Chapter 9: You delete, I delete too

  Yilin's life has always been simple and regular: every day, she goes to work on time, finishes her household chores (I must declare that I once applied for the very creative job of washing dishes with all sincerity, but was firmly rejected by her), watches TV, surfs the internet in moderation, probably listening to music or watching soap operas. Occasionally, she would go out and play with a few female classmates, but always returns home before it's too late. In short, she is that kind of extremely traditional good girl - before I met Yilin, I had subjectively thought that such girls were already as rare as the giant panda.

  "That's pretty good." I suddenly felt a bit dry in the mouth. "How about him?" Honestly, if no one pursued a girl like her, that would be unacceptable to heaven and earth.

  "It's okay, I guess..." Irina said softly, shaking her head "I don't know either. He asked me out a few times and I didn't go."

  "Why don't you go?"

  "I don't know him!" She raised her head in surprise. "Why did you agree to it?" As if I had said something treasonous.

  I fell. I really can't believe this is a girl living in the 21st century. "Which dynasty did you come from, miss? Can't we just get to know each other after meeting?"

  "That's not it," Irin said "I don't want to go."

  Suddenly a sense of relief. "If you don't feel like it, then just don't go, this is up to you."

  She tilted her head and thought for a while before saying: "So they didn't know what to do, so they came to talk to you. That person is friends with our manager, and the manager also came to speak up for him."

  "Oh..." I said.

  "Go ahead and meet up, it's not like he's going to eat you." I paused for a moment and then said: "If you're worried, why don't you go with two classmates and find a more familiar place?" Originally, I wanted to say that I would accompany you, but later on, I thought, what's the point of an old man like me joining in on your date? It's not like we have any relationship, it's just making things complicated.

  "Really? - We can go with others, why didn't I think of that?" Irin said joyfully, as if my idea was very clever. "Thanks, Ichiro. You know me, I'm too stupid and timid, going alone is scary, what if we don't get along... actually, actually that person isn't bad."

  What's wrong? Don't want to go? Isn't this a clear case of "refusing at first but welcoming later"?

  I feel empty and lost inside.

  ………

  As soon as I woke up, I rushed back to the game again.

  "Sorry, the user (Hengdao Xiaoyixiao) you applied for is logged in elsewhere. Please try again later or contact game customer service."

  Autumn leaves are on top of my number.

  Re-login 6 times.

  Still in that snowy field. Two people lying side by side - me and Akane's corpse.

  "Are you there?" I asked.

  "In."

  "Why don't you come over? It's so boring here, I can keep you company and chat with you."

  "I like it." Akira's answer was always brief.

  "You don't have to come yourself, I can just hang out with the machine for you. There's nothing fun to do anyway." I said. Indeed, staring at this fixed scene on the computer is quite dull. What can we do? We're all scattered and unable to accomplish anything.

  I like it.

  "When did you come?"

  "Two points."

  I took a deep breath. Heaven! It's been more than three hours and I've just been staring at this unchanging scene - there's no doubt about it, she's been here since I logged on. I think she needs a psychiatrist.

  "For such a long time - what have you been doing?" I asked cautiously.

  "I'm watching you."

  “…………”

  "Missing you a bit." The words fluttered in with the autumn leaves.

  "Just a little." she said.

  ……

  I feel a bit surprised and happy. "Is that really you? Why have you changed your style?" I said. "If you want to scold me, just go ahead, I can take it. You're making me a bit scared with the way you're talking."

  "May I see you?" Akira said.

  "Can't you see it now?" I said.

  "See you in person."

  “…………”

  Tomorrow afternoon 5 o'clock at Haitian Building Rui Xue Hall in this city.

  "What's Haitian Building? Don't know." This is true. I really don't know many entertainment and dining places in this city.

  "Ask yourself." She said slowly and calmly, her words seemed icy cold.

  I suddenly felt a bit uncomfortable. "Boss! You're also from this city? Never mentioned it before. I usually tell you everything."

  But thinking about it, there's really nothing to complain about, and no one is forcing you to say anything, it's just that you're humiliating yourself.

  "Fine, fine, go if you want to!" Isn't it just a normal gathering of net friends? Maybe something exciting will happen hehe. I start imagining the appearance of Autumn Leaves - God bless that she's pretty **and best if she has some** no, should be rich - and most importantly can't be a transvestite.

  "Is it the Rui Xue Hall at Hai Tian Lou? How are we going to meet up? Are you holding a magazine or something so that we can recognize each other and not get mixed up with others?" I started getting impatient and began discussing the details of our meeting.

  "It doesn't matter."

  "Do you have a good way? Or we can exchange photos first to get to know each other." --- This is better, can avoid stepping on landmines like dinosaur-level weirdos.

  "You won't. You can't see me."

  “？？？？？？？？”

  "I won't let you see it."

  "What's going on? Are you kidding me?"

  "Even if I see you, it's impossible for you to recognize me." Akira said word by word without any emotional tone. Completely disregarding others' feelings and not caring whether they could take it or not.

  “…………”

  "In the Rui Xue Hall, there is a pool of water. Stand in the middle of that bridge. Only one person can stand there and I can see you. Stand for 10 minutes at 5:10 and then you can leave."

  I'm really angry. "What do you mean, boss? Are you kidding me? Am I a monkey standing there for people to gawk at? It's just a meeting, isn't it? Will someone die if we take a look at each other? You can look at me but I'm not allowed to look at you, is that fair?" A string of question marks flew over and even I myself got confused.

  "Whether you go or not is up to you." Akira seemed indifferent. "I'm going to delete the number. I won't be coming back."

  What? Delete the account? Don't be so extreme, right? --- You have to know that an advanced warrior like Akane's account with so much money and equipment in the warehouse can sell for several thousand yuan. Of course, mentioning money is just to illustrate the value of this account, I've never had such thoughts, actually, if I wanted to sell her account, I could do it anytime --- I have both the game account and password.

  I think I might have been too invested in the game, I don't know about other players, but for me, Akane is my most intimate partner, a lover who can share life and death with me, a wife who is essential for daily life and travel. Honestly, that's what I thought. Who would sell their beloved wife for money?

  Deleting a contact is indeed heartbreaking because it represents separation - forever.

  "Have you thought it through? Are you really going to delete it? Why? Is it because you don't have the equipment on you and don't want to play anymore?" Another string of question marks.

  "No."

  "It can't be played anymore," said Akira.

  "There's no need to delete it, just leave the account with me and you can come back online whenever you want." I struggled in vain, but I knew that Akira's decision was irreversible.

  "No way." As expected, Akane was unmoved. "You can still play as usual, I'll give you everything in the warehouse," she said.

  I smiled slightly. A line of verse that was quite vulgar came to mind: "The clouds at sunset on the mountains, the snow in the distance, whose shadow is it going towards?"

  "I won't stay here alone," I said. "If you leave, I'll leave too."

  "That's your problem."

  "Alright alright, which time didn't I accompany you to the end? Is it 5 o'clock tomorrow?" As I typed, I thought to myself that I'm really a cheap person.