After opening the door, Xiaoxi froze slightly, because what appeared before her was a scene straight out of hell.
The dim room, with its curtains drawn, looked as if a burglary had just taken place.
Clothes, body pillows, and all sorts of miscellaneous daily items were scattered everywhere they shouldn’t be.
The only place in the entire room that looked even somewhat presentable was in front of Silver Bell’s computer.
A beanbag chair faced three massive screens, with a circle of snacks, cola, and game consoles arranged around it like some untouchable, mysterious magic formation.
The first thing Xiaoxi thought of was an anime she had watched before called Himouto!
Umaru-chan. Thinking about it, although she had visited Silver Bell’s home in the past, Silver Bell had never let her enter the bedroom.
They had only stayed in the living room, playing games together. Now it made sense… this was probably why.
On second thought, it was only natural. A shut-in like Silver Bell wasn’t likely to have a tidy room.
Xiaoxi suppressed the urge to clean up for her, forcing down the restless “housewife” instinct rising within her as she began her inspection.
She carefully stepped over a piece of clothing on the floor, trying not to disturb the existing layout… though with how messy the room was, Silver Bell probably wouldn’t notice if anything had been moved anyway.
The clutter greatly increased the difficulty of the investigation, but Xiaoxi hadn’t planned to examine things too closely in the first place.
She never expected to find anything in Silver Bell’s room. The inspection was mostly for show.
The Association had already investigated Silver Bell thoroughly. What she was doing now was just supplementary evidence.
The Astrologer was also aware of Silver Bell’s circumstances, which was why no one had specifically searched her room before.
Still, the standard procedure had to be followed. She just needed to take a few photos, ask some indirect questions, organize everything, and hand it over to the Astrologer.
After that, it wouldn’t be her concern anymore.
Click.
The first photo was of the four rows of large display cabinets that took up nearly one-third of the room.
They were filled with all kinds of magical girl merchandise.
Looking closely, it seemed Silver Bell had collected every official piece of Eternal Star merchandise. That was terrifying…
The second photo was of the bed piled high with body pillows.
Various magical girl pillows were neatly arranged in pairs according to common pairings, like silent night watchmen occupying most of the bed, leaving only a narrow, one-person-wide cozy corner.
The third photo…
The more Xiaoxi photographed, the more her brows furrowed. Although she wasn’t supposed to disturb the room’s arrangement, it was just too messy.
She couldn’t help but tidy up anything that might appear in the frame, doing her best not to expose any of Silver Bell’s personal privacy.
Still, only by seeing it in person could one understand just how much Silver Bell loved magical girl pairings.
To put it simply, the last time Xiaoxi had seen a room filled with this much magical girl merchandise… was Ye Xinglan’s.
After documenting the visible areas, it was time to check the darker corners. Xiaoxi opened the wardrobe door—and instantly froze in place.
The wardrobe, originally meant for storing clothes, had been completely repurposed as a storage cabinet.
The clothes themselves were freely “flying” around the room. But the real problem was what filled the wardrobe to the brim…
What the hell—Silver Bell had secretly bought this many life-sized body pillows of people they actually knew?!
At a glance, Xiaoxi saw not only Eternal Star, but also Muxingge, other former teammates, and several famous magical girls.
And these weren’t official products—there was no way official merchandise would come in such… intimate designs.
At that moment, Xiaoxi felt as if she had gazed upon an ancient god, her eyes aching.
She suddenly realized that Silver Bell hadn’t kept her out of the room just because it was messy.
It was because this girl was, unmistakably, a hardcore shipper.
Of course, Xiaoxi knew Silver Bell wasn’t harboring inappropriate intentions toward her former teammates.
She simply loved magical girl girl-on-girl pairings. After all, even these life-sized pillows in the wardrobe were arranged in pairs.
Wait… thinking back, whenever they all went out together, Silver Bell would always sit quietly in a corner, staring at everyone else.
At the time, they had assumed she was just shy. But now… was she actually watching and shipping them in real time?
Rubbing her aching eyes, Xiaoxi casually took another photo. Right now, she just wanted to finish quickly and go home to calm herself down. Fortunately, there was only one last place left to check.
She bent down and aimed her phone under the bed. To her surprise, it was completely stuffed as well—seemingly with comic books.
She picked one up and flipped through it casually. Her face instantly flushed red, and with a “boom,” it felt like a tiny mushroom cloud exploded above her head.
W-what is this?! How could this even pass censorship?! For someone like her… well, even if Ye Xinglan had already broadened her horizons, this was still way too intense!
She grabbed a few more and flipped through them. Without exception, they were all magical girl yuri fan comics.
What is this… Eternal Star Defeat Edition…? And what the hell—there’s even an Eternal Star × Blood Moon Witch one?! Where on earth did Silver Bell even buy such cursed stuff?!
Realizing she had uncovered her old friend’s deepest secret, Xiaoxi felt a bit guilty. She gently lowered the bedsheet back down.
Sorry, Ling’er… if it weren’t for the Astrologer’s request, I wouldn’t have wanted to find this either.
Still, Silver Bell had chosen a very “classic” hiding spot. Xiaoxi hesitated with her phone for a long moment, then sighed.
She decided to move all the books aside before taking photos, preserving Silver Bell’s dignity.
Otherwise, if all these illustrated books were captured together, it would be utterly mortifying.
Thankfully, the Astrologer had kindly chosen not to investigate Silver Bell’s home personally.
It was better for these things to be discovered by an old friend than by someone else from the Association.
With that thought, Xiaoxi avoided looking at the covers as much as possible. After moving all the comics out from under the bed, she aimed her phone back inside.
Huh? What is… that?
Xiaoxi froze again. With the light from her phone, she saw something deep under the bed. An unbelievable sense of dread suddenly rose in her heart.
…
Meanwhile, downstairs, Ye Xinglan was chatting with Silver Bell. Although she looked bored on the surface, she couldn’t help but feel a bit anxious inside.
Why hadn’t Xiaoxi sent her a message after all this time? Didn’t she say a quick inspection wouldn’t take long?
Of course, Ye Xinglan had no idea what kind of hellish scene Xiaoxi had just witnessed upstairs.
She was only worried that if this dragged on, Silver Bell might grow suspicious.
No, this won’t do. I need to come up with something else to distract her…
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