Chapter 21: Hold on!

Lin Xiaojue had a dream.

In the dream, she heard someone whispering in her ear. The voice was low and heavy, as if carrying a great weight, drenched in intense emotion.

The owner of the voice seemed to be repeating something over and over. It was a difficult task, an important ritual for her—perhaps even more significant than a ritual.

Occasionally, the sound of gurgling water reached her ears. It was a clear stream, a thin spring, a lingering love, a tangled dance of hot breath and touch.

“RA…”

The girl’s delicate brows knitted together, and her slender waist arched involuntarily.

It wasn’t until a cool sensation brushed against her chest and her fingertips touched a screen that she slowly blinked her eyes half-open.

She was dazed and blurry-eyed, her vision clouded by a layer of mist.

From an outsider’s perspective, one would see beads of water hanging from the tips of the girl’s long eyelashes and sweat clinging to her smooth, white forehead.

Her slightly chubby face was flushed red, and her small mouth opened and closed slightly, revealing her pink tongue. Seemingly thirsty, she extended her tongue and panted in the air, exhaling hot breaths.

‘What’s going on…’

Woken by an unknown cause, Lin Xiaojue looked around. Su Yaqing and the others were all fast asleep, their eyes closed in peaceful tranquility. Clearly, the culprit was not among them.

It was strange.

An odd sensation kept washing over her body. For some reason, Lin Xiaojue felt a deep urge to relax, yet while she wanted to get up, she couldn’t resist the tingling numbness in her waist.

Her back remained arched, her head pressed against the backrest, and her hands gripped the seat tightly. Her whole body was strained into the shape of a “D.”

Unable to help herself, she let out a flirtatious moan. Lin Xiaojue instinctively covered her mouth, her eyes wide with shock.

‘That—that sound… Was that me?!’

“Ha… Mm.”

She pressed her thin lips together and clenched her teeth. Her entire body was as taut as a drawn bowstring as she tried her best to stifle any noise.

However, that sensation was unreasonable; it ignored her resistance and focused entirely on the task at hand, forcing Lin Xiaojue to lift her hips to ease the pressure.

But the overwhelming comfort caused her to let out an inadvertent sigh.

“Ha—ah—”

Exhaling a puff of fragrant, hot breath, Lin Xiaojue involuntarily twisted her waist, moving as naturally as she had with Su Yaqing the night before.

‘Is it… coming?’

A glimmer of anticipation rose within her, but there was no response. The feeling stopped abruptly, hovering just below the peak, only a step away. No, that wasn’t right. It didn’t come.

The haze in her eyes suddenly cleared. Lin Xiaojue widened her eyes as the sensation receded like a tide, leaving indelible marks on the beach of her memory.

She looked around once more. Fortunately, no one had been woken up.

Feeling relieved, Lin Xiaojue immediately pinched her cheek. A burning pain spread across her face, finally clearing her head enough to realize what had just happened.

She could hardly believe she had been thinking about such things!

‘Just a little more…’

No, no. Lin Xiaojue lowered her eyelids and straightened her posture. She knew the most important thing right now was to figure out who the culprit was.

Glancing at the car window, Lin Xiaojue picked up her phone from the floor. She wasn’t sure if it was an illusion, but the window seemed to tremble for a moment.

Turning on her phone, she clearly saw the cracks on the screen. Though they were extremely thin and small, they were still quite an eyesore.

She looked at the car window again. Her eyelids drooped even lower, and her long lashes cast shadows over her eyes, making her look as if she had lost her spark.

“Xiao Yu, are you there?”

Lin Xiaojue spoke softly, but there was no response. Only the sound of steady breathing filled the carriage.

She frowned and turned on her phone, then turned it off as if remembering something. Her lips curled downward, and a look of disappointment appeared in her eyes.

“Xiao Yu, is it you?”

“We’ve been looking for you for a long time. Do you know that?”

“You’re here, aren’t you?”

“Qiu Yu and Xiao Yu Xi haven’t heard from you in three days. Have you been stalking me this whole time?”

“Are you in the mirror?”

“You’re watching me, right?”

“If there’s something you want to say, come out and talk to me. I know there’s a lot of negative news about you online, but don’t be misled by those things.”

“You’re not like that. You wouldn’t peek at people. I know that.”

“Right?”

Lin Xiaojue forced a kind smile, her flushed face looking radiant with satisfaction. She didn’t move. She knew Sakuragawa Iku wasn’t that kind of person, and she knew the news online was fake.

Xiao Yu wouldn’t spy on others. That was right. What happened today was definitely a mistake. Xiao Yu wouldn’t do something like that to her.

She had someone she liked and a life of her own. She definitely wasn’t that kind of person.

She would never, ever, secretly try to hold her right in front of her teammates.

Silence stretched out in the air. Lin Xiaojue stood there with her smile for a long time, but no one answered.

“Fine.”

She sat back in her seat, feeling somewhat helpless. The sensation had completely faded, and she preferred to believe it had been a hallucination. Xiao Yu wasn’t like that; she was still the innocent girl she had always been.

Just like that midsummer.

The scorching sun baked the road, distorting the view of the asphalt. A white-haired girl with disheveled clothes hid in the shade of a tree, looking around warily as if guarding against something.

She had just cleared the residual beasts around the street, but she hadn’t expected the enemy to self-destruct upon death.

It had left her clothes in tatters and her stamina exhausted. She didn’t even know where to find her familiar.

“This is just the worst,” Lin Xiaojue sighed, lowering her head. If she changed back now, it would be no different from a man running naked down the street.

Staying in her magical girl form was slightly better. At least she could generate a magic barrier around herself so she wouldn’t be exposed to the sight of pedestrians.

Of course, this magic barrier had a time limit, and she was already reaching her breaking point.

If she didn’t find a place to hide soon and was discovered by some creep among the passersby, it would be…

Lin Xiaojue shuddered and sucked in a cold breath.

She was still a man, after all. That absolutely could not happen!

‘Go, go! I need to get out of here!’

Covering her chest, she avoided the crowds and ducked into a deserted alley. Lin Xiaojue leaned against the wall and deactivated her magic barrier. Unable to control her weakness, she slumped to the ground.

She could finally catch her breath.

“Eh? Is that… Lady Tianyu?”

An exclamation came from deep within the alley. Lin Xiaojue snapped her head around to see a dirty, soot-covered girl walking toward her.

The girl had cherry-pink hair and a worried look in her eyes. She was carrying a sack filled with empty bottles and cans that clattered together as she approached.

“Who—who are you?”

Seeing the newcomer’s somewhat tattered clothing, Lin Xiaojue lowered her defensive hands, revealing a glimpse of skin.

“My name is Sakuragawa Iku. L-Lady Tianyu, would you like to come to my house? After all…”

Sakuragawa Iku leaned down and bowed. As her pink hair fell forward, a faint, almost imperceptible scar could be seen on her soft earlobe.