A Young Woman's Heart

“Of course! If you can’t afford the model, you can buy the box set to collect!” Zhou Yong retorted, looking quite excited. “I want that Zaku box set!”

Five yuan.

"Here you go!" Zhou Yong handed over his five yuan almost without hesitation.

"Is he crazy?" Mo Xueyao looked at Duanmu Ji in disbelief and asked.

However, the latter showed no surprise: "It's normal."

"What's normal about this... Speaking of which, what's the meaning of those scattered ones?"

"It means some odds and ends I found online. If I'm lucky, I can pick out the parts I want and assemble a complete Gundam!" Zhou Yong was very excited, but unfortunately he was short of money. "Sigh... what a pity. I need to save the money for other things. If I had money, I really want to buy some parts, even just to assemble a head..."

Mo Xueyao's eyelids drooped, and she felt that he had gone mad.

However, in fact, he was not the only one who had gone astray.

"I'd like to buy a loose item." Duanmu Ji took out a set of change consisting of a five-yuan note, a ten-yuan note, three one-yuan coins, and four five-jiao coins and handed them to the stall owner.

"Hmm... he wants to buy this kind of broken junk?" With Zhou Yong's example, Mo Xueyao wasn't too surprised.

"It's not trash, it's a beautiful embodiment of my dreams!"

"If only you could write essays at this level," Mo Xueyao muttered softly.

……

Chapter 113 The Joy of a Small Circle

A hundred or so people is actually not that many.

If you divide the area into groups based on each stall, there are probably only six or seven groups of people.

At such gatherings, beautiful girls always stand out, and Mo Xueyao was no exception.

But it seems no one bold enough to come over and try to get close to them.

People share many common topics, yet they tacitly maintain a comfortable distance for everyone.

Small circles have their own kind of happiness. Precisely because the circle is small and the number of people is small, they feel like family members who are not related by blood.

Occasionally, a few lines from anime will pop out, bringing a smile to people's faces.

It feels so good to have your words understood by others.

Humans really do need their own kind.

"Come on, come on! There aren't many people in our circle, so I hope everyone can get to know each other. New friends, please come up to this little stage!" A voice amplified by a microphone came from the middle of the stage. The woman who had just danced seemed to be the host of this small gathering.

This gathering may be small, but it has everything you need.

"Huh? Are you talking about us?" Zhou Yong, who was holding an empty box and grinning foolishly, pointed to his nose in confusion.

"It seems so?" Mo Xueyao wasn't quite sure either.

"Stop looking! It's that girl in the hoodie and the two guys next to her!"

The host, wearing beautiful makeup and dressed in the clothes of a female character from some anime that Mo Xueyao didn't recognize, smiled and spoke.

The stage is higher than the ground, and since the crowd isn't particularly dense, it's easy to see everyone below.

Mo Xueyao looked up at the beautiful host, feeling that she looked somewhat familiar.

"Ah, they really are calling us."

"Let's go." Duanmu Ji took the lead and walked ahead, seemingly not for the first time on such a stage.

People automatically made way for them, allowing the three of them to walk onto the small stage.

The stage for this prototype was simply not big enough. After four people stood on it, it already felt a bit crowded. If you wanted four people to dance together, you probably wouldn't have enough room to move around.

At such close range, Mo Xueyao once again felt a sense of familiarity with the female host on stage.

In a moment, a flash of inspiration seemed to appear in my mind, and then I suddenly remembered what my English teacher looked like.

Although she was wearing makeup, it wasn't particularly heavy, so after careful observation, she was still recognizable.

"Huh—!" Mo Xueyao's eyes widened in surprise, "Your Majesty..."

"Shh." The host smiled mysteriously and winked at her, seemingly signaling her not to reveal the truth.

Zhou Yong, standing to the side, was also shocked, but because of the host's blinking eyes, he swallowed back what he wanted to say.

Duanmu Ji, on the other hand, remained calm. It was unclear whether he always wore that expression or if he had already seen it before and was therefore not shocked at all.

Well, speaking of which, Zhou Yong was introduced to this event by him, so it's normal that he already knew about it.

"I'm your host, Yu Yu~ What are your names? You don't have to say your real names." Yu Yu said, first holding the microphone to Mo Xueyao's mouth.

"Ah...me?" Mo Xueyao wanted to think of a nickname to replace her real name, but because she was unprepared, she couldn't think of one for a while. So she stammered for a while and finally could only say her real name, "My name is...Mo Xueyao."

"Mo Xueyao, what a lovely name! Just hearing it tells you she's a well-behaved and quiet girl!"

Mo Xueyao's lips curled into a smile. She really wondered how she would have thought of the name if she were still a boy.

I guess they'll still say names that sound like girls, right?

"So, my friend, what's your name?" The microphone was immediately moved to Zhou Yong.

"My name is Zhou Yong!" He seemed a little excited, perhaps because he had learned a teacher's little secret?

“The man in black,” Duanmu Ji replied softly, adjusting the brim of his hat as he did so.

He was dressed entirely in black, so you could call him a man in black.

But if he's referring to the kind of men in black from The Matrix, then he'd have to wear a trench coat and sunglasses to look like them.

"How did the three of you meet?" Yu Yu asked knowingly.

"We are all classmates, and we are in the same club."

"Wow~ That's great! I wonder what your three favorite anime or tokusatsu shows are?"

"Card, come and fight!" Zhou Yong eagerly answered, striking a cool transformation pose. Although he didn't have a belt, he did it very seriously.

Many boys in the audience burst into laughter, but it wasn't a mocking laugh; rather, it was a joyful smile, a sign that they had found another like-minded person.

"That looks pretty realistic!" someone egged on. "Show a few more!"

"Okay!" Zhou Yong, who usually seemed normal, suddenly became a bit of a show-off. The attention he received made him even more excited, and he performed several fighting moves in a row, some of which were cool and others that made people smile.

"Damn it, why!" Finally, he ended this little personal show with a slightly hunched posture, arms and legs slightly apart, and a famous line.

You can tell he was really happy.

This is also the purpose of this rally.

Normally, there's no opportunity to share my joy and happiness in this area with the people around me. Only at gatherings where "everyone is one family" can I fully share what I love with like-minded people.

At this moment, the best compliment is a knowing smile.

When you laugh out loud because of certain lines, the distance between people is unconsciously shortened.

"So, which 'Men in Black' do you like best? You can also perform for everyone like Zhou Yong did!"

Duanmu Ji grunted in response, then slowly leaned back, displaying astonishing flexibility, while his arms swung gently as if he were dodging something.

Mo Xueyao recognized it at a glance; it was the classic move the protagonist made when dodging bullets in The Matrix.

It seems he's recently watched The Matrix, and appears to be somewhat engrossed in it...

"Wow, that's so cool!" Yu Yu helped Duanmu Ji up. "The man in black doesn't seem to talk much, but that fits his 'persona,' doesn't it?"

"Yes—!" the people below responded with laughter.

"He looks even more like one if he wears a trench coat and sunglasses!"

Finally, it was Mo Xueyao's turn.

She looked at the 'audience' below the stage, which wasn't many, but still a considerable number to her, and surprisingly wasn't as nervous as she had imagined.

"I like Ultraman." Her gaze was calm, and she smiled. "My favorite is the original Ultraman."

After she finished speaking, she also made a gesture reminiscent of the original character taking out the Beta Wand to transform.

"Wash your socks!" Of course, the voiceover wasn't forgotten either.

The fact that a girl likes tokusatsu (special effects) surprised everyone in the audience.

"Holy crap, this is absolutely a treasure in our tokusatsu world!"

"Yeah, yeah, the kind that you have to worship every day!"

Mo Xueyao felt somewhat helpless as she was once again treated differently because of her gender, but she didn't show it on her face. Instead, she waved back to the audience who were waving to her.

No matter what, we can't let down the kindness others have shown us, can we?

"Well, now everyone will get to know the three of you. Since we don't have many people at our gathering, everyone is required to participate in this competition. The competition is very simple; it's just singing. We will randomly select a few friends from the audience to be the judges, and the three best singers will be selected to receive prizes. As for the songs, any songs related to anime, tokusatsu, or movies are fine."

"What reward?" Zhou Yong asked with a curious look.

"I won't tell you what the reward is, but it's definitely something to look forward to! Anyway, it's definitely not some cheap knock-off!" Yu Yu paused. "So, who wants to go first?"

"I'll do it! I'll sing Seven's theme song!" Zhou Yong volunteered, and he was indeed as 'brave' as his name suggests.

However, Seven's theme song doesn't seem to be much more difficult than Two Tigers, right?

At the very least, there aren't many Japanese song lyrics that need to be memorized.

"Pfft, okay, then it's Seven~" The host couldn't help but cover his mouth and laugh, skipping off the stage and saying, "Well then, Mo Xueyao, man in black, let's come down first and leave the stage to Zhou Yong!"

"Seven—Seven—Seven—!" Zhou Yong started singing with a serious expression.

Even the 'audience' who had just been laughing, as long as they knew a little bit of singing, started singing along with him.

Although the song was very simple, Zhou Yong still forgot the lyrics a bit. Fortunately, some enthusiastic people in the audience sang loudly to remind him, otherwise he probably would have just been repeating the word "Seven" like a broken record.

However, towards the end, he forgot the lyrics even more, and he couldn't help but laugh at himself. So he simply went with the flow and started singing along with the music, "da da da da".

Of course, you could also call it chanting or humming.

In short, Zhou Yong clearly came for fun, so it was expected that he wouldn't get a high score, since he was slightly off-key when singing this kind of song.