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The sound of doors swinging open signaled Dialyn’s arrival as Banyue swept the floors of his martial arts school. The two had made plans to hang out today after Dialyn got off work since neither of them had any assignments from Krampus to attend to, and Banyue had no classes in session that day.
“Hello, Dialyn,” Banyue greeted her genially, still focused on the task of diligently sweeping the floors. “I did not expect you to arrive so soon. My apologies. I will finish cleaning in a moment, and then we can head out.”
“Heyy there, Big Guy!” Dialyn responded cheerily, clearly in a good mood after a long day of firing back at customers and promoting vaguely useful products. “Also, no worries! I’m only early because I got off of my shift sooner than expected~”
“Oh? Did something happen?” Banyue questioned. Dialyn getting off work early was never a good sign.
“Oh, nothing much~ One of my customers just got quite frustrated with the advice I gave him. So frustrated, in fact, that he showed up right at my workplace to go and speak with a higher-up!” Dialyn grinned, clearly amused. “My higher-ups weren’t too happy with this, so they told me to go and take the rest of the day off~”
She began to giggle upon finishing her story, replaying the memories in her head of the angry customer bursting through the door and demanding to speak with a higher-up, and her higher-ups sighing exasperatedly as they kindly requested that she sign out for the day.
“But hey! It wasn’t all too bad!” She interjected before Banyue could begin to advise her on prioritizing her safety at work. “After all, I thought of a fun challenge we could do right before we head out to Yum Cha Sin while I was walking here~”
Banyue’s interest was piqued now. “A challenge? What kind?” He asked.
“I was thinking… What about a meditation challenge?” She queried. “Whoever meditates the longest doesn’t have to pay for dinner tonight, and they get the last cha siu bao!” She elaborated.
This was definitely the kind of challenge that Banyue could do, and it had a great incentive to participate. But it was a tad strange for Dialyn to request this competition with him, specifically.
“I think it is a great idea, Dialyn,” Banyue complimented genuinely. “However, would it not be a little… unfair? After all, I am an Intelligent Construct who can remain idle for an indefinite amount of time, whereas you are a human who cannot.”
“Well, you see… that’s the fun of it!” Dialyn insisted. “If I can outlast you in a meditation competition, then that would certainly be a great achievement for me. Plus, I could put it on my resume… ‘Can outlast Intelligent Constructs in meditation competitions, demonstrating patience and high levels of technical skill…’”
Suddenly, she cleared her throat, seeming to recognize she had been going on a tangent. “Anyways, we should probably start now before we have to go…” She explained. “So, what do you say, Banyue?”
Banyue thought for a moment before deciding it couldn’t hurt to indulge. After all, he’s practically guaranteed to win this, so there’s no risk for him. “Alright. You have yourself a deal, Dialyn,” He agreed. “I wish you the best outcome.”
The two then sat down beside each other and began to meditate, trying to concentrate on the thought of winning.
After some time, Banyue could feel that Dialyn was beginning to become restless beside him as she started to shift around, trying to get comfortable again. He was sure she’d forfeit soon.
However, he instead felt the strange sensation of something right behind him, as if it was getting ready to strike.
Before Dialyn’s hand could reach through the ring, Banyue quickly moved the upper half of his body to the side, narrowly avoiding the massive hand that shot out.
Well, if that’s how Dialyn wanted to compete, then Banyue could compete in the same way.
In retaliation, Banyue attempted to swat Dialyn using his tail, hoping it would catch her off guard and finally end this competition once and for all.
What he did not expect, however, was for her to clasp her hand around it in midair, as if anticipating he would retaliate this way. She yanked as hard as she could, and if Banyue was a weaker Intelligent Construct, then he definitely would have let out a very undignified yelp. Instead, he flicked Dialyn’s hand away using one of his own hands, causing her to wince a little from the pain.
The two continued on like this for what felt like forever, still, miraculously and somehow, managing to stay seated through it all. They had both tried everything, from throwing phones to metal balls to fists at each other. At this point, they were both definitely not meditating anymore, but admitting that would mean admitting loss.
“Won’t you just admit defeat, Banyue? We both know that you’re too slow to keep up with me,” Dialyn taunted. “Just give up now, and it’ll be all over~”
“We also both know that I would have undisputedly reigned as champion if this competition were done fairly,” Banyue huffed. “I think it is you who should admit defeat.”
“Hah! As if! I easily could have won if—”
Before Dialyn could elaborate, Banyue’s phone suddenly began to ring on the bench that he had left it on while he cleaned. Instinctively, Banyue stood up to answer, curious as to who could be calling him at this time.
Dialyn took the opportunity to seize victory, returning to her state of meditation as if nothing had happened in the moments prior. When Banyue returned, he seemed surprised to see that she was meditating once more.
“Who hit your line, Banyue?” Dialyn asked smugly, still sitting on the floor cross-legged.
“I do not own any lines to be hit,” Banyue answered, confused.
Dialyn groaned in exasperation. “Who called you?” She elaborated.
“Oh, it was Sweety. She was asking where we were since it is currently 5 minutes past the time that we were expected to arrive,” He said.
“Oh~ I didn’t know you got a reservation for us! How romantic of you!” Dialyn teased.
“Actually, it had slipped my mind to get a reservation for the two of us,” Banyue admitted. “But, I had mentioned to Sweety earlier today that I would be coming to Yum Cha Sin with you for dinner. She must have remembered and called to ask about our whereabouts.”
“Well, it’s a great thing that she remembered, since I’ll be cashing in on my free cha siu baos tonight!” Dialyn asserted.
Banyue looked at her, confused. “What do you mean? Has a winner been decided from our competition?”
“If you recall, I said that whoever meditates for the longest wins the competition. And, by meditating here during the time that you were answering the phone, I have officially accumulated more time meditating than you, making me the one who has meditated the longest!” She explains, the pride in her voice getting more evident with each word.
“I… suppose I cannot argue with that logic,” Banyue admits. “Alright, I shall heed to the terms and conditions laid out by this competition, and pay for our dinner tonight.”
“And?”
“And you will get to have the last cha siu bao.”
“Perfect!” Dialyn exclaimed, quickly getting on her feet, grabbing Banyue’s hand, and running out of the martial arts school. “Let’s go, before they run out of all of the good baos~”