Chapter 17: What? The Bad Sister’s Got a Grip on My XP System

“Why aren’t you talking, Yiyi?”

Xia Qimeng tilted her head and looked at her with a smile.

“Weren’t we just chatting about interests and hobbies?”

As she spoke, she reached out her index finger and lightly tapped the tip of Lu Yiyi’s little nose.

It was an intimate, natural gesture.

Like teasing a well-kept pet at home.

“Ah… ah?”

Lu Yiyi was caught off guard.

Interests? Hobbies? Had they even gotten to that?

She pursed her lips, blankly trying to recall.

Her memories were a little fragmented.

But the post-hypnotic suggestions smoothed over the fuzzy gaps automatically.

All she remembered was eating sandwiches together and chatting like close sisters.

The atmosphere had been perfectly warm.

“My interests…”

Lu Yiyi’s eyes darted.

Her social anxiety defenses kicked in automatically.

There was no way she was going to reveal her otaku side.

What if Miss Xia thought she was a hopeless shut-in and looked down on her?

“I don’t think I… have any special interests.”

She spoke vaguely, trying to bluff her way through.

“I see…”

Xia Qimeng stretched out the words, mischief showing in her black-and-color interwoven eyes.

“Then what does Yiyi do in her spare time? You can’t just sit at home in a daze every day.”

“Hmm…”

Lu Yiyi rubbed her chin, putting on the look of a well-adjusted normie.

“I guess I go out sometimes. Shopping, watching videos, playing games. That kind of stuff.”

She lied without flinching, not saying a single word about anime.

‘She’s really good at hiding it.’

Xia Qimeng snorted inwardly.

If I hadn’t already dug up all her secrets just now, I really would have been fooled by that obedient, harmless look.

But that made it more fun.

“I see…”

Xia Qimeng curved her eyes slyly, unable to hide her mischievous intent.

She let go of Lu Yiyi’s waist, leaned back, and propped her cheek on one hand.

Her tone was casual.

“Me, though? I do like watching some anime.”

“A-Anime?”

Lu Yiyi’s eyes went round.

Her twin tails even bounced.

Her DNA stirred.

She almost thought she’d misheard.

“That’s right.”

Xia Qimeng propped her cheek on one hand, watching the dumbfounded little rabbit in her arms with delight.

She slowly combed through the white hair falling over her chest, adding a hint of loneliness to her voice.

“I’ve always been alone, after all. Trapped in here for so long, I don’t even have anyone to talk to.”

She lowered her eyes, looking pitiful.

“Chasing anime is one of my few hobbies. Would Yiyi think I’m weird?”

Not weird! Not weird at all!

Lu Yiyi’s breathing quickened.

A fellow fan!

A wild fellow fan had appeared!

And she was a gorgeous fairy sister who was so gentle with her!

As a socially anxious mess, Lu Yiyi played dead around strangers.

But with a fellow otaku, she evolved on the spot.

Especially in the high-pressure environment of the Paranormal Bureau.

Every day, it was either creepy incidents or workplace bullying from Sister Zhang and Wang Li.

She had no one to confide in.

Let alone reveal her inner shut-in.

Now, a huge surprise had landed right in her lap.

“Th-Then!”

Lu Yiyi’s voice jumped a whole octave, still soft but buzzing with excitement.

“What kind of stuff do you usually watch?”

She leaned forward without realizing it.

“Action shonen? Or slice of life?”

‘Fell for it.’

Xia Qimeng chuckled inwardly.

This little cutie was so easy to read.

A little bait, and she eagerly chomped down and climbed right up.

“Hm?”

Xia Qimeng raised an eyebrow and dragged the sound out, her tone teasing.

“Yiyi asks such professional questions. Looks like you know quite a bit about anime?”

‘Oh no.’

Lu Yiyi’s heart lurched.

Her overheated brain cooled down in an instant.

She’d gotten carried away.

She realized her slip, clamped a hand over her mouth, and shrank back.

No. She absolutely could not admit it.

What if Miss Xia was just a casual viewer?

If she came on too strong, she’d be written off as a childish edgelord. Then what?

“Um… it’s nothing, really.”

Lu Yiyi’s eyes wandered everywhere, her index fingers poking each other nervously.

“It’s just… I have this friend. She loves anime. She’s always going on about it around me. I hear it so much I picked up a little bit.”

In other words, a friend that didn’t exist.

Xia Qimeng lowered her head, pressed her lips together, and her shoulders trembled almost imperceptibly.

No. Holding in laughter was way too hard.

Why did this little rascal keep making her want to laugh?

She’d already blabbed everything under hypnosis just now.

Now she was putting on a show and shifting the blame to some “friend”.

Was admitting she was an otaku really that hard?

Too fun.

“I see…”

Xia Qimeng took a deep breath, swallowed the laugh, and raised her head again.

Those black-and-color interwoven eyes were full of indulgence and doting affection.

“What a coincidence. I prefer… magical girl anime.”

She rubbed her chin, pretending to think, while secretly studying Lu Yiyi’s reaction from the corner of her eye.

“For example, I really like ‘Puella Magi Madoka Magica’. The girl named Homura Akemi. And Illya from the ‘Fate’ series. I like those a lot.”

Lu Yiyi’s eyes were full of little stars.

‘Oh my god!’

‘Bullseye!’

Miss Xia’s tastes overlapped with hers perfectly!

This wasn’t the dangerous calamity-class spirit master at all.

This was clearly a kindred spirit sent by heaven to rescue her, a lonely otaku, because she worked too hard!

“Homura! Homura-chan!”

Lu Yiyi couldn’t hold it in anymore.

She grabbed Xia Qimeng’s hand, clutching the cool fingers tightly with both small hands, babbling incoherently.

“She rewound time over and over to save Madoka! She was willing to become a demon for her! How can you not love her… ah, cough. Um. Ahem.”

When she came to her senses, she realized she’d already spewed out a whole speech.

A brief silence hung in the air.

Lu Yiyi looked at Xia Qimeng’s beautiful face, which was faintly amused.

Then she looked down at her own hands, gripping the other woman’s.

She was done for. She’d just said something incredibly cringe.

‘Social death.’

She let go like she’d been shocked, coughed a tactical cough, and added an unconvincing excuse.

“That… ahaha, ha. My friend… that’s what she always tells me. Her exact words. I was just repeating them.”

Xia Qimeng raised a hand to cover half her face.

Between her fingers, her eyes curved into lovely crescents.

She really was about to lose it.

How could such an adorable creature exist in this world?

Her ears were practically pointing at the sky, yet she forced them down and pretended she wasn’t a bunny.

“That friend of yours has great taste.”

Xia Qimeng lowered her hand and played along, her voice dripping with amusement.

She reached out, caught the little hand that was trying to retreat, and with a slight pull, reeled Lu Yiyi back into her arms.

Taken by surprise, Lu Yiyi tumbled into that fragrant, soft embrace once more.

“Ah…” she squeaked.

Her cheek pressed against Xia Qimeng’s collarbone, listening to the steady, strong heartbeat, too embarrassed to lift her head.

Xia Qimeng tightened her arms, rested her chin on top of Lu Yiyi’s head, and breathed in the scent of her hair.

Deep within her black-and-color interwoven eyes, a chilling obsession churned.

For one person, she would willingly become a demon.

Homura could do it. Xia Qimeng could do it too.

No. She’d go even further.

Because she was already a demon.

A demon, taking over the angel who came to save her, luring her to fall, to submit, to give her body and soul, to never be able to leave…

Wasn’t that only natural?

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