Chapter 9 : My identity was exposed while buying groceries?

Xiao Keke appeared at Xiao Xi’s doorstep half an hour later.

Although the last visit to her sister’s place ended unpleasantly after discovering a little secret, Xiao Keke had already decided that no matter what happened today, she would put on a good face for her sister.

After all, it was her sister’s birthday~

With a creak of the door, Xiao Keke immediately gave Xiao Xi a big hug.

“Sis, happy birthday!”

“…Eh?”

Seeing Xiao Xi’s completely stunned expression, Xiao Keke instantly realized something and gave her a sharp elbow.

“Damn it, you haven’t forgotten your own birthday, have you, sis?”

“I ordered you a birthday cake; it’ll be delivered soon,” Xiao Keke pouted in dissatisfaction. “You don’t even know, I had a really hard time just buying that cake for you today.”

Only then did Xiao Xi belatedly remember it was her birthday. Well, for an unemployed, grown-up shut-in like her, birthdays weren’t really important anymore.

Xiao Keke hopped happily behind Xiao Xi as they entered the foyer, clearly in a great mood, eager to share her news.

“I’m telling you, sis, [Eternal Star] showed up today at the monster attack site. Do you think she might be making a comeback?”

Xiao Xi was busy sorting out the groceries she’d just bought from the supermarket when she paused at Xiao Keke’s words.

Xiao Keke’s comment didn’t catch Xiao Xi’s attention, but it made Ye Xinglan’s eyes light up as she suddenly popped out.

“You’re serious? [Eternal Star] actually appeared?”

Xiao Xi never understood it—Ye Xinglan usually carried herself like a cool, aloof lady, so why did she completely change whenever the topic of magical girls came up?

With Xiao Keke’s prompting, Ye Xinglan quickly pulled up the news about the recent monster attack. Xiao Xi finally pretended to be only mildly interested and leaned in to look.

The news had obviously just been posted and hadn’t yet garnered many views, but the time, place, and event were clearly described. There was even a photo from a nearby surveillance camera.

Through the blurry pixels, you could barely make out [Eternal Star] holding two large bags, blasting a monster’s head apart with her energy cannon.

Confirmed without a doubt, Ye Xinglan let out a gleeful “Woohoo!” and immediately exited WeChat to try contacting Alan to help track down [Eternal Star]’s whereabouts.

After what Alan said last time, Ye Xinglan had temporarily given up on finding [Eternal Star]. But now, only two days later, she’d shown up voluntarily—and right here in Xiahaishi!

This time, she was determined to find her and get her revenge… Ye Xinglan gritted her teeth.

But after flipping through her contacts, Ye Xinglan suddenly remembered that Alan had deleted her on WeChat and she hadn’t been able to reach her for at least a month.

Ye Xinglan dejectedly withdrew. Even if she went to the scene now, [Eternal Star] would surely have disappeared long ago. Where was she supposed to look?

Meanwhile, Xiao Xi frowned as she looked at the news posted just three minutes ago.

“Keke, that news just came out when you got here, right? How did you know so fast?”

Xiao Keke pressed her lips tightly, nearly slipping up in her excitement about seeing [Eternal Star]!

“…I wasn’t reading the news. I was actually on South Street during the monster attack. I saw [Eternal Star] with my own eyes.”

“You wouldn’t have passed through South Street on your way from school to my place, right?” Xiao Xi’s tone grew more serious, like a parent catching a kid sneaking out.

“I… I was just buying something there, okay? You’re worrying too much, sis!”

Xiao Xi didn’t press further but secretly breathed a sigh of relief. So Keke was there too—that meant choosing to act was the right call.

Wait, South Street… Ye Xinglan suddenly caught the keyword and abruptly grabbed Xiao Xi’s arm.

“Wait, Xiao Xi, the supermarket where you bought groceries earlier is on South Street, right? Didn’t you see [Eternal Star]?”

A couple of days ago, Ye Xinglan had gone grocery shopping with Xiao Xi just for a walk, so she knew where Xiao Xi usually shopped.

Xiao Xi’s hand trembled, and she instinctively avoided Ye Xinglan’s glittering gaze.

“I… didn’t see her. I didn’t even know there was a monster attack. I must have just missed it.”

Xiao Xi quickly returned to unpacking the groceries, leaving Ye Xinglan to frown and walk away when she couldn’t get any useful information. Only Xiao Keke—the true [Eternal Star] superfan—remained happily humming and reminiscing about what had just happened.

She never expected to meet [Eternal Star], who had been missing for three years, and even talk to her! The only regret was that she got so caught up checking the cake she forgot to get an autograph before [Eternal Star] quietly slipped away.

Yeah, so no matter how you look at it, this one’s on sis… Sigh, but even if she blamed her, it wouldn’t help. Sis couldn’t just make her an autograph from [Eternal Star].

While thinking this, Xiao Keke’s gaze landed on Xiao Xi, who was rummaging through ingredients, preparing to cook. Suddenly, she exclaimed,

“Ah, sis, I remember [Eternal Star] also bought this brand of curry.”

“Hmm… makes sense. Didn’t you say [Eternal Star] bought a lot of groceries? Maybe she planned to cook curry chicken today.”

“Oh, she seemed to have bought that too…”

Xiao Xi finally couldn’t hold back and almost dropped a can on the floor.

She couldn’t understand how Xiao Keke remembered so clearly what [Eternal Star] bought, since she hadn’t even seen her buy things up close!

And really, how come when she was taking down the monster, she didn’t notice her little sister standing nearby? Just where had that brat been watching her, able to tell exactly what was in those two huge bags?

Xiao Xi felt something was off… No, she had to find a way to deal with this or she might really slip up!

With that thought, she said, “I’m going to cook,” dropped the bags, and quickly disappeared into the kitchen.

Watching her sister’s retreating back, Xiao Keke felt a strange sense of familiarity and a ridiculous idea sprang up.

She instinctively followed into the kitchen, opened the fridge, and let out a small gasp.

“Isn’t this my favorite brand of juice? You bought it just for me, didn’t you, sis?”

“Yeah, I just put it in the fridge, so it might not be cold yet. If you want it, just drink it,” Xiao Xi said casually.

With a “shhh” sound, Xiao Keke pulled the tab and looked at the orange juice in her hand, blinking.

“Hmm… now that I think about it, I think [Eternal Star] bought this brand too…”

Xiao Xi: “…”

Shut up! Could you stop reminiscing already? Why wasn’t your memory this good back when you were at school, little sister!

Xiao Xi regretted it. She’d only transformed while carrying the bags because she was afraid the monster would do a big AOE smash and destroy everything inside. Look at that D-rank magical girl’s cake—it got wrecked, didn’t it?

If she’d known things would turn out like this, there was no way she’d have done it!

“Hmm, wait, sis…”

Xiao Keke finally sensed something was off, looking at Xiao Xi with a puzzled expression.