Crab roe buns at dawn and hidden undercurrents
"Zhou the Skinflint!"
At the first light of dawn, a bitter cry of accusation rang out beneath the Flamebearers' Academy preparatory students' dormitory.
With dark circles under her eyes, Aimis slammed several huge insulated bags onto a stone table. The aroma of food wafted out along with her resentment.
Aimis: (ﾒ__)´´
"Delivered before seven, not a minute late. There went all my beauty sleep."
Linnai had been waiting downstairs. She rushed over and took a deep whiff of the bags.
Linnai: (¬‿¬)
"Wow, crab roe soup dumplings! Aimis, you're my one and only sister."
"Get lost. Your sister's commercial value dropped to zero last night."
Aimis slumped onto a stone stool, her arms draped over the edge of the table.
"How much money did I owe Zhou Yu in my last life?"
"What you owed in your last life was Dania's food bill."
Linnai picked up a youtiao with her teeth and jerked her chin toward the dormitory.
Dania shuffled downstairs in her pajamas, rubbing her eyes. A tuft of hair stuck up from sleep, and she was still in standby mode.
The instant the savory scent of crab roe reached her nose, her eyes lit up.
Dania: (o´∀`o)
"Buns."
"Yours, yours, they're all yours."
Aimis pointed feebly at the biggest bag.
"Good morning."
Zhou Yu's voice came from nearby. He had arrived long ago and was wearing his signature yellow utility repair vest as he rinsed several plastic spoons with boiling water.
He took a steaming crab roe bun from a bag and cradled it in his palm. Picking up a clean plastic spoon, he deftly poked a small hole in the thinnest part of the wrapper.
Golden broth and steam rushed out, and the rich aroma washed over Dania's face.
"Let it cool first, or you'll burn your mouth."
Zhou Yu put the bun with the hole in it into her hand.
Dania looked down at the little hole, steam rising from it, then looked up at Zhou Yu. She nodded obediently and leaned in to take a small sip of broth.
The delicious flavor spread across her tongue. She narrowed her eyes happily and traced circles on the ground with her toe.
Sigelica came over, yawning. She stopped short when she saw the scene.
Sigelica: (-_-)
"I must still be asleep."
"No, you're awake. You're just witnessing love."
Linnai made the comment through a mouthful of youtiao, then pushed a bowl of savory soy milk in front of Sigelica.
"What love? This is a feeding arrangement."
Sigelica pulled out a stool and sat down, then picked up a meat bun and took a huge bite as if venting her frustration.
"Call it feeding if you like. I'm the one paying for the feed, anyway."
Aimis's voice drifted over from across the stone table, carrying the last shreds of a bankrupt person's dignity.
Chisaki appeared with a cup of nutrient solution. She adjusted her glasses, glanced back and forth between Zhou Yu and Dania, and swiped a few times on her tablet.
[Observation subject Zhou Yu has entered the deep-bonding stage. Feeding behavior proficiency has increased by 37 percent. Recommend adding kinship or cross-species domestication as a new analytical model.]
"Chisaki, what are you writing down now?"
Linnai leaned over to look.
"Field notes on feeding behavior, entry seventeen."
"You're writing a paper about their breakfast?"
"Data waits for no one."
Ignoring the commotion, Zhou Yu broke open a pork and scallion bun and ate it with goji berry tea, looking perfectly calm.
Zhou Yu: (￣-￣)´´
Just then, the old-fashioned digital watch on his wrist vibrated ever so faintly, so faintly that only he could feel it.
A pixel-art skull icon flashed on the screen. It made no sound, yet carried a deathly silent warning.
It's here.
Zhou Yu didn't pause in drinking his soy milk. He even picked up a piece of pickled radish and chewed it with a loud crunch.
According to the original game progression, at ten that morning, fanatical Fractsidus followers would carry out a suicide attack, detonating five high-frequency resonance bombs between the No. 1 auditorium and the No. 3 cafeteria, the most densely populated area of the Flamebearers' Academy.
A series of explosions enough to shake the foundations of the entire academy.
A patch that attempted to use horrific casualties to bring the grand narrative of sacrifice and fate back on track.
"You all go ahead and eat. I need to stop by the auditorium's logistics storeroom."
Zhou Yu leisurely wiped his mouth with a tissue and stood up.
"I need to check the accounts. The depreciation on yesterday's concert equipment has to be entered into the system."
"Checking accounts this early in the morning?"
Sigelica chewed her bun and shot him a suspicious glance.
"Logistics workers' lives aren't worth much. The equipment's lives are."
Zhou Yu patted the wrinkles in his yellow vest.
"Oh."
Dania was struggling with her second crab roe bun. Hearing that he was leaving, she looked up, a little golden crab roe filling still clinging to the corner of her mouth.
"Are we... still eating ribs together at noon?"
Her fingers tightened around the pleated edge of the bun, her eyes full of anticipation.
Linnai's youtiao stopped in midair, and Sigelica chewed more slowly.
Zhou Yu looked into Dania's clear eyes and smiled.
He reached out and gently wiped the conspicuous bit of crab roe filling from the corner of her mouth with his thumb.
Dania's cheeks burned, and even the tips of her ears turned pink.
"Yeah."
Zhou Yu withdrew his hand, his tone softening a little.
"Window No. 1. I'll ask Auntie Li to save you the pieces from the middle, the ones with crunchy cartilage, from the batch of pork ribs that arrived yesterday."
With that, he waved to everyone and turned into the thin morning mist. His yellow vest soon disappeared around the corner of the teaching building.
Silence fell over the table.
Linnai's youtiao fell into her bowl of soy milk, sending up a splash.
Sigelica forgot to bring the half-eaten bun in her hand to her mouth.
Aimis buried her face in the crook of her arms, her shoulders shaking.
Aimis: _(´ཀ`"∠)_
"It's over. The breakfast I ordered seems to have become a prop for his date."
"Does this count as a date?"
Dania was still frozen in place. She touched the corner of her mouth where he had touched her.
"You're asking me?"
Aimis lifted half her face from her arms, her expression full of the despair of someone who'd been taken for a sucker.
"I haven't even earned back the money for breakfast, and you want to discuss dates with me?"
Dania lowered her head and took a bite of the crab roe bun in her hand.
Today's bun seemed sweeter than any she'd ever eaten before.
As she savored it, Sigelica suddenly leaned closer and studied her.
"Yaya."
"Hm?"
"You're blushing."
"A-am I?"
Dania covered her face.
"Yes."
Sigelica was emphatic, though she lowered her voice.
"But I saw that bastard Zhou Yu smile when he turned around just now."
"It wasn't his usual lazy smile."
She paused and chewed on the bun wrapper in her mouth.
"How should I put it? It was like... a programmer about to take apart his boss's computer."