“So what exactly was that thing, Xinglan?”
Xiaoxi stared uneasily at the black blob on the ground that looked like an alien creature with tentacles.
She had thought Ye Xinglan might not prepare a normal gift, but she never imagined that a living thing would jump out of that box and bite her.
“Uh, this…” Ye Xinglan’s eyes darted away. “This is my tentacle, and it’s part of my body, but it can move independently for a while after leaving me. Ehehe~”
A puddle of black mud appeared beside Ye Xinglan, and the small black thing slipped into it, disappearing into the mud.
Da Tianxin, who was watching the show from the doorway, couldn’t help but let out a “Wow.”
This was the first time she had seen Ye Xinglan use the Blood Moon Witch’s ability up close.
“So Ye Xinglan really is an alien tentacle monster… Wait, tentacle monster?”
‘A tentacle monster and [Eternal Star]… This kind of plot seems pretty lewd too. If I wrote something like this, Xinglan wouldn’t kill me, right?’
Da Tianxin’s artistic inspiration surged, and a bunch of plot developments popped into her mind.
As expected, the best source of inspiration is reality!
Xiaoxi blinked. She really didn’t know the Blood Moon Witch had such an ability. The abilities of fantasy-type monsters were indeed varied, but…
“So you don’t mean to give [Eternal Star] a tentacle monster as a pet, do you?” Xiaoxi raised the paper in her hand. “And this ‘thank-you letter’ is oddly long…”
Ye Xinglan sighed. It seemed that just acting cute wouldn’t get her out of this situation now.
She snapped her fingers crisply, and a black blob the size of a green bean crawled out from the gift box’s inner layer.
Its tiny tentacles were holding a transmitter the size of a grain of rice.
“The original plan was to have the larger tentacle monster attract her attention after Eternal Star opened the gift, and then this one would take the chance to attach the transmitter to her, so we could lock onto her position.”
Ye Xinglan didn’t mention the purpose of the letter, but Xiaoxi could guess that it was probably written purely out of spite.
Right, how could Ye Xinglan send Eternal Star anything normal?
“S-sorry, Xiaoxi…”
“It’s fine, there’s nothing to apologize for. After all, you didn’t know I was Eternal Star at the time,” Xiaoxi forced a gentle smile. “By the way, what do you two want to eat tonight? I’ll go to the supermarket to buy groceries this afternoon.”
Although Xiaoxi didn’t dwell on the matter, Ye Xinglan still felt vaguely uneasy.
She felt that Xiaoxi’s mood was off, and this subtle sense of dissonance persisted until after dinner when they were about to go to sleep.
……
“So these tentacles are really part of your body? Do you really feel it when I touch them?”
Da Tianxin, wearing a bathrobe, curiously poked the swaying tentacle.
There was no fear of the Blood Moon Witch in her eyes, only the exploration of academic knowledge.
“Of course I do! Rather, because these tentacles are more flexible and have stronger perception, they’re more sensitive than other parts of my body.”
“Oh! Is that so? Then when you and Xiaoxi interact, do you use… Ow!”
Ye Xinglan mercilessly gave her best friend a powerful headbutt.
“If you ask another weird question like that, I’ll gobble you up!”
“Wuwu, Xinglan, you’re so mean. You’re no longer my best friend… Ehehe, I’m a bit sleepy, meow, I’m going to sleep now~”
The several tentacles slowly rising behind Ye Xinglan successfully made the cute-acting Da Tianxin flee. So this is what Xiaoxi has to deal with every day? Too scary!
‘How else would she face it? By fighting the evil Blood Moon Witch as [Eternal Star], of course. How else would she face it, meow?’
Da Tianxin didn’t notice that Ye Xinglan’s face was also red.
It proved that she had guessed correctly, otherwise Ye Xinglan wouldn’t have reacted so strongly.
“Phew—Alright, let’s get ready for bed, Xiaoxi…”
“Xiaoxi, where are you going?”
Ye Xinglan watched Xiaoxi, who was rolling up a blanket and pillow to leave the room.
A small tentacle quickly wrapped around her arm.
“Um, maybe I should sleep in the living room. When you, Xinglan…”
“Th-then… what about magic replenishment? I suddenly feel like my magic power consumption was a bit high today!”
Xiaoxi sighed. “Xinglan, magic replenishment doesn’t have to be done this way… If you really mind my identity, you don’t have to force yourself to do this with me. Really.”
Ye Xinglan was taken aback. What did she mean by forcing herself? Wasn’t it because knowing that Xiaoxi was [Eternal Star] that this felt even better?
“…You don’t have to be so considerate of my feelings, Xinglan. After all, it was my fault for hiding this from you. If you really hate Eternal Star, you should have told me the truth on the subway today.”
Seeing that Xiaoxi really intended to go sleep alone in the living room, Ye Xinglan panicked.
Two tentacles immediately coiled around Xiaoxi and dragged her onto the bed without further ado.
“Y-you, what makes you think that doing this is forcing myself?”
Ye Xinglan knew that Xiaoxi was in a strange mood today. So it was because of this? She had miscalculated.
When she comforted Xiaoxi on the subway, she couldn’t have predicted that the gift would end up in Xiaoxi’s hands! In fact, she had almost forgotten about it.
But at this moment, Ye Xinglan realized she was a bit tongue-tied.
The more she wanted to explain to Xiaoxi, the more she didn’t know how to say it.
Xiaoxi’s slightly self-reproachful expression made her even more anxious.
“I-I-I really didn’t force myself in this! And I don’t hate you that much!”
Flustered and angry, and suddenly impulsive… Ye Xinglan was desperate. Meow, talking was useless; it was better to prove it with action!
“Xinglan, you…”
“Ah, but I also think it’s not good to always force you, Xiaoxi. So, as long as you say you disagree, I’ll stop. How about that?”
Xiaoxi was stunned. She had long been used to the Rich Girl’s aggressive buying and selling.
Today she was actually being reasonable?
“I don’t… Mmmph!”
Xiaoxi’s words had just begun when her mouth was firmly covered by a tentacle, leaving only incoherent whimpers.
Meanwhile, Ye Xinglan giggled and pounced on her.
“Ah, you’re not speaking, so I’ll take that as agreement. I’ll be rough then~”
Xiaoxi’s whimpers carried a hint of protest… She knew it! How could the Rich Girl be reasonable with her? The Rich Girl was never a reasonable person!
Besides… Xiaoxi really thought that Ye Xinglan was doing this to spare her feelings, so that she wouldn’t realize how much Ye Xinglan actually hated Eternal Star.
‘Otherwise, Xinglan wouldn’t have prepared that kind of gift for Eternal Star, right?’
Oh so close to doing the right thing