Cramped.
It was way too cramped.
The designer of this fitting room was definitely an anti-humanity genius.
A space of just one square meter was now stuffed with a man and a woman, and hormones flying everywhere.
Su Yu leaned against the door panel, his body as stiff as a freshly fired brick.
He didn't even need to look up; the afterimage of that fleeting glimpse was still seared onto his retinas.
White.
A blinding white.
A faint scent lingered at the tip of his nose—the unique smell of cotton and linen from new clothes, mixed with a certain... fragrance like sun-dried milk.
Kiana hugged her chest tightly with both arms, her whole body curled up, her head nearly buried in the shadow of her collarbones.
Even without seeing her face, Su Yu could imagine her expression just from the crimson hue of her earlobes.
The air seemed to have frozen solid.
In the cramped space, the sound of their breathing was distinctly audible.
Su Yu could even feel the awkwardness of his own hot breath bouncing off the wall and back at him.
His brain shut down at that moment.
The System's damn, bright red countdown, [Distance Warning: Safe], had finally turned a reassuring green.
"...What are you doing in here?"
Kiana's muffled voice came over, thick with grievance, as if she were about to bite someone.
"You're the one who told me to come in," Su Yu answered reflexively, his gaze locked on the wood grain of the door panel, not daring to deviate by even a millimeter.
"I asked you to help me! Not to... to..."
Her voice grew smaller and smaller, until it completely vanished.
Kiana buried her face even deeper, curling up into a ball like a cooked shrimp.
Su Yu closed his eyes, forcing himself to calm down.
Deep breath.
Inhale—
That damned milky scent.
Exhale—
This was no time to be dazed. If they stayed any longer, the police would be coming to give him a lecture on the law.
"I-I'll go out first—"
"No!"
Kiana's voice jumped an octave.
"If you go out... I'll turn transparent again..."
Her voice trembled.
The tremor in that voice wasn't just from shame, but also a kind of bottomless fear.
It was the fear of her own existence disappearing, the despair of turning back into that untouchable ghost.
Compared to the shame of being naked in front of a man, she was more afraid of the despair of being abandoned by the world, of returning to nothingness.
That feeling of loneliness, of watching her hand pass through a wall, of watching crowds walk through her body, was more terrifying than death.
That amorous little flame in Su Yu's heart was instantly doused by a basin of cold water, replaced by a kind of sore pity.
He slowly exhaled, adjusted his vocal cords, and made his voice sound as much like an emotionless GPS navigation assistant as possible.
"Alright, I won't leave."
"But I'm turning around now. You... you put your clothes on first, right behind me."
"...Okay."
Su Yu turned around to face the fitting room's door panel, propping his hands on the door in a pose of someone facing the wall for punishment.
A rustling sound came from behind him.
These were the longest few minutes in the world.
They were also the minutes that most tested a person's willpower.
There was the friction of fabric sliding over skin, the meshing of gears as a zipper was painstakingly pulled up, the patting sound of clothes being adjusted.
And Kiana's breathing, which she tried hard to suppress but was still rapid.
Every single sound automatically completed itself into a high-definition frame in Su Yu's mind.
This was a hell-level test of self-control.
Su Yu clenched his jaw and began to frantically recite the Chu Shi Biao in his head.
"The late Emperor had barely begun his great undertaking when he passed away... Today, the realm is divided into three..."
No good, the Prime Minister's story is too tragic, it can't suppress this fire.
Change of subject.
"Hydrogen, Helium, Lithium, Beryllium, Boron, Carbon, Nitrogen, Oxygen, Fluorine, Neon..."
The periodic table was no good either; the arrangement of these elements now looked like some kind of human curve.
Time ticked by, minute by minute. Finally.
"I-I'm done."
A voice as faint as a mosquito's buzz came from behind him.
Su Yu turned around.
The light in the fitting room was dim and ambiguous.
Kiana had changed back into the outfit the shop assistant had put together: a simple white blouse tucked into a black pleated miniskirt, outlining a waistline that was slender yet full of explosive power.
The collar was slightly open, revealing a section of her delicate collarbone, the skin there still glowing with a pink that hadn't faded.
It was indeed very good-looking.
But at this moment, Su Yu was in no mood to appreciate it.
Because Kiana's face was so red it looked like it was about to catch fire, and her heterochromatic eyes were glistening, whether from shame or some other emotion, he couldn't tell.
"About what just happened..." Su Yu began.
"It didn't happen," Kiana cut him off, her voice quick. "Nothing happened, and you saw nothing."
Su Yu opened his mouth, wanting to say something.
But in the end, he just nodded.
"...Alright, nothing happened. I just came in to fix the door lock."
The two of them looked at each other for a second in the cramped fitting room, then simultaneously averted their gazes as if they'd been scalded.
Pushing the door open, the fresh air outside made one want to cry.
The shop assistant was standing not far away, organizing a rack of clothes. The look she cast them was filled with the kind and teasing expression of someone thinking, "Kids these days sure know how to have fun."
"Have you chosen?" she asked, a smile in her tone. "Does the size... fit okay?"
She put a heavy emphasis on the word "fit."
Kiana instantly hid behind Su Yu, grabbing the corner of his shirt and burying her face in his back, refusing to lift her head again.
Su Yu felt like his back had been burned through.
"We've chosen. We'll take all of these sets. Scan the code."
Su Yu pulled out his phone with the speed of drawing a gun. Right now, there was only one thought in his mind—escape this place of trouble immediately.
Pay, grab the bags, leave.
The entire process was carried out with a coordination that was both tacit and stiff, as if they had just completed a dishonorable spy exchange rather than buying clothes.
They walked out of the commercial street.
The night wind was slightly cool, finally blowing away the heat from their faces.
Su Yu carried the large and small bags. Beside him, Kiana walked with her head lowered in silence. An extremely delicate distance separated the two of them.
It was maintained at that 0.9-meter distance that wouldn't trigger the alarm, yet they absolutely refused to get a single fraction of an inch closer.
The streetlights stretched their shadows long. Occasionally, they would overlap, only to quickly separate again.
"That..." Su Yu tried to break the awkward silence.
"Don't bring it up," Kiana's voice squeezed through her teeth. "Don't ever bring it up."
"...Alright."
Su Yu's phone vibrated again.
He glanced down. It was a message from Elysia.
[Miss Pink Elf]: Su Yu-chan? Why aren't you replying? (｡•ˇ‸ˇ•｡)
[Miss Pink Elf]: The livestream is about to start~ Could it be that some cute girl by your side is distracting you? ♪
Su Yu sighed and started typing a reply.
[Su Yu]: Got it, heading home now.
He glanced at Kiana.
"I have a livestream appointment tonight, I have to play games for a while," Su Yu said softly. "You rest up first, tomorrow we can..."
He paused, remembering what the System had said—to create the perfect game script, he needed Kiana to recount those memories.
Those memories of the Honkai, of wandering, of pain and loss.
Too much had happened tonight. That tightly wound string was already on the verge of snapping.
"We'll talk tomorrow," he amended, his tone softening. "When we get back tonight, you can familiarize yourself with this world's mobile phones first. See if there are any TV shows you like."
Kiana stopped walking.
She looked down at the palm of her hand, then nodded lightly.
"Okay."
The two spoke no more, walking in the direction of home.
Behind them were the bustling, noisy lights of the city. Before them was the quiet, deep darkness of the night.
The moonlighted over the invisible, yet tightly connected line between them, casting a cool, white glow.
Although it was still only a one-meter distance, this line... seemed a little... less suffocating than before.
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