Old-Fashioned

On the way back to the academy, the streetlights stretched the three of their shadows long.

Yun Ying walked half a step to Xie Xie's right, cradling the yogurt she had bought from a vending machine at the street corner. With a loud slurp through the straw, she took a huge gulp, froze, and her eyes suddenly lit up like two little bulbs.

"What is this? It's way too good!"

The sweet-and-sour taste curled over her tongue, puffing out her cheeks like a cat that had just tasted cream. As she raised her head and turned toward Xie Xie, the holographic rainbow sheen on her combat uniform sleeves swept out a flash of orange and blue.

Xie Xie had been walking with one hand in his pocket, kicking pebbles along the roadside with the air of "this young master is only reluctantly accompanying you for a while." Hearing that, he turned his head and saw Yun Ying looking as though she had found treasure. The corner of his mouth twitched. "It's yogurt. Don't tell me you've never had it before..."

"No." Yun Ying answered honestly, taking another sip. This time, she drank in tiny mouthfuls, cherishing it as though it were holy spring water. "First time."

Xie Xie stumbled and nearly slammed the sole of his shoe into the pavement. He rubbed his forehead, fingertips pressed to his temple, his voice squeezing out through clenched teeth. "First time... drinking yogurt... What deep mountain forest did you crawl out of?"

The words Where did this savage come from? nearly slipped off his tongue, but Tang Wulin's soft cough beside him forced them back down. Still, his eyes could not hide it as they swept Yun Ying from head to toe: her deconstructed combat uniform, knotted waist belt, and the energy ring at the butt of her spear. Her entire outfit probably cost an ordinary student half a year's worth of scholarship savings, yet she had never even seen yogurt.

Yun Ying paid no attention to the storm in his heart. She took another sip, swallowed, and sighed in contentment. "You people in Federation City really know how to enjoy yourselves. We didn't have this where I'm from. Drinking this—" She shook the cup. "It's like someone froze clouds and sold them."

Xie Xie was about to faint.

Tang Wulin slung his backpack lower on one shoulder and held back a laugh as he asked, "Yun Ying, where's your hometown?"

"Chang'an. Forget it, I lose if you've even heard of it." Yun Ying rotated the yogurt cup to inspect the ingredients and read aloud, "Raw cow's milk, lactic acid bacteria, white sugar... Cow's milk means milk, right? What kind of bacteria is that? Can you eat it?"

Xie Xie took a deep breath. The evening breeze blew his fringe back as he stared at Yun Ying's face, so earnest in its thirst for knowledge. At last, he confirmed it: this woman was not pretending. She really had never had yogurt.

Then he noticed something else—there was something off about the way Yun Ying was looking at him.

At the dinner table, she had still been saying, "Xie Xie, you're such a nice person. Speed-attack types are so attentive." Now, clutching her yogurt, she looked up at him with sparkling eyes. Mixed into that light was complicated reverence: "This guy actually knows about something this good," along with, "He swiped that Federation card earlier without even blinking at the consecutive digits." She said nothing, but Xie Xie was sharp enough to understand. Yun Ying still looked down on him personally as the guy who had flown over her head on the arena and shouted for Tang Wulin to fill in, but toward his wallet, she had developed a simple, almost religious admiration.

"...That outfit of yours could buy three hundred cups of yogurt." Xie Xie reminded her coolly.

"My family gave me the clothes, so they didn't cost me anything." Yun Ying was perfectly confident. "But when you pulled out your card earlier, whoosh—the lady boss looked at you twice more. Speed-attack type, rich." She paused, then drove the knife in deeper. "Even if I still shaved your scalp on the arena."

Xie Xie: "..."

Tang Wulin hurriedly tried to smooth things over. "All right. Let's go. We still have another match. Whether we get admission depends on this one."

Xie Xie put away his look of disgust, pulled his hand from his pocket, and straightened the collar of his combat uniform, returning to the posture of an elegant, peerless young master. Yun Ying rolled her eyes at his back, flicked her long ponytail, quickened her pace, and overtook him. The crystalline patterns along her spear shaft glimmered faintly beneath the streetlights, and she still looked like a walking neon sign.

"Keep up. Don't be late." Without looking back, her voice drifted through the night wind. "Xie Xie, if you dawdle any more, tomorrow I won't just shave your scalp. I'll spear you right through the collar."

The three walked toward the academy's main gate beneath the shadows of plane trees lining the outer street. Streetlights passed by one after another. Yun Ying never let go of her yogurt cup, taking an occasional sip and smacking her lips as though engraving "Federation City convenience" straight into her brain.

"Xie Xie." She suddenly called.

"What?" He was wary.

"Does your academy's entrance assessment provide meals?"

"...Yes. The cafeteria is ten times cleaner than that restaurant."

"Do they have yogurt?"

"They do. But you need Federation credits for it."

Yun Ying gave an "Oh" and nodded seriously. "Then once I finish fighting tomorrow, I'll go drink my fill at the cafeteria. Can I borrow your card to pay?"

Xie Xie stumbled again. "No."

"Cheapskate." Yun Ying pouted and turned to Tang Wulin. "What about you, Tang Wulin?"

Tang Wulin smiled gently. "I can afford one cup."

Xie Xie sneered. "You dare drink if he buys it for you? He normally eats steamed buns and pickles to save money for metal."

Yun Ying blinked. "Tang Wulin's kind is good. Dependable." She glanced sideways at Xie Xie. "Unlike certain people, whose money power is maxed out while their actual strength is still beneath mine."

Xie Xie did not answer. He raised his head toward the distant academy. At night, East Sea Academy looked like a city floating in the air. Pale-blue soul-guided lights flowed across the domes of the teaching buildings, making it feel like a completely different world from the dim yellow string lights of the outer streets.

Yun Ying also looked up, turning the yogurt cup in her hand. "After we get in, can't I just wear this outfit whenever I want?"

"There are standard uniforms," Tang Wulin said. "But yours... stands out too much. The teachers will remember you on the first day."

"Fine if they remember me." Yun Ying crushed the empty cup and tossed it precisely into a recycling slot by the roadside. "At least Xie Xie won't say he can't find me and charge in blindly to feed himself to the enemy."

Xie Xie finally could not hold back. "Who charged in blindly to feed himself to the enemy? Your Dragon-Soaring Spear is fast, but your positioning—"

"What's wrong with my positioning?"

"You cleared the field in forty seconds because the other side was weak! If you really run into a crisscross formation with two speed-attack types, your spear shaft will get tangled up!"

Yun Ying laughed and walked backward, facing him as her long ponytail swept over the cloud patterns on her shoulder ornaments. "Then come tangle it. Tomorrow in the arena, if you tangle my spear shaft, I'll buy you yogurt for a week."

Xie Xie's ears heated up. He did not know whether it was from anger or because "a week of yogurt" had struck some nerve. He looked away. "Who cares?"

The academy gate scanned their identity tags. The three passed through the soul-guided entrance, and the air inside abruptly turned cool and clear. The plane trees gave way to neatly pruned spirit trees, while the streetlights became floating pale-gold spheres. Yun Ying subconsciously touched the side pouch on her belt. Inside were several Federation credits Xie Xie had scanned into his pocket earlier, then later taken out and stuffed into hers—she had returned half the meal money, and Xie Xie had sneered as he accepted it, but before leaving, she had glimpsed him slipping two bills back into the bottom of her pocket. He had moved so quickly that even Tang Wulin had not noticed.

She did not expose him. Savage or not, she still recognized a debt.

"Xie Xie." She called again.

"What now?"

"That Light Dragon Dagger of yours, is it really called Light Dragon Dagger?"

"Yeah."

"What about the Shadow Dragon Dagger?"

"Yeah."

"They're both called that?"

"Obviously."

Yun Ying nodded, as though taking notes.

Tang Wulin burst out laughing. Xie Xie glared at him, and he raised his hands in surrender.

They headed toward the temporary lodging building. Yun Ying suddenly asked, "Xie Xie, other than fighting, what do you usually spend money on?"

Xie Xie thought about it. "Vehicles. Models. Treating Tang Wulin to meals."

"Models?" Yun Ying perked up. "What models?"

"Soul-guided motorcycles. Limited editions."

"How much?"

Xie Xie named a number. Yun Ying sucked in a breath. Her yogurt cup had long been empty, and she instinctively made a sucking motion through the straw. Realizing there was nothing there, she released it awkwardly. "...In Federation City, is money just leaves?"

Xie Xie lifted his chin. "That outfit of yours—"

"The outfit doesn't count as my money!" Yun Ying cut in immediately, then muttered, "But you're right. Being able to wear it means I'm benefiting from it too. Xie Xie, I suddenly think that smile you had earlier... wasn't a stupid smile."

"Hm?" Xie Xie grew wary.

"It was the kind of smile that says, 'I'm rich, I can buy models, I can buy yogurt, and I can casually watch you fight in neon lights.'" Yun Ying gestured as she spoke. "The smile of a rich young master from the speed-attack department. I get it now."

Xie Xie nearly kicked the pavement again. "You don't know shit."

Tang Wulin quietly added from beside him, "She understands half of it. Your smile really does look like, 'No need to split the bill.'"

Xie Xie stopped speaking and quickened his pace until he was out front, the hem of his coat swaying with every step. Yun Ying and Tang Wulin fell half a step behind. Yun Ying lowered her head and touched the two Federation credits in her pocket, rubbing them between her fingertips before suddenly saying, "Tang Wulin, he's actually not bad."

"Mm, that's just how he is." Tang Wulin smiled.

"It's just that his mouth is annoying."

"Mm."

Tang Wulin looked at her and said gently, "Then give him a chance to show off tomorrow."

Yun Ying raised an eyebrow. "Depends on how he performs."

Before the temporary lodging building, soul-guided lights shone so brightly on the words "Prospective Student Passage" that they looked almost white. The three stopped.

Yun Ying rested her spear on her shoulder and turned to Xie Xie. "Xie Xie."

"Speak."

"If I beat you in tomorrow's final individual match—"

"You won't."

"If I win," Yun Ying continued without changing her words, "you'll buy me yogurt. Three cups a day for a whole week. The same brand as the one earlier."

Xie Xie sneered. "If you lose, I've already thought of what you'll say while lying on the ground: 'Xie Xie, I was wrong, don't stab me.'"

Yun Ying gave a sharp laugh, tossing her ponytail. "Fine. Equal terms. Tang Wulin can be the witness."

Tang Wulin raised a hand. "I'm not being a witness. I'm neutral."

"You're taking his side." Yun Ying pointed at him.

"I'm taking food's side." Tang Wulin patted his stomach. "Tomorrow, whoever wins buys pork rib noodles."

Xie Xie and Yun Ying spoke at the same time:

"He pays."

"She pays."

Then they looked at each other and fell silent at the same time.

Yun Ying carried her spear inside, the rainbow glow along the hem of her combat uniform narrowing into a thin blade beneath the cool white lights indoors. Tang Wulin was the last to look up at the dome glow of East Sea Academy in the night sky before smiling and following them.

At the end of the passage was a lounge, and the roster for tomorrow's arena qualification matches was already floating on an electronic screen. Xie Xie saw that he and Yun Ying were in the same group. He relaxed for half a breath, then tensed again—there was no avoiding the later individual match.

He found a corner and sat down while Tang Wulin went to get water. Yun Ying leaned against the wall opposite him and propped her spear there before sliding onto a bench. She pulled the two Federation credits from her belt pouch, placed them on the table, and pushed them toward Xie Xie.

"Here's the yogurt money. That cup earlier counts as your treat. These two are for the shrimp and braised beef you paid extra for in my meal."

Xie Xie glanced at them. "Don't need them."

"Even if you don't need them, I'm paying you back." Yun Ying rested an elbow on the table and lifted her chin. "Yun Ying doesn't owe debts. But listen, Xie Xie—" She lowered her voice, her eyes still sparkling beneath the cold white lights like she had just taken that first sip of yogurt. "I look down on you as a person, I admire your money power, I admit your dagger names sound better than mine, and if you don't let me shave your scalp a second time tomorrow, I'll consider today's meal settled."

Xie Xie stared at her for two seconds, then suddenly swept the two bills back into her pocket. "Keep them for yogurt. The cafeteria's expensive after you enroll."

Yun Ying froze for a moment, then broke into a grin. Her eight teeth looked almost exactly like the smile he had worn at the dinner table. "Fine. Then tomorrow I'll beat you and drink it all back with interest."

Xie Xie looked away, his ears a little red beneath the cold white lights. No one knew whether it was from fatigue or something else. He grabbed the water Tang Wulin handed him and took a gulp, his Adam's apple bobbing as he muttered, "Dream on."

Tang Wulin sat down beside them, smiling as he watched the two and opened his own bottle of water. "If you two keep talking, you'll turn into a yogurt commercial."

Yun Ying snatched the untouched bottle in front of Xie Xie, twisted it open, took a huge drink, and handed it back. "Xie Xie, your water is pretty good too. Even the water in Federation City is sweet."

Xie Xie: "...That's mineral water."

"Oh." Yun Ying nodded seriously. "Even Federation City mineral water is sweet."

Xie Xie finally fainted.