Chapter 29: Going Home

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“Brother, Sister Shiyue, you two…”

Upon returning home, as soon as they pushed open the door, they were met with Ye Xingling’s resentful little eyes. She was suspiciously sizing up the two people changing into slippers at the entrance.

This gave Ye Xingyao quite a fright. Even though she had repeatedly confirmed the effectiveness of this transformation magic with Yi Shiyue on the way back—and it was close enough to perfect in Yi Shiyue’s eyes—what if her own sister noticed something strange?

She might smoothly ask, “Are you really my brother?” and then follow up with a slick combo of realizations, discovering that ‘My brother is now my sister.’ Then, she would surely take revenge for all the times he had teased her using his status as an older brother…

In just a few seconds, Ye Xingyao felt as though her future had already turned pitch black.

“Whatever. You two were probably getting all lovey-dovey at the hotel and didn’t feel anything happening. Brother, why is your face so red? If you were doing *that* kind of thing, shouldn’t it be the girl whose face is… Wait, is it some kind of weird roleplay…?”

Ye Xingyao was momentarily choked up.

Her little sister indeed hadn’t seen through the disguise, but she seemed to have misunderstood something else entirely, leaving Ye Xingyao speechless.

“Stop letting your imagination run wild, Xingling. These are our clothes and some bedding for the next few days. I need to head out again with Xiao Yao in a bit, so you’ll have to handle dinner yourself, okay?”

Yi Shiyue explained calmly, signaling Ye Xingyao with her eyes to put down the various bags. She then walked into the room to scan the layout of the house.

“Ooh, ‘Xiao Yao.’ That’s such a cute nickname.”

Ye Xingling commented with some excitement. As expected, a childhood friend was truly a childhood friend. As long as no one fell from the sky to snatch her brother away, Sister Shiyue was invincible!

Watching her brother pretend not to care about the teasing while skillfully helping Sister Shiyue organize the wardrobe, she felt a sincere sense of joy, like a successful harvest.

However, she soon noticed a slight discrepancy.

“Sister Shiyue? Why are you putting women’s clothes in my brother’s closet?”

Could it be?!

Had Sister Shiyue really turned her brother into a femboy?

Everything seemed to make sense now!

‘Hmm… Should I tell them to exercise some restraint? But I don’t really have the standing to say that… Brother, you’re on your own. I’ll cheer for you in my heart!’

“Oh, I saw that this place only has two rooms. To avoid disturbing your studies, I decided to just sleep with Xiao Yao. Is there a problem?”

Yi Shiyue poked her head out of the room and spoke softly.

“Eh?”

Ye Xingling let out a confused sound, then turned toward Ye Xingyao with a teasing expression.

“Brother, it looks like you’ve got quite the romantic luck. Just make sure you don’t neglect your studies, okay?”

“Hah. Setting aside Sister Shiyue, who is a top-tier student, even if there’s still a gap between her and me, my grades are still among the best. You should worry about yourself. Don’t let it reach the point where Sister Shiyue and I are in our senior year and you still haven’t had the chance to become our freshman junior.”

Ye Xingyao let out a cold snort and gave Ye Xingling a contemptuous look before stepping into the room in her slippers.

This left Ye Xingling alone, stomping her feet in a huff.

‘Do you even know you’re mocking a magical girl who worked hard to save the Satellite City last night?!’ Even though she hadn’t made a huge contribution, her seniors had praised her for her courage! Why did she still get bullied by this bad brother the moment she got home…

***

Soon, the two of them finished settling in and headed out the door again under Ye Xingling’s envious and jealous gaze.

Originally, Ye Xingling had planned to go out for some fresh air as well, but since someone from the Human Alliance was coming later to calibrate some equipment, someone had to stay home. She had no choice but to abandon the idea.

After dispelling the magic, Ye Xingyao and Yi Shiyue found a fitting room. Ye Xingyao changed out of the neutral clothing and into the deep blue schoolgirl outfit she often wore when going out.

Leaving the fitting room, the two hailed a railcar and imported their destination via an app. They soon joined the flow of traffic. The vehicles sped past in an orderly fashion, a testament to the power and convenience of the rail system established by the Human Alliance.

“Xiao Yao, what kind of person is Hong Yeqiu, exactly?”

On the car, Yi Shiyue couldn’t help but think of how Hong Yeqiu, brimming with killing intent, had slain a monster that was practically invincible to them in a single strike. Because the impact of what happened to Ye Xingyao had been too great at the time, she hadn’t observed Hong Yeqiu properly.

Now that they needed to have a formal, face-to-face conversation, Yi Shiyue felt a bit apprehensive. Moreover, the woman seemed to have a very good relationship with Xingyao; she wondered how Xingyao usually interacted with her.

“Hmm… I don’t think you need to be too stiff. Actually, Sister Hongye is quite approachable. Well, it mainly depends on whether she likes your vibe. Anyway, she’s pretty eccentric in front of me. You probably won’t be able to stay formal around her for long,” Ye Xingyao said casually, resting her face on one hand while looking out the window at the scenery flashing by. She discreetly squeezed the small hand Yi Shiyue had offered.

“Then… does Xiao Yao know exactly what level her strength has reached?”

Yi Shiyue felt that prying into someone’s privacy—especially someone she might need to cooperate with later—wasn’t very good behavior, but she asked out of curiosity anyway.

Only in front of Ye Xingyao could she take off her mask of the “diligent and studious good girl” and turn into a slightly mischievous girl-next-door who leaned on the person beside her.

“Her? I think she’s one of only two Honorary Hunters in the Hunter Alliance. She’s definitely very powerful. To this day, I’ve never seen her lose to anyone when she fights seriously. Of course, the most I could ever witness was the Midnight Grade level.”

“But I heard from an experienced magical girl that she apparently did something earth-shattering and performed a great service. For some reason, the Human Alliance seems to have some hostility toward her, but they don’t dare to deal with her. So, they worked with the Hunter Alliance to establish the Honorary Hunter position just to keep her there.”

“If those rumors are true, she’s probably one of the top combat powers of humanity. So far, no human has been able to break through the shackles of the Star-Dark Grade to reach the level of the End-Night Grade. Though, I’m not entirely sure how those rankings are divided; I couldn’t sense magic before, after all.”

“As for where her power comes from, why she came to the Satellite City, or what the ultimate goal of her plan is… that’s not something someone at my level would know… Oh? We’re already here. Shiyue, let’s get off.”

Holding Yi Shiyue’s hand, the two stepped off the car. After Ye Xingyao sent a message to Hong Yeqiu with her newly purchased phone, they walked together in the direction indicated by the navigation.