The moment the lunch bell rang, Ling Ling had the thought.
‘Should I pretend to be sick and go home?’
But that thought lasted less than three seconds before she extinguished it—because Hanajianxi, sitting behind her, had already started lightly poking the back of her neck with an unwrapped lollipop, her movements as natural as if she were poking an old friend she’d known for three years through nonexistent memories.
“Ling, I heard your cafeteria’s fried chicken is pretty good. Take me to try some.”
Ling Ling didn’t turn around.
She could feel the gazes of the entire class focusing on her and the new transfer student from every angle—after all, someone who had only transferred in less than half a day dared to poke the back of the White Snow Princess’s neck with a lollipop. In the social history of Class 2C, this was practically a feat worthy of being recorded in the annals.
“…Go by yourself.”
“But I don’t know the way. What if I get lost? Would Ling be willing to let a newly arrived transfer student wander around a strange campus?”
“The cafeteria is in the building to the right after you exit.”
“Wow, Ling’s directions are so detailed. That’s even more reason to take me on a field trip.”
Ling Ling took a deep breath and stood up reluctantly.
She knew very well that if she refused any longer, this pink-haired pleasure-seeker would definitely use even more clever methods to make her yield.
Better to settle this quickly than to let her drag it out in the classroom until everyone started heckling.
But the moment she reached the classroom door, she saw two figures that made her heart nearly stop.
On the left, Ye Fengxue stood with her arms crossed, leaning against the hallway wall. Her emerald eyes were fixed on the evil pink creature following behind Ling Ling, and the chill radiating from her had already formed a thin layer of frost on the corridor walls.
On the right, Lin Jiu was holding a lunch box, her smile so gentle it was almost terrifying.
“Big Sis.”
Lin Jiu’s voice was light, sugary sweet, with the final syllable deliberately drawn out soft and lingering.
“I made your favorite sweet and sour pork ribs. Let’s go find a spot in the cafeteria and eat slowly.”
“Lin Lingling.”
Ye Fengxue’s voice was unusually serious. “You promised to accompany me today at noon to try the new limited menu. You didn’t forget, did you?”
Two gazes met in the air—one cold, one hot, one ice, one fire—and the aura they generated made passing students in the hallway detour around them.
Hanajianxi stood behind Ling Ling, lollipop in her mouth, her gray eyes scanning from Ye Fengxue to Lin Jiu, then back from Lin Jiu to Ye Fengxue, the corners of her mouth slightly lifted.
“Oh my, this is really—” she whispered in a voice only Ling Ling could hear, “—a delightful shuraba.”
Ling Ling stood there expressionless, her mind already seriously weighing options: ‘Playing dead,’ ‘Jumping out the window,’ or even using Minerva to hack the cafeteria’s entire power supply system.
Ten minutes later, at a long table in the corner of the first floor of the cafeteria.
This table was originally meant to seat four people at most, but now it was crowded with five.
To be precise, four people sat around the table, while Ling Ling was squeezed in the very middle. To her left was Xiao Jiu, smiling as she picked food for her; to her right was Ye Fengxue, pushing the limited set meal toward her with a cold face; opposite her was Hanajianxi, chin in hand, watching the show.
And Chiyotsuki, having somehow gotten word, sat elegantly at the other end of the table with a cup of black tea, her golden eyes shifting among the girls, a faint smile on her lips.
Her entire demeanor exuded a calm aura of “I’m just a passing mysterious tea girl, please don’t mind me.”
“Big Sis, try the pork ribs. I added extra sugar on purpose.”
Lin Jiu picked up a piece of sweet and sour pork rib and brought it to Ling Ling’s lips, her movements perfectly natural.
“Lin Lingling, the fried shrimp from the limited set are almost cold. Eat this first.” Ye Fengxue pushed the tray closer to Ling Ling.
Ling Ling looked at the pork rib on the left, then at the fried shrimp on the right, then opened her mouth expressionlessly—taking the chopsticks from Xiao Jiu with her left hand while picking up Ye Fengxue’s fork with her right, and in a move worthy of an acrobat, stuffed both items into her mouth at the same time.
The entire table fell silent for a second.
“Big Sis is amazing.” Lin Jiu was the first to applaud, her eyes full of pride that said, ‘As expected of my big sister.’
“Y-You’re performing a circus act!” Ye Fengxue’s face turned red again.
“Ling’s survival skills are indeed as legendary as they say.”
Hanajianxi, lollipop in her mouth, pulled out her phone from her pocket.
“Wait, let me take a photo and post it on the forum.”
“Don’t post it.”
“Oops, already posted.”
Chiyotsuki tilted her head slightly, watching the forum interface flash quickly on Hanajianxi’s phone screen, then took a small sip of her black tea. “Hanajian-san’s ID is ‘Siren’s Song’? I think I’ve seen that account on the forum.”
Hanajianxi’s movement paused, her gray eyes meeting Chiyotsuki’s golden ones in the air.
“President Chiyo also browses the forum?”
“Occasionally.”
Chiyotsuki smiled and set down her teacup.
“After all, I am the Student Council President. Keeping up with student activity is part of my job. By the way—”
Her smile remained unchanged, her voice as gentle as ever.
“—In that post Hanajian-san just made, the word ‘keep both sides’ in the title was inappropriate. I’ve already deleted it using my authority as Student Council President.”
A crack finally appeared in Hanajianxi’s smile.
Lin Jiu took the opportunity to add two more pieces of pork rib to Ling Ling’s bowl, while Ye Fengxue, not to be outdone, pushed the entire plate of fried shrimp in front of Ling Ling.
Ling Ling looked at the mountain of food piled in her bowl, expressionlessly pondering a serious philosophical question: What had she done wrong to deserve this level of shuraba during lunch break?
“Speaking of which.”
Chiyotsuki suddenly spoke, her golden eyes turning to Hanajianxi. “Hanajian-san transferred from Vien Academy. Where are you staying?”
“Temporarily in an apartment near the school.”
“Living alone?”
“Yes, all alone by myself.”
Hanajianxi rested her chin on her hand, deliberately drawing her tone out pitifully. “Every day I have to survive on takeout and convenience store rice balls. I don’t even have someone to eat with—”
“Then you can come to our house for meals from now on.”
That was said by Lin Jiu.
The entire table went silent again.
Ling Ling turned her head to look at her little sister’s face, which wore a gentle smile.
Lin Jiu tilted her head, her expression innocent and harmless, her voice as soft as if she were inviting an old friend over to her house. “After all, Chiyotsuki-nee and Ye-nee come often too. One more person won’t matter. Besides—”
She picked up a piece of pork rib coated in sweet and sour sauce, slowly swaying it in front of everyone, the sauce glinting with fine light.
Her face still held that pure, harmless expression, but her next words immediately sent a chill down Hanajianxi’s spine.
“I’d like to ‘host’ Hanajian-nee properly too.”
The lollipop in Hanajianxi’s mouth almost fell out from shock.
Ye Fengxue was the first to react. A glimmer of schadenfreude flashed in her emerald eyes as she picked up her tray and moved half a seat away. “This miss thinks that proposal is good. What about Senior Chiyo?”
“I think it’s wonderful.” Chiyotsuki lifted her red tea cup, her golden eyes curving into crescent moons. “The more people, the merrier.”
Ling Ling quietly ate the rice in her bowl, pretending to be an emotionless eating machine.
But the slight upward twitch of her lips still couldn’t be completely hidden.
Hanajianxi stared at the black-haired girl across from her, whose expression seemed so harmless, and for the first time, began to question her own life safety.