*Optimistic, resilient game protagonist vs. gloomy, world-weary, sharp-tongued high school girl
*An Baijie vs. Li Jinwu
An Baijie had always thought her school life was a little too eventful.
She had an elective every other day, club activities after school, and preparations for dances, performances big and small, the school music festival, the anniversary celebration, and monthly exams.
On top of that, her lively childhood friend next door, a gentle piano club senior, a cool student council president, an upright discipline committee member, and countless classmates whose names she couldn't remember all pursued her passionately, competing with one another both openly and behind the scenes.
At a party one night, she accidentally drank something alcoholic. She staggered back to her dorm, but when she woke up, she was in an unfamiliar room that was cramped beyond belief.
The door opened, and a stranger walked in. She looked about An Baijie's age, and wore a white jacket unlike anything An Baijie had ever seen. Looking closer, she could make out the words “City No. 2 High School” on the chest.
An Baijie stared at her in alarm. “Who are you? Where am I?”
The stranger glanced at the doorplate and answered calmly, “My home.”
That was how it happened. In this unfamiliar place, the only person she knew was the stranger, Li Jinwu.
An Baijie couldn't find her way back to her academy dorm, so she had no choice but to ask Li Jinwu to take her in. Li Jinwu refused coldly, saying she had no money.
“I can put on a mascot suit and hand out flyers for money.”
“They don't have those here.”
“I can play piano at banquets. I bet it pays well.”
“Ordinary people can't get into banquets.”
“I'm not ordinary.”
“What makes you think that?”
An Baijie studied the girl before her, curious. “Do you not like me?”
Everyone liked her. They loved her and hoped she would accept their love letters.
Li Jinwu sneered. “Why should I like you? Are you a banknote?”
Still, An Baijie stayed, telling Li Jinwu that if she wouldn't take her in, she'd have to wander the streets.
She had taken a cooking elective, so she could make late-night snacks for Li Jinwu, who had classes until nine-thirty every evening. She'd pay for it herself.
*
Li Jinwu was gloomy and world-weary. When she met An Baijie, academic pressure and financial burdens had driven her to consider suicide.
An Baijie's sudden arrival interrupted her plan.
An Baijie was laughably naive. The only ways she knew to make money were handing out flyers and playing piano. When she talked about school, all she could think of was the one hundred and twenty after-school clubs and at least eighteen school events a year.
Li Jinwu thought An Baijie couldn't understand her, let alone the world she lived in. She was a huge pain in the neck.
But An Baijie was always chattering away, as if she had endless energy.
An Baijie was better at schoolwork than she was. She taught Li Jinwu how to solve problems, then praised her with shining eyes, telling her how clever she was.
An Baijie couldn't be knocked down by anything. She quickly adapted to Li Jinwu's world and turned her dark, cramped home into a little garden.
An Baijie...
It wasn't until Li Jinwu passed the window of a game shop that she realized An Baijie was the protagonist of a third-rate dating game. Its nonsensical storyline mashed together Chinese, Japanese, and American school settings to create Via Academy.
The childhood friend, the senior, the student council president, the discipline committee member... They were all romanceable characters, and they had been in love with An Baijie for ages.
She couldn't bear to look any longer and hurried away.
Before long, a new school was finally completed in the heart of the city, right beside No. 2 High School.
The public school project originally announced had been abruptly replaced, as if by some glitch. The new school sign was grand and bright. They said it was an elite school with a relaxed atmosphere.
Li Jinwu stood at the entrance, silently staring at the four characters “Via Academy” on the sign, and at An Baijie walking out of the school.
And at the admirers who had appeared along with the academy, surrounding An Baijie.
Ah.
Li Jinwu suddenly realized she had no advantage at all compared with these perfectly designed game characters.
What could she do to make An Baijie keep looking her way?
The author, characters, and themes of this work do not advocate or support any form of self-harm. No matter what happens, life can only turn around if you keep living.
Theme: Keep fighting to live
