“Is the predecessor not coming today?”
“No. Xiaojue is resting at home.”
Looking at the two people in front of her, Xia Yao glanced left and right, her gaze darting anxiously. She tried to search for her, but in the pitch-black corridor she did not see the predecessor’s figure.
Xia Yao’s cheeks grew slightly warm. She pressed her lips together and clenched the confession letter she had carefully prepared the night before, crushing it into a ball in her hand.
Then she lifted her face, a smile curling at the corners of her mouth. Light shimmered in her amber-red eyes as she said, “Alright, let’s go.”
“Don’t you need to say goodbye to your uncle and aunt?”
Su Yaqing leaned her head inside to take a look. The living room was empty, with only Xia Yao there.
The house felt especially cold and deserted, with quite a few wine bottles toppled over in the corners, making the place very messy.
“No need.”
Xia Yao still held that faint smile. For some reason, she vaguely sensed sadness coming from Gu Xue.
It was like losing someone important and being powerless to save them. Gu Xue’s heart seemed to sink into the depths of the sea, silent and lifeless.
Only despair and grief could be felt.
‘What’s wrong?’
Xia Yao thought to herself. As teammates who spent every day together, she naturally knew Gu Xue’s ability.
It was just that Gu Xue had always respected others’ wishes and never opened her mind-reading toward her teammates.
She must have heard it.
Xia Yao clearly felt Gu Xue’s emotions waver for a moment.
“Xue.”
She lowered her eyelids, her gaze shifting carefully to the side. By chance, the two of them met each other’s eyes for an instant.
“What is it?”
Gu Xue’s light blue eyes looked as if they were veiled in mist, dull and gray, without a trace of emotion, like someone on the brink of death trapped deep in mud.
‘What on earth happened to her?’
Worry rose in Xia Yao’s heart. Something must have happened that she had never seen before.
There was no doubt this incident had dealt Gu Xue a heavy blow.
She parted her lips, wanting to ask, but then realized that doing so would only tear open the other person’s wound again.
So she stopped.
In the car, Su Yaqing chatted on and off, looking quite cheerful.
The awkward part was that the other two people present could hardly keep up with her topics, because she was talking entirely about emotional matters, like a mom expecting a second child.
“So I think that when you meet someone you like, you should say it out loud, hahaha…”
Su Yaqing rubbed the back of her head shyly, pulling a sunny smile onto her face.
She hastily wrapped up the topic, then turned around and rubbed her burning cheeks, trying her best not to let anyone see her flustered side.
This was way too awkward. No one wanted to chat with her at all. Everyone seemed unusually quiet today.
The air fell into a mute stillness. Inside the car, there was only the sound of shallow breathing.
‘It’s fine.’
They were still going to watch a performance today. Everyone’s relationships were still good.
Although Su Yaqing sensed that something was off, she still found reasons to convince herself.
During the time Su Yaqing was away.
Lin Xiaojue woke up in a daze.
Her body felt so heavy, her waist sore. She did not even want to lift her hands, feeling as if her body and soul were separated.
Every morning, she had to sit up for a long time before she could transform into human form.
After a long while, Lin Xiaojue finally lifted the blanket in her grogginess.
She was not wearing anything.
She quickly covered herself up again.
Wrapped in the blanket, she sneaked out of the room and, in extreme embarrassment, put on the underwear Su Yaqing had given her.
And also the maid outfit she had bought for the lover’s game.
“Tch.”
Her brows and eyes unconsciously drooped. A look of disgust appeared on Lin Xiaojue’s face, her soft, delicate cheeks puffing up like a pufferfish.
‘This jerk. Why did she buy clothes based on her own size? Is she jealous that I have a bigger chest?’
The maid outfit wrapped tightly around her full curves, almost popping the buttons apart. Lin Xiaojue was stuck, neither able to take it off nor leave it on comfortably.
Forget it. Today was friend’s day, so she would forgive her.
After straightening her top, Lin Xiaojue tugged at the skirt again, only to find that no matter how she pulled, it would not come down properly. With even slightly larger movements, her underwear would be visible.
Su Yaqing had not bought safety shorts. If she did not wear the silk suspender pantyhose that came with it, there was a real risk of exposure.
‘Did she do this on purpose?!’
Su Yaqing’s shameless smile appeared in her mind. Faced with such a great lady, Lin Xiaojue only wanted to punch her twice.
Damn it!
But Lin Xiaojue did not want to be followed by a creep, so she still put on the pantyhose.
Standing in front of the mirror, Lin Xiaojue examined herself.
The thin, smooth, tight pantyhose hugged her legs. They were black stockings, letting one vaguely see the soft, fair flesh beneath, pale with a hint of pink.
With each step, the girl moved gracefully, and with every pause, one could glimpse that tantalizing boundary that appeared and disappeared.
Looking further up, the person wearing the black-and-white maid outfit stared with wide, innocent eyes. Her moist, soft red lips parted slightly, revealing white teeth and a pink, tender tongue.
Perhaps because of what had happened the night before, the girl’s cheeks were still faintly flushed.
Her amber eyes were soaked in a watery haze, the corners tinged red and drooping, making her look easy to bully at a glance.
Like a ripe, tempting peach, sure to burst with juice at the first bite.
Lin Xiaojue did not even dare to look straight at herself anymore.
‘Wait, doesn’t this make me even more likely to be followed by a creep?!’
Realizing she had done something stupid, Lin Xiaojue clutched her head. Her soft face made an exaggerated expression, and the girl in the mirror mirrored it exactly.
“Ding-dong.”
While she was thinking, the doorbell rang outside.
Lin Xiaojue turned her head to look. She really did not want to open the door.
‘Opening the door like this is way too embarrassing.’
If it was a teammate or something, would she not get laughed at?
“Ding-dong.”
“Thud, thud, thud.”
The doorbell rang again, accompanied by impatient knocking.
“I really have to go…”
Lin Xiaojue sighed helplessly, grabbed the cold handle, and pushed the door open.
Bang.
The door closed, and the changing room returned to silence.
Crack, crack.
***
After a long time, when voices could be heard outside, the mirror Lin Xiaojue had just used began to tremble.
With a bang, the mirror shattered. A pink-haired figure rolled out from inside.
Rolling out together with her was a rectangular bag, bumping and tumbling across the floor. Its owner paid it no attention at all.
Only a camera was clutched tightly in her hand.
“I got it… I got it… haha…”
The pink-haired girl let out a dry laugh. A triumphant expression appeared on her delicate, pretty face.
The gem on her chest shone with a cross-shaped light. With a flash of white, her appearance changed in an instant.
Jet-black long hair fell naturally. Scarlet eyes adorned a hauntingly beautiful face. Her dress was in a black-and-red Lolita style, extremely eye-catching even if she walked down the street.
The keyboardist of Lacrima Mundi, the widely admired Miss Redemption.
Or rather, the magical girl whose ability was mirror shuttle, Scarlet, Sakuragawa Iku.
“Photos of the predecessor… predecessor… so cute, so cute!”
Sakuragawa Iku reached out to touch the images on the camera.
The dazed, innocent girl looked completely defenseless, easy to bully, and her shy appearance in the maid outfit stirred endless imagination.
It was precisely this girl who had brought her salvation time and time again, and salvation to everyone.
The girl who had rejected her so many times.
Now she looked unbelievably fragile.
“So cute…”
Staring at the photos on the camera, Sakuragawa Iku’s gaze roamed unrestrained between the girl’s thighs.
“This time, you won’t be able to reject me. Hehe… hehe hehe.”