The school bell was like a stone shattering glass, causing a commotion throughout the classroom.
The mouse nearly snapped its neck as it turned its head: "Brother Mo! Want to play games at the internet cafe? We're one short!"
Su Wantang, who was in the front row, stood up while holding her ballet bag. Her swan-like neck was dazzlingly white in the light.
I leaned back in my chair without moving, my gaze fixed on the full curves of her figure encased in her tight dance pants.
"Wait for my sister." The pen twirled rapidly between her fingers.
The mouse was whistling and making faces when I hit it on the back of the head with an exercise book.
When Shen Youyi appeared at the back door, her black hair was still covered in chalk dust, and her gaze froze instantly when she met the mineral water bottle that Su Wantang handed her.
"Wantang," she said with a sweet smile, tugging at my sleeve, "Mom said she made oxtail soup today!"
Her slender fingers, like cat's claws, secretly dug into my forearm.
I squinted as I watched Su Wantang's fingertips trace the dampness on her neck, and as she bent over, shadows were revealed through the collar of her training clothes.
The real hunt begins when the school bell rings.
______
The school bell slammed into the classroom with a long, drawn-out tone, like a drunkard smashing a glass bottle, the shattering sound of the broken pieces creating an instant uproar.
"Damn, class is finally over!" Huang Minghao in the front row suddenly shook his head, his thin neck almost twisting into a pretzel.
He turned halfway around, his school uniform collar askew below his collarbone, grinning to reveal a dangling silver chain. "Brother Mo! Let's go! Tianli Internet Cafe, five-man team, all we need is your stabilizing presence!"
I ignored it. The pen was still twirling between my fingers, but my gaze remained fixed.
Su Wantang was slowly getting up from the spot by the front door of the classroom.
She has long legs and a slim waist, making even an ordinary school uniform skirt look like a dance practice outfit.
She held the dark blue ballet bag in her arms, the straps of which were tied around her chest, making her round and full figure even more prominent.
The setting sun slanted in through the window, brushing against her raised chin and swan-like neck, dazzlingly white.
She seemed to sense my gaze, and gathered the stray hairs that had fallen to her cheeks, a faint blush creeping up her ears.
"Wait for my sister." I uttered three words lazily, rubbing the back of my head against the cold chair back. That glaring red stood out starkly against her pale neck.
The mouse let out a strange cry and whistled off-key: "Oh my, so you're waiting for Little Yi, huh—" Before he could finish speaking, I swung my thick chemistry textbook like swatting a fly, and it hit him squarely on the back of the head with a "bang."
The mouse let out a loud "Awooo!" and jumped up, clutching its head and wailing, "Brother Mo! Dear brother! Can you use a different notebook next time? You've given me a concussion from all the knowledge points you've photographed!"
The classroom erupted in laughter.
Su Wantang also curved the corners of her mouth into a smile, her eyes glancing in this direction almost imperceptibly.
In the sunlight, fine beads of sweat appeared on her forehead, trickling down her temples to the small, beautifully shaped indentation behind her earlobe, glistening.
Just then, footsteps sounded from the back door. A furry head poked its head in.
It's my dear younger sister, Shen Youyi.
He had just come from the experimental class of the first year of high school, and there was still some chalk dust on his hair. His clear black and white eyes were like little hooks. He scanned the noisy crowd and immediately locked onto the direction of me and Su Wantang.
She walked over, her steps steady, the hem of her school uniform skirt swaying, her slender calves exposed as she wasn't wearing white socks.
Su Wantang happened to walk a couple of steps toward me, holding an unopened bottle of mineral water in her hand. Her fingers were long and slender, her nails were neatly trimmed and rounded, and water droplets condensed on the bottle slid down between her fingers.
"Mo Mo, here, I just bought it from the supermarket, it's ice cold." She handed over the water, her voice warm and gentle, with a slight pant from exercise.
The training clothes were made of thin fabric that clung to the body. When bending over, the neckline swayed down, revealing a small, ambiguous space, through which one could vaguely glimpse the deep curve of the collarbone outlined by the tight-fitting tube top.
A drop of sweat, hovering at the edge of that shadow, meandered down and disappeared into the deeper blind spot.
Shen Youyi's steps seemed to have been paused.
The next second, the air seemed to freeze.
The taut, slightly arrogant expression on her small face instantly turned frosty, and the temperature in her eyes was as cold as ice.
That bottle of water became the fuse.
"Hey, Sister Wantang," Shen Youyi's voice rang out, sweet enough to make you swoon, and she put on a big smile as she moved right up to me.
Her soft arms wrapped around mine without warning, and a warm scent, a mixture of lime shampoo and a young girl's sweat, filled my nostrils.
She whined in a soft, whispered voice that I could only hear, "Brother—what are you dawdling for? Mom specially made oxtail soup for you today! It's cooked to perfection, or it will boil dry if you go back any later."
She tilted her head back as she spoke, her bright black eyes looking at me, her eyelashes fluttering, looking utterly innocent.
But her slender fingers, as thin as scallion stalks, were now pinching a small piece of flesh hard and precisely on the inside of my forearm, her nail tips digging in.
Ouch. That's fucking ruthless. Those little female cat's claws.
I didn't pull my arm away, letting her hold it.
His gaze swept past Shen Youyi's black hair and fixed on Su Wantang's face. Su Wantang remained in the position of handing over water, a gentle smile on her face, seemingly unaware of the silent confrontation before her.
A drop of sweat finally gathered enough weight to slide down her slender, fair neck, flowing along the undulating, beautiful lines into the deep, snow-white cleavage supported by her strapless bra.
My Adam's apple bobbed silently.
The second hand of the clock on the back wall of the classroom clicked as it jumped a mark. The noise subsided like the receding tide, leaving behind a clearer, more silent tension in the air.
The mouse rubbed its head, its face a picture of wanting to get closer but not daring to, and shrank back two steps away. Su Wantang's fingertips slowly tightened on the damp, cool exterior of the mineral water bottle, her knuckles turning slightly white.
Shen Youyi tightened her grip on my arm, and I could feel her fingertips digging into my flesh more clearly.
Her long, straight black hair, reaching her waist, swayed, the ends brushing against the arm of my school uniform jacket, tickling me.
I could feel her warm breath brushing against my jawline.
She smelled of clean laundry detergent, mixed with the scent of chalk dust and the restless sweat of teenagers in the classroom.
Su Wantang finally moved.
She seemed to only then realize that the bottle was still in her hand, and the water stains had already spread into a small, dark wet patch on the bottle wall where she had squeezed it.
She didn't look at me or Shen Youyi again, but very gently placed the bottle of water on the table in front of me.
*Click.* A soft sound.
"Then I'll be going now," her voice was like a gentle breeze across the water, so light that it was almost devoid of emotion. "Evening practice is about to begin." Her turn was swift and graceful, revealing the perfect posture of a ballerina. Her back was straight, and her neck was stretched into an elegant arc, like a swan about to take flight.
But just as she picked up her dance bag and turned to take a step, a small breeze stirred up the hem of her school uniform skirt.
As the hem of her skirt brushed past the corner of my table, her navy blue ballet bag swayed slightly.
Suddenly, I gripped the cold, heavy set of house keys in my pocket, the keys digging into my palm.
My fingertips rubbed against the fine, uneven edges of the key's serrated edge.
Her heels tapped on the ground, tap, tap, tap... She walked toward the door, her silhouette stretched long by the light streaming in through the doorway.
The blue hue disappeared into the light.
"elder brother!"
Shen Youyi's voice suddenly rose, tinged with displeasure at being ignored, instantly pulling me back to reality. She practically grabbed my arm and shook me: "Still looking! Everyone's gone! Mom's soup!"
Under the table, with a hint of venting in her little leather shoes, she lightly kicked my shin—not hard, but enough to express her dissatisfaction.
A few classmates who hadn't quite made it out yet looked over, their eyes filled with a mischievous smile.
"I heard you," I replied casually, picking up the bottle of mineral water on the table with my other hand. The bottle was still damp and warm from Su Wantang's body heat. I slipped it into the side pocket of my backpack.
"Get lost, you rat. I'll throw a 53 at you again next time." I glanced at him, and the guy immediately shrank back with a forced smile, made a zipper-sealing gesture, and darted away.
"Hmph!" Shen Youyi finally loosened her grip a little, then took my arm and took big steps, as if she wanted to drag me away from this place filled with Su Wantang's scent in one step.
Her little leather shoes clicked crisply on the ground. "All you do is stare! Your eyes are practically glued to other people's practice clothes! Is dancing ballet so great?"
A strong smell of vinegar mingled with the scent of lime on her clothes. I didn't respond to that. Outside the corridor window, large patches of orange-red sunset clouds were ablaze, turning the exterior walls of the opposite teaching building red.
Shen Youyi was still grumbling, puffing out her cheeks: "...You stinky older brother! Mom must have put in a lot of potato chunks again today, and you ate them all if I got home late!" As she spoke resentfully, she unconsciously moved closer to me, her arms wrapped tightly around me.
The sweet fragrance and warm touch of her body wafted through the thin summer school uniform, while the soft, plump curves hinted at another, more hidden allure that belonged to her.
Her long, straight, black hair, reaching her waist, brushed against my arm, some strands slipping into the cuffs of my shirt, causing a feather-like tickle.
I curled the corners of my lips into a smile and ran my fingers through the fabric of her school uniform along the soft skin on the inside of her arm.
Shen Youyi bristled instantly like a lit firecracker: "Silence! You're being silly again!" Her voice was both shy and anxious, and two blushes appeared on her cheeks. She stopped pinching me, but instead tightened her grip on my arm. She gave me a reproachful look with her eyes, like a cat that had been bristling but was now being soothed.
As she walked to the corner of the first-year high school floor, she ran into two girls from her class, who were chattering away while holding their exercise books.
Shen Youyi's shyness vanished instantly. She raised her chin slightly and resumed her usual aloof and unapproachable demeanor, simply nodding indifferently.
Once the person had disappeared around the corner, she immediately sidled up again, muttering under her breath, "Hilarious! They brought their weekly quiz paper to ask questions, and they can't even figure out the basic general terms..."
His sharp tongue was on full display.
After going downstairs, I walked through the spacious pedestrian plaza between the teaching building and the school gate.
The summer evening breeze carried a slightly dusty, sweltering scent, but it couldn't dispel the clean lime fragrance emanating from the girl beside me, nor the lingering warmth emanating from her body.
She held my arm, practically hanging on me, her center of gravity completely reversed. One half of her full and incredibly elastic breasts pressed tightly against my arm, creating a heavy, oppressive feeling and an amazing softness with every step.
The weight of my D-cup breasts, even through two thin layers of school uniform fabric, felt incredibly heavy on my senses.
"Hey, this is so heavy." I pulled my arm away with a disdainful gesture, the movement was minimal.
"You dislike me?!" She immediately puffed out her cheeks and glared at me, her cat-like paws threatening to scratch me, but her eyes held a hint of smugness at being exposed. "Then go home and drink some cold soup!" she said, trying to let go of me, but the action looked like a bluff, with a sticky, coquettish air about her.
I pulled her close, holding her tightly: "Shut up, or I'll throw you in the fountain." I threatened her, but my fingertips gently brushed against her bare arm.
"You're the one who wouldn't want to..." she hummed, her voice light and sweet with a hint of spoiled pride, and then pressed her face back against my arm, as if she had found a perfect cushion.
The setting sun cast a golden glow on her hair, her long black hair falling down, the ends brushing against the back of my hand.
The evening breeze gently lifted the hem of her school uniform skirt, making her ankles, encased in white socks, appear exceptionally delicate and fragile.
I lowered my eyes, my gaze sweeping over her small, rounded knees, over the curve of her slightly protruding chest, and over the tiny whorl of hair that nestled against my arm.
The sunlight warmed the top of her hair, giving it a dry and pleasant scent.