The Sweet Defense Line and the Mecha Girl Idol

Zhou Yu couldn't be bothered to look at her. He picked up his empty soup bowl and made as if to take another sip.

Sigelica: (╬Ò‸Ó)

"Stop drinking. You've already licked the bowl clean."

"Just helping it digest."

Zhou Yu put down the bowl and patted Dania on the shoulder.

"Come on, I'll take you somewhere nice."

"Where?"

Dania asked indistinctly, half a rib still stuffed in her mouth.

"The sports field. The best place in the whole academy to slack off. Walk a hundred steps after a meal, and you'll live to ninety-nine."

Linnai dropped her chopsticks and followed.

"A slacking-off paradise? Count me in."

Chisaki adjusted her glasses and stood up with her empty plate.

"Moderate sun exposure can promote vitamin D synthesis and aid calcium absorption. From a physiological standpoint, I agree with this proposal."

"Who are you giving an academic presentation to?"

Linnai dragged her outside.

Sigelica watched the whole group march off, then glanced down at her six-thousand-word self-criticism.

The table was a mess, and no one helped her clear it.

She rubbed her temples and followed in resignation.

The sun was just right on the sports field lawn.

Zhou Yu found the most comfortable spot and sprawled on the grass, both hands pillowed behind his head.

"Perfect."

Dania copied him and carefully lay down, squinting in the sunlight.

Linnai sat cross-legged on the other side, pulled out her handheld console, and started tapping away.

Chisaki pulled an electronic notebook from her pocket, her fingers flying across the screen.

Sigelica stood a few steps away with her arms folded.

Zhou Yu: (￣ˇ￣)

"Sigelica, standing around as punishment is tiring. Come lie down and feel how kind gravity is to your spine."

"I'm afraid if I lie down, I'll never get up again, thanks to how angry you've made me."

The roar of an engine approached from a distance.

Vroom.

The sound cut off at the edge of the field. A pitch-black heavy motorcycle swept through a graceful arc and came to a steady stop beside the lawn, the fluorescent pink lines on its body flashing in the sunlight.

The rider removed her full-face helmet, revealing long, sleek pink hair and a carefree grin.

"Found you."

The girl jumped off the motorcycle and strode straight over on her long legs, her gaze locking precisely onto Zhou Yu.

"Are you the hero who shut Auntie Li up with the cafeteria regulations and an electronic scale?"

Linnai looked up from her handheld console and whistled.

Linnai: (≖‿≖)

"Aimis, you got here fast."

"Of course."

Aimis planted her hands on her hips and gave Linnai a thumbs-up.

"You said there was something fun here, so I skipped this afternoon's body calibration class and raced over."

She walked up to Zhou Yu and looked down at the man lying on the lawn.

"Hi, I'm Aimis, from the mecha engineering department."

She squatted down, resting her arms on her knees.

"I hear you know how to deal with rules?"

Zhou Yu didn't even open his eyes.

"Nope. All I know is how to get off work on time."

Aimis wasn't annoyed. Instead, her smile grew even brighter, and she produced an exquisite paper box from the storage compartment behind her, as if by magic.

"Linnai said you had a super-cute, pink-haired little glutton with you. A small gift for our first meeting."

She opened the box.

A rich strawberry fragrance mingled with the delicate sweetness of glutinous rice wafted out. Inside was a neat row of plump, white strawberry daifuku, each topped with the bright red tip of a strawberry and gleaming with springy softness.

Dania sat bolt upright on the lawn.

Dania: (✧ω✧)

"Strawberry... daifuku."

"Yep, a new limited edition from the Black Gold Chamber of Commerce."

Aimis crouched down and held the box out to her.

"I stood in line for two hours and nearly got into a fight with the auntie in front of me. Want to try one?"

Dania looked at Aimis, then at Zhou Yu.

Zhou Yu lifted his chin.

"Go ahead. Dessert after a meal is part of your KPI."

Dania carefully picked one up, feeling its soft, chewy texture against her fingertips.

She took a big bite.

The cool outer layer melted in her mouth, followed by cream and a whole juicy strawberry bursting like fireworks on her tongue.

Dania's eyes narrowed into happy slits, and she kicked her feet lightly against the grass twice.

Aimis picked one up too and took an equally enormous bite, getting it all over her face.

Aimis: (｀-^)

"Good, isn't it?"

"Mm."

Dania nodded hard, her cheeks bulging.

The two girls sat on the lawn, taking turns eating, and the box of expensive limited-edition sweets disappeared at a visible pace.

Sigelica watched from the side, nearly losing her grip on her self-criticism.

What happened to Dania's social anxiety?

One box of strawberry daifuku cured it?

After finishing her third, Aimis sat back against the motorcycle's tire and looked up at the sky.

"It's so nice, being able to eat something this delicious."

She patted her sturdy thigh.

"Back when I was just a string of data, I couldn't experience anything like this."

Dania's hand paused.

"Data?"

"Yeah, an electronic ghost."

Aimis spoke casually, flicking her arm with a finger.

"I drifted around in the New Federation's database for years. I could only look, not touch or eat."

She took a bite of the daifuku in her hand, chewed twice, and swallowed.

"Not until they built me this body did I learn for the first time what sweetness was like, what the wind felt like blowing against my face."

The lawn fell quiet for two seconds.

Dania looked down at the half-eaten daifuku in her hand, pressing a shallow dent into its glutinous rice skin with her thumb.

"...I didn't know before either."

Her voice was so soft it was almost carried away by the wind.

Aimis tilted her head toward her.

"Didn't know what?"

"Sweetness."

Dania turned the daifuku over, staring at the exposed cross section of strawberry.

"Before that, I didn't know what sweet was, or what it was like to be full."

The corners of her mouth moved a little, though she wasn't sure if it counted as a smile.

"They said I was a container, and a container didn't need to know those things."

Aimis slowed her chewing.

She turned to face Dania, her long pink hair dazzling in the sunlight.

"What about now?"

Dania looked up.

"Now I know."

She held the rest of her daifuku up to Aimis's mouth.

"Here, for you."

Aimis froze for a moment, then opened her mouth and took a bite, giving her a brilliant smile.

"Thanks~"

Her words were muffled by the half a daifuku stuffed in her mouth.

"Next time I'll take you to try the Black Gold Chamber of Commerce's molten cheesecake. It's ten times better than this."

"Ten times?"

Dania's eyes lit up.

"If I'm lying, may my motorcycle's engine blow."

Aimis thumped her chest in promise.

Linnai rolled her eyes beside them.

"Your engine blew just last month."

"That was an accident! It has nothing to do with today's promise!"

Chisaki adjusted her glasses and quickly wrote a line on her notebook screen.

"Recorded. Aimis's cheesecake promise to Dania has been timestamped and can serve as evidence in arbitration should she break it later."

"What are you doing?!"

Aimis jumped up and tried to snatch Chisaki's notebook. Chisaki dodged sideways, her lenses reflecting the light, academic rigor written all over her face.

Zhou Yu lay on the lawn watching them, then reached into his pocket and pulled out the crumpled schedule.

He turned it over to the blank space on the back, tapped the pen cap against his teeth twice, and wrote a line.

[New recurring event: Sweet exchange, every Tuesday at 3 p.m.]

[Participants: Dania, Aimis.]

[KPI: Must have fun.]

Finished, he tucked the schedule back into his pocket with satisfaction.

Another team-building activity, put into action.

"All right, we've eaten and soaked up the sun."

Aimis clapped her hands and pulled Dania to her feet.

"Cutie, how about I take you for a ride? Hop on my bike and find out what the wind tastes like."

"A ride?"

Dania tilted her head.

"We just ride around wherever. It's lots of fun."

Aimis popped a spare helmet onto Dania's head. Pink hair stuck out messily around its edges.

Dania looked to Zhou Yu for help.

Zhou Yu waved her on.

"Go ahead. Just get to Cafeteria No. 3 before dinner."

He turned his gaze to Aimis, his tone flattening.

"Twenty-kilometer-per-hour speed limit on campus."

"Relax, relax."

"If you dare speed, I'll report you to the academic affairs office for driving without a license."

"I have a license!"

"What about a permit for your modified bike?"

Aimis's smile faltered.

"...Aren't you butting in a little too much?"

"It's within the logistics department's responsibilities. Campus traffic safety is my job too."

Zhou Yu pulled out his work ID and waved it.

"Twenty kilometers an hour. Go one over, and I'll dock your cafeteria dessert allowance for next week."

"Fine, fine. Twenty, twenty."

Aimis swung onto the motorcycle and started the engine.

With her help, Dania climbed onto the back and wrapped both arms tightly around Aimis's waist.

Vroom.

The motorcycle expelled a burst of air and rode smoothly onto the main campus road.

"Ah."

Dania let out a small gasp, which turned into laughter she couldn't hold back.

The wind caught her long pink hair, lifting it out from under the edge of her helmet and sending it tracing a joyful arc through the air.

Zhou Yu lay on the grass, watching the motorcycle ride farther and farther away.

The screen of the old-fashioned digital watch on his wrist flashed. Beside a pixel-art strawberry daifuku icon, a small badge had appeared, showing two stick figures holding hands.

[Achievement unlocked: Sweet Defense Line.]

The corners of Zhou Yu's mouth curved upward. He turned his wrist back and tucked his arm behind his head.

Beside him, Chisaki and Linnai were still bickering over the notebook, while Dania's laughter carried from afar, torn apart by the wind.

Sigelica finally resigned herself to sitting on the grass. She didn't lie down, but placed the written self-criticism face down on her knees.

"Zhou Yu."

"Hmm?"

"What did you write on that schedule of yours?"

Zhou Yu kept his eyes closed, his voice lazy.

"Trade secret. Not available to non-paying users."

"I'm telling you, someone's going to hit you sooner or later."

In the distance, the motorcycle's engine gradually faded, and the sunlight burned against his face.

Zhou Yu's digital watch was quiet. On its screen, the little badge of two stick figures glinted in the sunlight.