Want to be human, but cube-like

A bead of sweat appeared on her forehead, and the sales assistant could barely maintain her standard smile.

Despite the fact that she was in front of a great beauty, the saleswoman had encountered many beautiful women before. She didn't react in any other way because of this; she was simply stunned by the woman's inexplicably intimidating gaze and physique.

"Well……?"

Tilt her head slightly, Alex raised her hand and waved in front of the sales assistant again. She leaned closer, and her posture was incredibly intimidating.

"Feel sorry!"

Seeing this, Xiangzi sensed something was wrong, grabbed Alex's hand, and pulled her out.

"Alex? What were you doing just now?"

After turning a few corners and getting out of sight of the cosmetics store, Xiangzi finally breathed a sigh of relief and looked at Alex.

"I wanted to see what she sells... but why didn't the trading interface pop up just now? Isn't she a merchant?"

Slightly confused, Alex scratched her soft hair as she spoke, subconsciously squeezing the small hand that Xiangzi was still holding.

Soft and very comfortable.

…………

P.S. Some people are really in a hurry. They just saw that Xiangzi couldn't find the game Minecraft, and they already think Aine is from a parallel universe, and that the setting is meaningless. I know, it's all my fault for updating too slowly, that's why they're in such a rush.

Don't worry, Aine will appear in the next chapter.

I like you, meow. ...

Volume 1: Chapter 36 She's So Cute

In the mall.

In front of an after-sales service store for an electronics brand.

"call……"

A beautiful young woman with long, light pink hair, wearing a light white dress and a dark blue denim vest, walked out alone.

"Is it almost beyond repair...?"

She glanced at the bag in her hand and sighed softly.

The girl's name is Chihaya Aine. She is a third-year middle school student and currently serves as the student council president.

Because this period is the last semester of middle school, and graduation is approaching, she has to handle all kinds of affairs, as well as the handover of the student council president position, herself.

A few days ago, I finally managed to finish all the pile of things. I was too tired and didn't want to go out shopping with my classmates, so I went home early in the afternoon. I was planning to open the blocky pixel game that I had been playing for a while and start a new, more casual save file to relax.

But just as she was creating the save file, the laptop's vents suddenly started smoking. By the time she realized what was happening and took two steps back, flames were shooting out, shooting up really high and giving her a huge fright.

Upon inspection, the back cover of the laptop had been burned with a black hole, and even a small part of the table in the bedroom was blackened.

The item was supposed to be taken for repair immediately, but I got busy with school matters in the following days. My father was also too busy with work to take it for repair, and my mother didn't know much about these things.

I had to wait a few days until today, the weekend, when Aiyin finally had the chance to make an appointment for after-sales service and bring her laptop over to see if it could still be repaired.

However, the after-sales service personnel told her that the smoke was caused by the graphics card and processor overloading and overheating together. The accumulated heat during the process caused the motherboard temperature to rise and burn through the motherboard, which also caused the battery to short-circuit, and finally the flames appeared and burned along with the back cover of the computer.

After a final check, only the hard drive and screen remained.

The curtain is still intact.

Anyway, after going around in circles, Ai Yin was completely confused. All she knew was that if she wanted to fix it, the motherboard, graphics card, power supply, and casing all had to be replaced with new ones.

You might as well just buy a new computer.

But she had borrowed a lot of her allowance from her parents to buy it, and it had only been used for a few years.

For the past two years, most of the time I've used this laptop is just to play that game that I stumbled upon by accident. It's such a niche game that apart from the official website I found through a pop-up ad, I haven't seen anyone discussing it anywhere else.

For a moment, Chihaya Aine, heartbroken, stood in the mall with a worried expression, looking extremely troubled.

Although she also has a tablet that she usually uses to watch videos, it's too uncomfortable to play games on this tablet.

"Should we buy a new one...?"

Hesitating, Ai Yin began to silently calculate how much pocket money she still had saved.

"Oh right, the headphones also burned out, so I'll have to buy a new pair."

She suddenly remembered that she had been startled by the flames. When she took off her headphones, they were still connected to her laptop, and the headphones, which were thrown back, landed right on the flames.

However, the headphone cable was already faulty, and the microphone had terrible sound pickup. She should have replaced it a long time ago, but she procrastinated and spent all her allowance on other things, so she didn't.

"Never mind, let's wait until we're done with this period of work..."

Realizing she'd been spending a bit too much pocket money lately, Ai Yin decided to put the matter out of her mind for the time being. She took out her phone and checked the time; it was still a while before noon, and she didn't have anything else to do right now.

It's the weekend today. I wonder if anyone's free to hang out together?

Looking up at the weather outside the mall, Ai Yin was just about to see if she could invite some classmates out to play when her eyes lit up.

What a beautiful girl!

Not far in front of her, a tall, beautiful girl with silver-white hair stood there, looking extremely eye-catching.

Seemingly waiting for someone, the white-haired girl kept looking around. She was probably very unfamiliar with the place, as her hands were always fidgeting as if she didn't know what to do with them. Sometimes she would grab the hem of her clothes, sometimes she would pinch her sleeves. Her bewildered little expression was extremely cute.

Looking like this, you'd seem like you could attract the attention of thugs with ill intentions at any moment.

Are you a tourist visiting Tokyo?

In times like these, it's time for my enthusiastic friend Ai Yin to step in and help the confused tourists!

She would never say that she wanted to get to know the girl because she was so pretty.

"Hello, are you experiencing any difficulties?"

She took a few steps forward, circled around to face the other person, and then leaned in slightly, smiling as she asked softly.

"Eh?"

The white-haired girl was clearly startled, then looked at her and was startled again. After that, she remained silent for a long time, a very strange reaction.

"Ah! You can call me Chihaya. I don't mean any harm. I just saw you standing here all alone and you looked like you needed some help."

She quickly took two steps back and waved her hand, thinking that she had scared the other person.

"Well……"

But the other party still didn't say anything.

"Could it be that they are foreigners who can't understand Japanese?"

Muttering a questioning remark to herself, Aine looked at the white-haired girl's face.

This was indeed an extremely beautiful girl. Her soft facial features were exquisitely outlined, and her fair, jade-like face had lips that were slightly pursed, like a plum blossom blooming in the snow, pure and beautiful. Her bright, crimson eyes were as clear and bright as red agate. When she looked around, her pupils trembled slightly, yet they were as lively as dewdrops forming in the morning light, so innocent that they were captivating.

This delicate appearance seems to perfectly match Aine's aesthetic.

"I... am waiting for someone."

While Aine was still in a daze, the other person seemed to have come to their senses. She paused for a moment and then answered.

"Ah, haha, is that so..."

A slightly embarrassed expression, Ai Yin chuckled awkwardly.

Oh no! I was completely mesmerized!

That face is just too much!

"Chihaya... My name is Alex."

After carefully considering the way Aine had addressed her, the white-haired girl smiled and introduced herself.

"Alex...a foreign tourist visiting Tokyo?"

Once Aine realized that the other person wasn't there because of any trouble, she should have been able to leave, since the other person was just waiting for someone.

But when she recalled Alex's bewildered and helpless expression just now, she still felt a little uneasy.

If we leave the other person here like this, it would be really troublesome if they were approached by unwanted people.

In short, start by bringing up a few topics and chatting with her for a while, then leave when her friends arrive.

Having made up her mind, Aine casually brought up a topic.

"I'm a foreigner who hasn't been in Tokyo for long. I opened a burger shop nearby."

Alex recalled the words Xiangzi had given her for introducing herself to others, and replied.

"Wow, you're so young and you can run a burger shop all by yourself, that's amazing!"

With her hands clasped together in front of her chest, Ai Yin conveyed a wealth of emotional value through both her posture and her words.

"So you're out with friends today?"

After observing for a moment, it seemed that Alex did not seem to be offended by her conversation, so Aine continued the topic.

"Hmm...yes, I came to buy things with a friend."

Alex quickly went through the decision of whether Xiangzi was now her friend in her mind, and nodded.

"However, she told me to stay here and not go anywhere until she comes back..."

As she spoke, she suddenly looked dejected, the strands of hair beside her ears swaying as if she were very aggrieved.

Wow! She's so cute!

Upon seeing this, Aine suddenly covered her nose.

…………

P.S. It's been over two years since we last saw that. Guess how old Alex is now?

Also, although I've been emphasizing this through explicit and implicit descriptions, you might not realize that I wrote Alex's appearance and temperament as that of a gentle and innocent young lady, with a soft face. This is Aine's own preference in my character design, since she's the one who drew it.

It's definitely not because I watched too much acetaminophen.

Volume 1: Chapter 37 A Sense of Intimacy

Why was Alex left alone in the mall?

First, let's rewind time to a few tens of minutes ago.

"So, don't go up to the sales assistant and stare at them!"

Xiangzi, who was pulling Alex out of a shop again, repeated the words he had already said before with a hint of helplessness.

"But I just wanted to see what she sells..."

Alex was confused and didn't quite understand why Xiangzi would say that to her.

Covering his forehead, Xiangzi didn't know how to explain it to her.

Buying things in this world requires communication with others.

She had no choice but to continue holding Alex's hand to prevent her from doing anything strange again.

however……

"Alex!? Put everything back right now!"

Turning his head, Xiangzi was shocked to see that all the goods on the counter had been sucked into Alex's backpack.

"Huh? But, if these things are outside, can't we just take them as we please?"

"I've never heard of anything that's supposed to be on the ground or a table that you can't take," Alex looked at Xiangzi with a puzzled expression.

Fortunately, no one noticed them, and Alex didn't make any big movements when collecting her items. In the end, it was Xiangzi who supervised Alex as she put everything back in its original place before she finally breathed a sigh of relief.

I don't know if it was seen by surveillance cameras.

With a mix of trepidation and excitement, Xiangzi once again moved Alex to another location.

We'd barely stepped into the supermarket...

"Alex!? Get down here!"

When Xiangzi turned his head and couldn't find Alex, he was stunned for a moment. Then he looked up and saw that she had somehow gotten onto the shelf. He almost couldn't help but let out a sharp bang.