Volume 1, Chapter 8: So You Buy This Kind of Thing at Midnight Too
At 12:43 p.m., Shuichi finally got to eat.
The venue was, once again, Yusei's place.
After the three of them got back from Xincheng Station, Yusei had sworn up and down that nobody was eating for free today, yet less than ten minutes after walking into the kitchen, he had quietly added one more portion of noodles.
Shuichi offered no comment on this.
After all, some things were rude to say out loud.
The air conditioning in the living room was cranked up, and outside the window it was the hottest part of the day; even through the glass, the cicadas sounded a little piercing.
Mio sat on the other side of the dining table with her phone propped up beside her, the screen still on the Girl Hero Observatory, though she had already closed the thread discussing just how slim her waist was.
The rankings on the front page had changed again.
【Blue Lance—Current popularity: #9↑】
From eleven to nine in just over forty minutes.
Mio paused mid-bite.
Then kept eating.
Yusei sat across from her and stole a glance at the phone.
"Ninth now."
"I saw."
"That's climbing fast."
"Mm."
"You're not happy?"
Mio looked up.
"Why would I be happy?"
Yusei thought about it.
"People like you?"
"They like Blue Lance."
"Isn't that you?"
"It's not the same thing."
Mio lowered her head and nudged the noodles in her bowl aside with her chopsticks. Her tone didn't change much. "Besides, rankings like that don't mean anything."
Shuichi sat to one side, busy transferring the carrots he didn't want into Yusei's bowl.
"True."
Mio glanced at him.
"You think so too?"
"Is there prize money for first place?"
"No."
"Then it's useless."
Mio nodded.
"That's exactly what I mean."
Yusei looked down and saw the carrots that had suddenly appeared in his bowl, and his brows knit at once.
"Wait."
Shuichi was just about to transfer a second piece.
Yusei blocked him with his chopsticks.
"What are you doing?"
"Giving them to you."
"I can see that. I'm asking why you're giving them to me."
"You like them."
"Who told you that?"
"I don't like them."
"So that means I do?"
"Rational allocation of resources."
A vein twitched faintly at Yusei's temple.
Mio kept her head down, eating her noodles.
But the corners of her mouth were already starting to rise.
Yusei noticed.
"You're laughing too?"
"No."
"You're obviously laughing."
"I just think he has a point."
"What point?"
"Rational allocation of resources."
Shuichi nodded.
"You get it."
Yusei looked left, then right.
He suddenly realized that at some point today, these two had ended up on the same side.
"Should I never have let you two meet?"
Shuichi answered quickly.
"Too late."
Mio chimed in too, for once.
"We've already met."
Yusei was silent for a long time, then could only lower his head and eat the carrot.
After lunch, Mio didn't leave right away.
The reason was simple.
The changes in Yusei's body were too obvious today.
If crushing a can last night could still be written off as a slip, then tearing off a cabinet door this morning and prying open a bus door bare-handed at noon was already completely beyond the range of an ordinary person.
Not to mention that when he'd held up that ad frame at the attack site, he had moved so fast he hadn't even registered it himself.
So after lunch, Mio dragged him straight out to the vacant lot behind the apartment building, where hardly anyone ever passed.
Shuichi hadn't meant to go.
Then Yusei said one thing.
"If you don't come, you're on your own for dinner."
Shuichi went anyway.
The lot wasn't big.
On one side was the apartment building's outer wall, on the other a few trees, and in between a stretch of concrete that had started to crack. Property management had once put some exercise equipment out here, but now all that was left was a set of parallel bars and two fixed spinning wheels badly flaked of paint.
Mio stood in the shade of the trees.
"Run first."
Yusei asked.
"Run what?"
"From here to the wall and back."
"How many times?"
"Ten, to start."
Yusei took a look.
About forty meters one way.
"What's this supposed to test?"
"Speed, endurance, and how well you've adapted to your body as it is now."
"Okay."
Yusei rolled his shoulders.
Shuichi, meanwhile, had already found a shady spot to sit down, holding a popsicle he'd swiped from Yusei's fridge.
Mio saw it.
"You're not testing?"
Shuichi took a bite.
"Why would I test?"
"Isn't your health bad?"
"That's why I'm not testing."
For a moment, Mio actually couldn't find the flaw in that.
Yusei had already taken off.
The first lap was fairly normal.
The second was clearly faster.
By the third, even Yusei was starting to feel something was off.
He wasn't a professional athlete.
He'd always been in decent shape, went for the occasional run, had played ball in college, but there was no way he could run forty meters at this speed.
Now, every time his foot hit the ground, his body felt ridiculously light.
His muscles didn't ache.
His breathing didn't go ragged.
In the first two laps, he'd even nearly crashed into the wall because he wasn't used to the speed.
The tenth lap ended.
Yusei stopped.
He looked down at his legs.
"That's it?"
Mio looked at the timer on her phone.
Her expression had already turned serious.
"Ten more."
"More?"
"Are you tired?"
Yusei checked carefully.
"No."
"Then keep going."
Twenty.
Thirty.
Forty.
Shuichi had already finished his popsicle.
Yusei still wasn't breathing hard.
Shuichi leaned against the wall and watched for a while.
The enhancement was more obvious than yesterday.
And the growth hadn't stopped.
Whether a normal Kingship link was like this, he didn't know.
The body of the Operator in the records had indeed received feedback from the contract, but the scale had been nowhere near this exaggerated; at the very least, it couldn't have pushed an ordinary person close to the level of a low-tier transformer on the very first day.
This guy Yusei...
Was honestly a bit absurd.
"Shuichi."
Mio suddenly called him.
"Hm?"
"Hold this for me."
She handed him her phone.
Shuichi took it on reflex.
The screen showed a stopwatch.
"What for?"
"I'm going to test his reflexes."
"You?"
"Yes."
Mio flexed her wrist and looked at Yusei. "I won't transform."
Yusei stood a dozen or so meters away.
"How are we testing?"
"I charge at you, you dodge."
"That's it?"
"That's it."
Shuichi looked at Mio.
Then at Yusei.
"You two had better stay away from me."
Nobody paid him any attention.
Mio suddenly moved.
She was an ability user who had been fighting for a long time, and even without transforming, her physique was clearly better than an ordinary person's, and her fighting habits were completely ingrained in her body.
No countdown.
No warning.
Her front foot had barely touched down, and she had already shot forward.
Yusei visibly jumped.
But his body was faster than his brain.
He sidestepped.
Mio brushed past him.
She planted a foot, spun back fast, and her right hand was already grabbing for Yusei's shoulder.
Yusei backed off again.
This time a little slower.
Mio's fingertips touched his shirt.
The third time.
Yusei simply raised his arm to block.
SMACK!
Their wrists collided.
Mio was visibly startled.
So was Yusei.
He'd blocked it.
And very steadily, too.
Mio switched techniques at once.
Her left hand cut in from below.
Yusei had never had any combat training and had no idea how to counter it, so he just grabbed to the side on instinct.
And ended up clamping right onto her wrist.
They both froze.
Mio glanced down.
Yusei was still holding on to her.
Skin against skin.
Their palms were both a little warm from the exercise.
"..."
Yusei came to his senses and let go at once.
"Sorry."
"It's fine."
Mio drew her hand back.
Her tone was perfectly normal.
Only the rims of her ears had gone faintly red.
Shuichi, sitting off to the side, saw it all perfectly clearly.
He looked down and stopped the stopwatch.
He suddenly felt a little superfluous.
"So what's the result?"
Yusei asked.
Mio walked over to take her phone.
"Your reaction speed is much faster than an ordinary person's, and your strength goes without saying, but your movements have no technique at all."
"I can tell that's not a compliment."
"It isn't."
Mio looked at him.
"If you're going to be up close with calamity beasts from now on, this is dangerous."
Yusei asked.
"So I need to learn?"
"At least how to dodge."
"You'll teach me?"
Mio thought about it.
"I can."
Yusei smiled.
"Then I'll be in your hands."
Mio looked at how unabashedly he'd accepted.
"You agreed pretty fast."
"Why wouldn't I learn if someone's teaching for free?"
"..."
That sounded an awful lot like Shuichi.
Mio glanced to the side on reflex.
Shuichi had already stood up.
"Are we done?"
"Pretty much."
"Then I'm heading back."
Yusei asked.
"Is eating and sleeping all you do every day?"
"And work."
"You're off today."
"So all that's left is eating and sleeping."
"..."
Perfectly airtight logic.
Mio watched Shuichi amble toward the building, then suddenly said, "Didn't you say yesterday you were going to clean your place today?"
Shuichi's steps hitched.
He looked back.
"Who said that?"
"Yusei."
Shuichi looked at Yusei.
Yusei immediately pointed at him.
"You said it yourself last week!"
"What does last week's me have to do with today's me?"
It was the first time Mio had ever heard that argument.
She was silent for two seconds.
"You're really not planning to clean?"
Shuichi thought about it.
"Once someone comes over."
Mio asked.
"And if nobody ever does?"
"Then there's no need to clean."
"..."
This person's life logic really was a complete system of its own.
Mio watched him go into the building.
For some reason, she suddenly wanted a little to see just how messy his place was.
The thought had barely surfaced before she pushed it back down.
There was nothing worth seeing.
***
There were no more calamity beast attacks that afternoon.
Linjiang City was quiet for once.
After getting home, Shuichi really did sleep for over an hour, then turned on his computer and redownloaded the game update that hadn't finished yesterday.
This time he finally got in.
And then got killed seven times in a row.
When he respawned for the eighth time, he threw his mouse down.
"Garbage game."
His phone lay lit up beside him.
The Girl Hero Observatory was still posting updates on the day's events.
Blue Lance had already climbed to seventh in popularity.
The restored HD image of the new battle attire was up on the front page, and the site had even very unscrupulously made a side-by-side comparison of the old battle attire and the new.
The title—
【Blue Lance Second-Stage Form: Differences Compiled】
Shuichi tapped in.
First look: the outfits.
Second look: the comments.
【Is this really the same person's combat suit?】
【Yesterday: functional warrior. Today: the designer finally figured out what anime fans want to see.】
【What if I like the old version?】
【You're allowed to, nobody's stopping you.】
【The new battle attire obviously means her defense method changed after she got stronger. Even the solid leg armor got cut.】
【So the stronger she gets, the less she wears?】
【Don't ask such technical questions.】
【If that's really the rule, I recommend Blue Lance keep working hard.】
Shuichi read up to there.
"..."
These people were going to get what was coming to them sooner or later.
He backed out of the thread.
There was also a real-time discussion section on the right side of the front page.
One of the threads had already been bumped up pretty high.
【Isn't today's monster kind of like the calamity beasts from the past couple of days?】
Shuichi's finger stopped.
He tapped in.
The original poster had put up three screenshots.
The first was the calamity beast that had appeared on the commercial street on day one.
The second was that thick-armored calamity beast from yesterday.
The third was the armored beast Mio had just killed today.
On looks alone, they weren't the same type at all.
But the poster had specifically circled certain spots on their bodies.
【Any biology experts out there, take a look: doesn't this dark-red stuff in the gaps of their tissue look really similar?】
People below had already started arguing.
Some said it was just a common calamity beast trait.
Others posted screenshots of calamity beasts from other cities for comparison.
Shuichi looked for a while.
His brows slowly drew together.
It wasn't similar.
It was the same.
The red tissue inside the carapace of today's thing.
The parasite that had burrowed out of Mio's wrist in the parking lot.
And the muscle exposed on the surface of that first-day monster's body.
It was hard to judge from ordinary footage alone.
But Shuichi had seen too many of these things.
Their tissue structures shared a certain very subtle common feature.
As if...
They were different parts grown by the same thing.
Shuichi leaned back in his chair.
"Here we go again."
How many days had it been?
Four.
The frequency was already abnormally high.
And all of them concentrated around here.
He picked up his phone and scrolled down a bit.
The thread didn't have much traction yet.
Most people obviously preferred discussing Blue Lance's new outfit over some calamity beast histology.
That was normal too.
Ordinary people had no need to study this stuff.
Someone would deal with it.
Probably.
Shuichi set his phone face down on the desk.
He didn't want to look anymore.
At seven that evening, Yusei knocked to call him for dinner.
Shuichi pretended not to hear.
A second time.
He still didn't move.
A third time.
"Shuichi."
"I'm dead."
"Then I'll eat your share."
Ten seconds later, the door opened.
Yusei stood outside.
"Weren't you dead?"
Shuichi walked past him.
"Back from the dead."
***
10:57 p.m.
Shuichi went out again.
Not because there was anything important to do.
Simply because there was nothing left to drink at home.
There'd been half a bottle of soda left in the fridge, but when he opened it just now, it tasted off; he checked the production date, was silent for a full three seconds, then threw the whole bottle in the trash.
The nearest 24-hour convenience store was less than five minutes from the apartment.
The street was already very quiet at this hour.
Most of the day's heat had faded, the streetlights stretched people's shadows long, and insects chirped now and then in the bushes. Most of the shops along the street were already closed; only the convenience store, a barbecue place, and a pharmacy in the distance still had their lights on.
Shuichi pushed through the automatic doors.
Cold air hit him in the face.
"Welcome."
The clerk sat behind the register, sounding completely drained.
Shuichi went to the fridge first and grabbed two bottles of water.
Thought about it.
Then grabbed a cola too.
He stopped as he passed the instant noodle aisle.
Looked for a while.
Took two cups.
Farther on.
Chips.
Sausages.
Chocolate.
When he reached the refrigerated dessert case, he suddenly stopped.
Because someone very familiar was standing there.
Asakawa Mio.
She obviously hadn't expected to run into Shuichi either.
The two of them looked at each other across a little over a meter.
The air was silent for two seconds.
Shuichi took a look at her first.
Mio had changed out of the clothes she'd worn that day.
Now she had on a loose light-colored T-shirt and black lounge shorts, her hair completely down, no makeup, none of the neatness she had when she went out during the day.
On her feet were just a pair of simple slides.
She looked a little smaller than she did in the daytime.
And a lot more relaxed.
Then Shuichi's gaze slowly traveled downward.
And landed on her hands.
Two cream puddings.
One strawberry cake.
And a pack of chocolate cream puffs.
"..."
Mio looked down at them too.
Then, very naturally, hid everything behind her back.
Shuichi asked.
"What are you doing?"
"What?"
"What are you hiding?"
"I'm not hiding anything."
"I saw."
"You saw wrong."
Shuichi was silent.
For some reason.
That line sounded a little familiar.
Mio obviously realized it too.
The two of them were quiet for another two seconds.
Shuichi looked down at the instant noodles and chips in his own hands.
And suddenly felt that neither of them was in any position to judge.
He took a pudding from the case beside him.
Mio watched.
"You eat these too?"
"Mm."
"At eleven at night?"
Shuichi looked up.
"What about you?"
"..."
Mio stopped talking.
The two parties had reached a settlement.
A few minutes later.
They checked out one after the other.
And walked out of the convenience store.
Mio had meant to go home.
But Shuichi sat down on the bench beside the entrance and opened the pudding he'd just bought.
Mio took a few steps away.
Then looked back.
"You're not going home?"
"After I eat this."
"Why not eat it at home?"
"Too lazy to get a spoon."
He was holding the little disposable spoon the store had given him.
The reason was actually halfway reasonable.
Mio stood there for a while.
In the end, she came back too.
And sat on the other end of the bench.
There was a person's worth of space between them.
The street was very quiet.
Now and then a car passed in front of them, its headlights sweeping across the ground.
Mio opened her pudding.
Shuichi glanced over.
"Don't you not like this kind of stuff?"
Mio's hand stopped.
"Who said that?"
"Your lunch is always either a sandwich or a salad."
"That's work food."
"Oh."
"And I never said I don't like sweets."
Shuichi nodded.
Took another bite.
"Kind of surprising."
Mio turned her face toward him.
"What's surprising?"
"I figured you'd be strict about calories."
"I exercise."
"Fair."
Shuichi didn't say more.
Mio lowered her head and took two bites.
The cream pudding was very sweet.
It was the kind she often bought.
She really did watch what she ate, not to keep her figure, but as a habit left over from fighting for so long; what to eat when, how much, whether it would affect her condition, she was used to thinking all of that through in advance.
It was just that sometimes she wanted something sweet.
Especially at night.
When nobody could see.
Mio suddenly spoke.
"Don't tell Yusei."
Shuichi turned his head.
"What?"
"About tonight."
"Why?"
"He's annoying."
That assessment struck a chord with Shuichi.
"True."
Mio glanced at him.
"If he found out, he'd definitely say something like 'Aren't you supposed to be really disciplined,' and then ask me why I went out in the middle of the night to buy dessert."
Shuichi pictured it.
Yusei would absolutely do that.
"Don't worry."
"And you?"
"What?"
"You're not allowed to tell him I bought these either."
"I just agreed."
"I'm confirming."
Shuichi nodded.
"Then don't tell him I bought two cups of instant noodles either."
Mio looked at the bag by his feet.
"Didn't you just eat dinner at his place?"
"These are for tomorrow."
"Isn't he going to cook tomorrow too?"
"Backup."
"..."
Mio suddenly couldn't understand what the point of this backup was.
She lowered her head and went on eating her pudding.
After a while.
She suddenly laughed a little.
Shuichi looked at her.
"What's funny?"
"Nothing."
"You just laughed."
"I thought of something."
"What?"
Mio raised her head and looked at the shops across the street, which had already turned off their lights.
"I always figured you just played games at home every night."
"Pretty much."
"Turns out you come out too."
"No water, I'd die."
"..."
If anyone else said that, it would sound like an exaggeration.
Coming from Shuichi, it somehow sounded like the truth.
Mio looked at him for a while.
The light fell on Shuichi's face.
He was dressed as carelessly as ever today, in a loose black T-shirt and gray sweatpants; he'd probably only pressed his hair down with his hand a couple of times before going out, and it was a mess again now.
His face looked the same as always.
A little pale.
The faint dark circles under his eyes had never gone away.
No matter how you looked at him, he didn't seem like someone who would have anything to do with heroes or calamity beasts.
Ordinary as could be.
That actually made Mio feel very at ease.
During the day, she had to think about Yusei's ability.
Her own power.
The contract.
Why her battle attire had changed.
What to do the next time she ran into a calamity beast.
Even the growing attention on the Girl Hero Observatory felt a bit noisy to her.
But sitting here.
All of that suddenly seemed far away.
Shuichi wouldn't ask how today's fight had felt.
Wouldn't ask whether the connection was stable.
Much less talk about Blue Lance in that tone full of admiration or curiosity.
He didn't even care whether she was a hero.
What the two of them were talking about right now was just pudding.
Mio asked.
"Is it good?"
Shuichi looked at the cup in his hand.
"It's okay."
"Then why are you frowning?"
"Too sweet."
"This kind is supposed to be sweet."
"You like it?"
"Mm."
"You like it pretty intense."
Mio's head turned at once.
"This counts as intense?"
"It's really sweet."
"Sweet means intense?"
"For me it does."
"Then why'd you buy it?"
"I saw you grab one."
"..."
Mio was stunned.
Shuichi didn't think there was anything special about what he'd said.
He lowered his head and took another bite.
"Wanted to try it."
Mio stared at him for two seconds.
For some reason, a perfectly normal sentence suddenly carried a feeling she couldn't quite put into words.
She looked away.
Her ears felt a little hot.
It had to be the weather.
Even though it was already eleven at night.
"Next time get the plain one."
She said.
"Which one?"
"The one in the second row on the left."
"Is it good?"
"It's not as sweet."
"Oh."
Shuichi nodded.
He'd remember.
The two of them kept sitting.
They didn't talk the whole time.
A car passed now and then.
Someone walked a dog across the intersection in the distance.
The convenience store's automatic doors opened and closed, letting out one mechanical "Welcome" after another.
The silence wasn't awkward.
Mio even found it pretty comfortable.
About ten minutes passed.
She finished the last bite of her pudding.
And was about to get up.
Shuichi suddenly asked.
"How's the hand?"
Mio didn't catch it right away.
"What?"
"Your left hand."
Mio glanced down.
The wound under her cuff was already barely visible.
"Much better."
"Oh."
Shuichi didn't ask anything further.
But Mio looked at him.
"That's all you're asking?"
"Mm."
"Why?"
Shuichi looked up.
"Wasn't it bleeding yesterday?"
"..."
A very ordinary reason.
Mio didn't know what she'd been waiting for just now either.
She stood up.
"It's fine now."
Shuichi nodded.
"Good."
Still not a word more than that.
Mio picked up her convenience store bag.
After walking two steps away, she looked back again.
"Shuichi."
"Hm?"
"If you come here in the middle of the night from now on..."
She paused a little.
"And you run into me, no laughing."
Shuichi thought about it.
"Depends."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Two puddings, no laughing."
"And three?"
"Then yes."
Mio glared at him.
"You'd better forget today."
"Too late."
"..."
She suddenly found she was understanding more and more why Yusei so often wanted to punch this guy.
But the strange thing was.
She didn't dislike it.
She even found it a little funny.
"I'm going."
"Mm."
Mio turned.
She walked off a few dozen meters.
Shuichi was still sitting outside the convenience store.
Not until she was out of sight did he put the lid back on his half-eaten pudding.
"Nope."
Still too sweet.
He put the rest into the plastic bag.
Planning to shove it at Yusei tomorrow.
As he stood up, a very faint, dull ache suddenly came from his chest.
Shuichi paused.
He pressed a palm to his chest.
It wasn't as bad as yesterday.
Just a brief tightness.
It passed after a few seconds.
He stood with his head down for a while.
Then, as if nothing had happened, he picked up the bag.
And walked toward the apartment.
As he passed the intersection, his phone buzzed again.
A thread-update notification from the Girl Hero Observatory.
It was that calamity beast tissue discussion thread again.
A new reply had been bumped to the top.
【OP, does anyone else feel like these last few calamity beasts don't just "look alike," but are more like different organs one thing grew for different purposes?】
Someone replied below.
【You make it sound like a beehive.】
【Then where's the mother?】
Shuichi stood under a streetlight.
He looked for a few seconds.
Swiped up with his finger.
Closed it.
"Don't jinx it."
He said under his breath.
Then he slid his phone back into his pocket.
Only, this time, he didn't go to sleep right away when he got home.
The computer lit up again.
And the black external hard drive he had put away was set out on the desk once more.