A faint smile appeared on A-Ta's face.

  That slight smile was like a sky shrouded in dark clouds, quietly revealing a ray of sincere blue light.

  -----------

  After the midday nap, the first period in the afternoon was a combined PE css for two csses.

  (T/N: PE css is Physical Education css.)

  For seniors, PE csses were often half-hearted; most of the time, we were just left to py basketball on our own.

  But today was a bit different. The PE teacher, who had a chubby belly and looked like the mascot for a braised pork rice chain, called us together by the pyground after the bell rang and started roll call. No one knew what was going on, so we squatted there cluelessly.

  Xiao Qing even brought an English vocabury book to sneak in some studying, while I began composing an impromptu English essay in my head titled “Time and Money.”

  “The inline skating club from NTHU will be coming to our school soon for a teaching demonstration. Everyone, be sure to appud, be polite, and show the grace and dignity of Hsinchu Girls’ High School. Understood? Cough!” the PE teacher said, coughing violently.

  He was probably the weakest PE teacher I had ever seen. In summer, he always held a small parasol to shield himself from the sun; in winter, he wrapped himself up like an oversized rice dumpling. No matter what ball game we pyed, it was always the poor PE css leader who had to demonstrate.

  The only thing he excelled at was roll call.

  “Isn’t your brother in the inline skating club too?” Xiao-Qing nudged me with her elbow.

  “My brother’s in Chung Hua’s club,” I nodded, then shook my head.

  Just then, the roar of motorcycle engines came from outside the school gate.

  A group of slightly shy young men, holding off-campus activity permits, passed through the gate guard and walked toward us. Each of them carried a rge bag, and among the impressive procession, only two were girls.

  “Welcome!” the css president called out, and we all cpped.

  Leading the group was a tall guy with a head full of tight curls. He waved at us, and I noticed Xiao-Qing grinning—I figured she was ughing at his strange and exaggerated hairstyle.

  “Hello, everyone! I'm the president of NTHU's inline skating club. We're excited to be here today at the best girls’ high school in Hsinchu to demonstrate inline skating for you all. Everyone calls me A-Bao—just like my hair, haha!”

  He let out a dry ugh, the kind that could chill an entire room.

  Next, A-Bao directed his club members to start with the proper way to wear protective gear. They pulled out well-worn inline skates and pads from their rge bags and briefly compared different brands, but Xiao-Qing and I were only interested in their freestyle tricks.

  Meanwhile, something in my mind felt like it was trying to surface, but I just couldn't grasp it.

  “What’s up with you? Your period isn't due for another week, right?” Xiao-Qing nudged me lightly.

  “I don’t know… It feels like theresomething really funny that I just can't remember,” I said.

  The NTHU students were expining how to maintain bance, with one slightly long-haired, gsses-free guy demonstrating what happens when you don't—deliberately falling over in an exaggerated way. A few girls in css ughed.

  Then, A-Bao ughed too.

  “This member here, our expert at falling, has a life story that’s basically just one long series of wipeouts. He's a living legend at NTHU,” A-Bao said.

  A few of the demonstrators started chuckling, while my cssmates listened curiously.

  The guy who had just demonstrated the fall stood there awkwardly, taking off his pstic helmet with a slightly lost expression.

  Meanwhile, my eyes widened as realization dawned on me.

  Still grinning, A-Bao continued introducing him. “This is A-Ta, as ‘Ta" in ‘Takuya’ from Kimura Takuya. But A-Ta is even more legendary than Kimura Takuya! Back in high school, he had a girlfriend, and after a year and a half of dating, she was actually stolen away—by a lesbian! A-Ta was so devastated that he completely lost his manly pride and has never recovered since! Hahaha!”

  The whole crowd erupted into ughter. Xiao-Qing even ughed so hard she fell to the ground. The atmosphere was electric.

  A-Ta scratched his messy hair in embarrassment, his face turning bright red.

  Idiot…

  I muttered under my breath, “His name isn’t A-Tu, it’s A-Ta.”

  And then it hit me—A-Ta's ex-girlfriend was the one studying Management Science at NCTU. The starting point where everything intertwined.

  As ughter echoed around us, the afternoon sunlight glinted off the pstic helmet in A-Ta's hands.

  A-Ta, a boy whose so-called masculinity had been stripped away little by little in the endless teasing of those around him.

  Twenty-two years old, and the brilliance of his life had already come to an early end.