Rose in No-Man's Land

16 Accompany you to class

"President?"

Xia Xingmian was picking up the volleyballs scattered along the edge of the field. Hearing someone call her, she stood up and turned around.

The girl who called her was a freshman named Yang Yishan, two grades below her. During the freshmen's military training, Xia Xingmian organized a delivery of iced mineral water to Yang Yishan's class along with members of the student union.

When Xia Xingmian personally handed the water to her, the excitement made Yang Yishan's sun-kissed face turn an even deeper shade of red, her eyes sparkling as if they were shining.

Later, Yang Yishan joined the student union herself. When she did, she kept inquiring about which department Xia Xingmian belonged to, clearly eager to get to know her.

Seeing Yang Yishan nervously clenching her hands, Xia Xingmian's expression softened. "I've resigned, so just call me 'senior' from now on."

"Senior..." Yang Yishan replied, fighting to keep the smile from stretching too widely across her face, "Are you playing volleyball?"

Xia Xingmian tossed the ball she had picked up into the basket and replied, "No, I just noticed that no one was gathering these up, so I thought I'd help out."

Recently, it has become common for people to leave volleyballs scattered around after playing. Xia Xingmian had noticed this once and, succumbing to her obsessive-compulsive tendencies, quietly went over to tidy up the mess.

Since then, every time she passed by the court, she couldn't resist diverting her path just to check if the balls were once again strewn across the ground.

Zhou Xifan was perplexed by this habit. "I can understand cleaning up if you see a mess, but why go out of your way to check unless you already know it needs to be done?"

Xia Xingmian responded, "Even if I can't see it, I can't stand the thought of it being messy in my mind."

Zhou Xifan humorously dubbed this behavior 'compulsive cleaning'.

Yang Yishan began helping pick up the scattered balls, her eagerness mingled with hesitance.

Once the last ball was in the basket, she finally summoned the courage to ask, "Senior, if you have some free time, may I invite you to play volleyball with me?"

Xia Xingmian didn't give a direct answer but casually inquired, "What position do you play?"

Yang Yishan quickly replied, "I can be the first or second setter! If you want to play as an attacker, I'll be the second setter for you."

Xia Xingmian said, "I know some friends who always play volleyball, and they're looking for a setter. If you're really interested in playing, I can introduce you to them."

This was a clear hint of rejection from Xia Xingmian. Yang Yishan felt a wave of disappointment wash over her, but recognizing that Xia Xingmian was like a goddess—superior to everyone else—helped her quickly shake it off.

She continued to follow Xia Xingmian, calling her "senior" and chattering about all sorts of trivial topics.

Xia Xingmian buried the lower half of her face in her beige wool scarf, remaining silent.

"Senior, do you have a second class this afternoon?" Yang Yishan asked as they reached the entrance of the teaching building.

Xia Xingmian replied, "Yes, linear algebra."

Yang Yishan's eyes lit up, "Is it in the Third Religion Building? I have a class there too! After class, may I treat you to some milk tea?"

Xia Xingmian declined again, mentioning she had other commitments after class.