Wait a Second!

"Xiaozé's memory is amazing! By the way, Xiaoxue, why have you gone quiet? Are you feeling unwell?"

Tuanzi gave a little laugh, but then noticed that Yukino had been silent the whole time. Worried, she asked her.

Yukino shook her head, then shared her theory.

"I was thinking, since the layout of the second floor is the opposite of the first floor, could the times when we can move around safely be the opposite too?"

"Not bad! You're making progress!"

Bai Yuze gave Yukino a thumbs-up. If the house hadn't been so poorly soundproofed, he would've applauded.

"People grow. I'm not some preprogrammed machine. What's with that look, like you've discovered a new continent?"

Yukino was a little exasperated. She was a real person, not a character in a novel. What was this talk about settings and mechanics?

Bai Yuze just smiled. In his eyes, Yukino really was growing. Maybe some lessons only took one experience to learn.

"Huh? What are you two talking about? I can't understand any of it! Don't leave me out!"

Tuanzi heard them talking about things like "programs" and her brain short-circuited.

"It's nothing. Go home, kid. Go on home."

"Huh? Home? How am I supposed to get home? By taking a nap?" (O∆O)

Tuanzi was confused again. She knew every word Bai Yuze had said, so why couldn't she understand them when they were strung together?

"Enough fooling around. Are we waiting until nightfall?"

Yukino put an end to the farce with a sigh. What time was it, anyway? Were they acting out some kind of play?

Still, the banter had kept the three of them from falling into despair and breaking down.

Bai Yuze wondered whether Tuanzi was truly that silly or just pretending to lighten the mood. Either way, he wouldn't call her out—not for now, at least.

"Let's rest for a bit. There are rules for the second floor over there. Go memorize them."

Following Bai Yuze's pointing finger, Yukino spotted a note on the table. She picked it up, and she and Tuanzi read it together.

[Welcome to the second floor. For your safety, please observe the following rules.]

[1. The second-floor floorboards are old and worn, and will creak when you walk. Therefore, running or playing in the hallway before 10 p.m. is strictly prohibited.]

[2. The residents on the second floor have short tempers. Do not disturb them unless necessary.]

[3. The residence has no cleaning staff, but residents may volunteer to clean. Please cooperate with them and help complete the cleaning. Do not defy them or start a conflict.]

[4. The front desk is on the first floor, so it cannot arrive immediately if something happens. Do everything you can to protect yourself until the front desk comes to mediate the dispute.]

[5. Residents must get along. Theft is strictly prohibited! If it occurs, notify the front desk immediately.]

[6. Please remember these rules, as all residents must follow them.]

"Well, have you come up with a plan?"

Bai Yuze wasn't sure whether the two girls would encounter any other rule-based instances in the future, and realized he might have been overlooking their thoughts.

"Yeah. Since the rules say the residents have to follow them, that means they apply to those monsters too."

After Yukino shared her opinion, Tuanzi focused on how the rules restricted the residents.

"Umm, so we're going to use the rules against them?"

"Exactly." Yukino nodded. "We came to the second floor to find something, and it's probably in one of those monsters' rooms. There's no way we can break in by force."

"So, have you figured out what we should do?"

"I think we could work as cleaners and go into their rooms to look for it."

"That's an interesting plan, but here's the problem: even if we find the thing, how do we take it out? Theft is forbidden, after all."

Bai Yuze praised the idea, but still poured cold water on it. The thing wasn't going anywhere, but whether they could take it was another matter.

"Well... I haven't figured that out yet..."

Yukino bit her lower lip and furrowed her brow. She really hadn't worked out how to get the thing out—and they didn't even know what it looked like. For all they knew, it could be a potted flower or a pot of grass.

Or it could be a moldy, stinking loaf of bread, worth five hundred thousand yen, with microorganisms waging war on it.

"You need to broaden your thinking. Don't get hung up on the word 'prohibited.'"

"Um... I have an idea..."

Tuanzi timidly raised her hand. When she saw that both of them were looking at her, she took a deep breath and explained her idea.

"If the rules say we can't steal, then we won't steal. We'll just take it by force! We're cleaners, so if I say it's garbage, then it's garbage."

"That works, but I'd like to correct one thing. It's not 'taking it by force.' They're giving it to me of their own free will!"

"Isn't that a little wrong?"

Yukino asked. Bai Yuze gave her a lecture on how being kind to your enemies was being cruel to yourself.

But something unexpected happened after his lecture. Yukino gave him a mysterious, wicked smile.

"In that case, I have a plan!" Yukino raised her index finger.

Night fell quickly. When the clock's hour hand pointed to nine, Bai Yuze knew it was time to act.

He knocked on the iron door of room 207. After a long wait, its wooden door finally opened.

"What do you want? It's the middle of the night, and I'm trying to sleep. You two had better have a good explanation, or you'll be sorry."

Zhu Daqiang sounded angry, but the rules kept him from attacking them outright.

"We're here to clean your room. How can we do that if you don't open the door?"

Bai Yuze didn't back down. He carried himself with an air of superiority, and Zhu Daqiang instinctively shrank back. It reminded him of the time debt collectors had cut off his fingers.

"Clean my room? At this hour? Get lost, and stop bothering me."

Zhu Daqiang barked, then moved to shut the door.

Bai Yuze said nothing. He just watched Zhu Daqiang with a smile.

"You're not going to stop me? Or barge in?"

Zhu Daqiang was puzzled. He knew perfectly well what Bai Yuze and the others were after, but Bai Yuze was acting like he hadn't a clue.

"Close it if you want. Your hands are your own—what can I do about it? And why would I barge in?"

Bai Yuze's answer left Zhu Daqiang speechless. Right. Bai Yuze had no reason to barge in. The question he'd just asked was as absurd as asking why Li Bai wasn't called Li Hei.

"Ridiculous."

Zhu Daqiang muttered. Just as the door was about to close, Bai Yuze slowly said,

"If you don't need us, we'll go help Yuan Xing clean his room."

He moved! Not only did Zhu Daqiang's body move, but his mind did too!

"Wait a second!"