The Taming of the Yandere

See, all girls like sweet stuff.

After the “Alaskan Frozen Volcano” was served on the table, Mo Shiyu’s eyes never left the sundae in the giant gla.s.s bowl.

With the air-conditioner, ice cream, and chilled drinks, we quickly cooled down in the cold-themed ice cream shop.

As we felt a lot better, it was a lot easier to start chatting. To my surprise, the haughty, arrogant Mo Shiyu started to tell me some of the interesting everyday occurrences between the cla.s.s and the homeroom teacher.

Although I wasn’t really interested about other people, I tried to listen the best I can since she seemed so happy to talk about it.

I took the chance that she was in a good mood, and wanted to clear up any misunderstandings that happened before. I still remembered her words, “You’ve been a sore in my eyes recently”. *

*It’s been a while, so if you’ve forgotten, Lu Fan is referring to Volume 1 Chapter 18, “Scapegoats and Good Men”.

“Cla.s.s Rep, everybody’s kind of terrified of your memorization quizzes. You’re even stricter than the teacher.

I should bring up the quizzes first.

“That’s for your own good. Recitation is a basic fundamental for literature, it exercises your memorization really well. If I’m not wrong, everyone in our cla.s.s aced the “fill in text” portion of final exams.”

She seems very satisfied with her results.

“It’s all thanks to Cla.s.s Rep’s hard work!”

I immediately started praising her.

“I have a definite share, but the majority of results still lie in the cla.s.s’ hard work.”

Mo Shiyu seemed to enjoy my compliment, and replied in a humble manner.

“Cla.s.s Rep, when you were quizzing that day, why couldn’t you let me go? And I had to copy it down as punishment, even after I recited the poem successfully….”

Next, I brought up old matters with a lamenting tone.

“I… At the time…. Wasn’t in a good mood….”

Mo Shiyu’s indestructible ego actually started to crack a little bit.

“You weren’t in a good mood?”

I was curious.

“…..”

But, when I saw that her eyes darkened, I felt that maybe I shouldn’t keep pressing on the question.

How did I offend the Cla.s.s Rep?

I can’t just ask!!

Never mind, let’s shift gears.

“Is the ice cream good?”

I switched to a much more easygoing topic.

“It’s really delicious, and those sparks were pretty. Thank you, Lu Fan.”

Her expression became much more pleasant.

“Do all girls enjoy ice cream?”

I laughed lightly.

“I don’t know about other people, but I like it a lot.”

She smiled back at me.

“Then what things do most girls like?”

Since they’re all girls, they should have some stuff in common.

If Mo Shiyu is so open and amiable, and keeps order within the cla.s.s while maintaining her own grades at the same time, maybe some of her traits can be useful to the otherwise lacking Jiang Muqing.

“Something girls like?”

“You know, such as hobbies, or what determines friendship, things like that.”

Mo Shiyu was silent for a while, and the corners of her mouth tipped. She gazed at me in deep thought.

Seeing her strange look, I started to worry that I may have said something wrong.

“Cla.s.smate Lu Fan, questions like these can really cause some misunderstandings.”

She seemed very contemptuous.

“Eh?”

I suddenly couldn’t catch up with the conversation.

“We’re still high school students. Interests towards the opposite s.e.x, or what kind of people would the opposite s.e.x like, are still quite premature for our age.”

Mo Shiyu spoke in a serious tone.

Does she think that I’m trying to ask her what she likes, or standards for a boyfriend?

She must think that I’m going to confess. Mo Shiyu’s reaction really was a bit overkill.

“I just want to improve my relationship with the cla.s.s’ girls. I’ve been with the same people for a year, but I’ve never really talked to them.”

I laughed awkwardly.

“As a high school student, studying would be enough. Is there any benefit for getting to know people that aren’t related to you? Won’t these friends just distract your attention?”

Mo Shiyu started to become excited.

*TL Note for this is very long, so I stuck it at the bottom

“Cla.s.s Rep isn’t wrong….”

I didn’t argue with her.

Now that she’s given her answer, I felt that Mo Shiyu was acting stranger and stranger.

“I’ve always felt that Cla.s.s Rep was friendly and compatible with everyone. I admire that.”

There was some truth in Mo Shiyu’s words, but I felt that she was going a bit too extreme.

“There’s nothing to admire, really. It’s just my responsibility, and not Lu Fan’s. All Lu Fan needs to do is study, it’s useless to waste attention on other cla.s.smates.”

Mo Shiyu’s stare seemed to be getting sincerer.

Her serious, focused att.i.tude made me feel that she cares more about my own grades than I do.

It looks like I can’t get my answer about girls from Mo Shiyu today. It was getting a little late anyways, and I didn’t see the point in continuing any conversation.

“Then let’s go home, Cla.s.s Rep. It’s almost nighttime.”

I glanced at my watch for confirmation.

“Yep, then we’ll continue our hard work tomorrow.”

Mo Shiyu stood up, and pumped her first at me.

“Sure.”

I looked at her enthusiasm, feeling bizarre.

….

We walked out of the shop door. Under the twilight, we waved goodbye.

With a stomach full of ice cream, the oven-hot air didn’t seem so unbearable.

I started for the bus station immediately, since there was a lot of traffic at this hour.

I have to prepare dinner early today, or else my mother and Jiang Muqing will prepare another flavorful dinner for me with good heart.

“Wait, Lu Fan.”

When we were just about to part, Mo Shiyu suddenly shouted from behind my back.

I turned around, and looked at Mo Shiyu’s direction.

The gentle evening breeze swept through the busy city avenues, and streetlights were turned on. The dark sky was lit up with traffic.

The breeze tickled the ponytailed girl’s blue skirt and collared shirt, but her tightly-knit hair didn’t budge.

Suddenly, her fixed ponytail jumped disorderly.

The girl’s slender body dodged left and right, running through the pedestrians on the sidewalk. She stopped in front of me.

….

Her delicate arms draped over my shoulders, and circled my neck. The girl’s soft torso pressed against my chest.

My hands dangled without strength, and Mo Shiyu’s actions haven’t registered in my brain yet.

“Cla.s.s Rep?”

I was jumped by her sudden act, and my mind was blank.

The girl’s breath labored heavily against my ear. Her moist exhales stimulated my cheeks and neck, making my hair stand on its end.

“Lu Fan….”

She hesitated.

“What?”

“Promise me, only studying would be enough.”

The girl’s voice echoed in my heart.

*In the Western world, teenage dating and romance is commonly acceptable, and even encouraged. But in China, things are very, very different. China molds their education and their students extremely weird. Kids are taught at home that if you don’t get good test scores, you won’t get into a good college, and you won’t get a good job, resulting in poverty and the lower cla.s.s of society. Kids are drilled in school that if you should study for the pride of the People’s Republic of China (communist ideals), and make China the best in the world. Both of these add up to a very ugly, restricting pressure that lasts all throughout eighteen years of their life. 

Now here’s the WTF part: dating and relationships are most commonly prohibited in China’s schools. If two people are caught dating or in a romantic relationship in school, the teacher would give them an hour-long lecture, call both of their parents, and separate them. If anyone’s caught having s.e.x, or someone reports them having s.e.x, they would most likely get expelled from the high school, or even arrested by the police for s.e.xual intercourse with underage persons. It’s very f.u.c.king bulls.h.i.t, and the whole pretext is “Romance distracts studying.” Except for the police part.

A lot of students reject this because of media and exposure to Western ideals, but there are still many teachers and education officials that are stuck in the old 1960s “New Republic” thought. In this pa.s.sage, Mo Shiyu kind of piggybacks on the concept, because she doesn’t want Lu Fan to be romantically attached to anyone. However, people like this do exist. They’re brought up in very old ideals and communist abstracts, and become very regretful when they become adults. Hey, you focused all of your time on school, got in a great college and landed a good job. But now you can’t find a boy/girlfriend, possess no social skills, and have zero “real” friends from high school or college. Then you’re thirty-four, getting engaged to some useless f.u.c.k that you’ve barely met before by arranged marriage from your parents.