On the twentieth day, Shuo stood outside the Confectionery Shop and spotted the "Closed" sign again. The edges of the paper had curled even worse, hanging limply in the wind. Just looking at it was annoying.
He reached out, tiny particles of light gathering at his fingertips, and casually pressed the curled corners flat. His movements were languid, but he kept the light particles from damaging the paper.
He took out the key, rubbed the dust off the keyhole, and gently turned it. The door creaked open. Sai followed quietly behind him, still carrying the little bag of cleaning rags. He knew what to do without being told.
Going inside, opening the windows, sweeping the floor, wiping the tables and chairs-the whole routine was no different from the previous nineteen days, dull enough to make anyone sleepy, yet Shuo did not cut a single corner.
He swept sluggishly, dragging the broom back and forth across the floor. Light particles from his fingertips occasionally brushed through the corners, gathering the fine dust together so he would not have to bend down to pick it up. Such a hassle. Sai remained meticulous as he wiped the tables and chairs, missing not even the dust in the table seams. They each worked without exchanging a word, yet were remarkably in sync.
After sweeping, Shuo went straight to the display window. Six white plates sat in a row, the three on the left belonging to Sai and the three on the right to him. They were neatly arranged, pleasing to the eye.
The candy on the plates on the left was already piled high, almost spilling over, its orange-red wrappers glowing warmly in the sunlight.
He glanced at them, and Lightspeed Thinking immediately calculated the quantities without him needing to count. Still, he instinctively