Games and Change

“Can I ask what class you’re in?” Wang Ning looked at Chloe and smiled.

The person staring down at the problem froze for a moment, then said in a low voice, “I’m in… Class F.”

Wang Ning… Wang Ning was genuinely surprised.

There was no way someone this smart could be in the class at the bottom. She couldn’t help but recall a post on the forum during the military training competition.

[Do you guys know which class took third place in the military training competition?]

[You’ll never guess—it was Class F! They scraped by into the final round with a score of 10.]

[While Class A and Class C were fighting to the death for first place, Class F had 6 people left, and they just obediently guarded their own base. No one even bothered them, hahaha.]

[Winners in a different sense, then, hhhh.]

Although she didn’t know what Class F was doing at the time, they had been nicknamed “Little A-Class” because of this clever strategy—just a “billion” points shy of surpassing Class A. If you rounded up, it was basically first place.

Because of this, Wang Ning had been curious about Class F, but she never expected someone as smart as Chloe to be in it.

Perhaps her astonished expression was too obvious. Chloe lifted her head to look at Wang Ning. Her neck was thin, and when she looked up, she resembled a daisy slowly unfurling, making the black-framed glasses perched on her nose seem completely out of place.

She turned her face away, avoiding Wang Ning’s eyes, and said softly, “I’m not as amazing as you think, and I’m not smart… Compared to everyone else, I’m… too weak.” After that, she seemed unable to continue, and only silence remained.

Wang Ning: ‘!’

‘Wang Ning, hurry up and think of how to comfort her! How did you manage to poke another sore spot with just one sentence?!’

“But in my eyes, you’re amazing. You were able to easily explain such a difficult problem to me, which means you’re a very smart person. Class rankings don’t mean anything; only personal ability is real…” Wang Ning wracked her brains, speaking carefully but quickly.

After a moment, she saw the pale face next to her grow redder and redder. Finally, Chloe reached her hand out in front of Wang Ning’s face, as if wanting to cover her mouth.

But she only tilted her body slightly, and her hand landed on the book. Listening to those completely unfamiliar words, the black emotions that had just begun to sprout within her were completely evaporated, leaving only anxiety and… helplessness.

‘Why is this person so strange?’

‘Perhaps, the attitude I’m showing right now has made her mistakenly believe that I’m friendly.’

The original plan of just apologizing and leaving had failed completely, to the point that she was now confused as to why she hadn’t just gotten up and left immediately, instead of listening to the other person’s rambling and false concern.

‘Sharp, harsh, merciless words stabbing at her—that was the scene she was familiar with.’

But the other person maintained a surface level of kindness, leaving her at a loss as to how to respond for a moment.

Wang Ning yawned, finally stopping her stream of praises for Chloe, which made her secretly let out a sigh of relief… and yet, a strange sense of loss arose.

“It’s getting late, I should head back,” Wang Ning stretched. Her stiff muscles, from not having moved for a long time, suddenly relaxed, and she thought she heard her sore shoulders scream.

However, she was already much better than before, having insisted on exercising for a while.

After packing her things, she hesitated for a moment and said to Chloe, “Do you want to go back together? Or, if you want to keep studying…”

Chloe’s head shot up, her eyes shining. “Okay!”

After reacting, and remembering what she had just agreed to, her body stiffened.

But Wang Ning had already said cheerfully, “Let’s go then, together.”

As they were leaving the library, Wang Ning saw the cluster of blue balloon flowers, blooming vigorously, stretching their petals and leaves towards the sky, which triggered a memory.

The same scene, the same person, but this time, she was closer to the person standing isolated by the flowers.

[“You shouldn’t be having this kind of thought?”]

‘Shouldn’t what? The thought of getting close to her?’

“It’s raining,” Chloe said suddenly.

Wang Ning looked up. A light drizzle was falling from the sky, pattering on the roof and streaming down in silvery threads. A low rumble of thunder sounded in the distance. The air was filled with the smell of moisture, and a breeze blew the raindrops off course, a few of them hitting her face.

“Ah, I forgot to bring an umbrella,” Wang Ning remembered seeing the weather forecast this morning. She didn’t recall there being any rain.

The weather at this time of year was so unpredictable. It seemed her only option was to run back through the rain.

Chloe didn’t say anything more, but simply took something out of her bag—a blue umbrella.

Wang Ning: “…Yay!”

The small blue umbrella was held over their heads. The curtain of rain falling from the brim separated the world in two. The tight space brought them very close, so close it seemed they could hear each other’s heartbeats.

For some reason, the two who had been “chatting freely” in the library were now silent. They walked slowly towards the dormitory building in the quiet rain.

Wang Ning belatedly felt a spreading sense of awkwardness. To the other person, she was just a classmate she had met once before, but to Wang Ning, they had already met long ago in the game.

She wondered where to start to break the silence. It would be even better if she could get the other person to reveal more details.

But Chloe spoke first. Her profile was slightly damp from the rain, and her greyish-white hair was being blown by the wind.

She looked at the road ahead and suddenly said, out of the blue, “You… Student Wang Ning, why are you trying to get close to me?”

[“Why do you greet me every time we meet?”]

—For a split second, Wang Ning almost thought she was still in the game. She turned to look at the person beside her but couldn’t make out the expression hidden by her hair.

But she quickly composed herself, telling herself this wasn’t a game. There were no options for her to choose from, no fixed plot that couldn’t be changed—at least here, the question Chloe asked had changed, hadn’t it?

She thought seriously, stepping into a puddle without even noticing the water splashing onto her shoes and socks.

But she took too long to think. So long that Chloe’s fingers holding the umbrella began to turn white, and the unease in her heart grew. She even began to regret asking such a question.

‘How foolish.’

Her heart clenched. Her gaze had no focal point as she stared at her own feet moving forward.

After what felt like an eternity, she heard the person next to her suddenly say, “Haven’t you always been the one to approach me first?”

Chloe turned her head in astonishment and saw a brilliant smile on that face, her own reflection in those blue eyes.

She held up two fingers. “Twice, it was me who ran into you by accident.”

“And, the second time, you were the one who approached me,” Chloe saw a sly look in those eyes.

‘Was that so?’

Chloe’s mouth opened, her mind a blank. She found that she couldn’t refute it, her throat dry.

‘Was that so?’

‘So, so it had always been her, intentionally trying to get close to her.’