Ch.17
T/N: Hey guys, just one chapter today and tomorrow, sorry! Fingers crossed to be back on two chapters a day from Friday onwards!
After inserting a few tokens, the machine showed the screen to select their fighters.
Yi Ran went directly to Orochi[1], while Song Yu Meng picked Kula Diamond.
It’s a well-known fact that Orochi was the strongest character in King of Fighters, and Yi Ran thought Song Yu Meng would choose Orochi or Iori Yagami to face off against her. She never thought it would be Kula.
“Seriously, you chose Kula against Orochi?”
“What, can’t I?” Song Yu Meng said defiantly. “As long as I play properly, you won’t beat me even with Orochi.”
Yi Ran was speechless, wondering: Are you saying I can’t play properly?
After confirming the stage and the rules, the game started.
Yi Ran first retreated with Orochi and kept the block up, while Song Yu Meng was aggressively attacking and using the specials. Yi Ran had already been forced to the edge of the map, but there wasn’t much damage taken thanks to the continuous block.
Song Yu Meng taunted, “Crazy Yi, you’re being unreasonable. I’ve never seen such a coward, only blocking in the game!”
Yi Ran smiled and watched as Kula kept attacking.
Half a minute went by and when Kula’s rage meter[2] was filled, Song Yu Meng used the ultimate attack.
Yi Ran dropped the block and watched as Orochi was left with a sliver of health. She didn’t panic though, it was all within her control.
Song Yu Meng felt like she was going to win, so she laughed: “Hahaha Crazy Yi, why didn’t you block? You’re gonna lose now!”
“You just used your ultimate, you think you can still beat me?”
Yi Ran immediately went on the offensive and knocked Kula down. When the character got to her feet, Yi Ran pressed the 2 and 3 buttons at the same time to activate the combo and she watched as Kula’s health bar went down.
Song Yu Meng was panicking. She saw Orochi’s rage meter filled up and felt uneasy, blocking just like Yi Ran did earlier.
Yi Ran smiled, knowing victory was close at hand, and she threw the ultimate out. Orochi’s damage was too high and even though she was blocking, Kula was knocked out.
KO appeared on the screen and Yi Ran let go of the controls, asking smugly: “So? I’m pretty good, right? Do you accept defeat?”
Unwilling to admit defeat, Song Yu Meng scoffed: “Cheh, you’re not good at all! You’re a coward, shameless!”
“How is that being shameless? It’s called having a strategy, okay?” Yi Ran shook her head.
“What strategy? It’s clearly being shameless!”
“Okay, okay. Then I won’t block, I’ll fight you directly, okay?”
“That’s more like it. If you don’t play shamelessly, this lady wouldn’t lose!”
The two of them went for another round. This time, Yi Ran didn’t block at all. The moment the round started, she immediately stuck close to Kula and attacked. Buttons 1 and 3 were another new combo, and Kula was immediately knocked down. Once the rage meter was filled, an ultimate took care of that round.
The whole round took just around 10 seconds.
“I played fairly this time, and you still couldn’t beat me.” Yi Ran wriggled her eyebrows. “Am I good?”
“You’re not good at all! If you’re so good, you use Kula and beat my Orochi, then I’ll admit you’re good.”
“Deal.”
Another round started with Yi Ran on Kula this time, and Song Yu Meng picking Orochi. If we’re just talking power levels, it’s indeed very hard for Kula to beat Orochi, but Yi Ran and Song Yu Meng’s mastery of the game were at very different levels too, so Yi Ran won by a hair.
“Alright, say I’m good!” Yi Ran was incredibly proud, pointing her thumb at herself with her eyes closed, waiting to be praised.
“You’re not good at all!” With an angry, red face, Song Yu Meng hopped off the chair.
When Yi Ran opened her eyes, all she could see was the quickly retreating back of Song Yu Meng, so she shouted: “Hey Scaredy Cat, wait for me——”
In the next two hours, the two of them played every game in the arcade once and won a big bunch of tokens, but Song Yu Meng was too lazy and gave them all away.
After being tired out, Song Yu Meng called her driver to pick her up.
While walking out of the arcade with Yi Ran, Song Yu Meng noticed something in the prize cabinet and thought of something.
Yi Ran saw Song Yu Meng stopping to stare at the prize cabinet and asked: “What? Did you see something you want?”
“Go wait for me at the exit.” She pointed at the door.
“Why? You still need to me avoid seeing your prize?”
“Why are you asking so much! Just listen to me and go.”
“Alright then.” Yi Ran went to stand at the exit obediently.
Song Yu Meng walked over and pointed at the orange-flavoured lollipop that Yi Ran liked the most, asking: “Jiejie, how can I get that lollipop?”
“You need to exchange for it with prize tickets, ten tickets for one.”
Suddenly, Song Yu Meng regretted giving away all those tickets to the kids. She should have saved some.
She asked again: “Then, can I buy it with money?”
“Sure, you can also use the arcade tokens for it.”
Coincidentally, Song Yu Meng still had a few tokens left, so she put them on the counter and said: “I want an orange-flavoured lollipop, thank you Jiejie.”
“You’re welcome.”
The staff handed the lollipop over and Song Yu Meng held it in her hand as she went to the exit, keeping it behind her back.
Yi Ran saw Song Yu Meng heading over with her hands behind her back and laughed: “So secretive, what did you get?”
Song Yu Meng wanted to give the lollipop to Yi Ran, but suddenly, she felt embarrassed.
“Nothing, you’re overthinking it.” Song Yu Meng stuffed the lollipop secretly into the pocket of the jacket tied on her waist, then held her empty hands out for Yi Ran to see. “See, I told you there’s nothing.”
Yi Ran looked at her doubtfully. “Alright then, let’s go.”
The two of them exited the mall and walked towards Song Yu Meng’s Bentley.
Song Yu Meng asked: “Do you want this lady to give you a ride? Since I’m in a good mood now, you better let me know. Otherwise, once you leave this village, there aren’t any shops like this anymore[3].”
Yi Ran laughed and pointed at her scooter. “It’s okay, my ride’s right there. If I don’t bring it back, how would I get to school?”
“Oh, okay then.” Song Yu Meng said without any emotion.
She took the jacket off her waist and held it out to Yi Ran. “Here you go.”
Yi Ran hummed in acknowledgement and tied the jacket back to her waist, not realising that Song Yu Meng was looking intently at the left pocket.
Both of them went their separate ways.
The temperature dropped sharply at 7pm and Yi Ran felt a chill since she was wearing a t-shirt and the wind was strong. She stopped on the road shoulder and shrugged on her jacket, habitually sticking her hands in the pockets. Her fingers brushed against something in the left pocket.
Taking it out for a look, it was actually her favourite orange-flavoured lollipop.
But she clearly remembered that she didn’t buy any candy today, so where did this lollipop come from?
Suddenly, Yi Ran’s eyes lit up and she had a good guess where it came from. Smiling stupidly at the lollipop, she thought: No wonder Scaredy Cat was being so sneaky, she went to get a sweet for me.
She could also understand why Song Yu Meng didn’t want to give it to her face to face, she cared too much about her self-esteem.
Tearing off the wrapper and sticking the lollipop into her mouth, Yi Ran started her scooter again.
The lollipop was the usual one she always got, but today, Yi Ran thought it tasted just a bit sweeter.
Hmmm, probably just her imagination.
……
On Monday morning, Yi Ran reached the classroom at her usual time of 6.50am.
She walked in with a bit of trepidation, thinking how she should bring up the lollipop, but when she entered through the rear door, there wasn’t anybody at Song Yu Meng’s table.
She hadn’t reached yet.
Hanging her bag on the back of the chair, Yi Ran was a bit perplexed. Usually, Song Yu Meng would have arrived by this time.
Tapping her fingers rhythmically on the table, Yi Ran continued looking at the seat, wondering when she would come.
Suddenly, Liu Luo Yang came in with his school bag from the rear door and Yi Ran wondered: Scaredy Cat couldn’t be the next one to come in, could she?
Yi Ran didn’t pay attention to Liu Luo Yang at the start, but he actually sat on Song Yu Meng’s chair and Yi Ran gazed at him, wondering what was going on.
Seeing Liu Luo Yang take out a box of cakes, Yi Ran understood.
She scoffed in contempt, knowing Liu Luo Yang was doing his whole giving-out-candy-after-slapping-someone act again. Yi Ran just hoped this time, Song Yu Meng could wake up and stop being fooled by this sort of trick.
But she underestimated Song Yu Meng.
When Song Yu Meng walked in at 6.55am and saw Liu Luo Yang sitting on her chair, she immediately became starry-eyed.
“Liu Luo Yang gege, what are you doing here?” Her attitude was exactly the same as before, as if nothing had happened yesterday.
Liu Luo Yang stood up and smiled: “Waiting for you, of course. I have something to say.”
“What is it?” Song Yu Meng was a little excited.
“I wanted to apologise.” Liu Luo Yang struggled for a bit before continuing. “About yesterday, I’m sorry. I was too rash and said stuff I shouldn’t have said. Are you still mad at me?”
“No, I got over it long ago.”
It was true, she was very upset at the start, but after playing with Yi Ran the whole day, she felt much better. If Liu Luo Yang didn’t mention it today, she wouldn’t have remembered it at all.
Speaking of Yi Ran, Song Yu Meng wondered if she ever found the lollipop in the pocket of the jacket?
Liu Luo Yang looked at Song Yu Meng and felt she was probably really not angry, and he exhaled in relief. “That’s good.”
He took the box on the table and passed it to Song Yu Meng. “This is for you, take it as an apology gift. Do you like cakes with cream?”
Yi Ran propped her head up with her hand and smirked, confident that Song Yu Meng would say she didn’t like it, because she remembered clearly that she told Yi Ran she didn’t like sweet stuff.
But Song Yu Meng held the box and said happily: “Thank you Liu Luo Yang gege, how did you know I like cream cakes?”
Liu Luo Yang patted her head and smiled: “How would I not know? Glad you like it.”
Truthfully, Liu Luo Yang had no idea what Song Yu Meng liked or disliked. He had just gotten the cream cakes from Qinyuan[4] as an afterthought.
Hearing Song Yu Meng’s shocking answer, Yi Ran looked like she suddenly found out her entire life was a lie.
Didn’t this scaredy-cat say she didn’t like sweet stuff? So was she lying to me, or lying to Liu Luo Yang?
[1] So… I never played King of Fighters, so I googled these names and while I’m 100% sure of Kula Diamond, I’m only about 90% sure of Orochi, since the original text is 大蛇 or big snake. Jump back up.
[2] 怒气值 – Literally rage value, but I’m guessing there’s some sort of combo meter in the game that’s called rage meter or something. Jump back up.
[3] 过了这个村可就没这个店 – I left the literal meaning in the text, but it basically means that once you reject the offer once, you can’t accept it even if you regret your original decision. Jump back up.
[4] 沁园 – I googled and it’s a chain bakery in China apparently, so yeah, keeping the name in. Jump back up.