Cramped.
Way too cramped.
Whoever designed this fitting room was an inhuman genius.
A space barely one square meter now held a man, a woman—and hormones swirling everywhere like a blizzard.
Su Yu pressed his back against the door, rigid as a brick fresh from the kiln.
He didn't even need to look up. That split-second glimpse from earlier had already burned an afterimage onto his retinas.
White.
Blindingly white.
A faint scent lingered at the tip of his nose—the cotton-and-linen smell of new clothes, mixed with something else… something like milk warmed in the sun.
Kiana had both arms locked tightly across her chest, her whole body curled inward, head almost buried in the shadow beneath her collarbone.
Even without seeing her face, Su Yu could picture her expression from the way her ears had turned a deep, furious red.
The air felt frozen solid.
In the narrow space, both of their breathing was painfully clear.
Su Yu could practically feel the heat of his own breath hit the wall and bounce back at him in pure humiliation.
His brain completely crashed.
The system's damned flashing red countdown—Distance Warning: Safe—finally shifted into a reassuring green.
"…Why did you come in?" Kiana's voice came muffled, thick with grievance, like she was about to bite someone.
"You told me to," Su Yu answered on reflex—his gaze glued to the wood grain on the door, not daring to deviate even a millimeter.
"I told you to help me! Not to… not to… not to—"
Her voice shrank smaller and smaller, then disappeared altogether.
Kiana buried her face even deeper and curled up like an overcooked shrimp.
Su Yu shut his eyes and forced himself to calm down.
Deep breath.
Inhale—
That damned milky scent.
Exhale—
This was not the time to stand around. If he stayed any longer, the cops would show up and give him a legal education.
"I-I'll go out fir—"
"No!"
Kiana's voice jumped an octave.
"If you go out… I'll turn transparent again…"
Her words trembled.
And that trembling wasn't only embarrassment—it carried a bottomless kind of fear.
Fear of her existence slipping away. Fear of becoming that untouchable ghost again—abandoned by the world, swallowed by nothingness.
Compared to the shame of being exposed in front of a man, she was more terrified of that despair.
That loneliness—watching her hand pass through a wall, watching crowds pass through her body—was worse than death.
The flicker of heat in Su Yu's chest was instantly doused by cold water, replaced by a sour ache of pity.
He slowly let out a breath, adjusted his voice, and forced it to sound as emotionless as a GPS navigation assistant.
"Okay. I won't go."
"But I'm going to turn around. You… you get dressed behind me."
"…Mm."
Su Yu turned to face the door, planted both hands on it, and assumed the posture of someone doing wall-facing punishment.
Behind him came a soft rustling.
These were the longest minutes in the world.
And the most brutal test of human willpower.
Fabric sliding over skin.
A zipper dragged up with difficulty, teeth grinding as it caught and released.
Clothes being straightened with quick pats.
And Kiana's breathing—strained, fast, trying to be quiet but failing.
Every sound automatically filled in as a high-definition image in Su Yu's mind.
This was a hell-tier self-control exam.
He clenched his molars and started frantically reciting the Memorial to the Grand Chancellor in his head.
"The late emperor's great enterprise was unfinished, yet he passed away mid-journey… Now the realm is divided into three—"
No. The chancellor suffered too much. It didn't put the fire out.
Switch.
"Hydrogen, helium, lithium, beryllium, boron… carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, fluorine, neon…"
Also useless. Even the periodic table's arrangement now looked like the outline of a human curve.
Time crept by, drop by drop, until finally—
"O-okay," came a voice as quiet as a mosquito.
Su Yu turned around.
The fitting room's light was dim and amber, intimate in the worst possible way.
Kiana had changed back into the outfit the clerk picked: a simple white blouse tucked into a black pleated skirt, outlining a waist that was slender—yet clearly packed with explosive power.
The collar was slightly open, revealing a delicate collarbone, the skin there still tinted pink from the heat that hadn't faded.
It really did look good.
But Su Yu had absolutely no mental bandwidth left to appreciate it.
Because Kiana's face was so red it looked ready to ignite. Her mismatched eyes shimmered with moisture—whether from shame or something else, he couldn't tell.
"About what just now—" Su Yu started.
"It didn't happen," Kiana cut him off fast. "Nothing happened. You saw nothing."
Su Yu opened his mouth, wanting to say something.
In the end, he only nodded.
"…Okay. Nothing happened. I just came in to fix the door lock."
They held each other's gaze for one second in the cramped room, then both looked away as if burned.
When they pushed the door open and stepped out, the air outside was so fresh it almost made a person want to cry.
The clerk was standing nearby arranging merchandise, watching them with a look that radiated young people sure know how to have fun—equal parts indulgent and teasing.
"All set?" she asked, smiling. "The sizes… were they suitable?"
She put extra weight on the word "suitable."
Kiana instantly hid behind Su Yu, grabbed the corner of his shirt, and buried her face against his back, refusing to lift her head again.
Su Yu felt like his back was being branded clean through.
"All set. We'll take these sets. Scan code."
He pulled out his phone so fast it looked like he was drawing a gun. His brain had only one command left:
Get out. Immediately.
Pay. Grab the bags. Leave.
They moved with stiff, efficient coordination—like two agents completing an embarrassing exchange, not two people buying clothes.
Once they were off the commercial street, the night wind finally cooled the burning on their faces.
Su Yu carried a mountain of shopping bags. Beside him, Kiana walked with her head down, silent.
Between them stretched a distance that was… extremely delicate.
Held at 0.9 meters—safe enough not to trigger the alarm, but not a fraction closer.
Streetlights pulled their shadows long. Sometimes they overlapped for a moment—then quickly separated.
"Um…" Su Yu tried to break the silence.
"Don't mention it," Kiana's voice hissed through clenched teeth. "Ever. Don't mention it."
"…Okay."
His phone vibrated again.
He glanced down. Another message from Elysia.
Pink Fairy Miss♪: Su Yu-chan? Why aren't you replying? (｡•ˇ‸ˇ•｡)
Pink Fairy Miss♪: The stream's about to start—don't tell me there's some cute girl beside you distracting you? ♪
Su Yu sighed and typed a reply.
Su Yu: Got it. I'm heading home now.
He looked at Kiana.
"Tonight I've got a streaming appointment. I'll be gaming for a bit," he said quietly. "You rest first. Tomorrow we can—"
He paused, remembering what the system had said: to create a perfect game script, Kiana would need to recount those memories.
Memories of the Honkai.
Of wandering.
Of pain, and loss.
Too much had happened tonight. That taut string was already close to snapping.
"…Tomorrow," he amended, softening his tone. "We'll talk then. Tonight, when we get back, you can get familiar with this world's phone. See if there are any dramas you like."
Kiana stopped walking.
She looked down at her palm, then gave a small nod.
"…Mm."
They didn't speak again as they headed home.
Behind them: the bright, noisy lights.
Ahead: the quiet, deep night.
Moonlight spilled across the invisible line between them—cool, pale, and clear.
It was still only one meter apart.
But somehow… that line felt a little less tight than before.
-------
My : pat*eon*com/RuneA
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