100 Performance

After sharing the story, Zhou Lei felt a weight get released from inside of him.

Meeting his idol gave him a desire to share this experience with his friends. He had bragging rights.

With Lin Hanying being his only friend, Zhou Lei felt good when he mentioned it to her.

They started their hellish training session.

.....

Shao Lingxin was on the verge of giving up on finding Lin Guiying.

She slowly ate her French fries inside McDonnie's and looked out the glass wall.

The arcade was opposite of the restaurant. That was why Shao Lingxin chose to eat here, since it was the easiest to access.

After eating, she stood up and walked back to the arcade.

'Second round, here I come!'

As she entered the arcade, the noise of every machine around her created an active ambiance.

All of the people's laughs and cheers, as well as shouts and jeers, made for a nice and cheerful atmosphere around the arcade.

However, noisy places is what Shao Lingxin hated the most. Her face scrunched up when all of the noise infiltrated her ear and reached her mind.

"This is why... I hate the arcade!"

Her hands were shaking, suppressing the desire to place them over her ears to block the noise from irritating the deepest reaches of her brain.

In spite of that, she thought it to be disrespectful and discomforting to the people that came to this venue to have fun.

That was why she resisted the urge so earnestly. She didn't want to ruin these people's fun time in the arcade. Otherwise, she would be labelled a killjoy.

They didn't come to the arcade to follow her requests after all.

With this in mind, Shao Lingxin made sure to hurry up this time. She didn't like spending a long time in crowded and noisy places.

She looked over at the Karaoke section of the arcade first, since it was most likely she was here. After all, Shao Lingxin caught her the most in this place.

When she got there, the amount of people multiplied.

"Ugh..."

Shao Lingxin felt that the desire to cover her ears turned into a need.

Although each station had soundproofing technology, most of the stations were malfunctioning or damaged from overuse.

As such, voices from the inside leaked out to be heard by the patrons of this area.

Various voices could be heard all over the place, ranging from a decent voice that could be heard anywhere, to a really bad one that could make an person bleed to death through their eardrums.

The occasional talented singer wasn't present today, so the balance between good and bad was annihalated.

Shao Lingxin's frown worsened as she looked through every window in the area. She only made it halfway through before she gave up respecting other people and covered her ears.

She continued searching through the small tinted windows, but most of them were covered with curtains so unless she was lucky and Lin Guiying used the station that didn't have a curtain, she needed to use her ears.

Finally, she reached the last station and, as expected, she couldn't find Lin Guiying anywhere.

Feeling more stressed than before, Shao Lingxin removed her hands from her ears to listen to the myraid of "voices".

She listened earnestly, even though her eardrums were on the verge of exploding and instantly killing her.

Strolling through the ways between the stations, she listened to the ones that had a malfunctioning soundproof.

"...and I-I-I-ee-I-I, will always hate you-u-u..."[1]

"...I am happy, I'm very glad. I got moonlight, in a bag..."[2]

"...I hate the way, I hate the way, I hate the way you hurt me, baby..."[3]

Shao Lingxin listened for the one song that she knew Lin Guiying would sing. 'She repeatedly told interviewers that it was her favorite song, and she sung it all the time in her house, as her mother said.'

It was... one of Calm! at the Disco's oldest songs, "I Write Tragedies, Not Sins"[4]!

The manager perked her ear up, until she heard the lyrics, "haven't you people ever heard of... opening the goddamn door?!"

Shao Lingxin rushed to where the station was and listened again.

"No! It's much worse to face these kinds of things, with a sense of boys and nationality!"

Hearing the voice sing, Shao Lingxin felt disappointed. This voice was not at all similar to Lin Guiying's!

As she walked away, Shao Lingxin muttered along to the lyrics.

"...I chime in, haven't you people ever heard of... opening the goddamn door?..."

Her beautiful voice escaped her mouth, but it did not enter the ears of the people. After all, it was noisy enough in the place, how could her quiet voice reach them?

In the end, Shao Lingxin walked out of the Karaoke area. She gave up finding her there - it was becoming too much for her to handle.

Her next destination was the non-virtual games. She headed to the rows of the basketball machines lined up, the pinball machines beside those, and the other machines around them.

'Compared to the Karaoke area, this place is much quieter...'

That was right. The non-virtual games were still occupied with people, but they all were quieter than the people at the Karaoke area.

'Hmm, it must be because students head to the Karaoke area... they are unruly and noisy!'

It seemed like Lin Guiying gave Shao Lingxin a bad impression of teenagers as a whole.

'Anyway, she should be here somewhere...'

.....

In the same area, Zhou Lei stepped on the arrows frantically as he focused his mind on coordination between his eyes and his feet.

Lin Guiying watched in shock at the scene before her.

'No way! He only has a quarter left before perfecting it? I can't even reach that high!'

Her eyes almost bulged out of her face.

On the flipside, Zhou Lei was calm as could be.

He got a prideful mentality in dancing due to the skill book he got.

His stats now looked like this:

Dancing Skill: 112

Prideful Mentality in Dancing: 100

It seems that before this, Zhou Lei didn't have any Prideful Mentality in Dancing...

His arms, which used to hold on to the bar behind his body, was now used to flail around to make him look cool!

Well, it seemed dangerous too...

Soon enough, Zhou Lei finished the song.

With only a quarter to go to perfection, Zhou Lei seemed satisfied at the result of consuming the book.

'This doesn't count in violating the rules... after all, it only says that I couldn't use the Dance Dance Revolution Sudden Burst item, System didn't tell that I couldn't use other items... Hehehe!'

Zhou Lei felt proud of his own ingenious idea.

He stepped off the machine, but as soon as he did, Lin Guiying put her hand on his shoulder and smiled. Her other hand had a thumbs-up on.

"I'm proud of you, as your mother..." Lin Guiying acted like she was crying.

"..." Zhou Lei looked at Lin Hanying with a blank expression.

"You know, I thought you were an idiot before..." Lin Guiying continued with her act.

"Eh?! Well... that means you finally realized my greatness?" Zhou Lei carefully worded this statement. 'This wouldn't trigger the punishment now, would it?'

"...but now, you're less of an idiot!" Lin Guiying teared up as she nodded her head.

For a second, Zhou Lei was convinced the girl in front of him wasn't just joking with him.

Only after the fact did he realize what she had just said. "...So that means I'm still an idiot?!"

And this is how their daily banter went.

"You know, you've almost tricked me into thinking you were my mom that got proud that I turned into a lesser idiot." Zhou Lei complimented her honestly.

"Thank you for your praise, my son." Lin Guiying had a smirk on her face.

Seeing her smug face made Zhou Lei both agitated and irritated. The former because she looked strangely attractive while she did so. The latter because she was still calling her son!

These feelings subsided quickly as Zhou Lei continued to speak. "I'm being honest. You should go audition or something. I believe you'll get the highest prize!"

Lin Guiying blushed a small bit as she heard Zhou Lei's praise. Even with her disguise on, if someone looked into her face, they would fall into a trance.

As they talked more and more, Zhou Lei forgot about training. He wanted to talk to her longer...

Lin Guiying smiled as she hid her face behind her hair subtly. She felt the same sentiments as he did.

Both of them wanted each other to talk.

"Oh, have you heard about the new season of White Flower?" Zhou Lei finally got a chance to see if this girl was an otaku like him, or not.

Either one would be OK with him, since he already considered Lin Guiying as a good friend.

However, upon hearing the words "White Flower" come out of Zhou Lei's mouth, Lin Guiying's eyes sparkled.

As mutual only-friends, both of them had no outlet when it came to interests and the like. Now that she had a friend, combining that with her love for White Flower, she had an overwhelming desire to tell him all about her love for it.

The best day of her life was when she was accepted to voice a new character in the newest season. She memorized the lines day and night, and when it finally came to the recording, her voice acting was so stellar it outshined even the veterans!

She was now anticipating watching the anime in her room by herself, eating chips and basking in the greatness of her own voice.

"Yes, yes, yes!" Lin Guiying, her thinking skills stopping to a halt, gripped Zhou Lei's wrists as she inched closer and closer to his face.

Seeing how passionate Lin Hanying was, Zhou Lei stood up in excitement as well. He jumped with passion, like a child that was destroying the toy castle that he himself built!

Soon after, Zhou Lei looked distant, and a tear dripped from the corner of his eye.

"The suppression of the White Flowers have failed."

Hearing the iconic line from the first season of the show, Lin Guiying let go of Zhou Lei's wrists and acted beside him. "...What do we do now?"

"We... quarantine the entire city!" Zhou Lei looked like he had just made a big decision. He turned his back against Lin Hanying.

Visibly startled, Lin Guiying tried to convince Zhou Lei to do otherwise. "B- but sir, you are in the city!" Her signal on the hologram projector got interrupted for a second.

"I don't care! The rest of the world is more important than my petty life." Zhou Lei didn't even bother to look at Lin Hanying's direction.

"B- but-!" Even though she felt Zhou Lei's anger from the previous statement, she still wanted him to live!

It was then that Zhou Lei looked at her with a face full of conviction. "Fumizaki, just do it!"

"D- doctor... Jinta, no..." Lin Guiying, who acted as Fumizaki, started crying profusely.

Zhou Lei, who acted as Doctor Jinta, turned around indifferently.

The pair didn't notice that both of their acting were out of this world that the crowd around them subconsciously focused on their performance instead of doing what they wanted to do here in the first place.

Besides, White Flower was a fairly popular series, so most of the people knew exactly what they were doing. The rest still watched though, because their acting was mesmerizing.

Zhou Lei lowered his head as a single drop of tear made its way out of his eye.

With this, the scene ended.

Lin Guiying turned around to look at Zhou Lei, who also turned around to look at her.

Both of them had massive smiles on their face.

They ran up to each other and hugged tightly.

"Ah, I can't believe you know that scene word for word!" Zhou Lei didn't realize what he was doing.

Lin Guiying didn't realize what she was doing either, as she spoke, "And your acting was superb as well! I couldn't tell if you were really Doctor Jinta or not!"

This moment cemented them as best friends... for now.

As they hugged and jumped around, the people around them clapped their hands. How couldn't they, after seeing such a wonderful performance?

Shao Lingxin, currently inspecting the pinball machines, heard the whistles and cheers. "Hmm? What's happening there?"

Purely out of curiosity, Shao Lingxin decided to halt searching for Lin Guiying first to check the situation out.

Even though she despised noise, she had a certain attraction to applause.

Shao Lingxin headed to the area where the people circled around. 'I remember this area. This is where that Dance Dance thing machinery is.'

She peeked through the gaps and saw two teenagers, a boy and a girl, hugging each other. Both of them were sweaty, but they didn't seem to mind.

"Um, excuse me sir, what happened here?" Shao Lingxin poked the back of one of the people. 'What exactly happened that triggered your applause?'

"Hmm? Those two in the middle acted out something, I really don't know what it is but it was very dramatic!" Even though this middle-aged man was oblivious about the anime, he still felt moved by the two's acting.

Shao Lingxin raised one of her eyebrows. 'Huh. So someone acted in the middle of the arcade. They probably got caught in the moment.'

As she looked back at the supposed actors, the girl's front faced the other direction, while the guy's face was visible to her.

"Oh my! That boy is quite handsome." Shao Lingxin felt startled. She had no interest in guys, so this was the first one that made her like that.

No matter how handsome the guy was, she never seemed to take interest in any of them. She first deduced that she was into girls instead, and yet, no matter how beautiful they were, she didn't have any evident reaction either.

That was when she determined that she was of the A type – asexual, that is.

However, after one glance at the teenager in the middle of the crowd, she felt her heart beat faster for a split second.

'What does this mean...? Am I... into younger guys?'

In the middle, Zhou Lei and Lin Guiying finally let go of each other. Both of them liked the feeling of hugging each other.

Zhou Lei felt extremely happy inside. Not only did he obtain a friend, that friend also shared the same hobbies and interests as he did! That was a full package for a best friend!

Meanwhile, Lin Guiying was also thinking the same thing. 'Oh my God! I'm so happy right now! Nothing can ever ruin this mood for me!'

She felt joy inside her head. She had never felt joy this exaggerated since when she auditioned and was accepted to voice one of the characters.

Now, her dream became not watching the new season of the show by herself, but with him... Lin Guiying had a massive smile on her face.

Zhou Lei thanked everyone who clapped for him.

"Thank you, little boy with the blue backwards cap! Thank you, punk that has a purple Mohawk! Thank you, regular office worker!"

Shao Lingxin looked at the young teen in the middle thanking everyone. She stared at him as he made his way around, describing everyone.

Eventually, Zhou Lei laid his eyes on Shao Lingxin. "Oh, it's you! Thank you... the lady who previously tried to help me!"

Shao Lingxin was confused. Hearing the young man's voice, Shao Lingxin tried to recall where she heard it before.

"Oh, you were the one lying on the floor before!" She recalled what happened earlier.

Hearing Shao Lingxin's response, Zhou Lei nodded.

However, someone else had a different reaction.

'Sh- Shao Lingxin?! What is she doing here?' Lin Guiying froze up. Her expression stayed the same, so it didn't show on her face.

Zhou Lei decided to continue thanking everyone, while Shao Lingxin felt nice feelings inside after getting thanked.

Lin Guiying discreetly exited through the crowd. 'Thanks Lei for attracting all the attention away from me...'

She sneaked around the crowd and was going to pass by Shao Lingxin. The latter was watching Zhou Lei still — it shouldn't be a problem to pass her.

As she was right behind her, Shao Lingxin turned around with a warm smile on her face.

Shao Lingxin opened her eyes wide.

Lin Guiying cursed herself in her mind. 'You stupid idiot! When did you become so careless?!'

Shao Lingxin's smile gradually disappeared. However, as the corners of her lips went down, it didn't stop when she had a blank expression.

Instead, it went even further down, forming a frown.

'Lin. Gui. Ying!' Shao Lingxin screamed inside her head. She knew that she couldn't scream out her name in public, else they might attract attention. Well, not might, but definitely will attract attention!

As she saw Lin Guiying slowly turning around, Shao Lingxin went into her running position.

Those years being in the track-and-field club weren't for nothing!

She... started running!

As Lin Guiying was still exhausted from jumping around, her speed was slower than usual.

Before she even had the opportunity to exit the arcade, her hand was grabbed!

Shao Lingxin exuded a terrifying aura, the likes of which no one has ever seen before!

Lin Guiying couldn't help but gulp. She turned around. "H- hey, Manager Shao..." Forcing a smile on her face, she looked like she needed to use the bathroom!

Without letting Lin Guiying finish her sentence, her manager's face inched closer to her own.

Shao Lingxin placed her mouth beside Lin Guiying's ear and whispered words.

Lin Guiying's expression turned worse with each word that came out of her manager's mouth. In the end, her soul exited her body, and Lin Guiying was now a soulless vessel.

As she finished talking, Shao Lingxin stood up straight and dragged the soulless vessel across the floor.

.....

The crowd around Zhou Lei dissipated. He still had a cheerful expression on his face.

"Ying, that was really fun... Ying?" Zhou Lei saw that even Lin Hanying had dissipated!

He looked around the DDR machine, and all he saw was a bag full of merchandise for White Flower.

Zhou Lei's eyes lit up upon sight of this sacred treasure chest, but it wasn't his. Moreover, the "chest" was full of figurines and limited edition keychains and... dakimakuras[5] of Doctor Jinta.

'Why does Doctor Jinta have so many fangirls? Even though he's handsome, he dies in literally the fifteenth minute of episode 1. Although he appears in multiple flashbacks, he didn't have much screentime!'

Zhou Lei shook his head with a confused expression.

In any case, the "chest" was full of expensive things that probably belonged to Lin Hanying. If that was the case, then he needed to bring them to her!

"...But how? I don't know where she lives. Oh, I can chat her!"

As he said that, he opened up his WeChat.

.....

In the mall's parking lot.

Lin Guiying was still being dragged by her manager. Her will to live was gone, so her feet stopped functioning, as well as her entire body.

"Oh, and by the way, who was that guy who hugged?" Shao Lingxin's sudden question attack!

Lin Guiying was startled. "Oh, that was Zhou Lei, my friend. "

"Hmm. Only your friend?" Shao Lingxin inquired even more.

"Yes, he is my... friend..." As she slowly realized what she had just done, Lin Guiying's face started to burn up.

"Aaaah! I... hugged him? I really hugged him? And so tightly too! Aaaah!" Lin Guiying covered her face with both of her hands as she got out of Shao Lingxin's grip.

"Hey!" Shao Lingxin was shocked. This girl escaped from my hand?

She readied herself to run again, only to see Lin Guiying running in circles.

"Aaaah! I wanna die!... but his body was so firm... Aaaah, what am I talking about?!" Lin Guiying continued doing donuts on foot.

Shao Lingxin stared dumbfoundedly at the girl in front of her. 'Not to mention hugging, she's even kissed several actors before! You're telling me she got flustered by a hug?'

As she sighed, she spoke seriously, "Well, you two are friends, right? Make sure it stays that way. No escalating it further."

Ting!

A sound came from her phone.

"...Huh?" Lin Guiying stopped being embarrassed to check her phone out.

*1 new message from @ZhouLei

Seeing the handle of who messaged her, she started blushing slightly. She opened the message, and what she saw next confounded her.

[Yo yo wats up its yo boi zhou Lei

Im on wechat and im here to say:

hey did you leave a bag of merch in the arcade?]

The message made her stare at her phone for a few seconds before she snapped out of her daze.

The funny introduction made Lin Guiying's fluster go away. It was like the embarrassment never existed in the first place.

The actual content made Lin Guiying sweat profusely. "M- my merch! My Doctor Jinta poster, my Doctor Jinta pin, my Doctor Jinta dakimakura!"

She immediately headed back to the mall.

Shao Lingxin saw that Lin Guiying intended on escaping again and shouted, "Where are you going?!"

"Don't worry, I'll be back here! I'm just going to get something I left behind..." Lin Guiying reassured her manager.

"I don't trust you... How did you know about it in the first place?" Shao Lingxin doubted the information that Lin Guiying gave her.

"It's- well... my friend found it and now he's asking me if it's mine." Lin Guiying explained honestly.

"Why don't you let him bring it here? Whatever it is you're talking about." Shao Lingxin thought of a compromise.

"But... this car, isn't it the signature "Car of Lin Guiying's Agent"? Wouldn't he be dumb if he didn't recognize it? Although no one recognizes your face, your car is popular around the country, you know?"

"Eh? So you haven't told him, huh?" Shao Lingxin had a smug face.

"Well, you set a rule..." In truth, Lin Guiying was dying to tell him how his friend Lin Hanying was actually his idol Lin Guiying.

"Hmm, then you should wait for him over at the elevator. I'll wait here." Shao Lingxin didn't budge.

"Fine..." Lin Guiying really wanted to pick it up herself, and also *kind of* escape from Shao Lingxin.

Lin Guiying replied to Zhou Lei with: [please bring at the fifth floor parking space on wing B I give you my advanced thanks]

With which Zhou Lei replied with: [Yo yo wats up its yo boi zhou Lei

Im on wechat and im here to say:

ok ill be there soon]

'Did he actually set that as his introduction?'

.....

Since the arcade was on the fifth floor of wing B of the mall already, Zhou Lei didn't need to do that much walking. He arrived there almost immediately.

He saw Lin Hanying through the glass door. As he entered the parking lot, Lin Hanying ran towards him.

"Oh my God, I almost forgot these..." Lin Guiying took the bag from Zhou Lei and hugged it immediately.

"Ying, what's up with you? Why'd you suddenly disappear?" Zhou Lei felt curious. There was no ill will behind his words.

"Well, it's complicated..." Lin Guiying had an urge to say everything, but she knew that if she did so, she would have to transfer schools again and lose Zhou Lei as a friend.

"Hmm. If you can't tell me something, that's fine. Just share with me your problems and I'll help you." Zhou Lei placed his fist on his chest.

"Lei..." Lin Guiying felt moved by her friend's sentiments. 'I don't care anymore. I'll tell him! I'm going to tell him!' "Actually-"

Before she could say another word, Zhou Lei grabbed her arm and pulled her close. He pointed at a car far away with a woman standing idly.

"Look at that car! Isn't that Lin Guiying's agent's car?!" Zhou Lei widened his eyes.

"...eh, huh?" She was about to confess her secret in a heartfelt way, but she was interrupted...

"So that must mean that the woman outside is her agent!" Zhou Lei stared at the area where the car was. "But who is she waiting for?"

"...Well-"

Before Lin Guiying could answer, Zhou Lei sucked his breath before coming up with a theory. "It couldn't be... is she waiting for Lin Guiying?"

"..." Lin Guiying was dumbfounded.

"I'm telling you, Ying. I and Lin Guiying are connected by fate."

"...Lei, what the heck are you saying?" Lin Guiying could not help but feel the second hand embarrassment.

"Can't help it. Lin Guiying... is just too beautiful. Even more so in real life!" Zhou Lei nodded as the words reached Lin Guiying's ears.

The latter blushed fiercely. She never felt like this before!

Could it be... than her best friend is her first love...?!

Lin Guiying didn't give any more retorts and went silent.

As for Zhou Lei, he kept on singing praises about his idol, ranging from her talents to her personality...

She couldn't take it any longer...!

"Stop! Stop! I get it." Lin Guiying looked at Zhou Lei while her face was red.

Seeing this sight, Zhou Lei felt the urge to take out his phone, snap a picture, and set it as his wallpaper.

This was too damn cute!

'Wait... is she blushing?' Zhou Lei never thought she would blush.

It couldn't be... that Lin Hanying felt jealous he was complimenting other girls? 'She sure is possessive...'

As he about to speak, he remembered the quest System gave him.

'Be modense? So I need to be dense as well?'

With this in mind, Zhou Lei finally spoke. He stared at the young lady in front of him, with a red face.

"What's wrong with you?" Zhou Lei's acting, like before, was convincing to a fault. "Do you have a fever? Your face is red!"

Lin Guiying thought, 'Why is he being dense right now?'

Without thinking, Zhou Lei placed his hand on her forehead. "Oh, but you aren't hot though... why is your face red then?"

As she thought that Zhou Lei was being dense, she saw his smug smile flash on his face. It disappeared as soon as it came.

"..." Lin Guiying felt that he could actually detect her real thoughts! After all, his acting was one of the best she'd seen. She wouldn't be surprised if Zhou Lei acted oblivious to give her a way out...

Just as he predicted, Lin Hanying grabbed her bag full of merch. "O- okay...! I'm going now! Good bye!"

Zhou Lei watched Lin Hanying slowly getting more distant.

He sighed as he turned around to leave. He pushed the door out the parking lot and didn't look back.

It sure as hell was convenient for Lin Guiying that he didn't look back, else he would be seeing an unbelievable sight - she walked straight to the famous "Lin Guiying's Agent's Car"!

Shao Lingxin noticed the other party approaching with the bag of merch beside her. "Are you done?"

"...y- yes..."

Lin Guiying entered the car with the bag of merch with her. She crammed it through the door since it wouldn't fit.

Soon, Shao Lingxin followed, sitting on the driver's seat.

The car drove and left.

[1] A parody of "I Will Always Love You" by Whitney Houston.

[2] A parody of "Clint Eastwood" by Gorillaz.

[3] A parody of "Irresistible" by Fall Out Boy.

[4] A parody of "I Write Sins, Not Tragedies" by Panic! at the Disco.

[5] Dakimakura: A body pillow with anime girl (or guy) on it