I finally escaped Ying Shiqian’s clutches and kept my distance. I didn’t mind getting close with seniors, but it’d take time to adjust. Sure, I’d accepted being a girl, but rewiring my old mindset was tough.

Girl-on-girl closeness? In my old headspace, that was ‘couple stuff’. But here, it was just bestie behavior—normal friend vibes. Ying Shiqian patiently explained these social rules, and I listened, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that she was enjoying this a bit too much.

The “faceplant” hug was nice, sure, but it rocked my worldview.

“Oh, Yuehan, didn’t you say you wanted to try meditating?” Ying Shiqian asked, switching gears.

“Yeah,” I nodded. “Why?”

“Just a heads-up. If you’re new to meditation, don’t try it in some random bedroom. It’s way less effective. You need a proper meditation room,” she said.

“Really? Is there some trick to it?” I leaned in, curious. As a graduated senior, her experience was gold.

“Totally. Witch Meditation is one-of-a-kind. It’s got all sorts of quirks. Word is, it involves rituals. Get the ritual right, and you can slip into the meditative state,” she explained.

“Rituals? Like what?” I latched onto the word. I’d heard of rituals but couldn’t quite pin down what they were.

“Think of it like a prayer ceremony,” she said. “You do specific steps to pray, and completing them means the prayer’s done. Same deal with meditation. Nail the ritual, and you’re in the zone faster. That’s what I’ve heard, anyway.”

“Heard, huh…” I muttered, not fully getting it. Her analogy helped, but I was still foggy. More than anything, I wanted to know what these rituals actually were.

“Ugh, don’t overthink it. Rituals are super common but also kind of abstract. It’s hard to pin down exactly what they are. If it works, just roll with it. Not a believer? Try a little faith for once,” Ying Shiqian said, waving off my confusion.

“I didn’t say I don’t believe!” I shot back. “So, about these rituals—since you brought them up, you must know what they are for Witch Meditation, right? Can you teach me?”

“Teach you… Well…” Ying Shiqian hesitated, her confidence faltering. “It’s not that I don’t want to, but Witch Meditation rituals are still a bit… undefined. You get me? It’s stuff we can’t fully explain with what we know. You just keep experimenting, find patterns, use them, and eventually master them to get what you want.”

Her long explanation made it click: there wasn’t a set system that guaranteed everyone could reach the meditative state the same way.

So, it was basically mystical guesswork.

“Then… rituals don’t actually exist?” I asked cautiously.

“No way! They totally exist!” she insisted, a bit defensive. “I’m just not great at explaining it. You’ve got a library card, right? Check out Witch Meditation Ritual Theories or the latest meditation journals. They’ll help.”

“Better than puzzling it out on your own, at least…” she added, a little embarrassed, trying to salvage her senior cred.

“Got it. Thanks for the tip, Senior! I’ll look into it,” I said politely. She’d pointed me in a direction, and I’d learned a bit more about meditation, so I owed her that much.

“Oh, Senior, one more question?” I ventured.

“Shoot! Anything I know, I’ll spill,” she said, then quickly backtracked. “If I know it, that is.”

“Nothing big. Just curious—how long did it take you to nail the meditative state?”

“Oh, you’re digging into my glory days?” Ying Shiqian perked up, clearly thrilled. “I didn’t touch Witch Meditation until classes started. Just messed around with it casually, and bam—less than two weeks. It’s not a big deal. Don’t stress too hard about it.”

She was practically glowing with pride. Two weeks must’ve been something to brag about.

That lit a spark in me. With over a month until classes started, I could set a goal: master meditation before school began, outpace most freshmen, and pull ahead of the pack.

Got to fly early if you’re a slow bird, right? I’d already been at the academy longer than most.

“Wow, Senior, you got meditation down in two weeks? That’s amazing!” I cheered, laying on the flattery.

“Eh, no big deal,” Ying Shiqian said, brushing it off. “There was this one freak in my class who was way scarier. The first day, she tried it that night, nailed it by morning. That’s a real monster.”

“What? Someone that good?” My eyes widened, hardly believing it.

I’d dabbled in meditation myself. Grasping those vague, flowery descriptions in a single day? No way.

“Yup,” she said. “And get this—she did it without a meditation room. When someone asked, she claimed she didn’t even know the academy had them. Total show-off.”

“Talk about faking it,” I said, nodding along.

“So, yeah, people like that exist. But, Yuehan, don’t try to be them. Keep it real, stay grounded,” she advised.

“Got it,” I said earnestly.

After chatting a bit more, I slipped back into slacking mode, flipping through the Witch Meditation book to get a basic feel for it.

I planned to grab some incense after work to try meditating. Maybe, hit up the meditation room Ying Shiqian mentioned? My paycheck had come through fast—decent money for just a few days’ work.