Abnormal

“Yuehua?”

Ning Rou’s cautious call pulled Xiao Yuehua back to reality. Her feet, which had been moving toward their destination out of habit, came to a halt.

She looked down to find Ning Rou holding her hand.

“Yuehua… class just ended. Where are you going?” Ning Rou asked tentatively, her voice heavy with unspoken subtext.

“I’m going to—”

Xiao Yuehua was about to answer when she suddenly remembered: her tutoring sessions with the Professor had been canceled.

She froze on the spot.

That’s right. The bet was now in effect. She no longer had to go to the rehearsal room every day to receive extra emotional training from the Professor. She no longer had to worry about his every change in mood. She no longer had any substantial connection to him at all—and therefore, no reason to go see him.

And all of this was thanks to…

“Ning Rou.”

Xiao Yuehua looked at her best friend with a strange, inscrutable expression.

“W-what is it?” An inexplicable chill washed over Ning Rou, causing her to shrink her neck back. She felt that this version of Xiao Yuehua was terrifying.

But in the next heartbeat, as a smile bloomed on Xiao Yuehua’s face, the chill vanished as quickly as it had appeared.

“It’s nothing. I just wanted to thank you for worrying so much about me.”

“Oh, that…” Ning Rou relaxed, dismissing her previous fear as a mere hallucination. She waved her hand dismissively. “It’s only natural. We’re friends, aren’t we?”

As she spoke, she glanced at the time, appearing to remember something.

“By the way, I have something to do today. Yuehua, why don’t you head back to the dorm by yourself first?”

“Something to do?” Xiao Yuehua’s gaze was meaningful.

“Right… because… because I heard a new dessert parlor opened in the academy. I want to go try it… hehe…”

“A dessert parlor, I see. Looking at the direction you were headed, I thought you were going to the rehearsal room.”

“That… how could… no way…” Ning Rou stammered as she tried to patch up her lie, though the effect was lackluster at best.

Fortunately, Xiao Yuehua didn’t seem interested in pressing further. She simply waved goodbye and began walking toward the dormitories. Ning Rou remained where she was, letting out a long, heavy sigh of relief.

When Ning Rou pushed open the door to the rehearsal room at the appointed time, she saw the Professor leaning against the wall. He was scrutinizing a report in his hand, and next to him sat a familiar paper bag.

Hearing the sound of the door, the Professor turned his head and glanced at his wristwatch.

“Student Ning Rou, you are five minutes late.”

“L-late or whatever… Wait! Is that the tone a student should use with their teacher?” Ning Rou shifted the subject guiltily; she had indeed dawdled a bit on the way.

“My apologies. I simply believe that punctuality is a basic virtue everyone should possess, regardless of status. However, putting that aside, if you are concerned with my choice of address or tone, I can change it.”

For some reason, even when he was speaking normally, Professor Nangong had a way of making one’s blood boil. Although the fear born of unfamiliarity suppressed Ning Rou’s urge to snap, she couldn’t resist the urge to tease him.

“Of course you should change it! Didn’t the Professor say he wanted to be my student?”

“Very well, Teacher Ning Rou.”

“Eh… Eh?!”

Contrary to her expectations, the Professor’s dry, immediate compliance made Ning Rou feel utterly out of place.

“Wh-what did you just call me?”

“I called you Teacher Ning Rou. Is there something incorrect about that?”

“No… no, no! Of course it’s incorrect! You’re a professor—how can you call a student that?” Ning Rou’s face burned with embarrassment. “I was just joking when I told you to call me teacher!”

“Is that so? I personally don’t see anything wrong with it.”

The Professor remained expressionless. As he spoke, he handed the paper bag next to him to Ning Rou.

“What’s this?”

Ning Rou took the bag with a puzzled look. Before she even opened it, the rich aroma of cookies hit her nose.

“Could it be… Cloud Cookies? Why are you giving me these?”

“An apology for last time.”

Ning Rou immediately recalled their first encounter at the bakery.

“An apology… it’s not like I’m the type to hold a grudge…” she muttered, peeping into the bag. The cookies, fresh from the oven, were still steaming. The scent they radiated was incomparable to the cooled versions she usually bought.

At this moment, her rising irritation was completely dissipated by the joy of gourmet food. Looking back at the Professor, she felt that his poker face was much easier on the eyes than usual.

“If you don’t like that reason, then consider it a gift for my apprenticeship. How about it, Teacher Ning Rou?”

“An apprenticeship gift? That’s even weirder! And stop calling me that!” Ning Rou’s ears were burning. Why did it feel like she was the one being teased now?

“Even though I don’t feel like there’s anything I can teach you, Professor… well, regardless, before we start the guidance, why don’t you show me what you’ve got? Let me see your level.”

After using the Cloud Cookies to soothe both her temper and her stomach, Ning Rou composed herself.

The Professor, however, showed a rare trace of hesitation.

“Perform? Now?”

“Yes.”

Ning Rou didn’t quite understand his reluctance. He seemed almost ashamed to reveal his acting, or perhaps… insecure?

But how could that be? Wasn’t he a favored son of heaven? Even if his status had plummeted after failing to become Best Actor two years ago, that was only relative to his former glory. He was still a professor; why would he lack confidence?

Vwoom…

The massive Acting Power began to circulate. Under the Professor’s exquisite control, the manifested phantoms appeared so realistic they were almost indistinguishable from the truth.

But.

“Huh?” Ning Rou blinked. “Wait…”

“This isn’t right.”

“Is the Professor’s acting… really like this?”

Her delicate brows furrowed slightly. “Why is it so… stiff?”

It wasn’t that the phantoms moved stiffly, nor was it a problem with the flow of Acting Power. The problem lay with the Professor himself. His performance was an empty shell—it had no soul.

“This… can’t really be called acting…” Ning Rou whispered under her breath.

However, her words were caught by the Professor, who had just finished his performance.

“I see. But this is already my limit.”

Ning Rou panicked instantly. She had only intended to think those words, but they had slipped out of her mouth.

“I… I wasn’t trying to be mean… it’s just…”

“It’s fine.”

The Professor wasn’t angered by her harsh critique. On the contrary, he accepted the reality naturally.

“I have no intention of blaming you. After all, you are telling the truth.”

“Well… actually, it wasn’t that bad…” Ning Rou tried to save some face for him.

“Really? There are only the two of us here; there is no need for white lies.”

“Okay, actually it was terrible. I lied!” Ning Rou suddenly lowered her head and spoke at high speed.

The Professor was silent for a moment.

“…You didn’t have to be that blunt.”