Chapter Text
Maomao was crouched by the water on a rock, trying to pick back up a lotus flower she had accidentally dropped in the water, trying her best not to fall in and scare the couple of swans nearby, the hems of her green long-sleeve cardigan and long magenta skirt already damp and her shoes and socks left behind in the grass by the edge of the pond. Maomao kept reaching and reaching, her hand almost reaching the lotus until she heard a beautiful honeyed voice yell out behind her;
"Look out you're about to fall in!"
And startled by the voice of a nymph, she fell into the pond, but still gripping on to the flower as she did.
'Were nymphs actually real?' Maomao thought to herself as she got up from under the water, but quickly recovering and forgetting about the stranger now getting into the water themselves, Maomao let out a cheerful squeak as she noticed the lotus in her hand, though her moment of joy was quickly interrupted by a pair of strange, calloused hands lifting her up.
"Hey, what-!" Maomao yelped and kicked and protested as the stranger carried her over to the grass and set her down by her shoes.
"Look at you, your uniform's all soaked now!" The stranger, a gorgeous looking woman spoke, pointing at Maomao's school uniform with large gestures.
'She sure has a deep voice for a woman.' Maomao thought, narrowing her eyes and stroking her chin with her free hand.
"We have to get you a clean uniform now, put on your shoes and get up." The stranger with the honeyed voice yelled out again, though the owner of the voice seemed a bit flustered with their cheeks red and them gazing the other way.
'No way. That's a man?" Maomao thought again, her expression momentarily being that of surprise as she looked up briefly before getting up, her socks and the lotus still in her hand and right before they started walking back toward the school building, which was farther away than Maomao had expected (did she really wander that far?),the stranger placed his red blazer over Maomao's shoulder, still looking away flustered.
"So tell me..." The nymph, apparently a human male, began speaking. "What were you doing all the way out here in the middle of a lake? Lunch period is almost over."
'Lunch?!' Maomao thought, apparently she had missed a class.
"I just got distracted on a walk." Maomao said, averting her eyes and looking at the flower she was still holding. Maomao wouldn't really call what she was up to "a walk" but this handsome stranger didn't need to know that.
"What's your name?" The owner of the red blazer asked with a tone indicating that he didn't exactly believe her excuse.
"Maomao." She replied with a gulp, though her face remained expressionless as she walked a couple paces behind the man.
"Jinshi." The stranger with a familiar name replied, looking back with a tiny smirk playing at his lips, his tone slightly mocking, as if to poke fun at Maomao's short responses causing her to unintentionally give him a slight frown and causing the stranger, Jinshi to let out a chuckle as he turned his head back to open the door to the nurse's office, which conveniently had a door leading outdoors as well as indoors. As Maomao and Jinshi entered the room a man, shorter and chubbier than average, appeared from behind a cabinet door holding a plate of sweets in his hands, he was usually referred to as the quack doctor or just quack by most students in the school, not excluding Maomao or Jinshi.
"Do you have any spare uniforms in here?" Jinshi asked the quack gesturing toward Maomao and her soaked-through clothes.
"Ah! Yes, I should have one or two, I just don't know about the size..." The quack replied, his voice getting quieter as he went on, eyeing Maomao up and down as to try and estimate her size.
The quack put down the plate he was carrying and walked up to yet another cabinet door, opening it and looking inside for a brief moment before picking up a spare uniform and handing it to Maomao. "You can change them behind one the pulled curtains, unless you'd prefer to use gym's dressing room." He added
'It's a little big.' Maomao thought, not letting her thoughts show on her face.
"I'll stick to changing here." Maomao told the quack but soon turned to Jinshi. "You can go now, I'll be fine."
"Are you sure?" Jinshi asked, giving her a slightly seductive looking smirk.
"Yes." Maomao responded deadpan, hiding herself behind a pulled curtain before Jinshi could escalate the conversation any further and leaving him with a look of disbelief on his face, the quack doing whatever he usually does aside from work and not paying attention to the scene happening behind him.
With a pout and crossed arms, Jinshi held his nose up high, let out a sigh and sat down by a stool to wait until Maomao had finished changing out of her soaked clothes.
And as Maomao got out from behind the curtain holding her wet clothes she handed Jinshi back his blazer, though now slightly damp.
"I apologize for the state of your blazer." Maomao said bowing, her face remaining expressionless. "But I do need to get to class." Not only did she tell that to Jinshi but also the quack, who had set up a tray of tea and some treats ready to share them with the two students, now disappointed.
"Don't worry about the blazer." Jinshi responded giving her a slight wave and flashing his brightest smile at her, hoping for some kind of reaction. "Let me walk you to your class." He continued placing a hand on Maomao's shoulder, causing her to flinch and smack it away, leaving Jinshi once again with a baffled expression.
"You can walk me to class, but that's it." Maomao gave him a look of disgust, one you would give a toddler handing you a half-eaten saliva-covered cookie, and exiting through the door opposite of the one they had entered through, Jinshi following closely behind, still quite baffled with Maomao's attitude towards him.
They walked in silence for a moment until Jinshi decided it was a good idea to break it.
"Oh, so you're a first year." Jinshi thought out loud as he noticed that they had passed by the flight of stairs leading upward.
"If you're a second or third year you can just turn around and take stairs, I won't mind." Maomao replied.
"Well, no, I still have something to ask of you."
"What is it?"
"Your number."
...
"Not because I'm interested in you like that!" Jinshi clarified, his face beet-red and his posture stiff. "I'm just interested as a friend!"
"That's good, I don't have a phone though." Maomao finally responded after a beat of silence, turning around and heading to class, the flower still in her hand, leaving Jinshi to wonder about what had just happened.