The November sky was no longer as vividly blue. Ke Bu tugged at his collar. He never expected that this way of muddling through life and passing time would go by unbelievably fast. Returning from the convenience store, he saw Zhi Li standing outside the dormitory, leaning against the railing. He looked so unreal—clearly right in front of him, yet somehow untouchable. Ke Bu took a hot drink out of the white plastic bag in his hand and walked over, lightly pressing the warm cup against the back of Zhi Li’s hand.
“This is for you.”
Zhi Li accepted the cup but didn’t drink from it, only holding it in his hand.
“What are you thinking about?” Ke Bu asked.
“I’m thinking about the matter between you and me.” Zhi Li stated it plainly.
The plastic bag hanging from Ke Bu’s hand swayed slightly.
“You’re saying irresponsible things like that again. You clearly don’t understand anything, yet you always say things that make people misunderstand. If I hadn’t known you for so long…”
“The one who doesn’t understand anything is you, Ke Bu.”
After saying that, Zhi Li walked back to his dorm room, leaving behind only the cup of hot drink and Ke Bu standing there alone.
He seemed angry.
Ke Bu didn’t understand why. Was he annoyed because Ke Bu was always criticizing him? Unlike those girls who liked him, Ke Bu wasn’t gentle at all. He couldn’t even do what Gong Zhu could.
Why was he even thinking along those lines? Why did he have to compare himself like this? It was too strange.
Ke Bu scratched his hair.
Afterward, it was as though that conversation had never happened. Zhi Li remained exactly the same as usual. In truth, Ke Bu really wanted to ask what those words meant, but he could never bring himself to say it aloud.
Maybe he simply didn’t want to hear an answer he didn’t want.
And what answer did he want?
At that moment, the words Zhi Li had once said to Su You Yan surfaced in his mind:
“Hey, from now on, stay by my side.”
So ambiguous.
“If I like someone, I’ll directly say that I like them.”
Just as Zhi Li had said, perhaps Ke Bu existed to him in the same way Su You Yan did. And perhaps Zhi Li, to Ke Bu, was merely someone accompanying him during lonely moments.
What kind of person would Zhi Li actually like?
At some point, Ke Bu had started avoiding that question.
Ying Xiu Jie sat on top of a desk, swinging his butt and making the desk creak noisily. Ke Bu stopped him.
“You don’t seem to be from our class.”
There were only the seven of them in the classroom. Ying Xiu Jie shrugged.
“What can I do? Everyone in my class seems scared of me.”
“If you could stop hitting people, nobody would be afraid of you. Actually, Xiu Jie is a very gentle person,” Gong Zhu said innocently.
The milk in Ying Xiu Jie and Chu Hao Yu’s mouths sprayed right out. Zhou Xin He covered her mouth and giggled softly, while Su You Yan turned another page of her book.
“How come you two are here too? Our classroom isn’t a refugee shelter.”
“Ahh, ahh, Ke Bu is as heartless as ever.”
“It’s really hard to imagine what kind of girl Ke Bu would like. If you had to pick a wife from anime characters, who would you choose? A tsundere girl? Louise? Shana?”
Ke Bu waved a finger.
“They usually love hitting people. Do you really think a normal guy like me would like a girl who hits people at every opportunity? She hits when she’s shy, hits when she’s happy, and only restrains herself a little when she’s really sad. What, do I enjoy suffering? In real life, what man would tolerate being trampled under a woman’s feet? Pride is a man’s greatest trait.”
“Then what about a busty girl?”
Ke Bu waved his finger again.
“No one wants their girlfriend dressing provocatively and wandering around everywhere every day. Besides, the most unrealistic thing about those anime you people talk about is that in the real world, all the beautiful girls won’t surround some useless loser, desperately trying to press their chests and lips against him. Yu Tai, you’ve watched too much of that stuff and ended up with delusional fantasies. Count it on your fingers—who doesn’t like handsome, rich, capable men?”
Ke Bu analyzed everything with complete confidence, but Chu Hao Yu wasn’t convinced.
“Your way of thinking is too dark. I refuse to believe there’s no type you like.”
“There is.”
Ke Bu answered very decisively.
“Who?”
“Mouri Ran.” It was an answer so unexpected that nobody could have been more surprised. Ke Bu continued, “Beautiful, gentle, considerate, and knows how to protect herself. She doesn’t light up at the sight of other men, dresses appropriately, occasionally acts spoiled a little, throws a small temper now and then, but never causes trouble unreasonably.” Everyone was left staring blankly after Ke Bu’s long speech. Gong Zhu rubbed his chin. “I never thought Ke Bu was unexpectedly such a simple and traditional guy. Even the type you like is very traditional.”
“Your standards are too high. There’s no one that perfect in real life.”
“That’s why, in reality, the people we truly end up liking are often different from the ideal conditions we list out.” The corner of Ke Bu’s eye caught Zhi Li’s figure, and his gaze dimmed.
“With a personality like yours, you’re destined to never have anyone to date,” Chu Hao Yu concluded. After all, he only liked busty girls. Ke Bu leisurely opened the bread package in front of him, tore a slit into it, took a bite, and spoke vaguely while chewing.
“Don’t say that so confidently. I do have one.”
“Have what?”
“Someone I’m dating.” The effect of Ke Bu’s casual statement was explosive. Thinking about it, nobody had ever directly asked whether Ke Bu was single before! Ying Xiu Jie bit down hard on his straw, eyes widened in disbelief. Other than Su You Yan and Zhi Li, everyone else had their mouths hanging open. Chu Hao Yu was the least willing to accept it.
“What?! Even you have someone? So it really was that beautiful older woman from last time! Damn it, I’ve lost confidence in life.”
“That’s incredibly rude!”
“How long have you been together? You actually kept it from us? That’s too much.” Ke Bu continued biting his bread, looking like he was trying to remember something.
“Feels like it’s been a long time. Let me think… Ah, speaking of which, you still haven’t paid me back that one yuan fifty for the popsicle. We agreed to split it equally.”
“That wasn’t a flavor I liked.”
The crowd’s attention instantly turned toward the person who had suddenly spoken:
Zhi Li!!
“What, are you trying to dodge the debt?!” Ke Bu shouted.
“What?”
“Don’t start this again.”
“What?”
Everyone’s eyes moved back and forth between the two of them. Why—why could these two people’s conversations connect so naturally? Why?!
“T-This… w-what is going on?” Gong Zhu stammered.
Ke Bu turned back around and took another bite of bread.
“What? Didn’t I ever mention it? The person I’m dating is Zhi Li.”
The statement exploded like a bomb among the five of them. Even Su You Yan showed a shocked expression for the first time. “Stunned” wasn’t nearly enough to describe their reactions. Ke Bu continued:
“But it’s not what you’re imagining.”
Futile Devices Scans 
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