Notes of Fleeting Light (5)

"Senior Sister?" Xu An tried calling out, but saw no sign of Ye Shunguang. A fragrance filled the air.

Xu An walked over to the desk, considered the diary on it for a moment, then picked it up and began leafing through it.

The first page of the new diary held the flowers from yesterday. A small sprig had been taped onto the page, with a note underneath: I arranged a few beautiful pots of flowers with Junior Brother... I'll remember this fragrance.

After that came a small blot of ink, seemingly left by the pen tip lingering for a while, before the writing continued:

Before he left, Junior Brother suddenly said he liked me. How embarrassing.

The page on the right showed Xu An arranging flowers with a serious expression, while Ye Shunguang leaned her face in beside him, seemingly studying the flowers, or perhaps the person.

The sight brought a faint sweetness to Xu An's heart, too.

Wow... so where did Senior Sister go? Why was she nowhere to be seen so early in the morning?

Xu An closed the diary and put it back, then left the room before sending his senior sister a message.

Xu An: Senior Sister? I'm at your place. Why aren't you in your room? ( ⌯' '⌯)?

Her avatar soon flashed with a reply: I woke up really early today. I was a little excited, but Belle was, too. She messaged me first thing this morning, and we're already on Sixth Street.

Xu An: OAO? Weren't you two still acting like you didn't get along yesterday? How come today you're already...? And you didn't even tell me (ㆀ˘･з･˘).

Ye Shunguang: Oh, it's fine. Hurry over, Junior Brother. As for why I didn't tell you, first, I didn't want to disturb your rest, and second, it made it easier for you to go to my place and read my diary~

Xu An: (*＾ー＾), all right, Senior Sister. I'll be right there. Have fun for a bit first!

Xu An wasted no more time and rose on the wind.

The disciples of Mount Yunkui spotted the figure riding a sword through the sky. Had this young master come to see Swordmaster Ye again?

Before long, Xu An arrived on Sixth Street.

He glanced at his old storefront, wondering whether he should take this opportunity to ask the landlord to end the lease, though he hadn't rented it for many months.

"Xiao An~ Over here!" Hearing someone call him, Xu An turned to look.

Ye Shunguang held a capsule from the machine at the toy store in one hand and waved to Xu An with the other.

"Coming, Senior Sister!" Xu An called, quickly making his way to Ye Shunguang's side.

"Senior Sister, why are you calling me Xiao An now, too?" Xu An asked.

"Hmm~ Because Junior Sister Belle told me today that that's what Master usually calls you, so I wanted to call you that, too. It makes me feel like your senior sister." Ye Shunguang shook the toy in her hand, a little curious about what was inside, as she explained to Xu An.

"Then can I just call you Xiaoguang, Senior Sister? It feels closer that way," Xu An said after a moment's thought.

"Mm... of course! Hehe." Ye Shunguang was rather happy, too.

"Oh, right, Junior Brother, I just saw a really interesting statue over there... Want to take a picture together?" Ye Shunguang asked.

"Hm? Sure, let's go," Xu An said. He was just about to move when Ye Shunguang took his hand. Although she was only holding his wrist, it was enough to make his heart race.

"Xiaoguang..." Xu An called.

"Hm?" Ye Shunguang looked back at Xu An, seemingly puzzled. When he shook his head to indicate it was nothing, she continued pulling him toward their destination.

"This is it. I spotted it after playing that machine where you put in a coin and get one of these capsules. I already sneaked a picture, but I wanted to take one with you, Junior Brother," Ye Shunguang said.

Xu An hurried over and stood there like a complete noob.

After adjusting the camera, Ye Shunguang took Xu An's hand again and faced the lens. "Cheese!"

The photo was taken.

Xu An gazed in a slight daze at the girl smiling brightly before him. Time was frozen in the photograph.

Yet... at that moment, on a street somewhere on Sixth Street, two masked men were watching them.

One man comforted the other. "All right, all right, Senior Brother. It's fine, it's fine. They're just friends~ It's fine~"

The other figure's tail had gone a little stiff behind him. "Friends today, girlfriend tomorrow, and the day after that they'll be bringing their child to meet me. No!"

"Hey, hey, hey! You can't put it that way, Senior Brother! They're just taking pictures! Taking pictures! How about this? Come to the video store with me, and let's watch some tapes to pass the time! I've got plenty of good stuff there." Wise tried to divert Ye Shiyuan's attention.

"No, I need to keep an eye on them. What if..."

"Oh, come on! Don't worry, Senior Brother. That kid Xu An is a total coward! He wouldn't dare do anything out of line! Besides, even if you don't trust Xu An, surely you trust your sister, right?" Wise continued.

"...That seems ∑(O_O;) to make some sense, but Xiaoguang hasn't seen much of the world. What if he tricks her?"

"Oh, Senior Sister Ye only looks immature. She definitely understands everything! As her guardian, you need to let her make some choices of her own!" Wise urged again.

"But..."

"Oh, no buts~ Come on, let's go."

In the end, after Wise's repeated, earnest persuasion, Ye Shiyuan reluctantly followed him to the video store to watch the films Wise had mentioned.

Wise brought out his long-treasured... art films.

"This is the good stuff you were talking about?" Ye Shiyuan raised an eyebrow, but said nothing more.

Xu An, of course, had sensed Wise and Ye Shiyuan on the nearby street. He merely wondered what the two were doing there, but Ye Shunguang soon drew his attention again, leaving him no time to spare for anything else.

"This convenience store is run by Bangboo. I remember there are shops near Yunkui Summit that are looked after by Bangboo, too..." Ye Shunguang said, looking at the 141 Convenience Store.

"Mm-hm, this place is a bit of a rip-off. Let's just look," Xu An reminded her.

"Oh~" Ye Shunguang's gaze lingered for a moment before moving away.

The two went into the arcade and played for a while.

"Is this your first time playing these, Xiaoguang?" Xu An asked as he watched Ye Shunguang's increasingly practiced movements.

"Mm... I spent most of my time on the mountain before, so I rarely came out to wander around. If you weren't keeping me company this time, Master probably wouldn't have been willing to let me come down the mountain," Ye Shunguang said. Although there wasn't a trace of dejection in her tone, Xu An understood the helplessness in her words.

"Hey! I won, hehe! Xiao An~ You lost~" Ye Shunguang said proudly.

Looking at the huge defeat message on the screen, Xu An marveled, "I didn't expect you to have such a knack for games, Senior Sister. Hmph, looks like I'll have to go all out!"

He rolled up his sleeves, and the two battled through another dozen or so rounds.

Once they were tired of playing, they left the arcade.

Soon after Ye Shunguang came out, the newspapers and magazines to one side caught her eye.