She looked at him with a mixture of doubt and amazement before smiling
" Thank you for the compliment" she spoke politely, " …but for the time being, I'm interested in someone else."
" Oh- don't mind it, I spoke without thinking." Yu Xian apologized, quickly trying to steer clear of any more misunderstandings
She nodded, " My name is Sawako Rei, a second year. Will you grace me with yours?"
" Yu Xian, a freshman first year."
" Oh? You're a mainlander?"
" Nope, I'm from the Islands. But since my dad's from the mainland, they decided to name me accordingly."
" Xian… xian.. Ah! ' Xian' as in immortal?"
" You know about old mainland terminologies?"
" I briefly studied old languages in my first year" Senior Sawako affirmed, " The way the old languages differed from one another was fascinating. Especially.."
Gazing at the strange second year senior going off in a tangent, Yu Xian's rapidly beating heart calmed itself
Now having a brief moment of respite, his brain was finally able to think normally.
' Back then… If I had continued to swing my fist, I would have definitely died.'
Yu Xian had no logical reason to think that way.
but his instincts as a genius, as a fighter, and as a human were telling him that his guess wasn't wrong.
" Can I ask you something?" Yu Xian probed
" but as Babel got introduced as the universal- ah?" With her train of thought interrupted, Senior Sawako tilted her head
He stared at her, hesitating for a few seconds before following through with his curiosity
" What's a second-year student like you doing here?"
Evidently surprised, she asked " You already know about the..?"
He nodded his head
" I see…" her gaze softened, " What a smart junior."
Ignoring her praise, Yu Xian waited for his senior's answer
" Ahem* …Although there are cliques between the students, there's not much conflict. No one really minds if a senior goes into freshman territory or if a freshman heads into senior territory. My club president wanted to eat the food from here, so I'm here to bring it away for him."
" For your club president? That explains the doubled portions of food you ordered…"
" Of course, did you think all of that was for me?" She jokingly replied
" Who knows?.." he trailed off
But when he noticed the painfully plentiful plates of food placed on the table, Yu Xian could only sigh
"..not that I'm in any position to judge."