Swept along by a gust of wind, the girls’ dormitory at Shengling Academy had just had a big cleaning, so the air was full of faint floral scents and the freshness of clean water. The seasonal breeze, warmed by the daytime sun, brought a sense of renewal.
Tap, tap, the sound of footsteps rang out. The girl looked back, spotting her beloved girlfriend coming down the hallway.
Xu Chuyao wore a coffee-colored short skirt tonight. Her White Silk Long Socks were fastened with two little ribbons, their straps vanishing into her skirt, drawing the eye with endless fascination.
Since she carried a snack pouch out of habit, she had a small schoolbag on her back. Shen Ning had no doubts, thinking only that her girlfriend brought snacks too.
“I’m here.” Xu Chuyao cutely twirled her skirt in place, looking livelier than usual. “Alright, let’s go.”
Shen Ning pointed to the tallest, most recognizable building in the school: “There.”
The Clock Tower—at first, every student at Shengling Academy hated it, but after a while, if they didn’t hear its chime, something felt off.
“Why there?” Xu Chuyao was puzzled. “Is it just because it’s tall and close to the moon?”
“Exactly.”
“…So we’re really just here to see the moon.”
They were here to see the moon, but what mattered wasn’t the moon itself, but the person sharing the moment.
On top of the Clock Tower, next to the ancient bell, was a small space. Beside it, a real Broadcast Device was mounted for ringing the chime. There weren’t many places to sit—two was cozy, three would be cramped.
Xu Chuyao carefully sat down, her legs in White Silk Long Socks swinging outside.
The last few times she’d come, it was winter—no way she’d dangle her legs out like this then; it was too cold. But now, with spring in bloom and the days warming, it wasn’t easy to catch the cool of night. The leftover heat from the ground was slowly carried off by the night breeze, and when it brushed her neck, it felt delightfully cool.
Shen Ning followed suit, sitting down and stretching out her own legs. She opened her pouch and pulled out a pile of snacks.
Her favorites: Snow Cake, pudding jelly, chocolate sandwich pies, rice crackers.
“You brought so much.”
Xu Chuyao took a pudding jelly, a spark of electricity flashing at her fingertips as she easily sliced open the wrapper. She’d never liked pudding jelly before, mainly because the packaging was always so hard to open—now it was easy.
Shen Ning wanted to try a pudding jelly too, but seeing how much her girlfriend liked it, she left the rest for her and opened a Snow Cake to take a bite.
Nom, nom. Delicious.
“You brought snacks too?” Shen Ning’s curious gaze landed on her girlfriend’s bag. “What did you bring?”
“No snacks, you brought enough,” Xu Chuyao said casually. “I brought toys.”
“Toys?”
Shen Ning just followed along, but then she saw a Magic Girl Transforming Wand appear in her girlfriend’s hand, glimmering in the moonlight.
[Counter Villain Value 4300]
“Why would you bring something like that on a date?”
“No reason!” Xu Chuyao grinned. “To play, of course.”
Look at that—even if Bei Lian gave it her all, she couldn’t match the excitement of this thing making an appearance.
Shen Ning tried her best to keep her expression neutral, pretending not to care, though her emotions were clear to Xu Chuyao.
“We’re on a date. You shouldn’t bring this sort of thing.”
“Why not? It’s not like it’s bothering anyone.” Xu Chuyao put on an innocent face. “I’m just holding it while watching the moon.”
“You’re not using it, are you?”
“Nope.”
“Then fine, let’s watch the moon. It’s beautiful tonight~”
Still, with that thing in her hand, it caught Shen Ning’s eye now and then, especially since Xu Chuyao kept fidgeting and waving it around, making her girlfriend itch with irritation.
[Counter Villain Value 1300]
[Counter Villain Value 4300]
[Counter Villain Value 1300]
Finally, after a few minutes, Shen Ning suddenly darted out her hand and snatched the Transforming Wand from her girlfriend.
“We’re on a date! Stop playing with that!”
She tucked it into her bag and zipped it tight, a picture of total lockdown.
“Alright, alright,” Xu Chuyao pouted, “I’ll listen to you.”
Not that she cared about the wand itself—it was a pity she couldn’t rack up more points.
But honestly, what was there to do on a date besides eating snacks and watching the moon?
Xu Chuyao leaned on her girlfriend, watching as she munched on a Snow Cake and stared up at the not-quite-full moon, completely absorbed.
If she could keep living like this until she was old, she’d be happy.
“Hey, say something, or do something,” Xu Chuyao whispered in her girlfriend’s ear. “Are you really planning to just sit here all night?”
Shen Ning didn’t reply. She didn’t want to admit that she was actually waiting for Xu Chuyao to speak first, because she didn’t know what to say.
Luckily, after a few more pudding jellies, Xu Chuyao couldn’t hold back anymore and took the initiative. “What made you want to do this tonight? Did something bother you before, making you lose sleep?”
She meant that incident at Brussels Airport, when the group was wiped out fighting the Queen.
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?”
She wasn’t sure herself. Shen Ning wanted to get stronger, so she’d asked her girlfriend out to watch the moon, hoping she might get the Second Moonlight. But the real reason she was so eager to level up was because of what happened at Brussels Airport.
“Let’s just say so, then.”
“Tsk… how strange.”
Xu Chuyao leaned on her girlfriend, stretching and yawning, when a night breeze blew in, making her shiver.
“Shen Ning, don’t you think it’s gotten chilly tonight?”
A practitioner wasn’t afraid of catching cold, but she could still feel temperature, especially with a short skirt and thin White Silk Long Socks—she was sitting pretty high up, after all.
Li Yao checked the time—it was getting late. Shen Ning seemed to understand a bit and suggested, “Then sit a little closer.”
She heard, but didn’t move all the way.
Xu Chuyao couldn’t help but laugh, but after thinking about it, there was nothing wrong with that suggestion, so she pressed herself into her girlfriend’s arms.
If they were going to watch the moon, lying down would be even better!
Her girlfriend suddenly dove into her arms. Shen Ning instinctively hugged her, while Xu Chuyao’s shadow in the glass window gave a big thumbs up, “You’re so lucky! You barely had to do anything and Li Yao just threw herself into your arms!”
“Shen Ning,” the proud voice of the Academy’s number one beauty rang out, “your luck is really something.”
The two voices overlapped, making Shen Ning a little dazed, almost as if they were talking about the same thing.
But Xu Chuyao was talking about earlier: “No matter what, everyone will encounter adversity and even dead ends, but in every situation, there are always unexpected ways to turn danger into safety, sometimes even reaping great rewards.”
Shen Ning lowered her head. “Really?”
“Of course, definitely! Take what happened at Brussels Airport—just when we were out of options, the Head Teacher stepped in!”
Xu Chuyao felt a surge of emotion—Shen Ning could never really understand. After all, there was no such thing as ‘ascending to Fourth Rank’ in the original plot.
“Luck really is something. Even at the airport, you stood out among so many people. If you hadn’t advanced to Third Rank at just the right moment, things could have turned out a lot worse.”
Hearing her girlfriend say this, Shen Ning blushed faintly.
That time really was a miracle—no way to deny it.