translated_Chapter 14

14: The Beauty of a Broken Mirror

Finding a place to live and registering at school, I had to do everything alone.

She was only seventeen.

I slept all afternoon to adjust my body clock, until I was woken up by hunger in the middle of the night.

In the late-night Tokyo, only convenience stores and unmanned vending machines were lit.

Qiu Shi bought a bento box, instant noodles, and a drink, and habitually said to the cashier, “Excuse me, I’d like to pay.”

After saying that, she realized something was wrong when she saw the cashier girl’s strange look. She rephrased in broken Japanese, “Togetherいくらですか？” (How much in total?)

The cashier was amused: “1200 yen, cash?”

So, she was Chinese.

Qiu Shi relaxed a little: “Cash.” As she spoke, she took out banknotes from her pocket: “Are you also a student?”

“More or less. You just arrived, right? I wouldn’t recommend eating bento boxes at this hour, they’re from the previous day.” The cashier smiled kindly.

“I can’t help it, I’m too hungry.”

“I can tell, you just woke up, can’t cook, and don’t know when to eat.” The cashier hit the nail on the head.

“You’re a really good guesser, you’re suitable to be a detective.” Qiu Shi exclaimed.

“Thank you, I… my place is nearby, would you like to get to know each other? I’m good at cooking Chinese food.”

“I’m not a picky eater, of course, I want to get to know you. Qiu Shi, Qiu with an ear radical, Shi from Xishi.”

“That’s a really nice name, the transliteration is ‘Autumn Poetry’.”

“That’s the meaning. My younger brother is called Qiu Ci.” Qiu Shi twisted open the drink and took a sip, her dry throat finally feeling better.

“My name is Tsukimi Rin, moon, seeing, bell.” Tsukimi Rin.

“That’s a good name too, suitable in both Japan and China.”

“My parents came from China to do foreign trade, but I don’t like finance, I like novels.”

“Then we have a lot in common, I don’t like finance either. What kind of novels do you like?”

“Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes and all of Conan Doyle’s books. I also want to be a detective.” Tsukimi Rin’s eyes sparkled.

“That’s great, I support you. Japan and the United States both have the profession of private detective.” Qiu Shi put her arm around Tsukimi Rin’s shoulder, like good buddies: “Friend, pursue your dreams.”

“I’m pursuing it, so my family stopped giving me living expenses. Now I work the night shift at a convenience store.” Tsukimi Rin smiled bitterly.

“It’s nothing, life always has its lows, it’s enough that I support you.”

“Thank you, I’m really happy to meet you. You mentioned your younger brother just now?”

“My younger brother, same parents. He recently had a car accident, which affected the nerves in his hand. He likes to draw, so he might not be able to go down that path in the future.”

“That’s a pity.” Tsukimi Rin felt sorry for Qiu Ci, whom she had never even met.

The convenience store occasionally had a customer at night, and after Tsukimi Rin finished her work, she continued chatting with Qiu Shi until morning.

Tsukimi Rin scratched her head embarrassedly: “Sorry, I made you keep me company for so long.”

“It’s nothing.” Qiu Shi yawned. She didn’t have class today, but her body clock was messed up again.

Tsukimi Rin extended an invitation: “Want to come to my place? Let’s have some breakfast.”

“Sure.”

Qiu Shi was troubled by being too lonely in Japan.

It was lucky to meet a fellow countryman, it felt friendly.

After all, Tsukimi Rin had been working all night and was quite tired. She simply boiled two bowls of dumplings.

The dumplings had been made and frozen beforehand, so you could just boil them in water and eat them.

The two of them knelt on a low table, in the unfamiliar Tokyo, sharing two bowls of dumplings.

Qiu Shi was so sleepy that she fell asleep on Tsukimi Rin’s bed.

Tsukimi Rin didn’t chase her away. The two seventeen-year-old girls lay on a mat and fell asleep.

It wasn’t until 2 PM that Qiu Shi opened her eyes with a yawn, looking at the unfamiliar environment, and didn’t know where she was for a moment.

She had been changing places so much these days that she had gotten used to this sense of isolation.

Another heat source next to her startled her.

Tsukimi Rin was still sleeping peacefully, the midday sunlight streaming through the cracks in the curtains onto her chin.

This girl had standard Asian features, like a female character in Japanese anime.

A cute and gentle feeling.

Qiu Shi played with her hair with her fingertips.

Before this, Qiu Ci was her only peer. Qiu Ci was too dull and boring.

He only wanted to sit and draw quietly.

Tsukimi Rin was another person who ate, slept, and chatted with her.

She was so cute.

Qiu Shi didn’t know how long she watched her.

Tsukimi Rin slept until after 4 PM.

Opening her eyes, she saw Qiu Shi playing on her phone: “Good morning, Qiu Shi.”

“It’s afternoon now, we just laid down this morning.” Qiu Shi showed her the time.

Tsukimi Rin buried her head in the quilt, muttering, “Ugh, so annoying, I have to go to work again in three hours.”

Qiu Shi said with a smile: “Don’t go to work, I’ll take care of you.”

“You’re that rich?”

“I can take care of the rich, want to?” Qiu Shi also burrowed into the quilt.

Tsukimi Rin tickled her: “No, no, I want to rely on my own efforts to tell my parents that I can support myself.”

“Then can you support me too?”

Tsukimi Rin struggled to get up: “I’ll talk when I can earn money, Qiu Shi, stop it.”

“Don’t go to work.”

“That won’t do, I have to finish this month at least.”

Tsukimi Rin took a shower, got ready, and saw that Qiu Shi was still barefoot. The clothes on her body were wrinkled from sleeping.

Tsukimi Rin took out a slightly oversized T-shirt from the closet and threw it to her: “Time to go, Qiu Shi, change your clothes.”

“Can I… wait for you to come back here?” The place over there was too unfamiliar.

Tsukimi Rin smiled brightly: “Sure, do you want to move in with me?”

“Can I?”

“Of course.”

Tsukimi Rin pushed open the door and went out.

Qiu Shi was alone in the house, smelling the quilt with residual warmth and shampoo scent, and fell asleep again.

Her body clock had finally adjusted.

After school started, her schedule was completely separated from Tsukimi Rin’s.

Tsukimi Rin worked at night, and she got off work at night.

Tsukimi Rin would leave her dinner before she left, and Qiu Shi would occasionally accompany her to the convenience store.

The two of them chatted about everything under the sun and had a great time.

Finally, she finished this month, Tsukimi Rin settled her wages with the boss in the evening, and went home with Qiu Shi watching the sunset.

The streets of Japan had a sense of everyday life, which was too cruel for two people who had left their hometowns.

“Winter is coming again, Tokyo’s two most beautiful seasons, one is spring, and the other is winter.” Tsukimi Rin had been in Japan for several years.

“Really? When I think of winter, I can only think of the New Year.”

“Japan celebrates the solar New Year, not the lunar Chinese New Year.” Tsukimi Rin explained.

“That’s a pity.”

“It’s not a pity, I can cook New Year’s Eve dinner.” Tsukimi Rin said with a smile, the evening wind blowing her hair.

The best thing in life is meeting the right person at the right time, and the most terrible thing is also meeting the right person at the right time.

“Okay.” Qiu Shi was not polite, after all, the two of them had been living together for so long, there was nothing to be polite about.

The two of them bought various ingredients at a discounted supermarket and went home to cook hot pot.