The two of them were now sitting side-by-side on the sofa, keeping a wide distance between them—enough space to easily stuff at least three more people in the middle.
Shu stared at a single spot on the coffee table. He had been staring at that exact spot for ten minutes. He was pretending to be very focused.
Kiana stared at the still-drawn curtains in the living room. She had also been looking at them for ten minutes. She was also pretending to be very focused.
The living room was so quiet it felt like a memorial service for Shu's social standing. The only sounds in the house were the hum of the air conditioner and the endless clamor of the city outside the window.
Both of them were trying hard to find something to do. But neither dared to actually start doing anything.
What if the other person suddenly spoke while they were doing something? What if they didn't hear it? What if they heard it but reacted too slowly and caused a misunderstanding? What if—
Forget it. Don't dare move. Better to just sit like this.
Relationships were a dark forest, and everyone attempting to socialize was like a hunter wielding a gun in the dark.
Dark. It was so damn dark.
From the corner of his eye, Shu stole a glance at Kiana. She was still wearing his clothes from the night before last, her hair even messier than yesterday, her face still carrying a trace of half-awake sluggishness. But her ears were red, and an unshakable blush tinted her cheeks.
Shu quickly retracted his gaze.
From the corner of her eye, Kiana also stole a glance at Shu. He had changed into a new set of clothes today. Although they were still loose and comfortable, he looked much more energetic than when he was in his pajamas.
But his hands were trembling, pulling off eight nervous twitches a second.
Kiana also retracted her gaze.
The silence continued. The AC continued to hum, as if serving as the designated background music for this silence.
Time continued to slip by, second by second.
Finally, after going through countless rounds of mental preparation, Shu spoke.
"Um..."
Here it comes!
Kiana's body gave a slight jolt at Shu's voice, and she let out a robotic response:
"Hm? Is, there, some, thing, you, need?"
Shu reached out and, trying to act natural, pointed to the pile of clothes resting beside the sofa. They were the ones he had taken out of the wardrobe that morning for Kiana to change into after her shower.
"These clothes..." he said, keeping his voice as steady as possible, "if you want to take a shower, you can change into them."
Kiana paused, her gaze immediately landing on the pile of clothes.
A white pleated long skirt with an asymmetrical hem, a white dress shirt, and a jacket-like outer coat.
They clearly weren't just standard mass-produced items, as each piece was adorned with unique pendant accessories, and these several pieces formed a complete set...
She reached out and touched them, finding the fabric quite comfortable.
She didn't have time to ponder why Shu had suddenly produced a set of women's clothing like this, because Kiana suddenly remembered something else.
Underwear.
The underwear she was currently wearing was the same set from before she entered this world. In other words, she had been wearing it for two days and three nights.
If she didn't change soon... her face flushed slightly.
Even though she was indeed quite lazy normally... she was still a beautiful girl who cared about her image, after all.
For instance, when wearing new clothes, even she would be very mindful of not getting them dirty...
Don't think of me as some completely heartless, careless slob who just wants to roll around in the dirt!
But... even so, it was impossible for Shu to have spare underwear for her to change into. That was a certainty.
Or rather, after the scare of that wardrobe full of figures earlier, if Shu could pull out a set of her underwear right now, that would be the most terrifying thing of all.
That exact scene flashed through Kiana's mind.
Shu calmly pulling a small box from the depths of the wardrobe, opening it to reveal a brand-new set of underwear, printed with her image—
Wah! Forbidden knowledge!
She hurriedly deleted this horrifying image from her brain.
Then she looked up at Shu and opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out.
Looking at her hesitant expression, Shu suddenly understood. The tips of his ears grew slightly hot, but he came prepared.
He took a deep breath. Then he silently chanted to himself several times. Act natural.
After his chant, he reached out and picked up his phone from the coffee table. His movements were fluid, his expression calm; he looked incredibly natural.
He handed the phone to Kiana.
"Use this to buy it," he said, his voice equally steady.
Kiana froze. "What?"
"Clothes," Shu said. "Underwear, outerwear—you can use my phone to buy whatever you want. Buy what you like."
Kiana stared blankly at the phone, then looked dumbly at Shu. Shu's expression remained calm.
Then he added, "After you're done, I'll clear the shopping cart with one click. I promise I will have absolutely no idea what you bought."
Having said that, he even gave Kiana a nod, as if emphasizing the sincerity of his words.
Kiana: "..."
She stared at Shu's facade of feigned calmness, and then she suddenly realized—
Shu's promise of "I promise I will have absolutely no idea what you bought" might have been a bit of an overcompensation.
Too deliberate. Too emphasized. Too... too obviously screaming, "I care a lot about this."
The corners of Kiana's mouth slowly curled up. Then, under Shu's nervous peripheral gaze, she suddenly couldn't hold it back and burst into a pfft of laughter.
Shu was a little bewildered by her laughter. "What... are you laughing at?"
Kiana didn't answer right away. She just looked at him and laughed—a happy, yet slightly helpless laugh.
She looked at Shu's face, trying so hard to maintain its composure even though his ears were bright red.
In that exact moment, Kiana suddenly felt that all those other things didn't seem so important anymore.
So... when she was sitting on the sofa just now, her mind spinning in circles, thinking about all that messy nonsense—what had she actually been agonizing over?
Was it why Shu bought so many figures? Was she wondering if he liked her? Or was she considering how she should respond to it all?
What if Shu overthought things during their conversation? What if she overthought things?
Going round and round, her CPU was practically fried.
But now, seeing Shu like this, everything suddenly became clear to her.
What Kiana truly cared about wasn't something like "does Shu like me?"
From start to finish, the only thing Kiana truly cared about was one thing—the sudden realization that she didn't completely understand Shu.
Kiana thought Shu collected figures because he loved the game, but now she found he seemed to have other thoughts, secrets that she didn't know about.
It wasn't that Kiana wanted to completely see through Shu. She was just afraid... afraid that because she didn't understand him well enough, she might say or do something to hurt him.
She didn't know what he thought about every day. She didn't know why he hid his figures. She didn't know if, when facing her, he was truly relaxed or just forcing himself to act a part.
Because she didn't understand him enough, she was afraid. Afraid that the kindness he showed was just politeness, just courtesy, just him having no choice because she refused to leave.
Afraid that the "bond" she believed they shared was actually just her one-sided wishful thinking.
But now, looking at Shu like this, Kiana was suddenly certain.
He was still the Shu she was familiar with. The Shu she could look at once and declare with certainty, "This is a good person." The Shu who was... as gentle as the breaking dawn.
He had never changed at all.
Kiana's smile grew wider. She suddenly felt that all her wild speculations from earlier were utterly foolish.
Why would their relationship need to rely on "understanding" to be maintained?
Because he was Shu, she would accept everything about him. Just as she should believe that Shu would accept everything about her.
There was no reason needed; she just believed it, and she would accept it.
Kiana knew he was a good person, knew he wouldn't hurt her, knew he would always be here.
And Shu would know that she would find him regardless of the distance, that she would always be by his side, that she would always ensure the sunlight could reach him.
He would know. He definitely would.
Kiana finished laughing. She stood up, and then plopped her butt down right next to Shu.
Shu's body froze in flabbergasted shock at this sudden development.
Kiana ignored the sense of distance radiating from him. She simply reached out her arm, instantly melting away that distance, wrapped it directly around his neck, and leaned her entire weight against him.
Shu shuddered all over, his shock palpable.
"Wh—what are you doing?" Shu shrieked, his voice cracking.
Kiana didn't answer. She just looked at Shu with a cheerful giggle, her eyes curving into two crescents.
"Shu."
"...Yeah?"
"Let's go out and buy clothes!"
Shu was taken aback. "What?"
"Go out," Kiana repeated. "To the mall, to a physical store! Try them on in person, buy them on the spot! We can walk around and stretch our legs while we're at it."
Shu's expression gradually turned bitter.