Dekopon

Wuling looked at Xigelika and thanked her sincerely.

"Thank you so much for today, Xigelika. Otherwise, who knows how long the three of us would've had to wait before we could get out."

"You're welcome."

Xigelika smiled faintly, her voice gentle and soothing.

"We all go to the same school. We should help each other out. Besides, I was going that way anyway, so it was no trouble."

Wuling shook his head.

"No matter what, you're the one who brought us here. How about this? We'll treat you to lunch today, to thank you properly."

Lingyang immediately chimed in.

"Yeah, it's on us. Don't turn us down."

Xigelika paused, then shook her head.

"Really, there's no need. You don't have to be so polite."

"We insist!"

All three spoke at once, utterly determined.

Xigelika looked at the three boys before her, their eyes sincere and their attitudes stubborn. She hesitated for two seconds, but in the end, unable to win against them, she gave a small nod of agreement.

"Then... sorry for the trouble."

Xigelika's voice was soft and sweet, with a touch of embarrassed shyness.

The four split up to get their food. Calcharo didn't hold back at all, carrying his tray straight to the meat dishes and piling it high with food in one go. Looking over it, the only green to be seen was a scattering of peppers and cilantro.

Lingyang shook his head helplessly and got himself some more heavily seasoned food, with a neat balance of meat and vegetables.

After getting his meal, Wuling instinctively glanced at Xigelika beside him.

The girl chose her food with gentle, restrained movements. She took only a little, all relatively light fare, with an even balance of meat and vegetables and nothing excessive. Everything she did showed her gentle, reserved nature; even when choosing food, she was quiet and well behaved.

They found an empty table by the window, sat down, and began to eat.

The atmosphere at the table was quiet. None of them were the type to talk while eating, apart from Calcharo, but his mouth was so full at the moment that he clearly couldn't speak.

Even as he ate, Wuling didn't forget to observe Xigelika beside him. Seeing her so quiet now, even a little cautious, he understood her better.

She was used to being considerate, used to being gentle, used to causing no one any trouble. Even when others treated her to a meal, she didn't dare take a little extra, afraid she might owe them even the slightest bit.

As they reached the latter half of the meal, the atmosphere grew more relaxed.

Xigelika slowly put down her spoon, pressed her lips together, and looked up at the three of them, thanking them softly.

"Thank you so much for the meal. Sorry for all the trouble today."

"I already told you, there's no need to be so polite."

Wuling looked at her, his tone naturally warm.

"Thanks to you showing us the way today, the three of us might otherwise still be wandering around the back mountain."

Lingyang nodded.

"Yeah, it was quite a coincidence that we met."

Seeing that Xigelika still looked a little reserved, Wuling said,

"Speaking of which, we were lucky to meet, and we go to the same school. We're bound to run into each other a lot from now on, so why don't we add each other on WeChat? If there's something we don't understand or a question we want to ask you, it'll be easier to get in touch."

Those words hit the mark, giving Xigelika a perfect way to accept.

Calcharo immediately chimed in.

"Yeah, we can look out for each other from now on, and get in touch quickly if anything comes up."

Xigelika froze for a moment, her clear eyes blinking twice. Looking at the three sincere, warmhearted boys before her, she felt a quiet surge of warmth in her heart.

She nodded gently, a sweet, tender smile rising to her lips.

"Okay."

All four took out their phones. Their screens lit up, and they scanned, confirmed, and added each other as friends in one smooth sequence.

After scanning the code, the three also discovered that Xigelika actually used her real name online.

After adding her, Wuling instinctively glanced at her profile picture. It was a bird of a kind he couldn't name, yet somehow it seemed to match Xigelika's reserved and gentle nature.

Looking at Xigelika's account name, Wuling didn't know what came over him, but he changed her contact name to Dekopon. Only after he had done so did he nod in satisfaction.

When he first saw Xigelika, he had already thought that her hair color somehow matched a dekopon. But since he didn't know her well, he had been too embarrassed to say it. Now things were different: she couldn't see his contact name for her anyway, so he simply changed it.

"Oh, right, I forgot to tell you earlier. I'm a Chinese language and literature student in the Labelle Department. If you need anything in the future, you can come find me there. I'm usually around, and even if I'm not, you can contact me on WeChat."

As soon as Xigelika finished speaking, Wuling's fingers paused slightly on his phone. A glimmer of surprise passed through his eyes, and then he smiled naturally.

"What a coincidence. I'm in the Labelle Department too."

At that, Xigelika turned sharply toward Wuling, her clear eyes full of surprise, her astonishment obvious in her voice.

"Really? So we're in the same department."

Beside them, Calcharo looked at Wuling and Xigelika in considerable surprise and interjected at just the right moment.

"Wow, what a strong connection! Rover, you're in the Labelle Department too? Doesn't that mean you'll even run into Xigelika in class from now on?"

Lingyang also looked a little surprised as he glanced at the two of them. Calcharo belonged to the Tunneller Engineering Department, and so did Lingyang himself. The two of them were separated from the Labelle Department by most of the academic area, so they wouldn't have many chances to meet normally. None of them had expected Wuling and Xigelika to belong to the same department.

"That's right. I major in artificial intelligence. Although my course group is different from your Chinese language and literature one, our classrooms are in the same main building."

Wuling explained calmly, his gaze resting gently on Xigelika.

"Looks like we'll only have more and more chances to see each other in the department. We won't need to go out of our way to find each other; running into each other will be perfectly normal."

The thin layer of unfamiliarity in Xigelika's heart melted away completely. She had been thinking that the group would most likely have to rely on staying in touch online in the future, and she had never expected that she and Wuling would be schoolmates in the same department.

As Labelle students, the two would have to attend large shared lectures together, including college Chinese, logic, communication psychology, and psycholinguistics. And if she remembered correctly, the artificial intelligence classrooms were only one floor below theirs, so they would see each other all the time.

At the thought, a quiet sense of reassurance rose in her heart.

"Then when our classes have lectures together, maybe I can ask you to help me pick out the key points. I've never been particularly good at detailed textual analysis."

Wuling spoke half-jokingly.

Hearing this, Xigelika gently gathered the orange braid hanging beside her ear, her soft voice taking on a serious note.

"No problem. Psycholinguistics and logic happen to be major courses for us Chinese language students. My notes on the key points are fairly complete. When we have shared lectures later, we can sit together, and I can give you a copy of the notes I've put together after class."

"Then thank you. Artificial intelligence majors have tons of algorithms and code to work through, so having you lend a hand will save me a lot of trouble. If you run into any difficulties in the future, you can come to me too. I'll definitely do my best to help. Though, of course, anything to do with studying is probably best left out, since I'm really not all that good at it."

By making it an equal exchange of help rather than a one-sided request, he eased Xigelika's sense of indebtedness just right.

She was already afraid of troubling others, as well as of not being capable enough to keep her promises. Wuling's proposal that they help each other as equals immediately made her feel much more at ease.

"If we're helping each other, then of course."

Xigelika's eyes curved into a smile, and her whole demeanor grew lively and gentle.

"I haven't had much exposure to artificial intelligence programming, so if we get any simple practical computer assignments later, I'll probably have to ask you for help."

After saying that, she suddenly remembered something from when they had added each other and asked softly, with some hesitation,

"Oh, right, what contact name did you give me on WeChat? We were busy scanning codes just now, so I didn't have time to notice."

Wuling panicked a little inside. The "Dekopon" he had secretly entered in her contact name field sat securely on his list. Only he could see that nickname, chosen for his own private reasons. He was freaking out inside, but his expression remained perfectly steady, and his voice was calm and even.

"Just your full name, Xigelika."

Calcharo and Lingyang both nodded at the same time, indicating that they had done the same.

Xigelika smiled faintly and didn't ask any more questions. She had no idea that, less than two hours after meeting her, he had already given her a nickname—and an exceptionally fitting one at that.

"I used your names for your contact names too. That way, it'll be easier to tell who's who later."

Outside the window, the autumn sunlight slowly shifted, spilling through the glass onto the table and gilding the edges of their trays with warm gold.

"All right, I have a few things to do this afternoon, so I'll see you next time. Bye-bye."

Xigelika stood up and smiled as she waved goodbye to the three of them, and they waved back.

Only when her figure had completely disappeared through the doorway did Calcharo eagerly put down his chopsticks and nudge Wuling beside him with his elbow, a mischievous grin on his face.

"Nice going, Rover. Pretty impressive. You even managed to run into a neighbor from the same department, just one floor away. And the senior even seriously agreed to put together notes for you. Looks like you're in luck from here on out."

Wuling raised a hand and unceremoniously pushed away the head leaning toward him, his expression calm and composed.

"Don't talk nonsense. I just think we're all students in the same department, so it's perfectly normal to help each other out. Don't get the wrong idea."

"Besides, she was kind enough to lead us out of the back mountain today, so treating her to a meal was only right. And since we'll be taking several shared courses together, there's nothing wrong with getting along with a fellow student."

Calcharo clicked his tongue twice, wearing an expression that said he had seen through everything long ago.

"All right, all right, everything you say makes sense. But seriously, Xigelika seems soft and gentle, yet she's especially attentive in what she does. When the shared lectures get crowded later, you'd better look after her."

"All right, all right, you talk the most. We still have a class meeting in the classroom this afternoon. Once we're done eating, let's go back to the dorm first and take a good look at the college map, in case we get lost again. There might not be someone to rescue us next time."