Whether Yangming's school skirt was too short or the girl was simply tall, at least fifteen centimeters of leg showed above her knees—slender, tight, impossible to ignore in the bright setting sun. Her skin wasn't just fair; it was smooth, with the luminous glow only young girls have.
Her outfit was ordinary enough. The athletic uniform jacket on top was clearly a size too large, shoulders sloping loosely, sleeves past her palms with only fingertips peeking out. Her flat canvas shoes weren't any brand name.
Apricot-colored waist-length straight hair drifted gently to one side in the wind. On her face hung an innocent, slightly silly smile—but in pupils two shades deeper than kerria blossoms, something melancholy flowed.
In any case, the frozen instant made a bright picture.
Qi Han felt himself pulled by some force into a parallel world. But he couldn't match the person before him to the girl in the photo sticker.
Noticing Qi Han had gone distant, Han Yiyi laughed and gave him a light push. "I'm telling you—save it. Don't go after her. That girl still doesn't understand anything."
"Oh?" Qi Han came back to himself. "She came with you?"
"We came to the shopping district together. She's not from your world, so don't get any ideas."
The girl's expression shifted from what it had been before to something fierce, like an animal bristling all over to warn off an intruder on its territory.
That expression only made Qi Han flash white teeth in a grin. With the wicked urge to tease Han Yiyi, he leaned down close to her ear: "Doesn't understand anything? Perfect—I can teach her."
The girl shot him a look, ran toward the entrance, and said through gritted teeth: "I take back what I said before. I hope you disappear from Earth soon."
Qi Han waved cheerfully behind them and called out: "See you on the moon!"
Han Yiyi dragged Mai Mang away as if fleeing plague.
Qi Han stood there a moment, exhaled, walked out of the internet café—the two girls were long gone.
The moment Han Yiyi reached the girl and took her hand, Qi Han had already realized: "tall figure" was an illusion. She was a bit shorter than Han Yiyi—only because she was so slight and thin, with good proportions and long legs, plus the internet café being basement-level so he was looking up from below, did she seem so tall.
An illusion…
The boy was about to turn back inside when something on the ground caught his eye—a flash of refracted light. He picked it up.
A phone charm. Imitation crystal. Blue. Moon-shaped.
A cheap little thing.
Qi Han weighed it in his palm. He could barely feel its weight, yet something strange flowed from his hand through his body.
"Why were we running?" Mai Mang was completely lost.
Han Yiyi, having put some distance between them, slowed down and let go of Mai Mang's wrist. "That boy in the internet café—did you see him?"
"Shenghua High?" Same uniform as gege. "You seem to know him well. Ex-boyfriend?"
"Spare me. Just a middle school classmate—a close guy friend, that's all. Did you memorize his face?"
"Huh?"
"Better if you didn't. Don't talk to strangers from now on. If you did remember—wherever you meet him, whatever he says, don't answer. Got it?"
"Huh? Why?" He'd been smiling the whole time like some kindly elder (?), and his parting words had been funny too.
"Why why why. It's a long story and a pain to explain."
"Tell me, tell me—you're leaving me hanging like this."
Han Yiyi thought it over. The backstory couldn't be skipped. "That guy was the boy who sat behind me in middle school. Honestly, he's not bad—loyal, good at building cliques. Plenty of boys in our grade would go through fire for him."
"A delinquent?"
"You can think of it that way." Han Yiyi continued: "In eighth grade, some of our boys and some of the ninth-grade boys got into a huge brawl. Dozens got collective punishment—the girls had two months of gossip material. That guy…" She jerked her thumb toward the direction behind them. "He started the whole thing."
"Oh… so he's the big boss among delinquents."
"Anyway, it's all his fault."
"How so?"
"He messed around with women."
"How so?"
"He messed with the ninth-grade boss's woman."
Mai Mang finally understood: "He went after the boss's girlfriend?"
"No. He went after the boss's mom."
Mai Mang stopped walking, paused two seconds, then kept going—completely silent.
But why would a dangerous delinquent like that take the initiative to talk to her? She had always been law-abiding. She had zero potential to be recruited as a lackey.
Mai Mang couldn't figure it out, but she didn't dare ask. Sometimes she didn't understand Han Yiyi's thinking—but she was sure Han Yiyi was smarter than her, and whatever she decided was for Mai Mang's own good. Listening to her was always right.
Still, Mai Mang found herself turning back once, on instinct—even though they were long off that street.
Pink clouds drifted slowly across the western sky.
Like scenery from a dream. A strange feeling spread through her chest, as if she'd been pulled into sleep.
And in that dream, she seemed to have seen him more than once.
If they hadn't met then, she wouldn't have had so many small joys and small sorrows later. But Mai Mang had always believed that if the meeting hadn't happened then, it would have happened somewhere else, sometime else. That was certain.
Between people, subtle connections exist.
Like lonely birds crossing the same overcast sky—when paths cross, wings stir currents the other can feel. You can no longer look straight ahead and pretend not to see.