Chapter 13: The Black Handprint

“My dad remarried, a year and a half ago.”

Jiang Ciqiu opened her mouth wide, looking incredulous.

She, who had devoured every clichéd plot trope, immediately jumped to melodramatic scenarios of stepmothers abusing stepchildren.

“Ah? Why haven’t you told me something this big before? Does your stepmother treat you badly?”

Lin Xia didn’t look at her shocked face. He just lowered his head, watching the shadow stretched by the streetlight, and spoke to himself.

“She… the auntie he brought back is really gentle, and she treats me well. Even after she got pregnant, she still came to the hospital to see me several times, carrying that big belly.”

“The auntie also brought a younger sister, a few years younger than me. But she’s pretty timid. When she saw me all covered in tubes back then, she seemed scared, hiding behind her mom the whole time.”

“When I came home from school today, Dad and them had set up a little discharge celebration for me. Balloons hung in the entryway, and there were colorful ribbons.”

The boy reached into his pocket and pulled out a single piece of golden glitter, the kind that shoots out of a party popper.

He rolled it between his fingertips, feeling it carefully.

“They were laughing so happily. Even my sister, who always keeps her distance, was smiling.” Lin Xia’s voice was soft. “That scene really was warm. Like… a family.”

Jiang Ciqiu saw his drooping shoulders and felt a pang in her chest.

“So you think you’re not part of your dad’s new family anymore?” she asked quietly.

Lin Xia’s body gave a visible jolt. Then he nodded slowly.

His bangs fell over his eyes, hiding his expression. Jiang Ciqiu couldn’t read him.

But watching his shoulders shake slightly, she naturally assumed her friend had finally given in to tears. She fumbled a tissue from her pocket and handed it over.

For a teenage boy, having his father remarry and start a new family, complete with a new sister, was the kind of event that could fill ten volumes of a light novel.

Sure, the old saying went “men don’t cry easily,” but on a matter this big, tears were unavoidable. Otherwise, he’d bottle everything up like a pressure cooker and blow.

Yet when Lin Xia turned his head, Jiang Ciqiu saw his eyes were perfectly dry, not even red-rimmed.

“Ah, I, I thought you…”

Jiang Ciqiu held up the tissue awkwardly and waved it.

“It’s not that bad.”

Lin Xia took the tissue, clutched it in his hand, and shook his head.

“My dad’s been remarried for over a year now. If I was going to cry, it would have been when I first heard. He’s finally got a normal life again. I’m too happy for him to waste tears.”

The boy tugged at the corners of his mouth, trying to show a relieved smile.

But to Jiang Ciqiu, that smile couldn’t have been faker.

“Liar.”

“I’m really not.”

Jiang Ciqiu sighed and let it go.

The girl reached out and ruffled Lin Xia’s head hard, twice.

“Fine, then I’ll praise you! Having that kind of understanding at your age already puts you ahead of plenty of adults out there. Little Lin, you’re amazing, amazing~”

Feeling the warmth on his head, Lin Xia froze for a moment. A flush crept up to his ears, and his voice dropped.

“…You talk like you’re already all grown up, A-Qiu.”

“Heh, I am older than you! Come on, call me big brother.”

The girl grinned wickedly, pressing his head down a bit more.

“Well then, Big Brother Jiang, you should eat more.” Lin Xia shot back. “When I carried you to the infirmary on the playground today, you were light as if you’d starved for three days. Your bones dug into my hands.”

“Tsk. So what if you’re tall?”

Jiang Ciqiu’s expression flipped instantly, and she clicked her tongue in annoyance.

Lin Xia might have spent most of the last few years on a hospital bed, but his height hadn’t lagged. At over 1.8 meters, he stood out in the southern city of Shanhai.

As for her…

Jiang Ciqiu glanced down at her chest.

She suspected this body funnelled all its nutrients into developing that one part that always stayed hidden, which meant even with shoes on, she stood a head shorter than him.

“Just you wait. Once I hit 2.2 meters, I’ll hoist you up and do a spiral launch into a flying sky drop. Then we’ll see if you still talk big!”

Lin Xia couldn’t keep from laughing at the girl’s vicious threat.

“That sounds like a move straight out of a fighting game, used by some burly Russian wrestler.”

Jiang Ciqiu didn’t deny it. She raised her chin.

“Mm-hm. This weekend I’m coming over. You’ve got a PSX at your place, right? Make sure the controllers are charged. I’ll knock you flat.”

Hearing the sudden invitation, Lin Xia blinked.

The part of him that had been resisting going home, now that everything felt unfamiliar, suddenly picked up a little more motivation.

The boy nodded firmly and let go of her sleeve, which he’d been clinging to all along.

“It’s late. I really should go now.” Jiang Ciqiu shoved the half-eaten bag of snacks into his arms. “Take these home and split them with your sister. If Auntie sees me buying candy late at night, I’m going to get scolded again.”

As he accepted the plastic bag, Lin Xia realized he almost never heard Jiang Ciqiu talk about her family.

He knew her parents were constantly away, and she’d been fostered at a relative’s place. But every time he asked, A-Qiu acted like she was perfectly fine, as if living under someone else’s roof was nothing at all.

Watching her silhouette recede, Lin Xia felt a sudden, strong urge.

He wanted to know her better.

To find out if she felt lonely staying at a relative’s. Whether the auntie mistreated her. Whether, like him, she wandered out at night because she felt she had no home.

“See you at school tomorrow~”

Jiang Ciqiu didn’t notice his tangled thoughts. She turned back, smiled, and waved.

“Mm. See you tomorrow.”

The girl turned and trotted out of the alley with a light step.

Lin Xia stayed rooted to the spot until she vanished from sight, then slowly brought his gaze back.

He fished a lemon candy from the bag. Inside the wrapper was a golden, translucent jelly.

Popping it into his mouth, the artificial sweetness and tartness spread across his tongue at once.

The boy stared at the crumpled wrapper in his palm, and an unwitting, gentle smile curved his lips.

Sure enough, just seeing A-Qiu lifted his mood.

Staying by her side as her best friend forever was enough. He shouldn’t ask for more.

A night breeze swept by. The wrapper in Lin Xia’s palm caught the wind and tumbled to the ground.

He bent down automatically to scoop it up, but when his gaze fell on his own empty right palm, his motion halted for a split second.

Only a few dozen minutes earlier, the mysterious men who’d tried to kill him all had a palm tattoo on the side of their necks.

“…Maybe I should find some time to look into that. The black handprint.”

****

Elsewhere.

“No boss’s assignment hanging over me, coming home feels so easy!”

She stretched and let out a sigh.

“Even if this isn’t my true home, it’s ten thousand times lighter than being a beast of burden, spun around by work all day!”

“You don’t seem nervous about dying six days from now, nor worried about your friend’s real identity, meow.”

The black cat had managed to appear again, strolling silently by her feet.

“What’s the point of being nervous or anxious? It won’t keep me alive. So why be afraid?”

Jiang Ciqiu casually kicked a pebble toward the cat.

Unsurprisingly, the stone passed straight through its body and rolled into the grass on the other side.

No physical form, just as she’d thought.

“I’ve already gotten my mind straight.”

The girl kept her hands in her school uniform pockets, her tone flat.

“Enjoy seven days of freeloaded youth, then quietly face the eighth day’s sun and die. Isn’t that ending romantic enough?”

Surprise flickered in the black cat’s deep red eyes. Jiang Ciqiu’s reaction to death didn’t match what it knew.

“Where’s the romance in that, meow? Aren’t humans all terrified of death, meow?”

Jiang Ciqiu let out two short, mirthless laughs.

“You, Hachimi, go work for over a decade and see. You’ll find death doesn’t seem scary at all.”

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