Da Tianxin let out a sigh.
“Ah, what a pity I never had the chance to visit before—your house was already destroyed, and who knows how long it’ll take to reconstruct the Resident District over on Southern Avenue.”
This time, the area affected in the City wasn’t actually that large.
When Ye Xinglan fought in the City, she had deliberately controlled the extent of the destruction.
In fact, the only place really badly damaged was the row of shops where she and the Third Divine Envoy had their final showdown.
“Oh right, speaking of that!” Da Tianxin’s interest was suddenly piqued as she pulled out her phone.
“Look! Here’s a video I found in another Magic Girl fan group.”
Ye Xinglan had been curious and leaned in, but when she saw what was on the screen, her face instantly turned green.
It was a video of extremely poor quality, all pixelated and blurry.
On the screen, Eternal Star was cradling the Blood Moon Witch in her arms, bending down in a move that was both full of feeling and resolve…
Anyone could tell the person filming this was pretty fearless.
After all, if the Blood Moon Witch’s loss of control hadn’t been suppressed, the place where the video was shot would have been shredded by a Scarlet Storm in no time.
“Look at this! This is live footage from the Blood Moon Witch incident a few days ago. Look at the way they’re moving—doesn’t it look like they’re kissing?”
“I don’t think so,” Ye Xinglan forced a stiff smile, “Eternal Star isn’t that idle—why would she kiss the Blood Moon Witch at a time like that?”
Xiaoxi: “……”
“Nonono!” Da Tianxin wagged her finger.
“How could a video be fake? Isn’t it possible that my previous guess was right? What if Eternal Star and the Blood Moon Witch really are a CP?”
“Impossible!”
Ye Xinglan sprang off the sofa in a single bounce, steaming with rage.
The Shame of being humiliated by Eternal Star that day surged up inside her all over again.
What made it worse was that Xiaoxi was still nearby cooking!
She really didn’t want Da Tianxin saying things like this in front of Xiaoxi… It was like being cheated on right in front of your powerless wife!
Da Tianxin patted Ye Xinglan’s shoulder with a tone of heartfelt sincerity.
“Don’t get so worked up, Xinglan. I get that you’re a die-hard Eternal Star fan, but you can’t act like a Xingxiaozhi! Just because you don’t like something people say about Eternal Star doesn’t mean you should go Online Policing every time.”
Mm, now Xiaoxi knew where Ye Xinglan had learned all those ridiculous internet terms.
“I—When was I ever a fan of Eternal Star…”
Ye Xinglan’s voice trailed off, growing smaller and smaller, as she suddenly realized—because she kept buying all sorts of Eternal Star merchandise, in Da Tianxin and the others’ eyes she really was just an Eternal Star Fan.
Thankfully, the previous Room had already been blown up.
Otherwise, if Da Tianxin had visited and seen all the Eternal Star posters in her Room with X’s drawn across the faces, who knows how she would have explained that…
She couldn’t just say she was an extreme anti-fan, right?
But Xiaoxi’s opinion was that… from a certain perspective, Ye Xinglan was absolutely a stalker-level fan.
After all, it was common enough for fans to hate on their idols, but it was rare for it to go the other way around.
“See, Xinglan, I know as an Eternal Star fan you don’t like the Blood Moon Witch,”
Da Tianxin said gently, “You think the Blood Moon Witch is evil and annoying, totally unworthy of Eternal Star, right?”
“I—I don’t…”
“Sigh, you don’t need to deny it, Xinglan, I totally understand~”
Ye Xinglan’s face turned bright red with anger. Listening to Da Tianxin insult her to her face, calling her an Eternal Star fan, but unable to refute it—it was seriously unbearable!
But in Da Tianxin’s eyes, this heated reaction clearly wasn’t directed at Eternal Star, but at the Blood Moon Witch!
In the past, Ye Xinglan hadn’t reacted so strongly whenever the Blood Moon Witch was mentioned, which only proved that she was starting to show signs of being a delusional Xingxiaozhi.
As her friend, Da Tianxin had a duty to guide Ye Xinglan away from such misguided views.
“But Xinglan, there are all kinds of ways to love Eternal Star, and there are plenty of CP Fans out there. You need to let people express their love in different ways. You can’t go Online Policing every time you see a CP Fan on the internet, can you?”
“The whole enemy-lovers dynamic is just perfect for shipping! Imagine it: Eternal Star, facing the Blood Moon Witch—her enemy, and yet also her lover—loses control, torn between emotion and duty. For the sake of the City, she has to act, and can only steal a kiss for one final moment of warmth……”
“Isn’t that romantic? Isn’t it just like a pair of doomed lovers?”
Romantic, my ass!
Ye Xinglan wanted nothing more than to blast every CP Fan shipping her and Eternal Star.
Her guilt toward her girlfriend and the burning fury she felt toward Eternal Star both reached their peak at that moment…
Ever since this topic started, Xiaoxi had been quietly silent at the side—she was definitely still bothered by it!
Ye Xinglan rushed to refute Da Tianxin because she thought she was spreading rumors, while Xiaoxi stayed silent because… Da Tianxin’s words were all true.
Come to think of it, they really were.
Xiaoxi thought Da Tianxin truly had the makings of a Prophet—her guesses always hit the mark.
To stop Ye Xinglan from fainting from anger, Xiaoxi sped up her cooking, and took the opportunity of dinner to steer the conversation elsewhere.
Soon, the topic shifted to the group praising the food.
While Da Tianxin and the others were taking pictures of the dishes, Ye Xinglan suddenly remembered something.
“Oh right, the drinks I bought at the supermarket are still in the fridge. I’ll go get them.”
Ye Xinglan put down her chopsticks and, without even lifting her head, reached her hand toward the kitchen.
Sitting beside her, Xiaoxi immediately had a bad feeling, and pressed down on her skirt.
Her neck.
“Hm? What’s wrong, Xiaoxi? The drinks aren’t in the fridge?”
“It’s not that… I just mean I’ll go get them. You don’t have to move.”
Through the fabric of her skirt, Xiaoxi pinched the thing underneath.
Only then did Ye Xinglan realize that she’d gotten too used to being at home these past couple days—she almost reached out with her Touch to get things, forgetting there were guests today.
If she’d used her Touch in front of everyone, it really would have been game over!
Da Tianxin pouted. “Young couples are just so clingy, even eating they have to touch each other’s legs… Wait, that’s not right!”
Da Tianxin frowned. She thought she’d just seen something unusual under Xinglan’s skirt… Basically, there was a big bulge, but where would she get a tool for something like that? ……
But soon enough, Da Tianxin realized that in this couple, it was obvious Ye Xinglan was the one who’d be on top, so it was perfectly normal for the ‘top’ to wear some sort of external tool, right?
So when Xiaoxi came back with the drinks, she found Da Tianxin blushing and quietly shoveling food into her mouth—who knew what sort of lewd thoughts were running through her head.
Thus, the whole visit passed without further incident, but because of what Da Tianxin had said earlier, Ye Xinglan couldn’t stop brooding about Eternal Star, and was still sulking about it right up until bedtime.
“That bastard probably did this on purpose, knowing I have a girlfriend just to mess with me. Once I figure out who that guy is, I’ll definitely…”
Watching Ye Xinglan muttering resentfully, Xiaoxi didn’t know whether to feel hurt or amused.
Suddenly, a question just slipped out naturally.
“Xinglan, you always talk about doing this and that to Eternal Star, but what if, once you catch her, you find out she’s… actually a really kind and good person?”
“Xiaoxi, you have no idea what that bastard’s done to me before!” Ye Xinglan scoffed.
“What kind of person she is doesn’t matter! Nothing she’s done to me will just disappear. To me, she’ll always be a rotten person!”
“But what if… what if she’s someone you know? Wouldn’t that be awkward? What would you do then?”
“It doesn’t matter who it is! No matter who Eternal Star is, I’ll never forgive her!”
No matter who it is…?
While Ye Xinglan wasn’t paying attention, Xiaoxi smiled a little sadly and patted Ye Xinglan on the shoulder.
“Alright, don’t let that rotten person get you all worked up. Let’s just go to sleep.”
Long after the lights were out, Xiaoxi, lying flat on her back, silently opened her eyes again.
There wasn’t a hint of sleepiness in her gaze as she stared at the ceiling.
Before, Xiaoxi never thought Ye Xinglan’s dislike of Eternal Star was that serious of a problem, because her reasoning had always been, “Eternal Star deceived her feelings.”
In Xiaoxi’s view, as long as they spent enough time together, that kind of thing could be explained and let go, so hiding her identity for the time being was for the sake of being together longer.
But the tricky part was, Ye Xinglan just happened to be the Blood Moon Witch. That made the problem a lot more serious. The conversation just now had made Xiaoxi feel even more guilty.
Yeah, if Ye Xinglan really couldn’t forgive her… then wasn’t Xiaoxi, by hiding her identity, just deceiving Ye Xinglan’s feelings all over again?
Only now did Xiaoxi finally realize the issue she’d been deliberately avoiding—
If Ye Xinglan found out she was actually Eternal Star… would she choose to break up?
And the moment she thought of this, Xiaoxi realized she felt a mix of fear and rejection deep inside.
…Yeah, recently, Ye Xinglan had been worried that Xiaoxi would reject her because she was the Blood Moon Witch.
But at this point, the one who doesn’t want to break up is actually Xiaoxi herself.
Maybe, for the Blood Moon Witch, her Eternal Star should really keep some distance.
Xiaoxi quietly turned to look at Ye Xinglan’s sleeping face.
The little rich girl was sleeping soundly, though her sleeping posture was far from graceful—she was drooling all over her pillow.
Xiaoxi had meant to help Ye Xinglan wipe her mouth, but when her hand reached out halfway, she withdrew it.
Heh, how strange—she really couldn’t control her fear of the Blood Moon Witch, but she was equally unwilling to leave her.
To her, the Blood Moon Witch really was a luscious, tempting… Poison Apple.