They went back to the locker room to change out of their jerseys before following the guide.

  Shae Harris followed behind the guide, lost in thought.

  She had mostly seen a field through her phone or a television.

  The closest she had ever gotten to one was her first and last day of school.

  The nurse’s office was right beside the field, and her bed gave her a pretty good view.

  If she were to describe it, then she would call it a large patch of grass.

  But it was on that large patch of grass that people ran so freely.

  They said running was the easiest way to get your blood flowing in a short amount of time.

  For her, it was a death sentence.

  Run… she could barely walk at a normal pace for a long time.

  Every step was slow and had to be steady.

  The longer she walked, the less energy would be directed toward managing her broken body.

  So that field was always the closest thing she could get to being normal, yet it was so far away.

  She could see it right there, but she couldn’t touch it.

  That stupid large patch of grass.

  Shae Harris frowned at the thought, making Mori Aoi more worried.

  She turned to Wei Zhi beside her and nudged him.

  Wei Zhi, who was always aware of the girl, answered immediately.

  He was about to speak when she made a shush gesture.

  Wei Zhi nodded and asked her with his eyes.

  Mori Aoi gave a sneaky glance at Shae Harris, then tugged Wei Zhi’s sleeve when she was sure Shae Harris wasn’t looking.

  Wei Zhi inexplicably understood and obediently leaned down.

  His head went down at the same pace as Mori Aoi, who used her toes to increase her height.

  Wei Zhi’s head was turned to the side, which reduced the consequences, but not the impact.

  Mori Aoi slammed into his face, and her lips ended up lightly kissing his cheek.

  She didn’t mind it because she was still casting a side glance at Shae Harris and wasn’t in the right state of mind to notice.

  Wei Zhi froze in shock, his face burning.

  “She looks sad. What do I do to cheer her up?” Mori Aoi whispered.

  Wei Zhi didn’t answer immediately, his mind still frozen.

  Mori Aoi realized he wasn’t listening and pouted while poking his side.

  Wei Zhi shivered for a second, then turned to her.

  Mori Aoi pointed at Shae Harris and whispered, asking what she should do.

  Wei Zhi stood in place, his eyes hidden behind his bangs as always, but for some reason Mori Aoi felt his intense gaze on her, like he was studying her.

  She was about to pinch his waist, thinking he was making fun of her, when she was startled by his next action.

  Wei Zhi slowly leaned down until they were face to face.

  It didn’t take much, as she was only half a head shorter than him.

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  “What?” Mori Aoi said in a tiny voice, feeling nervous for some reason.

  Her heart pounded loudly in her chest, and her hands clenched her shirt.

  She bit her lip as a second passed quietly with Wei Zhi’s face a tiny distance from hers.

  Wei Zhi smiled at her and used his thumb to gently release her lip from her teeth.

  Mori Aoi was too shocked to resist.

  “Maybe you should take her running in the field, bunny~” His voice changed at the end, as if he were humming the nickname.

  “Oh… okay,” Mori Aoi whispered, but her eyes were on his hand—the hand whose thumb had just been on her lips.

  “What are you guys doing?” Shae Harris snapped out of her thoughts, only to realize Mori Aoi wasn’t beside her.

  As for Wei Zhi—well, she was sure he’d be fine.

  Yi Zheng was behind her by a few steps, studying something behind her.

  She followed his gaze and saw Wei Zhi and Mori Aoi whispering face to face.

  So she immediately went on alert and loudly questioned Wei Zhi.

  How dare that shameless green tea try to take advantage while she wasn’t looking.

  Hmph, I’ll never give Mori Aoi to him so easily.

  Mori Aoi was startled and jumped away from Wei Zhi.

  He slowly released his smile and stood up straight while adjusting his clothes.

  “What did you do that you need to adjust your clothes?” Shae Harris was now in front of Wei Zhi, glaring at him.

  “What exactly are you thinking?” Wei Zhi smiled innocently at her.

  Shae Harris: I can hear you gloating, shameless!

  “You—watch your hands,” Shae Harris pointed at him and scoffed.

  “I was just helping her. Isn’t that right, bunny?” Wei Zhi asked Mori Aoi, but his gaze stayed on Shae Harris, and he smirked at the end.

  Shae Harris was joking at first, but now she was actually beginning to suspect it was true.

  This guy was suddenly so confident, and he was constantly teasing my Aoi.

  They say men get confident after just a kiss, so he wouldn’t have done something like that… right?

  But that stupid smirk of his was convincing her otherwise.

  And why exactly was that smirk so infuriating? Her hands were itching.

  “You wouldn’t hit an innocent person, right?” Wei Zhi said, but he pushed his face closer provocatively.

  Shae Harris: my hands are really itching to punch him so bad.

  Shae Harris felt her eyebrow twitch, and just as she was about to do it—

  Mori Aoi appeared between them and dragged her away.

  Then she burst into a full sprint along with Shae Harris.

  They were already at the door to the field and stepped onto the grass not long after.

  At first, Mori Aoi ran away because she felt her face getting hotter and hotter as the conversation continued.

  But she got distracted when Shae Harris shook her hand off and took the lead instead.

  “Tag, you’re it!” Shae Harris laughed and ran away.

  Mori Aoi recalled a distant memory of running around her grandma’s garden as peonies fell around her.

  “Slowpoke!” Shae Harris shouted from afar.

  Mori Aoi shook her head and began to chase her.

  The two ran on the field, laughing and chasing each other.

  Meanwhile, Wei Zhi sat down far away and watched them.

  He would have felt peaceful if not for the intense gaze behind him.

  “Um… Yi Zheng, do you need something?” Wei Zhi wouldn’t dare call him Old Man Yi when they were alone.

  “Nothing,” Yi Zheng said, turning away and keeping his thoughts to himself.

  “Okay,” Wei Zhi sighed in relief and faced forward.

  “I can’t breathe!” Shae Harris ran to them and flopped down beside Yi Zheng, heaving.

  Mori Aoi hummed weakly and flopped down beside Wei Zhi.

  “Have fun,” Wei Zhi murmured, wiping her face with red ears.

  She couldn’t speak, but she smiled in response.

  “Of course she did. Now you will too,” Shae Harris said evilly as she stood behind Wei Zhi while he sat on the grass.

  Wei Zhi: no, why are you already recovered?

  “I refuse,” Wei Zhi said, with the mentality that she couldn’t do anything to him.

  Shae Harris waved a fist, and Wei Zhi obediently went on a full sprint.

  Shae Harris chased him around the field for a short time before running back to Mori Aoi and lying down beside her.

  Wei Zhi, who was far away, watched distrustfully, thinking it was a trick.

  But he got over it when Shae Harris almost rolled into Mori Aoi.

  He ran back and lay down beside her, looking very tired and pitiful.

  Shae Harris sneered and ignored him.

  The three of them lay down, looking at the sky.

  Then they secretly glanced at Yi Zheng before whispering to each other.

  Shae Harris crawled to the space behind Yi Zheng while Mori Aoi crawled to his side.

  “Don’t even think about it,” Yi Zheng warned them.

  “You only live once!” Shae Harris shouted as she lunged for his back, and Mori Aoi lunged for his side.

  Yi Zheng calmly dodged away, and the two bumped into each other with a yelp.

  Wei Zhi stayed low, looking for an opportunity, but was dissuaded each time by Yi Zheng’s sharp glare.

  It ended up turning into the three of them chasing Yi Zheng.

  Well, calling it a chase was underestimating Yi Zheng.

  Instead, he ran forward while they followed behind him with a huge gap between them.

  Yi Zheng felt he must be crazy to indulge their game, but he also felt he had no choice because of how much their courage had grown.

  If he stopped, he was very sure Shae Harris would relentlessly attack him.

  Subduing them would be easy, but he wasn’t a gentle person.

  Breaking their bones seemed too cruel for these kids.

  They were the first to give out, while Yi Zheng didn’t even break a sweat.

  “Wow, you’re really fit,” Shae Harris gasped on the field and gave Yi Zheng a thumbs-up.

  “Yeah, super strong,” Mori Aoi said.

  “What did you do before the apocalypse?” Wei Zhi asked curiously.

  “Don’t you remember? He was a commoner and a worker,” Shae Harris replied before Yi Zheng could speak.

  She was referring to the first time they met.

  “It feels so far away,” Mori Aoi sighed.

  The other two hummed absentmindedly.

  A lot of things had happened between now and then, making reality feel unreal.

  “I think that’s all for today. I need to eat,” Shae Harris said, and her stomach growled.

  “Yeah, I guess we worked up an appetite,” Mori Aoi rubbed her stomach.

  “Especially me,” Shae Harris said proudly.

  “You’re always hungry, though,” Wei Zhi rolled his eyes.

  Shae Harris glared at him and stood up.

  The guide appeared as they left the field.

  “Come back here tomorrow for something special,” he said.

  “What is it?” Shae Harris asked curiously.

  “Well, since ordinary sports don’t seem to interest you, why not the dangerous ones?” the guide winked.

  “You mean like bungee jumping or skydiving?” Shae Harris said excitedly.

  “And motorbike riding, sports car racing, and crazy stunts too,” the guide added.

  “You really get me,” Shae Harris slapped the guide’s shoulder good-naturedly.

  “Wow, feels like a real person too,” Shae Harris said, looking at the guide in amazement.

  “Then, if you would please, I’ll escort you to the food court,” the guide took a leading step forward.

  The others followed behind him as they walked to the food court.

  They ate to their hearts’ content before discussing where they would stay.

  Since they were coming back here, they thought about places nearby.

  They hadn’t been paying close attention to the road, so they didn’t remember whether there were any apartments close by.

  Yi Zheng, who was idly watching them, didn’t respond, even though he remembered exactly how many there were.

  Shae Harris suggested they drive around and find out since they still had plenty of daylight.

  That was how Yi Zheng took them for a drive around the area, and they spent the rest of the time looking for a place to stay.

  They had standards.

  Not too much blood everywhere.

  The facilities shouldn’t be too damaged.

  They needed pajamas to change into.

  There had to be three rooms.

  One for each male, and one for the girls.

  Lastly, they had to check for corpses. Sometimes people didn’t die from zombie attacks, but by their own hands.

  After finally finding one, they washed up and went to bed.

  Yi Zheng went to his room, while Wei Zhi followed behind Mori Aoi.

  Shae Harris glared at him and kicked him out righteously.

  Wei Zhi glared through the door and trudged back to his room.

  “You shouldn’t let him get to you so easily,” Shae Harris admonished the silly girl who was still staring at the door.

  “He just wanted to say good night,” Mori Aoi explained for him.

  “He doesn’t need to,” Shae Harris squeezed her cheeks.

  They lay side by side at opposite ends of the bed.

  Their hands clasped together in the middle as a comfort gesture while they whispered and giggled into the night.

  As the night passed, the apartment filled with quiet slumber.

  Unbeknownst to them, Alex was not too far behind.