Chapter 28: What Happened to Your Body?

So, you really won’t tell me? What exactly happened to your body?

Lin Xia’s fingers, which had been twisting the hem of his shirt, froze. His trembling pupils instinctively avoided the girl’s crimson eyes.

“I-I don’t know what you’re talking about, Aqiu.”

“I’m saying you don’t act like someone who just got out of the hospital these past few days.”

Jiang Ciqiu counted on her fingers, listing off the oddities the boy had shown recently, half serious and half teasing.

“In PE, you jumped over ten meters to catch me. You sensed the calamity beasts before they appeared. You went to save people, and I passed out, but you didn’t get a single scratch…”

As she spoke, Lin Xia’s expression grew worse and worse.

“Plus what you said, about not being able to tell me for my safety, but that I had to trust you…”

“What’s wrong with you? Did you mutate?”

Under the interrogation, the boy instinctively tried to turn his head away, but a pair of soft hands cupped his cheeks.

The force wasn’t strong, but it left no room for refusal.

Lin Xia stiffened for a few seconds, then slowly turned his head and met those serious red eyes.

“Aqiu, I…”

“You…?”

Watching him look like a heroine in a little book, struggling past the halfway point but about to give in, Jiang Ciqiu’s lips curled up in an unmistakable arc.

‘Yes! Just like that, tell me all your secrets and everything, heh heh!’

“I really am Lin Xia!”

The boy suddenly reached out, gathered Jiang Ciqiu’s forearm, and tucked her against his chest like a handmade doll.

“I don’t know how to make Aqiu believe…”

“I believe you’re Lin Xia.”

The girl’s cool, slightly tired voice cut him off.

“Your personality, your habits, they all match the you in my memory. It’s just… the Lin Xia in my memory was a sickly weakling. Even on the brightest days, he could only lie in a hospital bed, and I had to describe to him how hot the summer outside was. His stamina was a joke.”

“If you suddenly became this strong, it would scare me a little.”

The girl’s lips curved slightly. Her slender index finger poked his arm muscle. The faint tickle felt like a feather brushing over him.

“Scared of what?” Lin Xia asked instinctively.

“Scared you’ll retaliate against me. I remember I used to bully you a lot.”

As if deciding poking his muscle didn’t feel good, Jiang Ciqiu lifted her hand and pinched his cheek instead.

“Here. Just like this.”

Feeling the softness, Lin Xia fell silent for a moment, then laughed.

“Who would hold a grudge over that kind of teasing? Compared to bullying, it’s more like you’re acting spoiled.”

“Spoiled? You’re provoking me, right!”

At the word “spoiled,” the smile on Jiang Ciqiu’s lips collapsed immediately.

The girl raised both hands, adopting a hungry tiger pouncing pose, and launched an attack on Lin Xia. He caught her easily.

Like boys roughhousing, their hands naturally met palm to palm.

Lin Xia’s heart skipped.

Jiang Ciqiu’s hands were tiny. The tips of her fingers barely reached the middle of his second finger joint. Even so, the girl was like a feisty kitten, using all her strength to try to push him down.

Her cheeks flushed from exertion, a few loose strands of hair clinging to her face, and her red eyes sparkling…

‘So cute.’

Jiang Ciqiu had no idea about the itch clawing at Lin Xia’s heart. She only thought she still had it, and after returning to seventeen, her stamina could now rival a male high school student’s.

“Heh heh, how’s that? You’ve seen how amazing I am, right? Surrender now and… whoa!”

Before she could gloat for even three seconds, a sudden huge force pushed the girl back onto the bed. No matter how she struggled, she couldn’t move.

“Only at times like this do I realize Aqiu really is a girl.”

The smug smile now moved to Lin Xia’s face.

“Whether it’s how little strength you have, or how red your face is right now.”

“My face is red because I’m using strength!”

Jiang Ciqiu didn’t dare meet Lin Xia’s eyes and quickly turned her head away.

“…So this is exactly what I’m afraid of. If you turn dark and become a villain and want to eat me, I won’t even have a chance to fight back.”

Her voice, softer now, flowed into the pillow. The boy’s eyebrows jumped, and he reflexively let go of her hand.

“Sorry, Aqiu, does your hand hurt?”

“My hand is broken. Cry-cry meow.” Jiang Ciqiu drooped her eyes, scaring Lin Xia into taking half a step back.

“Huh!?”

“Just kidding. No need to apologize. My hand is fine.”

Looking at the boy whose face turned red and white in turns, Jiang Ciqiu smiled, then looked around.

A duplex high-rise with a view of the sea and river. So he really was a rich brat.

“Where is this? Your room? It doesn’t feel like anyone usually lives here.”

“It’s a guest room in my house. No one usually uses it, but it’s always kept clean.”

“Ehh, I didn’t expect a rich brat like you to clean.”

“It’s Aunt Chen…”

Lin Xia blurted out that name, then realized something and quickly corrected himself. “My stepmother cleans it. She’s a diligent person.”

After saying that, the boy fell silent. Jiang Ciqiu naturally knew why he was making that bitter face now.

She was being walked all over by her relatives, and Lin Xia was forced to call a strange woman mother. Every family has its own troubles.

Jiang Ciqiu felt like she should have a cigarette between her index and middle fingers, something that could smoke, but unfortunately she didn’t.

“So, you’re still not going to tell me? About your body.”

Lin Xia didn’t speak, but nodded.

He didn’t want to drag Jiang Ciqiu into this. Whether it was that weirdo who called herself Gulasie, or the mysterious fighter with the same pattern on their neck, what they represented could taint the friend he saw as pure as the blazing sun and bright moon.

‘Dark and painful things, I’ll carry them alone!’

The boy, still in his chuunibyou phase, clenched his fists.

“Fine, fine, you idiot. Don’t one day suddenly collapse in my arms covered in wounds, mumbling something about great power and great responsibility, and then croak.”

Jiang Ciqiu reached out and patted his face. Lin Xia instinctively dodged, but the next second he brought his head back, as if looking forward to her swat.

“Tch, you’re into this, huh? Careful or I’ll really beat you to death!”

The girl grabbed the cheek he hadn’t managed to escape and kneaded it roughly like dough.

“Brother, what did you bring home…”

Lin Jiayin’s words stopped the moment she saw the scene in the room.

Her gentle, reliable older brother, in her memory, was now being held by another “boy” who was kneading his face, while he wore a strange blush and a smile.

“…You guys play. I’m leaving.”

“Wait, Jiayin, it’s not what you think!”

📚 Also on NHV Novels

A Tangy New Life After Breaking Up with My Girlfriend

HaremRomanceSlice of Life

Read Now →
Not interested