag.
“Phone~ Power bank~ Tissues~ Keys~ Water bottle~”
Once she finished packing, An Ling sat on the edge of the bed, waiting for Li Yang to come get her.
She waited a while. No sound.
She waited a little longer. Still nothing.
That guy said he would come wake me up? He’s sleeping like a pig.
An Ling stood up, walked to the window, and pulled the curtains aside to look across the way.
Li Yang’s window was closed, curtains drawn tight. There was no way to tell if he was awake.
Her ears twitched.
After hesitating for a moment, she picked up her phone and sent Li Yang a message.
“You up?”
The message went through. She waited a few minutes. No reply.
An Ling simply called him. Before the other side could answer, she hung up, figuring the ring would wake him.
A moment after she set the phone down, the familiar sound came from the window.
Thump… Thump… Thump…
An Ling looked up.
Li Yang was standing by his window, using the clothes pole to knock on hers.
The moment he saw her looking over, he grinned widely and waved.
An Ling took a deep breath and pushed her window open.
“Why didn’t you sleep a little longer?”
“I’m up, I’m up!” Li Yang looked excited. “I just woke up. Wait for me—I’ll get ready right away!”
With that, Li Yang thump thump thumped away.
An Ling looked at the now-empty window across the way and swished her tail speechlessly.
She closed her window, sat back on the bed, and continued waiting.
This time she didn’t wait long. After about ten minutes, she received a message from Li Yang telling her to come out.
When An Ling stepped outside, Li Yang had just come out too.
“Morning!” Li Yang said with a smile.
An Ling glanced at the time on her phone. It was already ten o’clock.
“If you slept any longer, it would be lunchtime.”
She looked at him.
“Weren’t you supposed to wake me? If we get up even later, we’ll basically be eating lunch instead of breakfast.”
“Hehe, I forgot to set an alarm and overslept.” Li Yang scratched his head.
“But it’s fine. The arcade stays open until ten at night. We’ve got plenty of time.”
“Oh, right. Do you still want breakfast?” Li Yang asked.
“Never mind.” An Ling pulled two chocolate bars from her canvas bag and handed one to Li Yang. “This will tide us over. We can eat lunch later.”
“Oh.” Li Yang took the chocolate bar, then noticed the small canvas backpack on An Ling’s back.
“Whoa! You still have this bag!”
Li Yang remembered An Ling used to carry this backpack all the time when they went out to play as kids.
He hadn’t expected her to bring it along now that they were going out again.
It actually looked pretty cute on her.
“Yeah, it’s good for carrying stuff,” An Ling replied.