Strictly speaking, Su Yuqing had known deep down for a long time that getting fired by that company was only a matter of time.
After all, ever since “That Incident” occurred, a certain part of her soul felt as if it had been forcibly snatched away by an invisible hand.
In her memory, the day that marked the turning point of her career as a manager was so bright it felt mocking.
“Su Yuqing, the company has been watching your recent performance,” the Group Leader’s voice drifted across the desk, carrying a robotic indifference.
“I don’t see any reason for you to remain in the Core Management Team. A vacancy just opened up in the Newcomer Reception Department. It’s a do-nothing job, and I think… it suits you quite well.”
Su Yuqing knew this was an exile—a deportation from the treacherous waters of the Idol Frontline to a forgotten corner of logistics where no one ever visited.
However, it was during one of those mind-numbing afternoons after being marginalized that she first met Kasahana Chiai.
The door to the interview room was pushed open gently, and the light outlined a petite figure brimming with an unusual vitality.
At the time, Su Yuqing was looking down, mechanically filling out the repetitive “Interviewee Comprehensive Quality Evaluation Form,” attempting to use a pile of words to mask the void in her heart.
“You’re the new Idol trainee, right?”
She didn’t look up, her voice raspy from days of exhaustion.
“Hurry up and introduce yourself. Let’s not waste any more of our time.”
Su Yuqing was used to armoring herself with this businesslike efficiency, as if doing so could isolate the outside world and the voices in her own head.
However, when she finally finished the last blank space on the form and lifted her head tiredly, her gaze froze the moment she saw the visitor.
Even though she had seen countless people—boys and girls of all kinds harboring dreams of stardom—Su Yuqing instantly felt that the person before her was extraordinary.
The girl wore a uniquely tailored Japanese Stage Outfit, and her hair was tied into a pair of playful twin-tails.
Her glass-like eyes were clear and bright, seemingly containing both stars and honey.
But the most striking thing was not her doll-like, exquisite features, but the unique aura she radiated… a blend of instinctive wildness and purity.
This girl felt as if she were born specifically for the concept of an “Idol.”
“Nice to meet you, Big Sister Manager who looks a bit tired but is still very beautiful~”
The girl spoke, her voice crisp and sweet, the end of her sentence trailing off with a feline-like laziness.
“My name is—”
She tilted her head slightly, revealing a brilliant smile capable of melting ice and snow.
“Kasahana Chiai.”
“Kasahana… Chiai…?”
Su Yuqing subconsciously repeated the tongue-twisting name.
Even though girls coming to the company for interviews in cosplay to gain attention were not rare in recent years, Su Yuqing had never seen anyone like Chiai—someone who could integrate a “non-human” quality into her very bones so naturally, so… so flawlessly.
“That’s right, what is it, meow~”
Chiai blinked, her long, curled eyelashes fluttering like butterfly wings.
“Is my name very strange~?”
The soft onomatopoeia was naturally embedded in her speech, as if it were an indispensable part of her vocabulary.
To be honest, before this, Su Yuqing had never seen anyone handle the absurd setting of “maybe I really am a cat” with such perfect poise.
A corner of her heart that had been silent for a long time seemed to be gently touched.
She suddenly heard a faint voice inside her saying:
‘Su Yuqing, Su Yuqing, this newcomer’s every move on stage might really be just like a living cat.’
‘I might have really hit the jackpot this time.’
This premonition was soon verified by reality.
Kasahana Chiai, the unpolished gem that Su Yuqing had accidentally picked up during her period of frustration, bloomed with an astounding radiance once she was polished.
She seemed to belong to the stage naturally.
Every dance step possessed a feline grace and agility, and every look could precisely capture the hearts of the audience.
This third-rate Idol management company, which had previously been struggling at the bottom of the industry and relying on scandals about management’s unspoken rules to maintain exposure, miraculously made a beautiful comeback with the help of this “super mysterious Idol from a foreign land.”
However, the gears of fate had already begun to turn in the shadows.
***
Now, in this small rental apartment filled with the scent of everyday life, Su Yuqing was tightly bound to the sofa with nylon ropes.
She looked up at the face of the top Idol, Kasahana Chiai—a face that was both familiar and strange—and listened to her say the most cruel words in the sweetest voice.
Her mind was a mess.
“No, that’s not right!”
Su Yuqing struggled, trying to use a rational shout to dispel this absurd nightmare.
“This is absolutely impossible! You aren’t Xiaozhi! You are Kasahana Chiai! You’re the Idol who is about to hold a concert in a 10,000-seat stadium, Kasahana Chiai!”
“Pfft, hahaha…”
Chiai let out a light, airy laugh, but there was no warmth in it—only icy mockery.
“Well, maybe that’s why people say that crappy little sewer agency of yours was destined to go bankrupt. You guys didn’t even bother to do the most basic identity verification for your artists by checking in with the Foreign Consulate in the provincial capital just because it was too much trouble.”
Chiai leaned down further, getting closer to Su Yuqing.
Her warm breath brushed against Su Yuqing’s ear, her voice like sweet poison.
“I originally planned to go to the consulate personally to ‘refine’ my records after the concert this weekend. But looking at things now—”
Her gaze swept across the small living room, passed the closed windows on the balcony, and finally fell back on Su Yuqing’s face, which was pale with fear.
She revealed an almost cruelly innocent smile.
“It seems there’s no need for that anymore…”
“Ugh…!?”
Su Yuqing’s heart was yanked hard by the leash attached to the collar around her neck.
“Alright, alright, that’s enough reminiscing.”
Chiai straightened up and put her hands behind her back like a child announcing the rules of a game, though her eyes flashed with an unquestionable desire for control.
“From now on, let’s set some little rules for the days following our wonderful reunion!”
“Starting tonight, any action you take and any thought you have must be authorized by meow. To put it another way—”
She reached out her index finger, clad in Cat Paw Gloves, and gently tapped Su Yuqing’s nose.
Her tone was sugary but carried an unyielding pressure.
“Unless you receive an order from meow~ you are not allowed to do anything.”
“Cough… cough…”
Su Yuqing choked on this absurd declaration.
Her remaining logic forced her to grab onto the last straw.
“But… but if you really are Xiaozhi, then shouldn’t I be the one… the one giving the orders? After all, I… I am still your Ma… Master…”
“Master?”
As if she had heard the most hilarious joke, Chiai’s voice suddenly turned cold.
Her beautiful eyes were instantly covered in frost.
“That was in the past. Unfortunately, you haven’t been that for a long time.”
She spoke slowly, each word like an ice-dipped nail being driven into Su Yuqing’s eardrums.
“At the very least, from the moment you buried me alive in that cold soil, you lost any right to be my so-called ‘Master.'”
“Buried alive?!”
Su Yuqing felt as if she had been struck by lightning.
Fragments of her memory churned wildly, yet she couldn’t piece together such a terrifying image.
“But… but I remember that morning, you were already… you were already motionless, dead in that cardboard cat bed… I touched you, and your body was stiff…”
“No, meow~”
Chiai’s voice returned to that weirdly cheerful tone.
She leaned into Su Yuqing’s ear and whispered, as if sharing a secret.
“In that thin, uninsulated cardboard box… I could hear the sound of every single shovel of dirt being thrown down from outside, clear as day.”
“That sound was so muffled, so heavy… it felt like it was hitting my heart directly.”