Gently pushing open the door to the Relocation House, Yi Shiyue—now back in her black-haired state—poked her head out stealthily. After scanning the area and finding the home exactly as they had left it, she relaxed and ducked back inside.
She beckoned to the girl standing not far away, who was also acting sneaky and dressed like a delinquent. Seeing the signal, the latter trotted over and approached cautiously.
“Alright, Xingling isn’t home. Stop being so stiff.”
Yi Shiyue felt like laughing at the girl’s behavior; she covered her mouth, her body trembling slightly.
“Is it really that funny? I’ve never acted like this coming home before,” Ye Xingyao said crossly.
During this past week, her identity as a girl had rarely made an appearance. If Yi Shiyue hadn’t insisted on hugging her to sleep every night, she would have almost lost herself in the cycle of attending classes, handling Hunter business, and slacking off. She might have even forgotten the fact that she had turned into a girl.
Even when it came to trying things she had never experienced before…
Well, she was talking about Magic. Even when she snuck into the Safehouse to experiment with magic, she wore men’s clothing from start to finish for the sake of convenience.
“Ooh~~ My little bed, I missed you so much!”
Ye Xingyao stepped into the house, changed her shoes, and immediately pulled off her hoodie. She was about to toss it onto the sofa when she suddenly remembered that this female hoodie had never appeared in front of her younger sister before.
Thus, a performance art piece unfolded: a black-haired girl wearing only a bra on her upper body dashed into the bedroom on her long legs while clutching her slightly dirty outerwear. She threw the clothes onto the floor, kicked off her jeans, and lunged onto the bed, rolling back and forth while wrapped in the quilt.
Yi Shiyue watched this scene and couldn’t help but chuckle.
‘I always feel like Xiao Yao is a bit of a klutz when she’s a girl.’
She leaned over to pick up the clothing the girl had discarded, found pajamas for both of them in the wardrobe, and tossed them onto the bed. Then, she shed her own clothes and stuffed everything into the washing machine.
Returning to the room, she changed into her pajamas. Yi Shiyue looked with a faint smile at the girl already sprawled on the bed like a cosplaying salted fish and poked her soft cheek.
“Xiao Yao? We had a deal, remember? Now isn’t the time for sleeping.”
The soft texture of the girl’s cheek made Yi Shiyue poke it a few more times. Using just her finger wasn’t satisfying enough, so she simply started kneading the face with her hands.
“Wooo, Shiyue, stop bullying me.”
Reaching out to ward off those wicked little hands, Ye Xingyao finally gained a bit of breathing room. Clutching her cheeks, which had been rubbed until they were hot, she said somewhat aggrievedly, “I was just trying to organize my thoughts so I could explain it to you properly…”
Ye Xingyao sat up, puffing out her cheeks defiantly. She turned her head away and let out a “hump,” looking as though she wouldn’t be appeased without some coaxing.
“Alright, alright, Xiao Yao.”
Did Yi Shiyue not know exactly what she was like? If she just hugged her, the girl would go soft immediately.
After playing around for a bit longer, the girls sprawled side by side on the bed, their shoulders pressed tightly together.
“Phew… but it feels like today really was a bit exhausting,” Yi Shiyue remarked.
“This is nothing compared to the real thing. It’s only truly exhausting when you encounter Monsters; those nasty things don’t listen to reason.” Ye Xingyao curled her lip and rubbed her head against the other girl’s shoulder.
“So that means Xiao Yao has experienced even more tiring things in the past?” Yi Shiyue nudged her head with her shoulder.
“Of course… my title as a Midnight Grade Hunter isn’t just for show, you know?”
Ye Xingyao pulled out the badge representing her Midnight rank from somewhere and held her arm up high. On the exquisite golden Hunter medal, two lines were clearly engraved. One read “Hunter’s Union—Midnight Grade Hunter,” and the other was her registered Hunter name, “Ye Xin.”
“I heard that Hunter medals for Star-Dark Grade and above are even more exquisite and beautiful. You can even customize the colors. The Hunter’s Union will even do their best to add high-tech features if you want them.”
Ye Xingyao vaguely remembered that Hongye Qiu’s Hunter medal was shaped like a maple leaf petal.
“It’s not very good of you to keep derailing the conversation like this, Xiao Yao.”
Clearly, what she wanted to ask about was the past that she didn’t know about.
“Eh? I’m not. I’m just saying whatever comes to mind. If Shiyue has anything she wants to ask, I’ll tell you everything I know,” Ye Xingyao said seriously.
She wasn’t someone who would break a promise; she hated untrustworthy people most of all. Ever since her parents lied to her and her sister, saying they were “going on a long trip,” Ye Xingyao had become even more attentive to the rule of “doing what you say.” Though she was naturally a person of her word, this was her own small rebellion against her parents.
“True. But Xiao Yao must also be curious about me, my grandmother, and how I grew up in human society despite being an Elf,” Yi Shiyue said.
Ye Xingyao nodded. It would be a lie to say she wasn’t curious. Back then, she never imagined there could be anything more ridiculous than her cross-dressing as a male Hunter and earning a Midnight rank—her childhood friend she grew up with was actually an Elf.
“Do you want to hear me tell the story?” Yi Shiyue teased, intentionally making the girl wait.
“Yes!” Ye Xingyao nodded like a chick pecking at grain.
“A long, long time ago…” Yi Shiyue pondered for a moment and came up with a cliché story opening.
“Shiyue…!” Ye Xingyao squeezed against the girl beside her in protest.
“Haha, my grandmother told me this, and it really has been a long time. Just let me finish.”
Yi Shiyue lowered her shoulder, allowing the girl who had squeezed over to burrow into her arms. Having secured a VIP seat for the story, the girl closed her eyes comfortably, looking very much like she was enjoying herself.
“A long time ago, before the Elf Race had split and while human society was still in the late feudal stage, our Moon Elf lineage was considered nobility among the elves.”
“After all, there were generals with great military merit and prestige among the Moon Elves, as well as roles like priests who devised strategies. The elves were very strong then; they weren’t at all in the predicament they are in now, scattered about with their living space squeezed by humans.”
“Until about a hundred years ago, an unprecedented internal conflict broke out within the Elf Race. It was at that time that certain cracks appeared among the Moon Elves as well.”
“Later on, around the time my mother was pregnant with me, a sudden change occurred. The Moon Elf lineage was attacked by monsters. My father and grandfather fought to the death to send my pregnant mother and my grandmother away. After that, there was no more news of them.”
Hearing this and feeling the faint sadness in Yi Shiyue’s words, Ye Xingyao gently put an arm around her shoulder.
“My grandmother, left homeless, fled with my mother into human society. By chance, they met a kind-hearted couple who took them in.”
“But my birth was not smooth; it even caused my mother to suffer a difficult labor… This is also something my grandmother only told me before she passed away.”