Henry Howard doesn’t usually get physical, but his skills are still impressive. He originally thought he’d get to watch a showdown between the top dogs of the grade—one so cool it’d come with its own special effects.

Wanda has recently accepted the fact that these two are such close buddies that they have no other friends, and spits out two words: “Flirting?”

Sean Parker: “”

Today’s eight classes were basically all about going over the unit test papers, reinforcing all the knowledge points learned over the past month, and preparing for next week’s monthly exam.

It was incredibly dull.

Henry Howard buried himself in his phone, and when both his phone and power bank ran out of battery, he’d take a break and fold paper.

Once he finished folding, he’d toss them onto Ethan Young’s desk.

All sorts of things—roses, little jumping frogs, you name it.

“This isn’t a garbage dump,” Ethan Young reminded him.

Henry Howard didn’t say anything, just kept folding with his head down.

Ethan Young pushed the things he threw aside.

He had to pretend he wasn’t listening to the class while also splitting his attention between his mobile game and the teacher’s explanation of the final big question. He had no time to bother with Henry Howard.

Henry Howard was very focused on folding, his fingers flipping the post-it sized paper back and forth.

Compared to the ugly things he folded, his well-defined fingers were much more pleasing to look at.

“So in the end, according to the interval we found earlier, we discard one of the answers. Do you know which one?” William Warren held a big teaching ruler, and every time he tapped it on the blackboard, it made a loud banging sound. “If you don’t understand, just give up. This question is beyond the syllabus anyway, and there’s really no need for you to do questions this hard.”

No one said anything below; clearly, no one was interested in this kind of thankless, troublesome question.

Only Xavier Stone raised his hand: “Teacher, which one do we discard? There are still some parts I don’t quite get.”

“Come to my office during the break, I’ll explain it to you,” said William Warren. “That’s it for this test paper. Once you’ve corrected it, the class rep will collect them before school’s out.”

As soon as William Warren finished, the bell rang.

“Hey.” Henry Howard leaned over and shouted in Ethan Young’s ear.

Ethan Young was looking down, deleting one of the two answers he’d just solved in his phone’s memo, deleting the negative one and leaving only zero: “What?”

Next period was PE. Henry Howard’s foot was still injured so he couldn’t exercise, but just standing on the basketball court and breathing some fresh air was something to look forward to—anything was better than staying in the classroom.

Ethan Young didn’t plan to go. He hadn’t been sleeping well lately and was going to sneak back to the dorm to nap.

“Really not going?” Henry Howard asked.

Ethan Young turned off his phone, habitually ending the conversation: “None of your damn business.”

“What’s the point of staying in the dorm? Is there anyone as handsome as your bro Chao to keep you company?”

“”

The culprit really had the nerve to say that.

That night when he did English papers with Henry Howard, they were up until two or three in the morning.

When it was time to leave, Henry Howard racked his brains to get him to stay, promising he’d sleep on the floor while Ethan Young took the bed, but in the end, he still snuck onto the bed.

By the time he got on the bed, it was almost four. Otherwise, with Ethan Young’s sleep quality, there’s no way Henry Howard could have climbed up so smoothly.

Wanda and the others were holding their jerseys, waiting for Henry Howard to go downstairs with them: “Chao bro, you coming or not? I can’t hold back anymore, I feel like I’m in great shape today.”

Henry Howard got up to head to the court, but before leaving, he bent down and held out his hand in front of Ethan Young, palm up, with a crooked paper crane lying in it: “For you.”

It was really ugly.

And loose and floppy, too.

Ethan Young had just pinched the wing of the crooked-necked paper crane, barely touching it, and half of it fell apart: “What the hell is this.”

Since it was already like this, Ethan Young simply took it apart, restoring it to a sheet of paper. Just as he was about to stuff it into Henry Howard’s math book, he accidentally saw a very messy circle drawn in black ink on the back of the paper.

When Henry Howard came back from PE, he wasn’t as happy as when he left. Hands in his pockets, he strolled lazily into the classroom.

Wanda, on the other hand, was very excited. As soon as he came in, he stood on the podium and shouted, “Friends staying for evening self-study today, I have an important announcement! I’ve suddenly come up with a brilliant idea—let’s spend an exciting and fun weekend at school!”

Henry Howard sat back down at his seat without saying a word.

After Wanda finished, he felt ignored and a bit awkward, so he looked to his friends in the last row for help: “Chao bro, aren’t you going to clap for me?”

Only then did Henry Howard take his hands out and give a couple of half-hearted claps: “Good, well said.”

Something was off about Henry Howard’s mood. Ethan Young turned his head and asked, “What are you up to now?”

“This, huh…” Henry Howard didn’t really want to say.

“Ghost hunting.”

“?”

Henry Howard scratched his head: “Wanda said he wants to organize everyone to hunt ghosts this weekend—you know, the one that goes up and down the dorm building knocking on doors every night.”

Last night, Wanda hid under his covers reading a supernatural novel. The story was about a few students going on an adventure in the school’s abandoned teaching building. It was so exciting he couldn’t put it down.

The more he read, the bolder his ideas became.

The more he thought about it, the more thrilling it seemed.

Ethan Young thought this kind of dumb idea was exactly the sort of thing Wanda and his crew would come up with.

Exciting and fun, huh.

Henry Howard was still troubled, when suddenly, after a while, Ethan Young blurted out, “Then hurry up.”

“Hurry up with what?”

“Hurry up and review that folk ghost-banishing guide again.”

“”

Ethan Young thought about the scene and couldn’t help but laugh, and once he started, he couldn’t stop: “Review it, you might need it.”

Henry Howard: “Damn, you’re really…”

------------

26. Chapter Twenty-Six

During evening self-study, Wanda really did mysteriously and ceremoniously present his idea.

“So, what do you think? Want to add some color to your dull weekend? Aren’t you curious about what’s really going on in the dorm building? Isn’t life about constantly challenging the unknown? Can someone please respond to me? You guys are making me feel so cold.”

Ethan Young looked at the handful of people in the class. Besides him, Henry Howard, and Wanda, there were only two other boys who usually didn’t talk much.

Xavier Stone hadn’t even looked up the whole time, as if he hadn’t heard a thing.

He was still hung up on that super hard question, his whole mind focused on studying, as if nothing else around him mattered.

The other boy was called Liam Harris. When he answered questions, his voice was as soft as a mosquito’s, and he was so quiet he seemed extremely timid. Wanda had heard rumors that he had mild social anxiety, but who knows if that’s true.

Only Quinn Shaw gave him a little face: “Da bro, I’m interested, but it’s no use since you guys are in the boys’ dorm.”

Wanda: “What’s wrong with the boys’ dorm? As long as you want, you can become my Qing bro anytime.”

“” Quinn Shaw threw an eraser at him, “Get lost.”

Wanda felt there was a huge gap between his ideals and reality. The ghost-hunting dream team he imagined was definitely not like this.

He didn’t dare bother Xavier Stone, so he could only pester Liam Harris.

He sat down in front of Liam Harris, and noticed Liam Harris flinch.

Wanda leaned in, and Liam Harris shrank back: “Bro, what do you think? Let me stress again, this is a man’s adventure.”

Liam Harris: “”

Liam Harris wasn’t good at communicating, and after talking for ages, it was still unclear whether he was in or not. The conversation was a real struggle.

Ethan Young was chatting idly with Ray Jones.

Big Ray sent over a photo of a fat orange cat and a little kitten. The little one looked adorably silly, covered in soft fuzz, and both cats had the same crooked-neck pose looking at the camera.

The background was Big Ray’s home balcony.

Ray Jones: Haven’t seen her in months, turns out she went off to have kittens. Looks just like Fatty, so I’ve decided to call her Little Fat!

Ethan Young smiled and saved the photo.

This fat orange cat was the street pet of Blackwater Street, origins unknown.

When it first arrived, it wasn’t so fat—just skin and bones. It must have been wandering for a long time, always hiding from people, and no one knew where it slept.

There were always lots of cats and dogs coming and going on Blackwater Street. Aunt Mei and Aunt Lei would habitually mix leftovers together, and if there were fish bones, they’d add those too, put it all in an old iron bowl, and leave it by the door.

Over time, the orange cat made its home on Blackwater Street.