It was the height of summer. Even though a torrential rain had fallen just last night, the wind blowing through the corridor remained stiflingly hot, thick enough to steal one's breath. The trill of cicadas lingered in the air.
Leaning in the corridor, Ke Mingqing turned his head, silently looking at the door to Xia Zili's room. He hesitated for a moment before reaching out his right hand and resting it on the doorknob.
He turned the knob without a sound and pushed open the tightly shut wooden door.
Midday sunlight washed over his face. A girl in a plain white nightgown lay quietly on the bed.
Ke Mingqing rarely saw Xia Zili without her hair tied in a ponytail. Right now, her hair was scattered loosely across the pillow, and a faint, refreshing scent of tangerines drifted through the bedroom air.
He closed the door, sat on the edge of the bed, and quietly stared at her face.
After a little while, he shifted his gaze to the dapples of sunlight on the floor, but she suddenly opened her eyes.
Ke Mingqing froze.
Xia Zili stared up at the ceiling. A flicker of blue flame, like a rose petal, flashed at the corner of her eye and vanished. Then, she slowly turned her head and saw Ke Mingqing beside the bed.
"...Bro?" She reached out and gently pinched his cheek.
Ke Mingqing nodded. "Who else?"
Xia Zili stared at him blankly, as if looking at some impossible creature. She sat up in bed, pinched his cheek much harder, and asked again, "Brother?"
"Since when do you call me that? It's giving me goosebumps."
Xia Zili suddenly fell silent, her gaze locked unblinkingly on his face. A long moment later, she tugged the corners of his mouth upward and tried another title: "...Second Brother?"
"Yes, yes, yes, I'm right here. What new title are you going to use next?" Ke Mingqing rolled his eyes. "You aren't just pinching my face to watch me make a fool of myself, are you?"
Her eyes remained quietly fixed on him as her index finger gently brushed his cheek. She seemed to be confirming the location of a scar, but she could see nothing at all.
The bone-deep gash she had seen last night seemed to have vanished.
"Please... you're looking at me like I'm already dead and a ghost is standing right in front of you," Ke Mingqing said in exasperation. "If you aren't fully awake yet, you can lie back down and go to sleep, okay?"
Xia Zili looked up, then lowered her gaze again.
She stared blankly at his abdomen, then glanced at the sheets draped over her legs, falling deep into thought.
At that moment, the scene from last night flashed through her mind once more: Ke Mingqing hurtling over from a distance, shoving her aside while blocking that silver-white bullet. By the time she had snapped back to reality, a bloody hole had been torn open in Ke Mingqing's abdomen, and he was lying completely motionless in a pool of blood.
The bedroom was in absolute silence, until a hoarse, tearful voice suddenly rang out:
"But..."
Ke Mingqing froze, turning his head to look at her.
A warm wind blew in, and a strand of hair slipped from Xia Zili's temple, draping across her pale cheek. She slowly looked up at him and murmured, "But back then, I clearly saw you. I clearly..."
"I was indeed badly hurt at the time, but Little Red Riding Hood found me in time," Ke Mingqing said calmly. "She saved me with a Magic Card and even healed the wound on my face." Speaking up to here, he pointed to his cheek and asked, "See? Is my wound already..."
But before Ke Mingqing could finish his sentence, the girl in front of him cut him off. She suddenly leaned forward from the bed and hugged him tightly.
Xia Zili hugged him forcefully, her hands practically gripping his back. She buried her face in his shoulder, leaving him almost no room to resist.
Buried against his shoulder, her lips parted slightly, and she mumbled out her words one by one:
"Are you an idiot? Why did you do that back then? If... if you had really died... what was I supposed to do?"
As she spoke, her voice suddenly grew hoarse, and her eyes reddened. A line of tears slipped down her cheek and fell onto his shoulder. "I was really so worried... and so angry... I didn't even know why I was like that..."
She paused, lowering her voice:
"Next time... you're not allowed to do that."
Ke Mingqing froze for a long time, lowering his eyes as he felt the warmth radiating from his shoulder.
Her cheek rested against him, the strands of hair at her temple gently brushing his face, as soft as a bird's feathers.
In the sunlight, the two siblings quietly embraced. Only after a long while did Ke Mingqing finally speak:
"Alright, I was wrong."
"You're saying it so lightly. Are you trying to piss your good sister off?" after a long while, his sister said softly.
"Not at all. My attitude is incredibly sincere, Officer Xia Zili."
Xia Zili fell silent for a moment before suddenly saying, "No... I don't forgive you." Murmuring, she tilted her head slightly and buried her cheek even deeper into his shoulder.
Ke Mingqing felt his shoulder getting sore. "It was one thing in the past, but isn't it embarrassing to act spoiled with your older brother now that you're grown up?"
"As long as you're my older brother... I'll always be your little sister. What's there to be embarrassed about?"
"It would be pretty cute if someone else said it. When you say it, I feel like I'm being haunted by an earthbound spirit."
"Is that a problem?"
"Fine, fine, fine. It's only for half a year anyway, so do whatever you want."
"...Half a year?"
Ke Mingqing froze and averted his gaze. "I misspoke. Anyway, don't make a fuss out of nothing. If the rest of the family notices something, our identities will be exposed."
Saying this, he turned his head slightly to look at Xia Zili, who was still leaning on his shoulder, and reached his right hand toward her cheek.
His hand suddenly stopped in midair. He had originally wanted to wipe away his sister's tears, but after a moment's hesitation, he chose to give her a taste of her own medicine, using his index and middle fingers to lightly pinch her cheek.
Then, along the way, he used the pads of his fingers to wipe away her tears, clearing the tear tracks from her face.
"You're a really weird person, you know that? It's only fine for you to save me, but I'm not allowed to save you?" Ke Mingqing asked.
Xia Zili looked at him quietly and gave a matter-of-fact "Mn."
Ke Mingqing sighed. "I yield to you. Anyway, stop crying... If Little Red Riding Hood takes a picture, you're going to be mocked by your junior for the rest of your life. Better think about that."
Saying this, he moved his hand away from her face and gently stroked her soft hair.
Xia Zili let out an "Mn" and lowered her head slightly. Her hair was ruffled and messy, the pretty strands falling to cover her reddened eyes.
He let go of Xia Zili, and the two of them slowly pulled apart.
At that moment, a flush tinted Xia Zili's cheeks. It seemed she was the type who only felt embarrassed after her impulsive moments had passed, so she averted her gaze and did not look at him.
Ke Mingqing was used to his sister's emotional side. He picked up the bottle of oolong tea beside the bed, unscrewed the cap, and took a sip.
"I drank from that yesterday afternoon. Aren't you afraid of getting poisoned?"
"Doesn't matter," Ke Mingqing said. "The constitution of the super-human species is a bit better."
After a moment of deep thought, Xia Zili asked in a low voice, "So, what exactly happened after that? I don't seem to remember anything."
Ke Mingqing thought for a moment. "I don't know either. You'll have to ask someone else about this."
Xia Zili tilted her head slightly, looking at Ke Mingqing curiously. "Were you the one who brought me back? They were so strong, how did you manage to escape?"
"No." Ke Mingqing shook his head. "The ones who brought you back should be our oldest brother and second sister."
"...Huh?" Xia Zili froze. "Why would they be the ones to bring me back?"
"I don't know." Ke Mingqing started playing dumb. "Today I asked in the group chat if you were home, and our oldest brother messaged me privately. He said you were out having fun until it got dark last night, so he got worried and brought you home. He even asked what I did last night."
Xia Zili frowned in thought for a while, then said suspiciously, "Could our oldest brother and second sister be hiding some secret too? Not only did I survive, but they were the ones who brought me home."
She paused. "Could normal people do something like that?"
Ke Mingqing nodded, echoing her sentiment. "Great deduction, sis. I was thinking the exact same thing. By the way, do you really think changing the subject can cover up the awkwardness of you hugging and yelling at me just now?"
Before he could finish, Xia Zili threw a light punch at his shoulder, only to have him catch her fist in his hand.
"Good, you're full of energy. That means you can get out of bed and eat," Ke Mingqing teased.
Xia Zili muttered, "Why do I remember... did I do something at the time?"
"It's fine, if you can't remember, don't think about it." Ke Mingqing let go of her fist. "Once you hear Little Red Riding Hood's report, you should know what happened."
Xia Zili raised her eyebrows and turned to look at him:
"Little Red Riding Hood?"
"Yeah, she was the only one who went back to the company fully conscious last night," Ke Mingqing said with a shrug. "So she's the only one who underwent the company's investigation."
He paused. "Whatever she said basically dictates the course of this incident. You can just ask her directly on WeChat."
.......
.......
At one o'clock last night, Little Red Riding Hood tossed Sakurahime, Shadow Girl, and the Invisible Giant boy onto the Christmas Sleigh, then brought them back to the Super Hero Company.
The staff at the Hero Company hastily received her and granted her the Clearance to access the medical bay floor.
After Little Red Riding Hood got the three of them into hospital beds, she headed back to the Magical Girl Company. Following a physical examination and some preliminary treatment, she was sent to the debriefing room.
The girl gave a word-for-word account of what she had seen, but she didn't spill everything. Instead, she concealed the part about Ember's Witchification, using the excuse that she had passed out at that time.
She said that, in the end, Ember was taken away by the people from Death Crow.
The magical girl in charge of the debriefing didn't make things difficult for her when she heard this. She merely glanced up at her.
A short while later, Little Red Riding Hood cancelled her magical girl form and lay down in the exclusive magical girl lounge on the 15th floor.
By that time, she was already so exhausted she didn't know what to say. She just stared blankly at the night sky, praying in her heart that Ember was safe, before slowly closing her eyes.
When she woke up from this sleep, morning had already broken. An Youlu glanced at the clock on the wall, then opened her phone and saw the reply message from Ke Mingqing.
"As long as he's still alive, it's fine... otherwise the young miss would be heartbroken."
After that, she spaced out for a bit before going back to sleep.
At one o'clock in the afternoon, An Youlu woke up. She opened her phone and saw an emergency summons from the higher-ups. She froze for a moment before a cocoon of light enveloped her body.
A moment later, as the cocoon of light shattered, she transformed into a blonde, blue-eyed girl in a Christmas dress.
Little Red Riding Hood slipped her phone into the pocket of her dress, hurried out of the lounge, and took the elevator to the 10th floor of the company.
The elevator doors slowly slid open, revealing a silver-white conference room. Sitting inside the room were three magical girls, each exuding a transcendent aura.
Xi Ziyue took a sip of her tea. "Please, have a seat. Regarding the events of last night... we have a few details we need to ask you about."
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