Today was the day of the exam. Our two protagonists woke up early, Monkey quizzed her during breakfast and on the ride to Guangfu Xue, they took the carriage together. She got all the answers correctly.
"You're gonna kill it." he held her shoulders as the two of them stood in front of the school. "Say it with me: you're gonna kill it!"
"I'm gonna kill it!"
"Say it again!"
"I'm gonna kill it!"
"That's my girl! I'll wait right here, and you tell me all about it once you come back!"
She nodded and walked inside. She gave him one last look and waved, to which he responded with a thumb up.
"Okay." Monkey exhaled and walked away. "Let's get on with it."
The chi blocking test was supposed to happen like so: each student would take turns to see the teacher, as a one-on-one presentation. They'd be given a mannequin, along with a condition chosen by the teacher at random, and the student would show and explain the procedure they'd take to try and cure the 'patient'. (Y/n) went to wait in the hallway by the door of the room where the exam would take place. But she began to be worried when she saw no one around, no one seemed to be in the room either. She decided to ask around and was relieved when she heard that everyone was simply elsewhere, passing another exam.
'Right,' she scratched her cheek, feeling silly for forgetting. 'they are classes other than this one.'
The exam before the chi blocking one was apparently half-exam and half-contest, and it was for medical-engineering. - Upon earring this, she was reminded that Guangfu Xue was a prestigious school. - Each students were gathered in a big room, given their own little space, where they must give a presentation for a project (of little or big scale) they'd have worked on since the beginning of the school year. These events were apparently opened to the public, and prestigious school meant prestigious people. It wasn't just an exam for the students, it was also an opportunity to secure a career or to get a sponsor. With an hour to spare, (Y/n) decided to go check it out. The room was indeed big. She'd stop at each station, admiring the ingenuity and creativity of some of the students. And whenever she'd see a presentation that would be considered 'lazy', she'd nod, understanding.
"Oh my gosh, it's you. Excuse me!"
She turned around to see a woman rushing up to her. She's never seen her before.
"Are you perhaps the new student, who only goes to the chi blocking class?"
"Um...Yes." she nodded, a bit taken aback.
"Lovely! You see, my husband told me about the poems your fiancé wrote for you. He's always been a big fan of poems, and yours are so beautiful! So I came here to ask if I could commission for one, since I bet, knowing him, he secretly wants one for himself."
"Your husband...?" her eyes widen. "The teacher?!"
The woman nodded. (Y/n) looked at her up and down.
"I'm sorry for being rude but... How old are you?"
"Thirty-seven."
"Uh-hu, and how old is your husband?" she asked, her eyebrows furrowed.
"Oh!" she laughed. "Happens all the time, don't worry. He's forty-one."
"Forty-one?!" she exclaimed.
'This is not a forty-one year old man!' she thought, picturing the teacher's white beard and wrinkles.
The woman chuckled.
"There's a simple explanation for that: When he was a student here, he tried to experiment with some new, kind of dark, science. He wanted to try and reverse people's age, and since all his teachers disapproved of his project. He carried it out himself, and that includes...experimenting." for a moment, her gaze wandered, looking sad. "Didn't go very well, but he was rescued just in time. And now he looks like this."
"I see..." (Y/n) glanced down. "Well, I'm sorry to say this, but my partner didn't write those poems. I could ask him who wrote it and then get back to you."
"Oh that would be lovely! Thank you so much."
She smiled.
"May I have your name?"
"Zhan Lu Lin."
(Y/n)'s eyes widen. Lu Lin. She's seen that name before, on the cover of a book.
"He wrote that book?" she frowned.
"Huh?" she blinked twice. "Oh, my husband did write a book yes! He wanted to expand the teaching of chi blocking to the masses. But the school's bureau didn't allow its publishing in the end." she looked down, a bit disappointed. "To this day, he still treasures the original, and only copy he wrote."
(Y/n) pictured the look on her teacher's face when he spoke about it. She took a moment to process all of this information. She still believed he could've been nicer to her. But, now she understood him a little better.
"What do you think you're doing?!" they heard someone yelling somewhere in the room. "Have you gone mad?!"
(Y/n) recognized the voice and rushed over to a crowd gathered around one particular station. She squeezed her way through to get to the front and saw her teacher confronting Manshu, who was standing in front of two tall boxes.
"On the contrary!" Manshu yelled waving two paper seals with him. "I have made a breakthrough! I came up with a seal that could work-"
"You truly are a fool if you think this will do any good to anyone!" her teacher looked away. "Someone get security! And give me this book."
Manshu glared, he looked truly offended.
"No! I'll show you! I'll show all of you!" he turned to the two boxes.
"Stop him!"
But it was too late, he placed the two seals on the two boxes, he then rolled up his sleeves, revealing two other seals placed on his arms. He took a deep breath and concentrated. Just as the boxes started shaking, two guards in charge of security arrived.
"S-s-stand back! Stand back!" the teacher quickly said.
'I have a bad feeling about this.' (Y/n)'s eyebrows furrowed. 'It's the first time I've seen him scared.'
Then, the boxes slowly opened with a creak and two people stepped out. Gasps of horror echoed throughout the audience. (Y/n) was one of those who gasped, the colors drained from her face. These two people seemed to be walking corpses. A woman and a young man. Their skin a deep dark green, pieces of flesh missing, eyes looking in different direction, and making inhuman noises. The whole crowd took a step back while Manshu approached them. He looked so happy that his project worked that he was about to cry.
"Hi. Can you talk?" he asked. "Can you hear me? It's me."
As he talked, with slow movements, the two corpses walked towards him with their arms outstretched. One guard went to stand between the student and his creations.
"Um, could you not?!" Manshu exclaimed. "You're interfering with my-!"
The woman held the guard's head, and before anyone could react, she bit his neck, sinking her black teeth into his flesh. Everybody screamed and started running away as the second corpse kept walking towards them. (Y/n) was shaking, she couldn't move. She watched as the woman let the guard go and went on her way to bite more people. She didn't rip off his skin, but she did leave a dark green mark on his neck. Its color spread across the guard's body as he convulsed. Once his skin completely became green, he turned around and began to walk, acting the same way as the other, his eyes now completely white. (Y/n) opened her mouth to scream, but no sound came out.
'Ghosts!!! Real life ghosts!!! They're contagious!!!'
"Get out of here!!!" her teacher grabbed her by the arm and ran away with her.
"Wait! No, don't panic!" Manshu called out, in a panic himself as he started to flip the pages of 'his' book. "I can fix this! Just, d-don't agitate them!"
People were very much agitated. With the panic of some and confusion of others, some were bitten and turned into those monsters. (Y/n) had no idea where she was being dragged to. Everybody was going for the nearest exit, no matter where it led to. Eventually, the teacher pushed her forward through double doors and closed them behind him. They were now alone on a balcony. He peeked through one of two little windows then turned to her.
"I... Given how they move, I don't believe they're able to open doors. Still it might only be a matter of time before they find us."
They both looked down, they were pretty high up. He sighed with relief when he saw that his wife was one of the lucky few who got out of the school safely. The people outside started to barricade the doors. She noticed him and called out in panic.
"Honey!!!"
He waved at her to show he was okay before looking towards the door, with a serious expression, thinking.
"I can climb down but..." (Y/n) said. "I don't think I could carry you on my back."
"That's fine, you go and call for reinforcements." he looked through the window again, speaking quietly. "I'll tell you all the information they'll need to know."
"Information..." she looked in too, at the same volume. "These things, they're corpses right? What made them this way?"
"Necromancy."
'I don't know what that is, but I don't like it.'
"Manshu believed it could be used to bring the dead back to life, but really, it is the art of controlling the dead."
"I see... Well, he doesn't seem really in control right now." she looked at Manshu in his corner, still flipping through the book, she frowned. "They aren't attacking him, they're completely ignoring him in fact."
He looked at her, surprised to see her taking part in this information gathering, and being quite observant too. He blinked twice and looked back inside.
"You're right, it must be because he's the source of energy that makes them move."
"Doesn't it mean that...the more there are of them, the more drained he'll become?"
"...Very likely, yes. But it almost means that they'll become weaker as they are more of them."
Her gaze shifted to the two boxes.
"If we could just remove the seals, their link will be broken. So either we destroy the boxes or we neutralize Manshu-"
"Neutralize? We're not going to kill him!"
"Right! Right, I'm sorry." she shook her head, trying to forget about her dislike for him.
"But you're right, the seals must be removed."
"By any means necessary."
"Miss!"
"Sorry!" she held and shook her head.
Just then, they heard a creature coming closer, they both crouched down and held the door to make sure it doesn't open. Nobody moved for a moment, then they heard it walk away. They sighed.
"What about the people who have been turned?" (Y/n) asked. "They're not...dead right? They'll go back to normal."
He pursued his lips with furrowed eyebrows. She didn't like that reaction.
"...I don't know." he carefully stood back up. "Still, we should try and not harm them." he paused, looking in. "It will be tricky though, there are quite a lot of them now. And because their bodies are intact, they are faster and stronger that the two originals. Tell the guards to be careful."
"Right." she stood up too, ready to climb down. "You be careful too-."
Just then, she casted once last glance inside and gasped, startling the teacher. The creatures were now scattered throughout the building, going in and out of the room. So when Monkey walked in, his fur and skin a dark green, his golden eyes now white, and a bite mark on his shoulder, she felt her heart shatter with both confusion and dread.
"How... When did he-? Huh?!"
"Sssh." the teacher hushed.
She gulped and tried to steady her breathing.
"If we call for reinforcement, they're not gonna make it if Monkey's here."
"Monkey...?" he looked at him, his eyes widen. "Sun Wukong? We're doomed."
(Y/n) stood on the rail of the balcony and held the wall, looking for a route to take.
"Wha-what are you doing?!" he whispered harshly.
"I'm going to look for a way in that's closer to the boxes," she said, still looking. "and it'll bring the attention away from you."
"Now is not the time to play heroes. Need to remind you that you are just a student."
"...That's the thing sir." she looked at him with a serious expression, a spark of determination in her eyes. "I'm not just a student."
He glanced at the monkey demon inside, then back at her.
"What..." he hesitated, but at this point he had to know. "What did you do before coming to Guangfu Xue?"
"Traveled, helped people out, fought some bad guys." she huffed. "But this, this is a whole new level."
'The best course of action would be to do this stealthily. But if Monkey catches me...' she looked at her hand. 'Well now would be the time to figure out how this thing works-'
"Wait." her eyes widen and she hopped back down, facing her teacher. "*You* might know!"
He blinked twice, confused at first. She then gave a brief summary of her whole situation. He was quite bewildered by it.
"Golden Cicada..." he thought out loud to himself. "I find it hard to believe but..." he looked inside. "You are Sun Wukong's fiancée," (Y/n) almost choked on air. "and he isn't the kind to be easily tricked."
"R-Right." she nodded, blushing. "So, do you know anything that could help me?"
"Well, stress can affect your chi flow, and things such as school and tests can be very stress-inducing."
"I..." her gaze wandered for a brief moment. "I have been under a lot of pressure lately."
He looked at her up and down, thinking.
"...I know something that could regulate your chi flow." he said. "But be careful, it can be blocked again in the future."
"I'll be careful." she nodded.
He told her to open her arms, she did. He then hit her on different spots of her body and she gasped, suddenly feeling lighter and a flow of energy, like a gentle shock wave. The teacher gasped too, seeing her eyes flicker a cyan blue light.
"Okay, okay." she shook her hands, jumping lightly. "Thank you sir." she huffed. "Let's do this."
"Hold on," he raised a hand. "*we* are doing this."
"Huh?" her eyes widen in surprise. "S-sir, I'm not saying you can't protect yourself but... The danger here is very real." she gestured to the door. "This isn't some street thief, those are monsters who won't go easy on you."
"As you said, I can very well protect myself, and I am not going to stand here while you go and risk your life. Besides..." he looked down. "I am partly to blame for this. Manshu isn't a bad person, he is simply misguided. And I did not act as soon as I should've, I did not think he could do this, I underestimated him. I'm going too."
(Y/n) looked at him for a moment before nodding her head. After coming up with a route to the boxes, the two of them came up with a plan.
She climbed to the nearest balcony. Glancing one last time at her teacher to make sure he was ready, she grabbed the wall above the door and swung her body to kick it open. The creatures turned over and saw her, they ran over and she quickly climbed back up the wall, out of their reach. They aimlessly extended their arms around.
'Seems like the transformation makes them dumber, that's good!'
She looked at her teacher and nodded to tell him to go ahead, having provided a distraction for them to safely get in. He went in and so did she, by a window.
"Oh come *on*!" Manshu exclaimed, almost throwing the book on the ground in frustration. "I just began to get the gist of it!"
Once he said that, the creatures were directed to their direction once again.
'So he still has a loose control over them.' the two of them thought.
Giving each-other a glance, they came up to a conclusion. It's on to plan B: going their separate ways. (Y/n) kept climbing until she reached the beams on the roof, carefully freerunning her way through the room while the creatures tried to grab her. And the teacher was running as fast as he could, but sometimes his path would be blocked. This was why plan B wasn't ideal, since that meant they'd take more risks by being alone. But it was the better option, all things considered, since that also meant they'd deal with only half of the creatures.
'And since I now have a better grip of my powers, then maybe...' (Y/n) thought, looking at him. 'Just like with Meilin.'
She focused and recited a prayer. Just then a creature attacked him from behind while he was occupied with another one. It launched itself towards him but was blocked by a barrier casted around him. The teacher looked at (Y/n) and nodded to say thank you. She clenched her fist in victory.
"Yes, back to it!" she smiled and kept going along the beams.
Since parkour wasn't the same thing as climbing however, her foot slipped and she fell. She gasped and tried to grab one of the beams, but she knew she was too slow and couldn't get a proper grip...
'No please! Let me hold onto it!'
And yet, when her hand came into contact with the wood, it was stuck on it. With her body swinging above nothing, she looked up and saw her hand was glowing blue. She let out a surprised laugh and quickly went back up.
"Good to know I can do that too." she told her before continuing.
Meanwhile, Manshu was at his wits' end, trying to fix this whole thing before they could 'make things worse'.
"Gah~! Why do you have to make this so complicated!"
The two of them slowly and steadily approached the boxes. Once above them, (Y/n) took a deep breath and focused her energy in her fists. She then jumped, ready to destroy one of them, but she was tackled mid-air. Now laid on the ground, she coughed, both from the impact, and from the heavy weight on her stomach. She looked up to see Monkey on top of her, she felt her fast beating heart drop. She tried to struggle, but she couldn't even budge. The grip he had on her wrists was so tight, it cut her blood circulation and her hands stopped glowing. She became as white as a sheet when he opened his mouth, showing his pointy teeth and went for her neck.
"Monkey stop!!!"
His head started to convulse, but it didn't seem to stop him. She felt an immense sense of dread.
'Of course, since he's being controlled, damages like that won't stop him! I'm screwed!'
"Don't!" Manshu yelled out.
And Monkey stopped moving, though his head kept convulsing for a while.
"*Don't* bite her!" he continued. "There's already enough of you guys as it is! J-Just... Just make sure she stays down while I... Fix this mess!"
Monkey leaned back and let go of her. (Y/n) let out a relieved breath, but it was short lived. She tried to sit up but Monkey grabbed her neck and pinned her down once more, pushing down further and further, slowly chocking her. Manshu must've not factored in his strength, and she wanted to scream but only quiet gags came out. She grabbed his hand, desperately trying to get some relief, but to no avail. Her eyes grew teary.
'This is it! I'm going to die!!!' she cried, hearing her fast heartbeat in her ears. 'No! No, don't think like that! I have to stay calm. Somehow, I have to stay calm!'
She closed her eyes and stopped struggling. She couldn't take a deep breath so she inhaled the last bit of air she could take and stopped breathing, ignoring the pressure of her throat and instead focusing on her hands again, making them glow blue. Finally, she opened her eyes again and hit him on the arm a couple of times, making it go numb. She tossed it away and was able to push him off of her. She clumsily and quickly stood up, stroking her neck which now had a red mark on it. She only knew how to numb someone's limbs individually. This was going to be tricky. She gulped, trying her best to ignore this dreadful feeling in her stomach she felt at the prospect of fighting a feral Sun Wukong. He completely ignored his dangling arm and ran towards her again, raising a fist. (Y/n) raised her glowing hands and prepared herself.
'He's one of them now, but he's still Monkey.' she thought. 'Which means he'll be attacking... From the right!'
He swung his fist and she dodged, just then, she could've attempted to attack, but she waited instead. He changed his center of gravity to the left and tried to kick her in the stomach. She grabbed his leg, putting it under her arm, and hit it a couple of times, making it go numb. Just then, he hit her in the face with his tail.
'Dammit,' she fell backwards. 'I forgot he could do that!'
Thankfully, with him only having one arm and one leg available, she had time to get back on her feet and move away, creating a distance between them. She got passed the most difficult part, the rest should be easier... But (Y/n) knew better, she knew him.
'They are dumber in this state, but he's different. It's well known that underestimating Sun Wukong is a bad idea.' she narrowed her eyes.
Monkey started to wobble towards her and eventually fell down. He stood back up, using his tail as another leg.
"Oh shit." she said under her breath. "I don't know how to block that."
He ran towards her and swung with both his available hand and his numb one, she was able to dodge his attacks but when she dodged his tail, it caught her wrist and he head butted her in the nose, making it bleed. For a moment, as she fell backwards her whole skull vibrated because of the shock and she felt like passing out.
'No! Come on, focus!'
She opened her eyes mid-fall and saw the wall behind her. An idea popped in her mind.
'It's worth a shot!'
She grabbed his tail which was still holding her wrist and pulled it to make herself stand back up. She managed to pull Monkey a bit closer, allowing her to kick him on the stomach. Caught off guard, he let go of her and she ran to the wall. He ran after her, and he would've caught her if it wasn't for her next move. It all happened very fast: Concentrating her energy on her feet, she jumped and placed her foot on the wall. It stayed there like she just walked on a vertical floor. She took one more step, then jumped again, flew above Monkey, basically doing a backflip. Once she was behind him, still mid-air, she grabbed his head.
'From the very beginning, the curse kept working, even know I never felt like I was using my powers. That would mean that there is some fragments of Tripitaka's power still in there, which would make sense since he'd use it all the time.' she thought. 'So maybe, if I put all of my energy into it...'
"Stop!!!" she shouted at the top of her lungs.
Monkey's entire body started to convulse, so much that he had trouble moving. (Y/n) landed, almost falling, and took this opportunity to paralyze his other arm and leg. He fell down and, having learned, she tied his tail around his wrist. He eventually stopped shaking, his tail struggling to unknot itself. She let out a heavy breath and hunched over, her hands on her knees, panting.
"Oh my lord!" she ran a hand through her hair, dumbfounded. "I... I beat Sun Wukong!"
She didn't have time to breath however, as more creatures took this opportunity to attack. Thankfully, the teacher finally caught up to her and the two of them fought side by side as they made their way to the boxes. Eventually, every creatures was down, paralyzed, and the path was cleared. (Y/n) and her teacher looked at Manshu, who, having witnessed everything, was now a bit overwhelmed. The two original walking corpses, being dead, had no chi to block however. Thankfully, Manshu was manually holding them back.
"Manshu, take off those seals at once." the teacher said with a stern voice. "You've done enough damage."
"What do you mean?! Look at this!" he nodded towards his two puppets. "I made the dead move again! It was all theoretical before, but I did it! I did what no other human could!"
"And look at what it led to, you've unleashed some kind of... Plague!"
"Um, sir?" (Y/n) quietly told him. "I don't think now's the time to argue."
"It wasn't even my fault! It was all going well until that stupid guard messed it up!"
Manshu noticed how his outburst agitated the creatures, but he then took a deep breath in.
"I'm fine." he exhaled. "Just have to focus." he looked back at him. "I can fix this, make them docile. J-just give me a minute."
"And how do you plan on fixing them?" he gestured to everybody else.
No response, Manshu looked down.
"This has went on for long enough." the teacher stepped towards the boxes. "I'm putting a stop to this."
"No!!!"
Manshu ran to stand in front of him. The creatures took this opportunity to try and attack him, but the shield around him was still intact. (Y/n) sighed, she was scared for a second there.
"This isn't the way Manshu," the teacher spoke in a softer tone. "doing this won't bring them back."
"You-!" he pursued his lips.
"And, I'm sorry to say this, but even if they were indeed brought back. They would be disappointed in you."
Manshu's eyes widen and he pushed him away.
"You don't know anything!"
The teacher quickly caught himself and went to hit him on different spots, the same way he did countless of times in the last hour. But he was shocked to find out that Manshu was still standing and moving. He laughed.
"That's the perks of being plump!" he patted his belly. "It's harder to get to the pressure points!"
He then did the same technique to the teacher, who fell down. (Y/n) glared at him.
"Ow~ what?" he mocked her. "What are you gonna do? Use those flaming blue fists of fury? That could kill me! Do you wanna be a murderer? That's even worse, I technically didn't even do any of that!"
"...See, this is why you should never skip class."
"Huh?" he frowned.
"Or else, you would've known that there is one special pressure point. One that can never be trained nor fattened, no matter how much you workout or how much you eat."
"What are you talking about?"
Just as the creature slowly came closer to her, she ran towards him and gave him a regular, but very effective, punch right in the nose. He was knocked backwards, into one of the boxes, which then knocked over the second one, and the three of them fell on the floor. The boxes shattered, the seals were removed, and the two walking corpses collapses.
'Rest in peace.' she bowed her head, giving a small prayer to them.
Now that she was the only one standing, (Y/n) began feeling how truly worn out she was after this intense fight, and she let herself fall on the ground as well, panting loudly.
"Is it... Is it over?"
She rolled her head back to see people coming out of closets, under tables and other hiding spots. Still panting, she raised a hand in the air and gave them a thumb up. Meanwhile, slowly but surely, everyone's green skin faded back to normal.
"Aowaowaowaowow!!!" she heard Monkey shout. "My head! What the hell happened?!"
(Y/n) smiled and closed her eyes.
"Sweet Buddha, I'm so glad you're back." she said under her breath.
The school was opened once again. Manshu was taken away by the guards, he will probably get expelled from Guangfu Xue and go to trial for what he did. Everyone who was paralyzed eventually got their mobility back and multiple doctors were called to treat their bite marks. While waiting, our two protagonists eventually sat with each-other ((Y/n) had to help Monkey to untie his tail). He was quite shook when he first saw the state she was in. He placed a hand over her swollen bruised cheek without touching it, looking at her bleeding nose and the red marks on her neck.
"Who did this?" he asked, the same way he spoke when he was ready to go kill Cheng Liu.
She gulped and nervously chuckled, gently removing his hand.
"One of the creatures. But it's not their fault, they were being controlled."
"...Was it me?"
She froze for a moment, then she glanced to the side and nodded.
"Why would you keep this from me?"
"...I don't want you to feel guilty about it."
He looked down.
"It's true that I could've been more careful of my surroundings." he said before looking at her. "But really, the most I'm getting from this, is that you fought me. And you won?!"
He leaned closer, close enough for her to lean back, their nose almost touching.
"U-Uh, yeah."
"Tell me *everything*!" he articulated the word. "What did you do?!"
"Please back off first." she said in a little voice.
He did, and she explained what happened in detail. The more she told, the more his eyes sparkled in wonder.
"Oh my lord," he covered his mouth. "I love you so much."
She blushed.
"Dammit!" he snapped his fingers. "I wish I would've been conscious so I could've seen it with my own two eyes!"
"Hey!" she hit him on his bite mark.
"Ouch!" he swatted her hand way. "What?! Is it wrong for me to want to see my beloved kick ass?!"
"Now I wish you would feel guilty about it!"
"Not my fault! I was busy!"
"Doing what exactly?! What were you doing in the school in the first place?"
"I-!" he stopped himself.
(Y/n) tilted her head, waiting for a response. But Monkey looked away, scratching his cheek.
"I uh... I wanted to see how you were doing on your test."
"You planned on spying on me?" she frowned.
"Right, and then I smell some good stuff in the kitchen and I had myself a feast. That's when those green freaks sneaked up on me."
She narrowed her eyes while he avoided eye contact. Just then, the doctors arrived. Having multiple injuries, she was one of the firsts to be treated.
'I'll take this opportunity to go get it.' Monkey stealthily left and came back shortly after, acting as if nothing happened.
And, being his sturdy self and only feeling a light sting, he was the last one to get patched up. While the injured were taken care of, the others started to pick up the pieces and cleaning the room, which was now a battlefield.
"Ah, by the way," (Y/n) said. "my teacher's wife wants to-"
"He has a wife?!"
She laughed.
"Yeah, said she wanted to commission you for a poem. Since he's apparently a big fan of them."
His face slowly twisted, not wanting to talk to him. She chuckled at his childish reaction and pushed him with her to go talk to him. The teacher has just reunited with his wife and they were in the middle of a tight embrace. Monkey seemed a bit confused and (Y/n) explained their 'age gap'. Once they noticed them, the wife rushed up to her.
"You helped my dear husband!" she took her hands and held them up. "I could never thank you enough!"
"O-Oh no, really, he's the one who helped me. We worked together on this, it was..." she glanced at him before smiling. "It was a team effort."
Meanwhile, him and Monkey faced each-other.
"...I would've never guessed Sun Wukong was a talented poet."
"That's because I didn't write them. Her name Da-Xia, she owns a poem parlor, she's very good at what she does. And she is a *woman*."
"I see..."
"Yeah, you should." despite speaking as if he was in the middle of a verbal battle, the teacher seemed unfazed by his passive-aggressivity. "What, shocked?"
"No... I will make sure to visit her soon."
"Oh really? So you could say she didn't wrote her poems and actually stole them, diminishing all her efforts?" he pointed at him with an accusatory index.
"...I see where this is going... My dislike for your spouse has nothing to do with her gender. I am actually one of the advocators to open Guangfu Xue to more people."
Hearing this, (Y/n) thought of his book once again.
"And I would've welcomed her, if it wasn't for... the circumstances in which she joined. You did threaten the principal after all, all so she could attend one out of ten classes."
'He has a point...' she pursued her lips.
"I will admit however... She did become one of my best students. I had a first hand demonstration of her skills."
Her heart skipped a beat. He faced her and bowed.
"You passed the class with flying colors. Thank you for your help, I understand where you're coming from now."
"N-No! Thank you!" she bowed, flustered. "You helped me push myself to work hard."
'Even though, I did it out of spite at some point.'
"And you helped me with my powers," she continued. "thank you so, so much."
"And I thank you." he stood back up, smiling. "After what you did, you're sure to pave the way for Guangfu Xue to become more open to people."
Her heart skipped a beat again. He then turned to Monkey and cleared his throat.
"And by the way... Sun Wukong." he said. "I... I-I-I-I-"
"Oh my, honey." his wife smiled, patting his arm. "Take a deep breath." she looked at our two protagonists. "He has a stutter. It sometimes comes back when he's nervous."
"A stutter?" they both repeated, confused.
"I..." he said. "I can work through it, I just have to take time to find my words."
'That's why he always speaks slowly!' (Y/n) thought. 'I thought he was being intimidating! Well now I feel bad.'
He took a deep breath and looked back at Monkey.
"I have always been a fan of yours... Your quick wits and creativity are admirable."
He blinked twice and cackled, giving him a friendly smack on the back.
"Understandable! You're not my type though, sorry!"
Everyone sent him a confused look.
.
.
"It feels weird to leave this place doesn't it?" (Y/n) asked, looking around the apartment as her and Monkey packed their things. "It felt like home for a moment."
"I guess." he shrugged. "You know what they say: 'home us where the heart is'. So as long as you have your heart, you'll always be at home."
She chuckled.
"Now that's some good Wukong wisdom."
"Haha! Yeah obviously!"
They said their goodbye to Weiling, thanking her for everything she did, and the cow demon in the elevator. Monkey took the liberty of taking the elevator down himself.
"Why do you never let me do my job?" the demon asked.
"With this?" he nodded towards his staff he was holding with his tail. "That elevator would crash into the ground if it was for me."
(Y/n) chuckled. They paid their rant to the landlady before leaving. They made one last tour of the city, to say goodbye to the acquaintances they made. The restaurant owner, the puppeteer and the kids, and Da-Xia, who was in the middle of getting a prompt for the teacher and his wife.
"It's you!" her face lit up when she saw (Y/n). "How do you like my poems?"
She smiled and opened her notebook, they were all tucked in in between the pages. Da-Xia seemed very touched by this. They said goodbye and finally left the city, continuing on their journey.
"Ah, by the way." Monkey said. "I got something for you."
He tossed something towards her and she caught it. It was a book. It opened itself while it was in the air so (Y/n) could see what was inside. She frowned and began to flip though the pages, recognizing its content, despite never reading it before.
"You stole it again?!" she glared at him. "Have you not learned anything?! I told you-!"
"Calm down." he waved his hands up and down. "It's a copy."
"A copy? There's no other copies of it."
She closed it and looked at the cover. It was a completely different color, and the tittle was written in a different handwriting.
"What?" she looked at him, confused.
"I didn't sneak into the school to spy on you." he explained. "I broke into his office and copied his book by the letter. Since you're against stealing and all. I got so focused that I was caught by those things. I got to finish while you were getting patched up."
She just looked at him, her eyes wide open and her mouth agape.
"Like, you know, in case you want to refresh your memories later on or whatever."
Her bottom lip began to shake and her eyes grew teary, she sniffed.
"Ouch my nose!" she turned away, holding her bandaged nose in pain.
Monkey laughed wholeheartedly.
She later on realized that, where the author's name was written, Monkey added '& SUN WUKONG' with a little drawing of his face.
'I will protect this book with my life.' she held it close to her chest.