Aha Feels Like Making Mischief and Steals Away Again

Early the next morning, Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School.

Ning Rongrong had already returned to the school.

Heaven Dou City had become far too chaotic.

She had originally wanted to stay a few more days, but Ning Fengzhi sent people to fetch her, saying that "the outside world is unsafe."

Reluctant as she was, she had no choice but to return to the school first.

On the night she first arrived home, her mind was still full of Luo Yan's unfinished words, tossing and turning until the latter half of the night before she finally fell asleep.

Then, she heard a bird call.

Right in her own courtyard.

Ning Rongrong sat up from the bed.

The sky was just growing bright, and the window paper was cast with an extremely faint layer of blue.

She did not call for her maid, simply draping an outer robe over her shoulders and walking to the window.

The window was closed.

Yet that bird call persisted, sounding as though it came from a distant treetop, or perhaps as though it had perched right upon the crabapple tree outside the window.

She hesitated for a moment, pushing the window open a crack.

A gray-blue bird was standing upon a crabapple branch.

The bird was not large, its entire body seeming steeped in mist, and its gray-blue feathers cast an extremely unreal brightness in the morning light.

It tilted its head to look at Ning Rongrong, as if confirming whether she was the person it was looking for.

"Are you here looking for me?" Ning Rongrong took a step forward, tentatively asking.

The bird did not call.

It simply flew up from the crabapple branch, landing extremely lightly upon the window lattice, a mere half-foot away from her.

Ning Rongrong subconsciously wanted to retreat, but her feet felt nailed in place.

Then, the bird opened its beak.

"Hahahahahaha—"

It laughed exceedingly loudly, sounding like a person, the laughter exploding inside the early morning room and rattling the window lattice as if it might shake apart.

Ning Rongrong was so startled she stepped back half a pace, her lower back striking the dressing table as the bronze mirror gave a loud "dong".

"What are you laughing at!" she said in a rush of anger, yet did not dare step forward.

"Miss?"

From the outer room came the hazy voice of her maid, Xiaomei, "Miss, what's wrong?"

"Nothing!"

She turned her head to look back toward the window, but that bird had already vanished.

Upon the window lattice, only a thin slip of paper was left behind.

Ning Rongrong glanced back at the bedroom door, confirming Xiaomei had not entered.

She reached out her hand and picked up that slip of paper.

The paper was very light, its edges still tinged with a bit of gray-blue like a bird's molted feather, and upon it was written only a single line:

"Miss Ning~ Little me has gone out for a trip, and perhaps won't be able to contact you for a while. Don't miss me too much oh~"

Judging by that tone, Ning Rongrong did not need to guess to know who it was.

Ning Rongrong gripped the paper in her hand, her chest rising and falling.

"Who's missing you!"

She called out toward the window, as if that person could still hear, "Luo Yan, are you out of your mind?! If you have the guts, come say goodbye yourself! What's the point of sending a lousy bird?!"

Ning Rongrong stood before the window, clutching that slip of paper, her face flushed with anger.

Yet outside the window, aside from that crabapple tree, not even a single gray-blue feather remained.

The morning breeze blew leisurely, as if mocking her.

"Luo Yan."

She bit down on the name, as though she wanted to chew those two characters to pieces and swallow them down, "You wait, don't let me see you again. If I see you again, I'll make sure you finish writing the next installment right in front of me, and not a single character less."

She closed the window with a sharp bang.

The moment the wooden window snapped shut, the crabapple tree in the courtyard shivered slightly, a few leaves fluttering down as if shaken off by some unseen laughter.

Ning Rongrong returned to the bedside, reading that slip of paper over once more; those characters were truly faint.

Especially the "oh" following "don't miss me too much", its tail dragged out exceedingly long.

"Ghosts would miss you," she muttered softly, folding the paper into an extremely thin slip and tucking it into the very bottom of her vanity box.

Then she lay back down upon the bed. The sky had already brightened, yet she found herself somewhat unable to sleep.

She closed her eyes, recalling the way Luo Yan sat in the corner of the Listening Wind Pavilion.

At that time he stood by the door, half his body immersed in the darkness beyond the veranda, yet his voice was as clear as if it had leaped right off the page.

"Just what... kind of person are you?" Ning Rongrong flipped over, burying her face in the pillow.

Outside the window, the bell of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School rang out.

At the same time, Notting City, Dorm Seven.

Before the sky was even dark, someone ran inside in a flurry, waving a crumpled slip of paper in their hand: "Big trouble! Big trouble!"

Xiao Wu was sitting cross-legged on the bed gnawing an apple, raising her eyes at the sound: "What is it now? Did Xiao Chenyu get beaten up again?"

"No! It's Heaven Dou City! Aha!"

That person panted for breath, "Do you guys know Aha? The one who writes books! Everyone outside is spreading it now! They say Heaven Dou City is haunted at night!"

"Seven Ahas appeared at the same time! And birds! Gray-blue birds! They can laugh! They laughed so hard everyone on the entire street didn't dare sleep!"

Xiao Wu sat straight up with a swoosh: "What did you say? Aha? A gray-blue bird?"

"Right! If you don't believe me, ask Third Brother!" That person slapped the paper down in front of Xiao Wu.

Tang San was sitting by the window whittling a wooden stick, only pausing his hands at the sound without raising his head.

He knew Luo Yan had mentioned "Aha". During those final days in Dorm Seven, Luo Yan always kept "Aha" on his lips, sometimes even talking to the empty air as if bickering with someone.

"Third Brother!"

Xiao Wu leaped off the bed, darting to Tang San's side in two or three steps with her eyes shining, "This has gotta be Luo Yan! He ran off to Heaven Dou City to play! And he's making such a huge ruckus!"

"Mn." Tang San laid the wooden stick to the side, picked up that slip of paper, and glanced over it a few times.

Written upon it were "Heaven Dou City Strange Tales", recounting how gray-blue birds cried at night, laughter manifested simultaneously in seven locations, and the city was in an uproar.

Some people spoke with absolute certainty that Aha was a bird; others firmly insisted Aha was a person.

Opinions varied, but the only thing that could be ascertained was this: no one in Heaven Dou City was unaware of Aha anymore.

"This guy."

Xiao Wu laughed and scolded, "He used to be all mysterious and spooky back in Dorm Seven; now he's gone and abandoned being human entirely."

"He never did know how to honestly act like a human anyway," Tang San said.

Xiao Wu's eyes rolled as she leaned closer to Tang San: "Then shouldn't we go to Heaven Dou City to find him? Didn't he stir up a huge reputation over there? We can just pretend we're passing by, and then suddenly appear in front of him to scare the wits out of him!"

Tang San glanced at her: "How are we supposed to get there?"

"Walk, of course! It's not that far! If worst comes to worst, we wait until the academy breaks for holiday!"

"Heaven Dou City is huge. By the time you go looking for him, he'll have already run off."

Tang San picked up the wooden stick once more, continuing to whittle, "Besides, since he used an alias, it proves he hasn't had enough of playing yet. When he's done playing, he'll come back on his own."

Xiao Wu puffed out her cheeks: "Always waiting! I'm going to sprout mushrooms from all this waiting! How carefree is he, all by himself out there, even turning into a bird for fun."

"When he gets back, I'm going to force him to turn into one for me too. If he can't turn into one, I'll hang him at the gates of Notting City and let the whole town come laugh at him."

The corners of Tang San's mouth curved slightly, but he didn't take up the thread.

Luo Yan, he thought to himself, I adopted your suggestion; it really was good.

When you're done playing, come back and take a look around.

Meanwhile, Luo Yan was walking along the main road toward Notting City with his hands tucked into his sleeves.

He was in fine spirits, humming a ditty he had learned from a child: "Gray-blue bird, flies to the east, laughs once and vanishes without trace.

False Aha, face turns red, bragged yesterday and hides today, curls under the bed like a worm."

"Gray-blue bird, flies to the west, laughter erupts from seven places.

False Aha, legs turn weak, shouts in the teahouse during the day, trembles three times hearing cries at night."

"Gray-blue bird, flies to the south, flip a book page and cross the gates of hell.

False Aha, greedy eyes, steals someone's next installment and alters two strokes, true bird arrives and souls fly away."

"Gray-blue bird, flies to the north, everyone laughs until tears fall.

False Aha, opens his mouth, wants to claim he's the true body, speaks only to find left behind: 'Who, am, I?'"