Spacing out is a magical ability that Kiana often used in class back in the day.
Just stare at one spot, empty your mind, and time flies by.
Yep! Decided!
Kiana's gaze instantly sharpened as she began to stare intensely at the curtains that remained drawn even during the day.
One second.
Two seconds.
Three seconds.
My eyes are a little dry.
She blinked, and that near-meditative state was instantly broken.
Couldn't successfully space out~
Probably because she just woke up and had too much energy to clear her mind.
Kiana sighed. This was the biggest crisis she had encountered...
She could only give up on spacing out and start looking for new ways to entertain herself and kill time.
Her gaze quickly landed on the large TV hanging in the living room... Shu wouldn't hang a fake TV here, right?
Thinking this, Kiana reached out and grabbed the remote control on the coffee table, pressing the power button aimed at the TV—
No response.
Press again—
Still no response.
Hiss... could it really be—
Kiana looked down at the remote with a grimace, then got up and ran to the TV, only to see the unplugged power cord behind it. She fell silent.
Good news: It's not a fake TV.
Bad news: Shu unplugged the TV.
Kiana: "..."
So why did Shu buy such a big TV and put it in his house, only to unplug it and let it starve?
Kiana didn't understand, Kiana was greatly shocked, but Kiana respected it and didn't take the liberty of plugging it back in... What if it was actually some important switch?
Although the possibility was small... she still had to respect Shu's choice.
She helplessly put the remote back and continued to look for new methods.
Her sweeping gaze landed on her own hands.
She stared at her hands for a good while, then held both hands out in front of her.
She loosely clenched her left hand, extending two fingers to stand on her leg, pretending it was the "Little Person of Justice."
The right hand did the same, using two fingers to stand opposite the left-hand person, pretending it was the "Little Person of Evil."
Then—
"Ha! Eat this!" The left-hand person charged at the right-hand person.
"Hmph! You can't hit me!" The right-hand person dodged.
"Take this, take this, take this!" The left-hand person attacked furiously.
"Hey! Counterattack!" The right-hand person punched the back of the left-hand person's hand.
"Ah! That hurts!" The left-hand person recoiled.
Kiana provided her own voice acting, sound effects, and controlled the two little people in a joyous battle.
When the left-hand person was defeated, she switched the right-hand person to be the side of justice.
When the right-hand person was defeated, she switched the left-hand person back to justice.
After fighting for a while, she felt bored again, so she changed the game.
She was going to make the two little people fall in love!
Left-hand person: "Hello, I'm Lefty."
Right-hand person: "Hello, I'm Righty."
Uh... how should I act out the rest?
Kiana blinked, her gaze suddenly becoming sharp.
Left-hand person: "I like you."
Right-hand person: "I like you too."
What profound dating techniques? Liking is liking. All techniques are to teach you how to love the other person, not how to make the other person fall in love with you.
Since they liked each other, naturally they would be together.
So with this most direct confession, the two little people hugged each other as soon as they met.
Kiana looked at her own hands clasping each other and suddenly felt a bit...
Silly.
This game really is too silly, isn't it?
Even Kiana was amused by her own stupidity.
"Hehehe..."
Although she was laughing at her own silliness, this was her true goal to kill time.
It's just that playing alone like this is indeed a bit lonely... Mmm... if only Shu could play with me...
She looked up somewhat melancholically and saw Shu standing at the door of his bedroom, staring at her with a shocked expression.
In his arms, he held a laptop that had clearly just been dug out from somewhere.
Kiana froze.
Her two hands were still clasped together, maintaining the "two little people hugging" posture.
Her face still wore the silly grin from a moment ago.
She and Shu locked eyes.
Then, visibly, Kiana's face slowly turned rosy red, and a high-pitched "Eeep—" sound, like a kettle boiling, faintly escaped her lips.
There seemed to be a tiny explosion sound, and then Kiana retracted her hands with a whoosh, sat up straight, placed her hands properly on her knees, and kept a straight face, trying hard to act as if nothing had happened.
"Um..." She gave a dry cough, her voice a little parched. "When... when did you get here?"
Shu looked at her face, which usually seemed like it should only ever hold sunshine but was now flushed pink, watching the girl who always seemed carefree show such a flustered appearance.
...
He was silent for two seconds, perhaps stunned for two seconds, and then he spoke, trying his best to keep his tone flat.
"Hmm... since 'Eat this!'"
Kiana's face seemed to puff up.
"That... that was pretty early..."
Hearing these relatively stable words, Shu looked at that face which had clearly turned into the "Goddess of Wisdom" meme expression, and said nothing.
He just walked into the living room, sat down on the other end of the sofa, and placed the laptop on the coffee table in front of Kiana.
Kiana's attention was instantly drawn to the computer Shu brought out.
"What is this?"
"Computer."
"Of course I know it's a computer! Don't treat me like an idiot..." Kiana leaned closer, muttering with some dissatisfaction, "I mean: is this for me?"
Shu didn't answer, just bent down and pulled a power strip from under the coffee table.
Plugged it in, power light on.
Then he started pulling things out of the bag beside him.
A pair of white over-ear headphones, a gaming mouse, also white, full of next-gen style.
And a keyboard that was plated with a layer of dazzling light after being plugged in.
"These are..."
"Peripherals." Shu leaned sideways, quickly testing the functions of these peripherals from the side. "For you to play games."
"Really?!"
I'm so lucky!
No... I should say having Shu is so great! This credit should go to Shu, not because of my luck or anything!
Kiana, who was just worrying about how to kill time, let out two silly giggles at Shu.
Shu was still setting up the computer and didn't see the silly smile Kiana revealed beside him.
"Yeah, I don't usually go out... I can't take you out to play, afraid you'll get bored."
"This is my old laptop. It was top-spec at the time, still works pretty well now. You play with this first..."
"Oh oh... Eh? What about you?"
"What?"
"What are you going to play?" Kiana tilted her head to look at Shu. "Where's your own computer? How come I didn't see it? Is it in your room? If you don't have a computer, are you going to play on your phone? Or play with me..."
Shu's movements paused.
His mind instantly flashed to the things hidden in his room.
If Kiana discovered those things... perhaps his life as an otaku would be over...
Shu thought sorrowfully.