Pillow Talk After Lights-Out

The last sliver of daylight sank beyond the window.

The lights-out bell in the preparatory class girls' dormitory had rung a long time ago, but Dania's bed was still lit up. Four girls had made a simple tent out of a blanket, and the scent of strawberry gummies wafted inside.

Chisaki held a pink gummy up to the light.

"The texture's good. It's 3.7 percent sweeter than the ones from that last shop."

"Of course. They're limited edition." Aimis sat cross-legged. Her face looked a little tired without makeup, but she couldn't hide her pride. "I got the president of my fan club to get them for me. Have some more, cutie."

She pushed the bag of candy toward Dania, who chewed with her cheeks puffed out like a squirrel hoarding food.

Linnai suddenly turned to Aimis.

"Speaking of which, have you ever thought about what kind of boyfriend you'd want someday?"

The atmosphere in the tent went still for a moment.

Aimis cupped her chin in both hands, her eyes sparkling.

"He'd have to ride a motorcycle and race with me to the ends of the earth. On rainy days, he'd take off his jacket for me and coolly tell me not to catch a cold."

"That's so cheesy," Linnai remarked. "For me, he'd just have to go with me to every one of Lady Snow Velvet's concerts, hand me tissues when I cry, and scream even louder than I do."

Sigelica turned a page of her self-criticism report.

"I don't have time to think about it. Graduating and paying off my debts are enough of a headache."

Her gaze shifted to Dania, who was quietly chewing her candy.

"What about you, Dania?"

Linnai leaned over too and popped another gummy into her mouth.

"Back when you were in that godforsaken place, you never even thought about this stuff, did you?"

Dania slowed her chewing.

She shook her head.

The Dania of the past hadn't thought she deserved a "future." Her life had been nothing but a countdown, and every desire before she reached the end had been a redundant program.

But Sigelica leaned against a pillow, her voice suddenly changing.

"That's all wrong."

"Zhou Yu did all those crazy things for you. He nearly flipped the gods' table. Really, he nearly did."

She paused, reorganizing her thoughts.

"He picks out food for you at meals and wipes things off the corner of your mouth. When you're scared, he shields you behind him. When you break a game record, he's calmer than anyone, like he knew all along you'd win. None of that is how you look after a subordinate, or how you observe a specimen."

Sigelica's voice was a little low.

"He sees you as someone who needs to be loved and spoiled, a real person."

Dania's fingers tightened around the gummy.

She remembered that bottle of orange soda, the cool droplets on its surface.

She remembered how he'd looked when he handed her the first slice of cake on the rooftop and said, "Happy birthday."

And that moment this afternoon when his fingertip brushed the corner of her mouth, warm against her skin.

It wasn't just the food that made her depend on him. There was also that down-to-earth quality about him: the way he talked about the most momentous matters as if they were items on a to-do list, solved a world-ending crisis with a broom, and blocked a god's will as if it were a nuisance call.

Suddenly, she couldn't imagine a day when her name was no longer the first entry on Zhou Yu's schedule.

Just thinking about the possibility made her chest ache. It was a hundred times worse than being unable to eat sweet-and-sour ribs.

"Is this... what liking someone is?"

Dania's voice was so soft it was like a cat's paw scratching at their hearts.

In the darkness, the other three girls all stopped breathing.

Thump.

Linnai punched the bed board, making the whole bed shake.

"Yes. Congratulations, girl, you've finally figured it out."

Aimis got excited too.

"Look at you, cutie. You seem so spacey, but I never expected you'd be the first to start worrying about love."

The screen of Chisaki's tactical tablet flickered several times, and she pushed up her glasses.

"Based on heart rate fluctuations and the rise in facial temperature, the probability that she has entered the initial stage of romantic awareness is 93.6 percent."

"Stop saying stuff we can't understand."

Linnai switched off the tablet, plunging the tent into complete darkness. She leaned close to Dania's ear, her voice very low but unable to contain her excitement.

"Girls, our Slacking Squad has a new mission."

"What mission?" Aimis asked.

Linnai cleared her throat.

"Help Yaya win over that salted-fish logistics guy."