“I just have one thing I want to confirm.”
Ye Fengxue’s eyes were fixed straight on Ling Ling.
“Ling Ling, did you go to the pier last night?”
Ling Ling was silent for a moment.
“Why do you ask?”
“Because, early this morning I received intelligence that a warehouse belonging to Phantom Night Company at the pier was destroyed by a blonde woman calling herself ‘Moriarty’ and wearing a black-and-red performance costume.”
After saying this, Ye Fengxue stepped forward, moving close to Ling Ling, and spoke in a voice almost only the two of them could hear.
“That ‘Moriarty’ is you, isn’t it, Ling Ling.”
Upon hearing the words “That ‘Moriarty’ is you, isn’t it,” Ling Ling was taken aback.
She hadn’t expected her alternate identity to be so easily seen through in front of an old acquaintance.
But she wasn’t going to actively admit that ‘Moriarty’ was herself.
If she admitted it here and let Lady Ye discover that she was so flashy behind the scenes, it would undoubtedly invite a good round of ridicule from her.
Seeing that Ling Ling neither confirmed nor denied the identity of ‘Moriarty,’ Lady Ye knew she had guessed correctly.
In any case, Lady Ye firmly remembered this debt of gratitude in her heart. When the time was right, she would definitely repay Ling Ling handsomely, but she still had to express her thanks.
Lady Ye crossed her arms, still with that tsundere air of a young lady, and said to Ling Ling:
“I just wanted to say this—th-thanks…”
Seeing such textbook tsundere behavior, Ling Ling’s desire to tease the young lady rose again.
“For what?”
“For—you know perfectly well what for.”
Lady Ye’s face flushed slightly. She turned her head away and added,
“In any case, just thanks. Don’t ask what for!”
Upon hearing this, Ling Ling tilted her head.
“Lady Ye, you waited for me here early in the morning—was it just to say this?”
“Who waited for you!” Ye Fengxue reflexively retorted.
Then she wilted under the other’s gaze and said shyly,
“Fine, I was waiting for you. So what?”
Ling Ling didn’t answer.
She just handed her the can of coffee she had been drinking, with only the last sip left.
“Take a drink. Calm down.”
“…You’ve already drunk from this.”
“Are you disgusted?”
Ye Fengxue looked at the nearly empty coffee can, then at the other’s still expressionless face.
Then she snatched the coffee can from Ling Ling’s hand, tilted her head back, and gulped it down.
The coffee that went into her mouth was a sweet, cloying latte flavor, a whole step sweeter than the coffee she usually drank.
But what was different was that there remained at the rim a warmth that didn’t belong to the coffee.
After drinking the coffee, Lady Ye realized what she had just done, but she rare managed to suppress her blush, acting as if nothing had happened.
After all, this time she was the one taking advantage, and she couldn’t let the other party know.
Hua Jianxi watched Ye Fengxue drink the coffee, the corners of her eyes twitching involuntarily, and silently complained in her mind:
‘Zero, isn’t she actually a secret pervert? First thing in the morning, she uses a can of coffee to indirectly kiss two beautiful girls.’
‘I’ll have to be careful from now on, or else I’ll get eaten by this wolf in sheep’s clothing.’
While Hua Jianxi was still lost in her wild thoughts, Ye Fengxue had already shoved the empty can back into Ling Ling’s hand.
“It’s not good.”
“Then spit it out.”
“Hmph, I just don’t want to waste it!”
After finishing her words, Ye Fengxue turned around and walked toward the teaching building, but after taking a few steps, she stopped without turning back.
“Ling Ling, I need to talk to you after school today. Remember, you absolutely must not leave early. If you do, I’ll have your head!”
“And, it’s not that I specially need to discuss something with you. I just want to chat casually.”
Ling Ling stood there, watching Ye Fengxue’s back disappear around the corner of the hallway.
Then Hua Jianxi leaned in, poking her shoulder with an unwrapped lollipop.
“Hey, Zero, did you understand what Lady Ye meant by ‘not specially needing to discuss something’?”
“…Doesn’t she just want to chat casually?”
“Zero, are you a blockhead?”
Lin Jiu rarely agreed with Hua Jianxi.
“Big sister really is dense in some ways.”
“…Since when did you two join forces?”
“It’s the truth, big sister.”
“Mm-hmm, Xiao Jiu is right.”
Ling Ling looked at her younger sister, who was smiling gently, and Hua Jianxi, who was grinning slyly. Standing between them, she swept her crimson eyes over both of them from left to right.
Then she walked expressionlessly toward the classroom.
She decided that today she wouldn’t go to the cafeteria for lunch. She planned to use her supernatural ability to sneak up to the rooftop and enjoy lunch alone, far away from all the shuraba in the world.
Of course, she was fully aware that this wish most likely wouldn’t come true.
She stood there, watching Ye Fengxue’s back disappear around the corner, then looked down at the empty coffee can in her hand.
A faint ring of water stains remained on the rim.
“…Now it really is an indirect kiss.”
She muttered to herself in a voice only she could hear, then crushed the empty can and threw it expressionlessly into the trash can by the roadside.
Hua Jianxi came up from behind, lollipop dangling from the corner of her mouth, her eyes full of amusement.
“Zero, did you intentionally leave that last sip for Lady Ye? You timed it perfectly—just one sip left, just enough for her to drink.”
“Coincidence.”
“Coincidence again? Zero, there are way too many coincidences in your life. The matching rings were a coincidence, drinking coffee was a coincidence—” Hua Jianxi counted on her fingers, “—next time, should it be something even more explosive?”
Ling Ling didn’t reply. She just quickened her pace and walked away.
Lin Jiu walked beside her, her blue eyes narrowed slightly. Though she said nothing, she seemed to be scheming about something in her mind.
She simply reached out and lightly wiped Ling Ling’s lower lip with her thumb.
“Big sister, your mouth is dirty.”
“…It’s not dirty.”
Lin Jiu withdrew her hand, brought her thumb to her lips, and lightly licked it.
“But it’s clean now.”
Ling Ling’s ears instantly turned bright red.
Hua Jianxi, lollipop in mouth, watched with great interest.
She began to seriously consider a question: Zero, though on the surface an expressionless cool beauty, was actually an unconscious harem generator, wasn’t she?
And an unconscious one at that—she herself didn’t seem to have the slightest clue.
“Such a sinful woman.”
Hua Jianxi pointed the lollipop at the back of Ling Ling’s head, a hint of schadenfreude in her tone.
Ling Ling didn’t look back, but her pace quickened again.
Now she just wanted to rush into the classroom, sit in her seat, and hide her face behind a textbook, pretending the whole world didn’t exist.