You're Welcome

"Huff... huff, huff huff."

Accompanied by the sound of fists hitting a punching bag, a short-haired girl in a small tank top and shorts was currently pounding the sandbag in front of her.

It wasn't until her fists went numb that An Shiyu took off her boxing gloves, tossed them aside, and picked up a towel to wipe the sweat from her cheeks.

She stretched her arms; it looked like she had mostly recovered.

"Instead of spending time practicing boxing, you'd be better off learning how to use ranged weapons." Not far away, another short-haired girl said while slurping yogurt. Compared to An Shiyu's summery outfit, she was wearing quite a bit more.

"Well, it's not like we can carry around any interesting weapons anyway." An Shiyu leaned back in her chair. Sweat slid down her v-line, leaving a glistening trail before dripping onto the floor.

"Like the American M1917 Smith & Wesson?"

"You can play with those overseas," An Shiyu said.

"Spar with me."

"Eh, no way, I just took a shower." The other fish immediately replied, not forgetting to shake the yogurt in her hand. She didn't want to waste a perfectly good drink.

"You haven't been working out much lately, have you?" An Shiyu glanced at her, asking as if she had noticed something. "Slacking off? Or..."

"What's wrong with slacking off a bit?" Chao Yiyu spread her hands, waving dismissively in a very casual manner.

"Ninjutsu has no future. Nowadays, it's all about firearms and high-tech."

"Look at that guy who got headshot, or the one blasted by the national server Graves with a shotgun."

"Life is fragile, isn't it? You don't even get a chance to play a revival match." Chao Yiyu said, suddenly seeming to think of something.

"Actually, no, you can play a revival match. Haven't cyber clones been popping up a lot in short videos lately?"

"They're bringing the dead back to life."

"If you become famous and die, I can start streaming as your cyber clone. I guarantee I'll look exactly like you." An Shiyu wiped her sweat as she walked toward the bathroom.

The moment the girl closed the bathroom door, Chao Yiyu finished her yogurt. She then clenched her fist, trying to exert a little force, only to be met with a wave of powerlessness.

She silently walked over to the punching bag, extended her fist slightly, and let it land gently against it.

Chao Yiyu: "..."

"I guess I can't anymore."

"Seriously..."

...

Meanwhile, in the bathroom, An Shiyu was rinsing herself off. After scrubbing her body clean with suds, she soaked in the bathtub, a folded blue towel resting on her forehead. She loved taking a refreshing bath after a good workout.

"Splash." With the sound of water, An Shiyu lifted her slender leg in the tub, as if stretching.

After slowly lowering her leg, she looked up at the steam-covered bathroom ceiling. Then, she reached out her hand, and the little fish charm on her platinum bracelet dangled from her wrist.

"Phew~ phew~ phew..." The girl gently tapped the surface of the bathwater with the little fish charm. Perhaps due to the steam, her side profile, framed by wet hair clinging to her skin, was flushed with a slight pink hue.

Seemingly thinking of something else, An Shiyu slid further down, submerging the lower half of her face in the water and blowing a series of blub-blub bubbles.

"..."

After her bath, An Shiyu stepped out of the bathroom, turned, and went to the tea room. She sat on the tatami mats and brewed herself a cup of tea.

The girl sat there in a kneeling position. On the wall hung a set of ninja night clothes, alongside a large calligraphy scroll of the character for Quiet.

Off to the side were the Anshi family rules.

[1. Ninjas must not eat tomatoes.

2. No dating without the permission of your super darling grandpa.

3...]

At this moment, An Shiyu was incredibly demure. She sat there quietly, holding her tea and taking small sips like a refined young lady from a wealthy family, completely devoid of her usual lively demeanor.

In truth, no matter how boisterous someone's personality might be, there would always be a time of day when they just wanted to be alone in peace.

Human beings were never purely one-dimensional creatures to begin with.

After a while, as if suddenly noticing something, she glanced at her phone sitting nearby.

On the LINE social app, a profile picture that rarely appeared had popped up.

The contact name was Miyabi, and the message sent was in her hometown dialect.

Miyabi: Little fishy sister, I'm coming to Grandpa's academy as an exchange student for a year.

Miyabi: Let's spar together once I get there!

An Shiyu stared at it for a few seconds, then chose to continue drinking her tea and ignore the other party. After all, it was meaningless.

The phone buzzed again.

Miyabi: Why did you leave me on read? Are you scared of me?

Miyabi: Damn~

An Shiyu silently glanced at it. "This is exactly why I hate this app."

A moment later, her phone started getting bombarded with messages.

An Shiyu: "..."

After silently deleting the contact, the girl was finally able to get back to her quiet time.

"Phew..." Taking a sip of tea, An Shiyu let out a long exhale.

Right now, she just wanted some peace and quiet.

"Ding." At that moment, however, her phone suddenly buzzed again.

Suppressing the urge to throw her phone across the room, the girl discovered that the message was from Ye Shuang.

Ye Shuang: Chen Qin brought back some merch when she returned. Do you want any?

Ye Shuang: Photo.jpg

Seeing that it was a message from Ye Shuang, An Shiyu tapped on the image to take a look. She found that it was all gaming merchandise, figures, and the like. A few seconds later, she drew a circle around everything with her finger and sent the picture back.

An Shiyu: I want this.

Ye Shuang: Who circles everything? Leave at least a little for Keke, she wants the entire K-On! figure set.

An Shiyu: Eh, so stingy.

Ye Shuang: ...

Ye Shuang: This isn't a matter of being stingy, is it?

An Shiyu: I can buy all of this myself anyway, so there's no need.

To put it plainly, she had a separate room just for storing these kinds of things, and it was almost completely stuffed. It was far more exaggerated than Tang Keke's collection.

Ye Shuang: Is that so?

After sending that message, Ye Shuang went quiet, and An Shiyu put her phone down as well.

However, she no longer had the mood to drink tea. Instead, she kept glancing at her phone from the corner of her eye, only to find that there were no new message notifications.

"Slurp." She took another sip of tea, then slightly closed her eyes to calm her mind.

But she quickly turned her head back.

The phone remained completely silent.

An Shiyu unlocked her phone, turned the notification volume all the way up to maximum, and then put it down again.

After a few seconds passed like this, she suddenly looked at her phone again.

An Shiyu: "..."

"What am I doing?" Even the girl herself was feeling confused.

But right at that moment, the phone actually rang, and it looked like a message notification.

The girl took a look.

Fish Tofu: I ate all the pudding in the fridge.

Fish Tofu: Remember to restock.

Fish Tofu: Oh right, I also drank that bottle of strawberry juice you hid in the very back of the fridge. You're welcome.

An Shiyu: Get lost.

Fish Tofu: Eh?

Fish Tofu: You're very grumpy... Did you get dumped? So weak.