Bai Xian arrived at the principal's office, but the person greeting him was not the one Anon Chihaya had met, but rather a sensual and intellectual woman.
"My, my, Bai, I never thought I'd live to see the day you asked me for a favor~"
Hina Inoue looked Bai Xian up and down with an amused gaze, her expression an enigmatic, half-smile.
The woman before Bai Xian was a close friend of his older sister, someone who had loved to tease and manhandle Bai Xian ever since he was a child. According to Hina Inoue herself...
"How could anyone resist bullying such a cute kid~?"
That was Hina Inoue's stance.
Thanks to her, Bai Xian held a deep sense of dread and fear toward Hina Inoue; every time he saw her, it was like a mouse seeing a cat.
Yet circumstances were stronger than man, and if Bai Xian wanted to enroll in Haneoka Girls' Academy, he needed to rely heavily on the hateful woman standing before him.
Hina Inoue was not only his sister's good friend, but also one of the school's board members. In reality, though, it went even further than that—Hina Inoue had investments in numerous academies across Japan; even the famous Tsukinomori, that renowned prestigious academy for young ladies, gave her a considerable amount of respect.
"Alright, alright, don't look at me like that. You can enroll starting tomorrow, okay?" Hina Inoue blinked, then added:
"I really don't know why you'd want to enroll in Haneoka of all places. Could Shiro-chan finally be awakening?"
"Oh my! How bold, this is a girls' academy after all. Talk about a wolf walking right into a pen of sheep~"
Facing Hina Inoue's teasing, Bai Xian merely looked at her speechlessly and offered an explanation:
"I just heard that forming bands is really popular here, and almost everyone at Haneoka has their own band. I'm very interested in that, so I came... um..."
"Besides, this has nothing to do with Sister Hina!"
Bai Xian glanced at Hina Inoue with a guilty conscience, and upon noticing that she did not seem suspicious, he couldn't help letting out a sigh of relief.
Yet the woman's next sentence made Bai Xian's heart leap back into his throat.
"Is that really so?" Hina Inoue clearly did not believe a single word of Bai Xian's nonsense!
"Oh come on, Sister Hina, please spare me."
Bai Xian flashed his big, sparkling eyes, as if countless stars were shifting within them.
This pathetic display finally defeated Hina Inoue. She let out a sigh and dropped the inquiry.
"Be that as it may, you'd better mentally prepare yourself. When you go to report to your class tomorrow..."
At this point, Hina Inoue wore a worried expression.
"It's fine, Sister Hina can rest easy. I'll get along well with everyone in the class."
"That's not what I mean! It's your identity, your identity, you idiot!"
"What iden... Ah, it's fine, I'll handle it. Probably?"
"Fine, as long as you know what you're doing, Shiro-chan." Hina Inoue nodded helplessly.
...
...
Bai Xian left Haneoka, planning to find something outside to fill his stomach. After all, in order to arrive early at Haneoka and get his enrollment ready, he hadn't eaten breakfast yet, and now the sky was already growing late.
In the pedestrian shopping street.
Bai Xian was walking down the entrance of an unfamiliar small alley when suddenly a wisp of fragrance drifted over, teasing the rumbling appetite in his stomach and drawing him step by step toward its source.
Not knowing where he had wandered...
Ah!
It was xiao long bao, and the aroma smelled so authentic!
Bai Xian looked ahead and saw a storefront with a sign that boldly read "Authentic Mainland Chinese Fresh Pork Xiao Long Bao." Bai Xian stepped into the shop, where the owner was slumped over the counter, listlessly fanning himself with a hand fan.
"Welcome."
The owner was a middle-aged man who looked like he came from Mainland China, judging by the fact that he was speaking Mandarin as he half-heartedly solicited customers.
It was the first time Bai Xian had seen someone run a business quite like this, but for now, filling his stomach took priority!
"Uh, boss, please pack two steamers of xiao long bao for takeout."
"That'll be 5,000 yen in total. Thank you for your patronage."
What?! Two steamers of xiao long bao cost a whopping 5,000 yen! Was this some kind of rip-off joint? Bai Xian wore a look of utter shock.Before Bai Xian could ask anything, the owner waved a hand, gesturing for him to leave.
"Are you buying or not? If not, step aside and stop getting in the way of my business."
"Hold on, boss, that's not right. Your prices..." In his anxiety, Bai Xian switched back to his native language to reason with the owner.
"Oh? You're from China? Why do you look kind of familiar..." The owner narrowed his eyes and looked at Bai Xian.
Then, while packing up a portion of xiaolongbao and handing them over to Bai Xian, he added:
"Alright, I won't charge you. Just take them."
"Huh? I couldn't possibly..." Before Bai Xian could finish, the owner gave him a firm shove out of the shop, dropped the door curtain, and boldly closed for the day.
Huh?
Bai Xian was completely baffled, standing there dumbfounded as he tried to process what the owner had just done.
He simply couldn't figure it out—what a strange shopkeeper.
Carrying the xiaolongbao, Bai Xian left feeling entirely at a loss.
Planetarium.
A girl with short gray hair was crouching on the steps in front of the Planetarium, toying with a triangle-shaped stone in her hand.
Rumble~
Takamatsu Tomori rubbed her stomach, then reached into her pocket to pull out another stone to play with, as if she had lost track of time.
Suddenly, footsteps—first distant, then drawing closer—gradually approached and came to a stop.
Rumble~ Her stomach protested once more, and Takamatsu Tomori's expression inevitably darkened.
Right at that moment, a strong hand reached out, holding a bag of fragrant xiaolongbao.
"Want some? You must be hungry."
The newcomer was none قدم Bai Xian. After leaving that strange shop, he had wanted to find a quiet place to eat. Since the Planetarium was the closest spot and already closed for the day, it seemed like it would be peaceful enough.
Takamatsu Tomori hesitated, raising her head to look at the boy before her. He had dreamy, soft silver-short hair and was holding that bag of fragrant xiaolongbao, looking at her gently.
"Th... thank you." Takamatsu Tomori didn't stand on ceremony and accepted Bai Xian's kindness, then began eating the xiaolongbao in small bites, looking genuinely starved.
"Takamatsu Tomori..."
What?
"My name is Takamatsu... Tomori," Takamatsu Tomori mumbled in a tiny voice while continuing to eat the xiaolongbao.
"Thank you... for the food... I'll pay you back..."
Seeing this, Bai Xian couldn't help but chuckle, shaking his head quickly.
"No need, consider it my treat."
"My name is Bai Xian. Judging by your uniform—you're a student at Haneoka Girls' Academy, right?"
"Y-yes..." Takamatsu Tomori nodded, though for some reason her tone was downcast and lonely.
Silence fell once again.
After finishing the last xiaolongbao, Takamatsu Tomori suddenly remembered something and eagerly started searching through her pockets. After fumbling around for a moment, she pulled out various penguin-patterned bandages from a small pouch, wanting to offer them to Bai Xian in return.
But when she looked up, she found that Bai Xian had already left.
...
"It happened again... I'm too slow."
"I want to become a human... but..."
Takamatsu Tomori murmured, her expression dazed, an almost tangible sense of gravity seeming to emanate from her, wanting to swallow everything up like a black hole.
—
Let's turn our camera back to Bai Xian.
What was Bai Xian-kun doing at that moment? Why had he left the Planetarium without a word? Was there something urgent he needed to attend to?
"Duh, of course it was urgent!" Bai Xian shouted at the sky.
"I was about to starve to death! I needed to eat! EAT!"
With that, Bai Xian rushed into the nearest izakaya, recklessly ordered dozens of yakitori skewers, and dug in with gusto.
It really was tough on the kid, having gone all day without a meal, only to turn around and give the xiaolongbao that had just been given to him to Takamatsu Tomori.
In other words! Could it be! Those were secondhand xiaolongbao! (Laughs :-D)
...