“Ah.”
On the way home, the girl sighed, and the white single ponytail behind her head drooped as well, as if expressing her mood.
There were many reasons for her sigh.
First, when she came home just now, she saw the “Pay the rent!” notice stuck to the door.
The Rental System was indeed at the end of every month, but it seemed this girl hadn’t even paid last month’s rent.
Well, with only one Coin left, how could she pay rent?
She was about to starve.
“Ah.”
The girl sighed again, tilting her head 45 degrees to gaze up at the wide blue sky, suddenly feeling out of place.
In such a big world, there was nowhere for Su Xiaoxiao to stand.
And another reason for her sigh—Senior said she was flat.
Uh…
Actually, as a guy, she shouldn’t care about that, but for some reason, she couldn’t stop thinking about it after leaving.
“And Xiao Li hasn’t accepted the Friend Request yet.”
She thought about the pending request on her phone, wondering if it had been seen.
She couldn’t help it yesterday and still sent it, since there was a legitimate reason.
It was for Club Activity, after all.
She joined for cosplay, not to flirt. Right?
No bad intentions.
But half a day had passed and it still wasn’t accepted.
Could it be that she just didn’t like her?
Clearly, their conversation yesterday went fine.
“Ah.”
A third sigh.
The girl continued walking, a bit tired, down the bustling street.
“…..”
The street was noisy—cars honking, vendors shouting “Pass by! Don’t miss out! Our shop…..”
Noisy, but it made it easier to melt into the crowd, bringing a sense of peace.
***
“Xiaoxiao, you finally came.”
Just as she returned to the Class 6, Grade 1 classroom, Su Xiaoxiao saw a girl sitting pitifully at her desk, staring at something.
Her eyes were full of little stars, but she looked a bit sad.
“Yeah, I’m here.”
The white-haired girl responded calmly.
She didn’t know what had happened, but now was probably the time to comfort her.
How should she start…?
“This…”
She pointed at the desk.
It was a Cake.
Oh, she gave it to her at lunch.
She almost forgot.
But now wasn’t the time to eat. She had to comfort her first.
“What’s wrong?”
While speaking, Su Xiaoxiao quickly placed the Cake under the chair into the Properties Bar, putting it with a pile of books.
Think fast—how to comfort…
“Eh…”
Seeing this, Ning Xiaoyun became even sadder, her mouth twitching as if she was about to cry.
Not only did she not eat it, but she put it away.
She’d chosen it for Xiaoxiao after thinking for a long time yesterday.
The packaging was cute, and it suited her.
“Wow, no, wait…”
She hurriedly tried to stop her from crying.
Oh no, what should she do!
Please don’t cry, dear Sister.
Wait!
Just now, she was staring at the Cake, right?
And girls love sweets.
Oh…so that’s it.
She must have wanted to eat it but felt embarrassed to take it back after giving it away.
No wonder putting it away made her feel even worse.
She was so stupid just now.
“You can have it. I won’t eat it.”
Under the girl’s teary gaze, Su Xiaoxiao took the Cake from under the chair and placed it back on the desk.
She tried to sound as gentle as possible.
“Wow…woo.”
But the girl’s reaction was completely different from what Su Xiaoxiao expected.
Both her small hands went to the desk.
The next step, naturally, was to bury her face and cry.
“Uh.”
The white-haired girl was even more confused.
Was it not direct enough?
“Pa.”
To show sincerity, this time she put the Cake directly back on Xiaoyun’s desk, not even holding it.
There.
Eat it, don’t be sad, don’t mind her.
“….Xiaoxiao, how was lunch with Senior? What did you do? Woo.”
The girl glanced at the Cake she originally gave away, suppressing her feelings as she asked Su Xiaoxiao one last question.
“Mm, it was nice. We ate at the Cafeteria. I was pretty full. Compared to it, the Cafeteria food was honestly good.”
After thinking for a bit, Su Xiaoxiao answered honestly.
Being honest couldn’t go wrong, and thanks to that, she joined the Club.
Compared…So the Cake wasn’t as good as the Cafeteria food.
At this, the girl could no longer hold back.
She took off her black glasses, revealing her cute face, big eyes, and trembling lips.
“Woo woo woo.”
Then, she clutched her head and began to cry.
“?? What’s wrong? Don’t you want the Cake?”
Startled, Su Xiaoxiao hurriedly pushed the Cake closer to her.
Why was she crying now?
She’d tried so hard to comfort her.
Did she say something wrong?
She gave her the Cake and honestly talked about lunch.
The school food was indeed better than what Mom cooked.
“Woo woo woo.”
The girl cried even louder at Su Xiaoxiao’s words.
Thankfully, the teacher wasn’t here yet, or things would have gotten worse.
“Hey, stop crying.”
She comforted her gently by her ear, patting her shoulder softly.
“Xiaoxiao…I’m leaving her to you.”
A girl walked over and looked apologetically at Su Xiaoxiao.
Her friend was a crybaby, but usually, Xiaoyun was caring, so no one minded her personality.
In fact, they took care of her more.
But class was about to start, so they couldn’t leave their seats.
“Mm, mm.”
She nodded quickly, then turned to continue comforting her.
“Your Cake will get cold. Eat it~”
She wasn’t sure how to get her to eat, so she mentioned it getting cold.
That’s what Mom used to say when she wouldn’t eat.
“If you don’t eat, it’ll get cold.”
“Cold…woo woo woo.”
“Ah…”
Su Xiaoxiao helplessly scratched her head and looked around.
Now many people were watching.
If she didn’t look harmless, people might start questioning why Ning was bullying a girl.
So troublesome.
She was really bad at taking care of girls.
Fortunately, when the teacher arrived, Ning Xiaoyun quickly stopped crying and shakily put the Cake back into her own drawer.
At that time, Su Xiaoxiao even smiled at her, hoping she’d feel better.
That counted as comforting, right?
She felt a little accomplished, even if just a little.
***
“Ding ling ling~”
While she was thinking, the second period ended, and class was dismissed.
The time had passed faster than she expected.
Someone would be coming to get her soon—a Senior from Grade 2…
Though they had a video chat last night, the thought of meeting in person was exciting.
Was this the feeling of meeting online friends in real life?
“Xiaoxiao, let’s go together…”
“Xiao Sister~”
At the same seat, with the same tone, a Grade 2 Senior called Su Xiaoxiao.
She wasn’t wearing a uniform but a vibrant, stylish outfit—white short sleeves and deep blue hot pants—that showed off her curves and drew attention.
She’d left class early under the pretense of preparing for Club Activity, all to meet this cute junior sooner.
“Coming.”
Obediently, Su Xiaoxiao picked up her bag and walked out.
“Bye-bye~”
As she left, she didn’t forget to wave to Ning Xiaoyun beside her.
Come to think of it, had Ning Xiaoyun said something to her just now?
“Wow, she’s even cuter in real life.”
Before she could leave the classroom, the Senior who’d shown her the group chat yesterday rushed in.
Then, the enthusiastic Senior gave her a free facial massage.
As for what she used to massage—those who knew, knew.
“Ugh…Sister Xin is even prettier in person.”
Struggling to breathe, she finally managed to reply.
“You’re such a sweet-talker.”
She smiled and patted Su Xiaoxiao’s head.
“Let’s go. It’s about to start. We need to meet up with them early.”
“Mm mm.”
Like at lunch, Su Xiaoxiao, frail as ever, was pulled away.
It felt like the Senior’s actions were exactly the same as lunchtime—just with a different person.
There was one similarity: their group was big!
Hey…
This time, the stares of the male classmates followed the two girls from inside the classroom all the way outside until they disappeared from sight.
Of course, there was still a dazed girl, her mouth still open.
From the shape of her lips, it looked like she wanted to say “play.”
“Xiaoyun, let’s go play together. The last two periods are Club Activity, which is basically free time!”
Yi Ting came over—the same person who’d asked Su Xiaoxiao to take care of her earlier.
“Forget it, I want to sleep.”
Ning Xiaoyun stared blankly, placing her small hands back on the desk, looking completely drained.
Sleep!