My Name Is Aemeath

"You know me?"

Aemeath stopped chewing, a flicker of wariness passing through her golden eyes.

She looked Kexi up and down, searching her memory for his face-nothing. She had no impression of him at all.

She was certain she had never met him before.

But when he said "Aemeath," he hadn't sounded as though he were hearing the name for the first time.

That kind of shock couldn't be faked.

Kexi's head was still buzzing.

He took another careful look at the girl in front of him before he could truly be sure.

Aemeath.

His favorite character from the main story he had played through countless times, the character he had spent who knew how many 648-yuan packs to pull enough copies to max out, was sitting right in front of him, alive and well. She was sitting on his bed, with crumbs of the osmanthus cake he had given her still on the corner of her mouth.

Christopher, you bastard-for this moment, I forgive you for three seconds.

"Wifey, I finally found you."

Kexi spread his arms and lunged forward, throwing himself at Aemeath.

His movements were utterly natural and fluid, as though he had rehearsed them countless times. The brilliant smile on his face made the hairs all over Aemeath's body stand on end.

Aemeath froze for a second.

In that second:

He's lunging at me.

His hands are about to touch my shoulders.

Then her body reacted before her brain did. She thrust both hands forward, planted them firmly against Kexi's chest, and shoved him an arm's length away.

"Let go. Don't act like we're close."

Her voice turned cold, and the wariness returned to her golden eyes.

She didn't know him, and she certainly couldn't be his wife.

This was the first time she had met him.

This guy had either mistaken her for someone else or was playing some kind of trick.

Considering everything he had done before, the latter was clearly more likely.

Kexi's smile froze for a moment when she pushed him away, then quickly shifted into an expression of wounded disbelief.

His expression was so sincere, so aggrieved, so utterly heartbroken that it would have earned him a best actor nomination in any romantic drama.

"How am I acting like we're close?"

He clutched his chest, his voice filled with the pain of being deeply misunderstood.

"Don't you remember? When we were little, you played in Lahai-Roi, and I played at my house. We never knew each other growing up.

"You grew up at Star Torch Academy, and I grew up in the real world. We never even met."

Listening to him made Aemeath's head itch.

"???"

"Don't think I won't kill you just because you're acting like we're close."

"Mm-hmm. I'm fine with anything." Kexi gazed at her lovestruck, his expression saying it all: whatever makes you happy.

Aemeath glared at him, her fingers clenching and unclenching, then clenching again, while two voices argued fiercely in her head.

One said to strangle him, right here and now.

The other said she had taken his things and eaten his food, so she couldn't bring herself to do it.

The two voices argued for quite a while without reaching a verdict, until a third voice piped up first.

Grrr.

Aemeath's stomach growled again.

This time it was louder than ever, echoing through the quiet room for several seconds before fading away.

Her expression cracked for an instant.

A trace of embarrassment flashed through her icy golden eyes, and two faint blushes appeared on her cheeks.

"Hungry? Come on, I'll take you out to eat." Kexi stood up from the edge of the bed, speaking as naturally as if he were asking an old friend out for a late-night meal.

Aemeath neither agreed nor refused.

She merely turned her head away and gave a very soft, indistinct "Hmph" through her nose.

The tone of that "hmph" landed precisely in an extremely ambiguous spot between refusal and tacit consent, preserving her tsundere dignity without actually turning him down.

Kexi smiled meaningfully and held out his hand to her.

She didn't take it, jumping down from the bed on her own.

But she followed him out of the inn and into Ragunna City late at night.

Because she really was hungry.

Very hungry.

Hungry enough to put her killing intent aside for the time being and take care of getting fed first.

A noodle shop next door to the inn was still open.

Calling it a noodle shop was generous; it was really just a roadside stall with a canopy and a few tables. The cook was a bearded, middle-aged man. When he saw Kexi come in with a girl covered in grime, he didn't ask any questions and promptly brought out two steaming bowls of beef noodles.

The moment the noodles arrived, all of Aemeath's reserve and tsundere airs crumbled in the aroma of beef.

She grabbed her chopsticks but used them clumsily, having never used chopsticks in her life. After several failed attempts to pick anything up, she simply lifted the bowl in both hands and buried her face in it, shoveling noodles into her mouth with loud slurps.

Steam rose against her face, the heat reddening her eyes, but she showed no intention of stopping.

Noodles slipped from the corners of her mouth only for her to suck them back in, and she swallowed the beef without even chewing, eating with her whole face almost buried in the bowl.

Kexi sat across from her, the bowl of noodles in front of him untouched.

He propped his chin in both hands and watched Aemeath devour her food with a lovestruck expression. His smile grew wider and wider, and his eyes shone so brightly that he looked less like he was watching someone who had just wanted to strangle him and more like he was gazing at some peerless sight.

The way she uses chopsticks is so cute.

The way she secretly sticks out her tongue when she burns it is so cute.

Her little habit of picking out the beef and saving it for last is so cute.

The expression she made when she looked up at me halfway through eating, then quickly lowered her head again, is so cute.

Anyway-so cute.

Kexi repeated those words dozens of times in his head.

After polishing off more than a dozen large bowls without leaving a drop of broth, Aemeath set her bowl down on the table and gave a tiny, satisfied burp, while the owner stared at her openmouthed.

She wiped her mouth and looked up, meeting Kexi's sparkling eyes, which seemed ready to spill pink hearts.

Her expression stiffened for a moment, then quickly returned to its proud, aloof look. She lifted her chin slightly and gave a very emphatic "Hmph" through her nose.

"Don't think you can buy me off with one meal. I'll kill you and avenge my family, no matter what."

She tried to make her voice sound fierce and resolute, but having just eaten her fill, her vocal cords were still relaxed and soothed by the warm food. Her threat sounded utterly harmless, more like a well-fed kitten baring its teeth at its owner.

"Mm-hmm, whatever makes you happy." Kexi propped his chin in both hands, his gaze glued to Aemeath's face. He wasn't listening to a word she said, and his smile grew a little wider.

Aemeath's temple twitched.

She took a deep breath and raised her voice, a hint of gritted teeth in it. "Hey. Are you even listening to me?"

"I've been looking at you very attentively this whole time," Kexi blurted out without thinking, his tone so sincere that it made her want to hit him.

Aemeath finally ran out of patience.