“Then let’s change poses this time!” Chu Youyu let go of Su Ruanruan and pulled on her small hand. “Come on, let’s make a heart!”
“A… a heart?” Su Ruanruan blinked in surprise.
“Just like this!” Chu Youyu pulled Su Ruanruan’s hand without allowing any room for argument. Their fingers overlapped, forming a perfectly standard heart shape in front of their chests.
Due to their height, their two petite bodies were pressed tightly together, and their cute faces were so close they almost touched. Their two pairs of cat ears — one black and one white — along with their matching tails, looked exceptionally soft and adorable under the warm yellow lights.
Click, click —
The high school girl wearing glasses acted like a war correspondent, frantically pressing the shutter button on her camera.
“Oh my god! This is just too sweet!”
“I can die happy! I really can!”
“I’m shipping this CP so hard! Throw away the key!”
The other customers nearby were also drawn to the scene, letting out uncontrollable squeals and knowing grins.
“Alright, alright. What would my two masters like to order?” Chu Youyu satisfied herself and returned to her professional “business mode,” though she still held Su Ruanruan’s hand with a dominant grip, refusing to let go.
“We want two strawberry milkshakes and two servings of tiramisu!”
“Coming right up. Please wait a moment — Meow~”
Chu Youyu led the dazed Su Ruanruan back to the counter and began preparing the drinks.
“Ruanruan, why don’t you help me draw the hearts on the milkshakes?” Chu Youyu handed her a bottle of chocolate syrup.
“O… okay…”
Su Ruanruan took the syrup and carefully began drawing on the surface of the milkshake. However, since it was her first time doing something like this, her hand shook, and the heart she drew ended up lopsided and distorted, looking like a lumpy potato.
“Oh dear, that won’t do.”
Chu Youyu naturally pressed against her from behind, her fair, slender hand covering Su Ruanruan’s own. “Like this… draw it slowly…”
Her warm body was pressed firmly against Su Ruanruan’s back. Chu Youyu’s hand enveloped hers as they held the syrup bottle together.
“Mm…” Su Ruanruan’s face turned so red it looked as if it might bleed.
“Look, now it’s perfect!” Chu Youyu looked at the beautiful heart pattern on the cup with satisfaction.
However, she didn’t let go immediately. Instead, she maintained that ambiguous posture of hugging Su Ruanruan from behind, even wickedly blowing a breath of air into her sensitive ear.
“You… Youyu… you can let go now…” Su Ruanruan reminded her in a small voice.
“No!” Chu Youyu stubbornly tightened her arms. “After what happened on the street earlier, this lady is very worried about you. I have to keep holding you to feel at ease!”
“B… but we’re working…”
“No ‘buts’!” Chu Youyu buried her face into the strawberry-scented crook of Su Ruanruan’s neck and murmured, “Ruanruan, you know, when I heard that you were touched by that pervert, this lady was really angry… and really scared…”
“Youyu…” Su Ruanruan froze, her struggling movements coming to a halt.
“What if that person had done something even worse to you… what if you got hurt…” Chu Youyu’s voice trembled slightly with lingering fear. The tsundere front she usually put up was completely stripped away in this moment. “This lady… would have been truly heartbroken…”
Su Ruanruan felt the arms holding her trembling slightly, and a sudden wave of warmth surged through her heart.
“I’m sorry… for making you worry…” she said softly, reaching back to gently pat Chu Youyu’s arm. “But I’m really fine. See? Am I not perfectly okay?”
“Hmph…” Chu Youyu looked up, her dark eyes shimmering with a hint of moisture as she stared stubbornly at her. “Then you must promise this lady that you’ll be careful from now on!”
“Yes, I promise you,” Su Ruanruan nodded seriously.
“And another thing!” Chu Youyu suddenly regained her usual haughty tone, announcing dominantly, “From now on, whenever you go to crowded places, this lady must accompany you! You are absolutely not allowed to run off alone!”
“O… okay…”
“That’s more like it!” Chu Youyu let go with satisfaction, then picked up a tray, instantly switching back to her role as the energetic Maid Store Manager. “Let’s go, deliver these to the customers!”
***
8:00 PM.
As the last wave of customers departed, the “Closed” sign was hung on the cafe door.
Su Ruanruan changed back into her St. Lilith Academy Winter Uniform, carefully hanging the embarrassing Cat-ear Maid Outfit back into her private locker.
“Whew… finally off work.” Su Ruanruan rubbed her aching calves.
“Good job today, Ruanruan! You did great!”
Chu Youyu had also changed back into her school uniform. She pulled a thick envelope from her bag and stuffed it into Su Ruanruan’s hand. “Here, this is your pay for today, plus the interaction fees and tips from the customers. This lady keeps her word — not a single cent is missing!”
“Wow… so much!”
Su Ruanruan felt the thickness of the envelope, her eyes lighting up. ‘Whether in my past life or this one, this is the first time I’ve earned money through my own hard work!’
“Boss Youyu is so generous! Thank you, Boss!” Su Ruanruan happily gave Chu Youyu a bow.
“Hmph, keep working hard, and this lady will pay you every day!” Chu Youyu was beaming with joy after being called “Boss.” “Ruanruan, do you want this lady to have the driver take you home?”
“No need, I can just take the subway,” Su Ruanruan quickly shook her head. “Besides, you still have things to handle here at the shop, Youyu. No need to go through the trouble.”
“Then you must be careful on the way! If you run into any weird people, call this lady immediately!” Chu Youyu instructed.
“I will.”
“One more thing!” Chu Youyu suddenly leaned in and gave Su Ruanruan’s fair cheek a quick kiss, making a sharp mwah sound. “This is this lady’s Blessing Kiss! With this, you won’t run into any bad people!”
“Ah! Youyu, you…” Su Ruanruan covered her cheek, her face flushing completely red in an instant.
“Bye-bye~ see you tomorrow!” Chu Youyu poked her tongue out, blushing as she skipped away to balance the accounts.
Su Ruanruan walked out of the cafe with a crimson face, heading toward the nearest subway station.
Night had fallen, and the neon lights of the streets flickered with multicolored brilliance. Although there were still plenty of people, it was much better than the afternoon rush.
She failed to notice that in the shadows across from the cafe, a petite figure wearing a baseball cap, a black mask, and sunglasses was quietly watching her.
When Su Ruanruan turned to leave, that figure followed.
The footsteps were very light, and a perfect distance was maintained — enough to stay on her tail without being discovered.
Su Ruanruan walked all the way into the subway station, swiped her card through the gate, and headed down the escalator.
The figure behind her also swiped in, maintaining a consistent gap.
It was currently the tail end of the evening rush hour, and the platform was crowded with passengers waiting for the train.
Su Ruanruan stood among the crowd, looking at social media on her phone, completely unaware that danger was approaching.
The roar of an incoming train echoed from the distance.
Whoosh —
The wind stirred by the train ruffled Su Ruanruan’s silver hair. The doors opened, and passengers swarmed inside.
Su Ruanruan followed the flow of the crowd and squeezed into the carriage.
The car was extremely crowded, with people pressed against each other. Su Ruanruan was pushed into the middle, unable to even reach a handrail, forcing her to struggle to maintain her balance.
Just then, a petite figure silently squeezed in behind her.
The train started moving, and the carriage swayed.
Su Ruanruan’s body tipped backward uncontrollably, bumping into the person behind her.
“Ah, I’m sorry…” she apologized instinctively, wanting to turn around.
But in the next second, a cold hand suddenly pressed down on her shoulder. The force wasn’t great, but it carried an undeniable sense of pressure.
“…Don’t turn around.”
A voice without any inflection, sounding almost like a robotic broadcast, whispered in her ear.
Su Ruanruan’s entire body froze.
This voice…
“…Don’t move. Don’t scream,” the voice continued, remaining terrifyingly calm. “Otherwise… do you want everyone on the train to see?”
“You…” Su Ruanruan’s voice trembled.
She wanted to struggle, but the person behind was pressed tightly against her, and with people surrounding them, she couldn’t move at all.
“…Just stand still like a good girl.”
The hand on her shoulder slowly slid down, following Su Ruanruan’s arm all the way to the bottom.
“Don’t…” Su Ruanruan tried to shake it off, but that hand was as flexible as a snake, eventually gripping her wrist.
The icy touch made Su Ruanruan shiver.
“…So soft.” The voice remained flat, as if merely stating an objective fact.
The train sped through the tunnel, the lights in the carriage flickering between brightness and shadow.
The surrounding passengers were all looking down at their phones or resting with their eyes closed. No one noticed the abnormality in the corner.
The hand let go of Su Ruanruan’s wrist, and then… slid down along the side of her waist.
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