Chapter 7: A Shura Field Between an “Ex-Girlfriend” and a “Current Girlfriend”?

“…The list said you’re visiting the Tennis Club. Why are you here?”

Smiling but with veins probably popping on her forehead, Shen Yingxu interrogated me with the stiffness of a rusty machine joint.

“What about you?”

“I’m here to get info from that girl. She gets whisked away right after school, and during breaks, she’s swarmed.
The club trial’s my only chance to get close to her.”

The model sculpture on the display was sharply defined.
The Art Club had set up a large area for freshmen to try painting as part of their recruitment drive.

Right now, I felt every gaze in the room fixed on us.

“That’s the love triangle, right?”

“That guy looks so average… How’s he pulling this off?”

“Didn’t the school try to hush it up? He hasn’t denied it, so it’s true?! Zhu Lubing really has a boyfriend?”

“I heard the ex-girlfriend’s some rich girl… and the top-scoring freshman rep…”

“Man, them sitting together’s gotta be awkward…”

A cacophony of whispers, like pearls clattering on a jade plate.

“I was dragged here,” I muttered in protest.

“You’re that bad at saying no? Can you lend me 20,000 then? Urgent, non-repayable kind,” Shen Yingxu said, keeping her smile while her lips twitched.
If others weren’t watching, she’d probably have bitten me.

“I can say no, but the school leaders can’t! To avoid getting transferred, I don’t have the right to refuse her!”

My eyes glazed over.

“Then transfer!” Shen Yingxu didn’t hesitate to make my choice.
“I’d rather you leave than sit here getting gossiped about with me. Do it for me.”

“Why the h*ll would I do it for you?!”

“Tch.”

Teacher, she just clicked her tongue!

“What about you? Why’re you here? You don’t strike me as an art lover.”

“I’ve got a Level 8 in sketching.”

…Sounds impressive. Not that I’d know.

I mentally rolled my eyes at her cheat-code-level talent.

Unlike my occasional bickering with Shen Yingxu, Zhu Lubing, on my other side, was quietly painting on her canvas.
Bathed in the morning sunlight, she looked like an elegant painting herself.

It made me feel inferior, like my squabble with Shen Yingxu was ruining her beauty, sparking a twinge of guilt.

Behind her, a crowd of students who hadn’t gotten a turn at the easels gathered.
With Zhu Lubing there, almost everyone flocked to her spot, eager to glimpse the national treasure painter’s work.

“Wow, Zhu Lubing’s not painting the statue—she’s painting her boyfriend’s profile?”

“She must be bad with words, unsure how to handle being in the same room as her beloved boyfriend’s ex, so she’s using her best skill to express her feelings.”

“So moving. This painting’s full of emotions—shyness, anxiety around her boyfriend, jealousy toward the ex, and hope… Huh? Why’s she putting horns on her boyfriend’s head?”

“I got it! It’s a cuckold thing! Zhu Lubing thinks her boyfriend’s a cuck!!”

What the h*ll is she painting?!

“It looks like the Demon King, doesn’t it?”

Pausing her brush, Shen Yingxu glanced at Zhu Lubing’s painting from afar, her tone icy.

“Hey, you really believe she doesn’t remember anything about the Sephirian Continent?”
In a voice only I could hear, she continued without turning her head.

Women are born actresses.

I shrugged, adding a red streak to my doodle.

“Don’t you think if she really forgot but painted me as the Demon King in front of us, that’s too blatant? It’d make her lie pointless.”

“…Ugh, so annoying. A butcher who took so many lives gets to act like nothing happened?!”

Snap.

Shen Yingxu tossed her brush down, looking irritated, and stormed out under everyone’s stares.

“What’s up?”
“Is it hard seeing her ex’s new girlfriend paint him?”
“I’ve never seen Shen Yingxu like this. She must love her ex so much! So sad!”

That last one, get ye to Jinjiang next door!

Glancing at Shen Yingxu’s canvas, I sighed faintly.

“Seriously, not one person’s here for the actual club activity.”

It was an illustration like a group photo.

A long-haired girl in a white dress stood among others, all smiling joyfully—except her.
Her face was blank, featureless.

…

Finishing her final stroke, Zhu Lubing looked up.

She’d been so focused for so long that the Art Club’s recruitment event had ended, but no one dared interrupt her work.
So here I was, her dutiful sidekick, doodling stick-figure fights out of boredom.

Take this, Kamehameha!

“Did I do something to upset her?”

Zhu Lubing glanced at the empty seat beside me, asking out of the blue.

But I knew who “her” was.

“It’s fine. Her mood swings aren’t new.”

She’s the flying-knife psycho, after all.

I sighed, stood up, thought for a moment, and picked up Shen Yingxu’s abandoned painting.

“Might as well list it on Xianyu. ‘Level 8 sketching by a beautiful girl.’”

I muttered, turning to Zhu Lubing.

“Is Level 8 sketching impressive?”

She tilted her head like a confused kitten.

“Forget it. For you, it’s probably basic stuff.”

I sighed, rolled up the painting, and walked out of the club room with Zhu Lubing.

I just wanted to go home early, but it was nearly dark.

We walked side by side in silence, leaving the multipurpose building.

“…Will you join the Art Club?”

Since silence was boring, I threw out a topic.

“No,” she shook her head.

“They’d be too considerate of my feelings. They could’ve told me to leave earlier.”

“I don’t want to be a burden or burden others,” she said softly.

Oof, the Art Club probably didn’t expect their thoughtfulness would be their downfall.

“What about you?”

She looked up at me.

“I don’t wanna join anything. Just wanna go home early,” I said frankly.

She nodded, paused, and said quietly.

“Then I’ll go home early too.”

No need to copy me, you know?

I gave the petite girl beside me a wry smile.
Pretty sure she wouldn’t listen if I told her.

“The topic’s dead, and I feel ants crawling all over me in this silence—can you start a topic? Just not about boyfriend-girlfriend stuff!”

I patched my request urgently.

Zhu Lubing nodded vaguely, pointing at Shen Yingxu’s painting.

“That’s… lonely.”

Wish I could release a V2.0 patch to tell her not to talk about absent people either.

I don’t care one bit if the flying-knife girl’s lonely.

“You even know what loneliness is?”

I thought emotionless types wouldn’t bring up feelings like that.

Zhu Lubing hummed softly, answering my slightly rude question.

“I know. The feeling of being left behind.”

…Crap.

I stopped walking.

Following my lead, Zhu Lubing stopped too, looking up at me with a pitiful gaze.

“Look, you’re not actually…”

“Please stop bothering me!!”

Before I could finish my question, a shrill, cracking yell came from the courtyard across the road.

Zhu Lubing and I both turned toward the sound.

Yikes, this is bad…

I thought to myself. Why’d I run into her here?

“That’s harsh. You weren’t like this before, Qingshu~”

I saw a scene I really shouldn’t get involved in.

In the courtyard’s corner, Ye Qingshu’s arm was grabbed by a guy, looking annoyed and panicked.

But they seemed to know each other.

Lovers’ quarrel?

I thought idly, then frowned slightly at the guy’s clothes.

…Huh, is he from the Tennis Club?