Little Pink Starfish

Yuan Yuanyuan stared silently out the car window as the scenery flew by.

Even though she wasn’t speaking, someone behind her had been talking nonstop for over an hour — without taking a single break.

“So I told him, if you don’t want to break up, then let’s get married. But he doesn’t want to break up or get married. What the hell does that even mean…”

Yuan Yuanyuan rested her cheek against her hand, pretending not to hear. The taxi turned into a familiar street corner. She was almost home.

“His friends all say I’m being dramatic… but how? I’ve been with him for years — I just want to get married, is that too much to ask?”

The girl’s complaints kept spilling from the backseat until the taxi finally came to a slow stop.

Yuan Yuanyuan glanced up at the sky. As she paid, she suddenly said to the driver, “Head home early tonight, uncle. Don’t drive around this area too late. Not safe around here lately.”

“This area?” the driver leaned out to glance around. “Heard there was a murder around here a while back — that true?”

“Yeah, just up ahead, that alley there. Pretty scary, from what I heard.” Yuan Yuanyuan closed the door as she spoke.

One grass carp. One case of milk.

Yuan Yuanyuan hoisted the milk upstairs. The voice behind her was still going: “My best friend says it’s because he doesn’t love me — that’s why he won’t marry me. But he can’t find anyone better, so he just keeps stringing me along…”

The echoing corridor held only one set of footsteps. As Yuan Yuanyuan walked, the flickering hallway light overhead sputtered once before stabilizing.

The walls were littered with all kinds of colorful ads — drain cleaning, internet repairs, tutoring, takeout…

Under the dim, flickering motion-sensor light, they looked kind of eerie.

“Ugh, what do you think I should do? Can you help me think it through? Here, I’ll carry the milk for you…” The girl’s voice finally quieted a bit. Yuan Yuanyuan shifted the milk on her shoulder and sniffed the air — her neighbors weren’t home.

Of course not… Who else but a night owl like her would be home in broad daylight?

She set down the milk and fished out her keys, her tone full of helplessness. “Girl, you can’t carry the milk. And besides, I’ve never even dated anyone. How should I know this stuff…”

“But you look like someone who’s easy to talk to…” the girl mumbled behind her.

Yuan Yuanyuan didn’t feel like humoring her, but she looked kind of pitiful. As she unlocked the door, she looked back and said, “Don’t overthink it. Guys like that — plenty of fish in the sea.”

She opened the door and turned back — only to see the girl frozen in place with a blank expression.

It was strange. She’d been so chatty the whole ride, but now, faced with Yuan Yuanyuan’s open door, she’d suddenly fallen silent.

Yuan Yuanyuan stood waiting at the door for a while. The girl just stood there, not moving, not speaking, simply staring.

After about a minute, Yuan Yuanyuan sighed and reached out to take her hand.

Her hand was ice-cold. Pale. With deep cuts all over — so deep they showed bone…

The door closed softly. The flickering hallway light steadied once again, gradually returning to its warm glow.

---

Yuan Yuanyuan sat in her living room, chewing on dried fish and reading a novel. The lights were on, making the room cozy and bright.

In front of her was a small brazier, its ashes still warm, faint embers glowing.

She turned another page, chewing lazily. The house was silent.

Eventually, she checked the time, set the book down, gathered up the leftover joss paper and gold foil, and packed them away along with the brazier.

When she ran into lingering spirits outside who couldn’t reincarnate, Yuan Yuanyuan would bring them home, burn some offerings, recite a prayer or two, and help them on their way.

It wasn’t a hard thing for most yokai to do — but truthfully, very few would bother.

Let’s be real — even living humans could become monster snacks in a lot of situations, let alone ghosts…

Cough cough. Yuan Yuanyuan flipped the page quickly, trying not to go down that dark mental road.

She’d always felt that, in a weird way, she was like one of those fictional double agents. Living in the yokai world, enjoying their protection, yet mentally still identifying as human.

From that perspective, maybe those people who said the man in black was doomed… weren’t wrong.

But that was how she had survived these past few years. No one taught her how to live. No mentor guided her. Even her survival skills were figured out bit by bit on her own.

News of the black-clothed man had finally died down. He had only shown up once, then disappeared without a trace. Yuan Yuanyuan felt her life was gradually returning to normal. She’d been in a good mood these past few days.

She set down her novel and just happened to hear Xiaoying, the neighbor girl, coming home. Ever since her near-miss, Xiaoying had quit her tutoring classes and came home right after school.

Recently, she’d even made a friend who walked to and from school with her. The two girls would chatter the whole way, and sometimes the friend would stay over for dinner.

Yuan Yuanyuan flipped onto her side. The building was old — sound insulation was poor. With her enhanced hearing, she could clearly catch Xiaoying’s voice from down the hall.

“I swear I’m telling the truth! I didn’t lie to you!” Xiaoying’s voice floated over faintly. “You don’t believe me, but I only told you.”

“Okay, okay,” her friend replied, clearly exasperated. “Even if it’s true, it’s not our business. Don’t get so worked up.”

“How can I not be worked up!” Xiaoying’s voice spiked, then she quickly lowered it again.

Yuan Yuanyuan listened and thought, Ah, teenage drama. So full of energy.

Back in her own school days, she used to walk home with her bestie, ranting about teachers, classmates, or the BL novel she secretly read the night before.

She used to chatter nonstop, never shutting up. It wasn’t until years later that she realized why her bestie always sounded half-dead in reply — Yuan Yuanyuan had been that annoying.

She flipped again and heard Xiaoying say, “You saw it with me! We double-checked every detail. It was exactly the same.”

“It was exactly the same,” the friend admitted. “But I still say — don’t get involved. Whether it’s true or not, this isn’t something you should touch. You’re lucky to still be alive. Just get some rest.”

“…I just wanted to say thank you.” Xiaoying’s voice was muffled. “He saved my life. I didn’t even get to see his face. I don’t even know his name.”

In her bedroom, Yuan Yuanyuan slowly lowered her book, eyes flicking toward the hallway, ears practically pressed to the door.

“I thought you’d be the right person to talk to,” Xiaoying continued. “Come have dinner at my place. We’re having braised ribs…”

“Yuanyuan-jie! Are you home? We’re having braised ribs tonight — want some?” Yuan Yuanyuan was still eavesdropping when the sudden knock on her door scared the hell out of her.

She jumped out of bed and rushed to open the door.

Outside stood Xiaoying and her friend, both in school uniforms.

“Hey, Xiaoying. Bringing a friend home?” Yuan Yuanyuan asked automatically, still a little dazed.

“Yep. You’re home alone, Yuanyuan-jie?” Xiaoying asked.

“Mm-hmm,” she nodded. “About those ribs… I’ll pass. You two go ahead and eat.”

She watched them head off, still slightly stunned.

*Wait… Xiaoying reads *Monster Chronicles* too?*

She remembered how strict things were back in her own school days — no phones, no internet, locked-in like prisoners.

She hadn’t expected students these days to have it so good.

She really hadn’t thought Xiaoying would be into Monster Chronicles. First, the comic had only been out a little over a month and wasn’t that well-known. Second, back in her school days, physical manga and novels were more popular — easy to hide and share. Whatever the local bookstore sold, that’s what the kids read.

Maybe it was because DreamComic started publishing physical editions recently, and students had started picking it up.

She kept eavesdropping as the conversation next door continued:

“Do you think the guy in black is good or bad? Why would a yokai help humans?”

“Hmm… so he’s a good yokai, then,” Xiaoying’s friend said. “Don’t worry. He seemed really strong — I’m sure he knows how to stay hidden. What you need to do is not tell anyone else. If someone finds out, you might get in trouble.”

Yuan Yuanyuan nodded to herself. Finally, someone with a working brain. This girl might help Xiaoying stay out of more trouble.

She returned to her bedroom and glanced at the little yellow lamp by her bed. Thinking about it… wasn’t tonight another update for Monster Chronicles?

Maybe she’d learn something useful from it.

With that thought, she opened the DreamComic app.

But the moment she tapped into the new chapter — she froze.

On screen, a man in a black trench coat sat in a taxi, quietly gazing out the window.

Behind him floated a ghost in white, nagging away:

“So I told him, if he doesn’t want to break up, then he should just marry me. But he doesn’t want to break up or get married. What the hell does that even mean…”

“Holy sh—!” A loud curse echoed from the apartment next door, clear enough for Yuan Yuanyuan to hear.

But she didn’t even flinch.

She was too busy staring, wide-eyed, at the screen.

No one knew it, but in that moment, all she wanted to say were those same two words.

And those two words… were screaming on loop inside her head.