Chapter 96 - 34: [Mo’an] (Side Story)

Chapter 96: Chapter 34: [Mo’an] (Side Story)

A heavy, exhausting drowsiness intertwined with a helpless cold.

"Mo’an? Mo’an!" someone called out softly. "Xia Mo’an! Hey!"

He opened his eyes to the unfamiliar, cramped ceiling of their rented apartment. Turning his head slightly, he saw a pretty girl with features similar to his own standing at the bedroom door.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK.

She rapped her knuckles against the wood. Heavy dark circles framed her slightly pale face. She looked haggard, like a bird terrified by constant gunfire.

"Ugh! I’ve been calling you for ten minutes!" the girl huffed. She was dressed in blue rabbit pajamas and fuzzy slippers.

"Oh... yes, yes. My deepest apologies, milady..." he replied offhandedly, mimicking a terrible anime trope as he struggled out of bed.

In reality, he rarely watched anime and had little interest in its beautiful two-dimensional characters. He didn’t even understand the anime memes his friends in the college computer club constantly referenced. Xia Mo’an preferred video games, especially *Dark Souls*. It was an exhausting, apathetic, gloomy, and harshly crude world—like resilient, jagged ancient rocks, yet filled with unyielding fire and sunlight.

But his sister loved anime. She would smile when watching *Gintama* and *Bocchi the Rock!*, and lately, she had been watching *Ya Boy Kongming!* and smiling at that, too. Ever since she dropped out of school on a medical leave, her smiles had become rare. A poorly executed anime catchphrase might just make her smile a little more.

His tactic worked again. His sister giggled at his awkward imitation. "Hurry up and get out of bed!" she said, tugging at his arm. "Didn’t you tell me to wake you up at seven?"

"Yes, yes..." Xia Mo’an agreed. He grabbed his phone, which was at ninety-three percent battery, glanced at a screen full of notifications, and tapped "Clear All." Then, he unplugged the yellowing charging cable with its frayed, exposed rubber.

He could have easily set his own alarm, but he wanted to give his sister simple, small tasks to provide her with a "sense of living." This was what the clinic doctors and her therapist had advised him to do. Moreover, assigning her the responsibility of being his morning alarm meant she would actively go to bed early, wake up early, and take her medication peacefully to complete the task. It kept her from staying up all night crying.

The rented apartment was tiny: two bedrooms, one bathroom, and a main room that served as a dining room, living room, makeshift kitchen, and temporary luggage storage. Because the space was so cramped, the windows were small too, resulting in poor lighting. The patches of sunlight that managed to shine through were meager. Xia Mo’an had originally wanted to rent an apartment with large windows that would let in plenty of sunlight, as the doctor said sunlight was good for her.

However, after three years of working part-time as a tutor and living frugally in college, he had only saved up forty to fifty thousand yuan. If he wanted a long-term lease, he couldn’t afford a place like that.

"Time for breakfast," he called out to his sister. Standing by the living room window, he boiled bags of milk in a small electric pot and tossed last night’s leftover cold soup dumplings into the microwave. He filled her bowl with oatmeal and placed it in the small patch of sunlight on the living room table.

Xia Qingnan sat on the sofa, gently tapping her bowl. The small patch of sunlight Xia Mo’an had carefully calculated fell perfectly on her arm. As time passed, it would gradually shift to illuminate her pale profile. During the autumn season, this patch of light would last throughout their entire breakfast, starting at seven o’clock. He was very good at calculations and planning, even if it was just for a beam of light. Perhaps it was some kind of talent, though he only ever used it to play simulation games like *Oxygen Not Included* that required cycle calculations and strategic planning.

She was finally able to get up and eat breakfast. This was a good sign. Previously, she would cry all night long, weeping until she passed out in the early hours of the morning, and then sleep until five o’clock the next afternoon. When she woke up, she would just stare blankly out the window at the setting sun.

Xia Mo’an felt his decision to move out of his college dorm to live with Nannan had not been in vain. Nannan needed someone by her side. If left alone in this environment, with a chaotic schedule, days and nights reversed, and bearing such immense pressure, she would only get worse. He had changed his sister’s SIM card, so now their parents could no longer frantically call to curse Nannan for being worthless.

"Planets rotating day and night, covered everywhere by the shadows of others..." His phone started ringing. The ringtone was the theme song from *Rainbow Sea*, one of the few anime he had actually watched. He really liked it. It was just a pity that, much like his own life, it still had no ending.

He glanced at the caller ID and casually hung up.

"Who was that?" Nannan asked, scooping up some milk.

Her hand was no longer trembling. She could hold the spoon steadily now. This was a huge step forward. Back when she was struggling with the pressure of high school, getting scolded and beaten every day at home over her grades, her hands would tremble so much she couldn’t even hold a pen. After she moved here, even when Xia Mo’an taught her how to play video games, her fingers shook on the keyboard—as if she was terrified of some severe punishment if she lost the game.

"My roommate. Reminding me about my ten o’clock class," Xia Mo’an lied effortlessly. He glanced at his phone screen again. It was still early. "I’m going downstairs to buy a drink. What do you want today? Fruity yogurt? A nutrition shake?"

"Coffee."

"No way. It has caffeine. You won’t be able to sleep again tonight," Xia Mo’an vetoed. "Pick something else."

"Yogurt. Yellow peach."

"Sure."

Xia Mo’an threw on his jacket and hurried downstairs with his phone. But halfway down the stairwell, his phone started ringing again. He looked at the caller’s name. His finger hovered over the red "Decline" button for a few seconds before finally pressing the green "Accept."