By the time the two of them finished buying all the various cat supplies and hauled their numerous bags home, it was already two in the afternoon.
Shu had never imagined that shopping for a single cat could turn into a full-blown New Year's festival shopping spree. Although... he didn't typically pay much attention to New Year's shopping in the first place.
Aside from the items that seemed like necessities, Kiana had also bought a ton of cat supplies that looked decidedly non-essential.
For example, a bag of cat clothes that Kiana must have slipped into the shopping cart at some point. It was a tiny orange and white outfit with a star-shaped icon on it.
Hmm...
Shu strongly suspected Kiana had picked out the outfit for Rice Cake based on her own aesthetic preferences... but then again, what was wrong with that?
The first order of business upon arriving home was setting up Rice Cake's new cat bed.
The two of them crouched on the floor like a pair of children playing with building blocks.
Meanwhile, the true owner of the cat bed, Rice Cake, was curled up on Kiana's old outfit, lazily watching the two of them study the instruction manual like a foreman.
In reality, only Shu was actually working. Kiana was beside him, sincerely getting in his way.
"Meow~"
After Kiana installed yet another part backward, Rice Cake finally couldn't take it anymore and let out a sharp cry, strongly condemning Kiana for trying to demolish its new home.
Kiana's face instantly flushed red. She shot a guilty glance at Shu, who was staring blankly at the incorrectly assembled part. Then, in an act of pure surrender, she tossed the tools in her hands aside, scooped up Rice Cake, and made a hasty retreat.
Meanwhile, Shu was still trying to figure out how Kiana had managed to screw a number 9 screw into a number 6 nut.
Was this the power of brute force?
Shu silently picked up a long-handled wrench and a pair of pliers, preparing to wrestle with the two parts, which were now fused together as stubbornly as two single-stud LEGO bricks.
After a full hour of assembly, Shu finally finished putting together the cat bed, which should have only taken twenty minutes.
The cat bed was designed like a small villa, with a little roof for privacy. It was lined with a soft cushion, and a small pom-pom hung from the entrance.
Rice Cake hopped out of Kiana's arms, strutted around the entrance to its new bed with its tail held high, then stepped inside, rolled around a couple of times, and finally poked its head out, looking thoroughly satisfied.
"Meow~"
"Yay, as long as Rice Cake is happy!" Kiana beamed at the satisfied kitten, completely oblivious to the fact that Shu had taken advantage of her praise-singing to rapidly start assembling the cat tree.
It had taken him a full ten minutes just to separate the mismatched screw and nut, his palms sweating from the effort, nearly shattering his very dao heart.
This time, the cat tree, which should have also taken over ten minutes to assemble, was erected in just a few minutes by the highly motivated Shu. Kiana crouched in front of the cat bed, beckoning Rice Cake to come out and inspect the final product.
The automatic water fountain and food dispenser, at least, were assembled without much trouble.
Shu plugged them in, filled them with water and food. Rice Cake, who had been very reluctantly pulled out of its new bed by Kiana, took a sip of water, a bite of food, and was then dejectedly placed on the cat tree by Kiana.
After a few symbolic leaps on the cat tree, Rice Cake promptly melted into a puddle of cat right in front of Kiana and Shu.
Looking at the uncharacteristically subdued Kiana, Shu fell silent for a moment. He subconsciously turned to look at the curtains, which were practically being pierced through by the venomous afternoon sun.
The afternoon was so scorching that even Rice Cake and Kiana had lost all their motivation.
It was only then that Shu abruptly remembered he had turned off the air conditioner when he left yesterday. Right now, the house was as hot as a steamer, not much better than the oven-like streets outside.
The moment he turned the AC on, a look of pure shock appeared in Kiana's eyes.
"Shu! You have an air conditioner in your house?!" Kiana's surprise was like that of an explorer discovering a new continent.
"You didn't know the house had an air conditioner?!" Shu's shock was like that of a biologist discovering a new species.
"Meow?!" Rice Cake's shock was like that of someone meeting these two people for the very first time.
How did you two even end up together?
Cooled by the refreshing breeze from the AC, Kiana and Rice Cake finally regained a bit of their vitality. Kiana sat down on the sofa with Rice Cake in her arms and booted up the computer that Shu had brought out to keep her entertained.
"Rice Cake, big sis is going to show you something fun!" Kiana excitedly launched Honkai Impact 3rd. Her cheeks flushed slightly red as she quickly opened the story interface, skipping past the username on the main screen.
[QibaoKi-baby]...
No, just seeing those two words made Kiana think of all the figurines in Shu's closet, which in turn brought on a flood of不堪入目的 memories and fantasies.
If she just imagined herself doing the things she did to her Mei body pillow, her brain would uncontrollably replace the Mei on the pillow with herself, and then replace herself with...
A cloud of steam suddenly erupted from Kiana's head.
Shu's hand trembled as he was adjusting the AC temperature, and he ended up lowering it by another two degrees.
Look how hot the poor girl is. Her brain is about to be steamed.
Having finally set the indoor temperature, Shu sighed helplessly and sat down on the sofa, pulling out his phone.
His phone didn't have a passcode. He swiped twice, opened WeChat, silently cleared the red dots from advertisements, and then completely ignored the 99+ notifications on QQ, not even having the slightest desire to open it.
He casually opened his most-used video app, lingered on the home page for a while, refreshed it a few times, and then exited out of sheer boredom.
Shu's fingers tapped open and closed his usual apps in a repetitive cycle. He didn't know what he was looking at, nor did he know what he wanted to see.
There were no messages waiting for a reply, no tasks waiting to be handled, and no absolutely must-see content.
He was just scrolling. Scrolling down, scrolling up, swiping left, swiping right.
Like a person pacing back and forth in an empty room, going nowhere, yet unwilling to stop.
In stark contrast, Kiana and Rice Cake were making quite a ruckus in front of the computer.
Kiana was making good on her plan from the day before. She was going to personally venture into the Elysian Realm and have a little chat with the woman who had dared to touch Mei's horns before she did!
The girl and the cat cheered each other on as they charged into the Elysian Realm. But the moment that pink-haired girl appeared on screen, both the human voice and the cat's meows quieted down simultaneously.
Who knows if the girl and the cat had started seriously watching the story, or if this "mother-daughter" pair, who were practically cut from the same cloth, had been captured by Elysia's charm?
Hmm... they're probably just watching the story.
An unknown amount of time passed. By the time Shu came back to his senses, the white-haired girl and the white-furred cat had left the computer and cozied up beside him.
Two pairs of eyes were now fixed on his phone screen. Kiana was leaning lazily against Shu, holding a curious Rice Cake in her arms as they stared at Shu's phone.
There really wasn't much to see on the screen. In fact, Shu himself had no idea what he had spent the last few hours doing on his phone, only that he had indeed managed to kill that time.
Even the most vibrant curiosity will quickly burn out when faced with something truly boring.
After a few moments of silence, Kiana completely melted onto Shu's shoulder, starting to mumble weakly.
"Shu..."
"Hmm?"
"Is this how you usually spend your time when you're alone?" Kiana had already averted her gaze from Shu's phone.
She stared blankly at the ceiling, her voice sounding as if her soul had left her body and was about to float away.
Shu's mechanically scrolling finger paused. He didn't answer right away.
It sounded like a very simple, everyday question, but Shu felt like something was off.
"...More or less," he finally gave a vague answer after carefully considering his words.
"More or less?" Kiana tilted her head, practically pressing it against Shu's face.
"Yeah..." The pressure was immense. "But sometimes I play computer games."
Kiana let out a noncommittal hum. But in the next second, Shu felt the weight on his shoulder disappear, replaced by a great face appearing right in front of him, staring at him intently.
"—Who do you play with?"
Dun-dun-DUN—!!
A powerful drumbeat sounded in Shu's heart, instantly putting him on high alert.
"...Online friends." Shu stiffly closed his eyes, making his answer sound as casual and smooth as possible.
"What online friends?"
"People I met while playing games."
"Do you play often?"
"It's alright."
"When was the last time you played?"
"..."
This was the first time Shu had seen Kiana be this persistent with her questioning... Usually, whenever she did this, he'd refute her within two sentences, and the tables would be turned.
Who are you?
You're not Kiana!
"...It's been a while," Shu finally answered Kiana's question honestly.
"How long is 'a while'?" And Kiana was still relentlessly pushing.
Shu was completely out of options.
"...A few months, probably."
Kiana finally stopped her questioning. She just stared at Shu, her gaze like a small shovel, gently digging at the pile of "more or less" he had built up.
Finally, she dug up the answer she was looking for.
And it was the answer she least wanted to hear.
"Shu..." Kiana's voice had lost its previous aggressiveness, replaced by a sense of bewilderment.
"Do you... actually have any online friends?"
Shu's hand, which had been feigning a normal scrolling motion, froze.
He slowly opened his eyes, looking into Kiana's azure blue eyes. Seeing the faint light shimmering within them, he parted his lips.
"...I think so."
Even he didn't quite believe his own words.
Shu averted his gaze.
Rice Cake rolled over in Kiana's arms, shifting its tail off the back of her hand and settling into a more comfortable position to feign sleep.
Kiana didn't press him any further, simply switching to an equally fatal question.
"Then when was the last time you went out with a friend?"
Went out with a "friend"?
That word was so incredibly foreign to Shu...
Friend?
So... what exactly defined a friend?
Someone you could ask out for a meal? Someone you could call up just to chat? Someone you could casually message on WeChat with a simple "You there?"
Shu thought about it carefully and realized he didn't seem to have a single "friend" who met any of the above criteria.
"...I don't remember," he continued to shake his head.
"Then what about the last time you played games with a friend?"
"What about the last time you called someone on your own initiative? And I don't mean for takeout or deliveries—I mean like, you wanted to talk to someone, so you called them?"
Kiana was even thoughtfully clarifying her true intentions, just in case Shu's answers and thought process deviated.
Shu was silent for a very long time.
"...Over a year ago, probably." His voice was very soft, but the weight of his answer was immense.
Kiana fell silent. Shu saw her brow furrow. Her mouth hung open for a long moment before she pressed her lips tightly together.
She looked like she had something to say, but couldn't get the words out.
After a long while, she finally sorted through her thoughts and spoke slowly.
"So, aside from necessary communication, you haven't actively contacted anyone in over a year?"
Shu didn't speak, but he nodded.
It's no big deal, his expression said.
"Don't you get bored?"
Shu's hand twitched again.
He instinctively wanted to say that he didn't get bored, but those words were stuck in his throat like a fishbone, painfully lodged, impossible to spit out.
Did he get bored? Only he knew the answer to that.
Sitting alone on the sofa, scrolling endlessly on his phone, unable to focus on anything, not wanting to do anything, yet not knowing what to do—what was that feeling if not boredom?
But he was more afraid of other things than boredom.
Afraid that his messages would go unanswered. Afraid of being rejected when he asked someone out. Afraid of not knowing what to say in a crowd. Afraid that his "boredom" would be perceived as "boring," that his "quietness" would be perceived as "gloomy."
He was afraid of too many things. So many that "boredom" had become the safest option.
At least... boredom couldn't hurt him, right?
"Is there nothing you want to do?" he heard Kiana ask.
Things he wanted to do?
He hadn't thought about that question in a long time, either.
His days were completely unstructured. He woke up whenever he wanted, ate whenever he wanted... Before Kiana came, Shu hadn't even imagined he could live a life of sleeping early and waking up early.
In his usual life... there wasn't much he particularly wanted to do, nor was there much he particularly didn't want to do.
Every day was more or less the same. Every week was more or less the same. Every month was more or less the same.
Uh... so his life was actually quite structured?
"...No," he answered truthfully.
Kiana pouted, her gaze a mixture of pity and helplessness.
"I'm not asking if you have any plans..." She sighed, and her entire body seemed to lose its support. She just flopped down, resting her head on Shu's lap.
"I'm asking you—don't you ever want to try something you've never done before?"
Shu, who had helplessly propped his leg up to make Kiana more comfortable, suddenly had his expression change.
He leaned back slightly, his eyes narrowing, a layer of vigilance entering his gaze.
"...I'm not going to do anything illegal or criminal."
Kiana shot her head up. "What?"
"I'm not going to look for thrills, either," Shu continued, his speech slightly faster than before.
"Street racing, bungee jumping, and all those extreme sports don't interest me." A wise light flashed in Shu's eyes. "I'm not the type of person who can be won over just by being shown the splendors of the world."
You can give up now—those were the words Shu left unsaid, a small flicker of the playful side that had been activated these past few days.
Kiana's mouth dropped open into a perfect 'O' shape. Her eyes were glazed over, her face a mask of pure shock.
"Shu, what are you talking about?"
Shu looked at her expression and suddenly realized what kind of outrageous words he had just blurted out.
No, wait, how did I suddenly lose control like that?
"...It's nothing." He quickly coughed a couple of times, the tips of his ears flushing red as he averted his gaze.
Kiana maintained her shocked expression, staring at Shu for several seconds before taking a deep breath.
"What I'm asking is—do you want to try singing? Do you want to try drinking? Do you want to try all the things that normal people do but you've never done before? I'm not telling you to go commit a crime!"
"Oh~"
"What are you disappointed about?!"