Chapter 13: Another Invitation to the Anime Expo
Even before the “go” signal was given, Lin Muqing already had one leg outside her desk.
The moment the signal went off, she was gone. In the blink of an eye, she had disappeared from the classroom.
All Ye Ziming could catch was the back of her as she left, and the words she tossed behind her.
“See you later, Boss!”
He wasn’t in a hurry. Someone always brought him lunch, so he never joined the “lunch rush.”
Usually, when he saw Lin Muqing sprinting to the cafeteria, he didn’t think much of it. But today, for some reason, he suddenly didn’t like seeing her do that.
Running hard before eating isn’t good for your health.
So, for Lin Muqing’s health, Ye Ziming decided that starting tomorrow, he had a duty to stop her from running like that.
On the other side of the classroom, class monitor Zhang Xiaoling sat at her desk, watching helplessly as Lin Muqing dashed right past her.
And just like that, she missed her chance.
“Sigh~ Should I just talk to him for you instead?” said Wang Wenxin, Xiaoling’s deskmate and bestie, her hands covering her face, or rather her eyes.
All morning, she had watched Xiaoling trying to find the right time to talk to Lin Muqing, so she could invite him to the anime expo this weekend.
But each time, she had talked herself out of it.
Her original plan was to ask Lin Muqing to eat lunch together after class, and then casually bring up the invitation.
It was a solid idea… except she forgot that Lin Muqing is basically an athlete. Before she could even react, he was already gone.
“Really?”
With hopeful eyes, Zhang Xiaoling turned to her bestie, staring at her pitifully.
“Really.”
Feeling kind of speechless, Wang Wenxin sighed and nodded. There was just no way to say no to this girl.
Sigh, moms really do love their precious daughters.
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“Waaah~ You’re such a good person!”
Xiaoling got all emotional, grabbed her bestie’s hand, and placed it on her chest, looking like she was deeply touched.
She even leaned in like she was about to give her a big warm hug to show her thanks.
“……”
Wang Wenxin calmly raised her hand and pushed Xiaoling’s face away, her expression full of mild disgust.
She really wanted to say:
“Stay away from me. My mom said stupidity is contagious.”
“Xiaoling, want to eat lunch together?”
Even though Zhang Xiaoling didn’t manage to invite Lin Muqing, someone else saw an opportunity, Lin Wenbin.
He timed it perfectly. The two girls had just finished talking and were about to get up for lunch when he appeared.
“Emmm… Oh right.”
Looking into Lin Wenbin’s eyes, Xiaoling froze for two seconds, then suddenly remembered something.
She pulled out a box from her drawer. It was exactly the same as the one she had given to Lin Muqing earlier, a box of homemade cookies Xiaoling had made for herself this morning.
Her original plan was to give one box each to her best friend, Lin Muqing, Lin Wenbin, and herself. But now that things had changed, she decided to give up her own share.
“Here, I forgot to give you this earlier.” She said it casually while stuffing the box into her childhood friend’s hands.
Then she smiled, took her bestie’s hand, and walked with her toward the cafeteria for lunch.
“?!”
Lin Wenbin froze in place, his feelings a complete mess. He didn’t know whether to be happy or sad.
So he did get a cookie box after all. But he’d already traded a figure with Lin Muqing to get one. Now it felt like he totally got ripped off!
Lin Wenbin: ‘Excuse me, can I return this trade?!’
After having lunch and taking a break at home, in the afternoon when Lin Muqing found out about it, she rolled her eyes at Lin Wenbin.
“Look at this,” Lin Muqing pulled a pencil and eraser out of her pencil case. “If you stick a pencil in, and then pull it back out… can you really act like nothing happened?”
“……”
Lin Wenbin had no idea how to respond. He blinked slowly, feeling very complicated inside.
After a bit of back-and-forth, Lin Muqing still ended up winning. She got a beautifully detailed figure of ‘Eromanga Sensei’, and she would be getting it the very next day.
All she could say was: Totally worth it~
When you really pay attention in class, time flies. Before you even fully understand what the teacher’s saying, class is already over.
On the other hand, if you don’t pay attention, time crawls. The teacher’s voice starts sounding like a toad chanting. Basically, you just tune it out.
The first type of student was Lin Muqing. The second was clearly Lin Wenbin, who sat one aisle over.
Still, in Lin Muqing’s opinion, he was trying really hard now, especially compared to how he was during both semesters of freshman year.
When the bell rang at the end of the school day, Lin Muqing didn’t rush out like she usually did.
Instead, she turned toward her deskmate and close buddy.
“Let’s go.”
Just one look at her eyes and Ye Ziming instantly knew what she was thinking.
A small smile tugged at the corners of his lips. He put the books he needed into his shoulder bag, stood up, and left the classroom with Lin Muqing.
No one in class was surprised to see the two of them leave together. It happened all the time.
But that didn’t stop the girls in class from daydreaming. They all wished that someday, they could walk side-by-side with the cool, handsome Ye Ziming instead of Lin Muqing.
“Lin Muqing.”
Just as they were stepping out of the classroom, a voice called from behind.
They turned and saw Wang Wenxin, the class monitor’s deskmate, also their class’s study rep and one of the prettiest girls in school.
“What’s up?”
Since such a pretty girl was calling him, Lin Muqing made sure to be polite (or at least, pretend to be a gentleman).
“So, uh… there’s an anime expo this weekend in the south of the city. I… Xiaoling and I are going, and we were wondering if you wanted to come with us?”
She seemed a little shy about it, but Wenxin still came straight out with the invitation, very different from Zhang Xiaoling’s usual roundabout way of talking.
“Huh?!”
Lin Muqing’s eyes widened. He peeked around Wenxin and looked at Zhang Xiaoling, who was still sitting at her desk and watching him nervously.
Wait… is everyone in our class going to the anime expo this weekend?!
“Ahem, I mean… it’s just, you know, hanging out like normal friends.”
Seeing Lin Muqing’s surprised face, Wang Wenxin quickly added that extra line.
And instantly regretted it.
If she hadn’t added that line, nobody would have overthought it. But now that she did, even the most normal outing could easily be misinterpreted as something romantic.
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“Uhh, sorry! I already made plans with someone else this weekend… so I won’t be free.” Realizing what was going on, Lin Muqing awkwardly turned her down.
“I see… that’s too bad.” Wang Wenxin looked a bit disappointed.
“Ahem, anyway, I gotta get to work, we’ll talk later! Bye!”
Seeing her face made Lin Muqing suddenly feel nervous, like he had just bullied a girl or something. Panicking, he blurted out his excuse and quickly turned around to leave.