Jiang Jian Yue returned to the empty shared apartment and headed straight for the bathroom.
The cold water washed away the last traces of the scent of blood.
She turned off the showerhead and stepped barefoot onto the cool tiles.
Droplets of water slid down the tips of her pale gray hair and her slightly slender body.
She wiped her face and looked at her blood pupils in the mirror, which looked weary.
She let out a small sigh.
A sense of hunger surged up belatedly.
She didn’t plan on putting on clothes, since Yuki Asahi wouldn’t be coming back anyway.
She walked straight to the kitchen.
She rarely wore the slippers in the house, preferring the feeling of the floor against her bare feet.
The induction cooker emitted a monotonous beep, and the water in the stainless steel pot began to form fine bubbles.
Jiang Jian Yue stood barefoot in front of the counter, preparing to cook the most delicious instant noodles in the world—the kind with ham sausage.
However, the shared apartment felt exceptionally empty at this moment.
Yuki Asahi’s busy figure was missing from the kitchen, and even that faint, lingering scent of “home” had faded quite a bit.
There was only the sound of water that had yet to boil.
Gurgle.
Jiang Jian Yue looked down at the unopened seafood-flavored cup noodles and suddenly felt a bit listless.
‘Is this what they call Sage Time?’
Meiguan’s voice sounded at an inappropriate time.
‘Feeling empty after killing someone? Or are you lonely because your boyfriend isn’t home?’
‘Shut up.’
Jiang Jian Yue replied coldly in her mind, trying to drive away the irritable mood.
After finishing the instant noodles in the kitchen, she returned to the main bedroom, intending to check the internet to see if anyone was looking for her before heading to sleep.
However, she discovered that time had jumped forward.
Episode 14 was out already?
[Front row!]
[Holy shit, how are Emi’s breasts that big?]
[Bro, you clicked the wrong episode, didn’t you?]
[This is a meme.]
Jiang Jian Yue could confirm that this was indeed a meme circulating in the Chantui Community.
It originated from a reaction video by a well-known blogger who had exclaimed in shock after seeing the OP of the previous episode.
Because his expression was so exaggerated, it became a meme—Jiang Jian Yue really couldn’t understand why something so boring could become a meme.
Regardless, she had already blocked that blogger.
The opening showed Cuiyue fighting using the so-called “Wanhua”—the pale gray flames that burned the soul.
Well, Jiang Jian Yue actually felt that the small group chat was justified in naming her abilities for her.
At this stage, her own names for her abilities were still at the “describing a picture” level.
“Visual Obscuration” was the only concise and nice-sounding name she had come up with, which felt like rolling a critical success on a die.
Cuiyue’s sparring partner was Yuki Asahi.
Even though he was being burned by the soul-scorching flames, he still charged forward with an indomitable momentum, closing in on Cuiyue for close combat.
It seemed he was a melee brawler.
And when dealing with a melee brawler, one definitely couldn’t be foolish enough to fight head-on.
Cuiyue naturally knew this as well.
Her movements were equally fast as she constantly maintained distance from Yuki Asahi, kiting him with her flames.
[He’s being toyed with.]
[How did the developers handle the balance? She’s a Mage, yet she has such high movement speed.]
Yuki Asahi eventually caught an opportunity to get close, and the physical brawl revealed the truth to the viewers: Cuiyue was not just a Mage.
Her physical stats were not inferior to Yuki Asahi’s, at least not in his normal state.
What surprised Jiang Jian Yue was that Cuiyue’s martial arts skills were clearly superior to Yuki Asahi’s, which some viewers who were well-versed in fighting also noticed.
[Yuki’s offensive is being completely neutralized.]
[What a beautiful Intercepting Leg Kick.]
[What a massive Swing Punch.]
[It’s normal that he can’t win; the opponent has an eye-catching crowd control skill.]
Jiang Jian Yue rubbed her chin, carefully reflecting on this close-quarters fight, and concluded that her own martial arts skills were inferior to Cuiyue’s.
She knew that every skill she had, Cuiyue also possessed, and for now, she assumed Cuiyue’s stats were equal to her own.
Under the same conditions, her martial arts were definitely not as fluid as Cuiyue’s.
But… what era was this?
Who still relied on physical skills?
The “treasures” stored in Jiang Jian Yue’s Storage Space were her true killing moves.
As the training ended, it was revealed through the dialogue between the team members that it was already April in the animation.
Cuiyue had already been a member for three months.
[Wow, another time skip.]
[Is Emi just going to let this girl train with Yuki?!]
[Jealous Hayami is so cute.]
[Holy crap, don’t tell me Hayami likes Yuki too.]
[Two new flames appear, and the old one is abandoned?]
[Stop hating; Brother Yuki is very disciplined.]
[Harem plus one.]
Heh… a harem?
Jiang Jian Yue was a very selfish person; she would never allow Yuki Asahi to have a harem.
Although Yuki was the kind of person who could be somewhat indecisive, he had maintained a faint distance from other girls ever since he realized where his heart belonged.
Compared to those guys who knew they would cause trouble but still pretended to be ignorant while entering other heroines’ lines, he was much more reliable!
The perspective followed Cuiyue back home, where she lit some incense.
‘Eh?’
‘You… have you actually become addicted to this thing too!’
Jiang Jian Yue’s eyes lit up.
Did this mean… she could control Cuiyue’s body?
[Sui is so cute.]
[Lower your volume ahead.]
[Gah, I don’t want to hear this.]
[Skipping.]
[What a terrible OP.]
What?
They thought the OP sounded bad!?
A heavy metal fan like her was furious!
Jiang Jian Yue didn’t skip it.
Instead, she appreciated the OP in its entirety, checking to see if there were any changes.
Unfortunately, it didn’t have the same changes as OP1.
After the OP ended, the story briefly explained the lives of the two high school students participating in the Southern Cross.
[Wait, are they really doing femboy idols?]
[This is hard to watch.]
[The ‘Southern’ in Southern Cross stands for ‘nan’ as in ‘nanniang’ (femboy).]
[If there’s a guy, I’m not playing.]
Of course, glimpses of the incense appeared in the plot as well, and even the viewers noticed it.
After this short segment, the perspective followed Saori Saiyonji to the expanded Supernatural Club.
Kaori Onishi, who had become a high school senior, was now an old predecessor in the club.
Several characters with designs clearly meant for side roles were introduced.
Jiang Jian Yue’s attention was drawn to a girl with round-rimmed glasses.
Because her voice was quite unique, she looked at her for a few extra moments, but that was all.
After all, she was just an unnamed side character.
Of course, “unnamed” referred to her status within the show.
Kaori Onishi was still as noisy as ever, but this time, there was a crowd of people being noisy with her.
It was so loud that Saori Saiyonji’s brow furrowed.
She forcibly interrupted them to ask about the Supernatural Club’s participation in the competition.
After all, in the current timeline of the show, they still hadn’t found a fifth person.
Kaori Onishi, the “GSAC Acting Minister,” was somewhat dissatisfied with the new members who had joined the Supernatural Club.
However, in response to the inquiry, Kaori Onishi stroked her chin and gave a mysterious smile.
“I’ve already found one, and they’re a powerful reinforcement~”
[Who is it?]
[Curious.]
[Yeah, as someone who hasn’t seen the OP, it’s so hard for me to guess.]
In a sense, it was rare for Jiang Jian Yue and the viewers to be in agreement about being spoiled.