Outside the university dorm building, suitcases rattled across the pavement, wheels catching on uneven cracks as students dragged them along while calling out to one another in excited bursts.
The air was thick with humid August heat, clinging stubbornly to skin. The scent of fresh laundry hung everywhere, mixed with sunscreen and the faint smell of dust.
Someone nearby groaned about the weather, fanning herself dramatically with a dorm card.
"I can't believe we're back already," a girl grumbled, hauling her suitcase up the steps.
"Right? I was just getting used to sleeping in," another replied, not even trying to hide her misery.
The campus was waking up again. And in spite of everyone's complain, there was one exception.
Chen Yue stood in front of the dorm's main doors with suitcase in one hand and iced coffee she purchased while waiting for her ride in the other, a grin tugging at the corner of her mouth.
"Third year," she whispered under her breath. Then louder, "Third year! I'm coming!"
Her voice echoed against the glass. She half-expected someone to cheer back, but all she got was a soft breeze lifting her bangs and the sudden sound of footsteps running.
"YUEYUE!"
A blur of short legs and deadly speed flew toward her. Lin Meixuan, small but terrifying, tackled her into a hug that knocked the coffee sideways and nearly cracked her ribs.
"You didn't text me back for three days!" the girl accused, her voice muffled into Yue's shoulder. "I thought you were dead!"
"I was in my grandma's village, there was no signal! I'm not dead, okay? Not yet." Yue laughed, holding her back just as tightly.
Pulling back, she noticed something on the shorter girl's appearance. "Your hair's longer."
Meixuan gave her a once-over as well. "You got thinner."
"You got louder."
"This is my normal voice."
There was a moment of silence. Then they grinned. No one said "I missed you," but it was there, in every second of silence they let stretch between them.
It didn't even take a long time when a soft voice floated from behind them. "Excuse me. You're blocking the door."
Both of the girls turned.
Behind them, Shen Anran stood, suitcase already by her feet, arms crossed over her simple white dress. There was a small smile on her face.
"Ranran!" Yue squealed, launching forward, but stopping just short of a tackle this time. "You look like a goddess—"
"I look like someone who's been babysitting two kids for eight weeks straight." Anran sighed, brushing her hair away. "But yes, thank you."
Meixuan crossed her arms, a look of disapproval on her face. "You're late."
"I'm not."
"You are."
"I'm five minutes early."
"You're supposed to be twenty minutes early. That's our rule."
Anran chuckled. "I missed you too, Mei."
Meixuan hugged her then, just as tightly as she did Chen Yue.
Fortunately for them, nothing had changed.
Same floor. Same room. Same squeaky bunk beds that protested at the slightest movement. Even the fluorescent hallway light outside their door still flickered at two in the morning as if on schedule.
They hadn't been reassigned like others would. No new roommates, no standing around the first night making polite small talk with strangers while silently wondering if they'd get along.
And it was all thanks to Meixuan.
Somehow, through registering at the exact same time, relentless follow-ups, and a level of confidence that bordered on intimidation, she had managed to talk the dorm warden into letting them keep their room.
She'd said "I'll take care of everything" with alarming calm, then proceeded to disappear for an entire afternoon the last semester before they checked out. What happened during that time? None of them knew.
And judging by the way Meixuan waved it off when asked, they probably never would. Anran had accepted it with a quiet nod. Yue had learned long ago not to question it.
Because they knew, that despite her petite frame and harmless and almost cute appearance, Meixuan had always possessed a terrifying ability to turn serious when necessary.
She could walk into an office smiling sweetly and walk out having bent rules that were supposedly unmovable. What she lacked in height, she more than made up for in presence.
Yue could already imagine it. Meixuan standing before the dorm warden's desk, arms crossed with gaze steady and unyielding. "We want to stay in the same room."
Perhaps the warden had tried to refuse at first. Perhaps there had been an awkward pause before the authority suddenly shifted. And before they knew it, papers were signed, keys handed over, and agreements made with hurried nods.
By the end of it, the wardens were probably grateful just to send her away in peace.
The second they pushed open the door to their old shared room, it was like the last two months never happened.
Yue flopped onto her bed, which was at the far corner of the space against the wall where she usually stick her arts. "I forgot how hard this mattress is."
Meixuan didn't even bother to put her things down first and went to open the mini fridge. One brow immediately raised. "Who left a half-eaten mochi in here?"
Upon hearing that, Yue's face instantly contorted in horror. "What? It's been left there for two months? That's disgusting!"
"Just throw it away," Anran chimed in calmly as she settled her bags neatly beside her bed near the window, already reaching for a wet tissue. "It's sealed in plastic. Nothing dramatic is going to crawl out of it."
"That's not the point!" Yue protested. "It's aged."
Meixuan groaned, pinching her nose exaggeratedly. "This is a crime scene. Who left it here?" She turned to Yue, already accusing. "Anran doesn't eat mochi, so it's between you and me."
"I didn't!" Yue sprang up defensively. "If I eat, I eat everything!"
Which was true. She distinctly remembered surviving last semester's finals on bags of mochi one after another, but leaving one half-eaten? That didn't sound like her at all.
"It's not me either," Meixuan said flatly, recalling how she'd inhaled every bag of mochi Yue handed her during finals week right up until she nearly choked because her code keep crashing. "I have standards."
"Since when?"
"Since I'm not a criminal."
Anran paused mid-unpacking, finally glancing over. "Could it be from before finals week? You two were basically nocturnal."
"That makes it worse," Yue groaned. "That mochi has seen things."
Meixuan shoved the fridge door closed and finally moved toward her bed across from Anran's, dropping her bags onto the mattress with a decisive thump. "I refuse to believe this came from a sane version of me."
"So it's a ghost?" Yue suggested.
"Whatever it is, I'm not touching that."
Yue immediately pointed at her. "You opened the fridge, that makes it your responsibility."
Meixuan pointed back without hesitation. "You're the mochi consumer. Statistically, this is on you."
"I eat mochi responsibly!" Yue protested. "Whole mochi. Intact mochi. Plus you ate it too!"
"Tell that to the evidence!"
They stared at each other, arms extended, fingers accusing because neither willing to move an inch closer to the fridge no more.
"Rock-paper-scissors?" Yue was the first one to offer, though weakly.
Oh?
"Loser throws it out," Meixuan agreed and bumped her fist in her other palm, knowing she's going to win. "Don't cry if you lose."
Yue deflated, immediately regretting herself for ever trying to challenge Meixuan.
But before either of them could act, Anran sighed softly, the sigh of someone who had witnessed this exact scene far too many times.
She tied her hair up with practiced ease. "You two panic every semester," she said calmly. "I'll throw it away, wipe the fridge, and we'll survive. Relax."
Yue and Meixuan exchanged a look, simultaneously lowered their hands and exhaled.
"…You're really built for adulthood," Yue muttered, shaking her head in awe. "At this rate, you'll start stocking our dorm with necessities the way my mom does."
Anran only smiled, already reaching for the trash bag with her usual quiet grace. "I'm making a grocery list. We need soy milk, toothpaste, and air freshener."
Yue grinned, pointing at her. "See? Mom behaviour."
Meixuan snorted. "Alright, Mom, I'll go run the errands." She fished out her wallet with exaggerated enthusiasm.
"I'll follow too!" Yue announced, hopping off the hard mattress without hesitation.