Please scold me

Airi Sakura and Deny Aaron were crouching down, watching a chubby little cat eat its dinner.

The appearance of the white kitten, named Bai Xiaomeng, was undeniably adorable, with its soft fur resembling dandelions in the snow and its bright blue eyes sparkling like sapphires.

It seemed that Airi Sakura, like many Japanese, had a weakness for cats and couldn't resist cute things.

Taking advantage of Bai Xiaomeng's distraction, Airi Sakura quickly touched its ears, finding them soft and springy. She couldn't help but exclaim, "Kawaii!" (cute in Japanese).

Bai Xiaomeng gave her a stern look and then turned back to Deny Aaron, sticking close to him, guarding against this unfamiliar girl.

"She's called Bai Xiaomeng," Deny Aaron said, his voice noticeably softer and more gentle as he spoke about the cat.

It was hard for Airi Sakura to comprehend him. He could be so tough with a cute girl like herself, but so tender with a little cat.

"Two years ago, I found her near the library when she was just a tiny thing. I bottle-fed her with sheep's milk, just like how I raised her. Bai Xiaomeng is smart, just like me," Deny Aaron said, his face emitting the radiance of a proud father.

Listening to Deny Aaron's story of raising the cat, Airi Sakura was impressed. No wonder Bai Xiaomeng was so affectionate towards him.

"Is she a male or female cat?" Airi Sakura asked, guessing that information was important given her experience as a girl in her prime.

"She's a female," Deny Aaron replied.

Airi Sakura nodded, confirming her guess. As a girl herself, she knew that females were generally more sensitive to certain things, like green tea.

"Has she been spayed?" Airi Sakura asked further, aware of the troubles that arise when cats go into heat.

"Mew?" Bai Xiaomeng looked at Airi Sakura, even more alert now.

"No, she hasn't," Deny Aaron sighed. "Bai Xiaomeng has never gone into heat, so there's no need for spaying."

"I see," Airi Sakura responded. Although she had never owned a cat before, she had heard about the challenges when cats entered their reproductive cycle.

Airi Sakura extended her hand towards Bai Xiaomeng and introduced herself, "I'm Airi Sakura, nice to meet you!" 

"Mew..." Bai Xiaomeng seemed to understand, hesitantly extending a paw to shake hands with her.

"Kawaii!!" Airi Sakura couldn't help but exclaim, examining Bai Xiaomeng's tiny paw pads that were pink and tender. It was indeed a young and beautiful kitten.

Airi Sakura desired to play with Bai Xiaomeng, but the cat was uninterested. So they ended up chasing each other around the house, adding liveliness to an otherwise quiet home.

While Airi Sakura seemed accustomed to the commotion, Deny Aaron appeared somewhat uncomfortable. He wanted to say something but remained silent.

Dinner was delivered through food delivery, convenient and hassle-free. As for Airi Sakura, it was her first time experiencing Chinese food delivery.

Without any previous comparison, like a child trying instant noodles for the first time, Airi Sakura exclaimed that ordering food in China was cheap, delicious, meticulously packaged, generous in portion size, and arrived quickly. She even declared that she could eat food delivery every day without any concerns.

On the other hand, Deny Aaron received a scolding from his father during a phone call. His father had traveled all the way from Japan, expecting Deny Aaron to take the young girl out, but instead found father and daughter staying in and ordering delivery. He was disappointed.

Deny Aaron, indeed, was quite busy. While enjoying his food downstairs, he continued tapping away at his code, immersed in his research project on AI emotion recognition.

Emotion recognition was a highly comprehensive research field and technical area. Humans can perceive emotions through visual, auditory, and tactile cues, such as facial expressions, body language, and voice tone. However, programs are composed of cold numbers and lack the rich emotions that humans possess.

Based on this, Deny Aaron had established a preliminary emotional model database using big data. This allowed the program to capture data from sensing devices related to visual, auditory, and touch inputs. By employing algorithms, the program could "understand" human emotions and intentions, responding accordingly.

The biggest challenge in achieving true computer intelligence was how to develop algorithms that enable AI to recognize, understand, express, and adapt to human emotions.

As Deny Aaron devoted himself to perfecting the program's algorithms, Airi Sakura quietly came down from the second floor, found a small stool not far behind him, and started eating her own food.

She had finished eating a long time ago, but Deny Aaron's takeaway was still sitting on the table. Occasionally, she would pick up the food container and take a few bites before setting it down again, continuing to tap on the keyboard.

There were piles of draft papers on the desk, filled with various numerical formulas and calculations.

There was also one on the ground near her feet, which Airi Sakura picked up and looked at. Her mind went blank, not knowing what it was calculating or what it meant.

If only she could understand it, but most of the time Deny Aaron's drafts were skipping steps and omitting a lot of the process.

She didn't have many conversations with Deny Aaron, so Airi Sakura couldn't really figure out what kind of person he was.

He could be so gentle with kittens, but so harsh with himself...

But he looked really cool when he was focused. Airi Sakura was someone who appreciated both looks and handiness, and Deny Aaron had both. So, while she had the chance, she could enjoy his presence a bit more, considering it as her reward for being scolded.

School would start the day after tomorrow. Airi Sakura chose the Humanities and Arts department for her studies in her Chinese exchange program, while Deny Aaron was in the Computer Science department. But both were attending Sunan University.

She didn't even know how to get to the school. As someone with no sense of direction, she might have managed to get lost even after just turning a couple of corners.

Airi Sakura was feeling a bit worried. She hadn't gotten her phone card or bank card yet, and there were still many daily life knowledge that she wasn't clear about. In the future, she would rely on Deny Aaron for help in living in China, but he was so stern with her, and that made her feel quite scared...

Wait, why is her heart beating so fast just from thinking about how stern he is with her!?

Something's not right, she should hurry upstairs.

Airi Sakura got up in a fluster, preparing to go upstairs. But she accidentally caught her clothes on a folder on the table, causing it to fall to the ground with a loud noise.

Oh no.

"What are you doing here?"

As expected, Deny Aaron's cold voice echoed in her ears, along with his burning gaze. Airi Sakura couldn't even dare to raise her head to look at him.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to! Please scold me harshly, Deny Aaron-kun!"

Airi Sakura pressed her hands against her lower abdomen, lowered her head, allowing her hair to naturally cover her face. She slightly bent her body, trembling, waiting for Deny Aaron's scolding.

This time, she will surely be scolded to death, right?

Will he hit her...?

Ugh, father, I won't be able to go back to see you...

But the expected storm didn't come.

After a full ten seconds of silence, Airi Sakura couldn't help but raise her head to see what Deny Aaron was doing, only to find him already engrossed in his calculations, pen in hand.

Huh...?

Airi Sakura didn't dare to speak, silently picking up the scattered papers on the ground and carefully placing them back into the folder, stealing glances at him from time to time.

Seeing that he truly seemed to not care at all, Airi Sakura suddenly felt a strange sense of loss. So she cautiously asked, "Deny Aaron-kun... Aren't you mad? You can scold me harshly, but please don't ignore me..."

"Why should I scold you?" Deny Aaron didn't even lift his head.

"I disturbed your work and knocked over your stuff..."

"If you already know that, then what's the point of me scolding you? It would just be a waste of my time."

"You... You're not angry? You can scold me severely, but please don't ignore me..."

"?"

After a long time of staring, Deny Aaron finally stopped his pen and stared at Airi Sakura. She felt her heart about to leap out of her throat, her hands becoming sweaty from nervousness.

Under his gaze, Airi Sakura felt like a little swallow facing a storm alone in the vast ocean.

"You're cat cakes..." (Equivalent to "Are you crazy?")

Deny Aaron muttered softly, then turned back to his work.