The Physical Fitness Test Approaches: The Head of Security's "Year-End Exam"
Is there something wrong with the feng shui of our dorm room?
Linnai's soul-searching questions were still lingering in the air when they were swept away by a shrill broadcast the next morning.
[Attention, everyone. This is to announce that the annual unified physical fitness test for the Flamebearers' Academy will be held next Monday. All students are requested to prepare accordingly.]
The broadcast was repeated three times, and wails of agony rose and fell from the teaching buildings and dormitories.
Linnai sprang out of bed, her hair a mess.
Linnai:_(:з"∠)_
"I'm doomed. I die once a year during the physical exam, but this year I feel like I'm going to die twice."
Sigelica had already changed into her training clothes and was stretching her legs down to reach her toes.
"It's just a physical fitness test. If you put in the same effort you have when you're rushing to the cafeteria window, you'll pass more than once."
"How can that be the same!"
Linnai rolled over with a long face, hanging on the edge of the bed with her head swaying down.
"The cafeteria window is where they charge forward for love, the physical fitness test is where they rush to their deaths!"
Aimis wriggling in bed, covered by the blanket.
Aimis:(;￣Д￣)
"I don't want to participate in the physical fitness test at all. I hate sweating; sweat is my body crying."
Only Dania was dressed neatly early in the morning, even tying her hair into a neat side ponytail. She squatted down to tie her shoelaces, her fingers moving with surprising dexterity.
Linnai tilted her head to look at her.
"Hey, did the sun rise in the west today? Who wound up our King of Duty?"
Dania tied the last knot, stood up, patted her knees, and spoke with certainty.
Dania:(•̀ᴗ•́)و
"If I get good results in the physical fitness test, Xiao Yu will take me to that seafood buffet that gave out vouchers last time."
Linnai rolled her eyes.
"Alright, everything boils down to eating."
But before she could even hope for good news, reality threw cold water on her hopes.
The steam from the lunch in the cafeteria hadn't dissipated yet when Dania, carrying two servings of sweet and sour pork ribs, sat down at the table near the door. Her chopsticks were neatly arranged in pairs, and even her napkins were folded.
Zhou Yu rushed in with dark circles under her eyes, pulled a bag of bear-shaped cookies from her canvas bag and put it next to her, then picked up a serving of ribs and walked out.
"I can't leave the warehouse, so I'll take it to eat. You eat slowly, okay?"
Dania opened her mouth, but his figure had already turned past the doorway.
She glanced down at the bag of bear-shaped cookies on the table, then at the empty chair opposite her, and slowly put away a pair of chopsticks.
Linnai walked by carrying her tray and glanced at it.
"He ran away again?"
Dania didn't say anything, opened the cookie bag, broke off a bear's ear, chewed for a long time but couldn't swallow it.
After that, even that steamy three minutes disappeared.
Dania got up early and ran ten laps around the training field, planning to tell Zhou Yu about her progress at lunchtime.
Before she could even step into the cafeteria, the man stopped her on the steps and handed her a hot roasted sweet potato.
"An extra meeting has been added; the Logistics Department needs to conduct fire safety rectification. Have something to eat to tide you over."
He took two meat buns, took a bite of one, and disappeared around the corner.
Dania held the scalding hot sweet potato, her cheeks puffed out, not from eating, but from holding her breath.
Sigelica walked up from behind, looked at her expression, and then looked in the direction Zhou Yu had disappeared.
"He's been really busy lately. The files on those prisoners in the Northern Territory, the security route maps, and the compensation process for the statue he smashed—it's all on his shoulders."
Dania took a sullen bite of the sweet potato.
"I know."
"If you know that, don't make that face. He didn't do it on purpose."
Dania chewed on a sweet potato, her voice muffled.
"Xixi, do you think the salad at the library is good?"
Sigelica was taken aback and didn't respond.
Dania lowered her head again and added a sentence as if talking to herself.
"At least Doctor Lu will finish his meal with you."
Sigelica's ears burned instantly, and she opened her mouth, but couldn't find a way to refute it.
This stab was both precise and deliberate.
When Dania stopped going to training and sat by the window in the cafeteria, resting her chin on her hands and staring at the door, Zhou Yu finally appeared again.
He looked even more haggard, with a layer of bluish stubble on his chin.
Before he could even say a word, he simply shoved a bottle of strawberry milk into Dania's arms, and then a roar erupted from the other end of the communicator.
"Manager Zhou! That brat Yeqi broke the drain auger in the men's restroom! Come quick!"
Zhou Yu gestured for her to wait for him, then turned and ran.
Dania watched his retreating figure, clutching the milk bottle tightly.
The single, usually perky, tuft of hair on his head drooped listlessly.
She unscrewed the cap, took a sip—it was strawberry flavored and sweet—but then frowned and screwed the cap back on.
On the training field, Sigelica is instructing everyone on how to do obstacle courses.
"Dania, concentrate! You've hit the same railing three times in a row!"
Dania rubbed her forehead, looking aggrieved.
Dania:(｡•́•̀｡)
"It looks too much like the door to the Logistics Department's warehouse."
Sigelica's lips twitched, and she swallowed back the retort that was about to come out.
At lunchtime, she made a point of swiping her card extra to get Dania a plate of braised pork with a good balance of lean and fat, and placed it in front of her.
"Here, eat more. You'll need energy to train."
What happened next left everyone present dumbfounded.
That legendary person who could eat a buffet out of business actually left some food uneaten for the first time ever.
Dania poked at the braised pork in the bowl with the tip of her chopsticks, poking and prodding it, before finally pushing the prettiest piece to the edge of the bowl and putting down her chopsticks.
"I'm stuffed."
Sigelica, Linnai, Aimis all stopped eating.
Linnai slowly put down the chicken leg in her hand, her voice weak.
"Say it again?"
"I'm stuffed."
"No, are you serious? Are you sure you weren't replaced?"
Linnai waved her hand in front of Dania, then turned to look at Aimis.
"Quick, pinch me, I suspect I'm still dreaming."
Aimis pinched her arm without any hesitation.
"Ouch! You hit me too hard!"
"You told me to pinch you."
Chisaki sat opposite her, swiping her finger twice on the tablet. A graph showing Dania's calorie intake over the past week appeared on the screen, and today's number had plummeted to the red line below the warning line.
Chisaki:[¬º-°]¬
The conclusion is in.
She announced it in the tone of an analytical report.
"The protected animal is currently experiencing severe lack of caregiver support syndrome, clinically manifested as loss of appetite, mental confusion, and decreased aggression towards certain buildings."
Linnai leaned her face closer.
Speak like a human being!
Chisaki adjusted her glasses.
"She misses Zhou Yu terribly."
Dania's cheeks flushed instantly. She grabbed her coat and covered her face, leaving behind only a muffled explanation.
"I don't!"
Linnai tapped the table with her chopsticks.
"No? Then explain why you haven't eaten that piece of braised pork in your bowl after poking it so many times?"
Dania remained silent behind her coat.
Aimis leaned on the table, resting her chin on her hand, her tone exceptionally sincere.
Aimis:(;￣Д￣)
"I don't feel heartbroken at all, really, it doesn't hurt to see it at all."
Her eyes were red-rimmed.
In the afternoon, Zhou Yu, unusually, climbed out of the pile of documents to deliver an equipment list to the teaching building.
As he passed the preparatory class classroom, his pace slowed.
By the window, the pink-haired girl was tilting her head to look at the sky, her hands resting on the table, her cheeks puffed out, and then she deliberately let out a long sigh.
The sound was so loud that it could be heard clearly from the other end of the corridor.
Zhou Yu paused, about to raise her hand to push the door open.
The communicator rang again.
He stood there for two seconds, clutching the equipment list, before finally turning and walking towards the end of the corridor.
He didn't see it; after he left, Dania pulled a familiar fluorescent yellow vest from her bag.
That was the security guard jacket he had left with her.
Dania grabbed the two sleeves of the vest and tied them into a tight knot.
In the dormitory, Linnai sat cross-legged on the bed, slapping her thigh and issuing commands.
Linnai:(¬◡¬)✧
"Let me tell you, Yaya, you can't spoil men, especially someone like Zhou Yu who's a working-class type. The more clingy you are to him, the more he'll take it for granted."
Aimis nodded frantically beside him.
"That's right! You need to learn to play hard to get! If he comes to you again tomorrow, just say you're going to the library, like Sister Xixi, for an academic exchange!"
Sigelica was wiping her riot shield when she heard this, and the rag she was wiping was soaked with water.
Sigelica:(;-`д-´)
"Don't corrupt her!"
She glared at Aimis.
"And could you please stop dragging everything into my hands?"
Dania hugged the big brown bear, tilted her head and listened for a long time, then blinked.
"Playing hard to get, is that a new dish name? Is it delicious?"
Linnai sighed, rubbing her forehead.
"Just think of it this way: starting tomorrow, when Zhou Yu brings you food, you only eat half of it. When he talks to you, you only reply with 'uh-huh' and 'oh.' Let him experience what it's like to be ignored!"
Dania rested her chin on the bear's head and thought for a while.
But he looks so tired.
Linnai's mouth opened and then closed.
Aimis remained silent.
Sigelica stopped wiping the rag in her hand and turned to look at Dania.
Dania's voice came out muffledly from behind the bear's ears.
"His dark circles were even worse than the day before yesterday. He took one bite of the meat bun and ran away, not even having time to chew the second bite."
She paused.
I don't want him to get any more tired.
With a single sentence, he completely shut down the two strategists' elaborate schemes.
The dormitory was silent for several seconds.
Linnai swallowed the whole prepared speech, reached out and rubbed Dania's head, and didn't say anything more.
Sigelica turned around and continued wiping the shield; the sound of the cloth rubbing back and forth on the metal surface was much quieter than before.
Meanwhile, in the Logistics Department warehouse a few kilometers away.
Zhou Yu was rubbing his temples while looking at a huge equipment repair expense report when he suddenly sneezed loudly for no apparent reason.
Achoo!
He rubbed his nose and glanced at the calendar next to him.
The seaside vacation circled in red above still retained a joyful atmosphere, but for the next few days, it was all crossed out with slashes representing overtime work.
His planned autumn food tasting schedule for Solaris hasn't been updated for several days.
Zhou Yu pushed the dreaded expense report aside and glanced at the corner of the table.
A fluorescent yellow vest was neatly folded and placed there.
He took it from next to her backpack when he passed by the classroom in the afternoon, turning back at the end of the corridor.
The two sleeves were tied in a tight knot, and he tried to tug at them twice, but they didn't budge.
Zhou Yu stared at the knot for a long time.
He handled the gods, the Remnant Fractsidus, and the principal with ease.
But the knot his temperamental girlfriend tied was more troublesome than the highest-level tsunami warning.
He laid the vest flat on the table, picked up a pen, and began drafting a brand new plan on the back of "Dania's Personal Meal Schedule".
On the paper, a familiar title was clearly written down.
[Emergency Plan Regarding Increasing the Frequency of Intimate Interactions Between the Security Supervisor and His Ex-Girlfriend]
The knot on the fluorescent yellow sleeve waited quietly under the warehouse lights for it to be untied.