“Big sis, this jasmine tea doesn’t have ice, does it?”
“Girls should drink less iced drinks. This is just room temperature. Drink it if you want, or don’t!”
Looking at the bottled jasmine tea Xiaoxi placed in front of her, Xiaokeke pouted.
Her big sister’s rules were getting stricter by the day—almost as strict as Mom’s!
But come to think of it, since her sister had completely become a girl, does that mean she’s started getting her period now… cough cough!
Xiaokeke hesitated for a moment but suppressed her curiosity. Even though she really wanted to know the answer.
It was a weekend morning, and Xiaokeke was off from school, so she had come specifically to visit Xiaoxi.
Although her sister was a perverted otaku secretly writing little fan novels about Senior Xingge, she was still her sister. She should care.
Still, Xiaokeke couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off about the atmosphere at her sister’s house today, though she couldn’t quite put her finger on why.
“…Big sis, Xinglan, have you two been fighting recently?”
“No, why would you ask that all of a sudden?”
Both of them answered in unison, but looking at Night Xinglan sitting at the far left end of the sofa and Xiaoxi sitting at the far right, Xiaokeke could only say that their words had zero credibility!
Since that night’s confession was unexpectedly interrupted and never followed up on, Night Xinglan hadn’t come back to ask Xiaoxi for an explanation. Both of them tacitly pretended it never happened.
But what happened wouldn’t disappear. You know what’s more awkward than a failed confession when you still have to see each other every day?
It’s having to see each other every day and pretend to be a couple in front of others.
That’s why these past couple of days, Xiaoxi and Night Xinglan’s interactions had been very… awkward—so awkward that Xiaokeke could tell there was a problem at a glance.
But Xiaokeke couldn’t understand why the two had quarrelled. She remembered them being affectionate just a few days ago!
That night, she even overheard part of their phone call and seriously suspected she had become part of their play.
The cause couldn’t be that one of them wasn’t “lasting” long enough, right? Xiaokeke’s mind wandered. After all, her sister had been writing novels recently; some random help scenes would be normal. Maybe Xinglan wasn’t happy because of that…
“You brat, stop overthinking. I didn’t fight with your Xinglan!”
Xiaoxi instantly saw her sister’s mind wandering and cut off Xiaokeke’s wild imagination with a single chop to the air.
Xiaokeke covered her head, grimacing. Fine, if they were into some kind of “silent by day, speechless by night” abstinence play, she’d better stay out of it to avoid becoming a part of their game.
She reached for the bottle cap of the jasmine tea but fumbled and couldn’t open it.
In the end, Night Xinglan took it and opened it for her.
Looking at her slightly trembling hand, Xiaokeke sighed. She wasn’t the type of cute girl who couldn’t even open a bottle cap.
It was just that her arms were sore and weak from training under Senior Eternal Star earlier.
“What’s wrong, Keke? You seem down. Did something happen?”
Night Xinglan’s keen senses picked up on Xiaokeke’s low spirits.
“Nothing much, just… well, some things happened recently, and I feel like I’m about to give up…”
“That’s great!”
Xiaoxi’s sudden cheer startled them both. Seeing their puzzled looks, she cleared her throat.
“Well, I just suddenly got a burst of inspiration for my novel. You two keep chatting, keep chatting.”
Finally, her torment… no, training of this brat for so long paid off. She was about to break down and give up, wasn’t she?
“Big sis, are you laughing?”
“No, no, maybe I’m just happy because I thought of something inspiring.”
Xiaoxi tried hard to suppress a smile. No, she couldn’t laugh… but if she could convince Xiaokeke to give up being a magical girl today, that would be perfect!
Unlike the stifling laughter of Xiaoxi, Night Xinglan genuinely cared about Xiaokeke.
“What’s wrong, Keke? Did something happen at school?”
Xiaokeke hesitated, then found an excuse to vent her troubles. She really wanted someone to talk to.
“Sort of… I joined a club at school, but no matter how hard I try, I can’t seem to match up to others.”
“It’s one thing to be outdone by seniors, but even my peers are much better. I’m wondering if I really don’t have the talent for this…”
As she spoke, Xiaokeke sighed again, thinking about the last black market mission, which had been a heavy blow.
When Senior Xingge went to talk to Scarface, she and Sirius were in the Rest Room when they were suddenly attacked by several monsters.
Xiaokeke had thought that after all the training from Senior Eternal Star, she would have improved, but she still struggled against those monsters.
Meanwhile, Sirius fought with ease, taking them down one punch at a time.
At the time, Xiaokeke thought Scarface’s monsters were just too strong, but later, she read the investigation report given by Minister L, which showed those monsters attacking them were only D-Level.
She could accept not beating Senior Eternal Star, and even Sirius, but on an official mission, she couldn’t defeat a group of D-Level monsters?!
Recalling the pressure of being outnumbered, Xiaokeke couldn’t help but doubt if she was really that bad, maybe all the training made her weaker?
Otherwise, she couldn’t think of any other possibility. Minister L’s report couldn’t be wrong, right? It’s impossible those monsters were actually C-Level or above and the minister deliberately downgraded them!
“I know hard work pays off, but I just… sigh, I feel like my confidence has taken a hit.”
Xiaoxi suddenly leaned in and grabbed Xiaokeke’s hand, speaking earnestly. “Keke, setbacks are inevitable during growth…”
Night Xinglan nodded in agreement. Seems like Xiaoxi, as an older sister, really did care about her sister. She almost thought Xiaoxi had been mocking Xiaokeke earlier.
“…At times like this, we need to learn to give up. Know the saying ‘take a step back to see a wider world’?”
Night Xinglan: “?”
“Go on, go on, you don’t want to improve yourself, that’s fine. But don’t corrupt Keke!”
“I’m not! Giving up is also a method. Keke, think about it—if one path doesn’t work, you can switch to another. If you can’t fit in one club, you can join another.”
Xiaoxi spoke earnestly. Xiaokeke was already wavering, and Xiaoxi hoped to persuade her to quit once and for all.
If you like being a magical girl, that’s fine, but you don’t have to be one yourself. If you want to stay in the association, you can switch to logistics.
At least logistics only show up after magical girls finish fighting—it’s much safer.
“Keke, don’t listen to your sister’s nonsense. She’s bad at giving pep talks,” Night Xinglan rolled her eyes. “You don’t always have to compare yourself to others. Compare yourself to yourself. As long as you feel you’ve improved, that’s what matters.”
“I… Xinglan, when you faced difficulties you couldn’t overcome… I mean, how did you deal with them?”
“Me?” Night Xinglan tilted her head, thinking. “I don’t think I’ve ever had difficulties I couldn’t overcome.”
Both Xiaoxi and Xiaokeke were left speechless. No wonder Night Xinglan was a noble lady.
Her biggest difficulty in life was having no difficulties, wasn’t it?
Night Xinglan wasn’t lying. She thought back to when she was the Blood Moon Witch. Back then, no one could beat her—not even Eternal Star.
If that bastard hadn’t stabbed her in the kidney in the end, she would have never lost a fair fight!
But Night Xinglan quickly realized her words probably weren’t encouraging, so she patted Xiaokeke’s shoulder and changed her tone.
“Anyway, don’t listen to your sister’s nonsense. Xiaoxi, you’re really something. You don’t encourage Keke, and on top of that, you undermine your own sister’s confidence!”
“I’m not… I… sigh!”
Xiaoxi was at a loss for words. Night Xinglan had no idea why she said that. She’d finally shaken Xiaokeke’s resolve, and if Night Xinglan persuaded her back, that would be bad.
But it was fine. Since Xiaokeke was already wavering, if Xiaoxi came down harder next time, she’d break that fragile confidence completely.
As long as she kept telling Xiaokeke that “you’re the worst batch I’ve ever trained” and “you really suck” as Eternal Star, Xiaokeke trusted her idol completely and wouldn’t suspect a thing.
Just then, both Xiaokeke’s and Xiaoxi’s phones rang simultaneously. Xiaoxi tensed up slightly, but the other two seemed not to suspect anything, so she relaxed and checked the message.
Minister L: “@All members, routine rating tomorrow. No one is allowed to take leave unless there are special circumstances. Reply with ‘1’ upon receipt.”
Xiaoxi: “……”
Xiaoxi had never officially joined the association, so she didn’t know about its system. They have ratings every month? Why so often?!
Teacher, can our kid skip this kind of activity?
……
The next day, inside the magical girl association’s training ground, Little Red Riding Hood took a deep breath, focused her mana into the Standard Magic Wand, and fired a blast!
The Magic Light Cannon hit the test Barrier with a loud bang. The entire training ground fell silent for a few seconds after the shot.
Miss L raised an eyebrow and glanced at Sirius standing beside her, the look clearly saying—
“This is the soldier you brought out?”
Xiaoxi covered her face and sighed deeply, not daring to look at Little Red Riding Hood’s final mana output score.
First, she never imagined Xiaokeke could endure a month of her training without quitting.
Second, she didn’t know the association held tests this frequently.
Third, she never expected Xiaokeke not only to endure but also to improve so much!
Normally, Xiaoxi just beat Xiaokeke down anyway, so she hadn’t noticed.
But now, after the test… this brat is progressing at lightning speed!
Miss L crossed her arms and lowered her voice. “I think if you can endure your kind of training intensity, it’s hard not to improve.”
“I’ve never seen anyone train their own sister this harshly, nor have I seen anyone endure such training.”
“If someone can withstand your training intensity, they can succeed at anything… Looks like your sister might actually have talent as a magical girl?”
Xiaoxi said nothing. Damn it, she truly didn’t expect this brat to have such perseverance.
From the test alone, she could tell that besides the brutal training during the day, Xiaokeke must have been training secretly on her own.
If Xiaokeke could endure, that would be one thing, but now the biggest problem was that her daily lies about “you’re the worst batch I’ve ever trained” and “you’re really bad” would be completely exposed!
Xiaoxi didn’t know how she would explain once Xiaokeke found out Eternal Star had been lying to her.
At that moment, Little Red Riding Hood was on the Combat Arena fighting a mana-driven Training Dummy, testing her combat skills.
She stood ready and struck swiftly… A few minutes later, looking at the dummy fallen to the ground, Xiaokeke frowned.
“Sorry, Minister L, I know my skills are poor, but I really hope to have a proper test. You don’t need to arrange such a weak dummy to fight me…”
The staff member taking notes nearby was stunned. He looked up and down at Xiaokeke, thinking this girl might be a little too modest?
The dummy she fought just now was C-Level, okay? She defeated a C-Level opponent within five minutes, yet she said it was weak? Isn’t that just humblebragging?
He was about to say something but was stopped by Miss L.
“No problem. Increase the dummy’s strength by one level, and you test again, Little Red Riding Hood.”
With that, Miss L smiled at Xiaoxi and raised an eyebrow. She was now genuinely curious about how far Xiaokeke’s strength could grow.
The association’s combat tests required opponents one level above the magical girl’s rating.
The score was based on how long the magical girl could hold out.
Since last month, Little Red Riding Hood’s rating was D-Level, so today the dummy was C-Level—but now, that clearly wasn’t challenging enough.
Xiaoxi covered her eyes and sighed long and deep, feeling as if the sky was falling.
Damn it! This time she really couldn’t fudge the results anymore!