“Sss, this isn’t right, sis.”
“Look closely, your shopping bag is exactly the same as the one [Eternal Star] was carrying…”
Xiao Xi froze in place.
The damn supermarket shopping bag had the store’s logo printed on it, making it easy to recognize.
Noticing something was off, Ye Xinglan also came over, poking her head in from the kitchen doorway and blinking her eyes.
“Oh right, Xinglan,” Xiao Xi suddenly interrupted Xiao Keke and switched to a more intimate form of address, “the pudding you said you wanted before, I bought it for you at the supermarket this time.”
Then, right in front of Xiao Keke, Xiao Xi pulled out two boxes of pudding from the shopping bag.
Ye Xinglan blinked: “I… said I wanted pudding?”
“You did~”
Xiao Xi forced a smile, stepping forward to affectionately wrap her arms around Ye Xinglan’s neck.
“Even if you said it casually, I remember it clearly.”
“Oh-oh…”
Although a little puzzled, feeling the strength in Xiao Xi’s arms, Ye Xinglan vaguely took the pudding.
But why was this pudding so cold?
At that moment, a flicker of doubt crossed Ye Xinglan’s mind.
If the pudding was bought today, even kept in the fridge, it shouldn’t have gotten this cold in such a short time, right?
Watching this dog-couple act, Xiao Keke turned her head away with a displeased “tsk.”
Damn showing PDA!
“What’s wrong?” Xiao Xi glanced at her sideways, “Don’t tell me [Eternal Star] also bought these puddings?”
“Not that I know of…”
Phew… Crisis averted!
Xiao Xi breathed a long sigh of relief inside.
Luckily, she had a sudden idea earlier and quickly grabbed two boxes of pudding from the fridge and stuffed them into the shopping bag before Xiao Keke followed her into the kitchen.
Those two boxes were bought earlier as a treat for herself from the supermarket and had been sitting in the fridge for a few days, untouched.
Xiao Keke shook her head and brushed away the absurd thought in her mind.
Right, she was overthinking it. How could her shut-in, useless big sister possibly have anything to do with [Eternal Star]?
But seeing how much overlap there was in what her sister bought and what [Eternal Star] bought, could it be that—
“Sis, you didn’t run into [Eternal Star] at the supermarket, did you? Look, the stuff you bought overlaps so much, maybe you ran into each other in an aisle.”
“Haha… Running into each other is normal, after all, there’s only that one big fresh market on South Street, and everything is available there. If [Eternal Star] also buys groceries, it makes sense she’d go there.”
Xiao Xi added, trying to make Xiao Keke’s guess sound more reasonable.
“But even if I did run into her, I wouldn’t recognize her. Magical girls have cognitive filters for protection, how would I know what [Eternal Star] looks like in person?”
Ye Xinglan came closer again, eyes shining with hope: “Then maybe someone you know has met [Eternal Star]? If we track down the people you know, maybe we can find her!”
So scary! Xiao Xi looked at Ye Xinglan’s sparkling eyes and thought, why are you so obsessed with exposing people’s identities?! You’re freaking me out, Miss Ye Xinglan!
“What are you thinking? Why would I remember who I ran into at the supermarket when I have nothing else going on?”
“Alright, in short, I haven’t met any [Eternal Star], nor had any monster attack incidents. Let’s drop this topic—I’m going to cook now.”
Xiao Xi put on a cook’s pose and kicked both of them out of the kitchen, finally letting out a deep breath.
As expected, it’s best not to carry anything after transforming, or there’s a risk of exposure… Well, she probably wouldn’t have another chance to transform into Eternal Star again anyway.
Not long after, Ye Xinglan sneaked back into the kitchen and looked at Xiao Xi busily cooking.
“Xiao Xi, what did you mean just now—that pudding isn’t freshly bought today, right?”
“Well,” Xiao Xi paused mid-stir, “we’re pretending to be a couple, aren’t we? I just wanted to make the act more convincing in front of Xiao Keke.”
“Xiao Keke is my little sister and knows me well. If we don’t act convincingly, she’ll definitely catch on.”
Xiao Xi had already thought out a reasonable excuse while cooking.
“I see,” Ye Xinglan suddenly understood and added a mischievous smile, “You hugging me just now really startled me, I thought you wanted to take the fake relationship to the next level~”
“…Get out! I’m cooking, don’t just stand there and get in the way!”
Xiao Xi blushed, unsure if it was because the kitchen was too hot.
An hour later, Xiao Xi had prepared a full table of dishes, and the cake Xiao Keke ordered online had arrived.
The three of them gathered around the table, singing the birthday song—a rare, warm moment.
“Make a wish,” Xiao Keke nudged Xiao Xi, “Sis, you might as well take this chance to wish for everlasting happiness with Sister Xinglan.”
Xiao Xi’s lips twitched.
This time, she couldn’t deny the relationship with Ye Xinglan, especially since she just used it to hide her identity.
But thinking about Ye Xinglan’s room decorations… Xiao Xi felt she would probably never actually date someone like that in her life—unless she was a masochist!
It was also the first time in three years Xiao Xi had a birthday celebration.
It felt good to have a proper birthday again.
The only downside was that Xiao Keke received some message right after eating, saying there was an “urgent matter at school” and hurriedly left.
Xiao Keke had no choice; though she had the day off, Minister L had called an emergency meeting, requiring all magical girls in Xianghai City to return to the Association.
Only then did Xiao Keke realize how severe the monster attack incident had been.
As a newly arrived D-rank magical girl in Xianghai City, she had run into such a serious event right away.
Meanwhile, after clearing the table, Xiao Xi called out to Ye Xinglan’s room, “I’m going downstairs to take out the trash,” and left.
Recalling what Xiao Keke had said earlier, Xiao Xi felt something was off.
How could that brat remember every single thing she bought at the supermarket so clearly?
More importantly, Xiao Xi thought back—during the monster fight, she hadn’t paid attention to her surroundings, but the nearby civilians should have mostly fled.
Why hadn’t she noticed anyone standing around watching?
And more so, her own sister—was Xiao Keke really there?
And judging by her excited demeanor, she didn’t seem like an eighteen-year-old who had just gone through a monster attack at all.
Xiao Xi had a vague feeling something was wrong, but she couldn’t put her finger on it. The uneasy feeling made her uncomfortable.
Maybe she should call Mom sometime and ask if anything happened to Keke recently…
While thinking this, Xiao Xi was about to toss the trash bag into the outdoor bin, but out of the corner of her eye, something familiar caught her attention, causing her to freeze.
That was…
Ignoring the smell from the bin, Xiao Xi immediately leaned closer to take a better look—why did the cake box in the trash look so familiar?
Wasn’t this the exact same cake bought by that D-rank magical girl she saved earlier?
Suddenly, a bad premonition surged through Xiao Xi’s heart.
That little Red Riding Hood girl had mentioned something about “buying a cake for big sister.” Xiao Xi didn’t believe in so many coincidences in this world.
Not caring about others’ eyes, she grabbed a stick and began poking around.