It was another early morning. The sunlight shone diagonally onto the floor of the room, tracing a beam of light through the tiny particles of dust in the air.
Yi Shiyue woke up early, but she had no intention of getting out of bed to wash up. Contrary to her usual routine, she decided to linger under the covers.
As for the reason…
Yi Shiyue tightened her embrace, allowing herself to feel the girl in her arms more closely.
At some point, Ye Xingyao, who had originally been sleeping with her back to her, had turned around and was now buried against her chest, sleeping soundly and comfortably.
Warm breaths left a slight dampness on the clothes over her chest, and she could feel the cute, soft curves of Xingyao’s own body against her stomach.
“Mnn…”
“Oh, did I wake you?”
Ye Xingyao opened her eyes blearily, feeling something soft pressing against her forehead.
It felt so good. She wanted more.
“Xingyao, it’s about time to wake up, you know?”
“… No, let’s hug for a little longer.”
“If I have to go wake up Xingling later, you can’t exactly be in this state, Xingyao…”
Although a freshly awakened, groggy, and acting-spoiled Ye Xingyao was a sight Yi Shiyue had never seen before, she still had to protect the other girl’s little secret.
“Or would you rather be an older brother in front of Xingling?”
Yi Shiyue leaned down and whispered into Ye Xingyao’s ear, making the latter’s ear itch.
‘Wait, what did she say? What about being an older brother?’
“Eek!”
Ye Xingyao jolted, suddenly wide awake. Just as she was about to roll out of bed, she realized her current situation.
“All right, Xingyao, not so loud. If you wake Xingling up, there will be no way to explain this.”
“Right, right!”
Recalling the method for her disguise magic, Ye Xingyao quickly transformed back into her previous appearance. She tried to sit up to go wash her face, only to find that the owner of the embrace didn’t seem particularly inclined to let her go.
The thought of her male self being held in Yi Shiyue’s arms like a child gave her a strange sensation.
However, the moment she saw Yi Shiyue’s smiling expression, the words she was about to say died in her throat, and her tense body gradually relaxed.
“Hey, I still have to wake up my little sister. Stop messing around.”
Ye Xingyao reached out and gave Yi Shiyue a gentle push.
After playing around for a bit longer, Ye Xingyao finally gained her freedom. They put on the clothes they had prepared for school today and finished washing up.
“Ah, it looks like we don’t have anything for breakfast. I’ll head downstairs to buy something. I don’t know if there are any breakfast shops nearby; otherwise, we’ll just have to chew on some plain bread. I’ll leave the house to you, Xingyao.”
Yi Shiyue rummaged through the kitchen and spread her hands, indicating she had to go out to forage.
“No problem.”
Aside from knowing each other’s unusual identities and moving into a new environment, this was their daily routine from the end of the weekend into Monday.
Ye Xingling was a high school sophomore. Although high school students in this era no longer had to study as intensely as those in the distant past — where one had to complete an incredibly heavy workload to get into college — the high schools in Zhongzhou still followed the old system. They had simply replaced the old ways with a more relaxed schedule and a curriculum that better suited the modern age.
“Hey, Sister, get up. It’s almost 7:00 AM. We need to go to school after breakfast!”
Ye Xingyao checked the time, walked to her sister’s bedroom door, knocked, and shouted to the girl inside.
“Ugh, I know, Brother…”
After hearing a faint response from inside, Ye Xingyao stopped knocking. A short while later, a bleary-eyed Ye Xingling walked out of the room while rubbing her eyes.
“Go wash up, quickly,” Ye Xingyao urged.
“Yeah… Brother, why are you acting like an old lady today? You don’t usually nag this much… *Yawn*…”
Ye Xingling complained while letting out a yawn. Before Ye Xingyao could retort, she continued.
“Brother, what are we having for breakfast?”
“That depends on what’s available nearby.”
“Hmm? Why do you say that? By the way, where is Sister Shiyue?”
Ye Xingling looked around and noticed that Yi Shiyue wasn’t busy in the kitchen, so she asked instinctively.
“She went to find us some breakfast, of course. It’s our fault for forgetting to buy food for today. She has to see if there are any breakfast shops nearby. If not, we’re stuck with bread.”
“Oh.”
Ye Xingling gave a simple response and turned to head into the bathroom to get ready.
Soon, Yi Shiyue returned from her foraging mission.
“Pity. There are only a few supermarkets near these resettlement houses. Fortunately, they are well-equipped. I bought some heated corn and bread. This will have to do for this morning.”
“It’s fine. Let’s go out later and buy some groceries. Our classes aren’t until the afternoon anyway,” Ye Xingyao suggested.
“Sure, no problem.”
“Ugh… I really envy you college students. How do you have so much free time?”
Ye Xingling bit into a piece of corn with a look of resentment, speaking grumpily.
“Watch the time, Xingling. You can’t be late for school,” Yi Shiyue reminded her with a smile.
“Yeah—wait, what?! Is it that time already!”
Following Yi Shiyue’s reminder, Ye Xingling instinctively checked the clock. Suddenly realizing she was about to be late, she scrambled to finish the rest of her corn, rushed back to her room, grabbed her backpack, and changed into her coat. She snatched a piece of bread off the table and sprinted out the door.
“Wow, it turns out my sister is actually quite impressive.”
Watching the fluid sequence of actions, Ye Xingyao was left dumbfounded. She couldn’t help but sigh at how difficult high school life was…
‘My sister is quite a character.’
Luckily, she was a university student.
She also wondered how she had managed to handle all these messy affairs while cross-dressing as a girl and working as a hunter since high school without letting her grades slip.
‘I’m quite a character myself.’
“By the way, what classes do we have this afternoon?” Ye Xingyao suddenly realized an important question.
“Magic and Life, I think. It’s a pretty easy elective.”
“True.”
As a Mana Engineering student, Ye Xingyao relied on the knowledge she had learned from her parents’ notebooks, combined with her own unique understanding and intuition regarding mana. Even if she didn’t study particularly hard, she was still one of the top students in the major based on her core course grades alone.
Not to mention the Elven History that Yi Shiyue was studying.
Let me ask you, what do you study in Elven History?
Elven history, right?
Then let me ask you another thing: what is Yi Shiyue’s hidden identity?
She was an elf herself! It would be strange if her grades weren’t good!
Aside from their respective major courses, they had chosen to take all their other required electives together.
Furthermore, after getting into college, the number of students who actually studied hard was far lower than in high school. Two people like them, who were constantly seen attending classes together, were considered a unique sight at Satellite University.