I stood there, mouth slightly open, shame still simmering on low heat.
Robin's laugh had stopped halfway. Sam blinked. Even Drake, forever unserious, looked like he'd just seen plot armor manifest.
Because right there
The guy stepped closer, arms half-open like he was about to hug her and she gently stepped back, dodged, and gave him a polite, barely-there smile.
Not annoyed.
Not angry.
Just a soft "no" that somehow echoed louder than a slap.
The guy's shoulders dropped.
He scratched his neck awkwardly, mumbled something, and slowly walked away defeated but trying to look cool about it.
My chest did a backflip, front flip, in my mind screaming "in ya face!!!!".
Robin whispered, voice shaky from disbelief:
"bro got done dirty."
Sam said:
"Tch wish I got that on camera, would have added that rema song ASAP"
My brain refused to process.
My heart had already sent thank-you letters to maybe Buddha himself.
She looked back into the hall, eyes scanning.
Found me.
For a second, everything went silent.
Even the old ceiling fan above stopped squeaking in my head.
Then she typed.
Phone buzzed.
"Sorry, just someone from my hall. Still wanna come outside?"
In my soul: GET IN JOOOR.
But on chat, I typed:
"Yeah. Coming."
Robin coughed dramatically. "congratulations kairo."
Sam grinned. "NPC getting promoted to main character,"
Drake clapped me on the back, nearly knocking the air out of me. "so tell us how it feels being the main character now..?."
I shook my head, trying to look calm, but my legs were basically made of spaghetti code.
Phone in one hand, hoodie half-zipped, I walked toward the exit.
Every step felt unreal. Like glitching through a cutscene I'd imagined a thousand times but never thought would actually render in real life.
Outside, the breeze slapped my face cool, damp.
She stood by the corridor railing, phone pressed to her chest.
Looked up as I came closer.
Slight smile, a bit awkward.
"Hey," she said, voice softer than I expected.
"Yoo" I echoed, probably sounding like my throat ran on 15fps.
I scratched my neck, classic NPC move. "So... you actually play Genshin?"
She nodded, grin flashing. "Yeah. Just started. Still running around Mondstadt doing commissions."
Bro. Mondstadt.
She wasn't lying.
My Otaku heart did the Michael Jackson lean.
"Nice," I managed. "I can help, if you want. Builds, domains, story quests... all that."
She laughed lightly. "I was hoping you'd say that."
Another pause.
Rain still dripping from the roof edge, making small puddles around us.
Some random guy walked past carrying his laptop and complaining bout his faulty code(when he's clearly using windows tch).
Campus life, unbothered.
Then she spoke again, voice quieter:
"By the way... I didn't mean to make it weird earlier. The message thing."
I shook my head. "No, no - I mean... I was the weird one. Quoting anime in real life."
Her grin widened. "It was actually kinda funny."
Bro.
She thinks I'm funny.
Somewhere in my head, victory music played.
Then she tilted her head, looked at me directly.
"What's your name, by the way? Like, your real name."
For half a second, my brain blanked.
Then I remembered: oh yeah, we've never even exchanged names.
"Kairos Trevor," I said, voice steadier this time. "And you?"
She smiled, brushing damp hair behind her ear.
"Aeris Peterson."
Bro. Aeris Peterson.
Of course her name would sound novel like.
In that moment, under a flickering tube light, I genuinely forgot about tomorrow's test, failed past questions, everything.
I was about to say something else maybe joke about her name sounding like it came with DLC...
When suddenly
My phone buzzed again.
Robin's number.
"Bro come back inside ASAP ."
I frowned, and looked back into the tutorial hall.
Lights flickering harder than before.
Voices rising.
Aeris tilted her head, eyes concerned.
"Everything okay?"
I glanced at her, then at my screen again.
Heart doing warning pings.
What exactly is happening inside?