“Provocation? Ha, do you take me for a fool? I’m not falling for that.” Kesu Su crossed her arms over her flat chest.
Xi Ye replied unhurriedly:
“So, does that mean the great Lord Kesu Su is too scared? Or are you just afraid of losing to me at video games?”
“Guh…” Kesu Su’s eyebrow twitched.
Noticing the change in Kesu Su’s expression, she kept fanning the flames:
“…Didn’t you say before that you’re an absolute powerhouse? Heh, looks like the great Lord Kesu Su isn’t all that powerful after all…”
Before she finished, the tentacles wrapped around her neck and wrists suddenly loosened. Caught off guard, Xi Ye tumbled into the chair, let out a muffled groan of pain, and coughed repeatedly:
“Cough cough cough… cough cough! Cough cough cough… hu… ha…!”
Crimson marks were left on her wrists, neck, and knees. Xueli’s skin was always as delicate as blown glass, so these marks looked especially fierce.
She greedily gulped in fresh air, her head spinning, and there was a faintly sweet taste lingering in her throat.
“For a dragon, you’re pretty fragile.” Kesu Su scoffed. “Fine, once you’ve recovered, come over. The time you’ve wasted, I’ll make sure to vent even harder on you, and I’ll show you just how big the gap between us is.”
“What an idiot, Su Su.” Huang Xiaoyi remarked calmly from the side.
“Xiaoyi!”
Kesu Su shot her a glare, but Huang Xiaoyi just shrugged, unbothered.
Off to the side, Xi Ye spat out a mouthful of bloody phlegm, wiped her lips, and struggled to prop herself up with her tail. She was as weak as a kitten, but her tail acted as a tripod to keep her from being blown away by the wind.
Her slender hand gripped the arcade joystick, gently rocking it twice:
“So you wanted to play this just now, right? Street Fighter 6, is this one okay?”
“No problem.”
Kesu Su plopped down onto the long bench, shoving Xi Ye to the side and nearly knocking her off the seat. Left with no choice, Xi Ye sat with only half her butt on the bench, the other half dangling in the air.
“Let’s begin.”
Kesu Su’s star-shaped eyes gleamed with a fantastical light as she declared:
“I’m going to crush you!”
“Los… lost…”
Five minutes later, Kesu Su hung her head straight down, her tiny hands clenched tightly around the joystick, looking utterly incredulous.
“No way, how could I lose?!”
Watching the petite girl trembling beside her, Xi Ye thought to herself:
Who else would lose if not you? That was seriously pathetic!
She’d thought Kesu Su’s confidence came from actual skill, but it turned out to be all talk.
She played Guile, and throughout the match only used two moves: keepaway Sonic Booms and Shoryuken up close.
Controlled by Xi Ye, Jamie landed two perfect KOs. The second round, feeling sorry for her, Xi Ye didn’t even land a hit and let her have a win.
But the moment this brat took a round, she started trash-talking like crazy. Xi Ye couldn’t take it anymore and pinned her to the corner for a one-sided beatdown, ending the match like she was playing against a CPU.
“No way, I’m not convinced, one more round!”
Kesu Su slapped her tiny hand on the machine and stood up abruptly.
Xi Ye curled her lips weakly and said,
“Is Lord Kesu Su going back on her word?”
That frail tone left Kesu Su stuck, and after hesitating for a long while, she stammered:
“Th-that’s not it! My hands just felt off just now, and the controls on my side were lagging a bit. I-I’m sure you, stinky dragon, did something to mess with it.”
“Me?” Xi Ye pointed at herself with her little finger.
This Kesu Su was acting just like a child now—losing at a game and making excuses.
Huang Xiaoyi stepped forward and patted Kesu Su on the head:
“That’s enough, Su Su. If you’re willing to gamble, you have to be willing to lose. Don’t throw a tantrum, it’s embarrassing.”
“No way!”
Kesu Su slapped Huang Xiaoyi’s hand away, glaring fiercely at Xi Ye as if she’d eat her if she didn’t agree:
“One more round! This time you play on the left! If you accept, I… I’ll grant you two wishes!”
Xi Ye’s eyes lit up, worried she might get ambushed.
Was there really such a sweet deal?
“Sure.” She stood up and gave Kesu Su her seat.
After switching sides, Kesu Su sat up straight, her little head almost pressed against the screen. She gritted her teeth and said,
“Don’t celebrate too early. This time, I’m going all out! Heh… Tonight you’ll be—”
“Getting 2:0’d again, Su Su.”
Three minutes later, Huang Xiaoyi was patting Kesu Su’s now ashen head.
On the screen, her character Akuma was peacefully sleeping, while Xi Ye’s Zangief had both hands raised to the sky.
To be fair, Kesu Su was a bit better when she got serious. She’d gone from inhumanly bad to almost human. Sadly, she still wasn’t human enough.
Watching Akuma’s health drop to yellow, and seeing the “CA” mark on the lower right, Xi Ye didn’t even have to think to know what Kesu Su was planning.
“It’s over! Ichi! Shun! Sen! Ki!”
Xi Ye’s Zangief was groggy from repeated hits, health dangerously low. Kesu Su seized the chance and declared victory ahead of time.
“Hyaah!”
Akuma was wreathed in black aura, and the words “Ichi Shun Sen Ki” flashed on the screen with terrifying momentum—
—Only for him to dive headfirst into Zangief’s arms.
Both of them spun skyward, and when they crashed down, Zangief landed on his butt while Akuma was head-down.
The next second, half of Akuma’s health bar vanished.
“No way…”
Face pressed against the cold arcade machine, Kesu Su muttered, the light gone from her eyes:
“You actually defeated me at full power… Xueli, what are you?”
“Just a passing Sakura Dragon, that’s all.”
Xi Ye joined Huang Xiaoyi in patting Kesu Su’s head, smiling as she said,
“Want to play another round?”
“Guh…!”
Kesu Su’s eyebrows scrunched up like a bun:
“I lost, so spit it out—what do you want? Tch, I know it’s something like that… whatever, you can have it!”
With that, she actually lifted her cloak up to her stomach with both hands, putting everything in Xi Ye’s full view.
What is this kid thinking?!
Before Kesu Su could spread her legs, Xi Ye hurried to stop her.
Huang Xiaoyi pulled the cloak back down and sighed:
“Don’t mind her. Su Su’s just like that.”
“My wishes aren’t that kind of thing.”
Even though she’d seen it in class, Xi Ye still felt a little embarrassed.
“If it’s not that… are you going to turn me into a self-X toy!? Uuugh, dammit, I never thought I’d end up in a situation like this, guh…!”
Kesu Su hugged herself tightly.
“Of course not!”
Don’t trigger the bad-end CG on your own, for crying out loud!