Want to be human, but cube-like

"what!"

At that moment, Aine seemed to suddenly remember something, and she gasped softly.

"I forgot about Xiao Le Nai, where did she go?"

In the heat of the moment, Aine was so focused on getting Alex out of the mall that she forgot about the other little white fluffy creature.

"She just ran away."

Upon hearing this, Alex, the only one who knew Lena's whereabouts, straightened up and replied.

"That's it..."

Recalling the other party's elusive nature, Aine could understand.

"Anyway, thank you for your kindness just now. We have other things to attend to, so we'll take our leave now."

Feeling that his strength had almost recovered, Xiangzi didn't care what the two of them were saying. He simply walked over, took Alex's hand, and nodded to Aine.

This lightness

That frivolous girl, Alex really needs to stay away from her, otherwise she'll be corrupted sooner or later.

She muttered something to herself and prepared to leave with Alex.

“Ah, um…”

Cute Voice, however, seemed reluctant to end this chance encounter so soon. She took out her phone and glanced at the time.

"Oh, it's already noon. Are you planning to go have lunch now?"

With a flick of her light gray eyes, Ai Yin asked again.

Xiangzi's eyes flashed, and he was about to brush it off.

"We want to go back to the hamburger shop."

But to her surprise, Alex answered Aine's question directly. She glanced at the shopping bag in Xiangzi's hand, which should contain the sauce and cheese that Xiangzi had bought.

She needs to go back and try out all the ingredients she just bought to see if they're suitable before she can open for business in the afternoon.

Alex, who prioritizes running a burger shop, is eager to get started.

"No, before we go back, we need to buy you a cell phone and get you a SIM card."

Reluctantly changing the words she was about to say, Xiangzi told the two of them the place she had actually wanted to take Alex to.

She could already guess that Aine must have been planning to use lunch as an excuse to follow the two back to the burger joint.

"Oh! Is it because Alex just arrived in Tokyo that she hasn't gotten a SIM card yet?"

Raising an eyebrow, Ai Yin asked with a smile.

"I know quite a bit about the features of the latest mobile phones. I don't have anything else to do, so why don't I come with you?"

She seemed very proactive, and her words made it hard to refuse.

"cell phone?"

This seemingly familiar term puzzled Alex for a moment.

It was probably something that appeared in some mod? But she didn't know much about it and didn't have a strong impression of it.

"Ah...this is..."

For a moment, Xiangzi was taken aback that Alex didn't even know what a cell phone was. Afraid that Aine would notice Alex's unusual behavior, she quickly glanced at Aine, then pulled Alex slightly to the side and whispered an explanation to her.

Is this some naive young lady who doesn't know anything about the world? She doesn't even know what a cell phone is?

Ai Yin blinked, somewhat surprised.

She recalled Alex's performance.

Her clothes all look like high-end, custom-made pieces made of fine fabrics. She's also incredibly skilled at playing the piano, so her family must be quite well-off. Is she starting a business alone in Tokyo, or has she run away from home?

Moreover, she had an innocent look on her face and seemed to have no sense of wariness towards strangers. She seemed to know nothing and had little common sense, just like the kind of sheltered young lady that often appears in movies and TV dramas.

Looking at Xiangzi again, she had a noble air about her, and her every move showed that she had received a good education in etiquette. She also spoke with respectful language, and seemed to be a noble lady. However, compared to Alex, the clothes she was wearing were wrinkled and faded from washing.

What a strange pairing.

Aine began to make all sorts of associations.

For example, are they relatives? Alex, who ran away from home, came to Tokyo to seek refuge with Toyokawa Shoko, but she did not expect that this young lady who had not contacted her family for a long time had now become a fallen noble. Without financial support, the two had no choice but to use the little money Alex had left to open a hamburger shop to make a living.

Or perhaps their parents wanted them to marry into other families, but they never imagined that, despite being so far apart, they would meet online and have a forbidden romance, secretly pledging their lives to each other behind their families' backs. In order to defy fate, Toyokawa Shoko was expelled from her family, while Alex traveled all the way to Tokyo to find love. However, with their funds frozen, the two couldn't find jobs and ended up having no choice but to open a hamburger shop.

All sorts of strange guesses popped into my head out of nowhere, almost all of them plots from prime-time TV dramas I usually watch.

Without exception, the two main characters are Alex and Toyokawa Shoko, both of whom are young ladies from wealthy families.

What would people's reaction be if they knew that I had become friends with two noble ladies, one of whom was a foreigner?

Thinking of this, Aine unconsciously let out a strange "hehe" laugh.

……

After that, Xiangzi had no choice but to take Alex, along with a pink-haired girl who had shamelessly followed him, to buy Alex a new cell phone.

I bought a contract phone and got a SIM card for it at the same time.

It's worth mentioning that Alex's documents were actually quite complete. Xiangzi had noticed this when he helped her organize her documents at the store. Her bank card was linked to the hamburger shop's system, and she also had complete information on her residence card and other citizen documents.

Although Xiangzi, who knew the truth about Alex, could tell at a glance that the information above was fake, it looked quite convincing to outsiders, who didn't know where it came from.

However, this also made things much more convenient, because Xiangzi had been carrying these things for Alex since he knew that she would be out today to take care of a lot of things.

"Okay, that's good!"

From the moment Alex bought her new phone, Ai Yin had been very proactive. In no time, she had installed all the commonly used apps for her.

"……Thanks."

Alex, who had been watching her operate the phone, took it and thanked her with a slight smile.

Wow! She's so cute!

Once again, Aine was captivated by Alex's charming face, realizing that she was completely unable to resist Alex's beauty.

Moreover, for some reason, she always subconsciously placed Alex in a position where she needed to take care of her.

Judging solely from appearances, whether in height or figure, Aine is actually the one who is smaller than Alex.

"By the way, Ellie, do you have a LINE account?"

Seeing Alex curiously fiddling with the device in her hands, Aine suddenly remembered something and asked.

What is Line?

Naturally, Alex didn't recognize the word, and she tilted her head.

"It's a chat app. If you don't have one, I'll register one for you first."

Ai-on casually took the phone from Alex and started operating it for her.

"Well?"

Alex curiously moved closer, standing behind Aine, her body almost touching Aine's back, bringing the two of them extremely close.

Aine noticed the softness and warmth behind her, her body stiffened, and the next moment, she felt a slight sensation on the left side of her face.

It was Alex's long, soft, white hair that brushed against her cheek.

The sweet scent wafted into Ai-yin's nostrils, and she subconsciously sniffed.

It has a very refreshing grapefruit scent. Is that the same scent that Alex wears?

"Little Ellie?"

A blush crept onto her cheeks, and she called out softly.

"what happened?"

Alex's voice, so close it was almost touching her ear, made Aine's ears go weak, and she regained her composure.

"I've set a very simple password for now. Remember to change it when you get back."

What name would you like for your account?

Barely ignoring the sensations coming from behind and around her ears, Aine focused her attention back on the phone screen in front of her and asked Alex for her opinion.

"Just use Alex."

Almost without hesitation, Alex, who was completely indifferent to this matter, simply used her own name.

"Good~"

Without interfering much with Alex's decision, Ai nodded and typed four letters on it.

She suddenly remembered that the character in the game she played seemed to have the same name.

She only discovered this when she was changing the skin for her character. Because she had to replace the image file of the character's skin every time, and she often designed new skins herself, it was hard not to remember how many times she had to replace the skin file.

Thinking about it that way, it's quite a coincidence.

"Next, let's add our first friend~"

As she spoke, Ai Yin skillfully tapped the screen a few times, searched for an account with a profile picture of a small pink flower, and then requested to add it.

Just then, Xiangzi, who had finally completed all the formalities and paid the fees for Alex, retrieved Alex's documents and turned back.

When she looked up, she saw the two of them sticking together, all lovey-dovey, and her vision went black.

"Alex!?"

Looking at Alex, who was standing behind Aine and leaning her head close to Aine's cheek without any sense of distance, Xiangzi couldn't help but call out.

"Xiangzi, are you done?"

Alex looked up at Xiangzi, puzzled, as she looked away from the phone screen in Aine's hand and asked.

"Hehe! Look, Ellie's first friend on LINE is me~"

Ai Yin, who also looked up, curled the corners of her mouth, raised the screen in her hand, and showed it off to Xiangzi.

That pink-haired lecher! So annoying!

…………

P.S. Because after finishing writing it I realized that no matter how I cut it, it didn't seem quite right, and I couldn't divide it into two chapters of 2,000 words each, so I combined them. Therefore, this chapter is 4,000 words. This is the only chapter for today.

I warned everyone beforehand, this isn't meant to keep you hanging; the truth is there simply aren't sufficient and necessary conditions for a reconciliation.

And, many interesting and awkward plot points became impossible to write after they recognized each other.

Volume 1: Chapter 42 Two guys who have absolutely no sense of distance

Taking a deep breath, Xiangzi held back her words and walked back.

"The matter is settled, we can leave now."

Pretending not to care, Xiangzi said.

"Little Ellie, here's your phone back."

After checking the chat window and confirming that she had successfully added him as a friend, Ai Yin closed the interface and handed the phone to Alex.

"...Little Ellie?"

She paused, only then noticing that Ai-yin called Xiangzi that, and couldn't help but turn her head to glance at her.

"Hmm...isn't this name cute enough? Then...Ellie?"

Tilting her head, Aine also glanced at Xiangzi with a puzzled look, then turned to Alex and spoke.

"...?"

Xiangzi's eye twitched, and he also looked at Alex.

"……It will be all right?"

Blinking, Alex didn't understand why they kept asking, when it was just a form of address.

"Okay! Then Ellie can call me Aine too! And Xiaoxiang too!"

With a big, sweet smile on her face, Aine said this to the two of them.