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The professor droned on and on about meditation methods, and Li Yu was entirely zoned out. He watched the screen of the woman in front of him, and the shopping website she was scrolling through. He scribbled down the domain name in his notebook to look up later.
Ever since he had cultivated his human form, this koi yao had been fascinated with human civilization. He loved wandering their streets, reading their books, causing mild chaos in their feeding sites. He had signed up to a cultivation bachelor's degree, so that he could study the young humans and not fail because he actually knew how to cultivate better than most humans. It was very fun.
However, he quickly learned that humans did not live for free. Houses were expensive. Tuition was expensive. Food was expensive. Sob sob sob, he just wanted to have a good time, why did he have to figure out what money was?
He had picked up a part-time job, and he had… an arrangement for his housing. Overall he was having fun. He would miss his time in the human realm when he has to return to the heavens. He had made friends in his classes, he was a well-loved patron of the local libraries, and had discovered so many wonderful inventions of humankind. One of the few things he missed was the freedom of his fish form.
The clock hit 1:50 and the lecture finally let out. He hurried his little tailless body down the road from the university’s cultivation department. He dipped his head into a bustling coffee shop, and gave the girl behind the counter a grin. She smiled back and stepped back to let him through. He pulled on an apron and joined her out front.
“Have a good day, Li Yu?”
“Fantastic, so ready to make more espresso,” he lightly bumped her with his shoulder as she stepped aside to give him access to the cash register. “How has your shift been?”
And just like that, the second half of his day began. He smiled and he served and he laughed and he cleaned.
At exactly 3:36, the door to the café swung open and Li Yu knew who it was. A man with long hair so dark that it seemed dull and wearing a suit walked crisply across the floor. He was pulling out a machine that looked like a phone, intently tapping at the screen while he walked. He was Li Yu’s favourite regular.
“Hi,” Li Yu smiled as he approached the counter, the same way he did every day. “What can I get for you?”
“A medium Americano. Please.” The robotic voice from the phone replied.
“No problem, that’ll be 15 yuan.”
The mystery patron ordered the same thing every day, so Li Yu already had the order typed into the register. He had once made the mistake of presuming the man’s order before he had to tap away at his device, but that had made the man frown and draw his eyebrows together annoyedly. Li Yu never did that again, and just let him order normally.
“Thank you,” the ever repeating reply came as he tapped his card.
Li Yu filled a cup three quarters full with hot water then handed it off to get topped up with coffee. When the man got his cup, he gave the staff a solemn nod before turning away. But Li Yu could swear on his soul that he had smiled a little.
When his shift finished, Li Yu was exhausted. He ate his dinner at the university cafeteria, and he spent a few hours in the library studying and charging his shiny new phone. Too soon it came time for him to return home. Or as close to a home that he had.
A few weeks before, Li Yu had been on a mission with some classmates. It was to dispel a spirit that had gotten stuck in a residential area and was now pissed . It had been causing mayhem in a fancy house while still being a weak lil baby spirit that first-year cultivation students could deal with.
Li Yu was confident in his abilities to protect himself and the three others on his team, and the fourth year supervising them. While he was pretending to be an 18-year-old beginner, he had actually been cultivating for a couple hundred years. He would be fine, the worst part would be pretending that he was being a little challenged.
The butler of the owner let them in. He was an aging man, but he cracked jokes and merrily showed the students to the upstairs bedroom the spirit was currently throwing a fit in.
The corner of the butler’s eye twitched as he looked at the door, and Li Yu could feel his teammates itching with uncertainty. This was their first real mission, and a civilian getting agitated was the last thing their nerves needed.
“Alright then! Let's go, team!” Li Yu lightened his voice, and showed just a flash of his teeth through his grin.
One heartbeat passed. Another. Then the energy between them changed, and the others steeled themselves. They drew their swords, and the fourth year gave them The Nod.
Li Yu opened the door and they rushed in, making sure to close the door after them. The room was wrecked, furniture knocked over, a vase smashed across the floor. The spirit whipped its head around to glare at them. Li Yu stared back, and the boy beside him swallowed. The room was too small for them to release sword glares without hitting each other as they scrambled to their feet.
The spirit wailed and charged. Li Yu and his classmates dived out of its way. Li Yu ended up facing the window. Through the corner of his eye he took in the scene beyond it. A beautifully kept garden behind a high wooden fence, with a large pond in the centre. Ornamental koi carp swam dreamily through the water. Li Yu’s stomach had ached watching them. He had not been able to transform for a good swim in forever.
The spirit smashed into him, trying to lift him off his feet with pure rage. By all rights it should have thrown him through the window. However, Li Yu was not a human child. He stayed standing, shifting his stance to throw the spirit off his back.
He spun, and his sword flashed through the air. He let a sliver of his qi charge through the blade, blasting the spirit backwards. Li Yu felt the gaze of his shixiong burning into his skull, and he gave him a thumbs up.
The battle was quick after that. Swordclashes and screeches shattered Li Yu’s eardrums, but then the spirit was quelled, then killed.
“Li-shidi, are you alright?” The older student immediately wheeled on him.
“Ahahaha, just peachy don’t worry about it.”
The fourth year stared at him, but eventually turned away. The group of them started cleaning up the room as one of the others reported to the butler.
“Oh don’t worry,” the aging man stuck his head around the door. “I can have this room cleaned in a jiffy. You helped us so much by banishing the spirit, you don’t have to tidy.”
The butler whooshed them out of the room, and before long he had a cup of tea in front of each of them. Li Yu sipped delicately as he listened to the butler chatter on and on. But they could not stay too long.
As the group split up outside the house, Li Yu hesitated. He did not want to return to his shitty dorm room quite yet. His roommates were cold to him, and often refused to clean up after themselves properly. The image of the pond flashed across his mind.
Li Yu’s body moved without another thought. He walked to the back of the house and faced the fence. It went well above his head, but just a touch of qinggong and he was landing lightly on the other side. The garden was lovely, maintained in a clean traditional style.
He stowed his bag behind a large bush and stood staring into the pond. The koi ignored him, twisting in the water in big bored circles. There were none that looked like Li Yu’s fish form, none that were silver with gold details. However there was more than enough gold and silver among the shoal that he probably would not stand out.
Li Yu took a deep breath, and dived into the pond. His clothes collapsed into his body as his arms shortened and his legs fused together and he was home he was home he was home.
The other carp startled at his sudden appearance, rushing away from his splash. Li Yu ignored them for a moment, instead just stretching out his long unused muscles. When he felt agile again, he chirped out to his brethren.
Don’t worry! I’m a koi too.
The other fish glanced between each other before approaching him. Li Yu let them investigate, and even ignored one young fish’s nibbles on his fins. Eventually, they confirmed that he was indeed just like them, and he could see them relax slightly.
Hello new shoalmate.
And just like that he was accepted into the pond.
Li Yu swam around with them, investigating every inch of the beautiful pond. Whoever owned this house took impeccable care of their fish. The water was crystal clear, and the bottom of the pond contained many little things for the fish to play with.
Li Yu was brought out of his investigation when he heard light footsteps above him. He quickly dipped into the shoal, hiding his markings among his kind. He swam around, because he has always been here, not an interloper no siree.
The footsteps paused, and Li Yu got the feeling he was being stared at. The water above him rippled, and a hand dipped into the water. The other koi scattered, but Li Yu could not escape the grasp that lifted him out of the water. Li Yu squirmed slightly because hands off! He was a fish not a bunny!
However he froze when he took in the face of his captor. It was that of his regular.
He was handsome up close, dark eyes analysing as his hair fell over his shoulders. Li Yu stared back at him, afraid to move in case he got recognised. Was he being paranoid? Yes, of course. However, Li Yu could swear that the man was staring right through him.
Only when his scales began to dry and Li Yu was struggling to breath, did the man release him into the water. However, he kept his hand in the pond, hovering above Li Yu’s head. Li Yu hesitated, but then he brushed up against the hand to say that he forgave the intrusion.
They hung out a little longer, before the voice of the butler called the man away. The sun had dropped below the horizon, and the garden was only lit by low lanterns. Li Yu dipped back into the shoal, and turned off half his brain to sleep.
When the sky lightened again, Li Yu transformed sadly to his human form. He grabbed his bag and hopped to the top of the fence. He glanced over his shoulder, admiring the neat pond, the elegant house beyond. He knew he would return.
He had meant to only come a couple times a week, but at this point he spent most nights in the pond and only returned to his dorm to change clothes. The man, the regular, inspected his pond every night, and he always made sure that he gave Li Yu a lot of attention.
Was his sleeping arrangements legal? No, most likely not. But what was a simple carp all alone in this big wide scary world supposed to do? Pay for a flat? But that would reduce his impulse purchase budget, and he needed his useless knick-knacks!!!!
At this point, the pond was Li Yu’s home, and after a long day of work and classes all he wanted to do was sleep, and get pets. He was so tired.
He walked confidently down the roads leading to the alley that ran along the back of the house, not suspicious to any onlookers at all. Normal college student passing through. When he was at the tall fence he looked over his shoulder to make sure nobody was watching him before he hopped over.
Almost right on top of a person.
“Ah!” he yelped.
The man just stared at him. Li Yu recognised him. Dark hair, dark eyes, handsome features, a permanent frown. This was the regular at the café. He could tell that the man recognised him too from how his eyes widened slightly.
“Ahahahaha, oops wrong garden sorry!”
He was sobbing internally, and he shuffled to his feet, and got ready to jump again. Lightening fast, the man grabbed his wrist. Li Yu’s heart jumped out of his chest.
How would he explain himself? Oh yeah I was breaking into my own house that is near here. Yes I’m a broke college student but I live in a real fancy house, and you've never seen me in the neighbourhood before because….
I was going to prank my friend but um….
Coffee delivery service?????????
Yeah there was no reasonable explanation here.
Why did he have to be in the garden today? Li Yu just wanted to relax in a pond, is that such a crime????
Li Yu worried his lip between his teeth as he waited for the deluge of questions. A deluge that was surely coming, as the man reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone-thing. After a second or two, the robotic voice spoke.
“Come in. I wish to talk.”
“Oh, okay.”
Li Yu so wanted to jump over the fence and run, but he allowed himself to be pulled into the house. He watched his captor’s back, and he could have sworn that his ears were slightly red.
The man paused at the doors, and pointed to some black boxes tucked against the walls. Li Yu stared at the black cubes. He had vague memories of a coworker calling the similar things outside the coffee shop “security cameras”.
Oh shit.
He had so much explaining to do.