Page 42

After taking the elevator to the third floor, Liang Zhisheng headed straight for the nearest large classroom and pushed the door open. It was pitch-dark, so he turned on the lights to check, just to be safe. The room was empty.

After stepping back out, he pushed open the door to the Class A classroom next door.

The chances of Miura Yuki being in Class A were vanishingly small, but since he was already here, there was no harm in looking.

To his surprise, the lights were on inside.

A blond boy in a baseball cap was dancing to a backing track. The sudden sound of the door opening broke his rhythm, and he turned his head in surprise, his eyes wide.

Neither of them had expected anyone else to be around at this hour.

Though he was also blond, the boy in the cap was not the missing roommate Liang Zhisheng was looking for. His hair was a more saturated golden color, like flowing golden sand beneath the light, giving a visual impression utterly different from Miura Yuki's.

Former Fir-Nine member, now a Class A trainee—

Mo Li.

The two, who had never crossed paths, stared at each other in silence for a few seconds. Liang Zhisheng spoke first, breaking the awkward silence with nothing but the backing track playing: "Sorry, did I disturb you? The soundproofing is so good that I didn't know you were in here."

"No, no." Mo Li jogged over to pick up his tablet and turn off the music, slipping smoothly into social mode. "You're not disturbing me. I was just about to finish this run anyway."

Liang Zhisheng: "..."

If his ears weren't playing tricks on him, the theme song was only halfway through.

As expected of a senior boy-group member who had already been on a survival show once. He was very experienced.

Li Xu should learn from him.

"Are you here to practice dancing?" Mo Li asked.

Liang Zhisheng denied it flatly. "No, no, no! I'm looking for someone."

"Looking for someone?"

"Yeah, have you seen Miura Yuki?" Liang Zhisheng briefly described him. "A blond boy from Class F. His hair is very light, and he's tall and thin. He looks a little cold at first glance."

"Oh, I know him." Mo Li pinched his chin as he recalled, "Su Junzhe was here teaching him and someone from Class C the theme song dance. They danced from ten to twelve. I don't know where they went after they split up. What's wrong? Isn't he in the dorm?"

"He still hasn't come back. I'm a little worried about him." Liang Zhisheng tugged at his padded coat, the lower half of his face tucked behind the collar against the cold. "Thanks. I'll check next door. Do you want to leave with me?"

Mo Li shook his head. "You go ahead. I'll practice a little longer."

Liang Zhisheng thought he had gotten so absorbed in practice that he'd lost track of time, so he kindly reminded him, "It's almost four. It's really late."

"I know. I'll leave at four."

"Four...?"

The slight twitch of Liang Zhisheng's lips was hidden behind his wide collar. Seeing the "this is perfectly normal.jpg" expression on the other boy's face, he condensed a thousand words into one sentence: "Then I won't disturb you."

He didn't understand the world of trainees.

Liang Zhisheng went to the other classrooms one by one, his green padded coat making him look like a lump of qingtuan slowly shuffling down the hallway.

In the end, he did indeed find his roommate who hadn't returned for the night in Class F.

Soft LED lighting, a backing track playing, and a lone blond boy in the room—it was the same familiar formula as Class A.

The only difference was that no one in the practice room was dancing.

The pale-blond boy lay motionless on his side on the floor, his body curled up slightly. The earphone cord connected to the tablet lay beside him, and an open notebook covered his face like a white sheet. From a distance, he looked like a corpse that had stopped breathing.

Liang Zhisheng was alarmed. He rushed over to Miura Yuki in great strides, crouched down, lifted the notebook, and reached out to check his breathing—thankfully, he was breathing.

He looked him over again. Judging by his relaxed expression, he looked more like he was asleep than unconscious.

Sorry, I've watched too many suspense and horror movies. As long as he's okay.

"You Shu." Liang Zhisheng helplessly nudged his sleeping roommate. "Wake up."

"Mm..."

"The sun's shining on your butt!"

Miura Yuki frowned slightly. The incessant shaking and noise forced him to slowly open his eyes, and he sleepily squeezed out, "Is it morning...?"

"I lied." Liang Zhisheng closed the notebook and gently tapped the pale-blond head with it. "It's four in the morning. Were you planning to spend the night in the practice room? Do you remember we have class at eight? I woke up and found you weren't in your bunk. You nearly scared me to death."

"Mm... I see..."

Miura Yuki let out a few unconscious grunts. From how tired he looked, it was hard to tell whether he had even taken it in.

He raised an arm to block the light shining down from above. His not-yet-awake voice was slightly hoarse, like an indistinct murmur in his sleep:

"Sorry... I was too tired and wanted to rest for a bit, but I didn't want to waste time... I meant to practice singing while lying down, but I accidentally fell asleep... Ahh, how is it already four? I slept for so long... Actually, you didn't need to worry about me. I would've gone back on my own when I woke up... But I still have to apologize for disturbing your sleep... Sorry..."

Liang Zhisheng: "..."

Wait, does this kid always talk so much? And he talks so fast!

If he was speaking at 0.75 speed before, now he's not just back to normal speed—he's going at least twice as fast!

And listening closely, Liang Zhisheng found that although Miura Yuki's voice was muffled, he wasn't swallowing any words. He rattled off a long string of sentences without seeming affected by sleepiness at all, every word perfectly clear.

Unlike before, when even in a short sentence, several words would run together, and his voice would grow weaker the longer he spoke, giving the impression that he was small, helpless, and bad at socializing.

Who knew I'd unlock a completely new side of him?

"It's no big deal. I happened to wake up anyway." Liang Zhisheng teased, "You're pretty lively, You Shu."

"Lively? Haven't I always..."

His voice cut off abruptly. The pale-blond boy moved the arm draped over his face up to his forehead and stared at Liang Zhisheng through bleary eyes for a few seconds, the confusion in his gaze gradually clearing.

A few seconds later, he silently moved his arm back down, covering those ink-black eyes again. His voice dropped abruptly, sounding inexplicably guilty. "Yeah, a little."