Ya…
Uh… this, this familiar voice—
It’s Layla and Sylvia!
The moment these two girls showed up at her door again, Keti’s heart skipped a beat.
It took her less than a second to recognize who they were, and the joy of being on paid leave immediately vanished, replaced by a wave of frustration.
Again… what could possibly be wrong this time? Ah, ugh~
The silver-haired beauty hugged her pillow tightly, rolling around on the bed two or three times before finally wrestling with her anxiety and climbing out.
Playing dead won’t work. Better face reality—after all…
They probably won’t do anything to me.
With a somewhat resigned attitude, Keti pushed open the door. Layla and Sylvia immediately squeezed inside, causing the silver-haired girl to stumble backward two steps.
Why are you in such a rush, huh?
The two girls were indeed a little anxious. Before Keti could speak, the priestess grabbed her shoulder and looked at her seriously.
“Keti, uh… have you seen Alice?”
“Huh?!”
Caught completely off guard by the question, Keti blinked in confusion. After a moment, she asked nervously,
“Alice… did something happen? Is she—Is she going to die?!”
“Ahem… no, it’s not like that! Layla, don’t make it sound like Alice is on her last legs, alright?”
Sylvia coughed awkwardly on the side before turning to Keti and getting straight to the point.
“We just want to organize a little get-together tomorrow night, so you and Alice can meet. It’s been such a long time… Keti-kun, don’t you miss her?”
“Um… she… she knows?”
Keti lowered her head silently, her expression turning serious. Mainly because… Alice was the only former teammate who still didn’t know that she had turned into a girl.
She was also her childhood friend, so Keti still wanted to avoid the confrontation.
“Not yet. We’re keeping it a secret for you. This dinner isn’t for you to reveal yourselves, but mainly so you can check on how Alice’s been doing lately. We’ll just say you’re a new friend you’ve met. Keti-kun, you should have time, right?”
Sylvia coaxed gently, almost convincing Keti.
After all, she really didn’t have any plans for tomorrow… and meeting Alice once would at least be fulfilling the responsibility entrusted to her by her parents to look after her.
“Alright, then… how’s Alice been lately? Since I left the team, she… seems okay, right?”
After a moment’s thought, the silver-haired girl nodded and agreed. Then, she asked a tricky question. Uh… this made Layla awkwardly twitch the corner of her mouth.
“She… should be fine? You’ll see for yourself tomorrow… and get a better idea.”
With that, the two girls finished briefing Keti and immediately went back to find Alice. They began discussing holding an initiation ceremony for Jia Xia.
Alice didn’t object, and the venue was set at Ximon Tavern, a place they were all familiar with.
***
The next day…
Jia Xia, Alice, and Sylvia arrived early at the tavern and sat down. The succubus lady transformed once again into her silver-haired handsome boy form, sitting close to Alice.
This so-called hero team had eventually let her sneak in. Pfft… looks like all the worries yesterday were just needless anxiety.
These three clearly had been enchanted by her too—otherwise, how could they have welcomed her so warmly so fast?
In such smug thoughts, Jia Xia’s gaze involuntarily drifted to the older men drinking in the tavern. The succubus let out a sharp intake of breath, her eyes gleaming with excitement.
Wow, so many sturdy men here~ Such a strong musk scent~ Oh oh oh~! This place, I definitely have to have some fun here in the future~
Lost in these thoughts, Jia Xia didn’t notice that not far away, Layla was leading a silver-haired beauty into the tavern. When she snapped back to reality and saw her, the succubus frowned suddenly.
Hiss—
Wait, wait a minute, why do I faintly catch a trace of masculine scent on this woman’s body, mixed in with the feminine one? Uh… could it be that the tavern’s smelly old men have such a thick masculine aura?
That can’t be right…
But… moments later, the succubus’s radar flared again. Her eyes widened as she scrutinized Keti up and down.
Good heavens… this strong power surging—it’s… contained within that silver-haired beauty?!
Such immense strength, yet unusually concealed. If it weren’t for recently enhancing her magic perception to investigate Alice, she might have completely missed it.
Excited, the succubus couldn’t believe her luck.
Ha ha ha.
Right now, sitting next to me is a hero’s bloodline about to awaken, and here comes another unknown powerful energy wave~
Hmm~ This place is paradise!
***
Meanwhile, Alice was clearly very curious about Keti’s arrival. Especially because… she had a strange feeling that this new silver-haired girl looked somewhat familiar, almost like—
Inside, Alice inexplicably felt that the person Layla brought was Keti.
This feeling was even stronger than the one she had toward Jia Xia… even though this person was a girl, different from Keti’s gender.
But after a moment, she quickly shook her head, dismissing the intuition. How could that be…?
The biggest obstacle was the difference in gender! The person in front of her was obviously a girl.
Still, Alice couldn’t help but be concerned about the newcomer’s identity. She then took the initiative to ask Layla:
“And who is this?”
“Um… I, I am…”
Before Layla could explain, Keti panicked and stumbled over herself.
Ever since entering the tavern, her heart had been pounding nervously—especially when she saw Alice, that wave of panic swept over her body instantly.
After all…
Ah, well… having been childhood friends for twenty years, the embarrassment was even worse than being found out by Layla and Sylvia!
“Oh… this is Lulu. I mentioned her before—she’s the girl who’s been getting closer to Keti-kun lately”
“We’ve talked a bit, but Keti still doesn’t want to show herself, so I thought I’d invite her out to eat and find out how Keti’s been doing.”
Snap.
Hearing Layla’s explanation, Keti’s expression froze, her mouth twitching nervously as she glanced at Layla, who was smiling slyly.
No, no, no, this can’t be right! That’s not what was said before! How can you say it like that? This is just asking for trouble!
As soon as those words were out, Alice’s gaze sharpened—hey!
Sure enough, she still didn’t want Alice to see her like this.