She took a secret peek at Yuki Asahi, who was sitting cross-legged on the floor beside her, seriously reading the manual.
Then, she took a deep breath, as if making a certain decision.
Seizing the moment when his attention was elsewhere, she stood up —
Her ankle folded against the floor.
“Ah!”
With superb acting skills, Jiang Jian Yue let out a cry of surprise and performed a flat-surface fall right there on the living room floor.
“Yue?”
Yuki Asahi quickly dropped the manual in his hand and crawled to her side.
“What happened?”
“I… I twisted my foot…”
Jiang Jian Yue said in a soft voice, her eyes brimming with tears.
Yuki Asahi froze for a moment, then asked with cautious confusion,
“Can’t your Ability heal it?”
He clearly remembered that Jiang Jian Yue’s Ability could even restore a severed arm.
“…”
Jiang Jian Yue’s face instantly turned red — not from acting, but from genuine embarrassment.
‘Stupid straight man!’
‘This is why there’s no romance between Espers!’
“… It can’t.”
Jiang Jian Yue’s voice came muffled from beneath her long hair, carrying a stiff sense of desperation.
“… It… consumes… stamina… It’s not worth it.”
The excuse was so lame she wanted to bite her own tongue.
Fixing a “sprain” of this level wouldn’t even count as a drop in the bucket for her.
Consuming stamina?
That was practically an insult to her Ability.
Yuki Asahi knelt beside her, his Golden Eyes reflecting the girl curled into a ball.
His confusion was quickly replaced by a sense of realization and an… indescribable softness.
That wasn’t pain; it was shame.
Was she… trying to show weakness?
In such an incredibly clumsy way?
Was it for him?
Was it because of the frustration and confusion he had shown on the train earlier?
Did she want to use this method… to make him feel needed?
‘Honestly… Yue…’
The slight irritation Yuki Asahi felt from his earlier social failures completely vanished.
He reached out, but he didn’t touch the ankle she claimed was sprained.
Instead, he gently brushed away the strands of hair near her cheek, his fingertips inadvertently brushing against her burning earlobe.
Jiang Jian Yue’s body gave a sudden jolt like a startled cat, and she almost actually jumped up.
“Be careful.”
Yuki Asahi’s voice was very low, carrying a deliberate seriousness as if he truly believed her poor acting.
Avoiding her “injured” ankle, he slid his arms under her knees and back, carefully picking the girl up.
Jiang Jian Yue let out a small gasp and reflexively hooked her arms around his neck.
The strength of the boy’s arms could be felt through his school shirt.
Her face was almost buried in the crook of his neck, and her nose was filled with the scent of his body wash mixed with a faint, thin scent of sweat from exercise.
It wasn’t unpleasant; instead, it made her heart beat even faster.
“Don’t move around,” Yuki Asahi said as he carried her toward the sofa, his tone steady.
“What if it gets worse?”
Halfway through the sentence, he almost couldn’t stop himself from laughing.
‘What are you laughing at!’
He gently placed her body on the sofa, his movements as tender as if he were handling fragile porcelain.
Jiang Jian Yue sank into the sofa, her hands clutching the hem of her skirt.
Her blood-red pupils dilated slightly from embarrassment, but her gaze stubbornly shifted toward the city lights outside the window, not daring to look at him.
Yuki Asahi squatted in front of her, dropping to one knee, his gaze landing on her feet clad in short socks.
The socks were pure white, and her ankles were slender, glowing with a jade-like luster under the warm yellow light of the living room.
He reached out, hesitated for a moment, and ultimately restrained himself from touching her.
He simply performed a hollow “check” through the air.
“It looks… okay?”
He looked up.
“But just to be safe, don’t put any weight on it yet. Do you need an ice pack?”
“… No… no need.”
Jiang Jian Yue’s voice became even more muffled, almost burying her face in the sofa cushions.
This was too humiliating!
What kind of rotten idea was that, you useless Meiguan!
Now, not only had she failed to achieve her goal, but she had also made herself look like a fool!
‘I just told you to help him man up. You chose to act like a fool yourself, Boss,’ Meiguan complained sharply.
‘What, are you going to blame everything on me now?’
‘But seriously, you should do this more often. Consider it a little spice between you two.’
‘Get out!’
“Then… just sit and rest.”
Yuki Asahi stood up, walked to the kitchen island to pour a glass of warm water, and brought it back, placing it on the coffee table in front of her.
“I’ll go finish assembling the rest of the parts. It’ll be done soon.”
He pointed to the components scattered on the floor.
“Mhm…”
Jiang Jian Yue gave a low response and finally plucked up the courage to steal a quick glance at him.
The boy had already turned around.
With his back to her, he squatted before the parts again, picked up the screwdriver, and began the installation with efficient movements.
Only the click-clack of the screwdriver turning filled the living room.
Jiang Jian Yue pulled her knees to her chest and huddled in the corner of the sofa.
With her chin resting on her knees, her gaze unconsciously followed Yuki Asahi’s busy back.
The shame from that failed attempt at “showing weakness” slowly settled, replaced by a more complex emotion.
Looking at his focused profile, seeing how he was being so careful just because of one lame lie she told…
‘Idiot.’
She cursed him quietly in her heart, though she wasn’t sure if she was scolding him or herself.
But the corners of her mouth uncontrollably curled upward, just a tiny bit.
‘Wait, did I just make Yuki Asahi do more work again?’
However, the computer was mostly finished, and it didn’t take much effort for Yuki Asahi.
After moving the computer to the main bedroom and successfully installing the system, Yuki Asahi returned to his second bedroom to start his homework — just like Jiang Jian Yue, Yuki Asahi would not neglect his studies.
Jiang Jian Yue sat in her chair, installing various software on the new computer.
Her mobile phone suddenly vibrated.
She picked it up and saw it was a call from Morita Aoya.
‘Mhm… looks like he finally finished dealing with that stalker? He was slow this time.’
She answered the phone, but Morita Aoya didn’t report immediately.
Instead, there was a strange silence.
What was going on?
“Morita?”
Jiang Jian Yue sat up straight, a bad premonition rising in her heart.
Zzzt —
A harsh static sound suddenly came from the other end of the line.
Jiang Jian Yue frowned slightly and moved the phone a bit away from her ear.
Suddenly!
“Hoshi… the way you look when you cry… is truly beautiful…”
A distorted male voice, filled with a morbid obsession, blasted without warning from the speakers of the newly installed computer!
‘Is Hoshi Mizuki Hoshi?’
A window suddenly popped up on the computer that was originally installing SBEAM.
Jiang Jian Yue frowned and leaned closer to the screen.
In the window was a blurry, shaking dark image, accompanied by suppressed breathing and… the sound of splashing water?
The image gradually became clearer.
It seemed to be a voyeuristic perspective shot through a narrow crack.
In the frame, Mizuki Hoshi was facing away from the camera.
She stood under the showerhead, the warm stream of water washing over her slender, graceful back, droplets rolling down her pale skin.
Her shoulders were trembling slightly, and one hand tightly gripped the bathroom wall.
She was weeping silently, her body exuding a fragile sense of instability, as if she would be crushed by that invisible mental shackle in the next second.
Jiang Jian Yue’s pupils suddenly constricted, her blood turning icy cold in an instant.
This was definitely not just a simple, ordinary stalker.
“Who exactly are you?”
Jiang Jian Yue asked the person on the other end of the line — it was highly likely that the person holding Morita Aoya’s number right now was that guy.
The distorted voice let out a series of hair-raising, low chuckles.
He didn’t answer her question, but continued to speak to himself with a nauseating sense of possessiveness.
“Don’t be afraid… don’t be afraid… I will always be watching you… watching you forever… You will always be my Hoshi… always this beautiful…”
“Hehehe…”
The laughter, accompanied by the static of an electric current, gradually faded away, leaving only the final sentence like a whispered curse.
“… We…”
“Will meet again… very soon…”
Damn, this time it was her who didn’t know who she was walking into, I hope Morita is alright.