Lu Chen, a high school sophomore, finds a clump of gray-purple tentacles outside a convenience store. It’s hurt, curled up in a crack between the steps, and clear mucus seeps from the tip of its thinnest tendril.
He feeds it half a sausage.
After finishing it, the clump of tentacles transforms into a girl of twelve or thirteen right in front of him. She has black hair, wears a dark blue dress, and is barefoot. She tilts her head at him and says two words: “Smells delicious.”
Her name is Bristan, and she tells him to call her Xiao Bu. She says she wants to eat him in the same casual tone someone might use to talk about the weather. She says the meat of a virgin boy tastes best. Lu Chen runs, then turns back after going a dozen yards. She’s still standing there, looking down at the scrape on the back of her hand.
He takes Xiao Bu home.
From then on, Lu Chen’s fish tank becomes her bed, and his old T-shirt becomes her pajamas. She perches beside his desk to watch him do his homework, sneaks bites of his fear as if it were a snack, and flops over like a cat once she’s full. She doesn’t understand personal space, and is always saying things like “Chen Chen is so warm” and “Chen Chen looks so tasty” in an innocent voice with an utterly guileless expression.
Little by little, she becomes part of his life.
Then, one day, a pale face appears against the window. Dark red eyes stare at the light inside the room, and the face grins.
“Xiao Bu, do you still remember our taste?”
The visitor is Haila. She and Xiao Bu were born when the same fragment split in two. One chose to become human, the other a monster. Haila wants to take her back.
Lu Chen steps in front of Xiao Bu.
That night, Xiao Bu cries for the first time. She says she’s afraid she isn’t human, afraid she’s just a monster pretending to be one. Lu Chen presses her head against his shoulder and tells her, “You’re Bristan. That’s enough.”
